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𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 : 𝐎𝐔𝐈𝐉𝐀 𝐁𝐎𝐀𝐑𝐃 𝐅𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐒

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I dreamt of wildfire and ruins.

I stood alone in the barn but I wasn't quite alone, not always. I saw faces of my friends, of my past, but mostly I just saw her. She stood where she had died, so close but undeniably so far. Her blonde hair was braided and she wore a yellow dress with puffy sleeves with small delicate flowers printed over it. It had a low neckline that came together in a small tied bow, bearing her sun kissed skin for me to see.

There was some soft french music playing, like the world with her here was brighter and softer somehow. But outside the barn, outside her little circle, there was screaming and burning, the smell of burning flesh, sickly sweet.

I heard voices all around me but none of them hers. Her mouth was moving, trying to speak, but only the voices of others came out. I recognized Blondie's voice, even Winker's along with John and Ace and even Crow.

John and Ace's faces appeared to me outside the barn, burning away like the evil around them. I was tempted to leave with them, to hear their voices as they were, but I'd grow close and be reminded of her all over again.

The smell of burning flesh grew dense the closer I leaned to an exit.

"Come to me," she finally spoke and it sent a wave of reassurance through me, followed by cold fear.

"The barn, the barn, the barn," the voices chanted as she stood still.

"It'll end here," she whispered and held out a hand to me. "See that it ends where I have."

I nodded, trying to say 'of course, of course, anything for you' but my mouth opened and nothing came out. My lips taste of salt and blood.

"The barn, the barn, come to the barn!"

Crow appeared, hand in hand with Blondie and Winker inside the calm of the barn. Inside the circle of truth. They moved in unison as war raged on outside, shaking and rocking us around like we were trapped inside a snow-globe. A cage.

I reached out to her again and she smiled, drifting farther away in a long stretch as I tried to move towards her. My feet were stuck. I couldn't move. She was getting so far away.

I woke with sweat running down the back of my neck and my legs and chest damp. When I sat up and rubbed my sleepy eyes, I knew what I had to do. Where I had to go.

It was only Wednesday.

It had still been a little over a month since I'd been back. Since I'd faced the trauma still soaked into my skin. Pandora had called out to me and I wasn't one to deny her.

My dream felt oddly prophetic and I was n't going to sit by and ignore it. It was telling me to go back and it seemed I had stayed away for far too long. It called back to me through dreams, it's heart etched into my own.

There was nothing to keep me away.

~

I cornered Blondie at school, after riding my bike all the way to campus. I didn't want to bother Crow and give him an excuse to back out of our truce by annoying him for rides.

Explained to Blondie, once I snatched her away from what looked to be a lame conversation with a girl in the grade lower, that I went through her notes and did what I could and gave her my own information for her to look through. Then, I dived right into what I knew would get me uninvited to her party Friday.

"You want to go ghost hunting?"

She stared blankly at me. She had only a hint of discoloration under her eyes today and her color had returned, I hoped this meant she was healing just as I was trying too. "You want to...what?"

"I know this is going to sound crazy-"

"Doubt it'll sound any crazier then you do now."

I rolled my eyes. "But I had this weird dream and it was you, me, Luke, and a friend of mine up at that barn-"

"You mean the super creepy one where the police found Pandora's body?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

I pressed my lips firmly together and nodded, ignoring the pang it gave me hearing my friend's name.

"Okay."

I let out a gasp, brows furrowing. Had I heard her correctly? "Okay?"

She nodded again, this time with a shrug. "If this is how you're working through your grief, then I'm in and I bet Luke would be too. He likes creepy shit, not like you, but close enough."

I grinned before rubbing the back of my neck and asking, "You think you could drive me there?"

"God, you're like, so needy today," she said but smiled, nudging me along with her to lunch.

I found myself at ease with her. Our banter was lively and there was a spark in her eyes and it seemed, just like me, she needed a friend too. Outside of the male kind.

Winker was surprisingly down for whatever we were about to do at the barn. Even said he'd run to the store and get a cheap ouija board to spice things up and I nodded along, enjoying the excitement it gave him.

The two sat close together, no longer held down by the binds of John and Ace always there. No longer in competition with Gretchen, either. He always had a hand on her, either just idly tracing shapes on her arms or back, or playing with the ends of her hair. I could see the love burning in his eyes at every glance.

I hope they stay together, I thought to myself. I was scared that I was just bringing them into something far bigger and more dangerous than they'd expected but I trusted my gut and my dream. They were there with me and even my blood sang with the relief they gave me.

When the end of the day came around, I shot Crow a text from my phone. I had decided it finally put my mother's phone to rest, sealing it away with some of her things still left in her room. I informed him to meet us at the barn and almost immediately he texted back with an annoying thumbs up.

Blondie's car wasn't what I expected as I walked up with her. It was an old Volvo, not something I would've thought she would drive when I knew the type of money her family came from. Seeing who she really was, I regretted the way I had acted towards her through my jealousy and irritation.

I knew, back in those first days, how I felt for Ace. He was a friend but it felt more than that, a bond just slightly over the line. It felt good to have someone trust me, to have the same intentions. But with everything I was learning, I didn't know what to believe.

"So, care to tell me why we're really going up to that barn?" Blondie asked once we were both in her car and my bike was oddly attached to the trunk. A soft song began to play through her speakers and I noted how it wasn't the exaggerated pop John would play at his parties which I assumed everyone in that little group listened to.

"To go ghost hunting," I said, giving her a look as she raised an eyebrow.

"No, I'm being serious, what are we doing?"

"And I'm being serious too," I laughed. "Ghost. Hunting."

"Blaire, seriously?"

"Yes!"

She frowned, pulling out of her parking space. She drove with one hand on the wheel and the other leaning against the window, her hand lost in her hair. "Is this some type of way to cope with your grief? Because I know my therapist wanted me to do something similar but I said no way."

I shook my head, resting my arm by the window and holding my head up. "I can see ghosts, Cass."

It was better to just rip the bandaid off now, get it over with. I trusted my dream and if she was there, hand in hand with Crow, then I knew it was sooner or later before she found out my secret.

She slowed at a stoplight, her lips parted and brows furrowed. She drummed her fingers against the wheel, like she was thinking long and hard. She opened her mouth and squeaked out, "Ghosts?"

"I can see them-"

"Yeah, I know, I heard you," she hissed, rubbing her forehead. The light turned green and she pressed hard on the gas, tires squealing. "It's just, wow, that's like a lot to take in, you know? You were weird before but this? This makes you crazy, you know that don't you? Like, if that got out, you'd be labeled a total psycho."

I couldn't stop my laugh, nodding with her as I murmured, "Yeah, I know, Cass, that's why I never went around telling people."

She rolled her eyes, sighing. "It's hard to believe but it's not like I can really ask you to prove it."

"I saw Gretchen, at her funeral," I whispered and she took her eyes off the road to stare. My words had rocked her so much that she swerved slightly when she glanced back at the street. "I know this probably won't make you believe me, but I wouldn't tell you this as a joke. I saw her and she..." I shook my head, smiling softly when I looked up from where my eyes had wandered to my lap. "...she went peacefully. She went home."

"You-" Blondie could barely form a word and I saw the tears build in her eyes as she blinked, letting out a laugh that filled the growing silence between us. "-she-" She shook her head. "Was she happy? When she found...found peace?"

I nodded. "She was glad to be free."

She reached up and wiped at her cheeks, nodding. "Thank you, for being there with me when it all happened. I know I told you this before, but it meant a lot to know I wasn't alone."

This time, I reached out and took her hand. She squeezed it and nodded to me as I said, "You did the same for me with-" I swallowed thickly. "-with Pandora."

When the news of her body being found, I went through the grief all over again. I had to put on more of an extravagant show when hearing the news at school since I had already gone through it once before. Blondie had gone to my side and helped me to the bathroom that day, held me as I sobbed, and in our shared grief, stayed there well into the next period. Our lament soaked the air and it hung heavy and thick for days after.

"Blaire," Blondie whispered once I let go of her hand. "Were you the anonymous caller the police talked about?"

I froze and I could swear she heard my heart pick up because her lips parted and she gasped out, "Oh, god, Blaire. You were, weren't you?"

I scratched the side of my head and looked towards the window, watching the passing trees.

"You were there that night...the night she died."

It didn't take long for Blondie to piece together what happened and how I was involved, which made me fear that it wouldn't take much longer for the police either.

"You found her."

This time, I nodded. Forcing myself to speak, I murmured, "I was given three days to get her back and she wouldn't be harmed until then." I rubbed my hands together, feeling my throat tighten. "It was only the first day she was gone when I found her and she was-" I shook my head. "I'm sorry for getting you involved with this, with all of this."

"I was involved the second my best friend was killed," Blondie said back.

"The same people who killed Pandora killed Gretchen, I'm almost positive," I told her and her back stiffened. She sat up straighter in her seat as I continued with, "I know all of this has to sound crazy, but Gretchen didn't walk herself into traffic, something made her."

"I figured as much."

"Huh?" This got my attention and she nodded.

"We were singing along to some song and then suddenly it was like she forgot who she was and what she was doing," she whispered to me. "Her eyes were glossed over and she got out of the car and...well, you know."

"If I tell you what made her do that, do you promise not to laugh or freak?"

She nodded again.

"It was a demon."

She sighed. "How am I not surprised?" She shook her head and rubbed a hand over the steering wheel. "First ghosts and now demons, what's next? Witches and zombies?"

You have no idea.

"The man who's meeting us at the barn, he's a demon," I explained and almost laughed at how well she was taking the information. She wasn't someone I thought would take this type of news kindly or calmly. She reminded me a lot of Pandora in these moments, how easily she took the news that I could see ghosts. "There's a chance he can help figure out which demon killed Gretchen, the one who possessed and forced her to kill herself."

"But why her? Why kill her? She never did anything–"

"It's all about power, showing us who's stronger and who's in charge. They're trying to make a point."

"And we're just supposed to sit by and take it?"

"You saying you want to help me kill some demons?" I asked with a grin.

"Wouldn't want to do anything else." She paused though, biting her lip before asking me, "Is that why Ace and John are...gone?"

I nodded. "The night Pandora died, things got complicated."

I tried my best to explain to her the events of that terrible night as we drove. Her fists only clenched down harder on the wheel before whispering to me, "And these ghosts that you...talk to...they're all saying not to look for him? Not look for John?"

I nodded again.

She took to gnawing on her lip and I wanted her to stop the car, to look at me but I said instead, "What aren't you saying?"

She released a long sigh. "John, he wasn't always the guy I thought he was. Knowing what he is now, it makes sense but-" She shook her head, blonde hair swaying. "He wasn't kind when we'd hook up. He was always so aggressive, violent sometimes-"

"Did he hurt you?" I gasped, trying to apply these images to John. Captain of the football team. The school's golden boy. A demon.

She gave me a quick shake of her head, shrugging. "It was always just in the heat of the moment, you know? Only ever when we'd get together, he was just so demanding. So, if these ghosts have been saying to stay away, then I would listen."

She turned down the long stretch of road that would take us straight to the barn and my palms grew sweaty. There was no turning back now.

"And Ace?" I whispered.

"He had a violent streak in him but he never showed it, not with me," she breathed and when one hand left the wheel, I was eager to catch it with mine. We gripped each other as she spoke, slow and soft. "Whenever he and John would hang out, I don't know, there was always something off. Something they were hiding. I remember that it," she swallowed thickly, "that it used to make Gretch nervous, she never wanted to be with them alone."

The road kept going until I could see what I feared lying ahead, hazy and unclear with the swooping tree line. It would be different to see it during the day.

"It made sense though, everything you've told me, John being a demon," she said, squeezing my hand as she seemed to notice what had caught my unnerving stare. "But Ace was just the same, wouldn't that mean he was one too?"

I shrugged, my chest heaving. "I wouldn't know."

"Were you two close? Closer than everyone thought?"

I shook my head. "No, never."

"And if he had stayed? Would you and him...?"

I didn't need to even think before I whispered the same, "No, never."

~

The barn was a brighter red in the daytime. Still dull, still rusty, but colorful nonetheless. The big barn doors were closed, and I knew they had been locked off by police but even I knew that wouldn't last as I noted the broken lock and chains on the ground. This was a demons playground, for evil and for murder, not even the police could stop it.

It took everything in me to get out of the car, even once Winker had arrived with a ouija board tucked under his arm. Blondie filled him in graciously and when I hadn't heard him say screw it and leave, I felt a comfort seize hold of my chest. It was only once the rumble of Crow's old car pulling up forced me to get out of the car, pushing the door open and breathing in the details I had forgotten.

It smelled old. Like hay and must.

The field behind the barn that was lost amongst twisted trees that popped up through the corn like they didn't belong. The corn, or wheat, or maybe it was just tall weeds, swayed with the breeze.

My chest rose and fell as I ignored Crow as he got out of his car, watching me. I needed to do this myself, I needed to take the first step. It had to be me.

Pandora, please.

All she had to do was listen, to answer my feverish call.

My hands shook when I took hold of the doors and I could've sworn I smelled blood when I heaved in a great big breath.

"Blaire, don't go in there, I know where you are, don't do it-"

I had refused to return, after holding her body till it had grown oddly stiff and even colder than when I found her. I had held her to my chest, my cheek pressed to the top of her head and I let that blood, all the murk seep into me like a longing love. I had shouted, to some unknown god, to bring her back, to give her back to me. But not even the wind had answered me that night.

"Turn around, Blaire, leave the barn alone."

I opened the doors and the air was hot when it hit me. I could still smell blood, I could smell it everywhere, all over me. I blinked and saw red, sparkling and eager and rushing in my pounding head. I blinked and I saw blood smeared across the walls, warnings, promises, threats. I blinked and I saw her, not in my foreboding gray, but across the dirty ground like she didn't even matter.

"Don't go in, just...just wait for me, okay? I can come and get you-"

I took a step inside, the warmth eating me alive. Sweat pushed to my skin, slick and hot, like her blood. Her blood was everywhere-

I bent over and vomited.

Coughing and spitting, I felt the gentle hands of Blondie pull me back and away. I stumbled with her to her car, where she let me rest against the hood to breathe, to calm my moving stomach.

She clutched one hand as she forced me to take a water bottle with the other. I sipped lightly, cleansing my mouth. Even the water tasted of blood to me, but I swallowed and let the cold eat me alive.

Ten minutes later, my mess was cleaned courtesy of Crow and Winker, who had a short introduction, and I was standing again. No one bothered me, knowing from what had happened to my best friend, I needed to take my time and do this.

When I walked into the barn, I let it consume me. This feeling of dread. The lingering taste of death.

I let myself blink, to close my eyes and watch the horror I feared stay clear. There was no fresh blood here. Only stains and dark spots against the walls. This place had a dark energy, filled with such haunting images and gore, and I knew there was only more to come.

I moved through the open space and towards the center, where her body had been left to rot. I crouched down and let my fingers splay through the dirt, knowing this was where she had taken her final breath, where I had failed her.

"Do you trust me?" she asked, bright eyes wide and flour dusted over her cheeks.

I made a show of pretending I didn't. I rubbed my chin and made a sound of contemplation until she hit me on the shoulder and I barked out a laugh. "Yes! Yes, okay, I trust you."

"Then close your eyes and open your mouth."

I did as she asked, letting my mouth fall open. The kitchen smelled like sweets of all kinds, as did she. Like melting chocolates and the sharp smell of powdered sugar turned to icing. She got close to me and I could hear how ragged her breathing was from pure excitement. She placed a piece of what she had made in my mouth and it melted against my tongue.

My mouth instantly watered and I grinned, chewing and opening my eyes as she waited expectantly.

"What the hell was that?" I breathed, grinning from ear to ear. "Panda, I didn't know you could bake! I thought it was only your mother who could."

"I learned a few things from her." She winked, turning around and picking up her tray to show me. It was an arrangement of cookies and fudge of all different types. She'd been busy. "Maybe, if you're lucky, I'll make these for your birthday."

"I think you should just make them every week," I mumbled as I stole another piece of fudge and popped it into my mouth before she could say anything. It was peanut butter, smooth and rich.

"In your dreams, Red."

I had pressed my hand fully to the ground, as if trying to will her back to me. I felt a few tears escape from my eyes and I wiped them away as I stood. She would only ever appear to me in my dreams, where neither she or I ever truly existed.

"Why are we here, Blaire?" Crow murmured from behind me and I didn't turn as I looked over the walls and the large doors on the opposite wall.

"I had a dream, that all of us were here," I said, letting my eyes run up to the high, arching ceiling. I frowned, the beams stretched the entire length, and I knew this would be the perfect place to hang a body. To let it sway from the traveling wind with both doors open. "It felt urgent, like we needed to be here together."

"Should we...try to communicate?" Winker offered and I laughed softly.

"He did go out and buy an ouija board and everything," Blondie added.

I nodded, wiping my nose with my clean hand as I turned. I motioned to the ground. "We can set it up here, I have a feeling there has to be someone here who will want to communicate."

Winker nodded as we sat down in a small circle. He worked on opening the box and met my eyes and asked, "How does it work? Seeing them?"

"I get headaches sometimes," I explained. "And then everything goes gray and freezes."

"And they just come to you?"

I nodded.

"When I was little, I thought I saw a ghost once," he said, giving us a sheepish look and glancing over at Blondie to see her smiling faintly. "It ended up only being my reflection, but I was terrified. I wouldn't walk past a certain spot in my house because of it." He shrugged. "I guess what I'm saying is that it must be terrifying, having to deal with this all the time."

"It was the first time," I responded as he placed the board in the center of our circle. "And the next few times, too," I added with a laugh.

"Are there different types of ghosts?" he asked as he set the planchette down.

"I haven't seen any real difference between what could be a..." I paused, thinking of the word. "Malevolent spirit and a normal one. They all just come and go, or don't even notice me."

"And what of Cage?" Crow perked up and I saw the way Blondie watched him as he spoke. She gave me a raised brow and smirk and I felt a blush creep up my neck. "I assume he must be something special since he was like you."

I ran my tongue over my teeth. "He's a geata. A gateway, a sort of blood ghost."

Blondie frowned. "Blood ghost?"

"His geata is blood, meaning whenever he visits he brings a mess."

"And you're just a normal...what's the word for it?"

"Necromancer."

Blondie's frown lightened while Winker's deepened and he gasped out, "Like you deal with dead bodies? Don't necromancers raise the dead?"

"Not all," Crow answered for me. "Only one can, or was known too."

"My father couldn't," I murmured. "He tried to."

"Who could do it?" Winker asked.

Crow shifted in his spot on the ground and I took a moment to take him in. He wore nice black slacks and shoes, but his top wasn't a suit jacket or even his signature white button up. It was a black crewneck, and honestly, it worked. It worked really well.

"We know her name was Adrienne, and she died in the mid eighteenth century."

"That's all you know?" I frowned.

He nodded, sighing. "Not many people know about her in my, uh, community."

"Don't worry," Blondie beamed. "We know what you are."

He shot me a look that read, really? Telling the teenagers my most guarded secret?

I grinned back, baring my teeth to him.

"How many demons are there?" Blondie asked, not bothering to care if she should speak on the subject or not. She had no clue who Crow was, what he was capable of, and it made my chest hurt from suppressing laughter.

"Too many," I said in between soft breaths.

"Okay, I'm going to just kick it back to what we were talking about before," Winker muttered, shooting Crow a curious look. "This Adrienna woman, she was the only necromancer to be able to raise the dead?"

Crow nodded. "Only one we have documented from recently that could." Eighteenth century was recent?

"I thought all necromancers could?"

"Not necessarily," he explained back. "That ability...is rare. It was once a normalcy, in the very beginning of things. It was known most in the Middle Ages, the medieval times. Yet, as time went on, those gifts started dying off with the people who wielded them. Necromancers now just deal mostly in spirits and witchcraft, if they descend from a bloodline of witches that is."

Blondie gave me a look and said, "So, there are witches. Care to tell me if I should start looking out for zombies too?"

I laughed softly, shaking my head. I waved my hand to the board. "Let's get this over with and we can have a whole history lesson, okay?"

My two classmates nodded and the four of us placed two light fingers on the planchette. I looked up slowly and said, "Uh, does anyone know if we need to do anything specific to get this going?"

"You're the ghost whisperer, you tell us," Crow murmured back.

I frowned but looked at the board and said loudly, "Is anyone here with us?"

We waited and nothing. Not even a sound of the wind blowing outside. I looked around, trying to think of something, anything, to bring a spirit to us. I wanted my familiar gray more than I thought humanly possible.

"If there is a spirit here, please move the planchette," I said, trying to detect if anything here was changing, if there was something here that didn't want to make itself known.

I noticed the change in temperature first. It was barely detectable but it had dropped, a chill would soon creep in. The change in air was heavy, too. It was like something was hovering above us, pushing down, compressing us in our circle. I wasn't sure if my companions even noticed as they stared at the board in waiting.

"I know you're here," I whispered, feeling my brows furrow and the eyes of my friends turn to me. "Either show yourself or move the piece."

It chose to move the planchette, agonizingly slow. At first, I thought Blondie might've been pulling it towards her but I could tell how lightly her fingers laid against the piece. It moved slowly, spelling for us.

H-E-L-L-O

"Freaky," breathed Blondie as Winker said, "No way."

I studied the area, letting my eyes run over the nooks and crannies, eyeing the open spaces. If a spirit was here, I should know, shouldn't I? Should I be able to recognize if one was here, force it free from the limbo and into the gray?

"Will you show yourself?" I asked.

N-O

"Who are you?"

It didn't move, and I frowned. I looked to Crow and he sighed and asked, "Did we know you?"

It moved.

Y-E-S

"Okay, that's promising," I mumbled, feeling the chill settle directly on my shoulders. The hair on the back of my neck and arms rose, goosebumps rising on every inch of me. "Did you die here?"

N-O

I tried to hide my disappointment, accidentally letting out a quiet sigh. I had hoped it would be her, I had prayed it would be. I needed to know she was okay, I needed a way to know if she was trapped here or had willingly passed. I wanted to know if I could help her, if there was a way to speak to her.

And as if by magic, the planchette began to move on its own. No question was said, not a word. I watched it with a racing heart as the letters began to spell out for us.

F-U-C-K-Y-O-U

"Are you serious?" Winker let out a hollow laugh, looking between the three of us in awe. "The ghost is cursing at us, I can't believe this."

"Blaire..." Crow mumbled and I met his eyes. "Who did you piss off?"

"You want the entire list or just my top three?"

He looked away, and I noticed how he ran his tongue over his teeth before he spoke. "At least give us a hint of who you are."

F-U-C-K-Y-O-U

"Whoever this is isn't going to play," Blondie said, scowling. "I had, like, important things to do this afternoon and this asshole is just going to keep telling us off. I thought we were here for answers?"

"We are," I snapped back. I shook my head, trying to hold back my own scowl. There was no need to get angry with each other when the ghost on the other side was just messing with us. "Are you going to be helpful or not, because we can sever this connection and you'll never pass over."

The spirit obliged and moved the piece.

H-E-L-P

I felt the air shift, the cold all over us now. I could hear static build up in the room, just a distant white noise and I opened and closed my mouth in an attempt to pop my ears. I bit down on the inside of my cheek as I tried to will the gray to come but the color wouldn't budge.

"Do you know where Cage Lake's list of necromancer's is?" Crow asked and I gave him a silent thank you for thinking ahead. I had hoped, after this, he would take me out to the cemetery in Bellenau to try and lure Cage out. And if that didn't work, I planned on, as disgusting as it sounded, to dig up his grave because it was very much like my father to bury our only lead with him.

And it seemed like I might've actually been right as the ghost took hold and spelled for us.

Y-E-S

G-R-A-V-E

"Great," I muttered before thinking of something and asking, "Can we trust you?"

Y-O-U-D-I-D-N-T

So, it seemed that I knew this spirit. I tried to rack my brain as to who could be speaking to us, and potentially lying. A part of me was scared that this could be John, that he was dead and so was Ace but he didn't know that I was now beginning to not trust him. To fear what they were doing together. My eyes went back to the board, watching the piece begin to stir.

"Cage didn't finish his search," a voice whispered to me like the wind. My shoulders stiffened and I straightened my back. "Two names remain." I looked at my friends and they looked at me, waiting. They hadn't heard what I had.

"Why didn't he finish his search?" I asked, knowing the answer and hoping the ghost could corroborate what we already knew.

T-I-M-E-W-A-S-U-P

The piece moved with such an agonizingly slow pace, I had just wished the phantom voice would whisper to me again. I eyed Crow, narrowing my eyes at the man who had supposedly killed my father. Granted, now that I knew Cage's secrets pretty well, he kind of deserved it. Not that I was justifying his tragic death for some lunatic crush that I potentially had, it's just that Cage was a dick. Simple as that.

Blondie caught my eye and she gave me an urging look that I only nodded back to. She heaved in a great breath before asking, "Do you know where John is?"

Y-E-S

"Is he okay?"

Y-E-S

"Are you going to tell us where he is?"

The planchette hesitated, faltering just for a moment before moving fully.

N-O

"Why?" I breathed.

It wouldn't move.

"Why?" I said again, feeling the cold creep through my clothes. "What aren't you telling us?"

Y-O-U

It moved so slow, I thought it was just my mind willing it to move to what I wanted to read.

K-I-L-L-E-D

Each letter felt like a century and I felt the cold turn to tension, thick and heavy like a swamp of emotions. I knew what the next word was going to be and even as it spelled it, I couldn't stop from gritting my teeth and the warmth of tears rushed to my face.

H-E-R

"Who the hell are you?' I snarled, my voice was such a low growl that it sounded feral. I wanted the beast that resided in me to come out, to strike a jabbed hand through the air and take the spirit by the throat.

I heard laughter, echoing all around me as the planchette moved. It skirted over the board, forming the same name, over and over and over again. He was taunting me, like when he had been alive.

I stood quickly, hands by my side in tight fists as I searched the space. The planchette continued to move without our fingers as everyone looked around as it spelled the same damn name. I was going to kill him.

A-M-Y A-M-Y A-M-Y

"Show yourself!" I snarled, thinking of reaching for Spiorad but stopping, I didn't need to freak out my classmates even more than I already had. "Amy, you goddamn asshole, show yourself! Now!"

The gray came hard and fast, the transition felt like a rough push to my chest. I stumbled back, heels digging into the ground and I lost my balance. I landed hard on my butt, gasping as I looked up.

Amy was here, in all his horrifying glory. He looked the same as he did when he was alive, except for burning splotches across his face.

"I can't believe you actually killed me," Amy laughed, hands on his hips. "And I can't believe you're stupid enough to use an ouija board, did no one teach you anything?"

I frowned.

"I'll take that expression as a no." He looked around the area, eyes landing on my frozen circle of friends. "Seems you've been hanging out with quite a different crowd since the last time I saw you. Sweet lover boy, queen bee, and her toy. How cute."

"Why are you here, Amy?" I slowly got to my feet, brushing the dirt and dust off my pants. Coldness radiated from him, and I could detect hints of anger and even slight remorse in his dark eyes.

"Thought I'd come and play for a while," he shrugged. "It's fun to see you squirm."

"Was anything you said through the board true?"

"Besides you being at fault for Pandora Bask's death?" he mused and darkness twinkled in those demon eyes. "Maybe."

"Do you actually know where Cage keeps the list? Are there really two names left?"

He nodded and for a moment, I was drawn not to trust him but I swallowed that feeling and believed. There wasn't much point in not anymore.

"Where can I find it?"

"I am dark and earthy, a home for those who leave," he cooed. "What am I?"

I scowled. "You know what, I don't remember you being this much of a dick when you were alive."

"What can I say? Death changes people."

"So, the list is in a grave," I sighed, rubbing my head. "Care to tell me who's grave it's in?"

He smirked, lips curling up on that young face. "Where would the fun be in that?"

"God, you're such a pain."

"You brought this on yourself."

"Well, duh! You tried to have me killed!"

"But did you die? Huh?"

"Amy, I swear to god, I'm going to kill you again if you don't at least act useful," I snarled, wondering how it would feel for a ghost to be strangled. Would they feel it? Or would I simply pass right through them and their misty forms? It was something I needed to take into consideration since there was no way I was sending Amy off into the great golden light when he acted like this. It would do him some good too simmer in the gray for a little longer.

The ghost of the demon shimmered as he shrugged. His blood sparkled, like an endless void seeping from broken skin. "I don't see why I should even try cooperating, since you did kill me."

I curled my hands into tight little fists. I was tempted to try strangling him, just for the fun of it.

"Why not contact Cage for the list? I'm sure he'll give it to you."

He had a point, but did I really want to deal with the blood geata trying to eat me alive for a second time this week? If it came down to it, I would.

"Can I ask you something unrelated to that?" I looked at him, the way he swayed through the air like he hadn't gotten used to this form.

He nodded, cocking his head to the side.

"Have you seen her here?"

He smiled. "You mean your little friend? Hmm..."

I waited, watching.

"No." His smile faded. "Sadly, there has been nothing from her here. No talk amongst the other ghouls, unfortunately. What are you looking to accomplish with her and your futile game of cat and mouse? Tell her you're sorry?" His smile returned. "Tell her you would've saved her? That you're sorry she died for you?"

I waved my hand through the air and at Amy's flashing face, my fingers swiping through him. "Goodbye, Amy."

He opened his mouth to speak but my hand moved through him and so did the gray. He was gone and my friends on the ground looked around wildly until they saw me standing a few feet away. Crow got to his feet first, dusty dirty covering his backside.

"Amy?" he asked and I nodded. "Was he helpful?"

"What do you think," I sighed, stepping past him and towards Blondie and Winker who were standing and gathering the ouija board.

Blondie gave me a wide grin as she breathed, "Okay, totally terrifying but also really thrilling? My heart is racing, who the hell is Amy? Was he a demon? Did you really kill him? Like, what was up with that?"

"It's a long story."

She pouted. "At least tell me more about this when I'm drunk at my party, okay? That way I won't be that scared when you tell me how and why you killed that ghost."

Winker nodded back, draping an arm over her shoulders. "Does this all mean we're all in this together? That we'll be fighting demons and ghosts?"

"Not necessarily fighting," I murmured with a smile as Blondie said, "We're helping her and John and Ace, we still don't know where they ran off to and if they're okay. For all we know, they could be on the bad side." She looked at me and asked, "Is there a bad side?"

"The devil's side," Crow said, stepping to my side. "We stop the devil from rising, or if he's already risen, we stop him that way. John and Ace could very well be in the middle of this."

"We find them and we find our answers," I agreed. "But we-" I looked at Crow. "-have a list to find."

He nodded back.

"Thank you both for coming, I know it wasn't...what we were probably thinking but I saw all of us here, and I think that means something for the future," I said to my classmates.

"I'm all for prophetic dreams," Winker said. "Let's just hope it won't end up with us being the ghosts trying to communicate through the board." He waved the ouija board in the air with a grin.

"See you at school?" Blondie asked and I nodded. "Call me if you find the list, okay? Whenever that may be, I'll be ready to hunt down some necromancers."

I smiled and held my tongue, not saying that if we did find necromancers, there was a fifty-fifty chance I would be the one dead at the end of the altercation. Instead, I waved them off with thank you's and soft goodbyes.

Crow scuffed the ground with his shoe, hands stuffed into his pockets. He watched as my friends got into their cars and drove off to probably hang out with each other or get dinner.

"So, you killed Amy," his voice was deep, edged with what I could guess was strange pride. There were pieces of hay clinging to his back and I reached a hand out to brush it off but stopped myself, reaching up to my necklace instead.

"He had it coming," was my only response, daring the air to grow cold but there was no change.

"How did you do it?"

"I did what I had to," I muttered back as I walked past him and out of the barn, noticing Blondie had taken the liberty to leave my bike by Crow's car. I grabbed it and moved it towards his car where he wordlessly helped me strap it to the back. He handed me my bag, which I hadn't realized I'd put down and I kept it clutched to my chest as I got into the passenger seat.

He let me go home before we really got into what we were going to do. I dropped my bike off and ran upstairs to pack a sizable overnight bag meant for a month. I didn't know how long I'd have to stay at Crow's cabin, but with Tobias still around and the looming threat of the devil, it was safer than being alone.

I said a soft goodbye to the area, in case Beatrice was listening, and ran out to Crow's car. He'd kept it running and the second I was inside, we were speeding off.

We were heading to Bellenau with two shovels in the trunk. 

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unedited chapt....again....lol

blondie and blaire r the best friends i never knew i needed

definitely getting into some hot shit soon sooooooo get hype ok....

comment/vote or amy will haunt ya