Amy. Amy. Amethyst!

Amethyst thought she was dreaming when she heard the voice, but at the exact same moment she realized that, on the contrary, these words were the cause of her sudden awakening. It was a while before she recognized the voice.

Samuel?

Two weeks had passed since Hope's post and the suspension of Johnson, and she hadn't visited any graveyard since then. But that couldn't be the cause of the voice which resembled so strongly that of the deceased boy – since she hadn't ever heard voiced like this before.

Amy!

She sat up, heart hammering in her chest. She pinched herself to check she really was awake, then slipped out of bed. An, at the first sight irreal fear, started to take hold of her. He sounded almost scared, but nothing could have happened, could it? He was already dead. In the scarce moonlight coming through the gap in the curtains she took her clothes of the floor and slipped into the bathroom to change as fast as she could. 

She didn't bother being silent – Hope was such a light sleeper she was likely awake from the moment Amy had sat up. Amethyst wasn't concerned about her asking questions later. Hope was a lot of things, but she wasn't the type to stick her nose into things that weren't her business. Amethyst hurried out of the room, closed the door behind her and ran off the stairs, meanwhile listening for the voice. A deep silence rang out, until – are you there? Can you here me? You need to help us.

He didn't just sound scared, he sounded panicked. Amy picked up her pace and climbed without hesitating over the gate that separated the school grounds from the parking lot. Her visits to the graveyards had sure brought her some climbing skills, and this time she wasn't wearing tights that could get stuck on spikes. 

The material of her jean overalls was thick enough, but she still felt the top of the fence painfully prodding her leg. She jumped, hurt her ankle, and again cursing took off in the direction of her small red car on the other side of the lot. She had just unlocked the door and plopped in the seat when Sam's voice sounded again, even more panicked, but with another message.

It's too late. He knows of you; stay where you are! The end of the sentence was almost not audible.

What did he mean? What was happening? The old car started with some difficulty, and completely ignoring his last command, she drove off into the night. Why would he ask her to come first and then tried to keep her away? But he had sounded so desperate, during both messages, that Amy just couldn't stay at her dorm. 

Maybe he did need her, but someone had forced him to contradict himself. Maybe it was the other way. Maybe it was a trap. It didn't take long for her to reach the graveyard, and when she jumped out of the vehicle, nothing seemed wrong. At the first sight. But when she walked over to the fence, she noticed it was unlocked.

 A breeze flew through her loose hair and caused goosebumps to appear on her skin. A shiver ran down her spine, and she hugged her waist, trying to get some warmth from that gesture. It was a very cold night – winter was clearly sneaking up on them. 

Autumn leaves crunched under her boots when she trespassed the graveyard border. Everything was dead silent, as always, and there were ghosts everywhere. Then what was bothering her so much, apart from Samuel's voice earlier on, and the fact she didn't see him anywhere? 

She walked over the path without a goal, and suddenly she knew. Their expressions – they were afraid. Deadly afraid. And they were all glancing one way – to the right of her, in the direction of the newer graves. Amethyst increased her pace, and the moment she turned in that direction, one of the ghosts separated herself from the crowd and spoke to her in a soft whisper. She didn't recognize her, but the middle-aged female just said, "Don't."

She had blended into the ghosts on both sides of the path Amy was walking before she could turn her head to look at her. Her heart was racing, and she felt her pace getting slower. There still was nothing really wrong, but still... She took a turn right, and she saw the mouths of the people moving in silent whispers.

"Amy, turn back!" someone screamed, and the next second another person jumped her from behind and wrestled her arms behind her back, keeping her from any movement. Amethyst screamed in shock, her yell ringing out over the silent place.

"Silent, little girl," someone whispered in her ear, and she tried to turn her head to look at her assaulter. Hot breath blew over her cheek. She could not see him, but would recognize his tone of voice anywhere. Johnson. What was he doing here? Her thoughts were tumbling over each other, strangled in her panic, keeping her from thinking rationally. She tried to struggle loose, but his grip tightened, painfully, and she groaned.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, out of breath. From the corner of her eye, she caught a familiar sight, and she turned her head.

"Samuel? What's happening?"

Johnson twisted her arms and bent over so she could see his face, twisted with rage.

"I'm the one asking the questions here, miss Howard." His blue eyes were dark with something that was much worse, and at that moment, the panic came in fully.

"Let me go!" she screamed, trying to kick him but getting forced on her knees instead. He was crazy. It was all much worse than she had thought.

"I'm sorry, Amy," Sam started, face twisted with pain and regret. "He..."

He shut up as if forced, his eyes flashing with anger.

"So you're the one who ruined my life, huh?" Johnson said. "Little Amy, who seems to be able to talk to ghosts, the only one with powers beside me. The one who tried really hard to get send to the principal so you could inform him of the rumors that were already spread in a mysterious way. Coincidence?"

"I didn't post that message," Amy snapped. She tried to signal Samuel with her eyes to try to break out of whatever kept him silent. What was happening? How did he know of her powers? Why did he seem to be able to shutting ghosts up?

"Then who did? That other girl with supernatural gifts who is accidently hanging around in this school?"

"I can talk to ghosts, not read thoughts," she breathed, cringing due to the pain that was shooting through her arms.

He laughed in her ear.

"Oh, you could've got a lot of information outta those ghosts, girl. And, I don't know, maybe you can. I haven't heard of that sort for so long they could've blended in with yours."

What?

And then she remembered what he had said before.

The only one with powers beside me.

"What do you mean, you've got powers?"

Samuel gasped audibly, and something urged him forward.

"He can force us to do things," he whispered. "Get in our head. He saw you, and forced me to tell him about you. To call you. I'm sorry."

When Amy had met Hope, she had though they were the only two who could do such things. But here he was, manipulating ghosts and talking about her sort.

"You gonna kill me?" she gasped when she felt cold metal against her throat. Her whole body felt numb with fear.

"Don't know yet. But for now I'm just making sure you won't run away. He hauled her to her feet, and started walking.

"Where are we going?"

"Shut you mouth, little bitch, until I ask you something. But to answer your question, you're going to tell me everything you know about me. Then I will see if you're going to be kept alive."

The next moment everything went fast. His grip loosened, the knife fell away from her throat and a muffled thump sounded when something heavy hit the ground. Amethyst turned, and she saw Johnson's body lying on the ground and Hope standing there frowning down on the body, a heavy branch loosely in her hand and her dark skin glinting in the moonlight.

"Hope!" Amy cried out. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Saving your goddamn life. Are you stupid?" Hope scream-whispered at her. "Let's get out of here."

She took her by the arm and dragged her to the exit.

"But... why are you here?"

"I think you're forgetting I can read minds. Don't let me risk my life for you ever again, okay?" Hope still sounded angry. "How the fuck didn't you think? You knew he was furious, and about a week later you hear voices you've never heard before and you decide to go investigate?"

"I thought someone was hurting him!" Amy hissed, and freed her arm forcefully to just walk by herself instead of being dragged.

"He's a ghost, by the devil! He's already dead!"

They reached the gate, and Amy realized something.

"How did you get here? You don't have..."

Then she saw the car, and she gasped.

"Please tell me you're joking."

Hope glared at her.

"Yes, I called your little friend. So what? I just said you needed to be picked up, didn't say why."

It was weird, how the panic that overtook her now was almost worse than the one she felt when her life was in danger.

"What, so you wanted me to let you die?"

"It could've been nothing! Maybe he was in danger! Oh my God, maybe he still is! Hope..."

"Get in the fucking car, Amethyst," Hope growled. "He's going to wake up at any moment, and then we're both dead."

They had reached the car, but before getting in, Amy stopped to say, "He's going to know it's you now. He can ask the ghosts. He can..."

"I don't care! He was going to figure it out either way, with those powers of his. And I'm not as bad a person to let other people take the blame for me."

Then Hope opened the door of the backseat and pushed Amy in, before taking the passenger's seat herself. In the lights of the car, Amy saw Hayden looking at her with big eyes. She smiled shyly at them.

"Hi. Thank you for picking me up."

They smiled back and nodded, but Amy knew they knew something was wrong.

She didn't know what Hope had told them, but she didn't dare saying something with the risk of ruining the story. Luckily, Hope turned in her seat when Hayden turned on the road.

"I told you you should've checked your fuel when going out again. What're you going to with your car now?"

Amy sighed.

"Something has to come back with me tomorrow with some gasoline. I can't believe I was so stupid."

She felt horrible. Samuel was still with Johnson, who now knew about Hope, and she was on top of it all lying to her best friend. What had Hope been thinking when she asked Hayden for help? Was she trying to expose Amy?

They reached the school pretty quickly, and climbed over the fence in a heavy silence. When they arrived at the dorm, Hayden quickly wished them goodnight and disappeared. Amy looked at their back when they walked off, hopeless. They knew something was wrong. They were way too smart for that. She could say Hope had ruined everything, but really, she had. She hadn't trusted her best friend. At that moment she just wanted to curl up in bed and cry, but she had to ask Hope one question.

"How do you know about his powers?"

Hope just looked at her.

"I have ears, you know," she said, but something in Amy told her her roommate wasn't telling the whole truth.