Archive of Our Own

The dark, silent, empty meta-room returns. Our trenchcoated detective, the irascible Cecilia Tinsley, steps into the light. “We’re about to go back in time,” she says, “but first let’s meet a couple new people.”

She waves into the darkness, and someone steps forward.

The person is a short, skinny boy with dark olive skin: the right side of his head is buzzed, but the left side is covered with a long flop of straight black hair. He looks no older than fifteen. He’s got a huge grin, and a well-worn messenger bag. “Hi!” he says. “I’m Nic. I want to know everything that happens here in Willow River. Detective Tinsley even lets me—”

“Whoa there,” Cecilia says, “nobody calls me that anymore.”

Nic sticks his chin out resolutely. “You’re a detective in my books, ma’am.” Cecilia rolls her eyes, and Nic continues. “Detective Tinsley lets me follow her around and write articles for the newspaper, and Mr Madej lets me use any of his books for research projects!” He worries at the strap of his messenger bag: it looks like a nervous tic. “I want to be a reporter when I graduate high school.”

He waves into the darkness. “Okay, bye!” He walks back into the shadows, and Cecilia shakes her head fondly.

“Who’s next?” calls Tinsley, looking around the circle. After a moment of quiet, another person steps into the light.

This person is tall – not at tall as Cecilia, but at least 5’ 9” or 5’ 10”. They seem painfully aware of their height, and they don’t like it much. They’re solidly built, maybe even a little stocky, and their hair is short and bright blonde, sitting atop a round and nervous face. They’re very pale, and wear square glasses, along with cargo shorts and a collared plaid flannel shirt.

“H-hi,” the new person says, “I’m ... I’m Ash. Um... I’m a boy, even if I don’t look like it much.”

Cecilia looks concerned. “You don’t have to justify it to anyone, Ash. You don’t owe anyone an explanation.”

Ash’s shoulders square and he looks determined. “No. No, I’m telling people.”

Cecilia nods. “Okay. We’re here for you, kid.”

Ash takes a deep breath and looks into the darkness. “I’m Ash O’Meara, and I want to be Ryan Bergara when I grow up.” Cecilia just barely disguises a laugh with a cough. “I’m a junior in high school and I want to go to film school when I graduate. And... and I guess that’s all there really is to know about me.” He ducks into the darkness again and Cecilia looks like she wants to go after him and give him a hug.

Cecilia looks back across the circle. “There you have it – those are our new people. See you soon, when we’ll jump back to Christmas-time...”

The meta-room fades to black.

Christmas Eve, 2019.

The tiny town of Willow River is peaceful on this Christmas Eve, nestled in amongst the snowy mountains and even snowier forests. The swarm of reporters following the UFO sightings of November and early December has died down. It’s eleven-thirty at night and most folks in Willow River are indulging in their Christmas traditions: midnight mass at the hotel-converted-to-cathedral, the candlelight service at the only old Baptist church in town, Eugene’s Christmas feast (day one) at the Sidekick, featuring Jen’s acoustic arrangements of Christmas carols on solo guitar, and of course Shane’s Jólabókaflóð (an imported Icelandic tradition, wherein everyone gives each other books) at Alshaytania.  The streets are by no means empty, as the residents are making their way to their tradition of choice: everyone is rosy-cheeked and bundled in parkas, the Fulmers’ toddler running around wildly and crashing into snowbanks while the slightly older kids pelt each other with snowballs.

Meanwhile, down the street, one of the newest additions to Willow River’s permanent residents, Ryan Bergara, is dancing around his new house to Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You”, while waiting for folks to show up to his addition to the town’s Christmas traditions: the Christmas Eve Ghost Hunt.  Ryan has been doing something similar for five or six years now – he can’t remember for sure, but he could look it up if he wanted – and he’s nervous, but excited. There’s a great house here in town, purportedly very haunted: the old McVoy house, one of the first houses built in Willow River, by one of the town’s founders. He got permission from the ‘mayor’, Keith Habersberger, just the other day – for some reason, Keith had been a little hesitant to give him access overnight, but Ryan had brought him around eventually. Now was just the waiting: he hoped at least one other person would show up, but if needs must he’d go on his own. Ghost hunting was always better with a buddy, but, well, Ryan was nothing if not determined.

Midway through his third rendition of Mariah, he hears a knock at the door, and screeches to a halt, his heart thudding. Holy shit, someone actually came?!  He hadn’t quite thought himself through this scenario. …He hadn’t made many friends yet.

“Mr. Bergara?” Ash knocked again on the door, excitement and nerves making his voice shake.

At the familiar sound of Ash’s voice, Ryan exhales. Ash, he could handle. The kid was nervous, but he was a really good kid. He opened the door, seeing Ash on the porch, and smiled. “Hey, Ash!”

“H-hi!” Ash is slightly star-struck. He adjusts his hold on his backpack, making him look even younger than he is.

Ryan scratches the back of his head nervously. He still wasn’t used to how much Ash looked up to him, or how fast the kid had latched on. “Uh ... are you here for the ghost hunt?”

Mentioning the ghost hunt got rid of most of his star-struck expression, replacing it with a look of excitement. “Y-yes, of course! I’ve been looking forward to this!”

Ryan’s heart flips. He’s really not used to people liking his ideas and being excited about them. Even if it was a high school student— that’s fine! Ryan was there not all that long ago...  “That’s – that’s great, Ash!” He spies someone running up the street. “Was someone following you? I don’t recognize whoever that is coming ... “

“Uhh, no?” Ash had thought he was alone. He turns to the figure Ryan is looking at.

The person arrives a moment later, slightly out of breath: it’s a woman, of average height and above-average endowment, with a mop of short blonde curls, crooked glasses, dark berry-coloured lipstick, and a lopsided smirk of a smile. She vaults the stairs two at a time up to the front porch, and leans on the railing to catch her breath. “Hoo ... is this the ghost hunt? Am I in time?”

Ryan blinks at the new arrival, and doesn’t say anything for a moment. When Ash looks back, to see if Mr Bergara’s been abducted by aliens, he sees Ryan looking ... gobsmacked. Vaguely awe-struck, even.

Ash looks between the two adults for a second. He keeps quiet, not really wanting to talk to someone he doesn’t know.

The woman stands up straight, still catching her breath a little, and looks a little unsure of herself. “Uh – you’re Ryan Bergara, right? I’m in the right place? Oh God I hope I’m in the right place.”

Ryan swallows, and finds his voice, and almost avoids a squeak on the first word. “I—” He clears his throat. “Yes! I’m Ryan Bergara. This is the ghost hunt. You’re — you’re Christine Novak.”

The woman blushes a bit. “Um, yes, that’s me, I’m Christine Novak. Why...”

“I am the biggest fan of your work, holy shit,” Ryan says, all in a rush. “Why on earth are you here in Willow River and how in the hell do you know my name?”

She definitely blushes now. “Oh! Well, um. Thank you! That’s really flattering. I – well, to be honest,” she says, scratching the back of her neck, “I’m here because of the UFOs and also because I’m a big fan of your work and, I mean, I’m only over in Edmonton, it’s not that far, it was a nice coincidence?”

Ryan has lost his tongue again.

Ash is still a little hesitant to interact with Christine, even after Ryan seemed star-struck by her presence. “M-Mr Bergara? The ghost tour?” Ash’s voice wavers during his interruption: he just really wants to hunt some ghosts.

Ryan snaps to attention, looking at Ash. “Oh! Right! Yeah, of course! That’s why we’re all here after all. Oh man. Here I was, ready to do some standard EMF readings and maybe some infrared, do a few EVP sessions and, hell, maybe even the spirit box, but now—” He looks at Christine. “Um, Miss Novak, would you—”

“Oh, please, call me Christine.” She smiles, trying to regain some confidence.

Ryan smiles back, more nervously. “Uh, sure. Christine, would you be willing to help me lead it? You have a whole other set of skills that I don’t, it would be so fascinating to get double the readings in totally different areas...”

“Oh!” Christine exclaims. “Oh, sure! I was planning to just tag along and have some fun, but, well, I do have my pendulum at least. Have you got any candles handy? A Ouija board would be really great, but I don’t suppose you have one—”

Ryan interrupts her. “Of course I do! Hang on a sec!” He dashes back into the house, the door slamming behind him and making both Ash and Christine jump.  The conversation and the sudden sound both disguise the sound of footsteps crunching in the snow: another woman, coming up the drive, with long red hair and a warm jacket.

Ash sees the new person walk up the drive. While he is glad that Mr Bergara’s tour is going to be popular, he had kind of hoped he would have been able to ghost hunt with Mr Bergara by himself, without having to worry about talking to other people. He puts on his best, trying-not-to-look-awkward smile.

Cassandra walks up to the front of the house, hands in her jacket pockets, and smiles when she’s close enough to see the others’ faces. “Good evening!” She says, eyeing the closed door. “Is this the meet-up spot for the paranormal investigation?”

Christine beams, the friendly and quirky smile disarming. “Yes! We’re just waiting for Ryan.”

“Uhhh, Mr Bergara j— he just went in— inside for something...” Ash awkwardly says, slightly trailing off at the end.

 “Ah, I see, thanks!” She smiles at them both, and then she hesitates. She squints a little bit. “I— Sorry if this sounds weird, but have we met before? I feel like I know you.”

Christine keeps smiling. “It’s possible – I haven’t been doing a whole lot of live shows lately, but you may have seen me online? I’m Christine Novak.” She extends her hand to shake, and the familiar-yet-knowledgeable TV presenter personality is firmly in place, the charisma flowing.

“Oh my God, of course! I’ve seen your lives, you’re a big name in the community!” Cassandra shakes her hand, then adds hastily, “And rightfully so, I mean, you really go for the evidence. That’s amazing, I didn’t know you were in town. I’m Cassandra, by the way. Cassandra Wojtek. And you are?” She offers her hand to Ash next, smiling at him.

Ash nervously takes Cassandra’s hand. “I— I’m Ash.”

Ryan is still inside the house, but Cassandra, Christine, and Ash hear a whole group of people coming up behind them – sounds like about four people.  “Well go on then,” comes a voice familiar to two-thirds of the people on the porch, “get up there, I have to get back to the bookstore!”

Suddenly there’s a clattering of boots on wood as three people join the three already under the snow-covered awning: a tiny, scrawny olive-skinned boy who looks like he’s drowning in his parka, a tall person with facial tattoos and a rather amused look on their face, and a girl with straight black hair who looks far more openly amused than any of them.

At precisely this moment, Ryan opens the front door, with several gear bags slung over his shoulders, and he looks utterly astonished to see the mess of people on his front step – and, not least, to see the inhumanly tall and lanky bookstore owner standing in the snow at the bottom of his steps. “Shane? What are you doing here? You’re the last person I’d expect to want to come on a ghost hunt—”

“Oh don’t worry, Ryan, I’m not coming on your adorable little ghost hunt, I have a book exchange to run over at Alshaytania.” He jerks his thumb over his shoulder, but he looks affable and amused. “Mik, Nicolas, and Xiaolian were interested, and I said I’d walk them over.”

Nic grins at the group, looking at each newcomer with interest. “Hi, I’m Nic. I’m writing about the ghost hunt for the paper so I’d like to speak to each of you about ghosts at some point!” His grin slips a little. “As long as you’re fine with it of course!” He bounces a little on his heels – both from the cold and from excitement.

Shane catches sight of Christine and arches an eyebrow. “Christine Novak, right?”

“Yes, that’s me,” she replies, still smiling. “And you are?”

“Shane Madej,” he replies, “I own the bookstore in town. Ryan never shuts up about you. Didn’t think I’d see you in this little corner of the world.”

“Well,” she says, with a shrug, “I’m interested in what’s going on, just like he is. Are you a believer, too?”

Xiaolian snickers at the lady’s question but stays silent otherwise.  Ash snorts, then looks embarrassed.

Shane’s smile erupts into a lopsided smirk to match Christine’s. “I’m what you’d call an avowed skeptic.”

Ryan snorts. “Let’s go with complete and utter cynic, how about?”

Shane raises an eyebrow at him. “I keep an open mind. Not so open that my brain falls out, unlike some new arrivals in town I could name.”

Ryan looks like he wants to stick his tongue out, but stops himself. “Just because I don’t think literally everything can be explained by apophenia doesn’t mean I can’t think critically.”

Christine raises both eyebrows, looking between them. “I ... see.”

Shane shoves his hands – gloveless – back into the pockets of his (highly inappropriate for the season) jean jacket. “Well – I’d better get back to the book exchange. Mrs Rieselmann is deeply anxious to talk to me about the latest instalment of Desperate Duchesses.”

Ryan grins. “Sounds scintillating. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather come see a grade-A medium in action?”

Christine opens her mouth to speak, but Shane speaks first. “As tempting as that sounds, I already know what aftereffects in Adobe Premiere look like, and I really don’t think you want me raining on your parade.” He grins, and begins to turn. “You kids have fun. When you’re done scaring yourselves shitless, do come by the bookstore. I’ll have hot cocoa on well into the night.”

Xiaolian throws out her arms for a hug.

Shane sees, and comes over to give Xiaolian a hug. He ruffles her hair – and Nic’s – as he lets go. “Remember the rules, kiddos – no summoning demons, no blood rituals after midnight, and ectoplasm only comes out of cloth if you use spirit vinegar.”

Ash waves goodbye to Shane, smiling at his antics.

“Bye Mr Madej!” Nic attempts to extract his hands from his pockets to wave but ends up just awkwardly waving his elbows.

Xiaolian takes the moment to pull Shane down to her level. She whispers, “Gay!” in his ear, then immediately lets go, walks up to Ryan and sticks her hand out for a shake. “Hi Ryan!”

Shane stifles a chuckle and vaguely hip-checks Xiaolian before walking away into the snow, which has begun to fall in big fluffy flakes.

Ryan shakes Xiaolian’s hand. “Hey Xiaolian. Nice to see you again. I didn’t know you were interested in ghosts.”

She laughs. “I’m actually a huge believer, and so were my parents. But since I hang out with Shane so much, people think I don’t.” She gives him her brightest smile, determined to impress her new dad— Shane’s crush—  the new neighbor. “I’m really excited for tonight, thank you for doing this!”

Ryan grins back. “I’m glad you’re excited! I’ve been making this a Christmas tradition of mine for a few years now, and I thought, there’s no reason not to keep it going here.” He pauses, and frowns a little. “Your parents were...? Oh. I’m so sorry, your parents were the couple who died in the— sorry, you probably don’t want to talk about that.” He looks awkward. “Sorry again. Uh, I’m really glad you came tonight. I think we’re gonna have a lot of fun. Do you know Christine?” He nods towards the blonde leaning against the railing.

Xiaolian keeps the smile on her face and does her best to not visibly show her pain. “Don’t worry about it Ryan, it was almost ten years ago. Walking on eggshells won’t do anyone any good.” She turns towards Christine. “No, I don’t.”

Ryan looks suitably abashed. Christine jumps in, walking forward and extending her hand to Xiaolian. “Hi— Xiaolian, was it? I’m Christine Novak. I’m a psychic and medium, I do a lot of paranormal research. It’s nice to meet you.”

Xiaolian heart seizes for a second. “A medium?” She blinks, then presses on. “Ah, that’s so cool! What are you doing down in Willow River?”

“Well, I’m really interested in the reports of some people missing time alongside these lights-in-the-sky incidents,” she replies. “Missing time hasn’t only been linked to alien abductions, it’s been linked to possessions as well, and that’s a little more my field – though, that being said, I’ve been dabbling in interdimensional mediumship lately, and some of the theories about transdimensional extraterrestrials have been really coming to fruition in my work. Flight 19’s a fascinating case, I don’t know if you’ve heard about that one, it was a military training exercise that disappeared over the Bermuda Triangle, there have been some reports that they’re trapped in an interdimensional space—” She cuts herself off. “God, I’m sorry, you get me talking shop and I’ll never shut up.” She grins, a little sheepishly.

Ryan has returned to looking positively star-struck.

Xiaolian has about the same look on her face. This is love. “No, please don’t ever stop.”

Christine blushes. (Ryan may also be blushing.)  “Ah, well, thank you, you’re very kind,” she says – and then catches the eye of the only person who hasn’t spoken yet, the quiet tattooed fellow. “Hello, I don’t think we’ve met yet!”

Mikaere has been listening, rapt, to Christine’s spiel. They shake themselves and hold out a hand. “I’m Mikaere. I’ve been, uh, I’ve been doing a lot of research on the lights around here. I’d love to hear what you think about it all!”

Christine shakes their hand, the same quirky grin still on her face. She really is a consummate performer. “Sure! Let’s have coffee sometime, I’d love to chat about it.”

Mikaere beams. They take Christine’s hand and adjust her grip so that they’re grasping each other’s forearms. They press their noses together, then pull away. “Deal,” they say.

Christine looks a little surprised, but takes the new greeting in stride, and grasps back appropriately.

Mikaere turns to Ryan. “So! Where do we start?”

 “Well,” Ryan says, regaining a good bit of the twinkle in his eye and excitement in his face, “we’re going to the McVoy house tonight.”

Ash openly stares at Ryan, enraptured as he speaks.

“Sounds fun,” Cass chimes in, excited. She greets the new people with a nod and a smile.

Mikaere’s eyebrows shoot up. “Keith gave you permission for that?! Man, what the hell! I’ve been wanting to get in there forever!”

Ryan grins. “It took some convincing, but he came around.” He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small keyring, jingling it. “Ready for some ghosts?”

“Have you managed to piece together the conflicting stories Mr. Bergara? They all seem to contradict each other and don’t make much historical sense,” Ash speaks up. He forgets that he is surrounded by new people until he is finished and he blushes.

“Mr Bergara? Can I speak to you later about the history of the house? I assume you’ve done a lot of research,” Nic eagerly pipes up. He finally struggles his hands out of his pockets bringing with them a notebook and pen.

Xiaolian gives Cass a side look, remembering her brother telling her to stay away. She looks at Ryan. She decides to stick close to him.

“I, uh, would also love to hear about it. I’m not from around here and I don’t think I’ve heard all there is to know about this house...?” Cass says, eyeing the people who seem to be from town. She doesn’t quite catch Xiaolian looking at her.

Ryan hefts the gear bags on his shoulders, then leads them down the porch steps into the snow.  Ash immediately follows, and walks right next to Ryan, hanging on to every word he says.  Nic follows close behind. Thorough reporting requires constant vigilance and lots and lots of listening.  Cass brings up the rear but close enough to catch everything Ryan is saying.  And as Ryan walks, he talks, in a low sort of monotone. “In the early 1910s, the town of Willow River was founded by the Willow River Timber Company, which was planning a one-point-five-million-dollar sawmill at the river mouth. By 1911, J. M. Wiley, a grain mogul from Winnipeg, had fifty acres cleared and ready for cultivation. Soon after, two farmers, Ralph McVoy and C. T. Harvey, had settled in the area. McVoy was also involved in railway tie contracting. It is his house that we will be going to tonight.

“His house, an opulent mansion by the little town’s standards, was completed by 1913, and the three-story building remained in the family for decades. It has sat vacant since the late nineties, owing to its history of paranormal activity: no business has survived more than two years.

“McVoy is perhaps the first instance of strange occurrences in Willow River, a town with over a century of unexplained phenomena. In 1934, after he had retired from farming, his body was discovered in the Fraser River. A coroner’s inquest returned an open verdict on his death, which had occurred from a rifle wound inflicted by a person, or persons, unknown. The local community, of course, suspected murder, but nothing was ever proven.”

Ash whispers “That’s a murder.”

Nic studiously underlines “murder” in his notebook.

“Visitors and residents have reported knocking, footsteps, furniture moving, cold spots, lights turning on and off even when the house has been disconnected from the hydro grid, and voices coming from empty rooms. One business owner even reported an incident where she heard what sounded like someone falling down the stairs, and a woman’s scream, only to find no one there and a strange dark spot on the floorboards at the foot of the stairs, where there had not been one before. It’s worth noting that she was the only one in the house at the time.”  The end of this spiel brings them to the front door of the house Ryan has been describing. It’s imposing, even in the fluffy snow: three stories, very square, all shuttered windows (some broken). The paint has mostly peeled off: it looks weather-beaten and worn and utterly foreboding.

Ash’s eyes go wide. He wholeheartedly believes every word coming from Ryan.

Cass takes out her phone from her pocket and starts typing a few notes about what she’s hearing.

“It’s not known which spirits, if any, inhabit the McVoy house. Little research has been done on the place, owing to Willow River’s remote location.” Ryan turns to them and holds up the key. “We’re some of the first.”

Nic spots Cassandra pull out her phone and whispers to her. “You can borrow mine once I’ve typed them up if you want.”

“Oh?” Cassandra looks up, surprised, and whispers back. “Thank you!” She smiles and locks her screen, but keeps her phone in her hands.

Ash pulls out his disposable camera and takes a few photos of the outside of the house, focusing on the windows. He shivers as he looks into the windows and he doesn’t think it’s because of the snow.

Xiaolian takes in the whole house. She looks at everyone else who’s taking notes. So serious.

Nic’s eyes light up at the camera. “Hey, if you don’t mind, I could probably use some photos to go with my article if those come out well?” He grins at Ash.

Xiaolian’s eyes light up. “Whoa, you’re writing an article?” She can’t help but scoot closer. “That’s so cool!”

Ash turns to Nic. He’s a little embarrassed but he nods. “Y-yeah. You can use any that have irregularities or just some atmosphere shots. I took a picture of the whole house that will probably turn out really great.” Ash shuts his mouth abruptly, realizing he had been talking for quite a bit.

Mikaere, who’s sipping on an energy drink they produced from their bag on the walk over, is bouncing with poorly concealed excitement. They watch the high schoolers’ enthusiasm, considering, before shrugging and jumping in as well. “Can I borrow those notes and – and photos too? I can offer the independent research I’ve done on the house, as background.”

Ryan and Christine look absolutely enamoured of the group, and Ryan’s blushing a little. He gives a second thought to starting up that paranormal club at the high school in Giscome, or maybe a weekly group meeting ...

“Thanks!” Nic grins at Ash and turns to Xiaolian. “Yeah! I write for the paper. I thought the ghost tour would be a good interest piece! It’s Xiaolian right? I’d love to get a quote from you later since you live in town!” He turns to Mikaere with enthusiasm. “’Course you can borrow my notes! I’d love to see your research!” Nic finds himself bouncing on his feet again and makes himself blush a little, attempting to dampen down his enthusiasm.

Xiaolian gives Nic a smile. “Yeah, no problem! And if you want, you can pop down to the cafe I work at and I’ll help you out with some food!”

Nic grins. “Sounds like a plan! Ash, you’ll come too right?”

“Oh,” Ash tears his eyes away from Novak to look at the other kids. “I-if you want me there, I’d lov-- I’d like to come.”

Mikaere grins. “Ka pai!”

“When was the last time there was anyone inside the house, by the way?” Cass asks Ryan, also watching fondly, as everyone seems as excited as she is to be there.

“I’m not sure,” Ryan says. “The last attempt at a business was a decade ago. Keith didn’t say if there’d been anyone else in since.” Ryan, still grinning, turns to the door and puts the key in the lock, turning it, opening it. The door creaks, and a gust of stale, dusty air whooshes out. Christine seems to catch her breath, and instinctively puts a hand to her chest.

Nic jumps a little as Ryan opens the door and quickly begins scribbling in his notebook again.

“You okay?” Cassandra asks of her, then tries to peek inside the darkness. It sure smells dusty and old.

 “Ah,” Christine says, “yes, I’m fine. Just ... you weren’t kidding, Ryan.” She shakes her head a little, then unbuttons the top of her coat and reaches in, pulling out a fine golden chain with a small pendant on it.

Ash watches her carefully. He is fascinated by her and is what to hear what she says.

Ryan looks over his shoulder. “Any first impressions?”

Christine is staring into the dark, open doorway. “Not much yet. Just heavy. Not a happy place, but ... I’d need to go in to find out more.”

Ryan nods. “Of course. Good thing that’s what we’re here for.”

Mikaere resolves to hang back from the group a little, keeping an eye on Novak. These kids, and Ryan too, if anything Shane has said about him is true, are too starry-eyed for their own good.

“Looks like a good place to haunt, if I were a ghost,” Cass says more to herself than anything. She’s curious about Christine’s pendant, but doesn’t say anything about it.

Ash walks closer to the door. He stops close to Ryan. “We should turn on the EVP recorders so we can catch if any ghosts say anything to our appearance. An increase of energy that a large group of people have could cause some activity!”

“Good idea, Ash,” Ryan says, and opens a bag. He hands Ash a recorder. “Go ahead.”

Xiaolian frowns at the idea of a lot of activity. Just because she believes doesn’t mean she necessarily wants to meet any ghosts. She looks at Ryan. “Oh, by the way, if my brother asks I didn’t come with y’all tonight.”

Nic scribbles EVP in his notebook and makes sure to make a note to ask how it works later.  “Don’t worry,” he says to Xiaolian, “you can be my anonymous source! Every great article needs an anonymous source!”

Xiaolian looks at Nic. “I think I love you.”

“No worries Xiaolian.” Ryan grins. “My brother and I used to sneak out on hunts all the time. Your secret’s safe with me. You were at the book exchange all evening...”

Ash takes the recorder and turns it on, holding it kind of outstretched from his body.

“Is anyone here younger than eighteen? Or sixteen?” Cassandra asks, suddenly realizing the group might not be just adults.

She looks at Cass, hesitant to answer but not wanting to seem rude. “No, I’m 18.”

Nic scratches his nose with the back of his pen. “I’m definitely an adult…” He pauses and sighs. “I’m fifteen.”

“I’m seventeen, a-and I totally have my parents’ permission to be here!” Ash kind of rushes to get his words out.

“I’m sixteen soon!” exclaims Nic. “Like fourteen days!!”

“A child,” huffs Xiaolian.

Mikaere is doing a poor job of stifling their laughter. God, this brings back so many memories of their high school days.

“The only thing worst than a rapist, boom,” Ash whispers.

“Good one!” Nic raises his hand to Ash for a high five.  Then, to Xiaolian: “Says the one who’s lying to her brother about where she is!”

Ash smiles and high fives Nic.

 “Joke’s on you, lying to people is an adult thing to do,” Xiaolian says with a grin.

 “Alright, alright everyone. Don’t worry. Everyone’s going to be fine. No one has ever reported any malevolent spirits in this house, only annoying and freaky ones.”  Ryan is facing the building, but you can tell he just rolled his eyes.  He leads them into the house. It’s dark and very dusty, the smell of stagnant air and old cloth permeating the air. The staircase is immediately in front of them, leading up into the top levels of the house; this bottom floor is fairly empty, nearly devoid of furniture apart from a couple pieces which are draped in old yellowing sheets.

“Well, I can only wish my teenage years had been this exciting,” Cass follows them inside, and immediately focuses on the staircase. “This is it? The stains you mentioned some poor woman found were right here?” She points to the bottom of the stairs.

Ash holds the recorder with one hand and starts taking pictures this the other hand, being very careful to make sure the recorder doesn’t pick up the background noise of him moving.

“Looks like it,” Ryan says, closing the door behind everyone. “Does anyone else want some equipment? I’ve got an infrared camera, a spirit box, another recorder, an EMF detector...”

Mikaere raises a hand. “Can I take something?”

Nic waves his notebook. “I’m good”

“I’ll take the spirit box, please,” says Xiaolian.

“I wouldn’t say no to the infrared camera,” Cass says.

Christine shakes her head. “I’ll keep myself open, thanks.”

Ryan hands Xiaolian the spirit box, gives Mik the EMF detector, and passes the infrared camera to Cassandra.

Mik examines the EMF detector. “Thanks,” they say. “I, uh... I don’t know how to use this.”

Nic takes a note of who takes what, making sure to write “anonymous citizen” instead of Xiaolian.

“We should uh, have an EVP session by the stairs, right?” Ash says to Ryan, trying to keep his voice quiet.

“Yeah, we definitely should,” agrees Ryan. “Christine, would you be willing to lead it?”

Christine nods. She unzips her jacket and steps forward slightly, to the base of the stairs – not quite where someone would land after falling, but unsettlingly close to it. “Would you all please form a circle, including the bottom step in the circle?”

Ash and Cassandra are quick to follow her instructions, Ash holding the recorder out so it’s roughly in the middle of the circle; Mikaere takes the bottom step, so that no one else has to.  Nic steps in close, positioning himself next to Christine so he can catch everything she does.  After everyone has arranged themselves, Christine closes her eyes and takes a slow, deep breath.

“Spirits,” she says, in a gentle voice, “we are here tonight to communicate with you. We mean you no harm.”

Cassandra notices that at some point, Christine tucked her pendant back into her shirt.

Well, that’s interesting, she thinks to herself. Her eyes are trained on Christine now, and on her gestures.

“If there is anyone here with us tonight, could you please let us know by knocking on the floor in front of me? One knock for yes, two knocks for no.”

There is silence for a moment, and then... a sharp knock resonates from just in front of her feet – roughly where someone would hit the floor, after falling down the stairs. They can feel the vibrations through the old floorboards.

Cassandra lets out an “oh, shit,” but stays put. She silently looks around the circle to gauge everyone’s reactions: Mikaere jumps, then tries really hard to compose themselves and look unruffled.  Ash gasps out loud. He is a little scared but mostly excited. He turns to look at Ryan, who has put on a harness with two cameras in front of him, both of which show red lights, and looks surprised.  Xiaolian takes a deep breath but otherwise tries to stay focused, and Nic’s eyes grow wider and he gulps, but he remains diligent in his note taking.

Christine exhales, slowly. “Thank you. We have a host of recorders here tonight to better allow us to communicate with you. If you have anything to say at any time, please speak into one of them, or show yourself to one of them. The recorders all have red lights on them: please speak into the red light.  You also have the option of communicating through me, if you wish.”

Trying not to move too much, Cassandra points the infrared cam at Christine and the area in front of her.

The image shows mostly blue, with everyone casting warm orange and red figures – except for a blue spot in the center of Christine’s chest.

She takes another slow breath. “Is there anyone here who wishes to communicate right now? Please knock your answer.”

Cassandra is paying close attention to the camera in her hands and to what’s happening around her. She’s definitely puzzled by the blue spot in Christine’s chest, but she’s not commenting on that now.  Ash takes a picture from his point of view of the circle of people; Mikaere is watching the EMF detector for any sign of movement.  There is a long moment of silence, then a split second before another sharp knock echoes through the room, the row of LEDs on Mik’s detector ping to life – green, yellow, then all three red LEDs at the end of the line.

“Wǒ xiǎng kū…” Xiaolian closes her eyes and takes a moment to calm herself.

Ryan catches the lights going on, and looks at Mik, speaking softly. “If any of you see anything in or on your detectors, please state so out loud for the record.”

Mikaere holds the detector up for the others to see. “I’ve got... something.  Green, yellow, then all three red lights.”

“Strong and steady EMF field after request for communication. Five seconds and counting,” Ryan says, watching the lights.

“That means there’s something here... right?” Cassandra suggests, wide-eyed.

“It means there’s a strong electromagnetic field in this vicinity. Nothing more than that yet, empirically,” Ryan continues. “Let’s allow Christine to continue.”

“Oh wow.” Ash says under his breath. “Uh, are you standing close to Cassandra right now? The person with the red lights?” Ash says louder, addressing the spirits.

Silence for another moment ... which drags on. Then: one sharp knock. And just when they’re all catching their breath again, two more knocks.

Christine, still with her eyes closed, speaks. “We must be attentive to how we phrase our questions. The question that was just asked seems to have been interpreted as two questions, as it was given two answers.”

“Which,” Ryan chimes in, “means we’re definitely communicating with something sentient.”

“That would seem to be the case,” replies Christine.

“Oh, uh, I was just trying... to clarify...” Ash drifts off, embarrassed at his mistake.

Ryan gives him an encouraging smile. “All good, kid.”  Nic catches Ash’s eye and tries to give him a comforting smile; Ash blushes at Ryan and Nic’s kind gestures.

Mikaere lets out a shaky breath. “So... uh, what else should we ask it?”

“Maybe if it has friendly intentions?” muses Xiaolian.

“I sure hope so,” Cassandra says in a low voice, watching the room and the others with wide eyes. There’s something close to her. Something they have no idea what it is....  On the tail of Cassandra’s murmur comes one sharp knock ... and then, just barely long enough after that they can’t quite tell if it’s a separate answer, or a second knock, comes one more.

Mikaere jumps. “Was that—?”  they clear their throat. “Spirit... can we help you? Is there something we can do to help you go to rest?”

“Please don’t say something like ‘die’,” murmurs Xiaolian.

Ash waits a minute before saying, “W-we could do a live revi— we could listen to the recording now? To see if it said uh, anything?”

Cassandra notices the spot of blue on Christine’s chest has disappeared.  “Uh... guys?” She’s looking down at the camera, then back up at Christine, then down at the camera again. “There was—I wasn’t sure if it was—Fuck, maybe it was. There was... Something, right on Christine’s chest, like a... cold spot?”

Christine opens her eyes and takes a step back, then looks at Cassandra. “And it’s gone now, I presume?”

“Yes, that’s—What was it?”

She reaches up to her neck and pulls the gold chain out again, dangling the small pendant a couple inches in front of her. “My focus. If it has gone from cold to warm, then the spirit is no longer interacting with me. My guess is that it has moved to another place in the house.”

Nic scribbles “focus” and makes a note to ask more about it later.

 “I am both relieved and disappointed,” says Xiaolian, eyes wide. “Are we gonna keep going?”

“Oh, fuck me,” Cassandra says under her breath, still spooked but keeping her ground. “Sorry I didn’t say anything before, I thought it could be nothing, just—fuck,” she mutters again.

Ash looks over to Ryan, then the rest of the circle. “We should move! Go and find it again!” His eyes sparkle with excitement.

 “Yes, let’s,” Ryan agrees. “This was a great place to start, but there’s lots of house to explore. The second floor in particular has been the subject of a lot of reports – and, well, the third, but mostly as a subset of the second. Hearing footsteps on the floor above, so on and so forth.”

Mikaere gets up from the step. “Should we go up there, then? To the second floor? Or should we check the rest of the first before that?”

Christine looks over at Ryan. “What have all the floors been used for, historically? I don’t imagine you want to be here all night, I assume this is meant to be a short exploration...”

Ryan nods. “It’s Christmas Eve, after all, everyone wants to go home to their families I’m sure, ha ha. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting this much activity: I thought we’d get a few knocks, maybe some creepy whispers, a footstep or two.” He looks around, thoughtfully. “The first floor has always been whatever business has been trying to stake a foothold. Not as much activity – just around the stairs. Sometimes there’s minor activity in the kitchen, pots and pans rattling, cupboards opening, that sort of thing.”

Christine hums. “Understandable. Lots of energy gets poured into a kitchen, but most of it isn’t threatening or emotionally taxing.”

“Not usually,” Ryan acquiesces, “though of course you get awkward family homes and such. And the third floor hasn’t really been used for much other than storage. The real fun is all on the second floor, where the bedrooms were. Though, by all accounts, Mr McVoy wasn’t a nasty man.”

Christine’s smile comes back, just a little. “Someone did murder him.”

Mikaere breathes a laugh. “Guess so.”

Ash is almost jumping up and down. He starts tugging a little on Ryan’s sleeve.

Ryan jumps a little, then sees it’s Ash, and tries not to chuckle. “Yeah, yeah, okay, let’s go upstairs.” He looks to Mik. “You wanna lead us up there?”

Mik grins. “Y-yeah, okay.” They start up the stairs, pausing partway up to make sure everyone’s following.

Cassandra does a quick look-around to pan the camera around them, then follows suit.

Nic takes the opportunity to stretch out his fingers, grinning at the group. “This is kinda fun! And it’s gonna be a great article!”

Ash turns to Nic, leaving his hand lightly holding onto Ryan’s sleeve. “I can’t wait to read it! Even, uh, even though I am experiencing it.”

Xiaolian nods. “Yeah, same! It’s just so cool that you’re a journalist. I don’t do anything cool like that.”

“N-no! I’ve had some of your pastries! They are— they’re so good and cool!” Ash exclaims.

Xiaolian blushes. “Well, to be fair, Adam helps me out a lot.”

Christine and Ryan move with them up the stairs, and once they reach the landing, they each move to flank the group, as it were – one on either end, in the dark and dusty hallway. The carpet up here smells like it has mildewed, and indeed they can see some water damage along the walls.

Once again, Cass is bringing up the rear.  Ash is just following Ryan around. He put the recorder in his backpack so he could hold onto Ryan’s sleeve and take pictures with his other hand.

Ryan looks up and down the hallway. “If I’m remembering the floor plans right, the master bedroom is down the hall this way, and it has a parlour off of it where Mrs McVoy reputedly held a few seances. Down the other way are the kids’ rooms – which of course are rife with stories of creepy dolls and rocking horses moving on their own, stuff like that.”

Christine takes a slow, deep breath and closes her eyes again, her fingers twitching slightly. “Whatever is here, it didn’t feel like a child’s spirit.”

Mikaere nods toward the master bedroom. “Great, because I vote for the one where we don’t have to interact with any haunted dolls.”

“Dolls? Ha ha, don’t like that.” Xiaolian can’t help but get closer to Nic. She grabs his hand. “I’m just gonna hold on to you from now on.”

“If it’s not a child’s spirit... Can you tell what it is?” Ash asks.

Nic’s eyes widen at the contact. “I’d, uhhh, love to help, but I kinda need both my hands to take notes.” He feels a blush rising on his cheeks.

“If you take pictures, you can hold my hand Xiaolian,” Ash suggests.

“Fuck, you’re right. This is the worst.” She lets go of his hand, then slips her fingers through his belt loop. “Boom.” She smiles at Ash. “Thanks, but I figured it out. Plus, I’m kinda shitty at taking pictures.”

Ryan laughs. “I don’t think there are any dolls here now, Xiaolian, unless somebody left one to be extra creepy. The house hasn’t been lived in since ... like ... the eighties.”

“Listen, you never know,” she argues.

“I mean, that’s true. But I feel like Willow River doesn’t really get squatters. And Keith was ... pretty protective of the keys, honestly.” He looks thoughtful for a moment.

“If you really want to, you don’t need the keys to get into a house. …Not that I would anything about breaking into houses,” Xiaolian adds hurriedly.

Ryan snorts. “I’m sure.”

Christine speaks then, suddenly. “There’s something here.”

Ash laughs, then quickly covers his mouth with his camera.

Xiaolian steps close to Nic, practically hugging him. She whispers in his ear. “If something happens, I’m running. Just letting you know.”

Mikaere positions themselves at the top of the stairs, holding both banisters so as not to get pushed down.  Ash starts taking pics like crazy, trying to catch something on film.

Ryan looks at Christine. “Where?”

Christine has her eyes closed. She takes a step forward, then another – leading down the hall towards the master bedroom and parlour. She does not respond.

Ash immediately follows her, tugging Ryan along with him.  Nic hurriedly follows them too, stumbling a little as he drags Xiaolian along, who hisses as she tries to keep them both balanced.

Christine reaches her arms out to her sides, brushing her fingertips against the walls as she walks. The hallway is not wide – a little over five and a half feet.  She takes slower steps past the doors, resting a hand on the frame if the door is open, or on the door itself, if it is closed.

Cassandra doesn’t want to speak and distract Christine, but she’s also worried. She’s keeping her eyes open to any sort of movement, looking down at the camera from time to time. 

As they walk down the hall, the lights on Mik’s EMF reader are slowly climbing again, having gone dark before they climbed the stairs. Cassandra’s infrared display shows the spot on Christine’s chest as a cool green – not the deep blue of earlier, but no longer yellow by any means. And every few steps, both the recorder in Ash’s backpack and the spirit box emit a split second of static.

“Hey, the EMF is rising again,” Mikaere says, holding it up for the others to see.

“I’m getting something too,” Cass says, tapping her chest to indicate it’s the spot in Christine’s chest again.

As they speak, it sounds like heavy footsteps run down the hallway above their heads.  Cass looks up immediately, turning the camera towards the ceiling.  Ash pauses and looks up, eyes wide and mouth open in awe.

“Holy shit, okay,” Mikaere says. “Should we, uh, get out of the hallway?”

Christine has stopped in front of a door.  Ryan, standing with Ash just behind her, holds up his flashlight and shines it forward, speaking softly. “Christine?”

There is a huge bang upstairs, in a corner of the house not directly above them – it sounds like it’s far off and to the left.

“What’s going on?” Cassandra asks Ryan, turning the camera to the left too.

Ryan shakes his head. “I’m not sure. But if I’m going to trust anyone’s intuition, it would be Christine Novak’s, and if she’s not panicking, then neither am I.”

Mikaere’s not so sure. “Christine? Are you good?”

The woman takes a long breath and exhales softly. “It’s trying to distract us.”

“From what?”

She leans forward and puts a hand on the door she’s standing next to. “From whatever’s in this room.”

“And what... is in this room?” Cass asks, voice so low it’s almost a whisper.

Ryan swallows. “Pretty sure that’s the parlour.”

Xiaolian wraps her arms around Nic, completely terrified and ready to bolt.

Christine puts both hands flat on the door. “Whatever it is, it doesn’t want us in here. It’s scared, maybe, or protecting something, or it could be angry. Or all of the above. Ryan, you said Mrs McVoy held seances in here?”

“Yes, that’s reported,” Ryan nods. “She was big into Spiritualism.”

“Certainly in vogue at the time,” Christine murmurs, “and I don’t imagine there was a whole lot of other entertainment. I wonder if something got trapped.”

Ryan moves forward beside her. “Can you open the door?”

Christine tries the handle. It’s unlocked. “Yep. Looks like it. It feels very oppressive – I don’t know if anyone else here is sensitive – but whatever it is, so far it doesn’t seem powerful enough to keep a door closed.” She sighs. “Shall we hold our own seance and see if we can convince this spirit to vacate?”

“Yes! I have candles!” Ash lets got of Ryan’s sleeve for a second to pull some white candles from his backpack.

“Okay, hold on,” Cassandra doesn’t want to interrupt anything; she decided to come on this hunt to watch, and maybe learn a thing or two, but she’s also concerned. “That’s a lot of activity we’re getting, right? The banging, and the footsteps, and— what are the chances here of something bad happening? Like, someone getting hurt bad.”

“I’d rather not do anything super dangerous. My parents wouldn’t be happy.” Nic pipes up, waving his pen as he talks – though his movements are restricted by the Xiaolian wrapped around him.

“I’m pretty sure that a ghost isn’t gonna care about what your parents think,” Xiaolian says. “Just saying.”

“If we are respectful to them, the spirits probably won’t do anything. Probably.” Ash shrugs, still super excited at the thought of a seance.

Christine shakes her head. “This is a powerful enough spirit, but I don’t think it’s capable of hurting us. It also seems to not want to – only to frighten us. It’s making loud noises elsewhere, not near us, and so far it hasn’t tried to manifest. Also, I suspect that as the resident medium, I’m the one who’s in the most danger – I’m the most direct conduit.”

“Still, I wouldn’t want you to get hurt...” Cassandra says in a low voice. She’s pointing the camera everywhere.

“Nor would I,” Mikaere says. “I suppose it’s up to you whether we continue.”

“Well, I suspect the good people of Willow River might like their building back, so I vote we go ahead. I have protections on, I should be fine. Plus, I do know what I’m doing,” she says with a light laugh.

Mikaere nods. “Alright. You know yourself best.”

Ash is giddy with excitement.

“On to the seance, then?” Cass looks at the candles on Ash’s hands, then at Ryan and Christine. “Ready when you are.”

She turns the handle all the way and pushes the door open. She shudders violently as it swings inward, as if a cold, sharp wind passes through her; Ryan and Xiaolian react similarly, though with less intensity; Mikaere and Cassandra feel as if cold water runs down their spines; Ash and Nic feel as if a light breeze brushes their face.

The room on the other side of the door doesn’t look too different than what they’ve already seen: bare wooden floorboards, grey with age, peeling paint on the walls… but they can see the vestiges of someone who took pride in their interior decorating.  The room is in fact two rooms, with the connecting wall almost entirely taken up by an open archway – the crown molding around the edges of the arch leads them to believe that at one point, it was likely gilded. The molding follows the entire ceiling, which also has large circles impressed into it in both rooms. There is a large window at the far end, styled much the same as the archway: they can imagine huge, velvety curtains hanging at its sides, probably tied with large golden tassels. The whole room just feels as if it should be decorated in rococo style, with poofy handworked dark wooden chairs and chintzy upholstery, tassels everywhere.

As they step in, they see something on the wall just to their left: a huge, ornate fireplace, long since dormant, but it looks like it also hasn’t been cleaned in a dog’s age. The ornamental plaster molding around it looks like it was once white, but is now grey with dust and time. It’s hard to make out what the ornaments are, though, especially in the dim light.

Mikaere cranes their neck to get a better look at the ornaments on the fireplace.  Ash starts taking pics of the room and the fireplace.

Cass, Mik, and Ash approach the fireplace and take a closer look, flashlight beams scanning over it. The ornaments on either side of the fireplace look sort of like gargoyles – maybe a little draconic, maybe a little demonic, it’s not quite clear. Over the top of the fireplace, though, is an arch of what look like fleur-de-lis, intertwined, but looking just a little closer, it looks like there are ... faces? It’s subtle, but the fleur-de-lis seem to be carved in ways that make them look like faces, if you tilt your head just so, a bit like those Magic Eye things.

Mikaere looks at the fireplace from a few angles, moving the flashlight beam, and suddenly the faces look like skulls. The whole thing looks like it could have come out of the Paris catacombs, like it’s all made of bones.  ...They’re not so sure it’s tinted grey from age. That might be the yellow tint of actual bone.  Mikaere steps back very quickly.  “Uh, hey, the guy who built this house. He was... he was generally considered to be not a good dude, right?”

Cassandra steps back, too, alarmed by Mikaere’s reaction. She stays a couple of steps back, watching them.

Ryan looks over at Mik, from across the room, where he was checking out the archway. “We don’t actually know a whole lot about him personally – just that he was a tenant farmer, and he died mysteriously.”

Christine is watching Mikaere closely. “Why do you ask?”

Mikaere takes a steadying breath. “Well, I think I can draw some conclusions. This fireplace is made of bones.”

Both Ryan and Christine’s eyebrows shoot up.

“Human bones? Like actual human people?” Nic exclaims.

“Looks that way,” Mik says.  They point at the fleur-de-lis, hoping to make the skulls clearer to the others.

“Bone fireplace?!” Ash shouts, kind of freaked out, but also excited. He gets closer to the fireplace but doesn’t really touch it.

“Gross.” Nic attempts to keep his voice lighthearted but it breaks halfway through the word.

Ryan comes over and squats next to it, pulls a lens-cleaning cloth from his bag and brushes the dust off part of the fireplace. “Well, there’s one way to find out,” he says— and then he licks it.

Mikaere grabs Ash’s shoulder. “Be ca— Ryan?!”

Ash looks at Ryan. “Is it bone, Mr Bergara?”

“Mr Bergara, is that the proper way to test that? I want to be accurate in my article.” Nic taps his notebook with his pen.

Cass has pulled up her phone again; she gets closer to just enough to snap a couple of pictures, then steps back again, waiting for Ryan’s answer.

Ryan pulls back from the fireplace, smacking his tongue against the inside of his mouth. “Yep, that’s bone alright,” he says, making a face. “Really old, dusty bone. Gross.” He looks at Nic. “Yeah, it is. Your tongue will stick slightly if it’s bone.”

“Wh— how? Bone fireplace?!” Ash is like about to start laughing. It’s a fucking bone fireplace, who the fuck wants a bone fireplace. He holds back his laughter cause now doesn’t seem like the right time.

“One,” Xiaolian proclaims, “That’s fucking disgusting. Two, why would you even need a bone fireplace, that’s dumb as fuck. Three, why do you know so much about licking bone fireplaces Ryan? Huh?”

Ryan snorts. “I know a lot of stuff, Xiaolian, including some old archaeological tricks. You never know what’s useful in the field.”

Mikaere holds the EMF detector out toward the fireplace. “So... why would someone make a fireplace out of bones?”  The EMF detector is fluctuating, and has been since they entered the room.  “There’s definitely something here,” Mik says, nodding to the detector.

Christine straight-up laughs. “Honestly, Xiaolian, I suspect the answer is aesthetic.” She stops, and ponders. “Well, that or arcane focusing for mystical purposes.”

“Could it be for satanic rituals?” Nic asks, far too excited about this, “Like demons ‘n’ stuff?”

Xiaolian mumbles something about Shane liking that Ryan likes bones and boning. Then she snaps her head up. “Arcane?” She immediately steps away.

“Honestly,” Ash muses, “a bone chandelier would have been so much more on theme with this house. A bone fireplace is just ridiculous.”

“Yeah, I don’t know, it seems pretty... uh, intense, to make a fireplace – you know, a place for fire – out of bones for the aesthetic. I feel like that would smell. And also be morally dubious,” Mikaere says.

“Careful boys, we done caught ourselves a real goth.”  Xiaolian smirks.

Ryan sticks his head and his flashlight into the fireplace. “It looks like the inside is brick, so it’s just the outer decoration that’s stone. It might get warm, but if you cleaned the bones correctly, it probably wouldn’t smell too much...”

“Clean the bones by licking them maybe,” Xiaolian says.

Mik grimaces. “That still leaves the question of what kind of bones they are...”

Cassandra is keeping an eye on Nic, making sure the kid isn’t too scared for his own good. She adds, almost absentmindedly, “The disappearances in Willow River go back to the time this house was built, don’t they?”

Ash isn’t going to let this go anytime soon. “A bone chandelier would have been so much better though! Just having it hanging over a seance! It’d be cool!”

Christine walks over and inspects the fireplace more closely. “They’re quite small, so not human. We would have noticed that right away.”

Xiaolian nudges Nic gently, bringing her voice down to a whisper. “You okay?”

“It’s just... a lot.” Nic whispers back, keeping his eyes fixed on his notebook – although he is currently doodling little houses instead of taking notes. “I’ll be fine though. Thanks.”

Ryan comes out of the fireplace and stands up, brushing the old ash off his hands and looking over at Cass. “Yes, but I suspect they go back even further. There are some First Nations stories about this area, but I haven’t been able to pin any of them to Willow River specifically.”

“Was it really a good idea to climb inside of a super old fireplace made of bone?” Xiaolian asks.

Ryan shrugs.

Christine squints at the fireplace thoughtfully. “I don’t think it’s a focus. I don’t recognize any patterns in the design.”

“Yeah, well, either the guy who built this place was going around killing living things and hiding the evidence quite literally in front of everyone’s nose, or this serves some other purpose,” Cass says, biting her lips. She turns to the rest of the room, panning the camera with her.

Ash returns to Ryan’s side, slightly gripping his sleeve while he holds the candles in his other hand. He is still mumbling about how cool a bone chandelier would be and how stupid a bone fireplace is but he’s going to let it go for now.

“Or else his wife had particularly morbid decorative inclinations. Was she French?” Christine asks Ryan.

“No idea,” he responds.

“If she was French it would have been a bone chandelier,” Ash mumbles.  So much for letting it go.

“Why’d you ask?” Cass asks Christine looking over her shoulder.

“Just thinking about the catacombs, how much Parisians loved spiritualism – maybe this was quite literally her aesthetic,” Christine replies. “Also, this is a hunting community and would have been for a long time, it’s hardly difficult to get small animal bones.  Anyway,” she says, “shall we finish this night with a seance and possibly an exorcism?”

“Yeah sure, why not?” Xiaolian says, “Just my casual every night routine. A seance and an exorcism.”

Cassandra turns around immediately, “What—Why an exorcism? What needs exorcising?”

“Is this gonna be dangerous?” Nic’ voice raises in pitch a little.

Christine looks at Cass: “Figure of speech. Not a literal exorcism – this doesn’t feel demonic. I suppose I should have said something more along the lines of ‘helping this spirit along to the other side’, but, well, I do tend towards the dramatic.”

“Oh, I see,” Cass watches them setting up, ready to help if needed.

Ryan looks nervous, but opens his bag and pulls out the box containing the Ouija board. “Here, or in front of the window?” he asks Christine.

This really does snap Ash out of his bone chandelier thoughts. “Yes!” He pulls on Ryan’s sleeve excitedly.

“Yes, kid, I’m getting there,” he says, grinning despite himself.

Christine looks around the room and stretches her arms around, as if feeling the air. “The window, I think,” she responds.

She leads them over to the window, Ryan following just behind her, and they begin setting up the board; Ryan directs Ash to place the candles around in a circle, and hands Cass a box of salt.

Cass gets to work immediately. She’s never been present at something that asked for a salt circle, but she knows the drill – she makes sure the circle is wide enough for all of them, and perfectly closed.

Xiaolian looks at Nic. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

Ash sets the candles where Ryan directed him too and pulls a small lighter from his bag.

“No, you don’t,” Christine says, “though I would suggest sitting within the salt circle regardless.”

“Nic, I could... tell you what happens. If you really need to back out.” Ash looks concerned.

Nic frowns. “I can do it. I have an article to write. I can do it.”

Mikaere shakes their head. “You can definitely still write the article as a dedicated observer and not a participant, Nic.”

Xiaolian nods along and simply loops her fingers into his belt loop again. She tugs him closer. “Well, I stick by you. Whatever you decide.”

Christine sits in front of the Ouija board and holds onto her pendant for a moment, closing her eyes and breathing. “Anyone who is participating, please sit in a circle around me. I need at least one more person on the board with me, two would be best, but we don’t need everyone touching the planchette. A circle of connected hands around us will be sufficient.”

Ash tugs Ryan to go and sit with him next to Christine at the Ouija board.  Ryan takes a deep breath and follows him to the board, eyes a little wide. Ryan, Ash, and Christine sit close to the board, knees touching, with Xiaolian, Cassandra, Mikaere, and Nic in the outside circle.  Xiaolian stands along the outside, ready to hold hands with whoever; Mik takes Xiaolian’s hand.  Nic sits himself down inside the circle and tugs Xiaolian down to sit as well.  Cass sits, too, eyeing the others.

The candles are lit and the flashlights are off, casting them all into flickering shadows. The equipment has been set inside the circle, mostly still on and recording.  Christine takes a slow breath and leans forward, putting her fingertips on the planchette; Ryan mimics her, and so does Ash.

“Hello, spirit,” Christine says, “we’re back. We’d like to talk to you, if that’s okay.”

The room gets colder.  “I take that as a yes,” she says, vaguely amused. “Could you tell us your name, if you have one?”

The planchette sways back and forth under their hands, but does not go to any particular letter.  “Okay,” Christine breathes, “that’s fine if you don’t remember it. Could you tell us why you didn’t want us in—”

The room goes frigid as Christine makes a sound like a Ringwraith, inhaling with a raucous gasp, her eyes flying open and staring blankly across the board at her companions.

“C-Christine?” Ryan whispers.

“M-Ms N-Novak?” Ash stutters.

Mikaere groans. “We should have had a contingency plan for this. We – we should have had any sort of a plan. What do we do now?! Is she possessed?!”

Xiaolian tightens her grip on the hands holding hers. “Mickey, be quiet.”

“My parents are gonna kill me if I come home possessed,” Nic whispers.

“Shhh,” Cass tries to hush everyone, eyes on Christine.

“I was at rest,” she intones, as if speaking on an inhalation, the words monotone and emotionless, “I was at rest and they came.”

“Who disturbed your rest?” Ryan asks. He’s breathing hard, and Ash notices that his hands are shaking, but he’s watching Christine levelly.

Christine’s head turns to look at the window, slowly, as if it’s being moved by something else; she hasn’t blinked.

“How can we help you?” Ryan continues. “Do you want to rest again?”

Cassandra’s hands are sweating. She looks at the others, making sure everyone is alright, and maybe trying her best not to forget this is actually happening.

“C-can we put you to rest?” Ash’s voice shakes slightly.

“Anger,” she says, “anger, fear, pain, leave me be!!” Her voice rises to a scream, and a strong wind rushes through the room, blowing all the candles out.

Xiaolian can’t help the small whimper they let out.

Mikaere’s voice shakes. “We – we can’t do that. Can we?”

“We’re just here to help, please don’t hurt anyone.” Nic squeezes his eyes shut, then opens them again. He doesn’t want to be surprised by a ghost.

“Don’t think we can, no...” Cass offers, turning to Ryan for guidance. She hopes he knows what the next step should be...

“With all due respect, whoever you are,” Ryan says, “you’re hurting people here. Can we please help you rest?”

Christine’s hands come off the planchette.

“What’s—What’s happening?” Cassandra exclaims.

“Y-you broke the circle. No, no, no. M-Mr Bergara, wh—” Ash is torn between holding onto Ryan for dear life and keeping hold on the planchette.

“Jesus Christ,” Xiaolian mutters.

Ryan glances at Christine’s hands. “Well fuck,” he breathes, and looks back at Christine just in time to get his own hands up as she lunges at him.

Ash screams as he sees Christine lunge toward Ryan.

 “Ryan!” Mik shouts. “What do we do?!”

Ryan doesn’t answer immediately, far too engaged in grappling with Christine, who has launched herself across the board and is actively trying to get a hold of his throat.  The door slams in the back of the room and the air starts to smell of smoke.

Surprised, Cassandra lets go of the hands she had been holding, and goes for Christine – she tries to hold her arms back, tries to take her off Ryan.  Ash starts hitting Christine with his backpack, trying to help Ryan.  Xiaolian immediately runs over and just kicks at Christine’s elbows.

“Oh, god.” Mikaere looks up at the fireplace. It’s not alight – but the smell of smoke in the air is getting stronger.

Nic attempts to pull Ryan backwards and away from Christine, making sure he stays inside the salt circle.

Christine doesn’t react to Ash, Xiaolian, or Cassandra: she is a hundred percent focused on Ryan, who’s got hold of her forearms and is trying to wrestle her over onto the floor. Cassandra in particular is surprised – she cannot move Christine’s arms at all.  The best way to protect the victim – well, it’s Ryan, he seems like he’s handling himself pretty well on the whole. Probably the best way to protect him would be to stop Christine. The biggest threat is most definitely Christine. The best way out is probably the door. The window glass looks quite thick.

Mikaere eyes the salt line. “How do we... how do we get it out of her?”

“Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Cass mutters to herself, struggling with Christine. When she realizes it’s absolutely impossible, she gives up and picks up the infrared camera again, turning it towards Christine.

Christine herself is entirely blue.

“Holy shit,” Cass says, then immediately shouts, “What do we do? Ryan, what do we do?!”

Ryan, still wrestling with Christine, manages to huff out: “Everyone— let go of her— stop attacking, it won’t help— break the circle!”

Ash drops his bag and launches to the edge of the circle, swiping his hand across it. Nic leaps up and runs out of the circle, scuffing the salt with his shoe as he goes, and Cass does the same, dropping to her knees and letting go of the camera to swipe the salt.

As they break the circle, Ryan hooks his foot under Christine’s knee and flips her, landing on top of her, pinning her arms down. She screeches in his face, the comparison to a Ringwraith still very apt, and he flinches.

“Ryan, why?! How do we stop her?” Mikaere shouts.

Now, Christine’s not a slim girl by any means, but she doesn’t look strong, and she’s just managed to lift the solid muscle of Ryan Bergara up about three inches before he grunts and slams her back down.  “Holy— whoever’s fucking brave enough, grab her pendant, break the chain!!”

Cassandra is right next to Ryan, unsure if she should touch Christine but ready to help if it looks like she’s overpowering him.  Mikaere tries to go for it – looks for an opening, Christine is still screaming – and then Ash leaps in, puts her in a headlock, and Mik takes the opportunity to lunge for her, grab the pendant, and wrench it off. The chain breaks; the pendant is freezing cold and it feels like it’s burning their hand.

Mikaere keeps a hold of it but holds it as far away from them as they can. “What do I do with it?!”

Almost immediately, the growing scent of smoke stops and dissipates, and Christine slumps to the floor, taking Ryan quite by surprise as he overcompensates and just about falls on top of her. “Drop it!” he shouts. “And don’t let the chain cross so that it forms a loop around you!”

Mikaere drops to their knees and lays it out on the ground so that the chain can’t cross.

It twitches.

Mikaere holds the chain down flat, hissing at the pain.

Ash tries his best to lay Christine on the ground without hurting her; Cass tries to help Ryan up as Ash takes Christine, who is completely out cold.

Ryan takes Cass’ hand and pulls himself up, running over to Mik, tearing open one of his gear bags on the way by and yanking out a small bag and a pair of gloves.  “You can let go of it, Mik,” he says, pulling on the gloves, “I’ve got it.”

Mikaere lets the chain go and sits back on their heels, watching Ryan closely. They are not going to be caught this clueless ever again.

“Uhh, Mr Bergara?” Ash looks at Ryan, too scared to come near the pendant.

“Yeah, Ash?” he asks, not paying full attention to the boy – as Mik lets go of the chain, he kneels and grabs each end in his gloved fingers, and still winces at the cold.

“Wha— wh...” Ash clears his throat. “Is it stuck in— in the pendant?”

Cassandra is still standing, watching Ryan, but her eyes catch Nic and Mikaere on the ground. She sees Xiaolian by Nic and turns to Mikaere, asking in a low voice as the others are talking. “You okay? Are you hurt?”

Mikaere looks down at their hands. “I... think so?”

“That’d be my guess,” he replies, carefully lowering the pendant into the bag – which is an opaque drawstring bag – and leaving one end of the chain out.

Christine moans faintly, her head rolling to the side.  Cass turns to Christine, and carefully, she kneels next to her to see how she’s doing; Mikaere joins her.  Christine’s eyes open slowly. She doesn’t quite focus for a second, then catches Cassandra’s face, then Mik’s. “Oh...goddamn, that’s a headache...”

“Glad to see you’re alive,” Cassandra says, but her tone is firm, serious. “What the hell happened here?” She asks Christine, but then glances over her shoulder to look at Ryan. “Wasn’t this supposed to be harmless?”

Ryan is frowning as he joins them and helps Christine up to sitting. “Yeah, I’d like some more info, too,” he says, holding the bag up. “We took your pendant off, we think it’s caught inside.”

Christine sighs and rubs her head. “It was supposed to be harmless. Everything I was getting indicated a leftover soul, someone trapped and not happy about it, nothing more dangerous than a good scare. What happened? I don’t remember anything after starting with the talking board. I assume it ... took over?”

Ryan nods. “You – or, well, I suppose it – attacked me. Superhuman strength and all.”

She winces. “God,” she breathes, “I’m so sorry. If I’d suspected it was that strong, I wouldn’t have done a session at all, and I certainly wouldn’t have done it without proper backup and more research.”

“Lesson learned, I hope.” Cassandra is not happy.

Mik frowns. “Does – does this happen often? This kind of... underestimation? Or was there something unusual about this spirit?”

“Lesson very learned,” she mutters, “and no, this does not happen often. I can count on one hand the times I’ve been incorrect in my assessment of a paranormal situation in my two decades dealing with them.”

Xiaolian goes over to Nic. “Hey. How we doing?”

Nic lowers himself down onto the ground, exhausted from the adrenaline. He pauses and pulls out his notebook. He just stares at it, unsure of what to write.

Xiaolian stares at him for a moment before she bursts out laughing from sheer shock and relief.  Her laughter catches Ash off guard, but he soon finds himself laughing with her, all the tension and fear leaving him.  He lies down on the ground near his backpack, a hand on his chest and one on his head.  Nic finally joins in with the laughter, quickly chuckling while shaking his head.

Xiaolian keeps laughing, struggling to breathe and maybe crying a little.  Nic’s chuckles are becoming shorter, getting closer to just quick inhales and exhales of breath.

Ash looks like he is struggling to breath, and has his hands pressed to his chest.

Ryan huffs, and goes over to the kids. “Okay you three, deep breaths please.”

Xiaolian goes quiet.  “I— you almost fucking died,” she says to Ryan.

Nic shakes his head, but his breathing begins to slow. “I don’t think this was an appropriate activity for under-twenty-ones, Mr Bergara,” he croaks out.

Mikaere stands up. “We need to get these guys home.”

Ryan nods. “I’ll take them.”  He smiles, wanly, at Xiaolian. “I was fine, I wasn’t going to die.” He looks at Nic and huffs out a laugh. “You’re damn right, Nic. I’m sorry, everyone.”

Ash’s laughter turns into kind of painful gasps. “M-Mr Bergara. My chest— hurts. And you—” He trails off with some gasps that border on sobs.

He looks at Ash. “Okay, Ash. Are you okay to walk back, or should I call someone with a car?”

“I’ll go with you,” Cass offers Ryan, looking worried at the three of them. She drops next to Ash, giving him enough space to breathe but offering a hand in case he wants to stand up.

Xiaolian raises her hand. “I’m not heading home. I’m not skipping Christmas hot chocolate with Shane. I only get that once a year.”

Nic looks up at her and nods. “Can I get hot chocolate too please?”

Ash can feel hot tears about to fall from his eyes. “I...” He takes a few deep breaths, closing his eyes. A few tears leak down his face. “I think I can walk. And hot chocolate sounds pret— very good right now.”

Mik nods. “We can walk there together.”

Nic crawls over to Ash and pats his head a little. “Hot chocolate sounds great.”

“Cool,” Xiaolian says. “My brother is probably already there.”

Christine rubs her eyes. “I’m going to bed to sleep off this headache. Merry Christmas to all, indeed...”

Ryan helps Ash up, and herds them all toward the door, picking up gear and stowing it in bags as he goes. “I’ll come back and clean the rest of this mess up tomorrow, there’s no sense doing it now. Hot chocolate for everyone, I say. You sure you don’t want to come along, Christine?”

She shakes her head. “I appreciate the offer, but I’ll pass. I put you all in danger tonight: I was sloppy. It would be rude of me to intrude on your Christmas celebrations now.”

Ryan nods. “I understand. Will you be in town for a few more days?”

“Yes, I plan to be.”

“Let’s debrief over lunch?”

“Sounds good.”

Ash leans his whole body against Ryan as they walk, exhausted.  Nic clings to Xiaolian, letting her lead him.  Once again, Cass takes the rear, making sure everyone is getting out and not tripping over their feet.  Christine helps Ryan gather up the gear and turn it off, then they all head out – down the hall, down the stairs, through the door. Ryan locks it behind them, and they all set off into the snow. First to the Information Center, where Ryan leaves the bags of gear, and then down the street towards the main drag, where Cassandra splits off towards the RV park with a chorus of “Merry Christmas”es. Once they arrive at the door to Alshaytania, Ryan ushers the kids in through the door – Xiaolian throws her arms in the air and tackle hugs her brother – then turns to Christine again.

She looks tired. Gone is the TV-presenter smile, the open charm and charisma: this is a woman who did not expect her night to go this way. “I’m sorry, again, Ryan,” she says. “I wanted to keep you all from danger, not put you in it.”

“I believe you,” he replies. “What was that? Do you remember anything more?”

She thinks for a moment, then shakes her head. “Not yet, not really. Whatever it was, it was angry, and scared. It felt trapped, trapped by something powerful. What is going on in this town?”

He frowns. “I don’t know, but I aim to find out.”

She pauses, then asks, “Would it be possible to get my pendant back? I’d like to try to cleanse it – it’s a family heirloom. And if I can’t, I do have ways of containing it properly.”

Ryan thinks it over. “Why don’t I keep it for tonight? I feel like having some space from whatever this thing is overnight would probably be a good thing. And then we can talk tomorrow at lunch?”

Christine nods. “Agreed. I probably don’t want it in my room overnight, that’s fair.”

“Then it’s a deal,” Ryan says with a small smile. “I hope you get some rest. Meet you at the cafe around noon tomorrow?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Christine replies, and with that she waves goodbye and turns around, heading down the street to the Spirit of the Lake, where she’s rented a room.

Ryan watches her go, then heads into the bookstore, where he’s greeted warmly by Shane, who’s standing just inside the door waiting for him with a cup of steaming hot cocoa and a beautiful old edition of a treatise on hill figures. Ryan grins, thanks Shane, and they both head into the bookstore to find the others.

The exchange passes happily, everyone taking the time to relax and unwind after the eventful night: Bolin gives Xiaolian a book on traditional Chinese cuisines, Shane gives Nic a book on great journalists of the past century, Ryan gives Ash his own old dog-eared copy of a book on symbology and the paranormal. They enjoy their cocoa, then finally leave the bookstore at close to two AM, having gotten to Alshaytania about an hour earlier: snow is falling again, and they all wish each other merry Christmas while fluffy snowflakes land on their eyelashes and make them all giggle.

Bolin and Xiaolian walk home together, and Ryan walks Nic and Ash home: Ash first, because his house is closer, and then Nic and Ryan spend fifteen minutes walking along the snow-covered street towards Nic’s house, quiet and tired, but happy. Everyone survived, everyone was alright. It was a scary night, but they got through it okay, and even Ryan has almost forgotten about the little drawstring bag in his jeans pocket.

Ryan says good night to Nic and heads off to his own home, whistling “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear” as he trudges through the snow. He’s walking up the block to his front door when a bright flash of light streaks across the sky, going back the way he came: it shocks him, and he whirls to see its trail.

It’s gone, as quickly as it came, and he shakes his head. As far as he knew, that was one of the first instances of the lights being over the town itself – all the others had been in the forest. But none of them had ever left any traces or signs of existence, so there was no point following it.

He turns again, and walks the half-block to his door, and as soon as he lets himself in he goes straight to the map, marking down his sighting. He rubs his eyes and goes into his work room, determined to write down everything that had happened before he fell asleep.

He’s awoken hours later by a loud knocking at his door: he’d fallen asleep on his papers. He jerks upright, startled by the sharp noise so early on Christmas morning, and he blearily comes to the front door, noticing on the way that his phone had died overnight – he had been going to plug it in before he went to bed, but he never got there.  He opens the door, ready to greet whoever it is – but certainly not ready to greet an RCMP officer in a black uniform parka.

“Ryan Bergara?” says the woman standing on his step, a little gruffly. She’s got short brown hair and pale skin, and she looks like she’s not having a great morning.

“Yes ma’am,” he says, “that’s me. Is everything okay?” He knows it’s a silly question. RCMP officers don’t come to your door on Christmas morning if everything’s okay.

“I need to ask you some questions,” she replies.

He nods. “Of course, whatever I can do to help,” he says.

“Is it correct that you dropped Nicolas Sergio and Ashley O’Meara off at their respective dwellings in the early hours of this morning?”

Ryan’s stomach feels like it hits the ground.  He instinctively grabs the door frame, staring at the officer in front of him. “Yes,” he says, “yes I did. I dropped Ash off at his place at about two o’clock, and Nic off at his about fifteen minutes later. Why? Did something happen? Are they okay?”

She doesn’t answer. “Did you see either of their parents?”

“N-no,” he says, feeling like his insides have turned to jelly, “They were all asleep, or at least inside. But I waited until they’d both gone in, I watched them unlock the door and close it behind them before I left. What’s wrong? Can you not tell me what’s wrong?”

“Is there anyone that can confirm this, Mr. Bergara?”

Ryan grips the wood of the doorpost. “...Unless one of their parents was awake and saw them, no.”

The officer exhales slowly. “Thank you for your cooperation. If we have any further questions, we’ll be in touch. Please do not leave the community without contacting us prior to your travel.”

She turns and begins to walk away; Ryan calls after her. “Wait! Please, tell me what happened. Are they alive? Please tell me they’re alive.”

She stops, and seems to consider whether she should say anything at all. Finally, she looks back over her shoulder. “Parents found their beds empty. No note, nothing else missing. We were all really hoping they’d stayed over at your place, or that you knew where they were.” She shakes her head and stares at the snow. “Hell of a Christmas present.”

Ryan sags against the door. “Oh God.”

A few hours later, Ryan is in the process of getting ready to go to the cafe to meet Christine, when his phone rings.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Ryan.” It’s Andrew. “Is this a good time?”

“Sure,” he says, “as good as today gets, anyway. What can I do for you?”

“You were supposed to have lunch with Christine Novak, weren’t you.”

Ryan frowns. He’s not at all sure how Andrew could have possibly known that, but... “Yes, I was just about to head over, why?”

“I wouldn’t bother. She’s gone.”

“What? Gone? She left?”

“In short, yes.”

Ryan waited for more, but Andrew didn’t continue. “...And in long?”

“She’s disappeared. Same as Ash and Nic. Adam went up to check for linens to wash and found her room empty. Car’s still here, her licence and keys were on the table along with the keycard to her room. Found a toothpaste tube open on the counter and her toothbrush on the floor.”

“... What?” Ryan breathed.

“Boots and coat still in the closet, too.”

“What... the fuck.”

“Yep. So. Nobody here for you to meet for lunch.”

Ryan didn’t answer. His world was spinning. Worst of all – Andrew didn’t even sound surprised, and he had no idea why.

“That being said,” Andrew continued, “I was wondering if you’d like to come over for tea, at about three.”

“Ah ... sure,” Ryan said, not really aware of what he was agreeing to. “Tea. Your place. Three. I’ll be there.”

“Great,” Andrew said. “Bring a notebook.” And the line went dead.