《Pray to St. Agnes》


 Chapter 1: somethings got to give

    It was a cold rainy April day when Chardi Sodhi stopped at the restaurant he had been working at to check on his schedule. He had just gotten out of his Nursing Chemistry class and had enough time to stop in at The Italian Pantry before his next class. But, it still meant a sprint across campus to the nearest bus stop, which of course had no cover. So, he had to stand in the freezing rain until the bus rumbled up to the curb fifteen minutes late to take him into town. The restaurant was hopping with the lunch rush, but Chardi pushed past it all to get back to the kitchen and the little cork board tacked up outside the tiny office. The cramped office just barely held the owner''s ancient dell tower PC and their precariously stacked paper files. It was Monday, so the new schedule was already be up and Chardi hoped his hours that week would be better than the last.


    Chardi was constantly behind on all his bills. It had been a constant state of being since he turned 18, so he was used to it. But, he had been cutting it especially close the past few weeks. He had just given the entirety of his last week of pay to his roommate to cover his rent for the past month, but he was still behind on most of his other bills. His boss had been steadily cutting his hours back at the restaurant for months. Really, he should just get a new job, but he was so close to graduating. The hassle of having to learn a whole new job, learn a whole new set of faces, and a whole new set of skills felt like the most exhausting thing he could imagine.


    He just wanted to squeak by with this shitty job until he could graduate and get a real fucking job that paid real big boy money.


    Judging by the schedule that Chardi was looking at, that wasn''t about to happen.


    "Hey, Chardi! My favorite dish boy! What are you doing here? You''re not on the schedule today," shouted a large tattooed man cheerily. He threw his arm around Chardi''s shoulders, the sweat of his underarms fragrant and damp against Chardi''s shoulder. He tried not to tense up and failed.


    "Yeah, I''m barely on the schedule at all," Chardi snapped, still staring at the schedule.


    Two days. They gave him two days next week at only six hours a shift. That was twelve hours. He didn''t even have money for food that week, how was he going to pay his rent or anything with twelve hours of pay?


    "Ah, yeah, it''s too bad," said Ray, the head chef. He was a handsome guy, with a thick head of dark slicked back hair and lean muscled arms and a perpetual five o''clock shadow. "With Gregor just starting and Mika not ready for line cook yet, it''s tough to balance all three of you. Once Mika is shifted all the way over to line cook, your hours will pick up."This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    "You''ve been saying that for weeks," Chardi growled, shrugging Ray''s arm off his shoulders. "Why the hell did you hire a new guy before you moved Mika?"


    Ray''s face darkened. "Why the hell do you care?" Ray asked with a wrinkle of his nose as he looked down at Chardi. "You can''t tell me you won''t be out of here the second that you graduate. With you leaving soon and Mika taking on a new role, I need to get my new guys trained up."


    Chardi felt his face going red with frustration, but tried to bite it back. He needed this job, he reminded himself. But, his anger was burning bright, a familiar feeling of outrage and violence that he had struggled with since adolescence.


    He clenched his teeth and tried to breathe through his nose. "But, I''m not graduated yet. And, I can''t pay my bills with these hours, Ray."


    Ray shrugged, the distaste smoothing out of his face as if it was never there. "Talk to Barb, I guess," he shrugged. "She handles all the scheduling." With that Ray swanned off back into the kitchen, already shouting at someone to watch the fryer.


    Chardi clenched and relaxed his fists over and over, he counted backward in his head, he focused on the feeling of his scratchy wool jacket against his neck, of the sounds of stainless steel utensils clanging against pots and pans in the kitchen. Slowly, his rage receded, as steadily and reliably as it always did once he had a second to work on willing it away. What took its place was a feeling of sickness and desperation.


    Charging through the back door, Chardi threw himself back out into the cold wet midday gloom. The biting cold of the air outside was a welcome relief from the smell of fried food and the constant cacophony of the kitchen behind him. But, it didn''t solve any of his problems.


    Sitting down on the stone steps leading down to the alley behind the restaurant, Chardi ignored the feeling of rain seeping into the seat of his pants. He put his head in his hands and tried to breathe. This time, trying to work through the steadily building nausea in his stomach rather than uncontrollable rage.


    He had nothing in the bank. He wouldn''t even make it through the end of the week. Even once he got paid, it would be a little bit of nothing against the mounting past due notices he was accumulating. He could promise his roommate he would pay him back once he graduated, but he was on such thin ice already that he had little hope that he would hear him out. Despairingly, Chardi started thinking about sleeping in the college library, showering at the gym, storing changes of clothes in his backpack. He was no stranger to living rough, but it had been a few years since he had had to.


    He had hoped college would be a new chapter in his life and in a lot of ways it was. But, if anything, his life felt more uncertain than it ever had while he was in foster care.

 Chapter 2: fist fight in a coffee shop

    "I feel like I just keep finding you doing this pose all over campus," a high nasal voice said from behind Chardi''s shoulder.


    Chardi turned around with a scowl and a scathing insult already loaded onto his tongue. A girl with fried peroxide blonde hair bent over him with her hands on her knees.


    Chardi''s scowl faded. He sighed and turned back to where he was slouching over his laptop.


    "Shut up, Resa," he snapped out instead of whatever insult he had ready to go a second before.


    The girl popped her gum, a cackle already coming out of her mouth. "Don''t be such a grouch, Didi! Look, I come with a peace offering," she said as she slapped a cup sloshing with pink and white swirled liquid clinking with ice cubes.


    "What is it?" Chardi said doubtfully, pulling the cup up to his nose and giving it a sniff. It didn''t give off any smell that he could detect.


    "An original creation. You can be my guinea pig," she said with a toothy grin.


    Chardi took an experimental sip and then wrinkled his nose. "It tastes like a unicorn just sneezed in my mouth."


    "Excellent! Exactly what I was going for!" Resa pulled up a chair with an obnoxious screeching noise and sat on it backward at Chardi''s table. "What are you working on that''s giving you such an existential crisis anyway?" she asked, using one long finger to start turning Chardi''s beat up laptop screen towards her.


    Chardi quickly pulled his laptop away and gave her a warning glare. "A budget," he grumbled.


    Resa threw her head back and laughed loudly enough to draw the attention of some nearby tables before she saw Chardi''s expression and sobered.


    "Oh shit, you''re for real. You know, when I call you an old man, I''m mostly joking."


    "Yeah, well. Some of us aren''t so fucking fancy free," Chardi snapped.


    Resa threw up her hands in a surrendering gesture. "Sorry, sorry. Ignore me. And, enjoy your unicorn snot. At least if you have this sitting on your table, my manager won''t give you a hard time for using the store WiFi."


    Chardi sighed and rubbed a roughened palm over his face, trying to wipe away his angry expression and his exhaustion together. He was at least successful in letting go of his anger.


    "Hey, thanks Resa."


    "No prob, old man," she said with a grin before hopping back behind the counter.


    Chardi turned back to his laptop and the sad spreadsheet looked back at him. There were hardly any cells filled out because it turned out that when you had almost no money, there was little point in making a budget. When you had no money, the only game Chardi could play was one of figuring out which can he could kick down the road and which he dared not.


    He at least didn''t have to worry about school. The state grant he received for reaching the age of eighteen while still in foster care meant that he didn''t have to worry about the costs of his classes. However, the state didn''t cover the cost of books, housing, food, or literally anything else. So, Char had made some lists. Things he needed to have, things he could maybe go without, things he could definitely go without.


    Unfortunately, the only thing in the need column was food and even that was tenuous. Chardi thought that maybe if he gave up trying to pay for rent at all and put all his money into buying bread and peanut butter he might make it to graduation, but it was going to be tight. The library wasn''t open all night and, as that very day had proven, rain and cold were still a problem in Philadelphia in April.


    Chardi glared at his screen and the spreadsheet stared impassively back at him, the numbers just as impossible as they had been all afternoon.


    Which was when Chardi was interrupted from considering just how cosmically shitty his entire life had been by a tall muscular man approaching him.


    At first, Chardi didn''t pay him any attention. He just barely perceived him out of the corner of his eye walking toward him, but he thought he must be heading for something behind him. Then he was standing at Chardi''s table staring down at him and Chardi realized he must actually want to interact.


    The man was very tall, but also very muscular. He was wearing a tight black v-neck t-shirt even in the chilly air of the coffee shop. His dirty blonde hair was artfully tousled and his ears and face were covered in shiny silver piercings. His eyes were a dark blue and his blonde eyebrows were slanted down over a face made for movies. Or, at least, made for TV movies.


    "Are you Chardi Sodhi?" the man asked, his face not betraying an ounce of emotion.


    "Yes...?" Chardi responded slowly, frowning up at the strange tall white guy he had never met before. He wracked his brain for any reason why this guy might be approaching him or any hint of a memory of where he might have met him before, but he was coming up with nothing. Chardi had a few friends around campus, but he wasn''t exactly the friendly outgoing type. He had a few friends he was very close with and a very small pool of acquaintances. So, who exactly was this guy?


    "My name is Derek Knight," the man said and then waited expectantly. Chardi stared at him, but the name didn''t help him recognize the guy. He was just stumped as he was a second ago.


    "Do you mind if I take a seat?" the man asked.


    "Uh," Chardi tried to fumble through a way to make the weird guy go away. The man didn''t wait for Chardi to respond, pulling out the chair directly across from him. He took a seat with his hands pressed to the tabletop. "Uh, go right ahead," Chardi deadpanned with an unimpressed look at this complete stranger who had arleady worn through all his good will in about two seconds of interaction. Chardi closed his laptop so he could look at the guy without having to lean around his screen, but wasn''t willing to make anymore concessions.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.


    "I''ll get straight to the point," the man said. "I run a paranormal investigation group called Eastern State Paranormal Research Team. Experts, for short," she said with a small twitch to the corner of his mouth that Chardi took to mean that he thought that pretty generous translation of an overly long acronym was clever. Chardi struggled not to roll his eyes and won by sheer force of will. "I''ve recently come by a generous investor and would like to investigate St. Agnes Girl''s Preparatory School. Are you familiar with it?"


    "No," Chardi grunted out with a frown. He was starting to have a bad feeling about where this was going, but he held onto his own imagination with an iron grip. He didn''t want to jump to conclusions that could send him spinning into anxiety for days. He didn''t have the bandwidth to deal with that on top of everything else. It had to be a weird coincidence. Chardi could hold onto his own thoughts until this guy said whatever it was he wanted to say.


    Derek nodded sagely, like that was the response he expected. "That''s not unusual, even for locals. It''s been closed for decades. Even before that, it''s sordid past was covered up by officials. But, rumors of the strength of its haunting have been circulating in the paranormal research community for years. I''m putting together a team to investigate this location for hauntings."


    "I don''t see how that has anything to do with me. I''m a nursing major," Char ground out, his knuckles white where his hands gripped at his own elbows. He was holding onto his own panic by the skin of his teeth.


    Derek Knight gave Chardi a shrewd look, his mouth quirking up at the corner again. "I think that you''re more than just a nursing major, Mr. Sodhi. I''ve been following up on another rumor that''s been floating around the paranormal community for years and I''m pretty sure I''ve solved it."


    "Shut up," Chardi hissed, finally losing control of his own panic. His shoulders came up around his ears and his dark eyes darted around the coffee shop for listening ears, but no one seemed to be paying attention to them anymore.


    Derek continued as if Chardi hadn''t spoken. "I have it on good authority that you were being fostered by the Faulton''s when they were arrested-"


    "I said SHUT UP!" Chardi shouted, jumping to his feet.


    The entire coffee shop went silent, every head swiveling him as Derek Knight continued to stare at him with that infuriating little smirk.


    Chardi could see Resa making her way over to him with murder in her eyes as she looked Derek up and down, but he didn''t plan on sticking around. He shoved his ancient laptop into his bag without the normal amount of care he showed it and grabbed his coat off the back of his chair.


    Derek was still talking. "I think you would be an indispensable part of my investigation. And, I can compensate you handsomely. I''ve got network backing and they''ve provided a generous budget for the first episode-"


    Chardi was hustling toward the door, trying to block out whatever he was saying, but before he could reach the glass door a hand latched onto his elbow jerking him to a stop. He felt the familiar rush of adrenaline, felt his free hand clench into a fist and draw back. Chardi forced himself to freeze.


    This was Resa''s coffee shop, where she snuck him drinks and snacks whenever no one was watching. He was looking at possibly being homeless within the next few weeks. If he punched some random stalker asshole in the coffee shop, he was pretty sure he would be banned for life and lose a source of warmth and food at a time when he could least afford it.


    "Hey, asshole! You''re bothering my customers. You need to leave," Resa was barking at Derek from behind him, but he was ignoring her.


    "Here, take my card. Think about it. Everybody could use some money and it wouldn''t cost you anything. Just a weekend in an old abandoned building." An honest to Jesus business card appeared over Chardi''s shoulder. He glared at it.


    He didn''t want to take this asshole''s business card, he didn''t want to think about the Faulton''s or about what it was like to live in that house, and he didn''t want to see or speak to this guy ever again. But, if taking that card would get him out of the situation without making any more of a scene than he already had, he would take it.


    Chardi snatched the card out of Derek''s hand. As soon as he did, Derek let go of his elbow and Chardi shot through the door of the shop and out onto the wet pavement. His hand was shaking as he shoved the card into his pocket and walked as fast he could without running to his apartment building. Adrenaline was rushing through his veins, but he didn''t feel like fighting anyone. Mostly he felt like he was seconds from shaking apart.


    The trip back to his apartment was a blur. He usually took a bus, but he knew that even the little bit of interaction with other people needed to board and sit on a bus was too much for him. He felt like his whole body was a hair trigger and if someone so much as looked at him wrong he would go off. He needed to get somewhere quiet so he could sort himself out. He needed to count out loud and pace and do something with his hands, but he couldn''t do any of that in public without looking like he was two seconds away from a breakdown. Which he was, but that was nobody''s fucking business but his.


    Chardi got back to his apartment building, took the elevator up to his floor, got his key in the door and got inside. If anyone had asked him what route he took home or what he saw on his way there or anything like that, he wouldn''t be able to answer them. Jeff, his roommate, was right there in the living room when he walked in.


    Jeff immediately popped up onto his feet with a determined look on his face.


    "Jeff, I really can''t talk," Chardi mumbled as he shut the door behind him with his foot and looked longingly toward the hall that led to the bedrooms.


    "Well, that''s too bad, because rent is due next week and you''re still short three hundred dollars, Di," Jeff said with a scowl.


    "I gave you my whole paycheck! You went with me to the bank!" Chardi tossed back desperately. He tried to edge around Jeff, but he leaned against the wall with his hip to block his path.


    "And I appreciate that, but if I don''t get the other three hundred Im going to be left footing your half of the rent yet again," Jeff replied with a furrowed brow and crossed arms.


    "I''ll get you the money," Chardi spit out.


    "How?" Jeff asked, his brows drawing even lower.


    "I don''t know! I''ll figure something out!" Chardi shouted.


    "I can''t keep covering for you. If you can''t cover your half of the rent, then I''ll have to find someone who can," Jeff said sternly, not even bothering to engage with Chardi''s promise to find the remaining money. Chardi didn''t blame him. He knew that he had made the same promise many times before.


    "Yes. Okay. I know and I get that," Chardi said mostly to Jeff''s left elbow.


    There was a long pause where Jeff stared sternly at Chardi and Chardi tried not to fidget while he avoided looking anywhere near Jeff''s face.


    "Fine," Jeff finally grit out.


    "Fine," Chardi sighed in agreement and gladly dodged around Jeff and shot into his room, remembering at the last moment to close the door gently behind him rather than slamming it.


    Chardi breathed deep, big breaths that expanded his rib cage and filled his belly. They started slow and even but slowly got faster and raspier, until he was choking down emotion. He pressed his back against his door and slid down to sit on the old stained carpet.


    He had no idea what he was going to do. He didn''t want to live on the streets again. He had spent almost a year living on the streets of Philadelphia as a teenager and it was an awful experience, one he didn''t want to repeat any time soon. But, he wasn''t seeing any way out.


    Until, like an arrow through his heart, the memory of that stupid business card struck him.


    It almost made him sick to do it, but he slowly retrieved the card from his pocket.He held it tentatively between two pinched fingers.


    It was plain white card stock with black typewriter style print smack in the middle.


    <blockquote>


    Derek Knight


    Paranormal Investigator


    [email protected]</a>


    (777) 777-7777


    </blockquote>


    He had one way out. It just turned out to be the absolute last thing in the world he wanted to do.

 Chapter 3: gotta make rent

    The next day was Saturday, so Chardi didn''t have any classes. Luckily for him, Derek was willing to meet up with him early. Derek chose a different coffee shop closer to the city, which was fine with Chardi. He would probably be too embarrassed to show his face in Resa''s coffee shop for weeks.


    It didn''t stop Chardi from pacing his room all morning until Jeff poked his head in to begrudgingly ask if he was okay. From the look on his roommate''s face, Chardi assumed he thought all the stress pacing was because of their argument yesterday. It was definitely part of it, but certainly wasn''t all of it. Chardi felt a little bad for not explaining. After all, it was unfair to Jeff that he had to cover rent almost every month until Chardi finally saved enough up to pay him some time near the halfway point of the month. But, he didn''t feel bad enough to explain the real reason why he was anxious. He just assured Jeff he was okay and Jeff reluctantly left it at that.


    By the time Chardi got to the coffee shop where he was meant to meet Derek, he was a nervous wreck. He was five minutes late, because the series of buses he took to get there had all been running behind. Derek was already there, seated at a window seat and obviously waiting for him with two cups on the table in front of him.


    He stood up when Chardi came in and gestured to the seat across from him. "I wasn''t sure what you were drinking yesterday, so I made my best attempt to recreate it," Derek explained in greeting. He gestured at a clear plastic cup with pink syrup swirled in something thick and creamy.


    Chardi looked at it derisively for a moment and cursed Resa in his mind. If she had just given him a normal coffee, he might have got a good free drink instead of whatever the hell was in front of him. Still, free food was free food. So he pulled the cup toward himself and took a sip. It was incredibly sweet and creamy and more palatable than he expected.


    His pleasure must have shown on his face because that little smirk was back on Derek''s face when Chardi looked up. He carefully cleared his face and took a deep breath. He needed to remember to keep his guard up.


    "Before we discuss anything, I want to make something clear. Whatever you think I am, you''re wrong," Chardi snapped, fixing Derek with a caustic glare.


    Derek Knight seemed unfazed by his declaration. "I didn''t make any assumptions about you. It sounds like you''ve done that all by yourself." When Chardi bared his teeth at that insinuation, Derek held up a hand to forestall whatever he was about to bark out. "Of course, the events that lead up to the Faulton''s arrest are mired in rumor and speculation. There''s a reasonable explanation for what went on, but I suspect that the reasonable explanation isn''t exactly the truth."


    "I don''t have to listen to any of this-" Chardi started to hiss.


    "I think you do," Derek cut in, his smile turning positively predatory. His eye teeth looked particularly sharp in the gray early morning light. "You obviously hate me and any mention of what happened back then. Yet, you''re here meeting with me. You''re desperate."


    Chardi sat back and ground his teeth. He wanted to tell Derek Knight to shove it up his ass and spin on it. He wanted to lean across the tiny cafe table and deck Derek Knight in his stupid white teeth. But, he was right. Chardi was absolutely desperate and Derek Knight was his only hope of avoiding homelessness.


    Derek took Chardi''s silence as agreement. His smile turned smug and he sat back in his chair. He leisurely sipped on whatever was in his white cup.


    "So, you need money. That''s fine. I''ve been there. And, I''m a nice guy. I''ll give you an advance if you need it, because I''m that generous."


    "What exactly do you want me to do?" Chardi ground out.


    "I guess you''ve looked me up by now, so you know what I do," Derek replied.


    He was right. Chardi had looked up his name the night before as he was struggling to talk himself into calling Derek.


    The name Derek Knight pulled up a lot of weird stuff. Derek Knight had done a lot of things. He had been a competitive skateboarder in his teens, then a DJ, then a radio personality, and finally started up a YouTube channel where he investigated paranormal activity with the same energy that he used at his DJ and radio jobs. It all looked incredibly fake to Chardi. All of his videos had some kind of paranormal activity: slamming doors, disembodied voices, balls rolling across the floor, footsteps coming from higher floors. All of it was reacted to with fear and excitement from supposed professionals who were hosting the show. Chardi wasn''t exactly impressed.


    "This is a big investigation at a legendary haunted location. Obviously your background would tie in well," Derek continued, not pausing for Chardi to confirm if he had looked him up or not.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "I''m not doing this if you''re going to splash my history all over your stupid YouTube channel," Chardi spat.


    "I have no intention of mentioning your past, if you''re uncomfortable with it," Derek said with a completely straight face.


    "If you don''t want to use my sordid past to farm clicks, then why the fuck would you even ask me anyway? You could find probably a hundred people in Philadelphia alone who would love to do your show and you wouldn''t even have to pay most of them."


    Derek''s face became cruel for a half second as he said, "Because they''re all fakes," and then that dark expression cleared away like a puff of vapor. "Like I said, your past gives you authenticity. And, a connection to missing kids. Especially the ghosts of kids. You''re the real deal and I need the real deal for this investigation."


    Chardi''s brow and nose wrinkled with confusion. "Wait. Do you actually believe in this stuff?" he asked hesitantly.


    Derek sneered and took another drink of his coffee. "Just because I know how to put on a show, doesn''t mean that I don''t know a real haunt when I see one. And, this is a real haunt."


    "You can''t be serious," Chardi said in disbelief.


    "I''m dead serious," Derek responded completely soberly.


    "So. You want me to come along to some abandoned building in the middle of nowhere, because you''re convinced I can really see ghosts. And, that I''ll see ghosts there. That''s it?" Chardi asked, still feeling like he was missing something.


    "It''s abandoned girl''s school, but that''s essentially it. In two weeks, you''ll come meet me and my crew outside this school and spend your weekend helping me investigate it. In return, I''ll cover whatever money troubles are bothering you. Good deal, right?"


    "It''s too good," Chardi said suspiciously. "What''s the catch?"


    "No catch," Derek leaned forward over the table toward Chardi, meeting his eyes intensely enough that Chardi looked away uncomfortable. "Like I said, both you and this place are the real deal. I''m confident that by bringing the two of you together, I can unlock the secret of St. Agnes. You need me and I need you. It''s as simple as that."


    "God, you''re so fucking creepy," Chardi muttered.


    Derek threw back his head and brayed a laughter. "You''re funny," he said, once his deep laughter had died down.


    "I''m really not," Chardi grimaced, reaching for his pink drink and sucking it down through the straw. It was too sweet for him, but the thick cream was satisfying.


    "It sounds like I can count on you to be there. So, should we get down to brass tacks?" Derek asked, still showing off those upsetting sharp eyeteeth. Chardi wondered if people found him attractive. Looking at his lean muscled forearms and straight white teeth, he figured the answer was probably yes.


    "Yeah, sure," Chardi sighed, sucking down more of his free drink.


    Derek pulled a thin expensive looking tablet out of his bag and tapped on it a few times to open it. "St. Agnes Girl''s Preparatory School is located twenty miles southwest of Philadelphia. It was opened in 1896 as a cloister for Benedictine nuns. But, it was barely open ten years when it had it''s first disappearance."


    Derek turned the tablet around to show Chardi a grainy black and white image of a square building with big columns lining the front. It had two levels of windows looking out onto a circular gravel drive. Derek flicked his finger against the glass screen and the image moved aside to make room for the next image. It was another grainy image, this time of a round faced young woman in a nun''s habit smiling above the small headline "NUN GOES MISSING, NO CLUES".


    "Sister Mary Janina was the first, but there were more over the years that the building was a cloister. After the first nun, the church got better about covering it up, but I was able to find traces," Derek explained.


    His finger went flick flick flick against the glass and more photos went by. Pictures of hand written tables of names and dates, pictures of birth and death certificates, more small headlines in newspapers about missing women and girls.


    "By the 1950s, the church decided to shut down the cloister and converted the building into a girl''s school, but the disappearances continued."


    Flick flick flick, more headlines and more black and white pictures, this time of young girls in pleated skirts and starched white shirts beside older nuns in habits. The girls were pictured sitting at desks, playing in grassy fields, dancing in a big auditorium, mixed in with more missing persons reports, headlines, questions.


    "Finally, in the 1970s the school was shut down. It spent a few summers as a religious retreat for nuns and priests, but eventually the cost of upkeep led the church to abandon the property completely. For reasons unknown, they never tried to sell it. And none of the disappearances were ever solved."


    Derek finally reached the end of his slideshow, stopping on a color photo of the same building Chardi had seen at the beginning, but this one showing the ravages that time had brought. The windows were knocked out and big woody vines had crawled up the cracked and crumbling columns. The facade was washed in gray dirt and mold, the wooden doorways and windows dark and empty.


    A dark feeling of foreboding came over Chardi as he stared at the image on the tablet. Images of another house, a normal happy looking home, tugged at the corners of his mind. Little kids hiding around corners and peeking around doorways where there should be no one.


    Chardi swallowed hard and tore his eyes away.


    "The few people who know about the place and have investigated it have said that it''s incredibly active. I have no intention of faking anything here. I don''t think I''ll need to." Derek leaned in close. "I think you''re going to deliver me the paranormal discovery to end all paranormal investigations. And, in return, I''ll make you filthy stinking rich."


    "You''re wrong about me," Chardi said, "But I''ll take your money, asshole."


    Derek grinned at Chardi with all his teeth. "I''ll take it."

 Chapter 4: welcome to hell

    Chardi ended up taking a greyhound bus early on a Friday after his last exams were completed. The bus took him to the nearest town to the girl''s school, Furnace Valley. It was a rural town built into the foothills of the Appalachian mountains. All the streets were on a slant, most of the houses had ten to twelve steps to get up to the front door, and a burbling mountain stream flowed beside and sometimes underneath the main street. The trees were tall and straight, much taller than all the buildings, and with only a few brittle brown leaves clinging to the topmost branches.


    In town, Chardi walked from the bus stop to a nearby gas station that looked like every other gas station in Pennsylvania. He bought a handful of jerky from a glass jar on the counter along with a big bottle of water and a bag of roasted peanuts that he hoped would last him until the next time he could eat. With that done, he took a seat on the curb where Derek had told him a car would pick him up and gnawed on his jerky while he waited.


    It didn''t take long before a beat up silver Toyota Corolla rolled up with an Uber sticker in the front window.


    "You, Chardi Sodhi?" the driver asked, mangling the pronunciation of his first and last name so bad that Chardi briefly felt bad for putting the man out by not being named John or something.


    "Yeah," Chardi said and crawled into the backseat.


    The driver made stilted small talk that Chardi made the bare minimum attempts at returning.


    When they pulled up to the weed choked drive with a weathered sign declaring it ST AGNES GIRLS PREPARATORY SCHOOL, the driver looked doubtfully back at Chardi. "This is the address. Are you sure this is where you want dropped off?" he asked.


    Chardi shrugged. "I guess. Thanks for the ride."


    Without looking back, Chardi started walking up the overgrown road that he hoped would lead him to the abandoned school. The drive was probably an impressive at one time, but nature had steadily been taking over the gravel drive, plants muscling the slowly deteriorating gravel apart until it was almost unnoticeable. The woods were also encroaching in from the sides, long branches and vines reaching into the road for what little winter sunshine they could catch. The woods were surprisingly loud too. Chardi wasn''t someone who spent a lot of time in nature and he had expected the walk to be eerily quiet. Instead, he heard all types of bird calls coming from the tops of the trees, saw and heard squirrels scampering up and down the trunks of trees and at one point had to jump out of the way of two little chipmunks who ran across the road in front of him. Despite the empty cold feeling of the naked trees, the forest was obviously alive and thriving.


    Just when Chardi started to wonder if he would ever reach the school, the building from Derek''s photo loomed up from between the trees as if summoned. The road widened and then split into a circular drive. Trees and shrubs still squeezed in as tight to the building and road as they could, but the growth here looked newer than what Chardi had been walking through. The plants here were smaller and softer looking. There were also two black vans parked in front of the school with a handful of people milling around them unloading things and talking among themselves.


    Derek quickly separated himself from them when he saw Chardi. "Mr. Sodhi! So glad you could make it!" he enthused with a wide charming smile that nonetheless didn''t reach his eyes. He clapped Chardi on the back heartily when he reached him.


    "Yeah, well," Chardi grumbled and shrugged his way out from under Derek''s hand as subtly as he could manage.


    By this point most of the people around the vans had slowed down if not completely stopped to come meet him.


    Derek put his arm around Chardi''s shoulder, his grip much tighter the second time around. He steered Chardi toward the two vans and the knot of people around them.


    "Everyone, this is Chardi Sodhi, a-" here Derek glanced at Chardi for a second and Chardi did his best to give him a look that promised a lifetime of pain if he said what he thought he was going to say "an experienced investigator that has agreed to help out," Derek amended with a magnanimous smile in Chardi''s direction that grated on every one of his nerves.


    "Chardi, this is Brad Kennedy. He''s doing double duty as our Gaffer and Key Grip for this show," Derek went on, gesturing at a fit middle aged man with a warm friendly face and a plaid button down shirt.


    "Mr. Sodhi, it is so nice to meet you," the man said as he put down the heavy looking plastic case he was carrying to heartily shake Chardi''s hand. His hand was warm and just a little calloused and his smile looked sincere. It was a little disarming.


    "Uh, yeah," Chardi coughed. "Nice to meet you."


    "And, this is the illustrious Elijah Griffiths," Derek said, turning Chardi away from Brad by his shoulders to face a very pretty woman. She had long flowing hair and big dangly earrings and subtle makeup, but her carefully curated appearance was marred by a stressed smile. She nodded at Chardi, but crossed her arms under her ample chest to indicate she didn''t intend to shake hands. "She''s our associate producer for this shoot. She''s the one who actually makes things work, so if you need anything, she''s your gal." Ms. Griffiths smile got even tighter at that, so Chardi took that to mean she absolutely did not want Chardi coming to her with questions or requests.


    "And, this is..." Derek said, gesturing to a short muscular person with short cropped brown hair who was aggressively wrapping cable around their shoulder and elbow.


    "Imogen Nelson," the person bit out, looking up at Derek with an unimpressed look. She had a nose ring and slightly unwashed look about her, but at least looked close in age to Chardi. She didn''t bother to make any further introductions and instead went back to organizing cable.


    "Right, yes, Imogen Nelson. Our boom Op," Derek added halfheartedly.


    "And, I''m Cooper Holmes!" a large man boomed as he stepped out from around one of the cars. He threw his arms out like he was going in for a hug, but something about the way Chardi stiffened up and briefly looked panicked had him transitioning to an over the top handshake instead. "Derek''s told me a lot about you. Really happy to have you on this investigation."


    Chardi shot Derek an angry glare, but Derek just smiled placidly back. What the fuck was Derek telling anyone about him?


    "I was the one who taught Derek everything he needs to know about paranormal investigation. He''s a real go getter, but I guess we know where he gets that from," Cooper said with a booming laugh that no one, not even Derek, joined in on. Chardi frowned at him. He couldn''t really get a read on this guy. "I''m assistant investigator on this, but with you here Derek probably won''t even need me, huh?" Cooper gave Chardi a conspiratorial wink, but Chardi just frowned back at him in confusion.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "That''s our team," Derek said, putting another obnoxious arm around Chardi''s shoulders as he began to usher him away from the vans. "It''s small, but it allows us to be a lot more mobile. We were just starting to-"


    "Hey, what did I miss?" another voice called from the entrance to the school.


    Derek turned them both around to face a guy about Chardi''s age. His relation to Derek was pretty clear from first glance. This new guy had white blonde hair, a few shades lighter than Derek''s, cut short and tousled in a way that looked more real and a lot less artful than Derek''s. He had the same eyebrows and the same wide but thin lips, but his nose was upturned compared to Derek''s aquiline nose. He also had a spray of freckles across the bridge of his nose and cheeks that was unfairly charming. And, where Derek had sleeves of tattoos on his arms and climbing up his neck, this younger man instead had a crosshatching of scars on his forearms that Chardi just got a glimpse of before he rolled down his shirt sleeves. He also had one big scar that licked up from the corner of his jaw to the middle of his cheek, dark red and vibrant against his pale skin.


    "Oh, Billy. I almost forgot. Chardi, this is my little brother Billy. He does Cam Op on our team," Derek said dismissively, already starting to turn Chardi back around.


    Billy was walked toward them quickly. "Who''s this?" he asked, sounding friendly, though his eyebrows were pulled down over his eyes in frustration.


    Derek kept walking toward what Chardi quickly saw was a circular campsite that was still in the process of being set up. "This is Chardi Sodhi. He''s another investigator," Derek said, barely glancing over his shoulder as his little brother hurried to catch up.


    "Cooper''s friend?" Billy asked, hustling to keep pace with Derek.


    "No. Mine," Derek said shortly, finally reaching the campsite and stopping. All traces of the genial smiling man Derek had been at the vans was gone.  He looked at Billy coldly and Billy, on his part, looked confused and off kilter. He stared at Derek, glancing occasionally at Chardi. Chardi felt like he should explain, but he had no idea what to say. What Derek had said was basically correct and he wasn''t in a hurry to tell some complete stranger that he was there because his brother thought he was psychic when he was absolutely not.


    After an uncomfortably long pause where the two brothers looked at each other, Derek finally spoke again. "I need to keep an eye on the crew. I left the extra tent for Mr. Sodhi here. Help him set it up," he commanded. With that short order delivered, he let go of Chardi''s shoulder and turned back to the vans without a backward glance.


    It was Billy and Chardi''s turn to stare at each other. Chardi adjusted the straps of his backpack on his shoulders. Billy looked upset, but he also looked like he was trying hard to hide that he was upset. Chardi glanced back at the vans and caught Elijah and Brad looking at them, but they both quickly looked away when they saw Chardi looking.


    Chardi looked back when he heard Billy sigh and start moving through the dead leaves. "The extra tent is over here. Come on."


    Following Billy, Chardi saw that there was indeed a pile of camping gear tossed in the leaves beside another tent that was already set up. Billy crouched down to start pulling out the tent, a plastic tarp, a sleeping bag and a little fold out cot.


    "Is there anything I can do?" Chardi asked awkwardly.


    "Do you have experience setting up a camp?" Billy asked as he opened the tent and started to lay it flat on the ground.


    "Uh, no," Chardi admitted. He had been sent to Christian summer camp a few times by well meaning foster families, but they always had cabins for the kids to sleep in. He had never set up a tent before.


    "Then, no," Billy snapped, pulling on the tent too hard and moving it out of alignment. He huffed to himself and walked around the tent to pull it straight again.


    Chardi watched Billy work in frustration for a while. Billy was being a dick, but obviously it was because he was mad at Derek, not Chardi. Still, Chardi felt somewhat responsible. He didn''t know why Derek didn''t tell Billy about Chardi, especially when he apparently told that everyone else. Billy probably had the right to be mad at Derek. Chardi himself could tell from what little interaction he had with Derek that he was an asshole. He didn''t particularly want Billy thinking he and Derek were pals, but couldn''t think of anyway to explain why he was there without sounding scummy. ''Hey, don''t blame me. I just need your brother''s money and he offered to pay.'' Yeah, that wasn''t going to work.


    "Listen, I''m sorry about Derek. He''s a dick," Chardi grunted.


    "He''s my brother," Billy snapped back, sharp eyes giving Chardi a warning look that had him stepping back.


    That was obviously the wrong thing to say, but Chardi was never one to gracefully remove his foot from his mouth.


    "Yeah, but he should have told you about me. I don''t know why he didn''t."


    "It doesn''t matter!" Billy shouted, tossing down the tent in frustration. He closed his eyes for a second and took a deep breath while Chardi grimaced to himself. "Let me guess. You''re a special effects guy or something, right?"


    "What?" Chardi frowned, "No, I''m not."


    "Then, what, you met him at one of his stupid conferences?"


    "No."


    "Then, what do you do?"


    "I''m a student," Chardi spat. He didn''t say that it wasn''t any of his business anyway, but he wanted to.


    "Anyone can be a student," Billy scoffed. "But, what are you actually? Are you, like, a medium or something? A psychic?"


    Chardi felt the blood rush to his cheeks and his tongue turn to stone in his mouth. He desperately hoped that his dark skin was enough to hide his flush, but by Billy''s unimpressed expression he guessed not.


    "Right," Billy sighed. "Listen, we don''t have to be friends. I''m just Derek''s tag along little brother, right? All you''ve got to do is tell me where to point my camera and I''ll do it, okay? We don''t have beef, I don''t care what you''re doing here, just do whatever it is you do and I''ll make sure it looks good on camera. Got it?" Billy rattled off.


    "I''m not," Chardi choked out. "I''m not any of those things," he said, but his voice sounded strangled, his words uncertain and unconvincing even to his own ears.


    Billy rolled his eyes, which made Chardi''s face burn even hotter. "Like I said, I don''t care what you are. I''ll set up your tent. Why don''t you go see if the other guys need help unloading the equipment?"


    It was clearly a dismissal, but Chardi stayed rooted to the spot. He burned with anger, but under that was a nasty mess of shame. He wanted to shove Billy to the dirty ground, he wanted to yell in his face that he was wrong, wanted to make him take it back. He wasn''t a psychic, he wasn''t a medium, he wasn''t any of that shit and he was getting fucking tired of listening to snotty white boys try to tell him he was.


    But, he was only a few weeks from graduation. He just needed rent money until after he graduated and could get a real job. He needed this job, even if it meant swallowing shit from stuck up assholes.


    Chardi turned to leave, when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He turned back to Billy and that was when he saw her.


    It was a girl, maybe twelve or thirteen. She was peaking out from behind a tree maybe ten feet behind Billy. She looked as solid as Billy himself, but the sight of her sent a chill down Chardi''s back that was too familiar to be mistaken.


    She was wearing a white and gray school uniform complete with pleated skirt, knee high socks, loafers and a gray scarf tied around the collar of a starched white shirt. She had pale blonde hair cut in a severe bob just past her ears and stormy blue eyes framed in thick pale eyelashes. And, she was staring intensely at the back of Billy''s head. He didn''t seem to notice her at all.


    Chardi froze, half turned, his eyes as big as he looked at this ghostly little girl staring at the boy he had just had been entertaining kicking the shit out of. He had barely been at this school for five minutes, he thought to himself. This couldn''t be happening.


    The girl''s eyes snapped up to meet Chardi''s and he turned on his heel and walked as fast as he could in the other direction before anything else happened.

 Chapter 5: are these pills expired

    Chardi hustled past the hubbub of people unloading complicated camera and electrical equipment from the vans and directly into the school without making eye contact with anyone. He barely looked around the school once he was inside, except to look for somewhere to hide for a second. The foyer of the school was dusty with damaged parquet floors, fake columns and a glass window beside a plain looking wooden door that likely led to an administrative office. Chardi turned toward the plain door and opened it. It led into a room full of bent and knocked over filing cabinets and a rusting typewriter on top of a scratched wooden desk. He kept going through another plain wooden door into a bigger room full of old rusting metal desks lined up in a grid. This room also featured more metal filing cabinets in various states of disarray, piles of paper forms cascading onto stained carpets, overturned chairs, reels of typewriter ink spilling over desktops as well as the hulking forms of typewriters themselves squatting on each metal desk.


    Chardi''s heart was pounding in his chest as he came to a stuttering stop just inside the door. He fumbled as he tried to pull his backpack off his back with shaking hands. He knocked a stack of water damaged paper off a nearby desk as he threw his backpack onto it. Paper scattered everywhere, covering the nasty brown carpet with a quietly shushing layer of off-color white and typeface. Chardi struggled to control his breathing as he unzipped this pocket and that, searching for a bottle of pills that he knew he packed. Even though the prescription was probably at least two years old, he wouldn''t have dared to come to a place like an allegedly haunted school without it.


    Finally, Chardi found the orange bottle rattling around in the bottom of the main pocket beneath his rolled up clothes. The pills clattered against the bottle as he held it in his shaking hands and struggled with the tamper proof lid. He was cussing out his frustrations when a hand appeared from seemingly nowhere to snatch the bottle out of his hand.


    Chardi spun around, his heart already pounding like it was trying to knock its way through his rib cage. Derek was holding the bottle up and squinting at the label to read the faded type.


    "Haloperidol?" he asked. Chardi tried to snatch the bottle back, but Derek effortlessly held the bottle out of his reach. He turned his stormy blue eyes on Chardi, a spark of interest shining in his eyes. "You saw something, didn''t you?"


    "Fuck you! You don''t take someone''s medication away from them! What the fuck is wrong with you?" Chardi spat, taking another swipe at the bottle. But, their height difference was too great. All Derek had to do was stretch his arm above his head and his knuckles brushed the ceiling.


    "This isn''t medically necessary. It''s a crutch," Derek responded casually.


    "FUCK YOU!" Chardi roared, shoving Derek hard and reaching for his pill bottle again.


    Derek smirked. He took a few stumbling steps backward at the shove, but otherwise seemed unfazed. When Chardi rushed him again, he caught the hood of his sweatshirt in his fist and yanked Chardi back, holding him by back like he was scruffing a cat. Chardi choked on the collar of his shirt. He reached up to try and pry Derek''s fingers off, but they didn''t budge.


    "You''ve been here ten minutes and you''ve already seen something," Derek said, a manic glint glowing in his eyes. "I was right about you and I was right about this place. But, these," here Derek shook the pill bottle briefly in Chardi''s face before snatching them away when he reached for them, "these are just going to make you dull. They''re going to cloud your sight. And I need you clear. I need you sharp. Understand?"


    Chardi''s anger drained out of his body through the bottom of his feet, leaving him shaky and terrified. Derek and his manic eyes were terrifying him almost more than the sight of the little girl he had certainly hallucinated. Suddenly, he knew he couldn''t do this. Little dead kids and violent manic white men and broken down empty schools. Everything was too similar to things that had already happened to him.


    "I can''t do this," Chardi croaked out, still hanging onto Derek''s fist in his shirt. "I''m leaving."


    Derek tilted his head like he was looking at an interesting bug, instead of a panicking person clutched in his grip.


    "I guess you could do that," he said considering. "But, it''s a pretty far drive back to your school from here. Paying for the cab to bring you from Furnace Valley alone cost a pretty penny. You''re a nice honest guy, aren''t you? I bet you only asked me for what you needed to get by until now. Do you have the money to pay for a ride back home, Mr. Sodhi?"


    Chardi swallowed around a bruised throat and tried to control his shaking. Fuck him, but he was right. Chardi hadn''t asked for any more of an advance than he absolutely needed. He had kept working his dishwasher job, but his hours kept getting fewer and fewer. He really didn''t have the money to pay for a cab to get back to campus and he didn''t know anyone who would be able to come get him.


    "Fuck you," Chardi croaked out, but it must have sounded as pathetic to Derek as it had to Chardi, because he smiled and let go of Chardi''s shirt. Chardi took a few gasping breaths and tried to smooth out his shirt collar, but it was irreparably stretched out.


    "I''ll just keep hold of these," Derek said, shaking the pill bottle for emphasis and tucking them into his jeans pocket. "If it gets to be too much we can discuss maybe cutting a pill in half. But, I need you alert for this investigation. Do we have an understanding?"


    "You''re such an incredible asshole," Chardi bit out instead of answering. "Does it take work to be this much of an inconsiderate ass or were you just born that way?" he snapped.


    Derek smiled beatifically. "Just born this way, I guess. Anyway, I want you to take a walk through through the school yourself, since things are already happening."


    "What the fuck? Hell no," Chardi bit out.


    "Billy can go with you to document it. He doesn''t believe in any of this anyway, so he can handle it," Derek continued like he hadn''t heard.


    "I said I''m not doing it," Chardi overly enunciated each word.


    "Need I remind you that you signed a contract, Mr. Sodhi? If you don''t plan on doing your job, I''m going to need that advance I gave you back with interest. And, it won''t be me coming after you for that money, it will be the television network."


    Chardi groaned aloud, rubbing his hands through his curly hair, surely making it even more of a bird''s nest than it always was.


    "Very good. I knew we could reach an understanding."


    Ten minutes later, Chardi had marginally calmed himself down and was standing back in the lobby area. He tucked his still trembling hands into his jean pockets and watched Derek and Billy fight in the same passive aggressive way they had done just minutes before out by the campsite.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Chardi tried not to eavesdrop, but they weren''t making any special effort to be quiet, so it was hard not to. Derek commanded Billy like he was his boss, no familiarity or flexibility at all. Billy seemed like he chafed under Derek''s orders, but wasn''t willing to confront him directly.


    "The guys are still unloading the van. They need help organizing the camera equipment," Billy said.


    "Brad can handle it," Derek said


    "There''s hundreds of feet of cabling to lay. You can''t expect Brad and Imogen to handle all that," Billy said.


    "Elijah can help out too. She needs something to do," Derek said.


    "You haven''t even filmed the intro. How do you plan to splice this footage into the episode?" Billy asked.


    "We''ll figure it out later," Derek said.


    Eventually, Billy ran out of protests except for the ones that would have been too direct, Chardi guessed. He guessed the unsaid bits were about how Billy didn''t want anything to do with him and why couldn''t Derek find anybody else to do this. But, Billy wasn''t going to say that and Chardi wasn''t going to say that for him, so there they were.


    When Billy finally stomped over to Chardi and gestured him to lead the way, he didn''t make eye contact and Chardi didn''t push the issue. He got to his feet and shoved his still trembling fingers under his armpits. It was cold enough to justify it. Somehow it was colder in the old empty school than it was outside.


    Chardi picked a door at random from beneath the big curved staircase in the foyer, heading through a set of metal security doors.


    He found himself in a long hallway lined with lockers on one side and windows on the other. Aside from the dirt and grim, it looked like any other school Chardi had been to. And, he had been to a lot of different schools while being traded around to different foster families. The lockers were all painted gray with a big pink stripe running across them at waist height. Some of them were popped open, spilling yellowed paper and pens onto the dirty cracked tile floor. Wooden doors with cracked and broken glass windows stood open all the way down the hallway.


    Chardi wandered, feeling both exhausted and on edge. His adrenaline was crashing after seeing the girl in the woods and then having that awful encounter with Derek. He felt shaky and exhausted, but something about the school kept him on edge. He thought it might just be bad memories of having to start over in new schools over and over throughout his teenage years. Though, he didn''t think bad memories would give him the feeling of being watched as he walked past doorways, the impression of eyes looking at him around corners, the feeling that someone was darting out of sight every time he turned his head.


    After a minute of walking silently without anything but a mounting sense of dread, Chardi finally turned back to Billy to check if he was feeling the same thing. He looked tense, but otherwise his face was blank as he regarded Chardi through the viewfinder of his big bulky camera. More importantly than Billy though was the flash of a pleated skirt and a small leg disappearing into the doorway of a nearby classroom as Chardi turned around.


    Chardi froze, staring at the doorway the girl had just disappeared into. She still looked just as solid as she had in the woods.


    "So, are you going to do anything?" Billy asked testily after Chardi had probably been frozen for a few beats too long.


    "What?" Chardi asked, trying to shake off his shock at seeing something again and tune into whatever Billy was saying.


    "Derek wanted me to ''document'' whatever the hell it is you do," Billy said, hefting the camera on his shoulder in explanation. "But, all you''ve been doing is walking around silently. Aren''t you going to put on a show? Or, is this it?"


    Chardi''s shoulders came up as he scowled back at Billy. "There is no show! What the fuck do you want me to do?"


    "I don''t know," Billy scoffed. "Attach some fishing line to some doors? Hide some Bluetooth speakers in these lockers? Maybe I should document that, huh?"


    Chardi opened his mouth to snark right back at Billy. It probably wasn''t destined to be much of a zinger. But, his mouth snapped shut when a thought slapped him so hard up the side of his head that it knocked whatever he was going to say right out of it.


    Derek obviously faked most of his evidence on his YouTube channel. Billy seemed to know that and expected Chardi to be a sudden addition in the service of that. What if the little girl was a real little girl dressed up in an old timey school uniform just to fuck with Chardi? What if the whole point of dragging him kicking and screaming into Derek''s first episode was to add some validity to his evidence? Was the plan to pull someone with some real mental illness in who was desperate for money and then show them a "ghost" and watch them freak out on live television? After all, no one can fake it like someone who really believes what they''re seeing.


    "Oh, that asshole," Chardi seethed aloud as he stomped past Billy toward the doorway the girl had just disappeared into.


    Billy looked completely flummoxed by Chardi''s sudden change of demeanor. After a moment of shock, he followed behind him with a confused "Sorry what?"


    The classroom that Chardi charged into looked like it had barely been changed since the school closed in the 70s. It still had a big blackboard at the front, covered all over with loopy feminine script. Goodbye messages, funny limericks, silly drawings of dogs and flowers by the girls who were probably in their last class when the school shut down. They left their goodbye messages all over the blackboard to be memorialized much longer than they likely expected. There were rows of desks barely aged by time. The windows were thick with grime, making the room look like it was twilight even though it was only a few hours into the afternoon. There weren''t many places to hide.


    Chardi marched over to the teacher''s desk first and crouched down to look underneath, but the only thing there was dust and spiderwebs. Chardi cussed and climbed back to his feet to check the cabinets on the other side of the room.


    "What the hell are you doing?" Billy asked, sounding sincerely confused, but still pointing his camera at Chardi dutifully.


    "Your brother has been fucking with me," Chardi spat. "He somehow found out that I hallucinate shit and he''s setting me up to freak the fuck out on national television. But, he can GO FUCK HIMSELF!" Chardi shouted at the ceiling. He started to pull open the cabinet doors at random. Dusty textbooks, moth eaten papers and dirty supply boxes were all that greeted.


    "What? Derek? No, I mean, I don''t think-" Billy stuttered, but Chardi ignored him.


    "He stalked me, dug up my past, and extorted me to get me here. He''s a fucking operator, so of course he set me up," Chardi snapped, finally opening the last cabinet and frowning at the lack of little girl. He was unnerved for a second before he considered that there must be another hiding place he missed.


    Chardi stood up and whirled on Billy, ready to tell him even more about his dick bag brother, but he stopped dead.


    She was there, peeking out from behind Billy with sharp blue eyes watching Chardi keenly. Her hand was clutched in the end of Billy''s over sized jacket, her small fingers puckering the fabric. She was solid and real, but also just slightly unreal. Something about her gave Chardi that same unnerving feeling, like the swoop in your belly when you reach the top of a hill going at high speed. A moment of no gravity before being pulled back to Earth.


    Billy turned his head and his camera to follow Chardi''s line of sight and screeched when his eyes met the girl''s. He jumped away from her and she let go of his jacket and jumped away from him, as well. She looked terrified for a second and then shot across the room toward the windows. She took three big strides and disappeared into thin air four feet before she hit the wall of windows, fading out of existence like she had just stepped through an invisible doorway.


    Both of them stood staring at the point where the girl had disappeared with wide eyes.


    "Did, uh," Billy started, his voice cracking, "Did you just see that?"


    Chardi nodded slowly. "Did you catch it on camera?" he asked after a second, feeling a little breathless.


    Billy jumped a little and looked at his camera like he just remembered it was sitting on his shoulder. He rushed over to Chardi and leaned close to show him the small screen where they could review the footage. He played back the last few seconds of footage and they watched together as Billy swung his camera toward the girl just as she disappeared into thin air.


    They looked at each other, stunned for a second, before rushing back outside.

 Chapter 6: gaslight gatekeep girlboss

    Chardi followed on Billy''s heels as he shot down the hallway and through the pair of heavy double doors. They found themselves in an overgrown courtyard surrounded on all four sides by tall brick walls with banks of dirty broken windows. Brambles, shrubs and young trees reached out of the neglected flower beds, vying for any little bit of sunlight they could reach. In the center of the courtyard was a cracked and dilapidated statue of a woman with a round face and a peaceful expression. She was wrapped in ivy and missing one outstretched hand.


    Billy slowed his jog toward the center of the courtyard and spun in a nervous circle, running his free hand through his hair roughly.


    "We both really saw that, right?" he asked breathlessly.


    Chardi nodded, bracing his hands on his knees and trying to catch his breath. His heart was still pounding, though they really hadn''t ran that far.


    "Did you see her before? Is that why you were going off in the school?" Billy asked.


    "Yeah," Chardi rasped. "I saw her disappear into the classroom. And, I saw her near the campsite before that." He still felt a little stunned. He wasn''t knowledgeable about visual tricks and illusions, but he wasn''t sure how someone could fake a person disappearing into thin air. Though, he supposed it was possible? Maybe with mirrors or something? Maybe, Billy was in on it. But, if he was, he was one hell of an actor.


    Billy''s face looked pale, even paler than his already pale skin, his freckles standing out stark and darker than they had before. He had put down his camera down and was pacing back and forth in the small space in front of the statue, running his hands back and forth through his short hair, making the pale hair stand straight up on end. When he turned to Chardi, his eyes were big, his pupils tiny pinpricks.


    "This can''t be real," he said, looking at Chardi desperately. "Ghosts aren''t real. I''ve been to all kinds of creepy haunted places and we''ve never caught anything real!"


    "Could it have been faked?" Chardi asked uncertainly. He pushed himself to stand straight even though his instinct was to make himself as small as possible. But, he couldn''t let himself look that weak in front of a relative stranger.


    Billy frowned and rubbed the tips of his fingers across his forehead. He looked down at his shoes and seemed to really think about it.


    "Maybe you could with mirrors? Or a really well painted background? But, you walked from one side of that room to the other. Those kind of tricks only work if you can get the audience to stand in one specific spot," Billy muttered to himself.


    "So, it couldn''t be faked," Chardi said with a frown of his own.


    Billy''s head popped up and he regarded Chardi with big frightened eyes. "Ghost aren''t real," he reiterated.


    "I fucking agree," Chardi grumbled. "But then what the did we just see?"


    Billy cussed and started pacing again. Chardi was feeling exhausted. He couldn''t take much more and it was barely noon. He cast around for somewhere to sit and noticed a small stone bench under a blanket of ivy. He considered pushing the ivy aside, but decided to just sit on it instead. He curled over his knees and hugged his stomach.


    He hated this. What the fuck was going on?


    "I''ve seen her too," Billy said quietly, almost to himself, after a few more minutes of pacing.


    "What?" Chardi grunted, looking up from contemplating the tips of his shoes.


    "Ever since we got here and did the initial walk through, I''ve felt like I''ve been seeing people out of the corner of my eye. Like, every time I turn around I just miss someone running around a corner or moving back behind me. And then, before you got here, I could have swore I saw her through the windshield of the van. But, I thought- I don''t know what I thought," Billy shook his head and crouched down where he stood, groaning miserably into his knees.


    Chardi watched Billy for a while, but it didn''t look like he was going to stand up any time soon. Chardi wasn''t much of a fan of Billy, but it was hard not to feel bad for the guy. At least Chardi had gone through something like this before. It sounded like Billy had never experienced anything before that day. And, worst of all, the girl was seemed to be following Billy around.


    What was the sense in that? If the girl was supposed to scare Chardi for the camera, why would Derek tell her to follow Billy around? Or, did she just like Billy? He was pretty conventionally handsome, except for all the scars. Maybe she was just a normal preteen girl and was gravitating toward Billy despite being advised to scare Chardi.


    "Do you think Derek would be likely to set up something like this?" Chardi asked. He had been spinning in circles in his own head for a while and needed to bounce some of his ideas off of someone and Billy was still sitting there. He had plopped down to sit criss-crossed on the weed choked walk some time ago and looked up with a miserable expression when Chardi spoke.


    "Normally, I would say no," Billy said slowly. "Yes, he absolutely fakes evidence and yes he''s probably clever enough to set something up. But, he''s never bothered trying to trick crew or guests before. There was no point. But, ever since started planning the shoot for this place he''s been ... different."


    "Different how?" Chardi asked with a frown.


    "Like secretive. And, manic," Billy explained, scowling down at some weeds. He nervously yanked them up and started to shred them in his hands. "I''m his camera man on all his YouTube stuff, you know? I''ve been helping him do investigations for years. And, like, he''s not the most open person, I know that. Ever since I was a kid, there were always things he held back from me. But, lately, it''s like he won''t talk to me about anything. Everything about this investigation was a secret, a big secret. Fucking Cooper knows everything about it, but he bites my head off if I so much as ask a question."


    "Why would he be secretive about it?" Chardi asked.


    "Fuck if I know," Billy grumbled.


    "Why would he tell Cooper but not you?" Chardi asked.Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Billy frowned down at the bits of shredded grass in his lap and reached out to pull up another long stem. "Cooper is super sketchy," he explained, after thinking for a second. "The obvious explanation is that Derek is up to some fuck shit and knows that I wouldn''t go for it. But, Cooper is down for anything that will make him money or that he thinks is ''fun''," Billy included finger quotes and everything.


    "Like fooling some stranger into thinking he''s having a mental breakdown?" Chardi asked with a scowl.


    Billy looked up again at that, concern drawn bold across his handsome features. "You said my brother was stalking you before, right?"


    It was Chardi''s turn to look away. There was a pretty purple flower blossoming to his right, but he had no idea what it was. It gave him something to look at other than Billy''s face.


    "He showed up at my college campus and cornered me at a coffee shop. He told me some stuff about myself that I never told anyone and my name shouldn''t be in any official records about it either. I almost punched him in the face, but he offered me a lot of money and I was on the verge of being homeless. It all seems a little too convenient, don''t you think?" Chardi shot the last part at Billy, expecting him to defend Derek and wanting to get the first shot in.


    But, Billy looked upset rather than defensive. His brow and mouth were crumpled and as soon as Chardi made eye contact, he looked away.


    "I''m really sorry," Billy said after a while, his voice sounding raspy. "I had no idea he was doing anything like that. I really wouldn''t have been okay with that."


    "It''s okay," Chardi grumbled. "I mean, it''s not okay. He''s an asshole. But, at least I was able to make rent."


    "I''m sorry for snapping at you before too," Billy added. "This whole investigation has been a shitstorm since it started. Derek isn''t talking to me, Cooper is being a smug asshole and Brad and Elijah are being their normal annoying selves. At least the new grip seems fine. But, I still shouldn''t have snapped at you. It wasn''t your fault."


    Chardi relaxed a little at that . It shouldn''t have meant much, but he almost never got apologies. He knew he was loud and abrasive. Even if he was in the right, most people assumed he was the asshole just because of how loud he was. He could count the number of sincere apologies he had received in his life since going into foster care on one hand.


    "Apology accepted," Chardi mumbled. "I can understand being stressed. I was too."


    "Yeah, I bet," Billy sighed. "What was the thing that Derek dug up anyway?" he asked. Chardi threw him a warning glare and Billy immediately backpedaled, "Not that you have to tell me! It''s not important. I was just curious."


    Chardi glared at Billy and he looked back uncertainly. A little voice in the back of his head asked him what he really had to lose by sharing with Billy. Obviously, Derek already knew about what happened with the Faultons. Based on what Billy had just said and his weird interaction with Cooper when they were introduced, this Cooper guy likely also knew about it. How much longer until the rest of the crew knew? Until everyone knew? And, Billy seemed like he was in a rough spot. Though, of course, maybe it was all a set up and Billy was just a very talented actor. But, Chardi''s gut didn''t think so.


    "I''ve, uh, been in foster care since I was thirteen. I was raised by just my dad before that, but he was murdered," Chardi said haltingly, staring at his shoes.


    "Jesus," Billy breathed. "I''m really sorry."


    "Yeah," Chardi agreed. "I was shuffled around a lot. I wasn''t dealing well with my dad''s death. I was seeing a therapist, but I was struggling. I was having night terrors and hallucinations and acting out and-" he cut himself off, not sure what he meant to say anything. "A lot was going on," he settled on.


    "Then, when I was fifteen, I was placed with this couple. The Faultons. They seemed weird, but nice. They had a lot of rules, but I was settled down a little by then. But, I started having really..." Chardi choked, old memories shuffling around behind his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to push the rest of the words out. "I had these really vivid paranoid delusions. I dreamed that I would see other kids in the house, in my bedroom."


    Images flashed in his mind''s eye, like a horrific slideshow. Laura in her blood spattered nightgown staring at him from the side of his bed. Davon in a dirty ripped dinosaur t-shirt with the side of his head dented in. Mindie and her twisted broken legs pulling herself across his floor. Bile flooded up Chardi''s throat. He swallowed it back down.


    "I believed so strongly that the things I was seeing were real kids and that they had really been murdered in that house, that I sneaked out one night and started digging in the backyard. And, I found something."


    He had struggled with the heavy shovel he had pulled from the garden shed. At fifteen he was the same height he was at twenty, but significantly thinner. He had dug and dug as hard as he dared, glancing back up at the dark windows of the house with every shovel full of dirt.


    He barely had to dig two feet down before he uncovered a single dirty decaying hand, much too small to belong to an adult.


    "So, I went to the police."


    He walked there in his pajamas, covered in dirt, his feet cut up and blistered from running barefoot through quiet neighborhood streets until he finally reached the police station that served their small town. He banged on the door frantically until a startled police deputy let him in. What happened next was a blur. He knew he had been talking a mile a minute, but he was never able to remember exactly what he said. But, he remembered the concerned face of the middle aged woman who answered the door for him, the scratchy wool blanket she wrapped around his shoulders and the watery hot chocolate in a waxed cup that she had handed him. He remembered sitting there shaking while she called what seemed like a million people on her desk phone, shooting him reassuring smiles every few minutes.


    "Somehow, I turned out to be right. The police who showed up went to the backyard first and what I saw was real. There really were missing kids buried in their backyard," Chardi rasped.


    It was all a lot more horrific than what he was saying. It was months of him seeing weird things in the hallways of that house, visions of dead kids in his room at night, the pervasive paranoia that followed him all throughout the day. And afterward Chardi was such a nervous mess that he had to be admitted to an inpatient mental hospital clear across the state to recover. The doctors theorized that he must have subconsciously realized what his foster parents were doing and the hallucinations and night terrors were his own mind trying to warn him about what he sensed in his gut had happened. He had experienced similar hallucinations after his father''s murder and the stress of living with the Faultons must have caused a relapse in his severe PTSD. That''s what they said, anyway.


    And afterward nobody wanted him. Every foster kid was damaged goods in some way, but he must have developed some kind of reputation. No foster family would take him, so he was stuck in Juvenile Detention for months only to be punted to a big children''s home where it seemed like every kid knew the story about him seeing the ghosts of dead foster kids at his last home. Most of the kids avoided him like the plague and the ones who didn''t just wanted to pick and poke at him until he snapped. He beat the shit out of three kids there and it didn''t matter that they had broken two of his ribs, four of his fingers and knocked out two of his teeth. He got sent back to Juvenile Detention and it took almost a year before he got placed again afterward.


    "Jesus," Billy croaked. "That''s-"


    "I''m not psychic," Chardi said fiercely. He could feel a sheen of tears glimmering in his eyes from the wash of bad memories, but he didn''t care to hide them. He fixed Billy with a glare. "I''ve been through some terrible shit. Sometimes my mind fills in the blanks for me when I don''t want to see bad things. But, your brother believes the rumors about me. He believes I really see things. Or, so he says."


    Billy rubbed his hand over his mouth roughly. "You think-? I mean, Derek wouldn''t- Derek''s a dick, but he wouldn''t fuck with someone''s mental health." Billy looked away with a heart broken expression. "At least, I don''t think he would."


    "I don''t know what the fuck is going on here, but your brother took my meds and I can''t afford a ride out of here even if I was willing to leave without them."


    Billy turned back to Chardi, his face smoothed out to determination. "Let me help you. If Derek really did this, he''s totally out of line."

 Chapter 7: harrassed in a bathroom

    Derek was ecstatic about the evidence they had found on their walk through. Whatever discomfort both Chardi and Billy expressed was completely subsumed by Derek''s energetic response to the recording that Billy provided. Everyone gathered around Derek''s laptop and reviewed the footage over and over. Derek, Cooper, Elijah and Brad all pressed as close to the screen as they could. Imogen, Billy and Chardi hung back. Imogen occasionally shot Chardi and Billy looks that communicated pretty clearly she thought it was all bullshit, but neither Billy or Chardi bothered to explain it.


    Chardi wouldn''t have been able to explain it even if he wanted to. Billy and Chardi had sat in that courtyard for a while, but they never successfully came to any explanation for what they saw.


    "This is an amazing start!" Derek announced after they watched the footage about a hundred times, backed it up to three different hosting websites and then watched the clip again. "We need to celebrate such an auspicious beginning. Let''s eat!"


    Cooper and Brad were enthusiastic in their agreement and Elijah and Imogen at least smiled. Billy and Chardi looked at each other. Billy shrugged and Chardi mirrored the gesture. He wasn''t going to protest leaving the school for a while and free food was another thing he could never turn down. So, dinner it was.


    They all piled into the two vans, something that Billy said was much easier now that much of the equipment had been unloaded and set up in the school. Chardi was surprised that they were okay leaving all that expensive equipment sitting in an empty building in the woods, but he guessed that the people who would normally care about that were high on the feeling of success. And, again, he was happy to get a break away from the school, so he wasn''t about to point it out.


    Derek drove one van and Cooper drove the other. Billy seemed unhappy with that arrangement and tried to argue that he should drive the second van, but he was ignored. Elijah jumped in the front with Derek and Brad got into the back. Imogen wrinkled her nose at both vans, but eventually crawled into the back of Cooper''s van. Billy hesitated between the two cars, but eventually frowned at Chardi and crawled in beside Cooper leaving Chardi to take a seat next to Imogen in the back.


    The ride into Furnace Valley would have been quiet if not for Cooper. Cooper obviously loved the sound of his own voice and talked the whole way there, with only occasional grunts from Billy in reply. Both Chardi and Imogen kept quiet and let the older man talk.


    God, did he talk. He talked about how this footage was going to put their show on the map. They would be bigger than Ghost Adventures, bigger than Ghost Hunters, they would be the only paranormal investigation show worth watching on TV. He talked about how much money he was going to make, only remembering occasionally that all of them worked on the show and including them in his thoughts on what it would be like to be a millionaire. He talked about his expertise when it came to the paranormal and how Derek owed him everything for all the guidance he''d given him over the years. That, if only Cooper was young and handsome with straight teeth and a full head of hair, he could have easily gotten a TV show too. But, once he was rich, it wouldn''t matter what he looked like. And, of course, bringing Chardi in had been all Cooper''s idea, which Derek owed him for completely, Cooper added with a smug grin tossed over his shoulder at Chardi.


    Chardi grimaced back, not bothering to hide his expression. Billy cut in before Cooper could react to it.


    "You told Derek about Chardi? Where did you hear about him and what did you tell Derek?" Billy asked sharply.


    "Oh wow jeez!" Cooper exclaimed in a sarcastic imitation of surprise. "Look we''re here kids! Time to go eat and be merry," he laughed as he pulled into a nearby parking spot crookedly and threw the van into park.


    "Cooper!" Billy shouted after the older man, but he had already hopped out of the van and was striding toward the doors of a big unobtrusive looking steak house.


    Imogen sighed explosively and unbuckled her seat belt and let herself out of the van as well.


    Billy sat back down with a distinct slouch to his shoulders.


    "Well. He seemed charming," Chardi said deadpan.


    Billy tossed his head back against the headrest with a dull thunk. "He''s an asshole," he sighed and looked out the windshield at where Derek was canoodling with Elijah near the other van. He had an arm around her waist and was leaning into her. She was leaning away from him, but looked distinctly pleased with the attention.


    "How does he know your brother?" Chardi asked, transparently putting off getting out of the van.


    Billy blew some hair off his forehead and rolled his eyes. "Hell if I know. It feels like Cooper has been hanging around Derek since Derek got out of high school. Maybe even before that. He''s like a habitual con man and he''s always trying to rope Derek into his dumb shit. But, he used to not listen to him..."


    "He got him into the, uh, paranormal investigation thing?" Chardi asked uncertainly, stumbling over the words. He thought most people probably called it ''ghost hunting'' but he hadn''t heard anyone on the crew say the words ''ghost'' and ''hunter'' together in a sentence yet, so he thought maybe they had something against it.


    Billy nodded wearily. "Yeah. It was a side gig at first. They would investigate people''s houses for a small fee and give them copies of any ''evidence'' they found. Then, Derek started documenting their investigations on YouTube and it kind of took off from there."


    "And, that''s when you got involved?" Chardi asked.


    "Yep," Billy said, turning around to look between the two front seats at Chardi. He smiled, but it looked tired. "I''ve always been into photography and Derek had gotten me a high end camera for my birthday. I was a good fit, I guess."


    "Hm," Chardi hummed with a frown.


    He knew he shouldn''t, but he felt bad for Billy. He didn''t know what everyone''s story was, but it seemed like Billy was just being pulled along in Derek''s wake. He didn''t strike Chardi as the kind of person who would have signed up for this on his own.


    "They''re gonna start bothering us if we don''t go in soon," Billy said, casting a glance to where Derek and Elijah had started to amble toward the front door. Imogen was waiting there, scowling while aggressively avoiding eye contact with Cooper who was still talking to her. "We should probably head in," Billy said like it was the last thing in the world he wanted to do.


    "Yeah. Hopefully the free food will make it bearable," Chardi grumbled as he pushed open the van door and got out himself. He heard Billy huff under his breath at the joke and tried not to feel too happy about it. Not many people found him funny.


    Once they all filed inside they found that Brad, the kind faced clean cut older guy, had already reserved a table for their group in the back of the restaurant. The steakhouse turned out to be more on the bar side of bar and grill and obviously a popular place with the locals. There were tables filled with people ordering and eating their dinners, but there were also plenty of people walking around with glass tumblers in their hands, laughing and chatting with each other and the people at the tables. There was an old jukebox set up in the corner that still took quarters and a long bar set against the left wall that was filled with old men and a few women nursing drinks.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    "The menu looks great!" Brad enthused as they all sat down awkwardly around the big half moon bench seat and picked up laminated menus. Chardi scanned the menu. Burgers, steaks and beer seemed to be the primary menu items. He found the most expensive thing on the menu (a steak piled up with lump crab meat and three sides) and ordered that when the waitress came to take their orders. He didn''t feel the slightest bit of guilt over it and it seemed like he wasn''t the only one filling up on Derek''s dime.


    Chardi had sat down between Imogen and Billy. The younger people on the crew already seemed to be shoved together and Chardi wondered if that was because they were just naturally gravitating toward each other or if it was because the older people were somehow giving off vibes that they''d rather not interact with them.


    "So," Imogen said, turning to Chardi with a mild expression while sucking down soda noisily through a straw. "You''re an investigator like these guys?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.


    "Uh, not really," Chardi grunted. He looked to Billy for a save and was lucky that he was looking in Chardi''s direction.


    "He told Derek he had an imaginary friend once when he was a kid and Derek is convinced it was a ghost," Billy said around a mouthful of steak fries. "Ever since then, Derek''s been convinced that he''s psychic or something."


    "He knew you when you were a kid?" Imogen asked, both eyebrows going up.


    "Very briefly," Chardi said quickly, incredibly grateful for Billy''s graceful lie. It would go a long way to explaining anything Imogen would overhear without actually tacking the ''medium'' title onto Chardi.


    "But, he''s paying, right?" Imogen said with a smirk that made her surly face look dashingly handsome for a second.


    Chardi snorted. "Yeah, in spades. Hard to say no to that," he mumbled.


    "I get you. When I saw his ad on Craigslist for a boom, I just applied because whatever. And, when he sent me the proposed pay I was like wow okay. I just need something to get me through film school, you know?" Imogen said with a shrug.


    Chardi nodded. He did in fact know exactly what she was talking about. After all, he wouldn''t be there at all if it weren''t for his own pressing expenses.


    Before he could say anything about his own school expenses, a pair of wait staff appeared with trays full of food. Everyone leaned back, making appreciative noises as plates piled high with still steaming food were placed in front of them.


    As soon as the food was handed out, a second waitress appeared with a tray full of sweating glasses full of colorful liquid which she distributed among the older people at the table. It was still lunch and Chardi had been under the impression that they still had a lot filming to do that night, so he was more than surprised to see how much liquor was accumulating around the table.


    Chardi turned to Billy with raised eyebrows, but Billy was staring at his brother with a nose wrinkled in distaste. Imogen snorted back a laugh and quickly dug into her humongous greasy burger.


    "A toast!" Derek shouted, standing up and holding his glass aloft. They all raised their glasses, though Chardi couldn''t help but notice that himself and Billy were only holding their glasses a few inches off the table. The bar quieted somewhat, people at nearby tables stopping to listen in.


    "To making history! And reshaping the world!" Derek said with a wide grin.


    "Hear, hear!" Cooper shouted, banging the table with his meaty palm and slamming a tumbler of amber liquid back with enthusiasm.


    Elijah and Brad echoed Cooper, though with less enthusiasm, and took much more measured sips of their drinks. Chardi copied Billy and Imogen as they took quiet mouthfuls of their drinks. A few knots of people nearby clapped obligingly, a few laughing and obviously assuming the strangers to their town were not serious.


    Chardi stared down at his full plate of food, his stomach suddenly knotting.


    Something told him that Derek''s toast hadn''t held a bit of hyperbole.


    Dinner proceeded quickly after that. Despite the anxiety turning his stomach, once Chardi started eating he quickly demolished his meal. In fact, the rich food and the sheer amount of it turned out to be too big of a shock to his system after living off of noodles and dried nuts for the past few weeks. Chardi excused himself to the bathroom as soon as his plate was clean.


    He then spent an embarrassing amount of time crouched over a toilet in the last stall trying to decide if it was worth throwing up or not. The tile floor in the bathroom was sticky, the light harsh and bright compared to the softer light in the restaurant, the fluorescent bulb directly above him buzzing and flickering occasionally. The room smelled strongly of some kind of artificial scent, and after a few minutes of dry heaving over the toilet, it started to give Chardi a headache.


    To his horror, just as he decided that the food was going to stay down, he heard a rap of knuckles on the door of his stall.


    "Chardi? Are you in there?" Derek''s voice asked from the far side.


    Char stood quickly and spun around. Derek''s all black sneakers were just visible in the gap below the door.


    "Excuse me?" Char rasped incredulously.


    "I was hoping I could have a quick chat with you," Derek said. "We keep getting off to bad starts," he added, a laugh in his voice.


    "So you cornered me in the bathroom?" Char snapped, pulling open the metal stall door with a yank.


    Derek was lounging against the wall, looking easy and confident, his muscular arms crossed over his chest and a lopsided smile on his face as he looked down at Chardi. Chardi glared up at him for a moment before passing him to wash his hands at the sink.


    "Maybe if Billy hadn''t decided to attach himself to you I wouldn''t have had to," Derek said with a shrug, rolling to brace his other shoulder against the wall so he could look at Chardi''s face through the mirror above the sink.


    "I guess seeing a ghost could be considered a traumatic experience. Is this trauma bonding?" Derek asked with a laugh.


    Chardi finished washing his hands and shook them too hard, spraying cold water all over himself, the mirror and hopefully Derek too.


    "Are you seriously upset that your little brother is being nice to me?" Chardi sneered.


    "Is he? Being nice to you?" Derek asked, sneering back himself. "How nice is he being exactly?" he asked with a look that Chardi thought could only be a leer, even if there was something mean and calculating behind his eyes.


    Anger was burning in Chardi''s chest and he had barely been talking to Derek for a minute. His hands were shaking with it. It had been a long time since he''d felt like such a hair trigger.


    Spinning, Chardi put his back to the sink and snarled up into Derek''s face. "What the fuck is your problem?"


    For a second, Chardi was sure that Derek was going to square up to him, get in his face, block him in against the sink counter and start a fight. But, the answering rage in Derek''s face was there and gone in a blink. In it''s place was a pleasant if contrite expression.


    He dropped his arms from where they had been crossed over his chest and took a deep breath, pushing off of the wall and standing up straight.


    "Sorry, sorry," he said, holding his hands up with the palms showing. "Like I said, I keep messing up. I just wanted to tell you, you''re doing an amazing job already."


    Chardi scoffed. "I''m half convinced that you staged the whole thing," he said dismissively, watching Derek closely for some kind of tell.


    Derek''s expression did change, but Chardi didn''t get the impression it was an indication of guilt. A manic gleam came to Derek''s eyes and this time he did lean into Chardi''s space. Chardi tried to back away, but the edge of the counter pressed into the small of his back, stopping him.


    "It was no set up," Derek said, his voice low and soft despite the unyielding tone. "I knew there was something in that school and you found it without even trying."


    Chardi''s hands were still shaking, but he wasn''t sure if it was from the adrenaline of expecting a fight with Derek or the primal fear that was thrumming in his throat at the look in Derek''s eye. He''d never been looked at that way by anyone, but something in the back of his mind told him this might be what a rabbit sees before it''s neck is snapped by a wolf.


    "I''m not psychic," Char croaked, his hands moving to grasp the edge of the counter.


    Derek blinked and shook off whatever manic energy had overtaken him. He smiled, though it looked strained, and stepped back out of Chardi''s space.


    "Right. Of course," he said insincerely. "Still, I''m glad you agreed to join us. Just keep doing what you''re doing."


    Then, he turned and left the bathroom without a backward glance. But, Chardi held onto the edge of the counter trying to get his pounding heartbeat under control for a while longer.