Ramsey told the truth

Ramsey leaned over the railing, a cruel, shark-like grin stretching his face. "Oh, don't look so confused, sweetheart. When I said he liked being inside you, I didn't mean he was wearing your skin like a cheap suit. I mean he *enjoyed* it."

Aaron’s blood ran cold. "Ramsey, shut up!"

"He didn't just sleep, Hailey," Ramsey continued, his voice dripping with malicious glee. "He took you for a test drive. He touched you. He played with you. He brought himself to ecstasy... using *your* fingers on *your* most private parts."

Hailey stiffened, her face draining of color. She looked at Aaron, then back up at the man in the suit. "You're sick," she spat, her voice shaking. "That’s disgusting. Aaron wouldn't do that. He’s Cody’s best friend. He’s a good guy!"

"He's a teenage boy with a god-complex and a permission slip to do whatever he wants!" Ramsey laughed, the sound echoing off the metal walls. "I read the memories, Hailey. I can taste them. They are etched into your brain, buried deep in your subconscious. The heat, the friction... he made you scream into a pillow. Three times, wasn't it, Aaron?"

"STOP IT!" Aaron roared, his fists clenched at his sides.

Hailey took a step back from Aaron, confusion warring with horror in her eyes. "He's lying... right, Aaron? Tell him he's lying!"

Aaron opened his mouth, but the lie stuck in his throat. He couldn't look her in the eye. His hesitation was all the answer Ramsey needed.

"I don't believe you!" Hailey yelled at the man above, her voice cracking. "None of this is real! You're just some creep who kidnapped us! Magic isn't real, possession isn't real, and Aaron didn't touch me!"

Ramsey sighed, exaggerating his disappointment. "Humans. So skeptical. You always need a demonstration."

He straightened his tie, his eyes flashing red. "Fine. If you won't believe the memory, believe your eyes."

Ramsey didn't bother with the stairs. He vaulted over the railing, diving straight down twenty feet toward Aaron. As he fell, his physical form dissolved into that familiar, terrifying red mist.

"Aaron, move!" Hailey screamed.

But Aaron didn't run. He knew he couldn't outrun the mist in his physical body. He saw the red cloud rushing toward him, intent on seizing control of his flesh again.

*Not this time.*

Aaron closed his eyes and pushed. He didn't just imagine the ghost feeling; he **** it with a violent mental shove.

*ZAP.*

A blinding flash of violet light illuminated the dark warehouse.

Hailey gasped, throwing her hands up to shield her eyes. When the spots cleared from her vision, she froze, her breath hitching in her throat.

Aaron’s physical body—the boy she had known for years—had collapsed to the concrete floor like a puppet with its strings cut. It lay there, completely motionless, eyes closed.

But hovering five feet above it was Aaron.

He was transparent, glowing with a soft, purple luminescence. His legs trailed off into wispy tails of energy, and his face was set in a grim expression of determination. He had ejected himself just milliseconds before Ramsey’s red mist could make contact, leaving the chaos spirit to pass harmlessly through the empty vessel and dissipate near the floor, cursing.

Hailey fell to her knees, her hands trembling as she pointed at the floating figure.

"Oh my god," she whispered, the reality crashing down on her. "You... you're a ghost."

Aaron floated down slightly, his voice echoing with a spectral reverb. "I told you, Hailey. It’s all real."

Hailey looked from the ghost to the **** body on the floor, and then down at her own hands—the hands Ramsey said Aaron had used. Her stomach churned. If the ghost part was real... then everything else Ramsey said...

"So..." she stammered, looking up at the purple spirit of her brother's best friend. "If you can do that... then you really were... inside me?"