Tell the truth

A/N: Some liberties taken with Ouija in this chapter. Things presented here are not meant to be taken as instructions on ways to communicate with spirits.

---

"We... uh..." Cedric winced.

"We mooned the statue."

Ivan snorted. "What they really mean is that they pulled their pants down and stuck their butts on that headstone."

Nana's head whirled around to glare at Ivan. "And did you know that because they told you, Ivan, or because you witnessed it first hand?" she asked with surprising ferocity. Her face was twitching and her demeanour frigid; her nails gripped the arms of her armchair, leaving visible indentations in the fabric. Ivan, caught off guard at the sudden change in his Nana, could only stammer out an unconvincing denial.

"I will finish this... consultation... with your friends, first. But after this... Ivan Rhys Davis, we will be having words." Her tone left zero doubt as to how harsh those words were going to be, and Ivan looked down at the ground, suitably chastised.

Warning delivered, Nana turned back to Cedric and Ethan. "If you really need my help, tell me everything that has happened since then - and I mean EVERYTHING."

---

Some time later

"So... in short, this spirit strips you, makes love to you, and only stops once you've finished off... or once someone else has finished you off," Nana summarized as she finished smudging the room with sage.

"... yeah." Both boys had a light blush suffusing their cheeks, and a mortified Cedric was absolutely refusing to look Nana in the eye.

Nana sighed loudly, her eyes fixed on the ceiling as she lighted a stick of incense and placed it in a hanging incense holder. "... You know... most of the cases I see occur because someone has been careless and accidentally awoken a spirit, or because of plain mischievousness by the ones who have left us. Those spirits are much easier to predict, and to deal with. But in your case..." She sighed again. "This person was wronged, and you will need to appease or pacify them, otherwise, they'll get angrier... and stronger."

"But you can help us get rid of it, can't you?! Exorcise it or something?!"

"... unfortunately, no."

"WHAT?! WHY?!"

Another sigh. "Well... let's put it this way. You first scorned the sanctity of the graveyard. You then interrupted the peace of the deceased. After being warned, you ignored that warning, and finally, pulled off one of the most disrespectful insults possible. So... they will return for you over, and over, and over again, continually taking their ****. An exorcism here would never work. Spirits of this type, ones you sought out, wittingly or not... you'll need to give them what they want before they'll leave you alone."

"Hold on. I've just noticed; You've been using 'they' and 'their'. Are there more than one of them?" Cedric interjected, voice laced with a tinge of panic.

"What? No. It's just a matter of respect - I can't tell if they're male or female, but they're certainly not an 'it'."

"Okay, 'them' then. What would happen if you tried to exorcise them anyway?" Ethan wondered.

"In your case... I don't know for sure, but as a best guess..." Nana slowly tilted her head from side to side as if stretching, all while staring off into the distance at a point between their shoulders. "... they might become far rougher, or far stronger, or their harassing may become more frequent or last longer. Their intrusions into your life or body might become far larger. They might even start to take over your body. I can't really be any more specific than that without knowing more details like how long they've been buried, the rites that were performed when they passed..." she trailed off before shrugging. "And it really doesn't matter whether you intended to or not. What matters now is to find out what will appease their anger."

"How?!"

In response, Nana simply pointed at the table. "That."

Nana's mahogany Ouija board sat proudly in the middle of the plain gray desk. It was an intricate, lovingly hand-carved piece of circular wood, its rich, brown, polished surface and bold, black lettering a testament to the meticulous care its owners, past and present, had showered it with. It had a raised, filigreed rim and contained four rings, separated from each other by concentric circles. The outermost ring carried two curved rows of thirteen letters each, the second ring contained the digits 0 through 9, on the third were inscribed the words "Yes", "No", "Unknown", "Hello", and "Goodbye", and on the innermost was emblazoned a silver dragon passant. A planchette rested on top of the board, its eye already placed over the word "Hello".

Ethan looked up, his dubiousness barely disguised. Cedric himself was finding it difficult to keep his skepticism off his face. Having the ghost take liberties with their bodies had made their existence undeniable, but the idea of meaningful communication with them still seemed like total quackery to them, never mind that Nana was claiming to be an expert at it. To them, the idea just seemed a bit too farfetched.

"And... how will they know that we want to talk to them?"

"Trust me... they already know," Nana said quietly, once again staring at the ceiling.

"And how would you know that?" Ethan's voice was laced with just a hint of incredulity. In response, Nana's eyes slowly returned from the ceiling to rest on Cedric's.

"Because they're here."

And Cedric let out a sudden yelp as he leapt out from his chair, his hands clasped over his back as he felt a cold, creepy finger slide down his spine.

---

It took a moment for Ethan to put two and two together and realize that Cedric's startled yell had been caused by the ghost. In that time, the ghost had hoisted the back of Cedric's tee over his wrists, trapping his arms behind his back, and had also yanked both his jeans and boxer-briefs all the way down to the ground, exposing his body to everyone else in the room. "FUCK!" Cedric cursed as he hurriedly sat back down, trying his best to make himself smaller... but of course, none of that stopped the ghost, who was now playing with his nether regions. Cedric shuddered as he felt something cold, slimy and lasso-like wrap itself around his shaft and start to stroke. "STOP!"

"CEDRIC!" Ethan tried to help Cedric retain some of his modesty, but the ghost had tightly tangled Cedric's jeans around his ankles as well. He tried to avert his eyes as Cedric struggled ineffectually in the chair, cock already swelling as it was expertly pleasured, but it was surprisingly difficult - almost like being unable to look away from a car crash. Ethan had just started removing his own shirt to throw it over Cedric's lap when he heard Nana over the developing chaos.

"Don't bother, boy, they won't let you! Quick, one finger on this and ask your questions NOW!" Nana ordered, her finger already on the planchette.

"BUT -"

"I've set up the room to boost your attunement to them, but it won't last long! Ivan, get what they say down on paper!"

By this time, Ethan had managed to get his shirt off and was kneeling over Cedric; however, the moment he dropped it, a strong gust of wind blew through the room, sending several sheets of loose paper soaring through the air and flinging the shirt right out of the open window.

"Stop wasting time!"

Unable to help Cedric, he quickly apologized mentally as he returned to his feet and turned his attention to the planchette, placing his finger on it. "What do you want?!" Ethan yelled into the air, unsure of where to look, his other hand gripping the waist of his jeans tightly as Cedric writhed about. "Why are you doing this to us?!"

"One question at a time!"

"What do you want?!"

To Ethan's disbelief, the planchette yanked itself out from under their fingers, rose from the table, and bobbed in midair with its point facing down, suspended by some unseen ****! He hastily withdrew his hand and looked about, searching for invisible strings, but was unable to find anything suspicious. Across the table from him, Ivan's mouth had fallen open as he gaped in shock, his hands trembling slightly. "Oh FUCK..." he whispered. "They're real?!"

The planchette whirled about before landing on the Ouija board, the letter Y showing through its eye. It then scurried about the board with a eerie, scratching sound, which should have not been possible given that both itself and the board were highly polished.

Y O U

A N D Y O U

it spelled, before it lifted itself off the board and pointed directly at Ethan and Cedric. Ethan felt a chill race down his spine as a wisp of smoke from the incense drifted by. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Cedric, who was now slouched so far down in his chair that his head was pressed against the backrest and his arms were trapped beneath him. His feet were flat against the floor and his hips squirmed about in the air, while his fully erect cock lay flat against his abs and pointed straight towards his sweaty face. "DON'T... PLEASE..." Cedric pleaded, his ass clenching for all it was worth as he fought to keep the ghost at bay, his face reddening with exertion. "WHY... ARE YOU... DOING THIS...?!" he **** out.

I N S O L E N C E

"I... N S... shit! Too fast... N C E? Insurgence?! Insurance?!" Ivan guessed frantically, the wind whipping at the pages on the writing pad even as he tried to notate.

"INSOLENCE!" barked Nana, whose hands were busy fiddling with something under the table as she stared unwaveringly, never once blinking, at Cedric's nearly naked body. "And DON'T ask questions I already gave you the answer to! I don't know how much longer this spirit is willing to be questioned!"

"How do we get you to stop chasing-!"

C A N T

C U N T

"- FUCK!" Ethan stumbled forwards and nearly hit the desk as something slapped him hard across the rear... then paled as he felt the touch of the ghost slip down the back of his jeans and linger over one of his butt cheeks, gently caressing it. He gripped the top of his jeans with as much strength as he could and sat back down in the chair, hoping against hope that the ghost wouldn't be able to strip and fuck him like they had done to Cedric. "Shit, shit, shit, shit..."

"DON'T BE RUDE! Rephrase that, and DON'T TOUCH THE TABLE!"

"AAAAH!!" Cedric's hips bucked and twisted about, his cock waving from side to side like a wobbly metronome as the ghost finally pushed their way into his hole. "IT'S... INSIDE..." he half-gasped, half-moaned as his hole was **** to close around the burrowing invader. "FUCK... N-OOOooohhhh..."

"Dude... did... did a ghost just call you a cunt..." Ivan giggled nervously and incredulously as his gaze zipped from Ethan to Cedric and back to Ethan, still caught in a state of disbelief, pen held loosely in his hand. "What the fuck am I seeing...?"

"How... how can we appease you?!" Ethan desperately asked, even as he felt the groping hands of the ghost start to massage his pectorals and trace the grooves of his abs, setting tiny patches of his skin on fire with what felt like electricity arcing across it. "We're really, really sorry!"

P E N A N C E

The planchette was zooming across the board so quickly now, Ethan was barely able to keep up with it - in fact, he had not actually seen every letter, but had made an educated guess as to what it actually was. "How do we do that?!"

R E T U R N

O R E L S E

The hand down the back of his jeans had moved on to fingering his crack, and even more ghostly appendages were now tweaking his nipples. As one of them gave him a particularly painful pinch, Ethan hissed, a hand flying up instinctively to massage his chest - and that was when the chair was jerked out from beneath him and the rest of his clothes were yanked down, exposing the rest of his well-defined figure. He tumbled to the floor and landed on his back, and the ghost wasted no time in taking advantage of his exposed sphincter. "AAAAGH! FUCK!"

Beside him, Cedric's arousal was obvious and ever-increasing - beads of precum had already formed on the head of his cock and were now slowly flowing onto his pubes. His eyes darted around wildly as he moaned loudly and involuntarily, with the occasional expletive thrown in for good measure. His manhood flapped about as he was **** to ride the ghost, a small bulge forming at his lower stomach with each thrust. "STOP STAR... - AAAHH! - STARING!" Cedric howled at a transfixed Ivan, his face redder than a tomato. Ivan's own face was a rictus of amazed horror, unable to tear his gaze away from watching his friends being assaulted.

"Why are they... soo-ooooh... much stronger... than - fuck! - before...!" Ethan exclaimed through gritted teeth as he sat on the floor, one hand over his crotch. It was a futile attempt to protect himself, however, as something soft and warm gripped his shaft tightly and began to stroke, while the thing in his ass just kept thrusting despite the floor being in their way. The two intruders timed their assaults on him to perfection, their touch feeling unfamiliar to him yet disturbingly good, sensual yet so, so violating. "Ooooh shiiIIITTT..." Ethan exhaled, his voice shaky.

"Can't be helped! Needed to raise your attunement to them temporarily, otherwise you wouldn't have been able to communicate with it!" Nana briefly looked around the room with a critical eye before turning her focus back onto the two tormented teens. "And hurry up - you've got at most one or two questions left!"

"How long... - aa-aah... - do we have - uuunh! - to return?!"

"5 days!" Ivan called out for Ethan, who was unable to see the top of the board. The table was now ominously vibrating, and each scratch of the planchette against the wood growing louder and sharper, battling increasing resistance. Nana's eyes glowed faintly with an unknown power, her mouth moving as she chanted something under her breath, fighting to keep the séance alive...

"What... what happens if - oooh! - we return after thaaaa-aa-aah..." Ethan's question trailed off into a moan as a warm current arced outwards from his prostate, through his muscles, then all the way to his fingers and toes. Chagrined about this display of lewdness, he flushed crimson.

The planchette made a series of forceful, scraping noises, then slammed down onto the Ouija board with a *SLAP!* It was immediately followed by a sudden, powerful blast of wind - so strong that the incense holder was upended and threw ash into the air, Ethan and Cedric were toppled onto their backs, Ivan was sent staggering with the notepad he was using torn out of his hands, and even the table itself started to tilt upwards onto two feet. Only Nana sat in her armchair completely untouched, the ends of her greying hair merely gently carried by a light breeze, her silhouette an immovable mountain against the forces of ghostly chaos.

As the wind died down just as rapidly as it had started, Ethan lay on his back and panted, trying to catch his breath. But to his horror, he realized that the ghost had not actually left - as evidenced by a particularly strong thrust into his ass that rubbed right against his pleasure spot, making his limbs jerk involuntarily. Beside him, another loud whimper of unwanted pleasure escaped Cedric's lips, his hips thrusting almost violently into the air. Ethan looked up at Nana, his confusion about the ghost's continued presence on the tip of his tongue...

... only to see the round, heavy Ouija board slide off the teetering table and fall down, down, down, as if in slow motion, towards his -

Oh FU-!

*THUD.*

---

It took Ethan several minutes to recover from the Ouija board scoring a direct hit on one of his balls, minutes which he spent curled up in the fetal position - yet despite the pain, the ghost's skillful teasing had somehow still managed to keep his arousal alive. In the meantime, Nana had begun setting the room to rights and was barking orders at an overwhelmed Ivan, all while ignoring the two practically naked, erect teenagers writhing on the ground in the middle of the room. As Ivan raced to do Nana's bidding, he occasionally snuck apprehensive glances at Ethan and Cedric, completely at a loss for what to do for them.

When Ethan's pain had dissipated enough for him to slowly get back to his feet, the first step he took immediately saw his knees wobble as an explosion of sensation went off in his lower gut, streaking outwards like fireworks, a combined result of the ghost's teasing and residual weakness from the unexpected nut shot.

Beside him, Cedric was still trapped in his tee and struggling to get free, his legs occasionally twitching and spasming from the ghost's relentless, full-body attention. Every few seconds, his eyes would roll back into his head, and he would release a guttural, body-shaking moan while his cock jerked about and visibly throbbed. "Help..." Cedric begged, right before another convulsion. "Too... much... unnnhhhh... need... cum..." Ethan tried to release Cedric from the tee, but the ghost had somehow bound it so tightly around his forearms that there was no hope of removing it other than by completely cutting it off.

"There's a pair of scissors in the washroom," Nana advised.

"Could... could you... please help-"

"No. This is part of the consequences of your messing around in that graveyard. You need to do it yourself."

"Fuuuuuuhhhgg...." whined Cedric pitifully.

"C'mon, Ced..." Ethan weakly tried to lift the lighter boy, but a particularly well-timed twist into his insides from the ghostly intruder saw Ethan's knees buckle and he sagged to the floor, his knees landing on the carpet with a soft *thump*. "Ffffuuuuck..."

"Sort yourself out first; you're not going to be able to help him like that."

Further attempts to get back on his feet were also foiled by the ghost, who took great glee in sending him reeling again and again. After several false starts, he finally collapsed onto his back, his resulting moan almost as loud and as needy as Cedric's. His prostate felt almost uncomfortably warm; it sent pulses racing outwards to the rest of his body every few seconds, making his arms and legs tremble.

"If you can't walk, boy, CRAWL! Good gods above, did the spirit take your brains as well as your buttocks?! GO! Second door on the left."

And so it was that a deeply embarrassed and bare-assed Ethan, face burning, had **** but to shakily crawl out of the room on his hands and knees in full view of both Ivan and Nana. Every movement he made was punctuated with a thrust into his violated rear or a stroke of his throbbing cock, forcing him to either moan or gasp as his muscles tensed in response, his ass clenching tightly and moulding itself around its invader - which made the feeling of being invaded all the more intense. This was accompanied by ghostly smacks on his ass and roving hands molesting his body, and as he went, he could see that he was leaving behind a trail of precum flowing downwards from his manhood. Fuck this... just... utterly demeaning...

The moment Ethan entered the washroom, he slammed the door shut, leaned against the wall and gripped his own shaft tightly within his right palm. With powerful, rapid strokes, he pumped up and down with a barely contained ferocity, so **** was his need to cum and end the ghost's control. His other hand roamed from his nipples, to his abs, to his balls, serving the dual purpose of sending him closer to orgasm and helping him feel as if he was finally reasserting control over his own body. Within a minute, he was breathing heavily, his eyes closed and his muscles taut as his climax approached him like a speeding train, the point of no return flashing by -

And then something bitingly ICE COLD suddenly gripped his family jewels, making him smack his head against the tiled washroom wall as he jerked in alarm. While the squeeze wasn't very forceful, it was tight enough to cause pain. Ethan cringed, both hands rushing to cradle his balls. He slid down towards the floor, all thoughts of enjoying his impending orgasm forgotten as he covered his balls and waited in fear, mentally begging the ghost to not crush him. Thanks to their hold, instead of releasing arcing jets of cum that flew high and tasted the air, Ethan could only fidget with discomfort as he produce a sad stream of sticky white that dribbled out, slid down the underside of his shaft, over his balls, and then into his taint. Only after the last bits of cum left his body did the ghost release his balls from their grip. Ethan heaved a sigh of relief... then gasped and flinched as the ghost gave him one last pat on his nuts before finally leaving him alone.

Breathing heavily, Ethan re-propped himself up against the wall. The ruined orgasm had left him with a feeling of thorough unfulfillment that he absolutely hated. That the ghost seemed to have unfettered access to his entire body and couldn't apparently be stopped was also terrifying to him... and the humiliation he had been subject to in front of Ivan and his Nana, too, was unbearable. If he hadn't been in someone else's house, he would have already screamed his heart out to release his frustration to the heavens. I'm gonna get this fucking ghost away from me, he vowed. As soon as possible.

Ethan eventually got up and hastily cleaned himself off using some tissues and a face towel - he still felt somewhat dirty, but it was the best he could do at that moment. He looked around for a towel to dry himself off with... but there were no towels in the room. The largest thing he could find was the face towel he'd used, and it was a small rectangular cloth that only stretched from one hip to the other and was barely long enough to cover his cock.

Fuck.

By the time Ethan returned to the room with the pair of scissors, face towel held in front of his crotch, the room had more or less been returned to its original state. The table had been folded and the board shelved, and Ivan was vacuuming up the last of the spilt incense ash, with Nana nowhere to be seen. Their clothes were still on the floor, and Ethan hurriedly put his underwear and jeans back on before turning to attend to Cedric.

Still under the grasp of the slighted ghost, Cedric was constantly whimpering and moaning; his limbs were trembling and would jerk spasmodically, accompanied by the occasional hip thrust that would send his cock bouncing about, straining for release and dripping precum that pooled in his navel. His nipples looked a little red, and there were several faint pinkish lines that looked like fingernail marks drawn across his abdomen.

"Cedric?" Using the scissors, Ethan quickly freed Cedric from his tee-shirt straitjacket, expecting his attention to immediately snap to jerking off, but the only response he received was a loud, low, longing moan. He took a closer look at Cedric, whose eyes were glazed over and unseeing, his mouth half-open with a tiny trail of drool going down the side of his face.

"He hasn't been responding to me either," Ivan worried.

Ethan bent down and shook Cedric's shoulder, but there was no response.

"He's too far gone," came Nana's voice from behind them, making them jump. "He'll need your help."

"My... help?"

"Well, how did you solve your problem?"

"Solve my... ah." Ethan blushed slightly, a combination of second-hand embarrassment for Cedric and his own shame from what Ivan and his Nana had seen of him earlier. "Right. I guess... I'll bring him to the washroom first...?" Ethan hoisted Cedric over his broad shoulders in a fireman's carry, eliciting another moan from the smaller teen.

"... your friend's not very bright, is he?" Nana whispered to Ivan.

"What?" Ivan whispered back.

As Cedric's weight settled fully onto Ethan, Cedric groaned deeply, a low, rumbling sound that seemed to come from deep within his lungs and quickly crescendoed as he squirmed. Instantly, Ethan realized three things, all of which added up to one huge mistake -

Firstly, Cedric had already mentioned needing to blow his load earlier -

Secondly, Cedric's throbbing shaft was now trapped between his thigh and Ethan's shoulder, a loaded rifle that could go off at any time -

And finally, Cedric now had something to thrust against.

Almost immediately, Cedric shuddered, groaned, and fired long, ropy strings of cum down Ethan's chest, painting it a milky white. As Ethan fled for the washroom, he could hear Ivan breaking into disbelieving, hysterical laughter.

---

It took Cedric about a minute to regain his senses. "... wha... wha'append...?" He asked as he sat up.

"Welcome back," Ethan snorted as he scrubbed his chest vigourously.

"... why'm I... naked..."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Thank the ghost."

"What'd it..." Ethan saw Cedric looking around trying to make sense of things, before his eyes suddenly widened almost comically.

"Oh good. I'd hate to be the only one who remembered that."

"Oh... oh FUUUCK..."

"Yes, you were moaning that at the top of your lungs earlier."

"Oh no no no NOO..." Cedric buried his face in his hands, nearly hyperventilating as the embarrassment from the earlier situation finally properly hit him.

"Don't worry. It's going to be okay," sighed Ethan. "At least... we're going to have a way out of this now." He dropped the towel in Cedric's lap, then headed for the door. "Clean up. I'll go get your clothes. Then once you're done, we can discuss what we're going to do next about this."

---

Ten minutes later, the two half-dressed young men, Ivan, and his Nana were back in the living room. The atmosphere was one of heightened awkwardness, with Ivan not sure whether to look at his friends, Ethan not looking at Ivan, and Cedric refusing to make eye contact with anyone at all, his cheeks still flushed.

"So..." Ethan began, trying valiantly to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "You're saying if we want to have any chance of appeasing the ghost, we need to go back, find a way to pacify it, and it has to be done within the next five days."

"In general terms, yes. The specifics might need a little guesswork."

"'In general terms'?"

"The '5 days' bit is quite straightforward. You'll have until Wednesday night..."

"Nana, that's not..."

"Shush. Five days from when their peace was first disturbed. Now, the next bit's a little more... difficult."

"How so?" Ethan asked.

"When approaching places of rest of the deceased, it's always best to bring an appropriate offering. But this person's grave was unmarked, and you don't know what beliefs they held or what rites were conducted for them, so you can't do that. And then there's the issue of penance. There's a tried and tested saying here - 'The person who takes something from a graveyard will return more than they took'. 'Penance' follows the same concept. You defiled a spirit's resting ground. It's not enough to right the wrong; you'll need to do more than that..."

"Which means... what, exactly?"

A minor cleansing ritual on the headstone should easily remove the defilement. The 'more' bit, however... the spirit has said they want you two. I'm pretty sure that, taken with context, they want you to return and make amends... after which they will have their way with you until they are fully appeased."

"But!" Ethan immediately protested. "But isn't that's what they've already been doing?!"

"Not quite. As I'm sure you've realized, you keep breaking their hold prematurely."

"So... so we need to... to go back to the graveyard and... and let them violate us until they're done?" Cedric gulped. "But that could take forever!"

"It won't. Spirits, while potentially dangerous, are predictable. They all wish to be at peace, so once they're pacified, they'll return to the eternal rest. It's not easy for them to maintain a link with this plane of existence."

"Is there any other way around...?"

"I'm afraid not. They've already spelled what they out want quite clearly."

"Fuck."

A moment of silence ensued before Nana spoke again. "Now, I have two pieces of advice for you young men."

"Yeah...?"

"I know you probably want to go through with this as soon as possible. If I were in your position, I would, too. But there are several things you should keep in mind. First, you should go with at least two other people -"

"Why?!"

"Do you really want to be stuck there without anyone to help after they're through with you? You saw how **** you both were earlier."

Their silence was answer enough. Ethan shot a quick look at Cedric, memories of his helplessness rising to the surface unbidden.

"And second. You should go with someone who can communicate with spirits - someone who can act as a medium. Unfortunately, I'm too old to go running around in graveyards at what I'm assuming will be the dead of night. So..." Nana slowly turned to look at Ivan, who jumped.

"ME? But... but I can't... I don't know... before today, I didn't even..."

"Yes, you can, and you will. It's in our bloodline. Take it as YOUR duty to protect your friends... and to make it up to ME for not listening to my advice." Nana's tone brooked no argument. "I'll teach you. You've got three days to get it right."

"Excuse me, ma'am...?" Cedric asked tentatively. "If you can sense the ghost, how come Ivan can't... um..."

"Oh, my wyr can definitely sense them. But it takes training and he's just never honed the talent thanks to his Ma," Nana grumbled. "I told your Da he was making a mistake. But did he listen? No! He left the world of our ancestors behind and the gifts of our blood by the wayside! And then when you were born, I was forbidden from mentioning this. 'No telling your stories of spirits to our son unless he asks', bah! But too bad for her, she's got **** now!"

"Oops..." Ethan whispered to Cedric. "I feel like we've touched on a sore point..."

"It's settled. You'll go with your friends and act as my hand in this. I'll teach you how to keep them safe, and when you're done, come back to me. There's so much you need to learn and so little time to do it!" Her volume increased as she went, and ended on what sounded like a crow of triumph. As she finished, Nana all but leapt out of her chair, grabbing Ethan and Cedric by their wrists in a surprisingly strong grip.

"Thank you for coming, boys. You've given me such a wonderful opportunity! Unfortunately, now I'll need you to leave; Ivan's got so much to learn and so little time to absorb it all if you want to get this right the first time. He'll call you once he's done. Farewell, good luck, and hang in there. We'll get you through this. You'll see!" she said as she herded them out of the front door.

"But-!"

*BAM.*

Nana had slammed the front door shut in their faces and latched it, leaving Ethan and Cedric standing on the doorstep staring awkwardly at each other.

"Um. That was... interesting."

"Yeah."

"Ivan, see ghosts?"

"Well... he was the one who first said something felt wrong, after all," Ethan pointed out. "I guess if there was going to be any of us who could... it was going to be him."

"Right. Makes sense. I guess. Okay. So what do we do now?"

"Um... we go back and wait and try to survive the next three days? I mean... Ivan's Nana... she did sound like she knew what she was doing..."

"Yeah. I guess we'll do that," Ethan sighed. "Man, I'm gonna hate the next three days, aren't I?"

"It's going to be okay. Maybe... maybe we can even pre-empt the ghost. Like, get to a safe space and jerk off early, I suppose. Maybe that'll keep it away. I don't know. I hope."

"Right. I guess that's the best we can do for now... and c'mon, let's get back to the dorm. Hanging around here shirtless doesn't sound like a good idea. I feel so exposed."

And with that, the two boys hopped back into the car and headed back to the dorm.