"What?" Kris asked. "Ashley? Do you see something?"

"Oh, my fuck," she whispered, running a hand over her face. "It's there. Please tell me one of you placed it there."

Colby stood up, trying to see what she was looking at. Her flashlight was pointing at the piano, and suddenly they all knew what Ashley meant. Something small, and metallic was on top of the black instrument, glistening in the light of four flashlights.

Ashley started walking over to the piano, not even blinking as she picked the ring up. Colby grabbed the camera and rushed over to her. She stared at the silver ring, not being able to fathom what was happening.

"It's not possible," she stated. "It's not possible. One of you guys placed it there. I looked at the piano so often since we came in here. I looked at it all the time, and it was not fucking there!"

"Ashley, we would never do that," Sam assured her. She slipped the ring over her finger and spun around to face him.

"Oh yeah? Don't you think it would make the video a little bit better if my ring disappeared and magically reappeared, on the fucking haunted piano I played a while ago?" She was almost yelling at this point, her eyes frantically searching the room for anyone or anything she could blame.

"Ashley, please. We wouldn't do that; we are equally clueless about how the ring just appeared like that. Do you want me to stop recording?" Colby's voice was calm, and he lowered the camera a little.

"No – yes, yeah, whatever," Ashley said, burying her face in her hands. "This is insane. This is insane. This. Is. Insane."

Sam and Colby exchanged a glance, both knowing what the other was thinking. Colby turned the camera off and set it down on a table, not wanting to put Ashley under more pressure.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, reaching for the piano's stool, and sitting down on it. "Fuck. I shouldn't be that aggressive. I just... I ticked out. It's a lot. A ghost, stealing my ring... I can't, I don't want to believe it." She sighed and laid down her head to rest it on her clenched fists. It seemed like only the ring on her middle finger reflected the light, but that was only their mind playing tricks on them.

"It's okay, we understand," Kris said, sitting down next to her. "I'm feeling stressed out as well, and I'm... well, I am more used to things like this than you. We understand you blaming us. It's the easier truth to accept."

"Do you understand how crazy this sounds? A ghost stole my ring... hopefully, after I dropped it, and then she made us come down here to search for it. She was probably laughing at us the entire time... I can't believe I'm talking about a ghost," Ashley was rambling, and her hands fidgeted with her hair the entire time. "Fuck," she sighed, clenching her eyes shut. "Fuck, this is insane. I mean, she touched me, right? Insane, too. But that has happened before. Ghosts have scratched people, Kris has been scratched, and it, well, it was just... a mark. Not even aggressive. 'Just' a mark. Right? Special? Yeah. But this? This is... Have you ever had a ghost take something physical and make it reappear just like that?"

"Nope," Colby answered silently. "Never. I mean, we've had spirits touch things like faucets and stuff but not like that." Sam shook his head. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest and his brows furrowed.

Ashley took a deep breath and opened her braid to put her hair back up to a simple bun immediately again. Her face looked a lot more composed again, and she straightened her back.

"I think we should stop," Sam said.

"Yeah, probably..." Colby agreed, watching Ashley closely.

"But you wanted to try something," the redhead said. "With the... EVP? EFP? What is it called?"

"EVP. But I really don't-" Colby started, but he was once again interrupted.

"Please, let's just do it, yeah?" she asked, looking up at him. He frowned and shook his head.

"No. This is not a good idea. We have a ton of evidence already, we don't need to keep pushing it," he insisted, his voice stern.

"But we could get even more! Come on, don't you want to continue? Because I do, really." She got up from the stool and quickly brushed over her sweater to straighten it. "Come on, what did you want to do?"

Colby looked at Sam who shook his head.

"No," the blond said. "We know our limits. Not to sound rude, Ashley, but you don't. We're all exhausted, and it seems like the spirit has been targeting mostly you. We don't know what she's capable of, and honestly? It doesn't seem safe to just go on and on and on, even if you say you can handle it."

Ashley sighed, her shoulders sagging in defeat. She knew she wouldn't be able to convince the boys, no matter what she said. Kris laid an arm around her shoulders.

"They're right. We should stop, we've just been pushing our limits the entire evening. A lot has happened, and we should really be grateful for what we've caught. In an apparently rather inactive hotel with only one spirit," she said.

"You're probably right," Ashley muttered. "I just... if we don't keep going, I'm going to wish we did. I've always wanted to do something like this, this is literally a dream come true. But if you say it's too risky..."

Colby tilted his head and sheepishly smiled at her. "Well, who says this has to be the last time you do something like this?"

Ashley looked up, raising an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked.

Colby shrugged it off and ignored her frustrated groan as he picked up the camera. "Let's just update the viewers and then go to bed. Really go to bed, this time."

He turned on the recorder and Sam quickly walked into the vision.

"We decided to actually stop this time," he said with a soft chuckle. "It's been a lot. We're all pretty tense, especially Ashley because it's her first ghost hunt..." The camera was turned to her, and she scoffed.

"Come on, I'm doing great," she laughed. "Oh, and I said sorry. I didn't mean to be that aggressive," she quickly added, in case the viewers would be mad that she had accused Sam and Colby of faking it.

"Yeah, we talked about it," Colby said, holding up his thumb. "Don't come at her, it was a natural reaction!"

"Hey, denial is easy!" Ashley said, still laughing but with more tension in her tone than before.

"Yeah. So, we're going back to our rooms and hopefully get some sleep. It's," he quickly took out his phone, and checked the screen, "four thirty in the morning and we're leaving in... three and a half hours. If anything happens, we'll keep you updated!" Colby grinned at the camera before he turned it off again and set it down on one of the tables.

"Let's gather our stuff, I'm literally going to pass out if I don't get sleep soon. If I can even fall asleep," Kris said, yawning loudly.

They all picked up the equipment and stuffed it in Sam's backpack.

"Nothing went off while we were searching," Colby stated. "Not even the stuff near the piano."

At that moment, Sam's eyes widened, and he gasped loudly. "Oh. My. God," he said. "The camera! I set it up to record as much of the room as possible, the piano should be in its vision!" he explained agitatedly. "We need to review the footage!"

"Can we go to our rooms first?" Kris asked. "I don't really want to watch it here. What if there actually is someone?"

"That would be terrifying," Ashley said, but her eyes were almost glowing with hopeful expectation. "Let's get going."

Back in the room, they only threw the backpack down on the floor. The psychomanteum was still standing, and while the other three quickly got another camera to record their reaction, Ashley glanced inside it.

"Yo, Colby!" she called out, taking out the candle. It was lit, the small yellow flame flickering because of the movement. "You can't just leave this burning when we leave." She quickly blew out the candle and shook her head.

"What?" Colby asked, frowning in confusion. "But I blew it out!"

"No, you did not, it was brightly lit right next to two blankets. Imagine what would've happened if they had caught fire!"

"I swear I extinguished it," he insisted. "I remember exactly how I leaned down and blew it out."

"Aw come on," she groaned. "Are you being serious right now? How would it be burning if you actually did that?"

"Guys," Kris said. "Isn't it... obvious?"