My eyes opened. Night had fallen. It was time to go.

I got up, and after making sure I had the house key with me, I practically tip-toed out of my bedroom and down the stairwell to the front door. I opened it slowly and stepped out. Carefully, so my aunt wouldn't hear and wake up, I locked the door behind me, and then quickly went out to the sidewalk and continued my way down my street to Cemetery Raven.

As I passed Rhys' house, I glanced up at his bedroom window. The curtains were drawn, but through a small break in them, I could see his light was on. As much as I wished things were different, and that he was coming with me, because I wanted it, my efforts had fallen flat. He wanted nothing to do with the warehouse, or with ghost hunting – and I'd have to accept it.

I crossed the street to the cemetery and walked to the entrance ... just as Zaamee started to appear. When she was fully materialized, she turned.

Her wordless stare made me uncomfortable.

Wishing Zil was there to break the tension, I started to ask where he was ...

"I apologize for keeping you waiting. I was unavoidably detained."

I knew what that meant. I turned.

It was impressive ... not a drop on his face to hint at his crime.

"I'm sure you were," answered Zaamee. She looked back at me. "Where is Rhys?"

"He didn't want to come. Being at the warehouse was too much for him."

Zaamee looked at Zil. "I returned to the repository. As I suspected, the boy and his mother are locked in with one who is malevolent – but then, another showed himself. He is there to protect the child and the woman."

Going back would be a scary enough thing to do, but knowing the ghostly boy and his mother were locked in with something prone to violence made me even more determined to help them. "I don't care if it is evil. We can't leave Sonny and Chelsea there to fend for themselves. It could damage them."

"It could, but you must consider yourself. There are dangers and pitfalls. This will be no small feat, and you're a mortal. It could strike out at me or Zil and cause no serious harm." Zaamee cast a knowing glance at Zil. "But if it assaults Ashe again, she could pay the ultimate sacrifice."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

Zil's reply was guarded and secretive. "She means, chere, that you can be hurt."

"Not hurt – dead. If the protective one believes you're there to harm the boy, it may focus on you, which could result in both entities attacking you."

Suspecting they were trying to talk me out of going back to the warehouse, I lifted my chin in defiance. "I chose to be a ghost hunter, and I'm not abandoning them to face that thing through eternity. I'm coming."

Zaamee slowly smiled. "You're right, Zil. She may have potential after all."

Before I could ask what she'd meant by her comment, Zil quickly interjected, "I think we should focus on Rhys before Ashe's cleansing."

"Wait – what are you going to do with Rhys? He doesn't want to go back."

"We need to perform a metamorphosis of thought," Zil answered.

"A – what?"

"Mind alteration."

Alarmed by what that could mean for Rhys, I replied, "No. You're not messing with, altering, or morphing anything with Rhys' mind! He's been through enough. He quit. We'll just have to do it without him."

"To save the boy and his mother, we need four. There is a strong magic to that number," Zaamee replied.

"What about three? That's a good number," I countered.

"Evil is the reason. Three is the mockery of anything religious – a sign of the demonic, in the paranormal world. Because one entity is evil, the number three will lend it strength. There is power to the number four. As there are four points; north, south, east and west, and four elements; earth, wind, fire, and water, we need four – you, me, Zil ... and Rhys. Two nights from now, we'll proceed. Even if this will be the last time, we must make him want to be there. Without him, we may fail and the spirits inside the warehouse will be lost forever."

To consider that anything religious, or sac religious, would play a role in hunting ghosts, floored me. "Isn't there someone else you know who can do it instead?"

Zil replied, "No one as pure."

I didn't want to know what that meant. "What are you going to do to him?"

"I will use magic to speak to him as he sleeps," Zaamee said. "When he awakes in the morning, he'll think it was his decision to go with us."

Not knowing what the aftereffects his 'decision' could bring worried me further. "You are putting those thoughts there – and he wouldn't have dreamed it?"

"Yes," she replied calmly.

"Doesn't that make it bad magic? He doesn't know, and didn't give consent."

"Not when it's done with purest intentions and is combined with a cleansing that will safeguard him," Zaamee answered. "Come. We are on restricted time."

"Why is it restricted? You said we have two nights."

"Everything takes time and I must make sure his cleansing was enough." Shrewdly, she added, "You do want him protected, don't you?"

I resented how she'd cornered me with that. "I do."

Despite my misgivings of her performing a telepathic cleansing on Rhys, I walked back to his house with Zil and Zaamee. We walked up his lawn and stood under his bedroom window.

Suddenly, I had a change of heart. In a bid to stall her from doing the cleansing, I said, "We'll have to come back. His parents are home."

"They won't interfere. He's asleep. Now's the best time," she murmured as she and Zil both gazed up at the window. "Zil, are you ready?"

"Yes."

"Wait – what will this really do? I mean, he's mortal, and ..."

"If this is not done before he returns to the warehouse, Rhys could be in grave danger. This is to protect him," Zaamee said.

Ready to call an end to it, I asked, "This won't hurt, will it?"

"I promise, I will not feel a thing," Zil said.

I scowled. "Not amused."

He smiled. "I am teasing. It is painless. I will provide the portal for Zaamee to communicate with Rhys in his sleep. He will never know."

Zaamee didn't waste time with any more conversation. I watched closely as her lids closed, and her chin tilted skyward. Her lips began to move, but only barely. Then, I heard a sound like the droning of bees. I began to feel odd ...

I was being gently shaken. My eyes popped open. Zil's face was in mine. "Do not get swept under by Zaamee's spell, chere. If you do, your thoughts can become compromised. This serves those who are asleep, but is treacherous for those who are awake."

Drowsily, I nodded.

He went back to looking up at Rhys' bedroom window.

Trying to snap out of the effects, I paced the sidewalk in a half-walk, half-limp, while looking skyward for familiar constellations.

Finally, Zaamee said, "It's done."

I stopped my pacing. "And, Rhys?"

"As I put Zaamee's words into his mind, I sensed him listening. He understands how important it is that he is there. I believe he will come."

Zaamee said to me, "Now, we must start your cleansing. Because of previous exposures, you will be in the gravest danger of all if it is not done."

She faded.

I didn't like it. I wanted to talk to Rhys so I could see for myself that he hadn't been made into a vegetable to use at their whim. Before I could voice it, Zil said, "Do not worry. Rhys is the same as before." He came over and lifted me like a groom with his bride. "Forgive me for being so forward, but this way will make traveling easier."

"Promise me I won't be brainwashed by this cleansing."

He murmured, "I promise. Now, hold on."

He turned ... and we were someplace else, where the lower branches of a huge oak tree rested on the ground and overgrown weeds nearly fully hid very old, randomly placed, headstones.

"Where are we?" I whispered.

Zil whispered back, "Is it not obvious?"

"Again, not amused."

Smiling, he lowered me to the ground. "We are in the furthest section of Cemetery Raven, a place so remote it has virtually been forgotten. But, see? It is a shortcut to the warehouse."

I looked to where he pointed.

"Ah, Zaamee is here."

Behind us, she stood next to a large white rock in the center of a square formed by a tall headstone and three grayish-white benches. On top of each, except for the center boulder, a single abalone shell with a bundle of dried, white reeds, tied in the center, had been placed.

Despite being a ghost hunter, Zaamee was an Underground being with the ability to appear as a mortal, and it was impossible not to be affected as she walked, not floated, straight through one of the benches to come and stand before me!

"Are you ready?"

I wanted to leave. But if my being touched by the warehouse ghost had caused two immortals to be concerned, I knew I should be, too. "I am."

She returned to the headstone. There, she removed a small white candle from the folds of her clothing, and held it straight out. As she began to murmur, an instantaneous spark ignited and a small orange flame appeared – above, and apart, from the candle! She put the waxed wick of the candle to it – it lit, and then, the mysterious blaze ... vanished! She then removed the small bundle of white sage from the shell it rested in on top of the headstone and held it to the tiny fire until its end glowed orange and smoke started to billow. She replaced it into the shell before she moved to the next one, repeating the act until all were lit.

"Did you bring those here for me?" I asked.

"They have always been here," Zaamee answered cryptically before she turned to face me. "Come. We must begin."

I wasn't in a rush to get started. "Can't we do this like you did for Rhys ... I stay here with Zil while you chant something from – over there?"

"No. Yours is much different. If any evil energy is attached to you, the smoke of the white sage will surround and cleanse your body and soul of it, and endow you with its protection."

Leery of what the mystical 'endowment' might take from, or give to, me, I asked, "Don't you and Zil need to do this, too?"

"We're dead. The entity will not want a vessel. It will want what you have ... life."

I didn't like her answer.

"Come, child. Now."

"Considering what I've stupidly volunteered to do, would a smile be too much to ask for?" I grumbled as I grudgingly left Zil to walk past smoldering sage bundles and stand with her next to the large, center rock.

She gestured to the boulder. "Sit here."

I did, and she held the lit candle out to me. "Take this. Do not let go until the ritual is complete."

The instant I accepted the waxed stick from her, the smoke from all four bundles gradually began to thicken into long misty veils, and started to curl and weave hypnotically.

I watched as each individual cloud began to bend and move toward me, until they became entwined above my head. Then others, formed from those, gently unfurled like long ribbons to join together in a round canopy, and began to slowly swirl around me. After moments of being surrounded by the smoky curtain, it once again separated into single, thin columns, and reattached to the still-smoldering bundles to eventually fade into the nighttime sky.

"It smells like ... lavender," I said.

"That is the portal being awakened so the bad energy can be carried away from you." Zaamee left me to sit alone and went to join Zil. Together, they watched me through the smoky shroud. "See how the vapor moves?"

Zil scowled. "Yes."

She gazed at him for a long moment. "She may be strong enough."

"No. I cannot," he replied quietly.

"You may have no choice. There are others who will, but only to bring about the end."

"My choice ..." He smiled ruefully. "It is what I feel is best for her, Zaamee."

Being excluded from their conversation, I felt like a third-wheel. Assuming it was about me, I decided to remind them I wasn't just part of the scenery. "What are you two talking about?"

Zil dropped his melancholy stare. "Nothing, chere. How do you feel?"

"Like a chimney."

Zaamee said, "I must go and check on Rhys. I'll return when your cleansing is complete."

"His parents might see you."

"There are ways to prevent that." She turned to Zil. "You'll need to leave her, as well." With a turn, Zaamee vanished. Zil winked, and with a slight nod, he was gone, too.

Left to my solitary confinement within a pleasant-smelling mist that was supposed to purify and protect me, I thought about the warehouse; the sounds, learning Sonny and Chelsea's names, her frantic warning to get out, and what a rush it'd all been – until the terrifying assault started.

Eventually, my lower body started to numb. I tried to shift to a more comfortable position, but there wasn't one. Bored, I glanced at my watch. Contrary to how it felt, not much time had passed. I looked out through the smoky veil. Neither Zil, nor Zaamee, had returned. Curious to know what she'd do with Rhys, and how long I was expected to stay breathing in magical smoke, I began to regret being talked into doing the cleansing. Then, I remembered something Zil said ... once possessed, I'd forever be vulnerable to it happening again. "What's the point of doing this," I mumbled. "Unless ... it's a ploy to distract me, keep me out of the way. But, from what?"

My mind reeled and I immediately sat up straight.

The warehouse!

Convinced I'd been tricked into staying behind so Zil and Zaamee could go there without me, I got down from the uncomfortable boulder. I hadn't chosen to ghost hunt for entertainment. I did it to help souls in need. That was my reason for wanting to go back – and they'd just have to get used to it! "Four's a powerful number? I'll show you that one can be, too!"

I placed the candle I'd been holding on top of the large rock and then marched over to the stone bench to my right. I scrutinized the wisps of smoke rising from the sage bundle. I had my doubts it possessed the protective qualities Zaamee claimed it had, but with nobody reliable there to ask, I decided not to chance it. Bending forward, I cupped my hands and lifted them to my face to inhale deeply. I repeated the act three more times, straightened, turned to leave –

Feeling lightheaded, I sat down heavily onto the marble slab, grasping its edges to prevent myself from toppling to the ground.

Eventually, most of my dizziness faded, and I stood slowly.

Making sure I wasn't in jeopardy of falling down, despite my still wobbly legs, I started for the warehouse, using the shortcut Zil had shown me. "Immortal or not, I'm going to tell them both off for leaving me behind!"