“You see,” I said, a couple hours later as we were pouring through the footage in an incredibly sleep-deprived state. The first thing that Liam had wanted to pull up was the footage from the static camera I had been holding, as though this time, he might be able to see what I was talking about. Or maybe he just wanted me to be sure of what I was talking about. “When I bring the camera up, it takes a moment to focus on you, but when it does focus, there she is, standing right between you.” I pointed to the figure on the screen - it was blurry, but it was definitely the same little girl I’d been seeing. “And then, I start running,” I said, skipping through the blurry footage of the ground, “and when I get there, there’s nothing in between you two. There’s nothing anywhere.”


    “Are you sure she didn’t just, like, disappear?” Liam asked. “I thought ghosts didn’t have to be seen if they didn’t want you to see them.”


    “They don’t,” I said, rewinding the footage to try to find a clear frame of the girl. “Which is why I’m so concerned about this. She was visible when I was far away, but then the moment that I, someone who could actually see her, got close, she disappeared. That never happens - if you’ve spent decades alone, you tend to sprint toward the first person that can hear you.”


    Luke nodded. “And that’s why the ghost from the hotel was trying to get your attention?”


    “Exactly.  But not her.”  I looked closely at the image of the girl as she stared into the back of the car. She looked innocent enough, in a pink dress that looked like it might have been used for church clothes, and her hair pulled into curly, brown pigtails. But there was something that felt off about her, and I couldn’t quite figure out what.


    “So I’m guessing that means the exorcism didn’t work, then? Either of them?” Liam looked at Luke, concern in his eyes. I couldn’t help but echo his feelings. If asking the spirit to leave hadn’t worked, I was running out of ideas.


    “Maybe I should chug some holy water,” suggested Luke halfheartedly. “If there’s a demon attached to me, I bet it’d hate that.”


    “Oh, so you’re the demon expert now?” Liam joked.


    “Hey, I’m just saying, it doesn’t take an expert to come up with the idea that something that hates God would also hate holy water.”


    “I don’t think it would work,” I answered, “but I don’t think it would hurt anything, either, so whatever makes you feel better.”


    “So then,” Liam asked, “if you’re not sure about that, what would you suggest?”  I shrugged.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    “I think we should call Circe back,” Luke said. “She’s the only person we know who has dealt with demons.”


    “Or at least, she says that she’s dealt with demons,” reminded Liam.


    “Which is still more than the other people we know, no offense to present company.”


    I sighed. “I have no problem with you inviting Circe back. I, personally, don’t think she’s telling the truth, but maybe I’m wrong. And either way, she’s good for the channel.”


    “I’ll get Caitlin to give her a call,” Luke said, getting up from his spot on the couch. “If she’s still as pissed as I’m assuming she is, it’ll be best off if the request comes from her.”


    A few seconds later, Liam and I sat alone in the shadowed room, both staring at the girl on the screen. I’d taken Luke’s seat on the couch next to Liam, in hopes that it would give me a different viewpoint, but it didn’t help anything.


    Without looking at me, Liam asked, “Are you okay?”


    I shrugged. “Why wouldn’t I be?”


    “You seemed really freaked out back there.” He turned to face me, close enough that I could feel his breath touch me as he talked. “And like yeah, we found a ghost or a demon or whatever, and that was our ultimate goal, so that’s great, but I don’t want you to get too freaked out in the process.”


    I pulled at the chapped skin on my bottom lip with my teeth for a moment before I responded. I debated how truthful I should be - on the one hand, it was incredibly scary for me to run into something like this that I hadn’t seen before. On the other hand, I knew myself well enough to know that that wasn’t the root cause of my fear - at least not right now.


    “I was worried because it was so close to you. You both,” I said, changing my mind at the last moment. “And I’ve never seen a ghost get violent or anything, but I’ve never seen anything like this, either, so I was worried that she might attack you and -”


    I was cut off by Liam grabbing my hand with one of his hands, and touching my cheek with the other. Gently, he turned me to face him so that I was looking directly into his hazel eyes. The light from the screen somehow danced in them in a way that was almost mesmerizing. I nearly felt my heart stop for a beat before he said anything. “We’re going to be okay,” he said softly. “Luke and I, and Caitlin, and you, too. I know this is unknown, but you have to know that we’re going to get through it.”


    “How can you be so confident in that?” I whispered - there was no need to be particularly quiet, I suppose, but it felt as though any loud noise would break this odd tension that was building around us.


    “Lots of practice,’ he said with a lopsided smile. “And reckless optimism. But we haven’t been attacked yet, and nobody’s been completely taken over, and I think if that was going to happen, it would have already happened.”


    I nodded slightly. “Nothing’s happened yet, except for the dreams I keep having, and I can’t shake the thought that maybe the two things are related. Like maybe, if we don’t figure out what is happening with the little girl, that sort of thing is going to happen in real life.”


    Liam raised his eyebrows. “And by ‘that sort of thing,’ I assume you mean that one of us will be attacked by a demon with razor sharp claws?”


    I nodded. “Attacked or killed. I’m pretty sure I just about died in my last dream.”


    “Well, we’d better do our best to avoid that, then,” he said. “You know the old wive’s tale - if you die in your sleep, you die in real life. Although I can’t help but think, if we’re killed by a demon, it’s got to be pretty good for views, right?”


    I opened my mouth to say something but was interrupted by a low “Woah,” from the doorway. Liam instantly dropped his hand from my cheek and flicked his eyes in that direction, but I couldn’t help but notice that his other hand still held mine. I turned toward the door to see Luke standing there, a light blush on his face.


    “I didn’t mean to interrupt… whatever was going on there,” he said, gesturing to the two of us. “I just wanted to give you an update - Circe’s on her way here, and I’m pretty sure I just saw the girl in the mirror.”