“This is some excellent footage, Andi,” Liam said, looking through what I’d shot on my phone after Luke had gotten a still cam set up. I’d tried asking the EMF meter a couple more questions after they got there, but the light stayed dimmed, as though it had finally run out of energy. Luke and Liam had had much the same amount of success when they’d attempted to talk to the ghost. “I would have loved to have had a full conversation with it, but at least we have something to show for it.”


    “I still don’t get why it was working so well before you got her, and now doesn’t seem to be working at all,” I complained.


    Liam shrugged. “Maybe the ghost is just camera shy? That’s not that uncommon of a thing - the number of times we’ve had something happen consistently right until we pull out our cameras has been pretty wild. But, while I would have rather not run back, we were just about to come get you anyway. All we have left is the Estes sessions, although I’m not even sure we need it with what you captured. But it’s an audience favorite, so it’s gotta be done.”


    I scooted myself out of the wrapped covers and ducked into the bathroom quickly, just to make sure my makeup still looked good. My clothes were a bit crumpled from having been lying in bed, and my hair was looking a little ridiculous, but there was really nothing that could be done about that until I grew it back out. I was about as good as I could be, I supposed, so I went back out and pulled on my combat boots.


    “I can’t believe you caught that on film,” Luke said, watching the video of me asking questions again. “We’ve been doing this for so long and we’ve never been able to catch anything anywhere near as good as this. And you didn’t even have to use your psychic powers for this!”


    “Well, what can I say? Ghosts love me.” I finished lacing up my boots, then stood up, reaching my hand out toward Liam. He immediately took it and pulled me toward him. “So, where were you planning on doing the Estes Method?”


    “We got special permission from the owner of the ship to do an Estes method session in the old pool room,” Liam said with a huge grin. “We had to agree to have a chaperone from the ship come with us and sign off in case of any injuries, but it’s well worth it to get one of the only shots of the pool room on YouTube.”


    Our escort to the pool knocked on my door about five minutes later, and promptly walked us down to the tile room with the large empty pool in the middle of it. There were guardrails keeping us from getting too close to the pool itself, which I assumed was also why we had an escort, but I didn’t mind - there was no way I’d be crawling into there even in the best condition.


    The room was gorgeous, though - I was sure that, when it had been in its peak condition, it was a lovely place to swim. Two young women, both in swimsuits, seemed to have refused to leave - they peeked at us from behind columns on the other side of the room, and I did my best to ignore them as Luke and Liam got set up. Yes, they might have wanted to film them had they known, but I didn’t want them pointing a camera at every blank space where I said there was a ghost. I felt like their audience was already close to not believing me when I spoke, and I didn’t want to give them any more reason to question it.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    When they were ready, we all sat in a circle on the floor, and Luke volunteered to be the one to go under. He put on his headphones that were attached to the spirit box, then tied a blindfold around his head so that he’d be as deprived of his senses as possible. When he was ready, he gave a thumbs up, and Liam turned to me. “We’ve got to ask questions relatively quickly, as it’s only safe for Luke to be under for a little while,” he said, and I assumed he was explaining it more to his audience than he was to me. “Any longer than that could be extremely dangerous, especially considering his recent possession.” He turned back to Luke, making sure to sit in just the right way so that his face would be picked up by one of the cameras. “Who are we speaking with right now?”


    Luke rocked back and forth in an easy rhythm, with a light frown on his face. After a moment of silence, he said “It’s me.”


    “Me?” Liam asked, quickly shooting me a look over his shoulder. “Are you one of the women that are supposed to haunt this swimming pool?”


    I looked over at the two women, who were eyeing us with curiosity, but still hiding behind the columns. It clearly wasn’t them. Luke just said, “you know me.”


    “I know a lot of people,” Liam joked with a light smile. “Can you tell me if you were one of the passengers who died on this boat?”


    Luke rocked back and forth, remaining silent for so long that Liam took that as a cue that he wasn’t going to answer. “So one of the crew, them?”


    Liam rocked back and forth one more time, then stopped for a moment. He held up his hand in the symbol they used when they wanted to say something that wasn’t just a repetition of what they heard. “I think it said Mine? But in a really hissy way,” he said.


    My blood ran cold, and Liam immediately grabbed my arm and looked at me. “That’s what the thing kept saying in your dream, right?” I nodded.


    “It said mine again,” Luke muttered.


    Liam grabbed Luke by the shoulder and lightly shook him. Luke took off his headphones, and even through the static, I could still hear “Mine” lightly being repeated. He whipped off his blindfold, looking between Liam and me. “That was the creepiest voice I’ve ever heard on a spirit box,” he said.


    “And that was exactly what the voice kept saying whenever the demon visited Andi in her sleep,” Liam said. “That can’t just be a coincidence.”


    “It’s a common word,” Caitlin chimed in, and I jumped. She’d been so quiet since the guys returned to the room that I’d almost forgotten she was with them. “Maybe it’s just a weird coincidence.”


    “Maybe,” Liam agreed, “but why would the women at the pool be concerned with something that is theirs?”


    “They’re not,” I answered. “The women who haunt the pool are both over at the other side of the room. Whatever this was, this wasn’t them.”


    Luke held up the headphones, staring at them as they still made noise. “Maybe I have to go back under?” he suggested.


    “Like fuck are you going back under,” Liam said. “If anything, we’re getting you away from the ghosts altogether.”


    A screech pulled our attention back to the headphones, making a sound that was too convoluted for me to hear. That wasn’t the case for Luke, however, who looked to me, our eyes locking over the machine. He looked more scared than I had ever seen him. “I don’t think they’re looking for me anymore,” he nearly whispered. “It’s saying ‘she.’ ‘She’s mine.’”