J

inx ran up to her room, an empty feeling expanding in her gut. Time apart? Jackson wanted time apart? Was he breaking up their friendship? They’d been close for as long as Jinx could remember. She’d never known a time when he wasn’t there. Jinx felt as if her eyeballs would come out. Tears streamed down her face as she slammed the door and threw herself on the bed.

It was so unfair! She’d uncovered the ruse, found out the truth, and here she was being punished.

The slow burn of anger started to replace the despair she felt. She welcomed the feeling. Being angry was way better than being sad. Anger got things done.

She wiped at her eyes and sat up on the bed. Fine. If he didn’t want to be in her life, she wouldn’t be in his. See how he liked it. A small voice in her head told her that she was in the wrong, but she ignored it. Wrong or right, they’d had their first paid investigation and found out, yet again, that everything was fake. She needed to blog this one—she had an obligation to her readers.

Going to her computer, she accessed the video feed from the teddy bear, the EVP recordings and EMF recordings. Then she opened a new file where she would document everything. She hadn’t even looked at the EVP or the EMF after she’d watched the teddy video camera. What would have been the point?

As soon as Jinx began writing, she started feeling better. At least she was doing something—anger did get things done. She went through every second of the first night, making sure to note what the equipment found. About halfway through, right before Jinx knew the door would slam and Emily’s hoax would begin, Jinx came across something...curious.

And then she remembered the time both she and Jackson felt the air change. The EMF reader went off the charts. The temperature dropped. How did Emily fake that? She also remembered the TV going on by itself. Looking at the EMF and EVP sensors again, she saw something there.

Quickly, she dialed Emily’s number. On the third ring, Emily answered with a confused, “Hello?”

Jinx had no time for pleasantries. “Emily, does your TV go on and off by itself sometimes?”

Emily laughed a little bit. “Yeah, but Dad says it’s because the place is so old. The wiring is just a little faulty.”

Jinx sat back and didn’t say anything for so long that Emily said “Hello?” again. Finally, Jinx spoke up: “Emily, I think your place really is haunted.”

Emily laughed again. “Nooo...Travis was haunting the place, remember? And anyway, we might be moving. Dad got a job offer in California over the weekend, during his trip. I’d be going with him. I’m so over this city. The only person I’ll miss is Travis, but we’re going to try to make it work.”

Jinx waved that away. “As long as you get out of there.”

“You really are into this stuff, huh?” Emily said. “I’ll be fine. Also...thanks, Jinx. You’re not as bad as you seem. I know I won’t forget you.”

Jinx smiled. Mission accomplished.

After she hung up, Jinx thought maybe she’d overreacted. Maybe some sort of wiring thing did happen. And maybe that caused an electromagnetic field to show up. Right when the TV went on. That would make sense.

To double-check, she decided to tweak her EVP software to see if she could hear anything through the TV static. She fast-forwarded it to the time when the TV turned on and the static played. She listened all the way through. About two minutes in, right when Jackson said “The clock stopped at 1:15,” Jinx saw a little bleep.

Minimizing the levels on Jackson’s voice, Jinx played the segment again.

A voice said, “You’re next.”

The hair on Jinx’s neck stood straight up. That was not Travis’s voice.

In fact, the voice didn’t sound human at all. Emily’s place was really haunted.

Ghosts were real.

Jinx sat back in her chair. Jackson may want some space, she thought, but there’s no way he wouldn’t want to hear about this.

She picked up her phone and dialed his number.