Ghost Hunt: Haunted

File 1 Part 3

•File 1: Shadow Princess, Part 3•

•~•~Mai~•~•

I jumped to my feet when the boys were sent flying by Emery. "We have to help!" I cried.

"Wait, Mai. We need to think about this. There's a possessed girl with incredible telekinetic powers running around here and all of our strongest fighters are out cold. Let's get them up first." Masoko advised. I nodded.

"You're right." I said. The three of us headed for the room. I moved over to Naru as Masoko and Ayoko checked on the others.

"Naru, Naru!" I shook him and after a second he woke up. He blinked a few times and looked at me.

"Mai, what happened? Where's Emery?" He asked. I pulled him to his feet.

"She knocked you all out and bolted." I said.

"We need to find her and fast. I don't think Nat wants anything to happen to her body." Naru said. He looked at the others.

John and Monk were just getting up and Lin was already on his feet. "Everyone, pair up and look for Emery. We need to find her before something happens to Nat's body." Naru ordered. I nodded and Monk touched my shoulder.

"Shall we?" He asked. I nodded and we headed out. The house was quiet, almost scarily so. We kept silent for a minute then I felt someone pulling on my sleeve.

"This way." The voice was familiar.

"Nat." I whispered.

"What about her?" Monk asked.

"She's here." I said.

More tugging on my sleeve and I heard Nat say "Hurry. This way."

"Follow me." I said. I started walking, followed by Monk. Nat would pull on my sleeve occasionally and I often heard her whispering 'faster', 'this way', and 'please, hurry'. I broke into a run, quickly leaving Monk behind.

I ran into a living room. "Nat, where are you?" I asked quickly.

"In here." The voice sounded surprisingly clear, but came through a wall with a fire place.

"There's no door." I said.

"The fire... Hurry, Mai. The fire!" Her voice fizzled out at the end and I knelt next to the fire place. On the right was bricks but the left side opened to a tunnel. I glanced back then grabbed a piece of the burned wood. I quickly drew an arrow on the ground that went up then over to the left before climbing into the tunnel.

It smelled heavily like smoke and to my surprise it started to get smokier and lighter the farther I went. I ducked through the opening at the end and came out in a room with most of the floor on fire, only the fire was greenish blue. Emery stood there as well in a plain black dress that barely covered her, about up to her knees in the flames.

"Emery, come back." I called. She looked at me.

"No." She said as she turned around. "I'll go all the way across and live forever." She said.

"Emery, listen. That body does not belong to you and you can't keep it. Also, you already live forever in this world. Wouldn't it be better to live forever in the next one?" I said, picking my words carefully.

Emery paused. "The next world?" She asked quietly. I nodded.

"It's a safe and good place for ghosts like yourself." I said. "Please come out of the fire." I said. Emery faltered then came back. Nat's legs were badly burned, at least a second degree burn for sure.

"So if I leave her body and move on, I'll be happy?" Emery asked. I nodded.

"You'll get to be with your family again too." I added. Emery smiled and closed her eyes. There was a pause then Nat collapsed. The real Emery appeared next to me and smiled. She was surprisingly young with almost hip length hair.

"Get her to wear something fancy at some point, okay?" Emery said with a wink. I nodded. "And Mai? Thanks." Emery said and I smiled as she disappeared in a gold light.

•~•~Nat~•~•

I moaned when my head started pounding. For a second I couldn't remember anything, then it all came back to me. My eyes flew open and Mai smiled. "Glad to see you're awake. I couldn't carry you out, unfortunately." She offered a hand and pulled me to my feet.

"Out of where?" I looked around at the dark room. I could barely see anything, but I could tell there was another ten feet to the room in every direction but behind me.

"I'll explain later, for now we should get going." Mai nodded at the wall behind me and ducked into a little tunnel. I knelt and flinched, falling backwards so I was sitting.

I looked at the dress (which made me shutter it was so short) then looked at my legs. From the knees down they were red and already flaking from a burn. I touched the edge lightly and flinched. "Ow, that hurts." I muttered.

"You coming?" I heard Mai call.

"Ya." I replied. I sighed, braced myself, and started crawling. I could faintly see a silhouette of Mai in front of me and when she got to an opening someone pulled her out. I got there and Monk pulled me out as well.

"Mai, don't disappear like that!" He scolded.

"Sorry I..." Mai started.

"It was my fault, Monk." I interrupted.

"So Emery is gone?" He asked. I nodded.

"Monk, did you find her...?" John ran in and trailed off when he saw me. He turned away blushing and handed me his jacket without looking. I took it gratefully and pull it on. Amazingly it was a little long on me, reaching just past the other dress, still a couple inches higher than I'd like.

"Thanks." I said. John nodded and looked at Mai.

"Glad to see you're okay, Mai. You'll have to tell me what happened." John said. Mai nodded.

"Let's get back to base and I'll explain it to everyone." Mai said. We nodded and started out. I got two steps when my knees buckled. I landed on my knees but didn't cry out. This pain was nothing.

"Nat, are you okay?" Monk asked. I nodded and stood up. My knees threatened to give out and send me to the floor again.

"Ya, Emery ended up burning my legs that's all." I said, smiling. Monk looked at my legs and his mouth fell open.

"Nat, you need to go to the hospital." Monk ordered firmly.

"No!" I shouted, just before he finished hospital. Everyone looked started. "I'll fix it myself in a little, there's no need." I answered quickly.

"You really shouldn't even be standing, let alone walking." John pointed out. I shook my head.

"I'm fine." I said. Monk suddenly picked me up and I squeaked. "Monk, put me down. I can walk." I argued.

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should. Until your legs are healed you shouldn't walk on them." Monk said as he started walking. I sighed and gave up. Without using my telekinesis I wasn't strong enough, but I would not use it against him.

•~•~•~•~•

Naru got paid and we left after packing up. Since I wouldn't go to the hospital Monk forced me to stay in the car while they packed up. It didn't take long and we were shortly on our way back. The car ride was silent.

"Nat, we have to talk when we get back." Naru said looking at me in the mirror. I cocked my head and nodded.

"Alright." I agreed. I noticed Mai watching me and looked out the window. "What does Naru want to talk about?" I wondered.