The room turned frigid cold. Zoe shut the window while Luca unzipped his backpack in the middle of the room. He pulled out an EVP recorder and a K2 meter, a device that measures electromagnetic frequencies when paranormal activity is thought to be present.

She wrapped her arms around her torso, shivering as she paced the room, not sure what to expect.

He turned the k2 meter on, but it didn't seem to be giving much of a response. He looked back at her with a raised brow.

“Do you still have it?”

She bit her lip. “Yeah, why?”

“Maybe that would attract him back.”

“Back?"

“So we can tell him to never come to this house again.”

Reluctantly, she opened her closet door, rummaged through boxes and bags, and found the board just where she left it all those years so, tucked in a crevice on the floor.

The K2 meter started to beep.

“I think it’s working,” he said and showed her the flashing red dot on the device.

She set the board between them on the floor, just as they did the last time they used it. Back then, there was a circle of candles around them that had all blown out. The planchette was moving so fast on its own, and no one could figure out what it was trying to say.

He closed his eyes for a moment as if he were trying to remember something.“When we asked for a name, it just gave us his initials, right?”

“R.S...something like that,” Zoe said. “To be honest, I can’t remember, but I know what he looks like."

Luca’s voice cracked. "Gwen told me,” he said. “That’s scary, you saw him in class.”

She started to shake, unable to understand how the room could turn any colder. "I know,” she said. “It’s crazy.”

He turned off the K2 meter. “A strong force seems still connected to this room,” he said without doubt. “Stronger than your ordinary ghost’s would be. I think what you’re dealing with is a poltergeist. They’re more powerful.”

Zoe moved closer to him and asked quietly, “You don’t think it’s a demon, do you?”

He picked up the EVP recorder. “Let’s find out.”

Fear gripped her throat as he pressed the record button.

“Is there anyone in this house?” He paused. “If so, we kindly ask you to leave.” He let it record a while longer and pressed stop.

Zoe wondered if she'd hear the ghost's voice. “Go on,” she said. “Play it.”

"Is there anyone-" Luca's voice on the recorder suddenly muffled into a screeching clamor, loud and obscure. The haunting noise was like the echo two pieces of metal brushing up against each other, blasting waves of sound. It was strong enough to pierce through skin and spill into blood.

He turned it off and slammed the device on the board.

Their eyes, wide as saucers met as books came crashing from the bookshelf.

They both jolted to their feet.

Zoe coward behind him, holding in a scream. She was relieved to hear him laugh, though it was racked with nerves.

"It’s just Pumpkin," he said.

“Pumpkin?” She put her hands on her hips and walked over to the shelf. "You're in big trouble little man!"

Pumpkin licked his paw. “Mreow!"

She grabbed his chuck of a body and held him in her arms, feeling her muscles relax to the gentle rumble of his deep purr.

A knock came at the door. "Everything okay in here?" Asked Kristy.

Zoe leaned against the wall, her legs suddenly feeling like jello. "Fine, mom."

"Okay. Just thought I'd check."

Zoe and Luca looked at each other without a word, then back at the recorder on the board.

"Should we show her?" Luca asked.

Zoe shook her head. “No,” she said. “It wouldn’t matter. She wouldn’t believe it.”

Pumpkin jumped out of her arms and rubbed his head against Luca's ankles.

Luca scratched under his chin and knelt back to the ouija board, wincing in pain. “Missed you too, Pumpkin.”

Zoe knelt across from him, her knees felt tender, and the back of her head throbbed.

"I feel like I’ve been run over by a train.”

"Me too.”

She watched him put the devices back in his bag and took out a single stick of violet incense from a wooden box. "Burn this tonight."

"Incense?"

His eyes flashed. "It’s not just any incense. You have to promise not to tell anyone"

"I promise, Luca."

Something in his voice turned more serious. "My mom," he said. “She used to get it from Tilda.”

“Tilda? The old lady down the road?”

“No, Tilda in Spain. Of course the old lady down the road. You know, the one that always waved to us on our way home. Anyway, my mom swears this isn’t ordinary incense. Ever since she started burning it, my dad got a better job, my sisters health troubles went away, my grandma who was dying became well. I can't explain it, but it's the family secret. It's why nothing bad ever happened to us. I wasn't sure if it was real or not, but the older I get, the more I start to believe it."

Zoe wasn't sure why, but she felt hurt. If it was real, then all this time, he and his family had been keeping it to themselves and never shared.

She twisted the stick with her fingers, lost in wonder about how different her life would be with a little good fortune. Maybe then she wouldn't have been in and out of mental hospitals. Kristy would have her card business up and running, and she wouldn't be struggling to pay the bills.

"I know what you're thinking," he said. "Those flowers my Mom gave you last time? She sprinkled them with dust of the incense. Now we know it has to be burned."

"Why didn't you tell me before?"

"We didn't know if it was really true, and as I said, it's a secret between my mom and Tilda. I only found out because I caught her over at Tilda’s one night and asked her. No one else in my family knows but me, and now you know, but you have to keep it a secret."

"I will."

“It has a strange smell, like sandalwood, but more bitter. Make sure you burn it until the very end. For now, we need to say a prayer and get rid of the ouija."

They said a small prayer, packed up, and headed downstairs.

Afternoon rain still clung to the tall grass. The backyard was nothing but a field, running all the way to a thick line of woods.

Luca took the ouija board, Zoe took the shovel. She felt a sense of hope as the sun poked through the clouds, through the unease was still there. Luca's tan had long gone back to Italy. He was still white as a ghost himself. He almost tripped a few times, every once in awhile groaning in pain.

"This is a good spot," he said once they reached the middle of the field. It seemed right, so they began to take turns digging two deep holes, one for the board and one for the planchette. Luca sprinkled salt over them and packed in the top layer.

"We should’ve done this the first time." Zoe said, wiping the dirt off her hands.

Luca stuck the shovel into the ground. "A ghost couldn’t make that noise. You know that, right?

Zoe tensed. “What do you mean?

"Whatever that was, it wasn’t a ghost. It wasn’t a poltergeist. It wasn’t a demon."

“Then what was it?”

His eyes faltered in the sunlight, poking through the clouds. "Something not from this world."

For a moment, she wasn’t sure what to say. She didn’t want to believe him. Didn’t want to think that whatever they were dealing with was something even more unknown. "What about the oracle factory?” she said.

It was a long way, and they were weak and tired, but they started down the road with the incense, thinking they'd burn a little there and the rest at the house.

Then suddenly, halfway to the building, Luca looked in horror at a deep ditch, but nothing was there.

"Luca, what's wrong?"

He straightened his back and tried to laugh it off.

Zoe looked around, wondering if she'd see anyone or anything. "I think we better go back," she said finally. "Look at us. Were scared and hurt. Not prepared to go face off some ghost at an abandoned building. And we'd be lucky to make it back before dark.”

“Fine,” he said as they turned around. ‘But don’t go there without me.”

“It’s my battle, Luca. For whatever reason, it wants me. I’m not putting your life in any more danger, or anyone's.”

“Will you text me then? Everything that’s going on?”

“Sure,” she said. “I’ll text you everything. Gwen too.”

“Don’t forget to burn the incense,” he said. “Burn all of it.”