"How much longer do we have to wait?" sighed Rohit, sleeplessness making him miserable.

They had been huddled near the stairs on the floor above Sofia Hayat's room since 5 in the morning, so that they didn't, by any chance, miss her waking up.

Virat threw Rohit a dirty look; evidently he hadn't forgiven him yet. "Jaddu and I have been up all night!"

"You two could get some sleep," said Jinks, the standard peacemaker in Rohit-Kohli fights. "We'll manage it here."

Tempting as it sounded, Virat shook his head. "Daren't miss the fun here." And Jadeja agreed completely.

They had to wait till 7, which drew half of them totally mad.

But later, no one could deny that sacrificing a few hours of sleep had been totally worth it.

An ear-splitting scream of terror cut through the air suddenly. The team watching upstairs clapped their hands over their ears as the screams continued, and Kuldeep, who had fallen asleep on Yuzi's shoulder, jolted awake in alarm.

"Now she comes running out," whispered Jaddu maliciously.

They peeped through the railing of the stairs, and sure enough, Sofia Hayat came tearing out of the room, looking truly stricken with fear. She stumbled down the stairs, moaning pitifully, one hand over her heart.

"Into action!" cried Virat, and their squad descended down the stairs into the room swiftly.

Jinks pulled off the blood-stained bedsheet quickly and Rohit and Bhuvi spread the new bedsheet (which Jaddu had stolen from the laundry yesterday) over the bed.

Simultaneously, Kuldeep and Yuzi were scrubbing away at the ominous words written on the wall with the cleansing spirit.

Virat stood at the door, excitedly stammering out instructions.

"That 'S' is still visible, Kuliya!"... "Smoothen that corner, Bhuvi!"

Hardik and Rahul were wrapping the crow in a bag and the latter spotted that a bit of blood had dripped to the floor.

"Bring the spirit!" Rahul ordered Rohit, who had just finished spreading the bedsheet.

Rohit rushed to Yuzi and snatched the bottle from his hand, hissing, "One second!"

"We've already used two minutes!" cried Virat. "She might be coming back any moment--be quick!"

Hardik and Jinks made a beeline for the door, holding the bag (with the crow) and the discarded bedsheet respectively, and they collided at the door.

"Let me go first! Let me go first!" wailed Hardik.

"Hardik, don't shout!" scolded Bhuvi.

"By all means, go!" said Jinks, moving aside to let him pass.

Within 30 seconds more, the room had been completely wiped off any evidence of the shock Sofia had received in the morning.

They all dashed out and climbed up the stairs hastily to where the rest where waiting, hearts racing with fear and excitement.

"We made it!" said Yuzi, full of triumph, as they settled against the railing of the stairs again.

A few seconds later, they heard the hotel owner's comforting voice, "Yes, we'll see what can be done. If you mean the men have been harassing you for three or four days, I'm sure we could take a serious step--"

"I mean, ink and dye is fine, but a life threatening message in blood!..." came Sofia's high-pitched voice.

"I understand--"

"And a dead crow!" she shrieked.

They had reached the room, the hotel owner entered first.

The team above leaned down the railing in anticipation.

"Where's the crow? Where's the message?" demanded the owner.

Sofia Hayat was speechless. "They--they were here five minutes ago!" she spluttered.

The hotel owner was looking at her as if seriously doubting her sanity. "Where can they have gone in just five minutes?" he asked patiently.

"I--I--GHOSTS!" suddenly screamed Sofia at the top of her voice. "I'M HAUNTED--I'M HAUNTED--GHO-O-O-OSTS!!"

All the laughter the team had been holding back for hours broke free all at once, and they collapsed on the stairs, paralyzed.

They lay there, holding each other for support, and laughed and laughed till tears were streaming down each of their eyes.

"I WILL LEAVE THIS PLACE AT ONCE!" they heard her shout at one point of time.

"Oh, God," gasped Rohit, finally, as they began to calm down, finding it impossible to breathe.

"Gho-o-osts," groaned Yuzi, lying on the floor, clutching the stitch in his stomach.

"Don't," begged Jinks, as Yuzi's imitation set them off again.

Rahul had been coughing for a whole minute, choking with laughter.

"Calm down, idiot!" said Hardik, banging him on the back.

Virat wiped the tears from his eyes and relinquished his hold on Bhuvi, who, in turn, had been holding on to the railing so hard that his knuckles had turned white.

"Can't--laugh--any more," Kuldeep managed to choke weakly, trying to lift himself up from the ground.

"Too much," agreed Shikhar, hauling Kuldeep up.

By unanimous opinion, Virat and Jaddu were declared as the winners, not that it surprised anyone.

And finally, Rohit appealed to his team.

"Three cheers for Virat and Jaddu!"

As they all cheered at the top of their voices, and hugged the two heroes, Rohit's eyes found Virat's apprehensively.

Virat didn't look away, and Rohit threw his arms around him in relief and delight.

Virat couldn't keep up his pretence of annoyance any more, and he hugged Rohit back, and the sight of Rohit and Virat hugging, of course, led to renewed cheers from the team, every one of whom loved their captain and vice captain beyond words.