Rue's hands shook with emotion on the steering wheel. She couldn't shake off how it felt to have his arms on her shoulders again. For a split second when he'd caught her before she'd tried to leave, she had been ready to give in.

No, the voice inside her had said, Don't give in.

So she had left.

Rue had to remind herself of his sick obsession with the paranormal, his passion for being in front of a camera. His over-large ego. She wanted no part in it.

Stepping on the gas she was too riled up to go home to Trish's, so she stopped by a washed up restaurant on the side of the highway.

The atmosphere in the crowded bar was heavy and dark, the kind of hot air that would threaten to suffocate you after a while. Men leered at her and fat woman made faces. Everyone was drunk, and there was laughing, lots of laughing. Rue got a chill as she walked through the crowd. The sort of chill Zak would have described as…

Shut up, Rue!

Ordering a few beers, she calmed herself down enough to think clearly. (As clear as beer could make her mind). Zak Bagans had cheated on her, he'd lied, he'd taken her virginity, he'd left her for months on end to go film his "ground breaking documentary…" and every other sentence was about ghosts.

"You're too obsessed with the other side, you'll never learn to enjoy life."

"But I only like life when I'm investigating what comes after it!"

Oh, how many times had they said that to each other? Rue wondered as she finally left the bar and headed back to her temporary home.

Zak, Nick and Aaron stood discussing the lock down of the coming week while waiting for a table in a popular dinner. It was the fourth morning of their stay here. The tech crew from Travel Channel would be arriving Friday. Then Saturday they would be allowed a first look and tour of The Plazanti Mansion, though no filming would be done.

"I'm going to use a lot of EMF's for this one." Nick said.

"Yeah," Zak said, "Me too."

"Some ultra-sepectrum light cameras…" Aaron began counting on his fingers, then he stopped and shook his head. "You know bros I have no idea why I do this."

"You're our tech and you have no choice." Zak growled.

Nick felt confused at how Zak was acting. He had been acting like this all day, not really joining in their conversations. What was bothering him? He decided it was best not to ask until Zak got over his bad mood.

"I should have a choice," Aaron joked, "I'm quite the ladies man, and ladies' men always have choices." he smiled.

"Ladies man…" Nick snorted. Aaron was far from it.

"Ladies man." Zak said. He was gazing into the distance.

"Look, our investigation is next week so…" Nick began quietly, but stopped when Zak stared at him.

"Yes, yes it is." he agreed solemnly. Then he shifted in his seat and looked at Aaron, then at Nick. "I'm going to need a couple hours today to… take care of something."

"Alright man, we'll just film some vlogs." Aaron said, obviously un-troubled with Zak's sudden distance. Nick, however, was worried. Zak was normally at an emotional high the entire stay at their location, even when they weren't on the site.

"Are you sure?" Nick pressed.

"Positive." Zak affirmed.

Well, then, there was nothing for it.