Okay, so here it is. I hope you all enjoy it. Once again, sorry about the other story. Also, I changed the summary a bit, just because I didn't really like the other one. ENJOY :)

P.S. If you haven't seen the movie this is based on, that's alright. It doesn't really matter.

DiScLaImEr: Don't own the characters, CC does, but the plot is mine. :)


"I don't know where to start," the girl – Aline – muttered. She was looking at her feet; her lower lip was trembling, as if at any given moment she may burst out into tears.

Magnus looked around the cozy living room they were seated in and sighed. He felt bad for the girl, he really did, but sometimes he gets fed up with people who are scared of things they don't understand.

"Just start from the beginning," said Magnus' business partner – and best friend – Catarina. Aline glanced up at Ragnor, the cameraman who was filming right behind Magnus' head, and swallowed, tucking a strand of her short black hair behind her ear. Magnus cleared his throat and leaned over to pick up his teacup from the coffee table, which was placed between the two couches, in the center of the room.

There was a tall blond-headed girl seated close to Aline on the couch across from Magnus and Catarina. She saw Aline fidget and slipped her hand in Aline's. Magnus smiled behind his tea. The blond gave her an encouraging smile and a nod. Aline returned the smile and brought her gaze to meet Catarina's, glancing sideways at Magnus and Ragnor. "W-well," she said, "it started when…when I moved in." Her eyes widened in realization and fear. "This is all my fault."

"No," the blond said fiercely. That was the first word Magnus had heard her say since he'd been here. "No, it had been happening before she moved in, but we all thought it was rats or something. It's an old house, so it is possible."

"Can you describe what 'it' is, please?" Catarina asked.

"And who the 'we all' are in this story,' Magnus added.

"And, uh, what were your names again?" Catarina rolled her eyes at Ragnor's question. Magnus was secretly relieved he wasn't the only one who had forgotten the girls' names.

"I'm Helen Blackthorn," the blond said, "and this is Aline Penhallow." She paused, trying to think how that was relevant, or thinking that Ragnor needed to listen the first time. "I lived here with my brothers and sisters before Aline moved in. Um, there were always strange noises and things around the house for as long as I can remember, and we moved here when I was two. But, once again, this house is old, so naturally it will moan and creak every now and then."

Magnus sighed. "Once again, who is 'we'?"

"My father and I, and my little brother," she answered.

"Where is your father now?" Catarina asked.

Helen glanced at Aline. "He had a heart attack two years ago, when Aline and I first started dating." Aline swallowed again. Helen rubbed a hand up and down her back, whispering something in her ear. Magnus thought this was interesting.

"And your mother?" Catarina asked softly.

"Um," she said, "my mother died when I was two and my brother, Mark, was just a baby. That's why we moved. My father remarried after a few years and had more children. His wife died four years ago-" she cut of and shuttered. "We don't talk about it."

Magnus glanced at Catarina, and she returned his look. They were both thinking the same thing. Magnus leaned forward. "How old are you? Both of you."

"Twenty," Helen answered.

"Nineteen," Aline said.

Magnus nodded, taking it in. "And where are the other children?"

"I gave them money for ice cream, to get them out of the house for a while." Helen looked at Ragnor, and then at Magnus. "Is that all the background info you need?" She was starting to get annoyed. Good.

"Yes, thank you." Magnus smiled. "Now, you say that you've been hearing strange noises since you've been here, but none really to draw suspicion, right?" She nodded. "And you say things really picked up when Aline moved in?"

"Well, not exactly," Helen said. "My siblings and I started noticing big things, like stuff had been moved and chairs had been turned over, after…after Maria died."

"And Maria was…?"

"My step-mother."

Magnus looked at Catarina, a smile gracing his face. "Now we're getting somewhere." He turned back to the girls. "How did she die?"

"She, uhm, hung herself." The response was so quiet he could barely hear it, but it was there.

"In the house?" Catarina asked. She nodded. "Could you show me? And Aline can tell Magnus and Ragnor the rest of the story. If that's okay," she added quickly, seeing the worried look come across Aline's face. Helen nodded and stood up. Aline grabbed her hand quickly, shaking her head and whispering something.

"'You'll be fine," Helen reassured her, and motioned for Catarina to follow.

"Don't scare her," Catarina hissed to Magnus as she left the room. Magnus shrunk back into the couch. Cat had always scared Magnus just a little – though ask him about it and Magnus will deny the whole thing – since they met in college.

After they had gone, Aline looked at Magnus, and he peered back at her. He nodded once. "Whenever you're ready."

"Andrew Blackthorn never liked me," she said rapidly. "Andrew was Helen's father. I was introduced to the family a few months before Helen came out. I think he knew then, because he never allowed me back into the house, not until the night he had his heart attack. It was the night Helen came out." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Helen says it wasn't anyone's fault; he'd always had a bad heart, but that wasn't it. He'd been healthy for the five years before that. I know he died because he couldn't handle that his daughter was dating a girl." She paused.

"Keep going," Magnus encouraged.

"A few months after he died, Helen asked me to move in, saying that she and the kids needed me. I said I would, and that's when it really started." Magnus was on the edge of his seat. "Things would fly across the room, hitting the wall and shattering – my things, like my cell phone. At night, something would pull my hair, really hard. It seemed it was only targeting me at first, but then it started on Helen, and then Mark, and Julian…" She started sobbing. "A-and once, I-I even s-saw him in my m-mirror."

"Who?" Magnus asked.

"M-Mr. Blackthorn!"


The tape started going fuzzy, so Magnus cut off the projector and looked around at the gaping faces of college students. He and Catarina were the guest lecturers at NYU, and were teaching the students about their profession. Magnus smirked; he loved this part. "Any questions?"

A hundred hands shot up at once. He laughed and turned to Catarina. It was her job to call on the students anyway. She lazily pointed to a boy in the front row, who stood up. "What happened to the rest of the film? And the girls, are they okay?"

"Someone," Magnus said, looked pointedly at Ragnor, who was sitting at the very end of the dais they were on, "got excited and dropped the camera. Onto my head, I might add." Ragnor sheepishly shrugged. The audience laughed. "As for Miss Blackthorn and Miss Penhallow, they are currently enjoying their nice, ghost-free house on the edge of New York with Miss Blackthorn's…six siblings, I believe, and then another kid… What's her name, Cat?"

"Emma," Catarina supplied.

Magnus nodded. "There you go. Next?"

"So," a girl said, they are all right? And it actually was a ghost, and not just rats?"

"I prefer the word spirit," said Catarina, "and it wasn't just one, but two: Andrew Blackthorn, and his second late wife, Maria. We had to use some…extreme methods to get Andrew out, but after it was over Maria just moved on."

"Her purpose for staying was to protect the children," Magnus continued, "and once that was done there was no reason for her to stay."

"She didn't do a very good job protecting Aline," said a sarcastic voice from above them. Magnus looked into the upper rows of the auditorium at a blond boy, about eighteen, leaning back in his seat, looking smug. A boy with black hair nudged him with his elbow and motioned for him to be quiet.

Magnus' smirk returned. "Indeed she didn't," he said, addressing the blond, but his eyes were on the black-headed boy next to him. "But she wasn't a Blackthorn, therefore not her responsibility." He folded his arms across his chest. The boy with black hair looked at him in admiration, a small smile forming.

But the blond wasn't done. He stood up and mimicked Magnus' pose. "Ho do you know all this, anyway? Did Maria tell you? Can you see dead people?" A few people snickered.

Magnus sighed and looked at Catarina. "We have a nonbeliever. You want to handle him?"

"You look like you have it taken care of," she answered.

He ran both hands through his hair. "Well," he said, "I, personally, can't see dead people, as you put it. I'm just a…paranormal researcher, one might say." He saw intrigue in the black-haired boy's eyes, so he kept going. "I've studied the paranormal and supernatural since I was in college."

"That doesn't answer my question," the blond said.

Magnus held up a hand. "I'm getting there. My colleague is…well, she's special. She can…sense when something isn't quite right, or when another person, living or dead, is near her, or in the same room, or however you want to think of it. Psychic, she's been called. So, Maria basically made Catarina aware of her purpose, and then Catarina felt her leave."

The blond scoffed and sat back down, muttering something to the boy beside him. The black-haired one snapped at him and continued to observe the lecture – or rather, observe Magnus.

Another hand shot up. "How long ago was this?" another girl asked.

"Oh…about three months ago," Magnus answered, eyes still on the boy.

"Any more questions?" Catarina asked, and a hundred more hands went in the air. She nodded to a boy in the very back row, and he stood.

"Do you have a cool name for yourselves? Are you guy, like, the ghost hunters on TV or something?"

Magnus looked at Catarina, excited. "Ghost Facers, Catarina! We are the Ghost Facers!" He glanced to his right. "And Ragnor." He heard a grunt.

"No," Catarina scolded, "we most certainly aren't the Ghost Facers. Now is not the time for you to be a nerd, Magnus." She rolled her eyes and looked to the still-standing boy. "We don't have a team, or whatever you just said. We just have the names we were given when we were born: Catarina Loss and Magnus Bane."

Magnus looked back up to the black-haired boy one last time, and he could've sworn he saw the boy's eyes twinkle.