"Ah, this is nice," Krillin sighed, leaning back in his lawn chair as the campfire crackled in the early evening light.

"We should do this more often," Goku agreed, setting aside his plate. "Man, I'm stuffed."

"You know, Gohan, you could save the studying for some other time," Yamcha teased.

Gohan was lying on his chest in a flattened lounge chair, his nose inches above his book. He was far more intrigued by the various religious practices than he had expected to be. He glanced up from his book and closed it. "Sorry."

"I blame your mother," Goku sighed.

Gohan laughed. "I just enjoy reading. Can't help it."

"So did Eighteen end up going to your house, Gohan?" Seventeen asked.

"I think so," he answered.

"Oh yeah," Krillin muttered. "And you should've seen all the stuff she bought to take with her."

Tien cocked an eyebrow in question.

"She said she had to have all new nail polish and I don't know what all it was. Some kind of stuff you put on your face…" he trailed off for a moment. "I don't understand women."

Goku laughed. "Me either."

"Ah, it's not that hard," Seventeen said, popping open a can of beer. "Just nod and say, 'Yes dear, now make me a sammich'."

Gohan snorted in laughter and Krillin cried, "HA! Like I'd get away with saying that to your sister!"

"She ain't so scary," Seventeen muttered.

"I wonder what they're up to," Gohan said thoughtfully, beginning to worry about how his house may look when he returned home.

"Don't worry about it," Goku said, playfully shoving Gohan's shoulder. "We came out here to relax. The girls are having fun on their own."

"That's what I'm worried about," Gohan mumbled.


"Knock, knock!" Jenny called, cracking open the front door of Lindsey's house.

"Jenny!" Leelee squealed, jumping up and hugging her friend. "I thought you couldn't come tonight?"

"I can't stay all night, but I promised Piccolo I wouldn't be out late," she grinned. She handed a bag to Leelee, who peered inside.

"ICE CREAM!" Leelee squealed and ran to the kitchen to put it away before it melted.

"Hey girl!" Lindsey smiled, returning to the living room with an armful of beauty products. She dumped them unceremoniously on the coffee table. "You're just in time for make-overs!"

"What are we, twelve?" Jenny snickered.

"We are for the night, apparently," Eighteen answered. She was sitting on the floor behind the coffee table, fumbling with the remote.

"Ooooh!" Leelee said as she returned to the living room, sitting down and picking up a tiny bottle. "I want pink polish!"

Lindsey and Jenny sat down at the coffee table as well. "I don't even know what half this stuff is that you bought, Eighteen," Lindsey said.

Eighteen finally got their movie started and set the remote down. "Try this," she said, picking up a large bottle and handing it to Lindsey. "It's supposed to remove impurities on your skin."

"Peeling mask?" Lindsey asked, accepting the bottle and looking at it. "Sounds painful."

Eighteen snickered. "It's not so bad."

Lindsey squeezed some of the clear, cold gel into her hand and began to swipe it across her face. "Ew, it feels weird."

"We're never girly enough anymore," Jenny sighed. "I miss the old days of going out dancing."

Leelee shrugged. "If you weren't always preggers, maybe we could."

Jenny blushed. "It's not like I planned this."

Leelee elbowed her in the side. "I'm just givin' ya shit."

"Ooooh, a mud mask," Jenny smiled. "I'll try this one."

Lindsey went to the kitchen to wash her hands and by the time she came back, Jenny and Eighteen had both covered their faces in thick, green mud.

"You two look like swamp-thing," Lindsey muttered, sitting back down.

Eighteen grabbed a small mirror from the table and looked at herself, then threw her head back and laughed. "No wonder Krillin avoids me when I put this on!"

Lindsey's face was starting to feel tight and she moved her jaw side-to-side, wincing. "Is it supposed to feel this tight?"

Eighteen snickered again.

"Quit making faces like that, you look retarded," Leelee stated, propping her foot up on the table and painting her toes. The bright pink stood out in sharp contrast against her ebony skin.

"Wax strips?" Jenny asked, picking up a box. "The hell are you all waxing?"

"Everything from my nose down," Lindsey answered, grabbing a bottle of red polish.

Jenny flung the box away from her. "Oh fuck no."

Leelee was gasping for air as she laughed. "Oh my god… Lindsey… you did not just say that!"

"It's better than shaving it," Eighteen said seriously. "No one wants to cut themselves like that." She reached over and picked up the box. "I meant to take this home, though. I didn't meant to bring it here."

"Yeah, but," Jenny screwed up her face at the thought. "OUCH. Waxing? Down there? Oh my god."

"I can't move my lips," Lindsey said, her face barely moving as she spoke.

"I am not waxing anybody's lady parts tonight," Eighteen proclaimed.

Leelee nearly choked on her soda. "Oh come on, Eighteen," she laughed, "don't you love me?"

"Not that much," Eighteen sneered. "I see enough of you snogging my brother, I don't need anything else in my head that contributes to the visual."

Leelee continued to laugh as she picked up the box and flipped it over to read the directions. "Dammit, where are the guys when you need 'em?"

It was Jenny's turn to laugh. "As if they'd let us wax something on them."

"Seventeen would, if we could get him drunk enough," Leelee said thoughtfully.

Lindsey wanted to protest, but the goop on her face had dried so much, all she could do was vehemently shake her head.

"I think you can peel that stuff off now," Eighteen said.

Starting at the corner of her mouth, Lindsey scraped her nail against the mask until she could pinch a piece of it enough to peel it away from her skin. "Ow, ow, ow, ow." It felt like pulling duct tape off of her face.

"How thick did you put that on?" Eighteen snickered.

"Too thick, apparently," Lindsey said out of the corner of her mouth. "Screw wax, we can use this stuff."

The girls were rolling with laughter by the time Lindsey had removed the mask completely. She kept rubbing her face and at one point had proclaimed that she was going to lose her eyebrows completely.

"Jesus," Lindsey hissed.

"Does your skin feel clean?" Jenny teased.

"Yeah, considering I just removed a whole layer of it."

"I'm starting to crack," Jenny said, looking at her own face in the mirror.

"Time to wash this off," Eighteen said, getting to her feet. She and Jenny disappeared down the hallway to the bathroom.

Leelee grabbed the remote and clicked off the TV. "I think we need some music instead, she announced, pulling a CD from her bag that was lying behind her on the couch. She popped it in the stereo and clicked it on. The soundtrack from Moulin Rouge began to play.

"Ooooh, good choice," Lindsey smiled.

"So, I was kind'a thinking about something," Leelee said nervously as Eighteen and Jenny returned to the living room.

"What?" Eighteen asked.

"I was looking at some photography online, and, well…" Leelee hesitated. "I saw these pictures that I thought looked really cool. Like, pictures you take to give your boyfriend."

Lindsey raised her eyebrow skeptically.

"Oh my god, Leelee," Eighteen growled. "First you wanna wax your crotch and now you want to shoot porn?!"

"NO!" Leelee cried. "Nothing like that! Just, you know, tasteful pictures, but still sexy."

"It might be nice to remember what I look like when I'm not pregnant," Jenny said, looking down at her still flat stomach.

Lindsey giggled. "I wonder what Gohan would think if I gave him pictures like that."

"He'd love it," Leelee insisted.

Jenny stopped to think about Piccolo's reaction to an album of pictures of her. She wasn't sure what he would say, but the expression on his face would be priceless. "Let's do it."

The girls quickly set to work, fixing their makeup and hair, singing loudly to the Moulin Rouge song, and Jenny and Leelee even stopped once to do a ridiculous version of the can-can dance. They tried to get the other girls to join them but Eighteen was laughing too hard and Lindsey insisted that she was far too clumsy.

"What are we gonna wear?" Jenny asked after they were satisfied with their hair and makeup.

"I have a bunch of lingerie that Yelena gave me," Lindsey said. "Some of it I haven't even worn yet."

The girls raced up the stairs to Lindsey's bedroom.

"AGH! It's like your bed from the warehouse!" Leelee cried happily.

The king size bed had four large, black posts and was draped with a gorgeous black and red comforter.

"Ain't no sleeping going on in that bed," Eighteen snickered.

Lindsey blushed.

"So where is it?" Jenny asked.

"Top drawer," Lindsey said, pointing to a large dresser.

Jenny pulled the drawer open and retrieved a huge bunch of lace and silk, then dumped it on the bed.

"I see something pink!" Leelee cried and pulled it from the pile.

"Ooooh," Jenny smiled, picking a blue and lace number.

"So who goes first?" Eighteen asked.

"Me! Me! Me!" Leelee cried, already ripping her shirt and jeans off and slipping into the black and pink mesh outfit. Vertical stripes ran up and down her body, leaving nearly nothing to the imagination.

"Your friend Yelena has good taste," Eighteen said, looking through the pile of clothing.

"She likes the taste of money," Jenny said, thinking of her petite, dark-haired Russian friend.

Lindsey had gone to get her camera and returned to the bedroom with it in her hands. "Who's playing photographer?"

"I will," Eighteen offered, taking the camera.

Leelee moved the remaining lingerie from the bed and crawled across the comforter.

"If any of you make a duck face, I will murder you," Eighteen warned, lifting the camera to her face.

Eighteen began snapping shots of Leelee as Jenny and Lindsey gave suggestions.

"Tilt your head to the side. Yeah, just like that."

"Relax your face."

"Stick your ass up more."

After several pictures had been taken, Leelee was nervously chewing her lip and looking at them with questioning eyes.

"What's wrong?" Jenny asked.

"Can I… Well, I was kind'a thinking…" she trailed off.

"Yes, get naked. We don't care," Lindsey sighed.

"EEEEEEEEE!" Leelee squealed.

"Just don't tell my brother I was the one who took these of you," Eighteen begged as Leelee stripped. "And no crotch shots!"

Leelee giggled as she lay back across the bed, folding one leg carefully over the other and pressing her chest into the comforter.

"Gohan would DIE if he knew what was going on in his bed right now," Jenny giggled.

"Then he'd die happy, wouldn't he?" Lindsey laughed.

"Then let's make him really happy," Leelee teased. "Get up here."

Lindsey blinked at her. "You… want me… to get naked with you? What?!"

Leelee threw her head back and laughed. "C'mon. Seventeen and Gohan would love it."

"Seventeen might," Lindsey muttered. "I don't know how Gohan would feel about Seventeen seeing naked pictures of me."

"Okay, lingerie then," Leelee compromised, pulling on a white, lacy teddy.

"All right," Lindsey agreed. She selected a lacy black piece and slipped it on, then got on the bed next to Leelee.

"Oh lord, this is going to turn into porn," Eighteen mumbled.

"Like you all don't watch porn," Leelee countered. "Don't lie to me, Eighteen."

Eighteen went red and ducked behind the camera again.

"What am I supposed to do?" Lindsey squeaked.

"It's okay," Leelee said, wrapping her fingers behind Lindsey's neck. "I know it's your first time. I'll be gentle."

Jenny fell on the floor laughing. Eighteen had to actually put the camera down and leave the room to catch her breath.

"You are creepy," Lindsey scolded.

"Come on, come on," Leelee said to the girls. "Now be serious." Lindsey was standing on her knees on the bed, and Leelee slid her left leg behind Lindsey's thigh, pulling her close. She brought her mouth close to Lindsey's and looked out the corner of her eye at the camera as Eighteen snapped a shot. The girls posed together in various shots, always hinting at doing something naughty, but never quite going that far. Lindsey finally got into the moment and even hooked the strap of Leelee's lingerie in her teeth, tugging it down as Leelee feigned surprise.

"Okay, Jenny your turn," Leelee announced, shoving Lindsey away.

"Just throw me out on my ass," Lindsey muttered playfully.

"Like a cheap ho!" Leelee cried.

"Oh god, what have I gotten myself into?" Jenny asked as she crawled onto the bed, wearing the dark blue and lace number. It had a V-cut that came down past her waist and she had pulled on a pair of heels.

"Here, stand up," Leelee instructed.

"You poke holes in that comforter and there will be hell to pay," Lindsey warned.

"Now act like you're pulling my hair," Leelee said as she got on her knees between Jenny's legs.

"THIS IS NOT PORN!" Eighteen shouted in frustration. "Tasteful, my ass."

"Oh hush," Leelee said as Jenny nervously grabbed her friend's braids.

"This is hot," Jenny giggled after several poses with Leelee.

"You gonna give some of these to Piccolo?" Lindsey asked.

Jenny laughed nervously. "I don't know about that. I don't know what he would think."

"Oh come on," Leelee said. "All guys fantasize about being with two women."

Jenny shook her head. "I just don't see Piccolo being like that." She paused for a second and shot a sultry look at the camera as Leelee posed with her mouth open tantalizingly close to Jenny's neck and Eighteen snapped the picture.

"Okay, enough of Leelee," Eighteen said. "That's like two hundred photos of you."

"Jenny's turn!" Leelee cried gleefully and hopped off the bed.

"Oh lord," Jenny moaned. Now that she was on her own, she wasn't quite sure what to do. It had been easier to direct Leelee because she could see how the shot would look. She uncertainly laid chest-down on the bed and lifted her feet, crossing her ankles.

Leelee took over Jenny's job as director and Jenny was grateful for it. If left to her own devices, she was afraid she would look like a fool.

"Stick your ass up," Leelee said. "No, not like that. Oh my god, Jenny."

Jenny was twisted at an awkward angle and laughing. "I can't…" She gasped, bouncing her butt up higher. "It won't go up like that!"

Leelee tried to walk to Jenny's side, but doubled over with laughter. "Stoppit. Stoppit. I can't breathe!"

Jenny continued to bounce, shaking the bed as the other girls collapsed in fits of laughter.

"My… ass… only… goes… so… far…" She laughed, punctuating every word with a bounce. She finally fell to her side, laughing so hard tears were rolling down her cheeks.

Eighteen was gasping for air. "Why don't I hang out with you all more often?" she giggled, wiping the corner of her eye with her fingertips. "You girls are hilarious."

Jenny finally collected herself and sat up on her knees. "Okay, enough fucking around. I'm gonna be brave like Leelee," she announced, pulling off the lingerie.

"YES!" Leelee cried, throwing her arms in the air. "I HAVE CORRUPTED JENNY!"

"Your work here is done," Eighteen said.

Whether inspired by Leelee's confidence or just throwing all caution to the wind, Jenny found a certain liberation being nude in front of the camera. She got very into the moment, striking alluring poses, twisting and bending her body to create intriguing shapes and angles.

"Wow," Lindsey said in awe. "Piccolo's gonna shit when he sees this."

Jenny paused for a moment. "Oh yeah, these are for him. I forgot."

Lindsey and Leelee collapsed in a fit of giggles again.

"Okay," Jenny finally sighed. "Lindsey, your turn."

Lindsey drew a deep breath and climbed onto the bed as Jenny grabbed a bathrobe and threw it over herself.

"Unleash your inner whore," Leelee said encouragingly.

Lindsey snorted and tried to mimic some of the poses Leelee and Jenny had done.

"Copycat whore is a copycat," Leelee muttered, sitting on the floor.

Lindsey pursed her lips and glared at Leelee. "Fine," she snapped. "How about this?" She curled one leg around the bedpost and arched her back, hanging off of it and letting her hair swing.

"Oooh!" Eighteen grinned, snapping the camera.

Lindsey climbed up the big post, crossed her legs over it and proceeded to hang upside down. "Take it before my face goes red!"

Jenny laughed as Eighteen clicked the camera again.

"Now do it naked!" Leelee cried.

Biting her lip nervously, Lindsey stripped away the already revealing lingerie and resumed her place on the post. "Gohan's gonna kill me."

"No he won't," Eighteen said. "He's going to love this."

Satisfied with the number of photos Lindsey had taken, Eighteen proceeded to climb on the bed and put the other girls to shame. Eighteen's love for fashion included logging many hours perusing magazines off all types and she had obviously picked up on poses from the models contained therein.

"Holy shit," Jenny breathed as she snapped photo after photo of the beautiful android. "Eighteen, you make us look bad."

"Nah," Eighteen grinned as Jenny snapped the final picture. "You think we're good?"

"For the moment," Leelee said. "Keep that camera handy. You never know what we'll come up with next."

"I'm hungry," Lindsey said. "Let's get some snacks and watch a movie."

After dressing in tank tops and pajama pants or shorts, the girls headed down to the kitchen to grab ice cream, cookies, chips and sodas. They plopped themselves in front of the TV as Eighteen started the movie over. Soft music queued up and a female voice spoke from the TV speakers, "For more than two hundred years, we Owens women have been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong in this town…"


"Seventeen, goddammit!" Gohan roared.

Seventeen ran across the campsite, disappearing into the darkness, laughing manically.

Gohan sat up and wiped the shaving cream from his face and glared at his father and Krillin, who were snickering on the other side of the fire.

"That's what you get for being the first to fall asleep!" Krillin laughed.

"I didn't mean to," Gohan said, flicking his wrist, attempting to fling the white foam from his fingers. "That fire's hypnotic."

Tien eyed Seventeen's laughing figure warily. "I'm tying my tent shut tonight."

"I know what will wake you up," Yamcha said getting to his feet.

Gohan blinked up at him. "What?"

"Come on," Yamcha said, making a big wave with his arm and started walking away towards the river. It was a sultry night and the stars were gleaming brightly over head. "It's hot anyway."

Gohan and the others got up and followed him, Seventeen following at a distance just far enough behind that he could run if Gohan turned on him. Yamcha didn't stop walking until he reached a large tree on the riverbank. He pulled off his shoes and shirt, stripping down to his boxers, then grabbed a large rope that hung from the tree.

"Swimming?" Tien asked. "It's nearly midnight!"

"And it's hot as hell out here," Yamcha replied. He took a couple steps back, gripping the rope tightly, then lifted his feet and swung far out over the river, releasing the rope and falling into the cool water with a loud splash.

"Sounds good to me!" Goku grinned, grabbing the rope as it swung back. He soon joined Yamcha, flipping in the air once before splashing into the water.

"Well, it's one way to keep myself awake, I guess," Gohan chuckled.

"It's like being a kid again," Krillin laughed as he watched Gohan swing on the rope and drop into the water.

"With Goku around, what would you expect?" Tien answered.

"I know that's right," Krillin said.

The guys spent the better part of an hour swinging on the rope and roughhousing in the water. Now wide awake from the cold water, Gohan flopped on the small, sandy beach, most of his body still in the gently rushing water, and lay back to stare up at the sky.

Tien saw him and came to sit next to him. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Gohan answered. "Just got a lot on my mind."

"Anything you wanna talk about?"

Gohan shook his head, still staring up at the stars. "Just something Lindsey said earlier. No big deal."

Concern crossed Tien's face. "You guys okay?"

"Oh, yeah, we're fine," Gohan yawned. He looked up at Tien, "Like I said, it's nothing big."

Tien nodded. "Whatever you say, bud. Don't worry about it now. Besides, you should be thinking about how to get revenge on Seventeen, anyway."

Gohan laughed. "Oh, I'll come up with something."


"I love that movie," Lindsey sighed dreamily.

"Soooo good," Jenny answered.

"Oh! That reminds me, I brought something else!" Leelee cried and ran to her bag. She pulled out a board game and plopped it in the middle of the coffee table.

"An Ouija board?!" Jenny shrieked, scooting backwards from the table. "What is wrong with you?!"

"I thought it would be fun!" Leelee grinned, opening the box and removing the lettered board and planchette.

Eighteen sat up straighter, intrigued. "What's this?"

"An Ouija board," Lindsey answered, looking warily at the thing sitting on her coffee table. "Haven't you ever seen one before?"

Eighteen shook her head. "What do we do with it?"

"We talk to the dead," Leelee said in a spooky voice.

"Aren't these things supposed to be dangerous?" Lindsey asked nervously.

"I bought it at a toy store, how dangerous could it be?" Leelee asked.

"Well," Lindsey hesitated, still eyeing the board. It was really tempting. She didn't know whether to believe that it would really work or that it was actually something dark and evil or if it really was just a silly party game.

"Weird," Eighteen said, leaning closer to the board. "Does it really work?"

"We're about to find out," Leelee said, placing the planchette on the board and lightly setting her fingertips on it.

"I'll just watch from over here."

The girls turned to see Jenny sitting in the corner, hugging her album of boudoir pictures to her chest.

Leelee rolled her eyes and turned back to the board. "Come on."

Eighteen and Lindsey glanced at each other, Eighteen looking skeptical and Lindsey nervous, and they set their fingers on the planchette like Leelee.

"Don't push it," she instructed them. "Just let it move on its own."

Eighteen looked puzzled as she stared at it. She didn't understand how it could move on its own. There were no mechanical parts, no batteries or power supply that would provide a way for it to move on its own.

In a soft, solemn voice Leelee asked, "Is there anyone here with us?"

The quiet in the room was deafening. They all stared at the board expectantly. The planchette remained firmly still.

"See? It's broken. Put it away," Jenny said.

Lindsey was just about to agree with her when she felt the planchette start to slide. Her eyes went wide as it slid across the board until the clear center hovered over the word "Yes."

"The fuck," Lindsey breathed. "Leelee, you pushed it!"

Leelee's eyes were quite as wide as Lindsey's. "No, I didn't! Lindsey, I promise you I didn't!"

Lindsey turned an accusatory stare at Eighteen, but the android shook her head.

"Okay," Lindsey said, flexing her fingers and setting them back on the planchette. "What is your name?"

The planchette quivered slightly and began to slide, pausing over letters as it went.

"J-O-N-A-H," Eighteen spoke each letter as the planchette moved.

Lindsey flung her hands from it and scooted back against the couch. "That's not fucking funny, you guys."

Leelee's eyes were wider than ever. "I didn't do it!"

"Jonah," Eighteen screwed up her face. "I know that name." She looked up at Leelee. "Why do I know that name?"

"He's one of the guys that attacked Lindsey," Jenny said from her spot in the corner. She looked very cross. "That's not funny, Leelee. And besides, he isn't even dead."

Lindsey looked up at Jenny, a tear sliding from her eye.

"Wait," Jenny breathed. "He's not, is he? Lindsey?"

Lindsey pressed her lips together and continued to stare at Jenny. She and Gohan had never spoke a word about it to anyone, although they suspected that Goku knew.

Jenny gasped.

Lindsey suddenly sat up straight, wiped her eyes quickly and looked at Eighteen and Leelee. "Do either of you know my mother's name?"

They shook their heads.

"Ask it what my mother's name was," Lindsey ordered and placed her hands firmly in her lap. "We'll see if this thing is full of shit or not."

Leelee was just opening her mouth to answer the question when the planchette moved again. Eighteen read the letters aloud, just as she had before. "E-L-I-Z-A-B-E-T-H."

"Fuck you!" Lindsey spat at the board. "FUCK YOU!"

"Is- Is that right?" Leelee stammered, looking over her shoulder at Jenny. "Elizabeth?" Jenny had drawn her knees up and nodded her head.

"Holy shit," Eighteen whispered, withdrawing her hands from the board.

"Get out of my house," Lindsey growled, looking around the dimly lit room. "You get the fuck out now."

"I told you this was a bad idea," Jenny squeaked, looking around nervously.

The planchette began to move again and Eighteen quickly touched her fingers to it. "F-U-C-K-Y-O-U."

"Put it away, Leelee," Lindsey instructed.

"Wait," Leelee said, scrambling in the box and pulling out a sheet of paper. "The instructions say to always say goodbye to a spirit, or it won't leave."

"Just do it," Lindsey said.

Leelee placed her fingers upon it once more. "I order you to leave this house. Goodbye." She expected the planchette to move across the letters at the bottom of the board that said "Goodbye" but instead, the planchette moved to the word in the upper corner. "NO."

"You bastard," Lindsey snarled.

A huge bang from the kitchen caused the girls to scream as they jumped and turned towards the sound. It sounded like someone had slammed a cabinet door with all their strength.

"Fuck this, I'm outta here!" Jenny screamed, jumping to her feet and scrambling with the doorknob.

"Wait! Don't you want your ice cream?" Leelee asked.

"KEEP IT!" Jenny shouted as she flung herself through the door and slammed it behind her.

"That bitch," Lindsey hissed, staring in surprise at the door.

"I can't sense anybody's energy," Eighteen said. She'd risen to her feet in a defensive stance. "Come on. Maybe it's just Seventeen fucking with us."

"I'll kill him if he's in there banging around," Leelee said, getting up from the floor.

Cautiously, the three women made their way across the living room, Lindsey clicking the lights on as they went. The kitchen was perfectly empty.

"What the fuck," Leelee breathed.

Lindsey started slapping at Leelee. "Damn you for bringing this shit in my house!"

Eighteen wanted to laugh. "I think we're letting our imaginations get away with us."

"Then explain how it knew my mom's name!" Lindsey exclaimed, pointing back into the living room.

"Maybe Leelee or I heard it at one point and we just don't remember," Eighteen answered.

Leelee cocked an eyebrow at her. "You not remember something? Seventeen can tell me what he ate for breakfast on November second, three years ago. Don't act like it's possible for either of you to forget something with those computer brains of yours."

Eighteen frowned. "Maybe not, but it's possible yours did."

"So you're accusing me of doing that on purpose?" Leelee cried. "I wouldn't do that to her!"

"Not consciously," Eighteen countered. "But your subconscious can do all sorts of weird things. Even make you move it without you realizing what you're doing."

Leelee drew a long breath through her nose and was getting ready to snap at Eighteen when a thundering on the stairs caused them to whip around and look back through the living room.

"What the fuck? What the fuck?" Lindsey asked in a shaking voice.

"It's my brother," Eighteen said confidently. She stepped past Lindsey and Leelee, who followed her as close as her own shadow. "Seventeen!" Eighteen shouted up the stairs. "Knock it off! This isn't funny!" She stormed over to the stairs and began to tromp up them, but Leelee grabbed the back of her shirt.

"Don't! You don't know that it's Seventeen up there!"

Eighteen rolled her eyes and sighed. "If it was anyone else, we could sense their energy. Seventeen is the only one without a power level. There's no one else it could be. And this is just the sort of thing that he would think is funny."

"I am not going up there," Lindsey whispered.

"Stay here," Eighteen ordered them and tiptoed up the stairs. She got to the top and clicked the lights on.

Leelee and Lindsey watched anxiously as Eighteen rounded the corner of the wall, heading towards Lindsey's bedroom. They held their breaths, listening carefully when Eighteen let out an ear-splitting scream and came running back down the stairs as an upstairs door slammed.

"What happened? What'd you see?" they asked hurriedly.

"Get rid of that thing," Eighteen growled.

"What was it?" Lindsey demanded, but Eighteen shook her head and kept her mouth closed.

Leelee crossed the living room and packed the Ouija board and planchette back into its box. She held it in her shaking hands. "The fuck do they sell these in a toy store for?"

It would've been funny if they hadn't been so freaked out.

"How do we get rid of this thing?" Eighteen asked. "I'm not leaving Lindsey alone in this house with a pissed off spirit." She'd never really believed in ghosts before, but now Eighteen had no choice in the matter. She'd seen the apparition of the young man grinning at her from the doorway. And as far as she was concerned, seeing was believing.

"I saw a spell," Lindsey breathed.

"Huh?" Eighteen asked.

"In my book, I saw a spell to bless a house and rid it of spirits," Lindsey said quickly, hurrying across the room to grab the paperback that sat on the side table. She thumbed quickly through it and stopped on a page. "Here. Right here."

Eighteen and Leelee hurried to her side, Leelee still clutching the box in her hands.

"Put that outside," Lindsey ordered.

Leelee quickly ran to the front door and tossed the box outside.

"Oh no," Lindsey whined as she scanned the list of necessary supplies for the spell. "I don't have all this stuff."

"What do we do now?" Leelee asked as another bang issued from upstairs.

"Grandma," Lindsey said. "I'll call my grandma." She ran to the kitchen and dug in her purse, retrieving her cell phone. "Pick up, pick up, pick up," she begged softly as the phone rang.

"Salt," said the old woman's voice.

"Huh? Grandma?" Lindsey asked.

"Salt," she repeated simply. "Scatter sea-salt in every door way and say 'I banish thee' three times. Start in the upstairs and work your way to the front door. It'll get rid of that ghost."

"How did you know?" Lindsey asked, astonished.

"You're surprised?" her grandmother countered.

"No," Lindsey answered. Her grandmother often knew things before they happened, even if she didn't warn you. But grandma always fixed you with a knowing eye, as though she knew it was coming, even if she didn't warn you. "Thanks, gramma."

"Oh, and Lindsey dear," the old woman said, "tell your friend to burn that board. And none of you should be dabbling in things you don't yet understand."

"Yes, Ma'am," Lindsey drawled and hung up the phone. She looked up at Eighteen and Leelee. "We need sea-salt."

"Where the fuck do we get sea-salt?" Leelee cried as though she was quickly losing hope of getting rid of the ghost.

"In my pantry," Lindsey deadpanned.

"Oh!" Leelee blinked. "You have that?"

"Do I have… Is this a ques… the HELL kind of a cook do you take me for?!" Lindsey stammered angrily. "Of course I have sea-salt!"

"I SET POPTARTS ON FIRE! I DON'T KNOW THIS SHIT!"

"What do we do with the sea-salt?" Eighteen asked, holding the canister she'd grabbed from the pantry in her hand.

"Come with me," Lindsey said, suddenly feeling braver after the brief conversation with her grandmother. She led them upstairs and took the sea-salt from Eighteen. She poured a generous amount into her left palm, then opened the door and pinched the salt with the fingers of her right hand. She sprinkled it in the door way, speaking loudly, "I banish thee, I banish thee, I banish thee."

Eighteen and Leelee followed suit, sprinkling salt in every door way, including the closets, and with every room they completed, the energy seemed to lighten.

"Now the downstairs, working our way towards the front door," Lindsey said. She sprinkled salt on the stairs as they went, just for good measure.

"Oh, I don't like this," Leelee said nervously. The downstairs had gone ice cold. So cold, in fact, that they could see their breath in the air.

"I think we made it mad," Eighteen whispered. A shattering of glass in the dining room made them all jump. Eighteen squared her shoulders. "Let's finish this."

They hurried to scatter the salt in the rooms, the bathroom, the kitchen, the dining room, "Oh, I liked that picture frame," Lindsey said sadly at the smashed glass on the dining room floor, finally making it to the living room, which was still icy cold and seemed very dark, despite the fact that the lights were on. Eighteen yanked open the door and Lindsey threw a heaping handful of salt on the threshold. "I banish thee! I banish thee! I banish thee!"

There was a whooshing sound and Lindsey was knocked backward to the floor by an unseen force and the front door slammed shut. The brightness returned to the living room and the air was warm again.

"Lindsey, are you okay?" Leelee asked, kneeling next to her friend.

Lindsey sat up and laughed, holding her stomach.

"She's lost her mind," Eighteen said with wide eyes.

"Oh man," Lindsey said, trying to catch her breath. "I don't know why I'm laughing. Phew." She sobered herself as best as she could, and said, "We're supposed to burn that board, Leelee."

"Not a problem," Leelee agreed, standing and pulling Lindsey to her feet. "I can't believe you think this was funny."

"I don't," Lindsey answered, still trying to stop her giggling. "I've gone slap-happy."

"She needs fresh air," Eighteen said, leading them through the house and out onto the back porch. She took Lindsey by the shoulders and sat her firmly on one of the bench seats. "Leelee, go get that damn board."

Leelee hurried off the porch and disappeared into the darkness.

Eighteen picked up the lighter that was sitting next to the barbeque grill and lit the charcoal inside. As soon as Leelee returned with the board, Eighteen snatched it from her and flung it on the grill. The cardboard smoked and curled as the flames lapped at it.

Lindsey wasn't laughing anymore. She had drawn her knees up to her chest and was dragging deeply on a cigarette, staring blankly at the yard.

"You okay?" Eighteen asked, sitting next to her.

"Yeah," Lindsey said, ashing her cigarette and taking another drag. "Just freaked out, is all."

Leelee sat on the opposite side. "Lindsey, I'm so sorry. I just thought it would be a joke, you know? Something to just spook us a little. I didn't think the damn thing would actually summon the dead."

Lindsey shrugged. "It's not your fault, Leelee. But we don't need to be messing with anything that we don't fully understand."

Leelee nodded and leaned against Lindsey. They knew the house was safe again, but none of them were eager to go back inside, so they sat together on the porch until the sun crept over the horizon. Only then did they go back inside and crawl under the blankets and cushions on the living room floor and fall swiftly to sleep, curled up close enough to make sure that they were within arms' reach of each other.


Author's Note: Do not ever play with an Ouija board. EVER. Bad juju. Very, very bad juju.