Disclaimer: I do not own xxxHolic, nor do I own Avalon: Web of Magic.

Sitting in a circle, sitting order: Adriane, Zach, Lorren, Kara, Marlin, Emily, and then of course course, back to Adriane.

"Emily first," Kara chirped with a sugary grin.

"Why me?" Emily asked, glancing over Marlin at the blonde.

Kara shrugged, "I dunno, because I said so," she ran her fingers threw her hair in a way that reminded Emily of the first time she had seen Kara, that snobby girl in the designer jeans. The candlelight flickered, and suddenly she was the Blazing Star again. Emily pursed her lips, narrowing her eyes as she was put on the spot. She glanced to her right as Marlin added:

"W-well, what direction should we go in,"

"Counter clock-wise," Adriane replied, plucking an invisible stray hair from her maroon tank top. She took a quick glance at her phone, which lay beside her on the cool blue-and-green tile of the ball room. It was 1:23AM and after the time honored tradition of Truth or Dare, a very awkward game of spin the bottle (which barely lasted two spins before the swords came out), and a mandatory hair braiding—her own black mane now secured in an expertly braided fishtail, courtesy of their very own Blazing Beautician—it was now time for ghost stories. It was no secret that Adriane had been waiting for this. In fact, this was the only part of the night she had actually been interested in. Not that her story was any good, but it was true—somewhat—and she couldn't stand all that girly stuff Kara had forced upon Emily and herself. By virtue of being male, the boys had been spared, much to the chagrin of Adriane, who had to endure a full make-over. "That way I go last," she grinned, and Kara glared, but there were no objections.

"So, Emily," Lorren urged from across the circle.

"Kay, wait," Emily told them, grabbing her pillow. Placing it in front of herself, she pulled her sleeping bag up to her chest and moved onto her stomach, resting her head in her hands, elbows propped. The tile was hard, and uncomfortable, but she had to admit that there was no better setting than the ballroom of Ravenswood Manor. She looked up at her audience, Rainbow Gem shining cool blue light over her face for added effect.

"In my old town there was this big, creepy old hotel. Er..." Emily paused, glancing down at the candles that filled the inside of the circle. "Before it was a hotel, it was a mansion. It was built in kind of an old Gothic Victorian style, kind of like the Manor actually..." Adriane rolled her eyes at the comparison, a classic ghost-story scare tactic, but Emily continued. "There was something not quite right about the top floor. If you counted the rooms, you'd count five. But, the spacing was wrong. It was like there was one room missing. There should have been six rooms. All the rooms on the second floor matched up right—there were six, but there were only five on the third. One day, there was a large group of guests staying in the third floor. They had all been talking, and some how the topic got brought up. They just couldn't shake the feeling that there was another room right next to the one they had rented. The group was sure that their room was the last in the row, but when looking out the window, they could see that the wall continued on. Then, that night..."

Emily paused for dramatic effect, and she was pleased to see Kara's eye brows raise, while Lorren leaned in a bit. Adriane wore a look of curious bemusement, as if she were trying to figure out the story before it's conclusion. Or perhaps that was a 'hey, I think I've heard this one before,' look. Zach listened intently, looking particularly interested, Marlin just glanced around his surroundings, paranoid as ever.

"From the wall of the room they were staying in, the very room they had been talking about... they heard a noise on the other side. 'scritch scritch, scritch scritch'. A scratching sound, that just wouldn't stop. At first, the people that heard it thought that they had imagined it. But then that day they told some other guests, and everyone listened that night. They could all hear it. There was a scratching sound, and it went on all night. Every night while they stayed it was always they same. Finally they just couldn't take it anymore, and went to the hotel management to complain. The man at the front desk blanched when he heard their story. 'I knew it,' he told them 'When other renters stayed in that room and finally went to sleep for the night they always heard it... a scratching sound'. He told them that there did seem to be another room on the other side of the wall, but before they had bought it the previous owner had walled it off," Emily took a deep breath

"Then, so, because they got so many complaints about it, they decided to tear down the wall, to see what was on the other side. So they called in a contractor, and because it would happen the next day, the guests decided to stay to see what was behind the wall... The next day the contractor came to tear down the wall. It turned out that there was a passage way behind it, and that there was another room next to the one the group had been staying in. It looked like it should be exactly the same as all of the other rooms, except there was no door knob. The door was all boarded up, and the cracks had all been filled with caulking. The door was completely air-tight. The contractor tore down the door, and on the inside, there in red letters: 'FATHER, LET ME OUT,' was written all over the walls..." Emily smiled daintily "The end!"

Marlin had visibly blanched at the ending of the story, turning an interesting frosty colour that made Kara stare for a short second.

"That was really good," Zach complimented before taking a sip of his root beer.

"Hey..." Adriane narrowed her eyes, turning her head to her friend. "Isn't that the story from xxxHolic?" The boys gave her a questioning look, while Emily just gulped.

"Could be..." she replied innocently, busying herself with a handful of chips.

"Whatever," Kara gave a dismissive flick of her wrist. "I don't care where it was from, your timing was way off,"

Emily furrowed her brows at the criticism. She squirmed in her sleeping bag, bringing herself into a sitting position. "I'd like to see you do better," she countered, planting her hands on her hips.

"And you will," Kara grinned, candlelight casting eerie shadows across her smile. "But for now, Marlin, you're up," she ordered.

My 'o' key broke. It sucks. Anyways. Yes, I did use a story from somewhere else. XxxHolic, an excellent manga which I suggest you all read because it is wonderful. Does this mean Emily reads manga? Well... I figure that Adriane would probably go through an anime/manga phase around this time. Thirteenyearold!Adriane is very very similar to me at age thirteen. I went through my anime/manga phase at fifteen, and while I was a bit more of a hikikomori than she is/was, I do think that she would be going through this phase at this time as well. Naturally, Adriane would be mostly attracted to darker stuff, like xxxHolic, Life, Uzumaki, Ghost Hunt, Innocent W and even Tsubasa near the end. So, naturally, Emily would get all of the 'hey, this is good, you should read it,' and that's how Emily kind of gets involved. Of course, Adriane's anime phase is tiny, it doesn't take over her life, and it isn't all she talks about (unlike myself, but lets not talk about that...). Anyways, long Author's Note is long, but, REASONING. YAY.

P.S. I was going to add Marlin's story as well. But. This was already really long. So. You'll just have to wait for next chapter :3

P.P.S. Gender roles are boring.