Hi everyone! I'm up to chapter three and still going strong! I hope so, anyways. We're back to Mai's point of view in this chapter. So here's a question for everyone: How would you envision Mai getting attacked by a spirit? Post in reviews, and I might incorporate it into a later chapter.

Enjoy!

I don't own Ghost Hunt.

Chapter 3- Mai's POV

Okay, I know I have rotten luck. I've been dragged down wells, cursed, possessed, kidnapped by ghosts, pushed down several flights of stairs, and injured more times than I could count. Still, you'd figure that doing dishes in a brightly lit room with half a dozen witnesses would be safe, right?

If only I were that lucky.

Kara and I brought the dishes into the kitchen just as the kitchen staff began their own daily clean up. Ayuka, who was apparently in charge of the kitchen staff, was there supervising and had led us over to a sink where we could take care of our own dishes.

Kara began humming happily as she worked through drying the dishes and putting them away. She was half the size of everyone else in the room, so I kept expecting her to crash into someone, but it seemed like the kitchen staff was used to having her around and took care to avoid getting in her way.

Kara and I had only just finished and we were both wiping our hands dry, when Kara suddenly froze. Her face went completely blank, the smile vanishing from her lips. She tilted her head slightly to the side, as though she were listening to something and said, rather ominously "Something's coming."

As soon as the words left her mouth, I went completely deaf. At least, that's what it felt like. My world was plunged into complete silence, despite the fact that the kitchen around me was still bustling with activity. I froze, straining my ears, hoping to get some sort of sound to process, wondering what in the world was going on.

Then I heard something. It was faint at first, barely louder than the faint ringing in my ears, but after a couple seconds it got louder. It didn't take me long to realise what it was.

It was the sound of children crying.

Suddenly, every cell in my body was pulsing with a warning to me, a cry of 'danger'. Something wasn't right, I could feel it in my heart. That crying… it wasn't human. I had enough experience to know that much.

I turned slowly on the spot, trying to pinpoint the area that the sound was coming from. From what I could tell, it seemed to be coming from some spot down the hallway that stretched out from the right end of the kitchen. I wondered for a minute if I should go check it out, with my track record and everything, but before I could decide, Kara starting walking toward the noise, essentially making my decision for me. I wouldn't let her go alone.

I followed Kara down the hallway. She seemed to be in some sort of trance, and I wondered vaguely if she was experiencing the same thing I was experiencing. She supposedly had PK, though I hadn't seen any sign of this yet. It wasn't too much of a stretch to think that she might have other psychic abilities.

Kara stopped in front of the last room at the end of the hallway. Immediately, the crying got ten times louder, and I reflexively covered my ears to block the sound. Kara, completely unaffected, stepped forward and pushed the door open.

The crying stopped.

My heart pounding, I stepped forward around Kara into the room and asked in a shaky voice "Hello? Is anyone in here?"

A loud bang came from all directions. Every piece of furniture jumped. Then the bang came again, and again. I back up, and Kara gripped onto me, whimpering.

Suddenly, I could hear voices shouting at us, the voices of children.

"Go away! Go away! GO AWAY!"

The banging got louder, and several objects fell to the floor. A vase that was sitting on a dresser fell and shattered. Kara hid her head in my shirt. She was trembling. So was I.

Suddenly, from behind us, several people came rushing into the room. As soon as they entered the room, the banging and the voices stopped, giving way to the frantic questions of the people who had come rushing in.

"What is it? What happened?" Ayuka was the first to ask. She immediately honed in on Kara and said "Kara, you know you're not supposed to do this sort of thing. Certainly not in front of our guests."

I gritted my teeth, and Kara gripped tighter onto my shirt, crying out "But it wasn't me!"

I opened my mouth to defend Kara, when a couple kids sneaked past the people standing in the door, the first one in saying "It was, Miss! There was loud banging! It was Kara!"

I resisted the urge to strangle the kid. I opened my mouth again, ready to argue, when Kara from behind me called out again "It wasn't me!"

Ayuka answered before I could speak. "Kara, we've talked about this. You have to tell us when things like this happen. Lying doesn't help anyone."

Tears were beginning to form in Kara's eyes as her voice got louder. "I'm not lying! It wasn't me! IT WASN'T ME!"

From the other side of the room, the windows shattered.

All the kids who were in the room turned tail and ran, with the exception of Kara. She turned to the damage, her eyes wide and terrified. She tried to back away, but she tripped and fell. I responded faster than I thought possible and caught her, wrapping her in my arms while she cried out "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

While Kara sobbed in my arms, I turned an angry glare on Ayuka and said calmly. "Kara wasn't the source of the banging earlier. It was something else."

Ayuka just nodded, still looking at the shattered window with wide eyes. I glanced at the damage myself, feeling the slightest tinge of worry. Had Kara really shattered those windows? I had a feeling she did.

Suddenly, we were joined by Naru, who ran into the room, took one look around and said "What happened."

Still cradling a sobbing Kara, I told him "Kara and I heard children crying down the hall, so we came to check it out. When we got to this room, the crying stopped and there was some loud banging and voices screaming at us to go away. And then-" My voice turned hard and angry. "Ayuka and some kids came in and accused Kara of causing the banging. She got upset and the windows shattered." I turned my attention back to Kara, trying to calm her down.

Naru didn't say anything right away. Instead, he walked over to the two of us on the floor and kneeled down. He called Kara's name, being gentle but firm. She calmed slightly for a second and looked up at Naru, who told her "Calm down. You aren't in trouble."

I'd been telling her practically the same thing over and over, but it had a drastic impact coming from Naru. Maybe it was just the tone of voice he used, or the firmness of his gaze. He was pretty good at calming me down when I panic, so I guess it wasn't so weird that he'd have the same effect on others. Kara quieted down to just a couple sniffles. She relaxed in my arms, and her shaking stopped. I waited a couple seconds, and then urged her to her feet, leading her out of the room. I essentially ignored Ayuka and the other adults gathered as I walked by.

I took Kara back to base, not trusting the others in the orphanage to be kind to her. Lin was still typing at his computer. He glanced over at us when we walked in, but didn't react in any way, simply returning to whatever he was doing.

Kara claimed that she was tired, so I lead her to the couch and lay her down. I managed to find a blanket for her, and a pillow. After making sure she was absolutely comfortable, I smiled gently at her and said "Don't worry Kara. You can stay with us all night if you want to."

Kara fixed me with tired eyes, smiled, and said "Thanks mommy." She then closed her eyes, and within seconds she was asleep.

My heart seized up again, and I had to bite back a few tears. She's just so cute!

Naru came into the room less than a minute later. He walked straight to his desk without looking in our general direction at all, but I knew he'd seen everything the second he walked in. That's just the way he is. I walked over to him and stated "Kara's asleep."

"I can see that." Naru answered, not even looking up from the clipboard he was holding. I glared at him anyways. Would it kill him to be nice every now and then?

I took a second to calm myself, and continued. "I told her she could stay here the night if she wants to."

"That's probably wise," Naru answered, which surprised me, until he continued. "If the other children were to upset her and her PK acted up, it would interfere with our data."

Irritation welled up in my chest again. He's all work. And here I thought he was actually warming up to Kara.

Naru finally looked sideways at me, only to hand me the clipboard he'd been holding onto, saying "Set up a camera and mic in every room I've listed."

"Yes, sir." I answered sarcastically, snatching the clipboard out of his hand with obvious annoyance. Sometimes I think he irritates me on purpose, with how often it happens. I think it's his own twisted form of entertainment.

I made it about halfway to the door when my irritation subsided and a new thought occurred to me. I paused and glanced back at Kara's sleeping form, suddenly unsure. Was it really okay for me to leave her after what happened? What if she woke up and panicked because I wasn't there? What if she had another PK accident?

Come on Mai, snap out of it. You only just met her. You're not her real mother. Still, I couldn't help the anxiety from gnawing away at my conscience.

"Mai?" Naru's voice shook me out of my thoughts. He was giving me the strangest look. It was almost… sympathetic. "Kara will be fine. I'll watch her."

My eyes widened in surprise. Not only had Naru just practically read my mind, but he'd also offered to look after a kid. He'd done the first before, but the second was so shockingly out of character, I didn't know how to react.

I decided my best option was to roll with it, so I smiled and thanked him before grabbing the keys to the van and running off to get the cameras and microphones.

***T***

It was about thirty minutes later that I realised that setting up cameras and mics in a haunted orphanage after sunset (and after bedtime) was a really bad idea. At least, it was a bad idea for me. If anyone else had done it, I'm sure they would have been completely fine.

You'd figure Naru would've known better than to ask me to do this now.

As a compliment to my skills, I did manage to set up all the equipment in the places Naru had marked. I covered the kitchen, the play area, two of the empty guest room, the office in which Kara and I had our own paranormal experience, the attic, and the entrance without any problem. The basement ended up being my downfall. Talk about stereotypical.

My luck took a turn for the worse the second I reached the basement door and tried to flick the lights on. Surprise, it didn't work. I gulped, my nerves mounting, and took out a flashlight that I had been smart enough to bring with me. Stepping carefully, I made my way down the stairs.

The basement turned out to be a wide open area with an assortment of toys all over the place. The kids must play down here a lot. I picked out one corner and practically ran over to it, setting up the camera as fast as I could. The darkness of the basement was really creeping me out. It was almost like it had eyes, and those eyes weren't friendly.

I set up the mic just as quickly, switched both tools on, and started heading triumphantly to the door, thinking that I just might have avoided any problems after all.

That's when I smelt it. A rank, metallic smell, one I'd recognise anywhere. The smell of blood.

I froze, my eyes wide, my fists clenched. The stairs were right in front of me. All I had to do was run.

Before I could steel my nerves to run, someone from behind me, a child, began to laugh.

That's impossible. I'm the only one down here.

I turned slowly, shaking, to the source of the laughter. This laughter didn't sound like the laughing from earlier. That laughing had sounding otherworldly. This laughter sounded very real—and very wrong. It was bitter, maniacal.

The laughter was coming from the middle of the room. A young boy was playing with some blocks, his back facing me. Blood splattered the floor around him, but none of it touched him. He was giving off a pale light, the only light in the room.

The boy suddenly stopped playing. The laughter went quiet, and slowly, very slowly, the boy turned to face me. My heart was beating a hundred miles an hour at this point. My instincts were screaming for me to run, but I couldn't move. I was frozen to the spot.

The boy finally looked at me. His skin was deathly white, his eyes completely black. He smiled at me and said in the most malicious tone I'd ever heard from a child "Did you come to play with me?"

The room plunged into darkness, and a scream finally escaped my throat.

"NARU!"