Somewhere inside the mansion Yin alone staring at the monitors that were set up. Right now Yin was the only one watching the campers as they played the game, but after it was over the whole thing would be posted on the internet.

"I very much doubt any network would air some of the things this video is sure to contain."

Courtney had been the one to punch in the key code, enabling all the campers to escape the first room.

"Courtney… I wonder what the cards say about you."

Yin took out a tarot deck, shuffled it, and set up a spread.

"What do the cards say about your past, present, and future? Let's find out…"

Yin turned over the first card, which represented Courtney's past.

"The Devil is right side up… Why am I not surprised?"

When right side up the Devil card meant the person was absorbed in material things, a lover of money. It could also mean lust and sexual obsession. Yin knew that a lot of the traits of the Devil card fit Courtney perfectly.

"Your present is… Death upright."

Probably the most misquoted card in a tarot deck, people often made the mistake of thinking the Death card was literally an ominous sign that their mortal life was coming to an end. What the card really meant was the beginning of a new life, the end of a phase in their life that had served its purpose.

"And now for a lifetime supply of vanilla coke… your future is…"

Before Yin could flip over the card some of the monitors started to flicker inexplicably. That had been happening a lot lately.

"Looks like I chose my stage well."

Yin had searched for a long time to find a real haunted house for the show. It was only here that the local claims appeared to be more than just superstition. Yin's work on the house seemed to have disturbed whatever lurked within the mansion.

"Where ever you run, and where ever you hide, you've got to face it baby, things go bump in the night."

"Okay… What do we do now?" asked Lindsay.

Upon exiting the first room the campers found themselves in an old library.

"We find a way to get the hell out of here."

"I thought Yin said we're locked in till dawn."

"Well I… agree with Heather." said Alejandro "Yin is probably just Chris playing a joke."

Sierra's log

"Ever since they inexplicably started making out last season after the zombie challenge, Heather and Alejandro have a love-hate relationship. And I ought to know, last season while we were on Loser Island I lost count of how many times I caught them thrashing about like two fish out of water on the couch."

"Now that you mention it… It is Halloween." said Duncan.

"And Friday the Thirteenth!" exclaimed Tyler.

"Tyler, it's impossible for Friday the Thirteenth and Halloween to occur on the same day."

"How do you know that?"

"Because Friday the Thirteenth only occurs when the thirteenth of any month falls on a Friday, and Halloween always takes place on October thirty-first." said Gwen.

"Oh…"

Geoff's log

"We all know Chris is crazy… but actually resorting to kidnapping? I think that's more trouble with the law than it's worth. But… there is one person who would probably go that far."

"Well… are we going to stand around all day, or are we going to find a way out?" asked Heather.

Suddenly the TV in the room flared to life.

"You'd be wasting your time Heather." said Yin "All the windows have bars and all the doors are locked, and as I've previously stated they will remain locked until dawn."

"Well then I guess we'll just have to break one of these rotting old walls down." said Alejandro.

"I wouldn't do that either."

"And why not?"

"Look out the window…"

In the light of the full moon they could see several shapes moving quickly toward the house. In no time at all they were pressing against the barred window and growling.

"He has attack dogs?" asked Cody.

"Those aren't dogs…" said Izzy "Those are wolves."

"Wolves?"

"Not just wolves…" replied Yin "Those are Alaskan timber wolves, and I've managed to get my hands on a whole pack."

"Are they hungry?" asked Owen.

"Very… You're just going to have to face the fact that you're in for the duration. And I suggest you be careful… There are fouler things than wolves in this old mansion."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've already told you, the house is haunted."

"Haunted?"

"Go look in the hall…"

The scene in the hall was very eerie. There were at least a dozen jack-o-lanterns spread about, and their candles were the only source of light. Each pumpkin had a different face which it reflected on the wall. Alejandro instinctively made for the front door and attempted to heave it open, but it was locked shut.

"Jeez… It's like forty degrees in here!" said Courtney

"Uh… guys…"

Gwen was looking at a huge painting the hung in between two jack-o-lanterns. If anyone ever visited this house it would have been the first thing they saw across the room as soon as they opened the door. The woman in the painting looked as if she had only just turned twenty five. She had flawless white skin, her eyes were like sapphires, and her hair was like a long wavy pale golden waterfall. Judging from her attire, the painting had to be at least six decades old.

"Who is that?" asked Sierra.

"Whoever she is, she sure is pretty."

"She was the last owner of this house."

There was no TV in the room, so Yin's voice made everyone jump.

"Where are you?"

"I'm just a fly on the wall."

It was then that Gwen figured out where the sound was coming from. There was a speaker inside one of the jack-o-lanterns.

"This house used to belong to the beautiful young woman that you see in the painting. She had inherited it from her wealthy oil tycoon of a father. Her name was Rachel, and true to her name she was as pure as the driven snow, despite her rich upbringing."

"But?" asked Duncan knowing this story had to go somewhere.

"Like most women she was doomed to fall in love. Her diaries talk about it as if it were out of a fairy tale. Unfortunately for her the First World War wouldn't be the last. Driven by a sense of duty to his country her love went to fight against the supremacist dictators of the time and their followers. Accepting his decision Rachel told him that she would wait for him forever… but he never returned."

Alejandro's log

"I could have seen that part coming like an atom bomb."

"When she received the note of condolence her heart was shattered. That night she lost the will to live and died in her sleep."

"She lost the will to live?" asked Heather "Did you get your degree in poetry? Obviously Ms. Melancholy just couldn't go on without her precious lover and decided to OD on something."

"Oh no… the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with her. She was in perfect healthy aside from the fact that she was dead."

Heather's log

"Yeah right, and maybe tiny aliens are building an advanced civilization inside my brain."

"As per her their last wills, the two lovers were laid to rest on these very grounds. But apparently that wasn't enough to put her soul at rest. For a while no one could afford to buy this property and the house fell into disrepair. Eventually someone did come to take a look at the house… IT WAS TERRIBLE! HORRIBLE! GRUESOME! You don't want to know…"

"You got that right…" said Tyler shivering in the corner.

"The bottom line is that to this day Rachel's spirit walks the halls of this old manor… waiting for the spirit of her intended to return to her… and she will take no other man."

Yin said nothing else. At that moment the wind roared outside, the wolves howled, the old wooden floors inside the house creaked, and the room felt even colder.

(To be continued)