Hey guys! How was the wait? Hope you guys like this chapter.

Nina's POV

Before she passes out

Well that was nice. I took a long shower and then put my clothes on. I am wearing my black high waisted shorts and a crop top as if I was going to go to Santa Cruz. I miss it, and these clothes make it feel like home again. I grabbed my towel and wiped off the mirror, starting to comb my hair. It's so long, maybe I should cut it a little. I picked up my hair dryer and looked into the mirror. Behind me was the ghost from earlier today. It touched my neck and I felt this burning sensation. I instantly fell to the ground. It stood over me and held it's hand down facing me, in the way as it someone was trying to high five me. I heard someone knocking on the door. My eyes closed before I could see who it was. I heard it though, it was Fabian. I heard the door open and I heard him say my name. I felt him pick me into him arms and gently shake me. I couldn't move. I was conscious but not there. I could hear him but couldn't make a sound. I felt empty. Then it leaves me wondering, where did the spirit go? Was he still there only allowing me to see him? He was the one who knocked me out. I have to figure this out. I wonder if I'm dieing? Is the spirit trying to kill me? I don't want to die. I heard Fabian leave and close the door. I heard him run downstairs, then back up but with two pairs of foot steps. Crap did he tell Mara? No Mara is in her room. Who did he get. Then I heard the accent. He brought Jonny, darnit. I don't want anyone to know. Well I guess he is just trying to help me. Why did he have to bring Jonny. They put water on my face, I could feel the strand of hair on my face were wet. That wasn't going to work because I know what's going on. Wait that that thing put me in a comma! Damnit, this is going to be scary. Ahh! I heard Fabian getting flustered. Come on Nina you got this. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up! I felt my hand. I was about to move my finger. I moved it barely. I could do that.

"Fabian." I heard Jonny.

"Yeah." His voice cracked as if he were crying.

"Her finger." Jonny saw it! Yes! Come on finger work your magic! I kept moving my finger as much as I could, but it was really hard.

"Okay she's alive." I heard him say. I know I was in his arms again. I felt him pick me up and he was carrying me, wedding style. He didn't walk very far until he put me down. I felt a bed.

"What happened?!" I heard Mara ask.

"She fell asleep on my shoulder. I didn't want to wake her up." Fabian lied. Gosh that give me a lot of pressure. Now I have to wake up before tomorrow morning. "Swimming made her tired I guess."

"Who's this?" I heard her ask. Fabian introduced her to Jonny and they got along well apparently. I need to wake up. Okay concentrate. You got this Nina. Come on move you hand. I felt my other fingers move. Just two others. I kept trying but I am just getting tired. I am scared to let my mind rest though. I don't want to die.

Jonny's POV

Jonny and Fabian left the room Nina was in.

"What was that?!" I had an angry whisper. What is he thinking not trying to get help.

"Look she asked me if anything happens to just keep low. I am trying to do what she said but I am really worried about her."

"If you cared you would get her the help she needs." I told him.

"You are right and I will. If she is not awake by tomorrow morning then I will tell Victor. However, for now I am keeping this to ourselves." Fabian is crazy. He really wants to please this girl.

"Okay fine but I am not a part of it." I didn't want to get into trouble so I want to stay out of it as much as possible. I do like them but honestly I don't want her hurt.

"Jonny I might need your help. You are the only person I can trust with this."

"Why?"

"Because I know it's crazy, but she it was this morning when she almost passed out. She told me she had seen a ghost. She felt like someone had stabbed her stomach and I lifted her shirt a tad where she claimed it had touched her. She had four giant scratch marks and they were fresh. They were deep but surprisingly not bleeding." He explained this to me. I couldn't believe him.

"I need proof of this." I told him wanting to believe that he was telling the truth.

"Okay. As soon as Mara leaves her room to go down for supper then you can see."

"Who is this?" I heard a girl say as a door opened behind me.

"This is Jonny. He is taking Alfie's spot." Fabian said. "This is Patricia." I turned around to see that she looked a lot like my ex, who cheated on me.

"Hi." I greeted her trying not to be impolite, but I couldn't find the words to say. She had the streak of color in her hair and the black clothing with lace. The bad kind of girl that I had liked for many months. She is here recreated into an english version. She just scoffed and went down the stairs without closing her door. I saw half of the room was very pink and the other half of the room was black and dark. I am so confused if she had to pick her room mate or not. A blonde girl came out of the room.

"Hello, I'm Amber." She smiled at me.

"Hi." I said astonished. She walked away in a perky mood. "Did they pick each other?" I asked wide eyed.

"Bimey Jonny, you really think that would put up with each other if they had to? They are opposites from another dimension."

"Yeah I figured. What's wrong with Patricia?" I asked him.

"She is mad at me, and she doesn't like new people." He explained to me. "Amber is mostly always in a good mood."

"Okay."

"Are you coming down for supper? I don't know if I should wake Nina." Mara came out of her room shutting the door softly.

"No, don't she is really tired. We will meet you down there." He replied. When she left the corridor, Fabian looked at me. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah" I followed him into their room and he went to the side of her bed. It didn't look like her area was set up yet. Her stuff was still in boxes at the other side of her bed. I watched as Fabian pulled up her shirt. I looked at the long deep cuts across her side stopping in the middle of her torso. The poor girl is probably being possessed. She is really quiet. I looked at her soft plush face and her golden brown hair. She looked like my mother from the pictures I saw from before she died. I looked at her face and realized how much we looked alike. I looked at her eyes and how peaceful she looked when they were closed. Then they opened.

"Nina!" Fabian yelled and pulled her into his arms. I looked and her and she hugged him, closing her eyes again. My heart raced because she looked like she was going into that peaceful trance again, like she was going to fall back into a deep sleep. "Are you okay? What happened?" Fabian said and I saw he was trying not tear up.

"Fabian, I saw him. He touched my neck and it really hurts. It feels like its burned." She touched her neck. I walked over to her and examined her neck.

"Excuse me Fabian." I said signaling him to move. I walked to Nina and turned her head to look away from me, then I moved her hair out of the way. She had a giant burn that was turning brown. It covered half of her neck.

"Oh my god." Fabian gasped. "Can you walk?" He asked her.

"Yeah, but the weird thing is I felt and heard everything that happened when I was shortly paralyzed and unresponsive." Nina explained sitting up. I got out of the way so Fabian could sit on Nina's bed next to her.

"Well dinner is going to be soon." Fabian told her.

"Yeah and I never got to dry my hair." Nina laughed holding out her a strand of her hair.

They really do look like they could be a cute couple. That's good that he asked her out. "I will leave you two be. See you downstairs in a little bit."

"Okay." They both said simultaneously. Then they looked at each other and smiled. I walked out of the room and closed the door. I wonder how many people live in the house. I walked down the stairs and into the living room. I saw Mara, Patricia, Amber and two other guys.

"Hey Jonny." Mara greeted me. "Where's Fabian?" She asked.

"Nina woke up while we were talking in the hallway. He's up there with her now." I responded.

"Those to have been getting pretty close. Why is that Mara?" Patricia asked. She sounded very onary, like she was just asking to embarrass one of them.

"Because Nina is home sick, that's why." Mara responded. I honestly don't know how people's relationships are so I am getting really confused.

"Well who's this?" A tall boy with dirty blonde hair asked.

"This is Jonny. He is taking Alfie's spot. This is Jerome." Mara introduced me. We waved at each other.

"You are rooming with me." Jerome said. He looked sad. I want to figure out why.

"Dinner's ready!" A woman called out to us. "Hello sweetie, I didn't know we were going to have another new student until a couple hours ago. My names Trudy, and I'm your house mother."

"Hello Trudy, I'm Jonny. Pleased to meet you." I stuck my hand out and she shook it and giggled.

"I will have the potatoes out in a little" She had put out chicken out on the table. The dish looked to be chicken cutlets. It looks like a nice home cooked meal.

"Is this from scratch?" I asked her.

"Of course. Every meal is." I think I just died inside. How is she going to keep up with all of us? Well I guess it's her job.

"Here sit next to me." Jerome offered. I went over and pulled up the chair next to him. I heard Fabian and Nina come down the stairs slowly. They came in laughing. I swear it's almost not real that she past out because a ghost tried to kill her. It's either it didn't or she really likes him.

"I'm Mick." The blonde boy reached over to shake my hand. I grabbed it.

"Jonny." I told him. He nodded. Him and Amber looked to be dating. Then he pulled out a box with earrings in then and it became clear. Fabian pulled out the chair next to me and Nina sat at the end, opposite from Patricia. Patricia glared at her then, looked at me. Crap, I need to look away I turned my head and my eyes started wandering to all of the stuffed animals. Are those real? This place is insane. I looked at Mara and she was sitting between Patricia and Mick. Trudy came out with mashed potatoes. A giant bowl, of mashed, potatoes! Potatoes!

2:00 A.M.

I can't sleep, so I got up and walked out of the room. I went into the kitchen and looked for the leftover brownies that Trudy made for dinner last night. I oped and fridge and found them, and the milk. Who eats brownies without milk? I walked over to the dish rack and grabbed a glass, then turned around and screamed. I opened my eyes, it was just a dream. I quickly sat up and looked over at Jerome. He was sound asleep hugging a pillow. He started murmuring something.

"J...Jo…"

"Jerome?" I whispered.

"Mmm?" He murmured.

"Are you okay?"

"Mmhmm"

"Okay." I laid back down facing his direction. I kept thinking about what he was dreaming about. He better have not been dreaming of me while he was hugging that pillow. I don't want to go back to bed. I don't want to have that nightmare again. Great, now I want brownies. I'm not going in that kitchen. I will get some in the morning. I looked out the window. It was still dark outside, but the moon lit up the area around the house. I could see a bush sitting up against the window. I looked up at the sky and it was clear. I could see the stars perfectly. I looked out over the field. I could see the big trees in the distance. Then that's when I saw a figure. It was like a person dressed in all black running across the field. I got up and went to the edge of Jerome's bed where the window was to investigate. There were people running across the field after it. They had flashlights. I wonder what that was about. It was Mr. Sweet and probably some other teachers running after it. I locked the window and closed the curtains. I don't want anything or anyone coming in here. I looked at the time on my clock and it was almost 3. It's almost 11 over in Cali so I'm getting on my computer, maybe to video chat. I opened it and I got a notification once I logged in. I opened Skype and it was Nina. She added and messaged me like 3 minutes ago. I texted her 'it still says you live in Cali'. I waited for a response and about a minute later it changed and she texted me. It read, 'Now it doesn't, but ur's does'. I went to fix that and then texted her again 'I don't know what you are talking about'. 'Ha ha. Do u want 2 meet me in my corridor? I'm really bored. We can go sneak into the attic.' This girl is funny 'haha, sure and I will bring my magical dragon to protect and guide us.' 'No seriously. I need 2 do something. Jet lagged and I know u r 2'. I have to admit, it is pretty boring, and I can't sleep 'Okay, I will be there in five.' I texted her and closed my laptop. I got up and put a shirt on. Should I put on shorts? Nah. I left the room and shut the door. When I went up the stairs I made sure Victor wasn't there, or awake, and he wasn't awake. When I went into the corridor I shut it carefully, you couldn't even tell it opened. The lights were off so it's really hard to see in here. I walked around waiting for Nina and then I bumped into someone. It was Nina.

"Hey." She greeted me.

"Hey." I said to her.

"Why aren't you wearing pants?"

"I didn't feel like it. Don't judge me." She shrugged. She turned on a tiny flashlight but covered it with her hand and that's how she held it. We crept over to the door that seems to lead up to the attic. "How are we-" She cut me off by holding up a bobby pin. "Oh." She tried to figure out where the lock was, and it took her a few minutes. She slid the key hole cover up and stuck in the bobby pin, that also took about a minute. The door finally opened, and the light was blue and was coming from the moon. I started to walk up there and she followed me shutting the door and locking it again. I crept up the stairs slowly and quietly. I opened the other door at the to of the stairs.

"Huh." Nina started. "I don't see why Victor doesn't want us up here. It's just a bunch of old crap." She stated.

"Maybe it means something to him?" I put out. Honestly, from the way he seems he might not be that bad if we just respected his rules.

"Well this isn't that fun. I wonder what's in the basement." I have a bad feeling that she is trying to stir up some more trouble. I'm trying not to get caught here.

"Well it you are thinking about anything, I don't want to go tonight." I announced this to her so she wouldn't suggest it.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. But we should look around." She's crazy.

"What snoop in his stuff?" I asked her. She is very surprising. I thought she was a good girl.

"Well how do we know if it's his stuff if we don't look for a name?"

"You have a point. But maybe it's just a storage room. This house does have a lot of old crap. These are all antiques." I tried to convince her.

"What are you? Scared?"

"Of course not, I just don't like disrespecting other people's privacy by invading their property."

"You are already invading the privacy of whoever told Victor to not let us up here."

"Um." I honestly couldn't come up with anything better to say. "Okay fine." She is a smart girl. She just smiled at me.

"Look for a name on some of this stuff. It can't all belong to one person." She ordered. I couldn't say anything to make her change her mind so if I wasn't going to help her, she would just take longer on getting caught. Might as well save her the time. Plus, if I don't help her she probably won't let me leave. She's the only one who can unlock the door. I started looking through boxes and uncovering sheets. I pick up a doll out of a box and it looked like one that my great grandma had in a picture I saw of her as a kid. In fact it looks exactly the same. But my great, great grandfather had made it for her. This is weird. It has the same blue eyes and brown curly hair with bangs. It's lips were red and had the same bow on top of her hair. At least this one doesn't have a string on it. I turned it around just to make sure, but the back of the doll was completely covered by the dress. Yeah there is no way. I put the doll down and put the box back on the cover.

"Yeah I can't find anything with Victor's name on it." Nina whispered with us both turning around to look at each other. Then, we heard the door at the bottom of the stairs open. We looked directly into each other's eyes, then started looking around to hide behind something. I found the perfect spot, the book shelf. I carefully scooted it across the floor not making any noise, as the footsteps were getting closer and louder. There was finally enough space for us to fit and I let Nina get over first into the smaller spot. I grabbed a sheet and got in between the wall and back of the book shelf. As soon as hung up the sheet and it stopped moving, I heard the door open. There was a little tiny crack to where I could see Victor through. My heart started racing. I could barely breath steadily so I looked away from the sheet trying not to breath on it. I looked at Nina and she looked scared. I mouthed 'Are you okay?' and she nodded. She looked cold. I opened my arm out for me to hug her, and she took it. She crossed her arms while I put mine around her. She also leaned her head on my chest. It was cute. Honestly, it made me feel good. I was supposed to have a sister, but my dad told me she had died with my mother in childbirth. I was the only one to live. If I had a sister, she would probably be exactly like Nina. It's funny how we are both from California, but meet here at a boarding school. I wonder what part she's from. Thinking about this made me forget we were inside of the attic hiding from Victor. I looked down at her and she was looking at the sheet. I heard the door open and then close. I could hear Victor going back down the stairs and the footsteps slowly fading. Then I heard the door at the bottom of the stairs shut. I let go of Nina and took down the sheets.

"Are you okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah, just cold." She responded.

"Well now that he's gone, you can have this dusty old sheet." I smirked and tried to put it on her.

"Ew!" She pushed it away from me and we started laughing. She punched my arm for that, and yeah she's a girl, but that really hurt.

"Hey, shh. You don't want Victor to hear us." I put my index finger over my lips.

"You're right. You want to wait up here and look through some more stuff so he will go back to sleep?" She offered.

"Yeah just for a little bit though. I am getting tired and it's my first day of school tomorrow." I answered.

"Okay." We both started looking through boxes again.

"So, what part of California are you from?" I asked her still wondering about it.

"The central valley. I went to Santa Cruz a lot though." She answered. "What about you?"

"Fresno." Tha is so weird how we were really close. "But I used to live in Merced before there. I went to school in the town next to it. It's called Atwater."

"Wow really? I went to Atwater too! Small world." I am surprised.

"That's crazy. Maybe that's how I know you. What schools?" I asked her. I wanted to know if we could have went to school together.

"Shaffer, and then Mitchel for middle school." She answered.

"Wow. I went to Shaffer for three years." I told her.

"It's destiny that we be friends!" We both started laughing again, but this time softer.

"Yeah I guess." I said smiling. We continued looking through boxes again. I opened one box in a corner and it had what looks like an Edison's phonograph. "Hey Nina, look at this."

"What is it?" She asked me.

"Come on we learned this in the fifth grade." I shunned her because she probably doesn't remember anything from when we when to school together.

"Sorry, but what is it?" I smirked at her.

"It's a phonograph." when I said that she looked at me funny. "Edison's phonograph." I widened my eyes at her and shook my head.

"Oh, now I remember! All you had to say was Edison." I rolled my eyes.

"Well I think we can leave now. First day tomorrow and you have a picnic." I notified her.

"How do you know that?" She asked me.

"Fabian needed advice."

"Okay let's go." She looked concerned. Like she was thinking about Fabian telling me. For a girl who got knocked out by a ghost earlier today, she seemed to be recovering really quickly. I know after that dream I am still scared of it. She walked in front of me down the step and opened the lock with the bobby pin. When we were out she turned to lock it again. I walked to the corner and turned around to watch her lock it. When she was done, she looked up and the looked terrified.

"Nina what's wrong?" I asked her. Her arm raised shakily and she pointed past me. I turned around and there it was. The black figure with the mask from my dream. It was real.