A/N: I am sorry for a late posting and a short chapter. Holiday with the fam keep me busy.

Jack laid her on the bed, the pale doll with Kim 's face. Shaking, he ran his hands through his wet hair. Something was fluttering maddeningly in his chest like a caged thing, his breath coming fast and hard. Desperately, trembling, he half fell onto the bed, gathering the blankets around Kim 's cold limbs.

"Kim, Kim, please, you're freezing, I can't..."

Jack gathered her into his arms, swaddled in blankets, willing the warmth back into her. He had felt her steady pulse by the lake, checked her breathing, listened to her heart (his head bent to her chest in the blinding, metallic rain, his hands under her knees and neck to lift her-her rib cage felt so fragile under his cheek, bird-bones under the thin wet cotton of her t-shirt).

She was freezing, but alive.

Keep her warm. Body heat is the most effective, readily available source.

Jack 's sharp analytical ego cut neatly through his whirling confusion. He cradled Kim closer against his chest.

The thunder woke Milton, or the heat in the room, or some other sound that broke off just as he edged into consciousness. He wasn't sure.

3.01 a.m. Wincing at the brightness of the phone's screen, Milton cleared his throat. Rain was still pattering against the windows. It was a comforting sound, but as he lay still Milton fancied he could hear a voice underneath it, low, murmuring. This damn House put a sick spin on everything... He turned over to go back to sleep.

No, wait.

There was a voice.

Milton sat up straining his ears. It was coming from down the hallway, the direction of Kim's room. It was Jack's voice.

"Oh, god," Milton muttered, swinging his legs out of bed. "No, he didn't." He wasn't sure what he was afraid of: that Jack had acted on those dreams about Kim, or some manifestation of the curse of the house made his friend seek Kim out and...

He pulled the top from his pajamas set (it was so hot even at night that he didn't bother with it before) and padded out into the hall. Kim's light was on, the door open. Milton could make out words now-

"Perhaps you can't hear me but in the movies and tv-shows they always say that people in comatose states respond to communication so... God, you're cold."

A floorboard creaked as he entered, and Milton started back as Jack whipped round to look at him, almost snarling. He was holding Kim like a wolf hunched over its prey. With his hair darkened and wild from the rain, the prominent cheekbones cast deep shadows on Jack's face and that made him look feral, unearthly. Kim's head lolled on her neck at a strange angle. One wrist, pale and slim as a lily stem, curled slackly onto the coverlet. Her lips were blue.

Jack didn't say a word. With the way he looked like he did now, it made Milton remember vividly how his normally charming and easy-going friend turned into a near sociopath while in this cursed house. Even so, right now he was acting like a psychopath. Fear gripped Milton again because he had to wonder if Jack had done something far more dangerous than just act on his dream suggestions.

"Jack," he whispered quietly as if afraid to spook a wild animal, which was true enough. "What have you done?"

"Nothing!" Jack spat, his eyes flashing. Then, visibly, his body slumped as though the strings had been cut. He began to shake again. Milton cautiously walked into the room as Jack let Kim's rag doll body tumble from his arms and onto the bed.

"Milton, you're the smartest of us all. You know about things like this... Look after Kim, she-" His voice wavered and he stopped. "I- I have to go."

Unsteadily, Jack left the room, his shoulder hitting the doorjamb hard on the way, spinning him slightly off course.

Milton knelt by the bed. He needed to check for vitals. That what was his reading would suggest, but it was always different when you knew the person, wasn't it? Kim, sweet, sassy but sweet girl. He brushed her wet hair off her forehead tenderly. Exposure, he reckoned, and shock. Had she been out in the rain? Jack knew...

Gently, Milton raised Kim up to lean against his shoulder as he began to peel off her wet shirt.

"Sorry, Kim," he muttered. "I promise I am not a perv and, really, it should be Jack doing it-" He paused and then reconsidered. Maybe Jack knew better than Milton realized. Undressing her, with his dreams fresh in his mind, wasn't a great idea. She felt so cold to him and he was filled with a new resolve. "Got to warm you up."

Jack tried to slow his breathing. One hand on the wall for balance, he staggered towards the stairs. The dark hallway pitched and swayed in his vision. He couldn't breathe. A peal of thunder shook the old windows in their frames. Gasping, Jack let himself fall to his knees, struggling to tear the loose collar of his sleep shirt even further away from his throat, gulping down hoarse lungfuls of air.

The face in the water. That pond weed smell. The person who wasn't there. At least the face as complete, unlike his hallway vision... He would have laughed at his own morbid observations, but the recent fear robbed him of any humor.

A concerned face swam vaguely in front of his eyes. Hands grabbed his quaking shoulders and pushed him back into a sitting position against the wall. Jack felt two fingers take his pulse.

"I can't breathe," he croaked. Rudy's voice seemed to come from miles away as he repeated his name.

"Jack. Jack. That's right, look at me. Jack. Alright, good."

His sensei's voice was an anchor. Jack made a superhuman effort to overcome the tightness in his chest.

"Alright, Jack? You're having a panic attack," Rudy had turned on his teacher persona that he so rarely displayed. It was so infrequent that Rudy acted the sensei he was supposed to be... Even in his present state Jack managed to frown at him.

"Don't be... Ridiculous... I've never had a... in... life."

"Just concentrate on breathing alright? Count to ten with me. One, two, nice and slow-"

"Why have you... and Kim ... she needs-"

"She's going to be fine Jack. Milton is with her. He called me down to find you. Kim is suffering from shock. You don't need to worry about Kim for now, concentrate on yourself. Three.. Four, come on-"

"There's no need to... talk to me... like I'm... a child."

Jack closed his eyes and pressed both palms flat against the floor, letting its steadiness calm him. When Rudy reached ten, Jack was breathing almost evenly. It was a minute or two before he spoke.

"I saw a man under the lake," he blurted and Rudy only hummed in acknowledgement but hasn't said anything.

Jack rubbed his eyes fiercely, "I'm going mad, Rudy. I'm losing my... My mind."

Rudy sat back on his heels. The two men stayed silent, deep in thought. Rudy hesitated twice before speaking.

"Milton told me. It's hard to believe, I know. And you think that I'm always flighty and easy to sway, but- This, what you and Kim and Milton have experienced... what we got to see when we first arrived... what the legends speak of, isn't it time to accept that it has no real world explanation? That the answer is beyond this realm? That our minds maybe not enough to deal with it? This- this thing has gone beyond being just a spooky story or a prank, Jack. It tried to take Kim twice already."

Jack's previous panic didn't return back as he feared it would. Because what Rudy was saying was what he himself was thinking all this time.

The ghost was real... The curse was real... It had a hold over Kim and him... It wanted something. Or someone. And somehow it found it's victim.

Kim.

But he wasn't panicking.

The warm and delicate feeling that was his real reaction to Kim solidified in the moments he spent afraid that he lost her. Now it was strong and it thrummed through his veins and his heart. It was sure it wanted Kim alive and in his life.

The curse would have to work harder at trying to take her from him.

Milton managed to get Kim warm enough that he let go of the body hug he held her in. It must have been the dire situation that he barely registered her naked state beyond taking measure of her temperature. He texted Rudy with the message urging him to come. It took a while for their sensei to answer, but once he called Milton back and got the details, he hung up quickly promising to come at once. Milton disentangled himself from Kim and made sure she was fully covered by blankets, before pulling his own clothes on.

It was just as well, because Rudy barged in, half dressed and agitated. He checked on Kim and Milton trusted his teacher to recognize a serious medical condition because someone at the dojo had to have taken first aid classes before the licence was issued.

"And she just jumped into the lake? In this weather?" Rudy mumbled as he counted Kim's pulse. "...Still low..."

"I don't know if she did. I woke up because I heard Jack talking to her-" More like pleading, his mind supplied. "He must have seen her or something. He said that she was cold and then ran out."

"Ran out?" Rudy's voice was disbelieving and Miton tried to articulate the sheer wildness that was Jack's face and the fear that was in his eyes.

"It- It wasn't like that! I think- No, I'm sure, he's terrified. Of what he saw and, most importantly, he was terrified of what happened to Kim..." Milton struggled whether to tell their sensei about Jack and his recent dreams of Kim, but he didn't have to make that choice.

"That I believe, my boy. He always had a soft spot for her. I think it only got worse since all this otherworldly stuff began."

"Well, we all have a soft spot for her-" Milton began, trying - without saying so - to communicate to Rudy the recent change in Jack's attitude.

"Not like him. Not like him. He might have tried to deny it, but it's always been there. I bet he is terrified and probably blames himself."

"He might. Kim tried to tell us about her dreams and the girl ghost she saw, but we dismissed her. And now-"

"And now she's nearly catatonic and Jack is panicking," Rudy finished. "I'll go look for him. She'll be fine. Keep her warm and let her sleep off her shock. But if she is having a nightmare, please, wake her up."

Rudy stepped out and Milton pulled a chair close to the bed, assuming his role as a sentinel over sleeping girl.

"Don't do anything like that again, Kim. I- I'll be very disappointed if you did. And... And Jack, he's not going to tell you outright, because you are I know that boy has issues expressing himself, but I know, I KNOW, he cares about you so much. So, please, no more trips to the lake. Not unless someone with you. I'll even settle for Angus, just..."

Jack calmed down enough that he could face Kim again. He walked over to her bedroom and found Milton and Jerry there. She was still asleep. Milton was immersed in some book, looking at it in morbid fascination. Jerry was sprawled all over the chair with video game on and provided a loud commentary on his actions. Jack was confused for a second - it was obvious that Milton wasn't paying attention - until he realized that Jerry was talking to Kim, inviting her to admire his moves in the game. His heart warmed over at the artless way Jerry kept on talking to the sleeping girl. Jerry was doing what Jack himself tried to do before the panic attack.

He walked slowly and sat near Milton, who spared him one quick glance and then spoke quietly.

"Feeling better?" At Jack's silent nod he went on, "Listen, Jack. I... You're going to think - well, I mean it doesn't really matter what even you think at this point. We're all going kind of mad-"

Milton sighed and looked up at the ceiling, "I have a theory. Supernatural one." He paused and gave Jack quelling glance, "Hear me on this. I don't think we're going to figure what is happening to us, I think. Not until we understand how the girl has died. Why did she die? And where her body ended up."

Jack said nothing.

"Just imagine for a second that this is really happening. That this house really is haunted."

Milton paused, expecting a sneer of derision from the black belt. But Jack stayed quiet, gazing at him steadily.

"And imagine that these 'ghosts' are actually... Steering us towards and sometimes warding us away from... Clues."

Milton picked his words carefully. A spark had already began to creep into the depths of Jack 's eyes.

"In a way, it's a sort of cold case. But with, em... Dimensional variants."

The shadow of a smile hovered at the corner of Jack 's mouth, "And you hate mysteries, right?"

"I like having answers. And right now, having answers means protecting Kim. So, are you with me? Let's solve this supernatural mystery."

Milton stretched out his hand to Jack, palm up. Jack lifted his own, feeling enormous gratitude for his steadfast friend.

Jerry joined them by then and added his own hand to a group handshake.

"Wasabi!" they intoned together.