My God it has been a long week. I hope you all have had a good week and your weekend is relaxing, or exciting depending on what you're doing!

Thank you so much for all of the comments and feedback on the last chapter! I appreciate all of them and enjoy hearing from you guys!

Enjoy!

Mai's scream drew Naru's attention away from his book in a second.

"Mai!" She shot up and her quick breathing was the only thing Naru could hear. He quickly grasped ahold of her arms and lifted her from her position on the table.

When sitting up, Mai's lungs were fully functional and she took a huge gulp of air. But it was also when she was moving that she noticed the sharp burning pain on her stomach. Letting out a small cry she grasped her abdomen. Knowing that she likely got hurt, Naru caught on easily.

"Stay right there, I am going to get-"

"No!" Mai pushed her up to her knees and had one hand cradling her stomach. "Just, please help me up onto the couch."

Naru complied and when Mai had a moment to breathe, she noticed Naru looking at her with his arms crossed.

"Lift your shirt."

It wasn't an option. Swallowing her embarrassment, Mai did as she was told and lifted her shirt just enough to reveal a jagged mark of three long scratches going across Mai's stomach. Blood was spread around the scratches, and Mai was sure her shirt had absorbed some of it as well.

After seeing the mark Naru glared at it with hate and looked at Mai.

"What happened." It wasn't a question.

"It was in a dream," She swallowed. "I was watching a couple, they looked like they were arguing, and a ghost of a woman possessed the wife and forced her to kill her husband. When I gasped it made too much noise and the ghost saw me. I ran back to my body after I felt the burning lesson. I didn't think it would carry over."

"Jesus." While Mai had never heard him swear, she considered this to be close enough and her mouth dropped open at the sound of him cursing. "It's late, you need to go to bed and get actual sleep."

"What are you going to be doing?" Mai saw that he turned away from her and headed over to a desk on the side of the room. She pushed her shirt down awkwardly and looked at him.

"Research." He stopped and turned back to her. "Be sure to clean your wound and properly bandage it. If you need help, please let me know."

While there was no way in hell Mai would have Naru dress her wound, the thought still brought butterflies to Mai's stomach and she felt extremely grateful for his concern.

Mai winced as she dried off her stomach after her morning shower. She had wanted to dress it but reasoned that she should probably wash up and rinse the gashes with alcohol before.

Dabbing around her stomach carefully, Mai looked at the marks in the mirror. Very rarely had injuries she received in a dream carried over to her physical body. Nevertheless, they did occur and because of such occurrences, she had managed to hide the fact from her adoptive parents until recently.

Placing gauze over the marks, she then taped it down with medical tape, quickly got dressed, and headed out of the bathroom. She was somewhat unused to the layout of this house, but after fumbling her way to the bathroom, Mai was confident she could find the kitchen. She had made it about ten feet when Monk found her walking in circles trying to determine the correct way to go.

"What are you doing?" He covered his mouth as a few giggles came through his lips.

Mai flushed. "I was trying to find the kitchen, but I got lost!" She attempted to quell the urge to stomp her foot, although she assumed Monk saw the struggle.

"Follow me," He turned in the opposite direction and lead her towards the staircase she had climbed that night to get up to her room. "It's down these stairs and to the right, you can't miss it." He paused a moment to think. "Well, actually you might miss it."

"Subtle, Monk. Real subtle."

"It's my specialty." He walked further down the hallway towards his room and waved his hand over his shoulder without looking back. "I've got to go shower; my lovely wife thinks I stink."

At that Mai laughed and made her way downstairs where she, in no way, missed the kitchen and had to double back around. Luella spotted her and gave out a cheery greeting that had gathered the attention of the few others that were amongst their area.

"Hey," Ayako watched Mai sit down across from her. The dark circles under her eyes were a dead giveaway to her exhaustion. "Here," Ayako pushed her coffee cup over to Mai. "You need this more than I do."

Mai smiled at her. "Thanks, Ayako." She took the cup of warm coffee and tipped it back, swallowing the dark liquid as the taste phased her taste buds. She hated the taste of black coffee and even more so when it was brewed in a press pot. "Where's Naru and Martin. I figured they'd be up by now and not waste a day more to look over this case more."

Luella sighed. "In the library, unfortunately," She then pouted. "And Madoka won't help me drag them out."

Luella glared at said woman. Mai was just noticing her off to the side, sitting on a barstool with her laptop out in front of her and her fingers moving effortlessly over the keyboard.

"Luella, I told you I am working on some research Naru wanted me to do." Madoka rubbed a free hand over her face. "Remember? Naru came into my room last night, very late, might I add, and asked me to look up some things. I swear that boy has no manners whatsoever."

Mai blanched. "He asked you to do that last night?! Why?"

"Something about making sure they had the right information and that they knew all of the history around the property. To be honest I don't really know where he is going with all this research. I just feel like I'm hitting dead ends."

"That's because you are." Naru stepped out into the kitchen with his father behind him. "We have found out precisely why we have been hitting a wall, and who has made it that way."

Mai raised an eyebrow. "You mean someone covered something up?"

He smirked at her. "You're getting smarter."

"Is that a compliment?"

"The people we are investigating for are acquainted with the royal family, as well as the police force," Martin said stepping forward. His glasses hung low on his nose as he flipped through a few documents. "It took a few phone calls to force the current owners of the house to release their hidden information."

Madoka flipped around in her chair. "Then why am I sitting here wasting time looking up information I won't have access to?!"

"To keep you out of our hair."

"Why you-! You're lucky you're so handsome or I would punch the living daylights out of you." After slamming her laptop shut, Madoka stormed out of the kitchen, but not before shooting Naru a look of anger.

"So, what information did you need so badly?" Ayako slung an arm over the back of her chair.

"Because the information we had to go off of was based on Mai's dream," Naru glanced at Mai and then turned back to the room. "We were looking for the death of a male, which to our knowledge, never occurred."

"Eventually we had to call in a few important people to get the owners to comply," Martin stepped towards the table and threw down a folder. "We found not one, not two, but three deaths that occurred. One was by way of homicide, and two were by suicide."

Luella gasped. "Murder? Do they know who committed it?"

He shook his head at his wife, and Naru answered the question verbally. "No one was ever charged for the crime, and it eventually was covered up by wealthy individuals. However, we know the story now."

Mai held her chin in her hand and thought. "Then the haunting makes more sense now. I was confused because no wrongful deaths appeared to occur. So, why would any soul stay trapped."

"That is exactly the thought we had, Mai," Martin said smiling, proud of his new experimental mystery. "Which is why when you dreamt of a murder, we started looking for holes. One of them being a claim that no one lived in the house for about 80 years. Based on the fairly good condition it now sits in, despite the fact that they are renovating, we thought that to be a lie. We looked for death's in the obituary, but none to show of that. So, we decided to call the owner directly."

"He was difficult at first, but his nervous sounds over the phone were elementary signs of dishonest information," Naru added crossing his arms.

Because his tone was so haughty Mai added in. "Of course, for everyone else that is not 'elementary' information." She was rewarded with a glare.

Martin continued. "He was a tightly sealed book of information, so, we called a few affluent individuals we know closely to ask them about the house. When we started to piece together more of the story, we called the owner back and confronted him about the new discoveries. It spooked him enough to cough up an accurate timestamp as well as a fax over of the death certificates of the individuals who were murdered." Martin opened the folder sitting on the table and pictures and, what looked like the certificates they discussed, inside.

Mai noticed the pictures immediately. All but one caught her attention.

"They're from my dream," She grabbed the picture of a young woman and man. While they looked younger in the photo, Mai knew this was the couple she had seen.

Naru nodded. "I figured. Meet Stephine and James Lange."

"What happened to them?" Mai wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"James was pushed down the stairs by his wife, Stephine." Martin picked up a piece of paper. "Stephanie committed suicide a few years later."

Mai looked to the last picture. It was of another woman but she looked to be in her 30's unlike the picture of the Lange's. She looked slightly familiar, but Mai couldn't recall where she had seen this woman.

Naru watched her out of the corner of his eye. "Do you recognize her?"

Mai shook her head still studying the old photo. "Not really. She just looks familiar."

"This is Jocelyn Adams. She was the owner before the Lange's bought the home. She committed suicide after her husband went missing."

Mai felt a burning in the gnarled scratches on her stomach. It hit her like a slap to the face. "That's the woman who possessed Stephanie." Her voice shook as she uttered words that she didn't want to think were true. The picture made her look so innocent. She looked much different now.

"That is what we assumed, yes," Martin said. His gaze on the photo seemed solemn.

"And I am assuming from the look on your face that she died in a bad way," Ayako spoke through his gaze and he nodded to her. "Great, just great. Can't we ever have a nice death?"

Mai scoffed. "And what exactly constitutes a 'nice death'?"

"Old age?"

"I don't think that is 'nice'."

"Getting back on topic," Naru glared at the both of them. "Mr. Adams disappeared without a trace. No body was discovered or identified as him, and there was no evidence of foul play. Considering the way police investigation were back then, I'd venture a guess to say they were not at all thorough. They likely never thought to make his wife a suspect."

"You think Jocelyn murdered her husband? But why would she do that?" Mai asked, expecting Naru to have the answer.

"We are unaware of any motives as of right now, however," Naru looked at her. "Your dreams will be a good source to use."

Luella came to the defense immediately. "Don't you think she has been through enough of this? We cannot keep asking her to put herself in danger like this if the outcome could be physical damage."

While his mother had a point, Naru was already aware of the risks and hoped Mai would not be oblivious to them either.

"It's alright, Luella!" Mai waved away her protests. "I've had worse dreams and I can always pull myself back in if I feel I might sustain any damage."

Luella still looked apprehensive, as did Ayako, but Mai knew that going into this case, and every case for that matter, would be a risk. Whether it be damage to her psyche or her body. As long as no one else got hurt, Mai honestly didn't care what happened to her.

Alright, you guys! I hope you all have a great weekend! Next chapter coming next week!

Whatever you plan to do this weekend, be safe and stay sane!

~Cheers!