A/N: I'm updating so soon because I am into the story...I don't care if anyone else is! Whahahahaha! *cough*cough* Mad Bio~ Nah, I didn't get it from the dementors...it's probably a mix of everything I've read/watched...some of it might of though, it's kinda hard to tell...Anyways...

***Numair's View***

The hours slowly passed by and there was still no sign of Alanna, George, Kel, Esmond, Owen, Devic, Tom, Alex, or Phi...and that was a lot of people not to hear back from! He feared the worst but decided to stay right where he was until there was some sign that they were all either alive and well, in which case he would find some way to get them out of there, or that...they were all dead, in which case...he had no idea what he was going to do.

The mage sighed and sat down on the ground with his back against the wall, faced towards the walk-through rock wall so he could see everything right away if something was to happen. He rubbed his hands together for warmth and huddled down deeper into his cloak. It was well past midnight, and it had begun to snow. Luckily, the building overhead covered the alleyway from becoming one huge snowdrift but they still didn't keep the cold out.

By now, Numair had memorized every single nail in the crates...there were sixty-two in each. He was just about to start counting the number of rocks on the opposite wall just to keep his mind busy but his eyelids began to droop and he found that it was becoming very hard to stay awake. He hadn't slept in two days and just sitting there wasn't helping. But he couldn't fall asleep for two reasons; the first being that his friends needed him and if he fell asleep, it could cost them their lives, and two, if he did, he would probably freeze to death if the current weather patterns continued as they were.

He sighed and rested his head on one of the crates, trying to keep himself awake.

***Inside...***

They all huddled closer together in the darkness. Alex felt around for a candle but finding nothing, quickly pulled his hand back from the darkness, not wanting something to happen to it while he couldn't see. Alanna sighed, "This is ridiculous!" George felt her lift her hand into the air and the room was lit by a soft purple glow coming from Alanna's hands.

Tom gazed around, extremely curious about what was going to happen. The room was square, with no windows and only one way out, a set of large, ebony stairs that led up to what he assumed was a second floor. Along the walls of the room were tables and chairs, mirrors and portraits, and a huge, unlit fireplace that was looming on the wall opposite of the stairs, a coat of arms complete with crossed swords hanging above it like a silent sentinel. The portraits on the walls were of women and men in the same dress that they themselves were dressed in, but the portrait's eyes seemed to follow him as he paced down the room.

A shiver ran down Tom's spine and he returned to the group, which had moved itself to the center of the room...the dead center. Tom swore at himself, why had he used that word? Kel spied the coat of arms, "Ha! At least we have weapons this time!" She ran over to the wall and loosened a sword from the decorations, swung it around a couple times and frowned, "Never mind...this cruddy thing is fake. It's made of...something light, but not wood..."

Alex nodded, "Probably plastic...Hello! What do we have here?" He walked over to one of the tables and picked up two things that were resting on top of it. He walked back to the group and handed one of the things to Tom, "That sword may have been plastic, but this sure seems real enough..."

Tom held it up, "A pistol?! Please Alex, you don't actually expect me to use this do you?"

George stepped forward, a curious look growing on the ex-thief's face, "A what?"

"A pistol." Tom handed George his, "Here, take it. I don't want to be responsible for it..."

George peered at the object in his hands, "It doesn't seem dangerous..." His finger slipped to the trigger and an explosion rang through the house, causing everyone to jump. George gulped, "I stand corrected..." Now there was a bullet sized hole right where one of the men in the portraits left eye used to be.

Alex patted George on the shoulder, "Nice shot..."

Tom rolled his eyes and was just about to point out that they should watch where they are aiming their weapons when he stopped dead in his tracks (He swore at himself again, he had to say "dead" again, didn't he?). A soft moaning had drifted down the stairs and was slowly growing louder. Owen made an almost inaudible whimpering sound and slipped behind Kel who had taken a step forward. A soft pale blue glow appeared at the top of the stairs and Alanna heard Alex swear softly. A woman had appeared, her head and most of her body covered in a long, lacy veil and she began to walk, no...float down the stairs. She was wearing a long, loose, silky dress that almost seemed to be some sort of nightgown and she herself was the thing glowing.

Kel leaned over to Tom as she grew closer and whispered, "Does she have the Gift?"

"No, she glowing because she's dead..."

Owen's eyes grew wider (if that was at all possible) and the woman grew closer still. She stopped when she was at the third step from the bottom and slowly turned her head as if looking at all of them. Suddenly, a high pitched scream ripped through the still air and the woman flew straight at the group, went through them and disappeared.

No one said anything for a few moments. They had all (yes, including Alanna) had gone deathly pale. The lioness slowly turned around and stared back at where the woman should have been, "...Mother goddess...was that your ghost Alex...?"

Alex shook himself awake, "One of them..."

Owen turned to him, "You mean there's more of those things!"

"I'm afraid so..."

They all jumped as a ringing filled the room. Tom whipped around and stared at Alex, "Is that a...telephone?"

Alex nodded and turned to look at the table where he had found the pistols. There, sitting exactly where the guns had been, was an old telephone. He turned to look back at Tom, "That wasn't there before..."

Tom squared his shoulder and walked over to the phone and picked up the receiver, "Um...hello?"

"Seven days..." Tom dropped the receiver as if it had burned him and spun around to face Alex who's face was now ashy white. He had heard it too.

Alex turned around and called out, "Hey Trycos! You're mixing your stories up!! Oh man..."

George turned to Tom, who was still staring at the phone, "What does that mean, 'seven days'?"

"Trust me...you don't want to know..."

"Okay..."Alex ran his fingers through his hair nervously, "All right, we'll be all right if we just remember that none of this is real..." he began to pace, "None of this is real and there are no such things as ghosts or curses on a non-existent video tape..."

Kel cast a glance at Alanna who shrugged.

Alex continued, "The first thing we should probably do is...look around this place for some kind of exit, but we should stay together! Always stay together..."

Alanna stepped up next to Alex, "Are you sure you aren't over reacting a bit?"

"Listen, if you had seen The Ring you would be a little nervous too all right!"

Owen stared around nervously and gaped in horror at the walls. He tugged on Kel's sleeve, "Kel...?"

"What is it Owen?!"

"The walls...are moving..."

"What?!" They sun around to face the walls and sure enough, they were slowly closing in on them.

They raced out of the room and up the stairs as fast as their legs could take them, up to a long, deserted hallway lined with heavy wooden doors. Alex stopped at the first one and nervously glanced back at the others who were gasping for breath, "All right...let's see what's behind door number one..."

He winced and slowly creaked the door open, everyone else standing a good distance back. Alex finally turned his head and peered inside it and breathed a sigh of relief. It looked like an old bedroom with a large four poster bed and a large window with it's drapes closed. Alex stepped inside followed closely by Tom, Alanna, George, Kel, and Owen. The room was quickly filled with Alanna's purple glow and Alex walked over to the drapes, "Maybe we can jump out the window like we did the last time we were stuck in a house..."

He quickly pulled the curtains back and swore. There was nothing behind them but a brick wall. The door of the bedroom swung shut by itself and another soft moaning entered the room. A soft blue glow came from the bed and a man materialized there, looking as if he was asleep. Suddenly, his eyes opened and he sat up in bed and looked right at the group. Alex jumped and pulled the trigger of his gun, shooting right through were the man's chest would have been. The ghost looked down at his body, looked back up at the group, then let out an ear-shattering shriek. The floor underneath them collapsed and they were all sent hurdling down into the darkness.

***Meanwhile...***

Phi woke up with a start. She was lying on her back in the middle of the room with the two couches in it. On either side of her were Devic and Esmond, both looking as if they were sleeping. She rubbed her head and slowly rose into a sitting position. What a jump...After she leapt off the edge of the boat, she had swum down into the water and grabbed Devic's hand. Unfortunately, the Kraken didn't let go and they were both pulled down into the ocean and had drowned. She felt her clothes...they were still wet, in fact, there was a large puddle of water under her, Devic, and Esmond and they looked completely soaked too.

She slowly stood up. That meant that Esmond probably "died" too and this is where you came back to afterwards. She gazed around the room. There, standing right next to the door, was Trycos. His eyes were closed though, and he seemed to be concentrating very hard although he was smiling maliciously. But where was everyone else? She paused for a moment, thinking that she just heard a sound, like a scream. Phi spun around but no one else was really awake.

She shook her head and turned her attention back to Trycos. Maybe she could stop him while he was distracted. She walked around him cautiously. He didn't seem to be very strong...she would probably be able to take him by herself. Phi walked back into the middle of the room, and prepared herself. I hope this works! She ran forward and leapt at Trycos, only to be shot back all the way to the opposite wall.

Phi collapsed into a heap, gasping for breath after having all the wind knocked out of her. What was going on? It was like he had some sort of force field thing around him. She slammed her fist onto the ground and leaned her head back against the wall. That had been her only real chance of helping the others. She closed her eyes and wondered to herself what they were doing now.

***Back in the vision-thingy***

Kel moaned and sat up, her whole body aching from the tumble they had just took. It seemed like they had fallen at least four floors down, but that wasn't possible because they would all be dead...wouldn't they? She struggled with her multiple skirts and finally made it back onto her feet. She stumbled around blindly in the darkness for a while (Alanna had probably been knocked unconscious and her Gift had gone out) before her foot came in contact with something soft.

She bent down. It was a person. She shook them gently by the shoulders and it let out a soft groan and sat up. It was Owen! "Kel, is that you?"

"Yes, do you know where any one else is?"

She heard him shake his head, " I can't see a thing! We should probably find Alanna so that we can have some light again..."

They heard a sound from about four feet away, like fabric brushing against stone. They heard someone swear lightly and Kel grinned, "George? Is that you over there?"

The noises stopped, "Ya, it's me. Gods, what a drop...I think I landed on that pistol...Kel, who else is with you over there?"

"Owen, but we don't know where anyone else is..."

The three turned as they heard a sound moving behind them and Alanna's clearly annoyed voice rang out in the silence, "When I get my hands on Trycos I'll..."her voice trailed off, obviously not wanting Trycos to hear what she had in store for him.

Kel stood back up, "Alanna, would you mind giving us a little light to work by?"

The darkness was once again lit by a light purple glow. They were in a huge, cavernous room, filled with pillars at least twenty feet high and the room itself was long and skinny. The walls were lined with rectangular crevices, but Alanna's Gift wasn't able to reach far enough so they couldn't see what was inside them.

Owen looked around and said anxiously, "Where are Tom and Alex?"

Kel helped him onto his feet and peered around, "I do not know, I can not see them anywhere..."

George rose easily to his feet then went over to give his wife a hand up, "They should have known better than to wander off like that, I mean leaving us all alone in one of their memories...Although this place doesn't look as odd as that house did..."

Alanna gazed around, her eyes narrowed and alert with suspicion, "I do not know about this George...it looks a little like a..."

Owen had wandered curiously over to the rectangular crevices in one of the walls and let out a mix between a squeak and a gasp, then flung himself back, "There's a...a skeleton in there!"

Alanna looked somewhat pleased with herself for being right, "It looks a little like a catacomb..."

Kel walked over back to the Lioness, pulling Owen along with her, "Are you saying that we are in the same room as about a hundred dead people in one of Alex's memories that contains ghosts?"

"Looks like it, doesn't it?"

Kel was about to respond, but became silent as the four heard footsteps begin to echo through the long hall. George pulled out his gun and aimed it into the darkness. The footsteps grew closer and George fired three shots into the shadows. Someone shouted, "Damn it George, it's us!"

Alanna yanked her husband's hand down, "That's enough. I think that is Tom and Alex!"

And sure enough, the two came walking quickly into the light, looking extremely set off, "Imagine, we survive the fall only to get shot by someone who's supposed to be on our side...Good thing you haven't got the hang of that thing George, or we would be dead..."

"Ya, sorry 'bout that mates, but being trapped in a room filled with dead people doesn't do much for a man's nerves..."

"What?"

"These holes are filled with skeletons..."

"That can't be good..."

Trycos's voice appeared again, but this time instead of sounding pompous like usual he sounded a little perturbed, "It seems that one of your little friends that passed to the other side wants to get my attention...Fine, if they want it so bad, they can have it..."

***Phi's View***

She was still sitting against the wall when suddenly Trycos's eyes snapped open and he faced her. She felt a strange sensation flowing through her body and there was a brilliant flash of bluish light.

***Back in the haunted house***

Alex turned, confused, to Tom, "What does he mean by that?"

"I don't ...Whoa!"

There was a bright flash of light that made everyone shield their eyes and something appeared right in the middle of the group. Alex uncovered his eyes and stared dumbstruck at the figure hovering above the ground, "Phi...?"

Phi looked down at her body. She was still in her sailing outfit but it was all see-through and glowy. She spun around, gazing, amazed, at the spot where her feet should have been. She looked back up at her brother and Alex, "I'm a ghost!"

A/N: Hehe...I have been wanting to make someone a ghost...don't worry, I'm going to end this scene soon...I just ran out of time to finish it up in this chapter...