This is where things start to get interesting and it only gets crazier from here.

Chapter 2

Do You Believe in Ghosts?

When Clark got back to the farm, he had a chat with his parents about the strange day he had. First, he told them about Pete and his obsession with finding Jodi. Then he mentioned the blood drive and how embarrassed he felt by saying no.

"I hate that I made myself look like a wuss in front of Lana," Clark said as he leaned on the dining room table. "It didn't help when Troy Turner came along and made fun of me either."

Jonathan put a hand on his son's shoulder. "There's nothing else you could've done. Being a little embarrassed is still better than having people like Sam Phelan come into our lives."

Clark sighed. "If I didn't have my abilities, I probably could've donated. Maybe I could've helped people in other ways, you know?"

Martha smiled at her son. "You can still help by handing out cookies to donors and save them from feeling dizzy."

Then Clark stood up straight and looked at his parents, indicating that he had something else on his mind. "I guess you're right, but there was one more thing that happened."

His parents glanced at each other and then Jonathan gave his son a concerned look. "What else happened, son?"

"I met Jenna at the Beanery," Clark replied. "She wanted to talk about what happened with Sean."

His parents were not happy when they heard about that, but Clark tried to explain the situation. "She promised not to say anything. She said she just wants to forget what happened and move on."

"Why didn't you tell us before you went to see her, Clark?" Jonathan demanded. "What if she breaks her promise and tells someone?"

"She hasn't said anything yet," Clark reminded him. "It's been a couple months since she saw me in that abandoned house, and nothing has come of it."

"That we know of," Jonathan argued. "For all we know, Phelan could've paid her a visit before dropping that generator on you. We have no way of knowing who she's been talking to."

"I guess you're right," Clark said with a nod. "There's no way to know for sure, but I think we're okay for now."

Jonathan and Martha still had their doubts about Jenna but decided to drop the subject for the time being. Clark went outside and finished up his chores and when he was done, he considered going up into the loft to think, but then he decided to visit Lex instead.

The sun had almost completely set when Clark strolled up the private road to the gate of the Luthor Mansion. Darius the guard spotted him as he approached the guardhouse and opened the gate for him.

"Good evening, Mister Kent," Darius said with a faint smile. "Taking a walk?"

Clark nodded and smiled at the guard. "Yeah, I just needed to clear my head."

Darius shut the gate behind him and led the way into the mansion. When they found Lex, he was in the armory, inspecting the damaged battle ax while a fire burned in the fireplace beside him. He glanced at the doorway and set it down on a small table when he noticed that he was no longer alone.

"Clark, what brings you out here so late?" Lex asked.

Darius left them alone and Clark smiled at his friend. "I was going for a walk and just kinda ended up here." Then he looked past Lex, at the table where he set the damaged ax down. "What's that?"

Lex turned and retrieved the ancient weapon. "It's an ancient Chinese battle ax. Made of bronze." He handed it to Clark so he could take a closer look at it. "I had it shipped from overseas and it just got here yesterday."

Clark furrowed his brow as he inspected the damaged blade and then he looked up at Lex, confused. "What happened to it?"

Instead of coming right out with an answer, Lex threw a question back instead. "Do you believe in ghosts, Clark?"

Clark shrugged and handed the ax back to him. "I'm not really sure. I've seen a lot of weird things around here, so ghosts don't seem that far-fetched."

Lex turned towards the fireplace and looked up at the wall above, where a similar ax was still on display, and set the damaged one down on the table again. "The moment I left the room, the lights started flickering and the ax flew through the air. When I came in to investigate, I found the blade stuck in the wall."

To prove it, Lex pointed at the doorway and Clark turned to see the deep gash in the bricks. Surprised, he said, "It went in kinda deep. What do you think caused it?"

While Clark was inspecting the damage, Lex came up behind him and shared his theory. "I've been wondering about that all day. Either some spirit from ancient China stowed away inside the crate, or-"

Then Clark turned towards him with a grin, as he suddenly remembered a joke Lex made the first time he visited the mansion. "Or someone died recently and was in the market for something to haunt."

Lex chuckled and slapped Clark on the shoulder. "They must've thought my joke was an invitation. Come on, let's head back to the library."

They left the armory and went back to Lex's office, where he got a cola for his friend and poured himself a glass of scotch. Clark took a seat on one of the couches by the fireplace and set his drink on the glass table that stood in front of the sofa he was on, while Lex stoked the fire.

When Clark was watching Lex get the fire going again, he thought about calling John Winchester. He knew his dad still had the business card in case they ever needed him, but he wasn't sure if grabbing it was a good idea, considering how his father felt about him getting involved with hunting.

When Lex was done by the fireplace, he retrieved his glass of scotch from the mantle and took a seat on the couch that was on the opposite side of the table. "There we go. It's gonna get cold tonight, but this should keep the place warm. We might even get some snow over the next couple of days."

Clark opened his cola and took a sip, but then he looked over at Lex, thinking it would be a good idea to get more info before calling John. "Was Victoria with you when you found the ax stuck in the wall?"

Lex took a sip of his drink and leaned back on the couch. "She honestly thought I was pulling a prank on her. I told her I couldn't explain what happened, but she didn't believe me."

Clark set his drink back down on the tabletop again. "Maybe she'd believe you if she had her own experiences. Has she noticed anything strange?"

Lex shook his head. "No idea. I can ask her in the morning before she goes to Metropolis. She's probably sleeping right now."

Clark nodded, but still felt unsure about what else to tell John when he called him. "Whatever's going on around here, I hope you figure it out soon. The last thing you need is a ghost tearing the place apart."

Lex chuckled again, but said nothing, as he took another sip of his scotch. Clark started looking around, wondering if anything strange might happen while he was there. At the very least, if he saw what was happening with his own eyes, he would have all the information he could possibly need.

Victoria was still wide awake in her room and was reading a book in the light of her bedside lamp. To keep herself warm, she was wearing some fuzzy, tiger-striped PJs and covered up with thick blankets. After what happened in the library earlier that day, she was trying to relax well enough that she could go to sleep, before making the two-and-a-half-hour drive to meet with her father in Metropolis in the morning.

She flipped to the next page in the novel she was reading, when the lamp suddenly shut off with a click, filling the room with darkness. "Bloody hell!"

She reached over to the lamp and pulled down on the little chain to turn it on. Light once again filled the room, but when she tried to return to her book, it clicked off a second time and there was a soft thud as something fell behind the nightstand.

"Come on," she grumbled.

She felt around for the chain again, but when she pulled on it, nothing happened. She tried a second and a third time, but still nothing.

"Stupid lightbulb," Victoria whispered as she sat up and felt around for the drawer handle on the bedside table.

She pulled it open and took out a flashlight. As soon as she turned it on, she looked down behind the table and saw that the lamp was no longer plugged in.

Now confused, she stared down at the cord for a moment, but then she felt a chill and saw her breath as it misted in the air in front of her. "What the-"

Before she finished that thought, the lamp suddenly flew off the table and shattered when it hit the floor. "Oh my God! Lex! Lex!"

She jumped out of bed and carefully inched along the wall, to avoid stepping on any glass, and then she burst out of the room, into the hall, where the lights had started flickering all over again. As she was running, Lex came around a corner and she ran straight into his arms. Clark was with him, and the guys exchanged a glance with each other.

Then Victoria turned and pointed at her room with a trembling hand. "The lamp! It flew off the table!"

Clark hurried over and flipped on the light switch by the doorway. Lex and Victoria followed along and they stared down at the lamp in shock when they saw the aftermath.

Clark sighed and turned towards them. "I think she believes you now, Lex."

Not wanting to be anywhere near that room, Victoria headed to the library for a drink, while Clark and Lex followed closely behind.

After the strange evening Clark experienced at the Luthor mansion, he made the decision to call John Winchester the following morning. Before heading to school, he found the business card and took it with him. When he finally made it to the school grounds, he took out his flip phone and dialed the number on the back. Putting it up to his ear, he listened to see if it was ringing, but the call immediately went to John's voicemail.

As he waited to leave a message, he heard John's recording say, "If this is an emergency, call my son Dean."

Clark listened for Dean's number and then quickly hung up so he could call it. After a few rings, someone answered. "Hello?"

"Is this Dean?" Clark asked.

The guy on the other end answered, "I'm his brother, Sam. Who is this?"

Since he successfully managed to get ahold of someone in the Winchester family, Clark smiled as he answered Sam's question. "My name's Clark Kent. I met your dad when he came to Smallville a couple months ago."

At first, Sam paused to think, but it didn't take long for him to remember the name. "Clark, right. Our dad mentioned you helped him out with a case. What's going on?"

Clark quickly filled him in on the details of Lex's ghost problem. He told him about the ax, the shattered lamp, and the flickering lights. He also described how terrified Victoria had been when she came running out of her room the night before.

Dean awoke to the sound of his brother talking to someone. He sat up in bed and looked around the motel room until he spotted Sam sitting at a table by the window, with his books open in front of him, as usual. He was holding Dean's cell phone up to his ear, while the person on the other end described their situation.

Sam looked surprised when they finished bringing him up to speed. "Wow, yeah, I'd say he definitely has a ghost problem. We're in Illinois at the moment, so it might take us a while to get there. Yeah, I'll let him know. Okay, bye."

As soon as Sam hung up, Dean rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "Do we have a new job already?"

Sam glanced over at him and nodded. "I just got a call about a possible haunting in the Luthor mansion."

This caught Dean's attention immediately. "The Luthor mansion? Seriously? This could be the hunt of a lifetime!"

"What's so great about the Luthor mansion?" Sam asked.

Dean looked at his brother like he was an idiot. "The Luthors live in a frickin castle! We have to take this one, Sammy!"

Still not seeing the appeal in it, Sam scoffed and told him about the person that had called him. "Do you remember that kid Dad told us about? The one that helped him with a case in Smallville?"

Dean thought about it for a moment and then he threw the blankets off himself and got up. "I think so. His name was Carl, right?"

"Clark," Sam corrected him. "Apparently, he's friends with Lex Luthor and he called on his behalf."

"Huh," Dean muttered as he stretched his arms out over his head. "I forgot, what did he help Dad with again? It was research or something, wasn't it?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know, Dean, but you know Dad. He never tells us anything."

Dean glared back at his brother. "Come on, Sammy. I just woke up, okay? I don't wanna listen to your crap, first thing in the frickin morning!"

Sam looked away from his brother and shook his head. "Whatever. All I know is, this ghost is pissed, and Clark needs our help."

"Then we better get moving," Dean said as he approached the bathroom. "After I take a piss."

Sam rolled his eyes and returned to studying for his SAT, when Dean slammed the bathroom door shut behind him and started getting ready for their next trip.

As soon as Clark hung up, Pete came along with a faint smile on his face. "Who ya calling?"

Looking like a deer in the headlights again, Clark admitted the truth. "John Winchester. Well, actually it was his son, Sam, but-"

Pete flashed him a big grin. "I knew you'd end up calling them about Jodi! It means a lot to me, Clark."

Clark continued to give him a weird look, causing Pete's grin to fade. "But Pete, that's not why I called them…"

"Why'd you call em then?"

"I think Lex has a ghost in his mansion. I called to see if John or his sons could check it out before-"

Then Pete became angry and interrupted him. "Dude! You called them for Lex?!"

"Pete, I'm sorry," Clark tried to explain. "But this thing is dangerous. It could hurt someone!"

Pete scowled at him and shook his head. "Jodi's probably out there somewhere, scared and alone. All I want to do is try to save her. I thought you understood that, Clark."

As he walked away, Clark tried to defend himself. "Come on, Pete. Pete…"

Once he realized that he was being ignored, he slapped his flip phone shut and crammed it into one of his pockets with a sigh. It was Friday and he hoped that if he waited for Pete to cool down over the weekend, he could be reasoned with by Monday. Until then, he and the Winchester brothers had bigger things to worry about.