Mai opened her eyes, shivering from the cold. Why was it so dark? Where had the monitors gone? Why didn't she hear the breathing of her friends? Why was it so freezing?

Why couldn't she find a light switch?

The room was suddenly filled with small bubbles, similar in appearance to fireflies, and Mai understood that she'd been sucked into one of her strange dreams again. She looked around, confused, and saw that she was in the cellar. The presence that she'd felt before, the one she'd all but forgotten about, swept over her again; she resisted the urge to scream and bolt in a random direction, searching instead for the door, her heart pounding in her ears.

The door wasn't there.

Even though Mai knew that her actual body was safe, she couldn't seem to stop the pure, vicious terror that was running icy cold in her blood. She knew that something was behind her-she could feel freezing breath on her neck, the way it stirred her hair; she could feel it close to her back, but no matter how she spun in circles, she couldn't catch a glimpse of it. She tried backing into the wall, but she could still feel it; a whimper escaped from her constricted lungs as she instinctively moved her arms to cover her center, close to tears.

Then the familiar glow softened the room, and Mai breathed a sigh of relief as the horror was lifted from her heart and the presence shrunk away from her back; there was Gene, wearing his usual gentle smile, which looked odd on the face so like Naru's. Still shivering and reeling from the crushing fear she'd just experienced, Mai ran at him, tears spilling from her eyes-Gene's light illuminated the wall for her, and sure enough, she could see a door now-

Mai was almost to him when she saw it.

It was a huge, lurking shadow, so black that its edges looked warped and undefined. It was faceless and figureless, but Mai could feel the evil radiating off of it like a poisonous mist; it towered behind Gene, who did not seem to feel it. In the span of a single instant, Mai saw him analyze her face, notice her expression, and realize what was happening, but that instant was too long-the thing struck at Gene's back and he fell, suddenly and silently, to the ground.

Mai didn't have time to feel the shock and fear-she went numb too quickly, collapsing to her knees as though her nerves had all been severed. She waited for Gene to get up, her ears ringing, but he didn't move; his glow faded, leaving the room shadowed and lightless.

Barely registering her surroundings, Mai felt the thing behind her again. And for one second-as odd it was to notice something so trivial at a time like this-she caught the strong scent of roses.

Her body moved of its own accord, tearing toward the door that had appeared. It was still there, and she opened it and flew forward, up the stairs just outside; she was only a few feet beyond the top of the staircase when she crashed to the ground, unable to move any further. The thing soared over her head and into one of the hallways, emitting a horrid shrieking sound, like a tortured beast, as it went. The scream resounded in her ears, and she felt herself screaming too, more loudly than she'd ever screamed before, deafening herself-

"Mai!"

She came to abruptly and painfully, her throat stripped raw. The lights in the room, which had evidently been turned on, blinded her. She was vaguely aware of Monk holding her and Ayako bending over her with concerned eyes; Lin was still sitting at the monitors, looking at her seriously, and Naru stood against the wall, watching her out of the corner of his eye. She couldn't read his expression in her state of upset.

"What the hell happened?" demanded Monk, and Mai could hear how his voice trembled with worry. She couldn't find her voice to answer; it was as though she'd forgotten how to speak, how words were supposed to string together to form sentences.

She registered that Ayako was standing up, and heard her quietly say "I'll go get some water."

"No," Mai croaked, clutching at Ayako's feet. "No."

"What?" Ayako asked, clearly surprised. "What do you mean, Mai? It's just water, it won't take long-"

"Don't," Mai managed to say, the words coming back to her in her hurry to stop Ayako. "You can't, I-I opened the door, it got out of the cellar-it's somewhere in the house right now, please don't go-"

Ayako started to say something, but was interrupted by Naru, who fixed Mai with an intense stare now.

"What exactly happened?"

Mai could only gaze blankly at him, her eyes glazed over; she somehow felt simultaneously like her mind was frozen and spinning out of control at an unbelievable speed.

Naru was-she saw again the image of the Gene from her dream being brutally struck down without a sound. What should she say? What should she do? Never before had anything in Mai's dream attacked Gene. He was there to guide her and show her the light, and it was as if whatever was living in this house had seen him and attacked him intentionally. Maybe the thing wanted to make sure she didn't have a guide to help her with this case. More than that-now that she thought about it, even though she'd relived experiences of those who had been attacked and seen attacks on others, no spirit or being had ever treated her with such violence. In fact, she could only think of one other instance where a spirit had even been aware of her presence at all. And-a new, freshly awful thought occurred to her. Was Gene okay? Could it have actually damaged his spirit?

Just what the hell was this thing? Was the dream a premonition that Naru was going to be attacked, if the thing recognized him as Gene? Had it been real enough to hurt Mai if it were to attack her dream self directly?

"Mai," Naru said harshly, dragging her out of her stupor.

"Sorry," she said hoarsely, and as she looked at him, she felt her eyes moisten with tears. She willed them to stop, embarrassed, but they kept coming. "It-it was in the cellar, and I was trapped in there. It attacked-a spirit. It stayed behind me most of the time, but I saw it. It was-" Picturing it again in her mind's eye was a mistake; she felt her stomach twist sickeningly, and shuddered visibly. "It was like a huge shadow, darker than black. And after it attacked-" She closed her eyes, remembering. The image of Gene flashed into her head again, and she willed it away. "It smelled like roses."

"Roses?" Monk asked confusedly, but Naru gave him a rebuking glance and he quieted.

"What do you mean you let it out?" Naru asked her, his voice becoming gentler.

"I got the sense that it was trapped," Mai told him. Her voice broke. "There wasn't a door at first at all, and when one appeared, I ran out of it. I saw the spirit-or whatever it was-fly over my head and go somewhere else in the house."

Naru caught on quickly. "Have you ever been able to interact with spirits through your dreams like that before? Perhaps it was only in your dream that it was released."

Mai shook her head slowly, her breath coming in odd stutters now. "This has never happened-I've always been like a viewer, watching from the outside, or reliving someone else's experiences. This time-" She couldn't find the words to explain it for a moment. "It was different. I was actually there, it saw me and knew I existed, and it responded to me. Technically, I think I've actually interacted with a spirit once before, but not like this. I don't know how I would actually open the door, but I know it's in this house now." She was telling the truth; the sense of calm that she'd felt throughout the house earlier had broken, and it wasn't just that she'd recently woken up from a nightmare; she could feel evil permeating the air, spreading through the floorboards and walls.

Now that she thought about it, the thing had attacked Gene after he'd been there only a couple of seconds. It had had plenty of time to attack Mai herself, but it didn't. Maybe-she felt a shiver go down her spine. Did it know she'd be able to open the door and set it free? How had she even done that?

One thing was for sure: it was smart.

Luckily, Naru took her word for it, and ordered Ayako and Lin to make barriers to set up on the walls of the room. The dark-haired boy announced that he was going with Lin to check around the house, but Mai, nearly hysteric at this point, blocked the door.

"You can't go!" she cried, her voice unnaturally squeaky. "Everyone has to stay in here until morning, I'm sorry, but I can't let you go-I-" She couldn't stand to look at Naru's face-every time she saw it, she saw the dream again, and it was Naru who fell instead of Gene-

A slight hardening of Naru's eyes indicated that he'd guessed that something had happened. Instead of telling her off and forcing her to move, he nodded his head once and returned to the computers, staring off into space. Watching him as discreetly as she could, Mai noticed that the monitors that showed temperature had all turned blue; not a hint of the earlier warmth remained.

Mai exhaled slowly, willing her heart to stop beating so fast; she slid down against the door, closing her eyes. She was suddenly exhausted now that her adrenaline rush was wearing off, and she forced her breathing to slow and her muscles to relax.

Feeling suddenly well-rested, she opened her eyes, only to realize that she was in the dream world once again, surrounded by blackness that was only broken by the drops of light. She could see clear through the walls, and with a numbness seeping through her skin, she saw the thing from the cellar. It was directly above them, clearly looking for a way into the room but unable to break the barriers for the time being.

Somehow, Mai had moved beyond being afraid and couldn't feel a thing. It was only when she heard a tapping on the wall beside her that she turned her head slowly.

As soon as she saw him, she straightened up. Gene was outside of the transparent wall, looking at her with his usual smile.

"Are you alright?" she asked hurriedly, inspecting him. He nodded reassuringly, and she felt a weight leave her chest. His normal glow was alarmingly dim, however, and something about him didn't look quite right; looking more carefully, Mai realized that his outline looked disturbingly blurry and fuzzy, and he seemed to be shaking slightly.

Noticing this, Gene told her, "Don't worry, I'm okay. I need a little time to recover, though. I'm not going to risk coming into the house until I'm back at my full strength. It doesn't like to leave this place, although it technically can, so I'm okay out here for now. I believe that it is strongly attached to something in this house, so it would take quite a lot to persuade it to go outside the walls."

"What is this thing?" Mai asked, some of her fear returning to her.

"It's an evil spirit, and a strong one," Gene said softly, glancing up to where it had started pacing in circles. "It's strong enough to sense when it's being spied on, and it was able to see you in your dream. Of course, I should have been more cautious, as it can attack other spirits at any time."

"How could I have let it out?" Mai's voice was trembling, but Gene's gentle light helped to keep her negative feelings under control. "They vacated this house because it was haunting them, right?"

Gene shook his head, frowning. "If this thing had been haunting them for a couple of weeks, they'd probably be dead. It's powerful enough that it likely drew other poltergeists here, which caused the signs that the family saw. I'm sure the poltergeists scattered when you came here. I believe that the door was likely a physical barrier, although you couldn't see it for what it was and accidentally broke it. The blame is mine; I did not realize the truth, and lit the way."

Above them, the thing made a disgusting hissing sound, and Mai shivered. "What do we do?"

The smile returned to Gene's face, and he told her, "Be careful. The barriers will be broken after a short time if they aren't maintained. When the sun comes out, however, it will hide in the open cellar."

She still had questions, but before she could say anything else, she was blinking awake, still leaning against the door. Looking up groggily, she realized that she was staring right into Naru's face.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked angrily.

Mai rubbed her eyes, confused. "Why are you getting mad at me?" She stood up so quickly that she made herself dizzy, but she regained her balance as Naru backed off. "What the hell? What is your problem, Naru?" Going from Gene's gentler face to Naru's stony one so quickly was throwing her off.

"How could you fall asleep again so soon, after you realized that the thing can interact with you in your dreams?" he nearly spat. "It's stupid and you know it. Don't do it again until morning."

As much as his tone made Mai want to slap him, she realized that he was worried and calmed herself down. Monk and Ayako, who were watching nervously, seemed to relax too.

"Sorry," Mai said. "It can't get in here right now, though. It's confused by the barriers we put up. They won't last for long, though. They need to be replaced as it wears them down. It's-" She glanced upward, feeling an uncomfortable lump in her throat. "It's above us, but it can't figure out how to get through the ceiling yet. We'll be safe once the sun comes up."

Naru still looked rather frustrated with her, but he left her alone. Despite the assurances she'd made to the others, Mai was too frightened to fall back asleep, and so all of them sat tensely for a few hours. After a while, Lin suddenly spoke.

"When were Masako and John planning on getting here, exactly?"

The atmosphere in the room seemed to completely freeze for a moment, and Monk, looking at the clock, said, "In about five minutes."