Chapter 7

Madison listened to the chants for a few more seconds before grabbing her clothes quickly, searching for Royce's jacket but she realized it must have disappeared with him. She quickly tied up the rips in her shirt before running out of the room to find Royce. What she saw made her gasp in horror as all 12 ghosts were in a circle rotating around a spinning hole to create an eye. The machine was draining all the power out of the ghosts and of the house as the lights flickered on and off. Madison looked at him, her eyes welting up in tears, he looked to be in a trance.

"Royce!" She yelled coming to stand next to Kathy and Kyle. He looked at her, fear marking their expressions. Lucas had decided to stay in the library, what a big surprise, Madison thought. Royce didn't move as the ghosts continue to rotate, a strange chant being echoed throughout the house. Madison took a step closer but Kathy stopped her,

"No, Maddie! If you go in that eye it opens the eye of hell on earth. Even Royce can't save you from that." Kathy's eyes bore into hers with a fear Madison had never since her friend express before. Madison stepped back a half step and stared at Royce across the circle. She wanted to be with him right now, she wanted to stop this.

"Well, how do we stop it?" She asked looking around.

"You don't!" Lucas said coming up behind them with David Kriticos at his side. Madison searched his eyes for the man she fell in love with but found a cold killer. Looking down to his hand, she found a gun pointing back at her.

"It was you?" Madison asked, staring back at the man she was suppose to marry. Lucas smiled with evil.

"I just had to get you 3 up here for 10 grand. It seemed easy besides I was looking to get rid of you anyway." Lucas said looking at Madison. She looked at him in disgust and back at Royce.

"You can save your love and yourself if you just jump in the eye." Lucas said with a laugh. "That way you can be with your lover for eternity."

"No, Madison! He's lying!" Kathy yelled, "You jump in, we all die!" David grasped a hand over her mouth to keep her quiet.

"Go to Hell, Lucas!" Madison screamed, backing away from him.

"No, that's where you're going!" He yelled grabbing her around the waist. She fought back with everything in her, punching Lucas in the chest. David knocked out Kyle and threw his cousin to the floor, grinding his shoe into her face. She screamed out in pain just as a gust of wind blew through the open door and knocked David to the wall. Kathy sat up, meeting Dennis' soft blue eyes.

"Are you okay?" He asked, looking back at David. A scream rang out and they both looked back to the scene in front of them. Madison struggled to break free from Lucas' grasp but he was too strong as he carried her towards the ring of ghosts, preparing to throw her in.

"No!" She yelled as she kicked out her legs, trying to get away from her former fiancé. Just as they reached the ring of ghosts, Royce was turning in front of them. Madison grabbed a hold of Royce by the arm and held on, throwing off the machine's process. Lucas felt his feet begin to drag on the floor and he stepped unto the circle, Madison still fighting to get away. She would not be the cause of he friends getting hurt. Lucas turned with his back to the hole as he tried to pull Madison off of Royce.

"Royce, Wake up! I need you! You said you wouldn't leave me!" She yelled out as she kicked at Lucas. "Royce!" She yelled again just as she kicked Lucas right in the face, knocking him into the circle. Madison's entire body weight fell on Royce. Lucas fell into the center and Madison fell onto Royce, knocking him out of the circle. In a split second, Lucas replaced Royce in the circle, turning in formation with the others. Dennis and Kathy looked on in confusion.

"How did that happen?" She asked, looking up at Dennis. He looked back to the circle.

"I thought it wasn't possible but I thin Lucas feel into the eye just as Madison knocked Royce out, causing the circle to become incomplete. The circle needed to be complete before the eye can opened, so the machine replaced what it needed to complete the sequence." Madison lay on the floor looking up to see Lucas, who was now in a trance and breathed deeply, turning in rotation with the other ghosts. She closed her eyes and sighed, laying her head on, Royce's fallen body and realized she heard something. She moved her head a bit higher to his chest and heard the distinct beat of a heart.

"Is he alive?" Kathy asked, realizing Madison and Royce with both breathing.

"A soul for a soul." Dennis said with a smile, laughing a bit. Kathy looked up at Dennis in hope but his smiled faded.

"No, Kath. It's better that I'm dead. I'm not in pain anymore, the way I was." A stray tear fell down her cheek as he wiped it away with his thumb. She nodded in agreement.

"I'll always be with you, whether you can see me or not." He reassured her.

Madison quickly looked up and saw Royce, his face and right side whole again and breathing heavily. He let out a cough, releasing some dust that had caught in his throat when they fell. Madison sat up with a jolt and looked around frantically.

"Oh, my god!" She said looking down at him. Royce opened his eyes slowly and looked around but stopped when he saw Madison sitting next to him. She was smiling at him.

"Oh, Dolly. I've got one hell of a headache." He said touching his head with his hand. He looked at it in confusion, there was no missing skin, no burns. Then he realized that his face was whole again. He reached for his chest and that was whole.

"Madison? What happened?" He asked looking around. She didn't answer him, just threw her arms around him in excitement, screaming with glee.

"Oh, Royce! You're alive!" She said taking off her glasses to look at him. He kissed her, a smile forming on his lips. He had never felt this alive even when he was alive the first time. They hugged, not wanting to let go of each other. He looked towards the circle and couldn't see the ghosts, just the metal machine turning.

"Let me?" He asked as he took the glasses and saw his former fellow ghosts with the addition of Lucas circling the eye. "Lucas and I must have switched places somehow." He said beginning to walk towards the exit to go to the basement.

"Not so fast!" David yelled from across the room, standing back up from when Dennis had knocked him down. Royce looked at him and realized who he was.

"David Kriticos." He said with a snicker.

"Yes, I caught you, remember?" He asked with a smile, pulling a gun from his jacket.

"Now, one of you are going to jump into that eye and I don't care which one!" He yelled.

"Aren't you scared?" Royce asked with a slight smile, picking up his disguarded bat from the floor where it lay.

"Of what?" David asked confused, a slight picture of evil marking his face.

"Of me?" Royce asked, trying his best to be intimidating.

"You, no!" David said with a laugh. "You, a former ghost."

"You should be!" Royce said before he struck David in the arm with his bat, knocking the gun to the floor. He swung the bat forcefully and smashed into the side of the head of David knocking him to the floor. Dennis moved Kathy out of the way.

"Get out of here. Get your friends and get out of here." He motioned for Kathy to go. She shook her head no.

"I won't leave you again." She whispered, clinging to him with all her might.

"You have to. I promise you'll see me again." Kathy knew he was right, they needed to find a way out of here before David used them in his plot to finish his father's dream.

"I love you." She whispered, kissing him one more time before turning to the fallen Kyle, who was knocked out on the floor.

"Kyle?" She asked shaking him. He stirred slightly and surveyed the scene in front of him.

"We need to get Madison and get out of here." Kathy said, lifting him from the floor.