Hey there! Thanks for all of your guys's opinions on a sequel. Most of you - well, all of you - wanted the next one to be a sequel, so I've decided that that's what will happen. Now let's get on with the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt. If I did, people would probably get possessed more.

He was horribly pale and thin lips were blue. He looked like he was having trouble breathing, and Mai was a little scared Lin was going to have to do CPR on him, but then she saw some of the dust in the air swirl away from his nose, and she felt better.

Lin had been leaning over him, but now he sat back and wiped his brow. His face was pale as well, but Mai knew it was from concern and not weakness. She silently thanked Naru's parents for forcing him to stick with Lin. He was always there to care for him and make sure he usually didn't do anything too brash.

Now that the worse of the danger was over - except for maybe Naru's situation - Mai surveyed the room. Masako was passed out and Ayako was putting her on one of the couches. Lin did the same for Naru. Mai helped Monk take John to an armchair.

Mai resisted the urge to make them all tea, just for the sake of something to do, and sat on the armrest of the couch Naru was on, her feet up on the edge of the sofa. Naru was totally gone - his eyes were still behind his eyelids, and he didn't twitch like a sleeping person sometimes did.

Mai watched Lin adjust him. "Was he holding the ceiling up?" she asked.

Lin sighed heavily. "He is a fool," he said quietly. "I sensed some energy coming from Naru from the very beginning. The spirit was trying to crush John with the ceiling, and I can only assume that he had been holding it throughout the entire exorcism."

Mai looked at him, and felt horribly sad for a moment. "He must have been suffering all alone," she whispered.

Lin shook his head regretfully. "He could have interrupted the exorcism, but he didn't. Now that I know he is alright, it doesn't seem like a risky move, but he was extremely reckless."

Mai almost giggled, despite the situation. Usually, it was Naru calling her reckless.

Her giddiness was abruptly cut off as Ayako stomped over, face flaming with anger. "Reckless?" she screeched. "He's a suicide case! If he knows he's going to end up like this, why does he insist on being so stupid?"

Her hand curled into fists, but as she spoke, her voice cracked. "I told him he didn't have to do it alone," she whispered, pressing a hand to his chest and then his forehead. She sounded close to tears.

"Is-is he okay?" Mai whispered, frightened.

"Yes, of course, but he's very weak. It wasn't a quick use of his energy, if Lin is correct. He was struggling for a few minutes. And the ceiling is not an easy thing to hold up. If he does this again within the next few hours, I'm not sure - I'm not sure he'll...survive."

The words hit Mai like a rock. Naru not survive? What did that mean? How was that even possible? Naru couldn't not survive. He had destroyed a small god not too long ago. He was so powerful and confident and intelligent and handsome and -

Mai tore her eyes away from him before she admitted something embarrassing to herself and looked to John and Monk instead. Monk had just finished cleaning up the broken pieces of yet another fallen monitor. Mai remembered how the first one had broken and looked back to Naru. Ayako had really scared her. What if she looked away and Naru -

This was hopeless. If she looked away, she thought horrifying things; if she looked at him, she thought embarrassing things. She just wanted to curl up next to him and stop thinking and go to sleep.

What? Curl up next to Naru? What was she thinking?

Stop thinking like that. He's a narcissist. He's horrible. He only cares about himself. He's selfish and rude and only wants tea. Tea, tea, tea, all the time.

Why the heck was she smiling?

Masako stirred and sat up next to Monk. She blinked on seeing Mai on the edge of the sofa where Naru was spread out. "What...happened?"

"He passed out," Mai told her bluntly. What did it look like?

"Naru used his PK to hold up a chunk of ceiling the spirit was going to drop on John," Ayako clarified after giving Mai a look. Mai huffed and stuck her tongue out at her back. She went to straighten Mr. Tanaka on his chair, but when she began to lift his ropes, Lin stopped her.

"Leave him tied, Miss Matsuzaki. If he isn't possessed when he wakes up, we'll release him then."

"Oh. All right." Ayako sat down next to Monk on the couch as Lin began checking the monitors and computers.

"Ow, you sat on my hand!" Monk cried, yanking it away.

"That's why you're supposed to keep your hands to yourself!" Ayako yelled back. Mai knew it was commonplace for them to fight, but she could tell the exorcism had put everyone on edge, especially Ayako since she had to see to all the injured.

Monk wisely kept his mouth shut. An uneasy silence fill the room, only broken by the occasional clacking of Lin's keyboards.

"So…" Mai said when the silence became unbearable. Everyone looked at Mai, glad for the noise and distraction.

"Anybody want to guess how to get rid of this thing?"

"Exorcise the house?" John said.

"Find the body of the original guy who died and exorcise him?" Monk asked.

"We could burn the house down," Masako suggested.

Mai thought about it. "Lin, would that work?"

"Probably not," Lin answered without ceasing his typing. "The house could easily put out the flames by flooding this place or isolating the burning."

"Unless you distract it thoroughly."

"Highly unlikely. The house was able to use Mr. Tanaka and manipulate its structure simultaneously. It is extremely powerful."

Monk laughed nervously. "Guess we'll have to call in a bulldozer."

"Idiot," Ayako muttered.

"Hey," John said, head tilted to the side. "Do you hear that?"

Mai strained to hear what John was talking about. It sounded like shouting. "I think it's...Yasu."

Monk jumped up from the couch and went to the window, pressing his face against the glass. "Hey, it is!" He opened the window and yelled, "HEY, YASU! WE'LL BE THERE IN A SECOND!"

He yelled something back in reply and Monk yelled, "Hey, shut up!"

Mai heaved a sigh and stood up. "I guess I'll go get him," she said, heading towards the door."

"Take someone with you," was Lin's automatic response. Mai groaned.

She looked around, assessing her possible companions. She knew Lin would not leave Naru. Ayako would not leave her sick patient. John had a sprained ankle. Masako could not defend both of them - not that she would go with Mai and pass up the chance that Naru would wake up with her there and Mai absent.

That left…

Monk seemed to come to the same conclusion. "I'll come!" he said, and he did not make it seem like a last resort or a punishment but like an honor. He grinned and pulled her through the door.

They came out in an endless hallway. When Mai looked back, she discovered that the door to their base had disappeared. "Great," she muttered, and they began walking.

A few minutes of comfortable silence went by. Finally, Mai spoke.

"Hey, Monk?"

"Yeah?"

"Does this case freak you out?"

Monk laughed. "Every case freaks me out, kid."

"This one is weirder than the rest."

"Yeah. It seems each one is weirder than the last."

"Yeah."

The hallway was getting darker and darker, and Mai suddenly had a random thought.

"I wish I had fire powers."

"Fire powers?"

"Yeah. Then I wouldn't be completely clueless in the dark. Back when I was coming to get you and John and Ayako with Lin, it got pitch black and some spirit kept coming at us. It really freaked me out."

There was a silence.

"Monk? Are spirits scared of the light?"

Silence.

"Monk?"

No answer.

Mai said the only thing she could think of that she was certain would make him answer her. Besides, it was turning into the truth.

"Monk, I'm scared."

He didn't reply.

Mai stopped walking, and a second pair of footsteps came to a halt as well. Biting her lip, she reached out in the darkness towards the place she thought Monk had stopped. Her hand touched clothing. "Monk?" she whispered, too frightened to feel for a hand. What if she touched something cold and slimy - or worse, old and withered?

"Mai."

The numerous, grating voices that Mai had heard coming from Mr. Tanaka during the exorcism filled her ears. It was continuous, loud, and terrifying.

"We have been waiting for you, for a soul as pure and young as yours."

Mai yanked her hand away from whatever it was that she was touching, and hastily backed up a few steps. Where was Monk? What had she been walking next to?

"You cannot run forever. We control the house. You think you can control it, but it is only a petty magic trick. We are the house."

Something grabbed at her ankle and she fell, chin slamming against the ground. She kicked out, but there was only air. She turned and tried to get a grip on whatever was holding her ankle, yanking roughly at the hand, scratching and kicking with her other foot before she realized something.

The hand was Monk's.

"Monk?" she whispered.

"He is gone."

Mai shrieked on hearing the voice so close to her face and kicked harder, trying to back up, but the hand on her ankle began pulling her closer. Maybe if it pulls me close enough, I can kick his face.

The thought was short-lived. She was roughly flipped over, knees were pressed into the back of her calves, and hands into her shoulders. Someone was breathing down her neck in a horrible way.

"Get off!" Mai cried, but she could only slightly lift her neck. She twisted and Monk's long blond hair fell onto her cheek.

He was possessed.

For next time: Well, someone's got to save Mai. I hope it's Naru!