A moment later, the planchette began to tremble and shudder under their fingers. True frowned down at it. It was as if a mini earthquake had seized it somehow; it was practically vibrating. People couldn’t make it do that.
“What the…” Mothman let out a high-pitched shriek as the vibrations intensified, flinging off all their fingers.
And then the planchette launched itself into the air, its tip pointed right at True. Orion shot out his arm, as if to block itfrom hitting her, but he wasn’t quick enough. The planchette caught True right in the diaphragm before falling into her lap and lying there, sedate and well-behaved once more.
True—and everybody else—stared at it for a good five seconds in complete silence before Gabby screamed and scrambled up to her feet. The group’s paralysis broke, and there was a chorus of voices, everyone wanting to know what the hell had just happened, how it had happened, why it had happened.
A moment later, the lights in the room blazed on; Gabby stood by the light switches, about as far away from the Ouija board as she could get, her mummy wrappings coming undone and exposing the black leggings she wore underneath.
“What… thehell… was that?” she gasped, pointing at True and the planchette she now held in her hand.
True looked at Orion, waiting for an explanation. He was the resident ghost expert, was he not? Plus, if she were being honest, she was really just as dumbfounded as anyone else and needed a moment to think of a plausible scientific hypothesis. Orion might as well present his ideas while she thought.
He cleared his throat, looking just as thrown as her. “It’s…” He shook his head. “This is remarkable, you guys. And that it would happen tonight, of all nights, I mean… that’s what we’d expect, right?”
“So, which spirit was that?” Zombie Boy shook his head, his eyes still riveted to the Ouija board. “Clearly not the bird.”
“Did Onny’s family have a bigger pet that died?” Vampire Girl asked. With the lights on, True could see the girl wasyounger than True had originally thought, probably no older than fifteen. “Maybe a… rottweiler?”
True spoke up before anyone else could answer, her thoughts finally coalescing into logic and science once again. “That wasn’t a spirit, you guys. I’ll admit it was a little weird. But come on. It’s pretty obvious to me that someone in the group did it.” She looked around at them all, especially Zombie Boy, who, she’d decided, was the most sketch. “Right?”
No one spoke. They all looked at True likeshewas the one speaking nonsense (except Orion, who just looked unconvinced by her solid reasoning). What alternate reality had she entered tonight? “Okay, look.” She tried again, holding up the planchette. “It’s not doing anything now. Why would it suddenly go dormant if the spirits were really speaking through it?”
“Because we already got our response,” Evil Mermaid Girl replied, looking more than a little miffed. “You’rethe next one who’s going to be kissed tonight.”
True couldn’t help it; her gaze flew immediately to Orion. Their eyes met with an almost audible crackle. He was hot, he was sweet, and, True was beginning to think, he was into her.
But I am not into him,she told herself sternly. She couldn’t be. Her heart had enough fissures in it. Turning back to the rest of the group, she shook her head and put the planchette back on the board. “I don’t think so. This is clearly a case of mass hysteria or delirium or something. Everyone was touching that planchette, which means none of us can be ruled out—”
She was interrupted by the lights in the room flashingsuddenly, on and off and back again, as if someone had activated strobe mode. Except, of course, that the lights didn’t have strobe mode.
Gabby, who was standing near the light switches, was the first to react. Screaming, she leaped away from the light switches in a move that would have made any track star proud. That set Mothman off, and soon the room was in chaos and panic once again.
“It’s the spirit!” Mothman shrieked, looking at True. He lunged to his feet, clutching at his wire antennae. “It’s mad because you doubted!” Turning to the empty air of the room at large, he bellowed, “We’re sorry, Drib! We believe!Ibelieve!”
“Everyone, remain calm!” True yelled. She looked at Orion, who’d pulled what looked like an EMF meter out of his pants pocket and was holding it up in the air, his movements appearing jerky because of the pulsing lights.
“It’s on red!” he announced, half gleeful, half nervous. His cheeks were flushed, his eyes bright in the strobing lights. Kind of hot, actually. “There is someinsaneenergy in this room!”
“That’s not helping!” True said, and he looked at her all dazed, as if he’d forgotten for a minute where he was. Then, looking abashed, he nodded.
“Freaking out is not helping anything!” he called, in his deep baritone. “Let’s see if we can make contact!”
As if on cue, the lights came on and stayed on. The room quieted, everyone holding their breath, it seemed. Except for Mothman, who was in danger of hyperventilating himself into an early grave.
Orion held up his EMF meter again. “It’s on green. Whatever was in here is gone now.”
True stood, walked over to the light switches, and began to turn them off and back on. The lights obeyed. “There.” She turned to the room, hands on her hips. “All good now.”
“Yeah,” Evil Mermaid Girl said. “But what the hell was that?”
True waved her hands around, though she was beginning to feel a little less sure now. Was this groupthink in action? “You know… a little of this, a little of that. There could be a thousand, amillionreasons.”
Gabby raised her eyebrows. “Uh-uh. Such as?”
“A fluctuation in the current or some kind of malfunction…” True shrugged. “I’m not an electrician, but I’m sure there are multiple other explanations besides ‘spirit.’”
“Huh.” Vampire Girl ran her tongue over her fangs. “Actually, now that you say that, Ididhear Mr. and Mrs. Diamante telling my parents that the sound system they installed was giving them electrical issues. But I could’ve sworn they said it was just blowing the circuits and not doing the strobe-y thing.…”
