ers. Gripping the bat even tighter, she jumped
out to confront the intruder. She heard a cup
crash to the ground before she saw who it was.
Her jaw dropped.
looked over. What do I find? A face staring
back at me. Oh, don’t look at me that way! I
know you’ve been seeing and hearing stuff
too.”
“Mason?” she said, utterly shocked,
staring at the boy by the sink, the intruder.
He paused a moment, waiting for her
reaction. When she just stared at him, he continued, “Anyway, this face, it wasn’t human. It
had blood-red eyes and spiked teeth. It was
grinning at me, like it knew something I didn’t. I
knew it was a demon, so I had to find out who
lived there. I asked around and that’s when I
heard that you did. So, that’s why I’ve been following you around, to make sure things don’t
happen. But, obviously I haven’t been doing a
good job.” He gestured to the wall with the
carvings.
Mason held his hands up in surrender,
eyeing the bat.
“Good to see you too, sweetheart,” he
said calmly, with a hint of sarcasm.
Ariana gaped at him. “But, what are you
doing here? How did you get in?”
He smirked. “Well, if you put the bat
down, I’ll tell you,” he replied.
She set the bat down, still watching him
closely. “What are you doing here?” she repeated. Mason bent down and cleaned up the
now broken glass.
Silence fell between them. Mason
watched Ariana closely, expecting something.
Fear, hate, confusion, something. But she just
sat there, as if in a trance. After a long, very
long pause, she spoke.
“Well,” he began, “It started when you
decided try and ditch me at school.” He tossed
the shards away, looking at her. “You see, I’m
supposed to be protecting you. But right now,
sweetheart, you’re making that really difficult.”
“What do we do now?” she asked, her
face unreadable.
Mason laughed, “That, my friend, is
where you’re wrong.” He got himself a new
glass and helped himself to a cookie.
“Well,” he said, slowly, “I have a general
idea, but I’m still not entirely sure if it’ll work.
This thing, it’s not just a demon living in the
house. The house IS the demon. It’s a ghost
house, so to say. The demon possesses the
house, making it a ghost. If we get rid of the
demon, the whole building goes with it.”
She scowled. “How’d you get in?” she
demanded.
Ariana nodded, standing up. “Well, start
talking.”
Ariana glared. “I don’t need protection,”
she snapped.
He rolled his eyes. “The chimney,” he
said sarcastically through a mouthful of cookie.
He saw the look she was giving him. “Your
front door was unlocked. I’d followed you home
and saw that you didn’t lock it.” He stuffed another cookie into his mouth.
“Okay,” she growled. “What were you
doing following me in the first place?”
Mason took a drink of milk, wiping his
mouth. “Long story, actually,” he said. He
leaned against the counter, looking at the ceiling thoughtfully. “Let’s see, it started…oh…
two, maybe three days ago? Yeah, about that
time. I was walking past your home and I had a
weird feeling someone was watching me. So, I
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