"Right here?"

"Yes."

"..."

"..."

"Really-?"

"Hey! I'm the expert here, not you!"

Jenna rolled her eyes, but Lydia did too. She turned away before Jenna could think of a defensive retort. All Jenna was left to do was glare at her back as Lydia led her even deeper into the creepy woods.

Seriously. Jenna hadn't even known that the tiny park forest went this deep. She couldn't even convince herself that this wasn't some weird witching hour thing.

Jenna wished she could just go home. At this point, she was ninety percent sure that Lydia was just off her rocker, and that she had no leads. And Jenna would have just turned tail, but that would mean explaining to her parents why she wasn't at Brooke's house, and Jenna didn't really want that conversation at three in the morning.

If only Lydia could admit this was dumb and decide to just go home. Jenna wasn't sure if she would have wanted to sleep in this witches house any more than just argue with her parents, but right now, it was just slightly better.

Jenna glanced up, tired. She couldn't even see the sky any more. Her only source of light was her phone light, and that didn't stretch as far as she'd like.

"...Are we there yet?" Jenna asked, one again breaking the silence.

"No," Lydia said, and Jenna could tell she was gritting her teeth. "We'll get there when we get there. Now shut up."

'...Jerk,' Jenna glared at her neighbor. "You can't just order me to shut up."

"It wasn't an order," Lydia snapped. "It was... a... suggestion."

"Oh?" Jenna asked. "Are you sure about that?"

"Shut. Up. Why are you so weird?"

Again. Again with the weird thing! Jenna didn't understand it at all. After all, she was the normal one, the one that liked the same thing everyone else liked and did what everyone else did. Lydia was the one who dabbled in strange shit, and did things that made no sense. Everything Jenna did made sense.

"I'm not weird," Jenna mumbled, but Lydia wasn't paying attention anymore. Lydia continued on, not bothering to make sure if Jenna was following or not. In fact, if Jenna didn't know better, she'd think Lydia was speeding up.

"Hey, slow down!" Jenna cried. "Unlike you, I don't spend every night in this creepy forest."

Jenna watched Lydia bristle, like she what she said had actually affected her. "Likewise," Lydia hissed. "Because I don't either."

"Hmph," Jenna huffed. She didn't believe her. "What, like you haven't memorised this spooky place. I bet it's like a second home to you."

"Yes, unlike you, who wouldn't even know her own house from the empire state building," Lydia huffed. Jenna frowned.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" she demanded.

"Yesterday was the first time I'd ever seen you look up from her phone," Lydia called back to her. She was getting rather far ahead; Jenna should hurry up. "What's even so interesting about it anyway?"

"Uh, The Daily Sunshine," Jenna told her. "Ha, bet you don't even know what that is!"

Lydia stayed silent, and Jenna's triumphant smirk turned into a shocked expression.

"Wait, you don't actually know what The Daily Sunshine is?" Jenna asked, disgusted. "It's our main new site!"

"I don't pay attention to those kinds of things. They're always filled with drama."

"And current events!" Jenna retorted. "Wow, not only are you creepy, but you're also ignorant."

Lydia finally snapped, and suddenly turned around to Jenna, glaring so intensely Jenna thought she was about to start some sort of yelling debate. But instead, Lydia took a deep breath, and sat down.

"Here," she said. "Here is fine. I'm surprised you managed to stick around this long."

Jenna wrinkled her nose at the dirty ground before laying her jacket down and sitting on that, sitting in front of Lydia. "Oh? What was that? A genuine compliment?"

"More of a complaint. Are you done yet?"

Jenna stopped shifting around, turning to face Lydia. Once again, Lydia rolled her eyes.

"Start," Jenna commanded.

"Yes, alright, just a minute," Lydia put up a finger (not the middle one, which Jenna might have expected). Jenna watched as she started typing on her phone.

Jenna frowned. What, was she texting why ghost hunting(? Right? That is what they were doing, right?). "What are you doing."

The answer was surprisingly blunt. "I'm looking up how to make a séance."

Jenna was confused. "Isn't that the creepy stuff you should know?"

"I'm afraid not, the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of F-ery teaches that next Wednesday," Lydia said, completely deadpan. To her surprise, Jenna let out a snort. She scowled as Lydia smirked.

"Fine," Jenna huffed. "I'll stop with the witchcraft comments."

"By all means, keep doing them," Lydia said. "I was hoping they'd get good soon."

"Well, if you want to hear them so much," Jenna rolled her eyes. "You sure you know how to work that? It's not more of your magic-y stuff, its science."

"I'm sure I can handle it without your expert help," Lydia said. And despite it being a quip at her long times on her phone, Jenna didn't hate it as much as she usually did. Still hurt a little, but not as much. Jenna even laughed.

"Ah, there we go," Lydia said. She set her phone down, and Jenna frowned at the screen.

How to Perform a Séance

"A wikihow? Serious?"

"Well, if it was Wednesday-."

"Whatever," Jenna shook her head. "Let's get this over with."

"Alright," Lydia nodded. "We got number one down. Create the Right Atmosphere."

"Yeah, this works pretty well," Jenna remarked.

"Number Two," Lydia continued. "Invite People Who Believe in the Spirit World."

Lydia looked over to Jenna. "Ghosts are real."

Jenna raised her eyebrows. "It's like you've opened a whole other world to me."

"Alright, number two down," Lydia said. "Number Three: Ask the Sitters to Prepare Basic Questions for the Spirit."

"Let's ask them if they know what The Daily Sunshine is," Jenna suggested smugly.

Lydia huffed. "I'll take care of that," she said, completely ignoring Jenna. "Number Four: Set Your Table with the Candles and Ritual Supplies You Wish to Use."

Jenna frowned. Lydia hadn't brought a bag or anything she could have used to carry candles in. Unless she had already stashed supplies here beforehand...

"Are you planning to summon the candles or what?" Jenna asked. Lydia waved her concerns away irritably.

"It's fine," Lydia waved her hand around. "The mood should cover for that."

"Oh," Jenna nodded her head, like everything had suddenly started making sense. "So séance stuff is like a math equations...."

"Oh, shut up," Lydia didn't look that angry though. She continued. "Number Five: Make Sure Everyone Turns Off Their Electronic Devices."

Jenna didn't like it, but she turned off her phone anyway. Lydia was frowning at her phone.

"What?" Jenna asked. "What is it?"

"Okay, it says five steps, but apparently, it just means... a million."

Lydia turned off her phone. "You know what? We've both seen movies, we don't need it."

"...Wow..." Jenna frowned. "How professional."

"Yep," Lydia agreed. She turned on a light phone her phone and set it between him. Then she held out her hands. Jenna stared at them.

"What are you doing?"

"This is what we do for the séance," Lydia explained. "We hold hands and then chant the spirits name."

"Never seen this is a movie," Jenna said, reaching forward to take Lydia's hands. She didn't bother mentioning that she hadn't seen many horror movies. Mostly those comedy spoofs.

"We must watch different movies then," Lydia said. "Maybe I can show you some of mine after."

Jenna didn't know how to feel about that. "If I can stand you for that long."

Lydia snorted. "You don't have to stand," she said. "Usually when watching a movie, people sit down."

Jenna shook her head. "Just start the séance, witch."

"In a moment."

Jenna watched as Lydia tilted her head to the side, seemingly trying to listen for something, expect that she was staring intensely around the forest. Jenna wondered what kind of show she was putting on.

"So are you, uh... feeling around for the ghost?" Jenna asked. "Spirit. Whatever."

"Uh, no," Lydia shot back. "I'm looking around for the ghost."

Jenna hummed. "Last time you said you could feel it."

Lydia grimaced. "Oh. I meant see."

Something about that didn't seem right. "O...kay..." Jenna shrugged. Who really even cared, anyway? "So how long is this gonna take?"

"Well, it depends on when the ghost decides to show up," Lydia said. "Who knows? Maybe if you do the 'Wild Ghost Mating Call', it'll show up faster."

Jenna snorted. "That isn't a thing."

"Excuse me, I'm the teacher," Lydia told her, sounding mockingly smug. "I'll say what's real and not real."

"Ah, I see," Jenna laughed. "Ah, yes, teacher, please teach me the Wild Ghost Mating Call."

"Uhh... nooo, this is a test, YOU must show-," Lydia suddenly cut herself off, looking at something behind Jenna and going pure white. "Jenna, it's here."

Jenna shook her head, grinning. "Yeah, right, you're not getting out of teaching me that easily-."

"Jenna," Lydia said it so seriously that Jenna paused, her own previously joyful mood turning sour.  Jenna didn't know Lydia well, but she was certain that look on Lydia's face was completely genuine. "I'm not kidding, Jenna, she's here."

Jenna found her skin begin to prickle and she shivered despite herself.

"And she's right behind you. Jenna, she's covered in blood."