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I n the darkness, I feel Luke’s hand close around my wrist. “Stay close,” he tells me. “As much as I want answers, I think this might be our cue to exit .”

“You think?” I ask him tartly. There are no other sounds in the attic besides our breathing. My breathing is loud and ragged, and I stifle another cough. It’s not like we’re hiding. The poltergeist must know where we are. I hear the dead have excellent night vision .

“Try again,” he says quietly .

I rack my brain for something to say to a murderous poltergeist .

“I know you don’t want to be here,” I say. “Trapped in this house. I want to understand. I’ll listen to anything you want to tell me .”

There’s a long silence, and then a low scream. No, it’s the tortured sound of metal twisting .

The lights come back up, so bright after the perfect darkness that Luke raises his hand to shield his eyes .

A sheet hangs in the air, hanging off a twisted pipe. Shadowed against the white sheet are the silhouettes of two figures. They’re two dolls: a Ken and a Barbie .

“Sometimes,” Luke murmurs, “I think I’ve seen all the creepy the dark side of the world can throw at me, but no. There’s always something new and even more creepy to look forward to .”

The Barbie is upright at the far right corner of the sheet; the Ken doll approaches, arm outstretched. Even in silhouette, I can see the shape of the face, the fixed smile. There is no sound accompanying this little play, which makes it even more unsettling .

Ken reaches Barbie. I bite my lip, trying to make sense of this all, trusting Luke to keep us safe while I focus on the poltergeist’s strange message .

Ken turns, and Barbie follows. They stop at the center of the sheet. Now both Ken’s stiff plastic arms extend towards Barbie, and he touches her face. Barbie and Ken walk away together and then she tumbles forward. Her arms and legs kick out at odd angles, and she is still. Ken bends over the prostrate Barbie, and then as his body moves backward, the Barbie moves with him, although the two dolls don’t touch .

Ken and Barbie disappear off screen .

“What’s the point of showing us that?” My voice is rough with frustration. That scene spooked me. “Why won’t you just tell us ?”

“I want revenge,” the voice comes again .

“For what? What made you want to hurt those girls ?”

The light bulb shatters. The noise is as loud and terrifying as a gunshot, and small shards of glass rain down on us in the darkness. I squeeze my eyes shut, a second too late, protecting my vision .

“Come on,” Luke says. I feel a warm hand against mine, and I jump, even as fingers entwine with mine. His palm is dry and rough .

“That’s you, right? Touching me ?”

“Are you new here?” he asks me. We both know ghosts are cold, even when the powerful ones exert enough energy to make themselves tangible. “Yeah, that’s me .”

But while he might be rude, he doesn’t let go of my hand. We navigate the dark attic, reaching the door. He turns the knob and a sliver of light enters the room. Just that little bit of light gives me a sudden flood of relief .

Behind us, the room is suddenly bright, illuminating the suspended sheet once more. It feels like a trap. It’s okay, kids, come in and sit down for story time, just stay a little longer …

The shattered bulb is still screwed into the light, jagged and rough, and shimmering shards of glass are scattered in the dust. My gaze sweeps across the room, but I can’t find the source of the sudden light .

The Barbie doll stands at the center of the sheet, her arms up above her head. Then she spins, dancing in the air, twisting left and right .

“Let’s get out of here,” Luke says. He might be the cool one, he might be the one who insists we need to make contact with the poltergeist, but even he’s shaken. He swings the door open .

Then, as the doll rises, then falls, only to rise again, crossing to the right, it suddenly makes sense to me .

“I think it’s spelling,” I say .

In the dim light, I can see the look that Luke levels at me. “The ghost is spelling? It’s playing games with us .”

“Can you tell us your name?” I ask the ghost. The na?ve words hang in the air, full of optimism. Are ghosts clued in to how the afterlife works enough to know what we’re attempting? If we know its name, we can find an object that used to belong to it, and then we can send this ghost off into the afterlife it so richly deserves .

But the Barbie dances on. Now we’re on to what might be L’s – a quick slash over diagonally, a slow straight cut down, repeated twice .

“Can you start over?” I ask. “I don’t know where you began. Luke, do you have paper — ”

“In my back pocket .”

In his back pocket ? It’s only when I look over at him that he gets it; Luke has his shoulder in the door, preventing us from being locked in with the poltergeist, and his knife in his hand, ready for a fight .

I’d like to know what a knife even does against a poltergeist, but I’m not arguing. I reach over, my eyes still intent on the sheet. My fingers slide across the rough denim of his jeans to find the pocket. Even in the middle of a haunting, my brain takes a second to appreciate the muscular shape of his ass before my fingertips run across the smooth edge of a small notebook .

“Front pocket,” he tells me, before I can ask for a pen. Carefully, staying as close to his hip as possible, I find the hard metal shape of his pen .

I have to glance away from the Barbie Doll Nightmare for a second to flip the pad open and click out the pen .

“Please start over,” I ask the ghost. “I can’t keep up… I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell me .”

“He’s just fucking with us,” Luke says impatiently. “I appreciate the attempt, Ash, but we’re done here .”

“Well, how are you going to find out who he is if we don’t listen? We don’t know anything.” An H, I think… I scrawl it on the page without looking. An O? L’s again… “I think we’ve come full circle, maybe. Just wait . ”

“We really can’t,” Luke says, his tone calm, icily calm. Suddenly, the sheet drops to the ground. The Barbies fall to the floor, making a soft but eerie sound on the dusty hardwood .

The stairs creak and groan. Maybe the ghost intends to trap us. My fists rise as I turn to face the doorway .

Luke rests his hand in the small of my back. His touch is electric, even in the middle of this cluster, and I look up to see him fixing a smile on his face .

Three fraternity brothers, big guys in suits and ties, stand on the stairs, watching us with angry faces .

* * *

“S orry, guys,” Luke says smoothly. “This is so embarrassing. My girlfriend desperately needed my help .”

“You’re done. You’re out,” the first one says. “You betrayed your brothers. You know you’re not allowed in the house unescorted .”

“It’s not your house yet,” another adds. “And now it never will be .”

We stand in the expansive lobby of the frat house, in a near-empty room with a beat-up wooden floor. The stairs up are behind us. The brothers hover in the doorways surrounding us, and there’s probably thirty of them .

I like a fight, but I don’t like these odds .

“She’s rushing too,” Luke goes on, as if no one’s spoken. “Rho Iota Epsilon. It’s a big deal to her. Her mother, her grandmother, they were all PIE girls. You guys understand that, right? How important legacy is? And they had this crazy challenge tonight, I wouldn’t have gotten dragged in, but she is on the verge of being a failed pledge — ”

“You’re a failed pledge.” One of the guys tells Luke, closing the distance between them. He’s a big bodybuilder looking guy, like a stereotypical football player, shorter than Luke but stocky and powerful. He points his finger in Luke’s face .

Part of me expects Luke to snap. But he slipped that knife into hiding without the brothers ever seeing it when they caught us, and he smiles now as if he’s embarrassed, with a sheepish look written across his face. It’s an expression I’ve never seen from him before, and one that I never would have imagined .

Luke is quite the actor. When it comes down to the job, that massive ego of his seems to be sheathed just as easily as his dagger .

“All right.” Luke holds his hands up. “I get it, you’re pissed. Let me take her home, make sure she gets back to her dorm safe, and then I’ll come back and we can talk .”

“There’s nothing left to talk about. You think you can pull some strings, waltz in here after rush — ”

“I had to leave school during rush,” Luke says. “You know that. My dad …”

“Yeah, and it’s your dad and your grandfather that got you in here. But they can’t save your ass now, Chamberlain .”

Luke’s voice is different, cool and controlled instead of smooth and appeasing, when he says, “I’m going to walk out of here and take my girl home .”

“Fuck you, you’re not walking out of anywhere .”

“Are you keeping us here?” Luke demands. “Against our will ?”

“Oh, fuck this,” one of the guys says from the sidelines. “Rogers, let them go. Let them go be losers .”

“You’re never going to get accepted to a frat,” someone else says. “You blew it .”

Luke takes a step back toward the door, and Rogers takes two steps in toward him. Rogers is so close to us that I can see the wiry hairs on his arms, the angry flare of his nostrils. Who cares this much? What does Rogers know about the ghost ?

“What were you doing in the attic?” Rogers demands .

“Like I told you. Her sorority dared the pledges to steal something from one of the frats… she wanted to go big, impress the sisters, hoping they’d give her a second chance.” Luke’s face is pure innocence. I might believe him if I didn’t know him .

“And you just went along with that. Unbelievable,” says another one of the guys on the sidelines. But they’re not the ones I’m worried about. Rogers, watching Luke’s face, seems unconvinced. I don’t know if he’s the frat president or the pledge chair or what, but he sure seems to be in control of this situation .

“You’re scaring me,” I tell Rogers, hugging Luke’s bicep, pressing myself against his muscular frame. Luke isn’t the only one who can act. I let my voice break when I plead, “Let him take me home. Please .”

“She can go,” Rogers says. His eyes meet Luke’s coolly. “ You stay .”

“I’m not letting her walk across campus by herself at 3 am,” Luke says. Any other time, I’d be peeved by a guy letting his girlfriend do any damn thing. But today, I’ll play along. I can’t leave Luke here by himself. The danger in the air is almost palpable .

“Whatever, let him go. He’s done here.” This from a tall blond preppy frat boy. “ Fuck him .”

Luke half-shrugs. Then he slips his arm around my shoulders, hugging me in tight to his side as we back toward the front door. The roomful of men watches us with angry eyes, but they don’t move .

When we bump against the door, I twist to grab the knob while Luke keeps a watchful eye. Then the two of us stumble into the cool air .

“Let’s run,” Luke whispers into my ear as the door closes behind us .

We clatter down the steps of the porch and cross the big green lawn, moving fast towards campus, where there are emergency call buttons on every block. Before long, we are sprinting across the empty street and onto the brick walkways that run all over our scenic campus. Luke matches my pace easily, and I can tell he’s holding himself back, a step behind me and to my right where he can keep a watchful eye over me .

I was a lot more fit in the afterlife. My chest is tight and aching when we stop, panting, in front of my dorm .

“They don’t know your name,” Luke says, looking far too cool and unruffled. I bend over, my hands on my knees. “But I don’t like the idea of you being alone after that. Just in case .”

I press my hand over my aching ribs as I straighten. “I could stay in a friend’s room .”

“Sure,” Luke says. “That’s a safer bet. Does she live in this dorm ?”

“He sure does .”

Luke’s face changes, just slightly, taking in that information. “I’ll walk you in .”

A few minutes later, I knock on Jax’s door, gently, trying not to wake the whole hall. Luke leans against the wall beside me, a dour look on his face. Heat rises to my cheeks, for some reason, and I knock again, a little louder .

Jax finally comes to the door, his shoulder-length brown hair tousled, his face creased with sleep. He looks at me with squinting eyes, a half-smile forming on his lips, and then his eyes widen as he sees Luke .

Jax suddenly stands up straighter, the smile dropping away .

“Hey,” I say. “This is Luke. The guy I told you about? With the poltergeist? Can I stay over ?”

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you,” Jax says to Luke .

“Sure,” Luke says. “I have shit to do, Ash. You okay with him ?”

“Yeah, I’m fine .”

“Stay away from the brothers,” he tells me, those brilliant green eyes intent on mine. “You see anything fishy, anything that makes you uncomfortable, you call me .”

He means something stranger than those eerie, lovely eyes. Or that handsome sharply-planed face that makes me feel like being around Luke is going to get me hurt, one way or another . Sure .

“Do you think they’re dangerous?” I ask. “They seem like just… normal people. You think maybe they could be in thrall to the poltergeist or something ?”

“Poltergeist or not, I think normal people are dangerous.” Luke pats my shoulder, clumsily, the only thing I’ve ever seen him do clumsily. “You did good. We’ll re-group tomorrow .”

“Even if I’m not cool as a cucumber?” Which is a pretty geeky cliché for such a badass to use anyway. “Luke, where are you going? I want to know you’re safe .”

“Getting off campus, just for the night. All right? I’ve got Mave to watch my back, I’ll be fine .”

I nod. “All right,” I say reluctantly .

His lips quirk up. “It’s cute to see a civilian worry about me. You just worry about yourself , kid .”

Then he turns and walks away, down the gray-carpeted, bright hallway of the residence hall. I stand there in the doorway. Jax sighs impatiently, but it’s a distant sound for me. I watch Luke until he disappears out the exit to the stairs .

I can’t shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen .