Page 42 of Wraith

YES.

My throat tightened. "I… I don’t want to die."

The silence in the room stretched thick, suffocating. Then, slow and deliberate, the planchette began to move again.

PROVE IT.

KILL THEM.

SAVE YOU.

KILL THEM.

Twenty-Eight

The momentI shoved the Ouija board into my closet, the room felt wrong. Not just eerie—wrong. The dim candlelight flickered against the walls, casting shadows that stretched too long, moved too unnaturally. My breath came shallow, every sound amplified by the silence pressing in around me.

I should’ve burned that damn board. Should’ve left the second Aeron did. But I couldn’t shake the feeling that turning my back on it now would make it worse.

I gritted my teeth and grabbed my coin, flipping it between my fingers. The cool metal grounded me, the repetition keeping my thoughts from spiraling. Heads. Of course.

Then, the air shifted.

Heavy. Suffocating.

A sharp chill wrapped around my spine, creeping up the back of my neck like icy fingers. My ears popped, pressure pressing against my skull like I’d been plunged underwater. The candlelight warped, flickering wildly, and the closet door creaked as if something pressed against it from the inside.

I tightened my grip on the coin. Just my imagination. That was all.

Then came the whisper.

You don’t have a choice.

My blood turned to ice.

I spun around, my chair scraping against the floor, but nothing was there—just me and the too-quiet room.

The darkness in the corners stretched deeper, unnatural shadows clawing their way up the walls. My pulse pounded in my ears, drowning out everything else. I wasn’t alone.

A sharp gust of air rushed past my ear, carrying something cold and wrong.

They did this. They let me fall.

My breath caught. “Lilith?”

The candles exploded.

A loud pop, then darkness swallowed the room. My body jerked back, my heart pounding, breath coming too fast. The scent of burnt wax filled the air, thick and cloying. A sharp sting bloomed across my cheek. I pressed my hand to it, my fingers coming away wet.

Blood.

A guttural creak pulled my gaze to the closet. The door, which had been shut, now stood open an inch. Just enough for darkness to bleed out, stretching toward me. My stomach twisted.

I needed to get out.

I grabbed my keys and coat, shoving my way out of the dorm. The second I stepped into the hallway, the air felt too still. Like the entire building was holding its breath.

A laugh slithered through the air.

---