Page 43 of Into the Dark

“The spirit of the angry nurse is too dangerous to leave loose.” Adrienne took up the narrative without missing a beat. “That’s why we’ve brought out…the Devil’s Toy Box.”

“Hell, yeah!” Zeek exclaimed.

Nigel rolled his eyes. If this device proved worth further investigation, he’d have to call it something less colorful, lest the name alone get him laughed out of the Institute.

Adrienne opened the box’s lid, revealing the interior. Every surface—top, bottom, and all four sides—was lined with a mirror.

“Ghosts use mirrors like portals,” Adrienne went on. “Mirrors facing each other can make more powerful portals and allow ghosts to travel back and forth between them. But here, every surface is a mirror. The ghost can travel from one to the next, but when the lid is closed, any other route is shut off. They’re stuck, ping-ponging from one mirror to the next with no way out.”

Not to mention, the silver backing on the mirror would turn the box into a Faraday cage as soon as the lid was closed. Nigel restrained himself from interjecting that fact into their video with some effort.

“All we need to do is lure the ghost inside,” Adrienne went on.

“With what?” Zeek asked. “Candy? That’d work on me.”

She let out a fake laugh. “Not candy. What ghosts want isenergy.We’re going to put a candle inside the box and ask her to draw energy from it, just as we did with the mirror seance last night.”

They cut. “Any questions?” Adrienne asked the rest of them.

“How will you know she’s in there?” Oscar asked.

“Hopefully the SLS will show her.” Adrienne took out an EMF reader and placed it on the floor next to the box. “And ifnot, the EMF should alert us. If she’s in the box when we close it, the EMF reader should stop showing a signal.”

“Oh!” Zeek snapped his fingers. “Oscar, why don’t you join us? You’re a medium—maybe that will come in handy?”

“I’m not sure?” Oscar bit his lip.

“Come on—it’ll be fun!”

Adrienne sighed heavily. “Zeek…?”

“What? This is a collab, isn’t it?”

“It’s okay,” Oscar started, at the same time Adrienne flung up her hands.

“Fine! We’re collaborating. Might as well make it official.” She put her hands on her hips. “But I’m going to draw up a contract that covers revenue sharing and who has what rights to what video.”

If she meant to put him off, she succeeded in the opposite. “That’s smart,” Oscar said. “Always get agreements in writing. Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

“We’ll shoot an intro for you later, outside the asylum,” Zeek said. “This is going to be sick!”

The three of them arranged themselves on the floor around the mirrored box, and Adrienne put her EMF reader beside it. “Turn off all the lights except for the cameras,” she instructed. “Everyone ready? Okay—let’s start.”

She took out a white tea candle and placed it carefully in the box, before igniting it with a long-necked lighter. “Spirit of Della Young,” she said in a clear, firm voice, “we want to communicate with you. Use the energy from this candle to speak with us.”

Nigel peered at the SLS camera’s screen over Chris’s shoulder as they panned it slowly around the room. It detected the figures of Oscar, Adrienne, and Zeek, superimposing digital stick figures over their forms.

“Nothing on camera yet,” he reported.

Adrienne looked to Oscar, who cleared his throat. His expression eased—no doubt he was centering and grounding himself before reaching out to the nurse.

Who was a very dangerous spirit. Nigel slipped his hand into his pocket, reassuring himself it was full of salt. If it even looked like she was going to try to hurt Oscar, he’d hit her with everything he had.

“Della Young,” Oscar said, “I know you’re watching us. You’re angry, and you don’t want us here. Come closer and show yourself to us.”

The EMF reader beeped and lit up—green, then yellow.

On the SLS screen, a stick figure stepped into the room.

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