“Okay, so we know this will work as a safe hold,” Sapph said, cradling a hot mug of tea in her icy hands. She’d just come back out of the Ghostlands for a second time. “We just don’t know why.”

The Ghostlands version of the gatehouse had been so sterile that she felt as if she’d been moving through the abandoned set of a movie. Nothing had moved, or breathed, or spoken to her. 

“Does it really matter?” Vincent asked her, curious.

She shrugged. “It depends on whether or not you want to know how safe we are. Without knowing how the effect is generated, we don’t know if or when it will fail.”

Gwen came back into the living room where everyone was seated, and showed Sapph a book. “You didn’t see anything like this, did you?”

Sapph squinted at the page. “No, I didn’t. What are they?”

“Folk magic,” Gwen said, closing the small book and sliding it into a pocket. “It’s an interest of mine, so I wondered.” She dropped onto the couch. “It would fit in with the time frames we’re looking at.”

“But would it be? I thought the gatekeeper’s house had been renovated,” Lance said.

“The interior, yes, but it’s not like they tore the entire thing down,” Gwen told him. “Sometimes sigils were carved into the foundations, or the frame of the house, and I thought maybe that might be one thing.”

“But folk magic isn’t real,” Lance objected. “It’s just superstition.”

Gwen gave him a flat look. “And Sapph is just a normal person who can turn herself into a ghost.”

“That’s different,” he said.

“Really? How?” Gwen said.

“Let’s not go over this ground again,” Pat said, rubbing his hand across his face. “Can’t you two find something else to argue about after fifteen years?”

Gwen stuck her tongue out at him, and Lance gave him the finger. Pat ignored both of them and addressed his next question to Scottie. “So knowing that at least for the moment that this is a safe zone, what would you suggest next?”

Scottie chewed thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek. “So far, we’ve found at least 3 areas of interest: the records room, the barn, and the graveyard.”

“And the hidden morgue,” Lance said. 

“And the hidden morgue. So four. And we’ve seen at least 3 phantoms: the watcher, as Sapph called it, the children, and the doctor.” He looked back at Pat. “Did the owners give you any other information on who might be here?”

It was Gwen who answered him. “They didn’t report actually seeing anything like a ghost. They heard screams, children’s voices, and random crashes and bangs.” She sighed. “It’s a lot harder being the first investigators on site than I think any of us thought. We literally have no idea what’s here.”

“Luckily for us, we have Sapph and Scottie,” Amari said. “Since they can actually talk to the ghosts they find.”

“If they can be talked to,” Sapph reminded her. “If it’s residual, it’s not going to respond.”

“Since when have you heard of a residual grabbing someone and throwing them into the wall?”

Sapph conceded that with a nod of her head.

“So here’s my suggestion,” Amari continued. “Sapph, how many ghostwalks can you do in a night?”

Sapph frowned. “You know, I don’t know,” she said. “We’ve never really tested it. If I can warm up in between, theoretically, I should be able to do at least three or four.” She looked at Scottie, who nodded. “That would be good to know, honestly. What were you thinking, Amari?”

“I’m thinking that we should take tonight and tomorrow to have you go into those hot spots,” Amari said, opening her notebook. “In between, while you warm up, maybe Scottie could do a clairvoyant walk in the same areas? To see if he sees anything?"

"And we can bring out some equipment to see if we can record anything," Knox said. "See if we can get those children to maybe talk to us." He turned to Gwen. "You’re our resident parent, so I think you should take the lead in talking to them."

Gwen nodded. "I think we should go in with just cameras, the REM pod, and recorders. Those are innocuous enough to not startle children."