Once her warning had been given, Claire moved up to the hayloft, watching the ghost walker from the shadows. As she crouched behind a large hay bale, the air vibrated near her, and Ash knelt next to her.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Claire told the other child. Ash had been only six when she’d come to the Asylum. Another victim of Dr. Broadwell, the little girl still wore the nightgown she’d died in, and dragged her moth-eaten doll with her everywhere.

“Annabelle wanted to know what was going on,” Ash said. She sat the doll up on the hay, so the toy’s mismatched button eyes could peer down to the barn floor. “She said there’s a pretty lady here. She likes pretty ladies.”

“She’s not the only one,” Claire muttered under her breath. Then she smiled down at Ash. “You know the pretty lady can’t stay, right?”

“Of course she can,” Ash said. “Why can’t she?”

“Because if she stays, the monsters will come back.”

Ash shivered, her little face growing sad. “I wish the monsters would go away forever. Then we could have people here again.”

Claire put her arm around the other child. “I know. I do too. But that’s something beyond what we can do.”

“You got rid of the monster that chased me,” Ash said. “Why can’t you get rid of them all?” Then her face brightened. “Maybe the pretty lady can help!” She wiggled out of Claire’s grasp before the other ghost could stop her, and skipped down the steps, calling out, “Pretty lady! Can you help us fight the monsters?”

Claire sighed, shook her head, and went after her. She managed to catch Ash around the wrist as the child was about to touch the second to last step and tugged, moving both of them to the children’s ward on the third floor of the Asylum in the blink of an eye. 

“Why did you do that?” Ash asked angrily, stamping one bare foot. “I wanted to talk to the pretty lady! And so did Annabelle!” She shook the doll at Claire. “You’re mean!”

“I’m trying to keep the pretty lady alive,” Claire said. “Do you want her to die here too?”

Ash stopped and thought about that. “Well, she’d be here to be pretty,” the little girl said finally. “And I like her light.”