"Would it kill you to just sign up for the email listing?" Erica muttered towards the girl across the table through gritted teeth as she forced a startling smile. "We only send out messages about meeting dates, so we won't bombard your inbox."

            "Um, no thanks," she replied, slowly backing up. "I just came to get the psych assignment from James, but, um, I can text him about it later." At that, she flitted away.

            "Oh my God," James breathed, pressing a hand to his face. "I cannot believe you, Erica. She was going to give me her number before you did your scary chess spiel."

            "Pardon me for not wanting to get this club shut down," Erica threw back, fully aware of how lame her comeback was but too discouraged from about two hours of constant rejection to even muster up the energy. Not a single person had written their name down on the sheet.

            "Even the knitting club's gotten more attention than us," she muttered under her breath, narrowing her eyes at the neon posters situated at the table across the cafeteria.

            "I thought you said Drew was helping us out today," Sol broke in before James could open his mouth and release a scathing remark.

            "No, I said he'd be more involved in the club from now on," Erica corrected him, shuffling the papers before her. "That could mean anything. He could just mean he's going to show up to nap at the meetings."

            "Oh," Sol breathed, examining Erica as she plastered on a pained grin to attract people to their table. "Wait, I think that guy's coming towards us." 

            "Where?"

            "Three o'clock," Sol informed her in a hushed tone, attempting to keep his lips still.

            "Hey, you're in my lit class," a boy with chunky glasses residing on the rim of his nose approached them and addressed Zip.

            Perfect, Erica couldn't help but think to herself, as he looked like a freshman version of Tanner. He was lanky and fidgety, so Erica instantly jumped to the conclusion he'd be interested in a club like theirs.

            "Oh," Zip remarked, face not betraying a single sliver of recognition. "Cool."

            Erica attempted to elbow him subtly but failed as Zip shot her a dirty glare, rubbing a hand over his side. The boy glanced between them perplexedly but, before he could comment any further, Erica broke out into an eager exclamation.

            "Are you interested in chess or learning how to play it?" she began.

            "I actually was on my high school's chess team," he informed her, pushing his glasses farther up his nose. "Which tournaments have you guys been in?"

            Erica exchanged a look with Sol, mentally inquiring of him if she should lie. His eyes seemed to plead that she didn't, but she interpreted it as approval instead and sputtered, "Uh, all the ones in New York, actually."

            "What?" He blinked. "Well, um, that's quite an accomplishment."

            "Yeah, we just love to get involved in New York's chess community," Erica continued, unblinking despite being perfectly aware of her blunder. "Everyone's just so... Good. At chess."

            "Yeah...," he trailed off, smile slowly fading. "Where's your board?"

            "Oh, it's in the office," Erica assured him, pleading with her eyes for help from the others as she clearly had no idea what she was spouting. "We, um, have one of those fancy wooden ones with intricate carvings and, erm, jewels. So, we didn't want to bring it out because, you know, it's expensive."

            She felt James' chest rise as he tried to suppress his laughter.

            "Jewels?" the boy repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting."

            "Yeah, so, you should totally sign up for the email listing!" Erica blurted out in one final, desperate attempt.

            "I don't have an email account right now," the boy murmured, scratching the back of his neck.

            "You can just give the email the school provides for you," Erica insisted, sliding the sheet towards him.

            "I'm afraid it, um, hasn't been activated yet," he mustered up, shrinking away. Erica nearly reached across the table and grabbed onto the sleeve of his shirt.

            "That's interesting," she remarked, tilting her head to the side, and drilling her gaze onto him. "You should get that checked out by the student computing center. You could give me another place to contact you until then, though."

            "I, uh, don't think I have anything right now," he murmured before waving clumsily and spinning around to retreat towards the International Club table. Erica could see his phone in his back pocket as he stumbled on, and she narrowed her eyes.

            After the boy was a reasonable distance away, James broke out into a fit of laughter, clutching onto his chest as he could no longer contain his amusement. Erica, however, simply sunk beneath the table and hugged her knees to her chest, deciding she was finished with the club for the day.

            All her careful planning and siphoning of funds meant nothing now that she'd have to return it all out of pocket. And what would the school do if they knew about this? That's probably grounds for expulsion or loss of scholarship.

            She leaned her head back against the metal beams beneath the table and left her eyes flutter shut, accepting her inevitable eviction from Damon University. The hum of freshmen wandering around the cafeteria in search of their niche faded out of Erica's mind as thoughts of failure swirled around in her brain. 

            Then, as the hum died down and Erica heard a female voice address Sol, she perked up.

            "How are sign ups going?"

            At first, Erica simply assumed it was Hanna but realized this girl's voice wasn't as high pitched and only at a fraction of Hanna's usual bubbliness.

            "Not a single person has given us their email so far," Sol replied wryly, shrugging his shoulders from above Erica. Erica's curiosity got the better of her, as she glanced ahead and noticed a pair of purple sneakers facing towards the table.

            Climbing up hesitantly, Erica drank in the sight of Cecilia's curling blond locks spilling down her shoulders and piercing grey eyes widening slightly as Erica rose from the ground.

            "Oh hi," she breathed, managing to suppress her surprise. "I'm Cecilia."

            "Erica," she returned, unable to even gather enough energy to advance her plan to become acquainted with Cecilia.

            "Don't mind her," Sol began, wrapping an arm over Erica's shoulders though he knew she hated those kinds of gestures. "We're all a bit tired from standing here all day and not receiving any new members. Have you signed up for anything fun?"

            Erica opened her mouth but then shut it, realizing it would be rude to cut into their small talk. She had to be strategic about advancing.

            "Not really," Cecilia answered, smiling pityingly. "Just some environmental clubs. Some of their meeting times don't work for me, though." She paused and glanced at their signup sheet, and, just like that, grasped at the pen. 

            "I don't know a thing about chess," she prefaced. "But I'd be willing to learn."

            Erica's heart nearly bounded out of her chest in exhilaration. She could hardly keep her jaw from dropping as Cecilia scrawled her name in small, neat letters onto the paper.

            "Dude, you're the best," Sol exclaimed, eyes sparkling. "Chess really isn't that hard to get a grasp of. You just have to come up with your own strategy."

            "Hopefully I'll get the hang of it," Cecilia returned, unsure of why both Erica and Sol were looking upon her as if she had just offered them a handsome sum of money or revealed that her veins contained liquid gold.

            "What are you doing Friday?" Sol blurted out before she had the opportunity to say goodbye, attempting casualty but delivering it in a rush.

            "Friday?" she repeated, chewing on her bottom lip. "I haven't really made any friends yet so probably nothing."

            "Well, I'm your friend now that you did me a solid," Sol informed her. "And I'm inviting you to a party with us that night."

            "Oh," Cecilia whispered, taken aback. "Alright. My first college party... I'm excited."

            "Yeah, I'll give you the address later," Sol returned easily.

            "Cool, thanks," she uttered, nodding her head towards the exit. "I'll see you around. It was nice meeting you guys." She gestured towards Erica, James, and Zip.

            "Who was that?" James was the first to break the silence once she ambled away. "And is she single?"

            Erica's head snapped sharply in his direction. "She's off limits to you," she informed him, nearly growling. "Her energy's off the charts but not in a good way. There's something she's hiding."

            "I don't care," James returned, grinning peevishly at Erica telling him what to do. "She's hot."

            Rolling her eyes, Erica muttered, "Don't even try it. She's way out of your league. If you even attempt to flirt with her, I will tell that one girl Bailey."

            "Bailey's not my girlfriend," James threw back defensively, crossing his arms over his chest.

            "Maybe you should tell her that," Erica retorted to which James let out a frustrated huff but decided to let it slide.

            At that, Erica's eyes trailed Cecilia as she sauntered out of the cafeteria like sunlight slowly fading. Erica had never met a person who radiated so much light before. Yet, when she turned, Erica caught a glimpse of the dusk clinging to her.

Burning sage before a party was one of the oddest things Erica had ever done. She wandered around the house, waving the bush around and making sure not to spill any ash on the expensive furniture.

            At this point, she wasn't even sure if she believed in the power of a sage cleansing but went through the motions regardless. She felt it was a good way to quell any worries Dux or Ally had without admitting she couldn't pinpoint what was releasing so much malevolence in this house.

            Dux gave a half-hearted tour of the house as they went along, opting to speak about something more cheerful than the dead. Erica only registered half of it, planning her outfit for tonight in her head.

            Then again, she'd been performing these rituals without much value to her. It'd been a while since she felt like what she was doing was important anymore.

            "This is my room," Dux continued, fingers curling around the doorframe. "We haven't really settled in very much, as you can tell."

Unopened boxes littered the floor as it seemed Dux had only unpacked her essentials. In the center of the room, a magnificent bed with an intricate mahogany bedframe stood. That was the only part of the room that looked lived in with sheets strewn haphazardly.

            Erica let the sage burn a little before deciding she couldn't sense anything. The house, overall, seemed to be lacking in its malice even though Dux and Ally complained that the issues had simply been getting worse.

            "Our guest room is right down the hall though I can't imagine we'll be putting it to use," Dux commented with Ally nodding beside her. Erica couldn't really see why that was an issue but kept her mouth shut as she strolled along.

            Wait.

            Her bones felt heavier with each step she took, and panic flooded her chest as she nearly dropped the sage to the floor, scattering ash everywhere. She clutched it tighter and inhaled deeply, pausing in her tracks.

            "What's that door?" she found herself asking before she even recognized what she was looking at.

            "The guest bedroom?" Dux returned, raising an eyebrow.

            "No," Erica murmured. "Beside it."

            "Oh, that?" Dux pointed towards the small, black door sunken into the wall and emanating something that instilled fear with Erica. "That small little passage?"

            "Yes," Erica answered immediately, eyes glued to the door. Something loomed behind it, approaching the exit but never tempting to leave. A chill ran up her spine as she could nearly picture its curling, colorless fingers extending like claws from its shapeless hands. It couldn't breathe in that small of a space and filled the air with loathing.

            "That's a passage to our attic," Dux informed her, glancing quizzically between Erica and the door. "We can't possibly enter it, though. The door's jammed no matter how much you jiggle it. The realtor said the door frame was too small and that the wooden steps had rotting wood so some of them caved in."

            "And you never thought to look further into that," Erica couldn't help but respond, mouth falling ajar. For someone so frightened by the presence in their house, they seemed to rule out one of the most obvious sources of their distress.

            "We don't want to open it," Ally suddenly piped up, the first time that evening. "We're scared. We hear strange noises coming from the attic, so we figured the door acts as a barrier between whatever's up there and us."

            "Possibly," Erica whispered, eyes glazing over as she stared at the scratched surface. "But the door won't hold it forever."

            Erica left in a daze, successfully burning the sage throughout the house but never really registering her own actions. Her mind kept jumping back to the door and what lurked behind it, shapeless and ruminating in its own darkness. It wanted to hurt her.

            She brushed it off. It wanted to hurt her, but it wouldn't do it today. She'd cross that bridge when she got to it. For now, she stashed the psychic stuff in hopes of enjoying a nice, normal evening out at this party.

            Donning a blue dress, Erica considered how much the temperature would drop once the sun set and if she should grab a jacket. Her mind kept wandering to earlier today and her dissatisfaction at not having resolved her issue, but she pursed her lips and pulled on a coat.

            Sol parked a few streets over from his friend's house after their mostly silent ride. Sol and Hanna discussed something in the front of the car, but Erica stared out of the window, sensing Cecilia awkwardly shifting a seat over.

            The girl wasn't used to silence but didn't know Erica well enough to really start up a conversation. Besides, while the girl looked gorgeous in the baby blue and tall, heeled boots cladding her feet, a part of her radiated an energy Cecilia wasn't sure if she wanted to approach. Besides, even if she didn't have any friends, it didn't mean that she didn't want to eavesdrop on others gossiping.