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any of them. It just makes them stronger. We’ll have to tell Gage and Bryan not to talk to them, either.”
    Jess opened her mouth to say Allison was scaring her again, but snapped it shut. If there were ghosts here and Allison wanted to be afraid of them, fine. Not her. Not yet , anyway. A name in the mirror didn’t mean the ghost was evil.
    “Allison, did you write that?”
    Allison reached up and wiped at the name with her fingers. The name didn’t smudge. “If I had, don’t you think I’d be able to erase it?”
    “Oh, my God,” Jess repeated. She paced in front of the mirror, rationalizing this out. “Okay, so a ghost wrote his name on the mirror. That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s evil.”
    “But he is,” Allison said. She still hadn’t budged an inch.
    “Then maybe it’s a demon. Did the demons follow you here?” Jess asked. The thought of demons in their room did scare her.
    “No,” Allison answered.
    That was a huge relief. So Allison had only seen a ghost. One that tried to communicate with her and startled her. “Did he hurt you?”
    “No.”
    “Threaten you?” Jess asked.
    “No.”
    Jess resumed pacing. Allison had no real proof the ghost meant anyone harm. She couldn’t make out everything Riley said. She’d said so herself.
    She didn’t doubt Allison had seen a ghost, just that she knew for certain it was evil. Allison was quick to freak out, quick to judge without good reason. Understandable, given her history, but no one else, not Jess, and neither Bryan nor Gage, had felt anything inside the house yet—especially anything bad. Weren’t they also sensitive to the paranormal?
    “I don’t mean to sound bitchy, but why is it just you, Allison? Help me understand. Why are you the only one who thinks something is wrong here? How come the rest of us don’t sense anything in the house is evil?”
    “I told you ,” Allison said. “It’s fooled you. It’s fooled you all.”
    Jess took another look into the mirror. No ghosts. No one named Riley stared back at them. She wished she could see what Allison did. Maybe then she could help her with her fears.
    “Allison?”
    “Yes?”
    “Is it possible that you’re afraid of Siler House and ghosts because you’ve had such a bad experience? I mean, demons…that’s worse than anything I can imagine.”
    Allison didn’t respond. Maybe Jess was getting somewhere. “Ghosts are spooky,” she continued. “I get that. They pop into and out of a room so quickly and so quietly. Sometimes they shimmer, or flicker. Sometimes they stand there and stare without saying a single word. I’d call that scary if I didn’t know better—if I hadn’t come across them as often as I have. I’ve seen hundreds! And not one of them ever threatened or hurt me. And ghosts aren’t the same as demons, right?”
    “I don’t know,” Allison said, still staring into the mirror. “Until now, I’d never seen a ghost. We need to warn the others. Gage. Bryan. Dr. Brandt. Even Mrs. Hirsch.”
    Jess nodded slowly. “Fine. We’ll tell them what you saw, okay?” They’d tell the others, all right. And if Allison’s behavior got any stranger, she’d insist on her own room. Jess was exhausted and if it wasn’t already so late, she’d find another room right now.
    “Sorry. Go back to sleep.” Allison turned away from the mirror at last, and crawled back into her bed. “I think he’s gone now, but I’ll stay up and watch for him. If you want.”
    “No,” Jess said. “We should both go back to sleep. If you say he’s gone, then he’s gone. We’ll tell Dr. Brandt about it first thing in the morning. Will we be okay until then?”
    The odd, trance-like state Allison had been in was finally gone. “You think I’m crazy, don’t you?”
    Jess struggled for the right words, but came up short. It had been a long day. Her brain couldn’t rationalize anything right now except sleep. And she was worried that there might truly be something wrong with