Jessica's fingers trembled as she clutched the small leather pouch in her palm, its worn surface smooth against her skin. Inside, dried herbs and crystals clinked together—a protection charm she crafted after an hour of research on a computer during the weekend. She thought about sneaking into Salina's house, but it felt too risky. Who knew what traps she left to protect her precious items.

  The scent of lavender and sage wafted faintly through the fabric, mixing with the sterile high school air. At least it was better than nothing, and she didn't need Salina's help.

  The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, casting harsh shadows across the nearly empty hallway. Kevin stood by his locker, methodically arranging his textbooks with the same precision he always had—Advanced Chemistry, World History, Calculus, each spine perfectly aligned. But something was off. His movements were too rigid, too mechanical, like a puppet on strings. The spark of wit that usually danced in his eyes had dimmed to a dull glaze, and the constant stream of science puns and obscure historical references that normally punctuated his every action had gone silent. Even his typically messy dark hair was perfectly combed, another sign that whatever was wearing Kevin's face wasn't really him.

  "Kevin," Jessica called out, keeping her voice low. A few students milled about the hallway, their conversations echoing off the metal lockers, but most had already headed to lunch. The smell of cafeteria pizza wafted through the air, but food was the last thing on her mind. "Can we talk?"

  He turned, and Jessica's heart clenched at the cold distance in his expression. This wasn't her Kevin—her best friend who could make her laugh even during their most ridiculous supernatural investigations, who'd spent countless nights helping her chase down local legends and urban myths. This was Salina's Kevin, enchanted and altered like everything else she'd touched lately. An artificial stillness that made Jessica's skin crawl had replaced his usual warmth.

  "Go away," he said flatly, turning away. His voice held none of the gentle teasing or genuine interest that usually colored their conversations. “I'm busy.”

  Jessica lunged forward, her sneakers squeaking against the linoleum floor as she grabbed his wrist. His skin felt unnaturally cool beneath her fingers. In one fluid motion, she pressed the charm into his palm and closed his fingers around it, the crystals digging into both their hands. "I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion, "but I need my friend back."

  As she whispered the short spell from her lips, a pulse of energy rippled between them, like static electricity but deeper, more primal. Kevin's eyes widened, his whole body going rigid. For one terrifying moment, Jessica thought she'd made a horrible mistake—that the protection charm would hurt him somehow, or worse, drive whatever magic had taken hold even deeper. Then he gasped, stumbling backward until his shoulders hit the lockers with a metallic clang that echoed through the nearly empty hallway.

  "Jessica?" His voice cracked, warm brown eyes clearing like fog burning away in sunlight. "Holy cheese balls! What happened? Everything's been so foggy... like I've been underwater..."

  Relief flooded through her, making her knees weak. "Oh thank god," Jessica breathed, fighting the urge to throw her arms around him. She settled for squeezing his hand tighter, feeling the charm pressed between their palms. "How much do you remember?"

  Kevin pressed his free hand to his forehead, wincing. His perfectly combed hair was already falling into its usual disheveled state. He reached into his pocket and placed his usual glasses on."Uhhhhh… It's like... like I've been sleepwalking. Salina was..." His eyes snapped to Jessica's, sudden horror dawning on his face as memories crashed back. "Oh god, the things I said to you. About breaking up and… Ah! I kissed Salina!”

  He rubbed his fingers around his lips, shaking. “I kissed my best friend instead of my girlfriend!”

  "Calm down. It wasn't you," Jessica said firmly, though the memory of his cruel words still stung. "It was her—or whatever's controlling her. And we need to figure out exactly what it is before anyone else gets hurt." She didn't add that watching her two best friends slip away had been like losing pieces of herself, but something in Kevin's expression suggested he understood, anyway.

  Kevin straightened, that familiar determined glint returning to his eyes—the one that had gotten them into (and sometimes out of) so many supernatural scrapes over the years. "Yes, we need to check the house," he said, unconsciously rubbing the spot where the charm had touched his skin. “That's where it all started. The mirror, and it has many books for us to read.”

  Jessica nodded, even as her stomach twisted at the thought of returning to that place. The memory of Salina touching the mirror, of the strange light that had filled her eyes, still haunted Jessica's dreams. "Tonight. My dad's working the late shift at the police station, so he won't notice if I sneak out."

  "I'll bring my research kit," Kevin said, already pulling out his phone to make notes with the same enthusiasm he brought to every investigation. "EMF reader, infrared thermometer, digital recorder—"

  "And maybe some actual protection this time?" Jessica suggested dryly, though her heart lightened at seeing him act like himself again. "Unless you want to end up possessed again. The whole 'mindless servant' look really doesn't totally suit you."

  Kevin managed a weak smile, running a hand through his increasingly messy hair. "Yeah, that wasn't fun. Though I have to admit, being Salina's mindless servant had its perks. Did you know she got me out of taking that history test? Apparently even Mrs. Henderson falls for the whole 'otherworldly charm' thing. And kissing her didn't felt too-”

  "Not funny," Jessica growled, but she felt her lips twitch. God, she'd missed this—missed him and his terrible attempts to lighten even the darkest situations.

  "Too soon?"

  "Just forget about the kiss and focus. Tonight, that house better have answers or else I will burn it to the ground.”

  Kevin sighed. “Okay.”

  Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

  *****

  The haunted house loomed before them that night, a hulking shadow against the star-studded sky. Jessica's flashlight beam caught cobwebs in the corners of the sagging porch, making them shimmer like silver threads in the darkness. Every board seemed to creak beneath their feet, as if the house itself protested their presence. The autumn air was crisp with the promise of winter, carrying the scent of dead leaves and decay.

  "This seemed like a much better idea in daylight," Kevin muttered, fiddling with his EMF reader. The device emitted a steady stream of clicks that grew more frantic as they approached the front door, its screencasting a ghostly green glow across his worried face. "Or, you know, never. Never would have been good too."

  Jessica swallowed hard, her new protection charm heavy around her neck. "This is the only time we get out. Whatever we are dealing with, we have to know now. For Salina's sake." She didn't mention how their friend's behavior had grown increasingly erratic at school—how other students had fallen under her influence, their eyes taking on that same glassy sheen that Kevin's had held.

  The door swung open at her touch, hinges groaning like a soul in torment. Stale air washed over them, carrying the musty scent of decay and something else—something sharp and metallic that made the hair on the back of Jessica's neck stand up. It reminded her of ozone, of the air just before a lightning strike.

  They moved through the house like ghosts themselves, their flashlight beams dancing across peeling wallpaper and broken furniture. Everything looked exactly as it had the day they'd first explored it with Salina, right down to the thick layer of dust coating every surface. Empty picture frames hung at odd angles, their glass long since shattered. A child's doll sat abandoned in one corner, its porcelain face cracked and empty eyes seeming to follow their movement.

  Every surface except...

  "Kevin," Jessica breathed, pointing her light at a set of footprints in the dust. They led straight to the cracked mirror hanging in the room—the mirror Salina had touched right before everything went wrong. The footprints were small, delicate, with a familiar pattern Jessica recognized from Salina's favorite boots.

  Kevin moved forward, his EMF reader shrieking in protest. The device's lights flashed red, nearly blinding in the darkness. "These readings are off the charts. Whatever's in this house, it's centered on that mirror. The electromagnetic disturbance is like nothing I've ever seen."

  Jessica looked back at the door. “Should we read Seren's journals before we approach that creepy mirror?”

  Kevin kept his eyes on his blinking reader. “I think we should check this out before I lose the signal. This is research, Jessica.”

  Jessica nodded and approached the mirror cautiously, studying her warped reflection in the fractured glass. Something about it seemed wrong, like the image was slightly out of sync with her movements, trailing behind by a fraction of a second. "There has to be more here. Some clue about what happened to Salina."

  Kevin ran his fingers along the mirror's ornate frame, pressing and prodding at the intricate carvings that decorated its edges. "Maybe if we—" A click echoed through the room, and a small panel popped open at the base of the frame. "Ha! What a coincidence. A secret compartment.”

  Jessica knelt beside him as he reached into the hidden space, pulling out a small leather-bound brown book. It has a worn smooth cover with age, its pages yellow and brittle. The leather felt warm to the touch, as if it had been sitting in sunlight rather than hidden away for who knew how long.

  "Careful," she warned as Kevin opened it. The pages crackled ominously, and that metallic scent grew stronger.

  "It's a journal," he said, angling it toward the flashlight beam. Spidery handwriting filled each page, the ink faded but still legible. "Dated 1723. Listen to this: 'This is my last record, for I might never return. Those fools discovered I was the one murdering their girls and taking their lovers for my pleasure. I should have known my luxurious life wouldn't last forever. If I had more power, the whole town would have bowed before my feet. But if I don't want to be burned or hanged, this option is my only hope. I shall use my scrying mirror to escape into the unknown. My body may perish, but my soul shall live on freely, free from pain and suffering. But I shall not remain trapped for eternity. For I shall wait for someone to come—someone young, someone powerful. A willing vessel to carry my legacy into the world once more.'"

  A chill ran down Jessica's spine, and she pulled her pink jacket tighter around herself. "Who wrote it?"

  Kevin flipped through more pages, his expression growing increasingly grim. In the harsh beam of the flashlight, his face looked almost as haunted as the surrounding house. "Seren Winter. She probably used the mirror to escape from the townsfolk before they attacked her house. That explains why nobody has ever found her. She has been trap in that mirror for centuries until-”

  “Until Salina touched the mirror," Jessica whispered, the horrible truth clicking into place like the final piece of a nightmare puzzle. "That's why she's different. Why she has these powers. Why everyone who gets close to her fall under her spell. She's possessed."

  "Not completely," Kevin corrected. "Salina's soul is still inside her own body, locked away in her own subconscious. I read many people say that while they were possessed, the entity locked them in a dream state to control their bodies. It's like sleepwalking in a nightmare.”

  Hope flared in Jessica's chest, warm against the house's pervasive chill. "Good, that means there is a good chance to totally free her… Somehow. But thank god she's still alive.”

  "But for how long?" Kevin looked up from the journal, his face pale in the flashlight beam. "Here, Seren wrote, the longer she can stay in a worthy vessel, the stronger her hold becomes. Soon, the victim's soul will perish, giving her complete control. We need to get her out before the possession becomes permanent."

  "How?" Jessica demanded, frustration edging into her voice. "It's not like we can just ask the evil witch spirit to leave nicely. 'Excuse me, centuries-old vengeful spirit, would you mind not possessing our friend anymore?'"

  "Actually..." Kevin flipped to the back of the journal, where cramped writing and strange symbols covered several pages that seemed to shift and move in the flickering light. "We might not have to ask. Look at this—it's an exorcism ritual. Seren wrote it down as a precaution, in case someone else tries to possess her body during her dark rituals.”

  Jessica leaned closer, studying the intricate diagrams. Circles within circles, filled with symbols that made her eyes hurt to look at directly. "Can we do it?"

  "Maybe. But we'd need to get Salina back here, to the mirror where it all started. And she'd have to be here willingly—we can't just drag her in. The ritual won't work unless both host and spirit are present of their own free will. But I can knock her out once she is inside.”

  "Great," Jessica muttered, running a hand through her dark hair. "So we just have to convince our possessed friend to voluntarily come back to the creepy haunted house where she got possessed. Totally super easy."

  "We'll figure it out," Kevin said, reaching for her hand. His fingers were warm despite the house's chill, solid in a way that grounded her. "We got this far, didn't we?"

  Jessica squeezed his fingers, grateful beyond words to have her friend back. "Yeah, we did. And we're getting Salina back too, no matter what it takes." The determination in her voice surprised even her.

  A floorboard creaked somewhere above them, making them both jump. Kevin's flashlight beam swung toward the ceiling, catching nothing but shadows that seemed to move just a little too purposefully.

  "We should go," Jessica whispered. "Before—"

  The mirror behind them suddenly blazed with an eerie green light, filling the room with its otherworldly glow. In its fractured surface, Jessica glimpsed multiple ghostly faces—each hollow-eyed and twisted with malice, mouths opened with laughter. Ancient eyes stared back at her, filled with centuries of hatred and hunger.

  “What are those?” Jessica cried, her heart beating while her inner wolf growled in defensive mode.”

  Kevin shut the journal and jumped to his feet. “Not Seren… Maybe her friends, or victims trapped in the afterlife?”

  One ghost slammed its fists against the mirror from within, shaking the frame like thunder. The others roared, begging to break out.

  “I think we should get the hell out of here,” Jessica suggested.

  Kevin gulped. “Good point.”

  *****

  Later, huddled in Kevin's car with the journal clutched safely between them, Jessica's heart rate returned to normal. The familiar smell of old books and Kevin's coffee addiction helped chase away the house's lingering chill. "So," she said, trying for lightness, "got any ideas how to lure a possessed goth cheerleader to her doom?"

  Kevin grimaced, his fingers drumming nervously on the steering wheel. "A few, but I should tell you at my house.”

  "Okay." Jessica leaned back in her seat, staring up at the stars through the windshield. They seemed colder somehow, more distant than usual. Somewhere out there, Salina—the real Salina—was trapped inside her own body, sleeping like sleeping beauty. "Whatever it takes," she said firmly. "We're getting our friend back."

  Kevin nodded, starting the engine. As they pulled away from the haunted house, Jessica couldn't shake the feeling that somewhere behind them, in that cracked mirror, those evil spirits were watching. Waiting for their wicked friend to come back home.

  The leather-bound journal sat heavy in Jessica's lap, its secrets burning like ice against her skin. Tomorrow they will begin planning how to save their friend. But tonight, as Kevin's car wound through the sleeping streets of Moon Valley, Jessica allowed herself one moment of quiet fear. Because whatever happened next, she knew with bone-deep certainty that their lives would never be the same.