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"Welcome," Sam whispered, opening the door to his basement, "to the Inner Sanctum."
Elian and Maya walked down the creaky stairs. "It smells like damp socks and lavender," Maya noted, wrinkling her nose.
"It's sage," Sam corrected, turning on a lamp that was covered in a red scarf. "To cleanse the aura."
The basement was exactly what Elian expected. There were posters of UFOs on the walls. There was a whiteboard covered in red string connecting random photos of politicians to pigeons. And in the center of the room, sitting on a beanbag chair, was a Ouija board.
"You dragged us here on a Saturday night for a board game?" Maya sighed, dropping her bag. "I could be sleeping, Sam."
"It's not a game, Maya," Sam said, his eyes wide. "After what happened with Jason? The wind? The cold? Elian is clearly a conduit. We need to contact the spirit that is guarding him."
Elian stood awkwardly by the mini-fridge. Lyra was floating around the room, inspecting Sam's conspiracy wall. "This kid is hilarious," she said, poking a photo of a pigeon labeled 'Drone?'. "He thinks the moon is a hologram. I wish. That would save so much maintenance."
"Come on," Sam commanded. "Sit in the circle. I stole my mom's good candles."
Elian sat on the floor. Maya sat opposite him, looking bored. Sam sat at the head, looking like he was about to defuse a bomb.
"Rules," Sam said sternly. "Do not take your fingers off the planchette. Do not disrespect the spirits. And do not ask when you're going to die."
"I already know that one," Elian muttered.
"What?" Sam asked.
"Nothing."
"Okay," Sam said. He placed two trembling fingers on the plastic triangle pointer. Maya rolled her eyes and added hers. Elian added his.
Lyra floated down. She sat cross-legged right in the center of the board, hovering inches above the plastic. "Oh, I love these things!" she rubbed her hands together. "It's like texting for ghosts, but with terrible reception."
"Oh, Spirits of the Beyond," Sam intoned, using a fake deep voice. "We summon you! Are there any entities present in this room?"
Silence. The candle flickered. "Maybe it's busy," Maya suggested.
"Shh!" Sam hissed. "Focus your energy!"
Lyra looked at Elian. She grinned. A wicked, chaotic grin. "Let's rattle his cage."
She reached out and placed one pale, translucent finger on top of the planchette. She pushed. SCRAPE. The plastic slider moved across the board. Slowly. Deliberately. It stopped on YES.
Sam gasped so hard he choked on his own spit. "DID YOU GUYS PUSH THAT?" "Nope," Maya said, looking slightly less bored. "Elian?" "Not me," Elian lied, biting his cheek to keep a straight face.
"Oh my god," Sam whispered. "It's here. Okay. Okay. Stay calm." He cleared his throat. "Spirit! What is your name?"
Lyra giggled. She grabbed the pointer with both hands and yanked it. Z... O... R... G.
"Zorg?" Sam frowned. "Your name is Zorg?"
Z... O... R... G... O... N.
"Zorgon?" Sam's eyes went wide. "That sounds like a destroyer of worlds! Is it a demon? Maya, check the temperature! Is it cold?"
"It's a basement, Sam. It's always cold," Maya said, though she was watching the board closely now.
"Spirit!" Sam shouted, sweating. "Why are you here? What is your mission?"
Lyra looked at Elian. "Watch this." She moved the pointer faster now. It zipped across the board aggressively.
S... A... M...
"It knows my name!" Sam squealed.
...I... S...
"Sam is..." Sam read aloud, trembling. "The Chosen One? The Warrior?"
...A... N... E... R... D.
The pointer stopped. There was a long silence.
"Sam is a nerd?" Maya read. A snort of laughter escaped her nose. "Okay, whoever is pushing this, that was funny."
"I didn't push it!" Sam yelled, looking offended. "Why would I roast myself from the afterlife? Maybe it's a bully ghost. Maybe it's Jason's ancestor!"
"Ask it another question," Elian encouraged, enjoying the show.
"Fine," Sam narrowed his eyes at the board. "Spirit... Zorgon... tell us a secret. Something only the spirits would know."
Lyra tapped her chin. She looked around the room. Her eyes landed on a pile of laundry in the corner. She grabbed the pointer.
W... A... S... H...
"Wash?" Sam asked.
...Y... O... U... R...
"Wash your..."
...S... O... C... K... S.
Maya burst out laughing. She fell back onto the carpet, clutching her stomach. "Oh my god. Sam, even the dead think you smell."
"This is not funny!" Sam shouted, standing up and breaking the circle. "This is a mocking spirit! It's a Polter-troll!"
"It's not over," Elian said, pointing at the board. "Look."
Even though no one was touching it, the planchette was moving. Lyra was spinning it in circles, faster and faster. Scrape-scrape-scrape-scrape.
"It's moving by itself!" Sam screamed, backing into the mini-fridge. "PHYSICS IS BROKEN!"
Lyra grew bored of the board. She floated up to the light switch. Flick. The lights went out. Flick. They came back on. Flick. Out again.
"It's attacking the grid!" Sam yelled. He grabbed a bottle of 'Holy Water' (which was definitely just tap water in a Dasani bottle) and started spraying the room wildly. "BEGONE! THE POWER OF SAM COMPELS YOU!"
Elian got sprayed in the face. "Sam, stop! It's water!"
"It's blessed!" Sam shrieked, spraying Maya.
"Hey!" Maya shouted, shielding her glasses.
Lyra was laughing so hard she was doing somersaults in the air. "Look at him! He's moisturizing us! This is the best Saturday ever!"
She floated over to Sam's "Conspiracy Wall." She blew on the red strings. They started swaying violently, as if an invisible wind was sweeping through the basement.
"THE ALIENS ARE ANGRY!" Sam dove behind the beanbag chair. "ELIAN, SAVE US! USE YOUR POWERS!"
Elian couldn't take it anymore. He was laughing so hard his ribs hurt. He walked over to the light switch and turned it on firmly. "Sam," Elian choked out. "It's gone. Zorgon left."
Sam peeked over the beanbag. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. He said... he said he had to go do laundry."
Sam slowly stood up, dripping with sweat and holy water. He looked at the board. He looked at the swaying strings. "Dude," Sam whispered. "We made contact. Zorgon the Nerd-Hater. This is huge. I need to blog about this."
Maya wiped water off her face. She looked at Elian. She didn't look scared. She looked suspicious. "You didn't look very scared, Elian," she noted.
"I have nerves of steel," Elian lied.
Maya narrowed her eyes, then shrugged. "Sam, if you spray me with water again, you're going to be the actual ghost."
The Walk Home
They left Sam's house twenty minutes later, leaving him to analyze the "ectoplasm" (spilled soda) on the floor. Maya split off at the corner, still chuckling about the socks.
Elian walked the rest of the way alone. Well, not alone. Lyra floated beside him, looking very pleased with herself.
"Zorgon?" Elian asked. "Really?"
"It sounded intimidating!" Lyra defended. "I panicked. But 'Sam is a Nerd' was objectively funny."
"He's going to be analyzing that for weeks," Elian smiled. "You made his year."
"I'm a giver," Lyra shrugged.
They walked in silence for a moment under the streetlights. "That was fun," Elian admitted softly. "Just... hanging out. Being stupid."
"See?" Lyra bumped his shoulder gently. "Life isn't just about the big moments, Elian. It's about scaring your friends in a damp basement."
Elian looked at her. She was glowing under the streetlamp, her hair messy from all the laughing. He realized he wasn't just checking items off a list anymore. He was making memories. The kind that stick.
"Thanks, Zorgon," Elian whispered.
"Don't push it, mortal," she winked. "Now come on. I bet we can find a cat to hiss at."