All bolded words mean that a ghost is speaking.

- ¦ -

"Sehun's on board with helping us," Minseok mentioned as he wiped down the bar of the pub. "He'll should be here soon to go over plans and stuff."

"What plans?" Luhan asked around a mouthful of burger. Swallowing loudly, he then took a large gulp of water to help wash the food down.

"Well, we have to do something, Luhan. Facts and observations won't work forever. Eventually, the ghosts will get tired of you poking around the house and they'll kill you."

"No, they won't."

Minseok eyed his friend in confusion. "How are you so sure?" He asked tauntingly. Luhan didn't answer right away, instead he turned to the sound of the pub door opening, a frazzled looking Sehun slipping inside.

"He told me." Luhan said, still staring in Sehun's direction. Minseok followed his gaze.

"Sehun told you?" He asked, even more confused than before. Luhan cracked a smile without looking back at Minseok.

"No," He remarked quietly. Glancing back at the approaching blonde, Xuimin noticed there was something strange about Sehun tonight. "Kai." 

Before Minseok could ask who or what on earth he was talking about, Sehun reached the bar. He settled into the seat next to Luhan with a disgruntled sigh, sneakily snagging a french fry from the other boy's plate. “What's up with you?" Minseok asked bluntly, receiving judgemental looks from his two friends. Luhan shoved a fry into his mouth as Sehun ran a hand through his hair tiredly.

 "I don't know. The entire walk down here I felt like I was being followed."

'That’s because you were." Luhan spoke up, dipping another fry into his ketchup before chewing it lazily.

The two other boys exchanged looks before turning back to the cryptic boy. "What are you talking about?" Sehun asked, with Minseok leaning forward in curiousity. Luhan looked up from his plate, nodding his head to the area behind Sehun. Said boy, along with the incredibly confused bartender, turned around to look at what their friend was looking at before gaping in awe and horror.

Casually standing behind Sehun's shoulder was the dark ghost from the house, though it's coloring seemed significantly lighter than before. It's glowing red eyes seemed almost orange as they watched the two boys' reactions with mirth. Luhan waved the spirit over, the shadow coming to a stop beside the Chinese male. "This is Kai," Luhan introduced, barely able to contain his laughter at the dumfounded looks on his friends' faces. "We've come to a sort of agreement. He'll be helping us."

"He won't “help” us. He'll kill us." Minseok stated, trying to talk some sense into his friend. 

"We want the same thing." The ghost's voice was low and deep. "We both want to help Jaera."

"You killed Jaera," Sehun muttered darkly, glaring into the shadow's piercing eyes.

"And now Jaera wants to kill me." Luhan spoke up, his eyes locked on his now empty plate.

Kai stared at the platinum blonde boy he'd followed, picturing him with chestnut brown hair instead. “I remember you. You took Jaera out on a date. Tell me, did that slap hurt?" Sehun made to stand up, but Luhan and Minseok pushed him back onto his barstool. Kai smirked at Sehun, amused at how quickly he could get a rise out of the male. “She's not the Jaera you knew anymore. She's changing, as am I."

"She's changing because she's unhappy, right?" Minseok reluctantly asked the spirit before him, who nodded silently. "Then why are you changing?"

"He's happy," Luhan answered.

He spent the next few days rooting through the cardboard boxes holed up down in the basement while Kai kept Jaera distracted.

The male ghost he'd made an unlikely alliance with was growing lighter by the hour, his eyes no longer a murderous red, but a soft yellow-orange. His voice was more soft-spoken, and Luhan no longer had to worry about him saying anything upsetting. The spirit's entire demeanor had changed rapidly in the blink of an eye. Luhan could only imagine what Jaera was like now if Kai had changed as much as he had in a such a short amount of time.

Luhan finally located the last box with Jaera's name scrawled across it. Parting the cardboard flaps, he riffled through the collection of photos and dug through the old clothes and stuffed animals until his fingers brushed the bottom of the box.

With a frustrated sigh, Luhan shoved the box away from himself, running his hands through his hair tiredly before rubbing his temples. Sehun, Minseok, and himself resorted to sorting through countless rituals to perform to help a lost soul pass on. After hours of searching for a plausible solution, Sehun discovered a small article on a website, which stated that in order to get a ghost to leave and pass on to the next world, someone simply had to give them something that they cherished when they were living. Seeing as it was the sanist and easiest rite to perform, they made a plan to find something of Jaera's that would hold enough happy memories to allow her soul to finally rest in peace.

Luhan sighed again, leaning back to rest his back against the front of the love seat as he was too tired to stand. With hooded lids, he took in the room once more, preparing to push himself up off the ground and head upstairs, when an object placed on a shelf of the bookcase in the corner caught his attention. Rising to his feet, Luhan made his way over to the bookcase, carefully moving things aside to have better access to the glittering object that had first caught his attention.

A small, dusty dancing trophy rested on the plank of molding wood. Delicately wiping away the grime with his hand, Luhan found it to be a 1st place dancing trophy. Turning the trophy to inspect it further, Luhan found initials marked in smeared black sharpie in the bottom corner of the back of the golden prize. Only part of the writing was readable, but it was enough to identify the owner.

K.J.

Kim Jaera.

Luhan was certain that this was the object they needed, the one he'd been looking for. He could sense it's importance. Reaching into his pocket, Luhan meant to call Minseok and Sehun and tell them to come over. The two were currently researching Jaera in hopes of giving Luhan some type of clue as to what they needed to be looking for, but his pocket was empty. Luhan then remembered that he'd taken his phone upstairs to charge. Gripping the trophy tightly, Luhan headed up the rickety stairs of the basement. Poking his head out, he looked around to see if Kai or Jaera were around. Luhan climbed the stairs to the second floor of the house and walked into his bedroom. 

Yanking his now fully-charged phone off the cord, Luhan stretched across his bed and set the trophy down beside him, the small, glittering object practically drowning in his navy blue bedsheets and comforter. But before he could dial either of his friends, his bedroom door slammed shut. Jolting up, Luhan turned towards the sound, the color instantly draining from his face as he gulped thickly.

Jaera stood coldly in front of him, her transparent skin a dark ebony that greatly contrasted with her new set of glowing, red eyes. "Luhan," she murmured, staggering towards him. Luhan scrambled back, his back meeting the endboard of his bed. He held his hands up in defense as she stepped closer, knowing it was