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To the lid, which is stuck to the board. I’d pull it off the floor if I could, but it’s stuck there too.
    I fight a sudden urge to giggle.
    â€œOpen the door!” Shannon yells again. “I told you not to lock me out! It’s freezing out here!”
    I look at the door. The hook-and-eye closure tightens and loosens in time with Shannon’s frantic tugging on the other side.
    â€œElliot! Please!”
    I look back at the board, suddenly angry.
    â€œWhat do you want?” I hiss. “What do you want from me?”
    The lid heats up under my fingers, superhot. Agonizing. The heat travels up through my fingers and across my wrists. It’s like having hot wax shot through my veins.
    â€œAhhh!” I scream.
    Shannon stops pounding. “Elliot?” Silence. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
    The heat fades as quickly as it came. I’m left sweating, panting, my hands throbbing.
    â€œI don’t know what you want, you goddamn freak spirit.”
    The door starts rattling again as Shannon yanks and pounds on it. “Elliot, open the door!” she shrieks. “This isn’t funny!” I can hear the fear in her voice. It feeds mine.
    I open my mouth to tell her I can’t. Before I can speak, the heat flares again. Up through my forearms and into my shoulders this time.
    â€œAaaaaaauuugh!” Pain descends on me like a red haze. The noises blur together. Me screaming. Shannon screaming. Shannon pounding on the door with both fists, then kicking it with her boots.
    â€œWhat do you want, Jessica?” I scream. That last bit, the name. I didn’t know I was going to say it. It was pulled up from inside me. Thrown out of my mouth. By something other than me.
    And just like snapping your fingers, all the craziness stops. The board releases me. I lurch sideways and fall over, hitting my head against a shelf.
    There’s a little metal plinking noise, and the door swings open. Shannon’s standing there holding a brick, like she’s about to plow it into the door. The lantern burns on the ground beside her, casting her face in an eerie underlight.
    â€œWhat the hell is going on in here?” she bellows.
    She looks at the door, then at me, lying on the floor.
    She drops the brick and steps into the boathouse. I sit up and lean against a post, rubbing my head.
    â€œWhat happened?” she demands.
    â€œI’m okay,” I say. “Thanks for asking. Can we leave now?”
    She ignores my question. “Why were you screaming?” Her eyes fall on the Ouija board on the floor beside me. They narrow. She looks back at me. “You didn’t.”
    â€œI couldn’t help it.”
    â€œBullshit!” she shouts. “I told you not to touch the board, Elliot! And you went ahead and did it by yourself!”
    â€œI didn’t do it on purpose!” I shout back. “It wouldn’t let me go!”
    Shannon tilts her head. “Oh, sure.” She nods. “The Ouija board just reached up and grabbed you.”
    I shake my head. “No. Well, yeah, it did. I tried to move it out of the way so I could get by, and my fingers got stuck on the lid and it wouldn’t let me go.”
    â€œRight. And you were powerless to pull away.”
    â€œI was,” I say angrily. “It was like it was burning me.” I point toward the door. “You heard me. You think I was making that up?”
    She stares at me, trying to decide whether to believe me. “Why’d you lock me out?”
    â€œI didn’t.”
    â€œYou goddamn well did, Elliot,” she says, her voice rising.
    â€œI didn’t,” I say. I haul myself to my feet with the help of a nearby shelf. “I didn’t even touch the door. I propped it open with the brick when you left!”
    Shannon looks like she’s about to hit me.
    â€œI didn’t lock it,” I insist. “I was sitting right there,” I say,