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pointing to the floor. “I couldn’t get up. The board wouldn’t let me. The lid was moving and spelling out letters, and the door just…closed.” I shudder. “It locked by itself.” Even as I say the words, I know how crazy they sound.
    Shannon’s eying me warily. “That’s crap,” she says. But the anger is gone from her voice. “Doors don’t close and lock by themselves.”
    I raise my eyebrows in the direction of the door. “This one did. I watched it.”
    â€œThat’s impossible.” She folds her arms and stares at me. “That stuff only happens in movies.”
    A movement at our feet catches our attention.
    From where it came to rest after releasing my fingers, the lid stands up.
    Stands right up.
    On its side, slowly.
    If my hair wasn’t already curly, it sure as hell would be now.
    As we watch, the cap starts to spin. Slow revolutions at first. It spins faster and faster until it’s nothing but a white blur. It stays precisely, impossibly, in one place.
    â€œYeah?” I say. I look at Shannon. “What movie would you say we’re in?”
    The blood drains from her face. Her hand creeps up to cover her mouth.
    This party isn’t over yet.
    I ignore the crawling feeling inside my lower abdomen as I look down at the Ouija board. The cap’s still spinning, hovering over just one word.
    HELLO.

Chapter Eleven
    â€œDid you say goodbye?” Shannon whispers. She can’t tear her eyes from the board.
    â€œNo,” I say. “I didn’t say anything. I was just trying to put it away.”
    â€œWhat did it say?”
    I don’t answer. The last time that name hit the air…it wasn’t me saying it.
    â€œWhat did it say, Elliot?”
    My head jerks up like I’ve been hit.
    â€œJessica.” As I say it, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I feel sick. I want that cap to stop spinning.
    I hear Shannon’s sharp intake of breath. “What do you know about her?” she asks.
    â€œWho, Jessica?”
    â€œYeah.”
    I shake my head. “I don’t know anybody with that name.”
    â€œOh my god,” she whispers. Shannon’s looking at me like maybe I’m going to sprout horns and a pitchfork. “This is real,” she says. “This really is real. It really is.”
    I’m about to ask her who the hell this Jessica is, but then, without warning, she stomps on the spinning lid, smashing it flat with her heavy boot.
    SLAM!
    I jump about three feet. “What the hell?” I yell.
    She winds up and kicks the Ouija board. It skitters away, under a wide shelf. It hits the wall with a thump. The lid spins out and comes to rest under a rack of life jackets.
    â€œAct of god?” she says.
    Then she starts to laugh. Big weird belly laughs.
    I take it as a sign it’s time to leave.
    I grab Shannon’s arm. “Okay,” I say. I keep my voice calm. “You know what? We need to get out of here.”
    She stops laughing and stares at me for a second. Green eyes. Orange stripe in the left one.
    I read the fear in them.
    â€œOkay,” she says.
    But then the hysteria bubbles up again. I can see her trying to clamp down on it, but the laughter squeals out between her lips like air from a whoopee cushion.
    Damn. She’s freaking out.
    I grab both of her arms then, just above her elbows. Crank her body around to face me.
    â€œShannon. We’re leaving. Now.” I give her a hard shake to bring her back down to Earth. “Get your things together.”
    She stops laughing. A shudder passes through her.
    â€œBut she’s dead, Elliot,” Shannon says. She seems dazed. “Don’t you see? If Jessica’s here, talking to us through a Ouija board, that means she’s dead. She didn’t just run away. Now we know for sure that Troy killed her.”
    â€œWho’s Troy?” I cut her off before she can answer.