Sam nodded and then twisted toward Stacey. “She can’t go back to that school. Something is happening there. It’s not safe.”

“You’re going to need to give me more detail, Sam. I need to know why it’s not safe.”

“He’s saying the school isn’t safe?” Zayne questioned.

“There’s a lot of...souls there. Too many. It’s like they’re gathering for something,” Sam explained, his form flickering more rapidly now. “I’ve been checking on her since...well, since I could, and it hasn’t always been like that.”

“What do you mean souls are gathering there?” I asked, and Zayne shifted forward.

“Souls. Dead people who haven’t crossed over—”

“Ghosts?” I suggested, and when he nodded, I glanced at Stacey, who was staring at Sam but not seeing him. “There are a lot of ghosts there? How many?”

Stacey’s eyes widened even further. “At school?”

The spirit nodded. “Over a hundred. I tried counting one day, but they disappear and they’re confused. Sort of running around all hectic-like. It’s like they’re stuck.”

“The ghosts are stuck at the school,” I repeated. “Over a hundred.”

“How can that happen?” Zayne asked.

“Spirits and ghosts can be summoned to a place,” I explained.

“Like through a Ouija board?” Stacey let out a nervous, wet-sounding laugh.

“Yeah, actually those things can work under the right circumstances,” I said. “But you almost never get who you think you’re communicating with. Not unless you know how to...channel a certain spirit, and even I can’t do that.”

Stacey stared at me. “They sell them in toy stores.”

Beside her, Sam laughed. “God, I missed that look on her face.” A smile appeared. “Did you know the Ouija board marketer fell to his death while supervising the build of a Ouija board factory?”

I frowned at him.

He shrugged. “Kind of freaky if you think about it.”

“How can ghosts be stuck?” Zayne asked.

“I don’t know. I’m sure there are spells that could do it, but I don’t know why you’d want to. A trapped ghost or even a spirt could become a wraith. Could take months or years, but being stuck would corrupt them,” I said, horrified by the possibility of something like that occurring. “How could this happen at a school?”

“It’s a Hellmouth,” Stacey murmured. “Layla and I weren’t joking when we said that.”

I ignored her. “Are the ghosts putting people in danger?”

“Someone fell down the steps a week ago. They were pushed by one of the ghosts,” Sam said.

When I repeated that, Stacey sat back against the booth. “A guy did fall down the steps. Last Tuesday. I don’t know the details, but I heard that it happened.”