There was a loud thump, then silence, and a few seconds later it sounded again. Thump, quiet, thump. Devorah knew that Jacob, and therefore she, was getting close to Brad and his rather unique experiment. For the first time, Devorah was being led upstairs to an entirely new wing of the house.

While the house had been ornate in its own way, this new section of the mansion was absolutely decadent. It was clear that this was where the true masters of the house were meant to dwell, while those who lived downstairs were mere guests and servants. The plain wallpaper became finally detailed, its color rich and properly ominous. Bare floor gave way to lush carpeting. Even the lighting fixtures were more fantastic; they were lovingly crafted from crystal and made strange shapes stretch over walls.

Yet Devorah was unable to take it all seriously. It wasn’t even due to the fact that the house was a set- the fact that there was a young man tossing himself at a wall in the hope of making it open up for him was just. Funny. It was really, really funny.

And so, the thumping got louder, until Jacob reached a door that was just slightly ajar. On the approach, he had slowed down and snuck close to the wall. Tried to make his footfalls soft and soundless.

For her own amusement, Devorah mimicked stomping over.

Jacob slunk around the doorway, and peered in. Devorah copied him, doing the same. The inside of the room had no outstandingly unique features, as far as rooms in a haunted house could go. Either a sitting room or the first room in a series of personal chambers, it was smaller than the main lounge Devorah had seen in her first moments in the house. The furniture was a neat mix of Neoclassical and Rococo, all awash in pastels and earth tones. Lace drapes decorated the room, and one wall was lined with cabinet after cabinet of porcelain.

Devorah’s eye caught on the two things in the room that immediately stood out- the two men in the room who were very much not dressed to match its style.

The first was systematically going through the rows of porcelain, carefully studying the design of each item and testing its integrity. He was brown and seemed to be of Earth Asian descent. A beautifully patterned fabric was wrapped around his lower half, one even more stunning than the lace drapes in the room.

The other man was someone Devorah recognized from the profiles given to her, of the people who used the ouija board. This had to be Brad! Brad was leaning against the wall, looking somewhat bruised and battered. Even his sideways baseball cap looked a bit droopy.

Then Brad groaned, and pulled himself to his feet. He shook his shaggy hair. Walked a few feet back from the wall. Then promptly charged at it, throwing himself against it. He smashed against the wall with a large thump.

Jacob rushed into the room, and kneeled next to the mostly likely injured man, who was once again slumped against the wall. Devorah followed, glad Jacob was going to stop this nonsense. “What are you doing? Stop that, you’re hurting yourself.”

“That is what I have been telling him,” the other man said, “but will he listen to sense? No!”

“Budi, bro,” Brad began, giving Devorah a name for the other man, “I gotta try!”

“What do you have to try?” Jacob asked. “I don’t understand?”

Budi sighed as Brad began to talk. “So you know how like, we saw the host walk through the wall? And how the walls magically opened up to let me into my room?”

“Yes?”

“I want to see if we can make other walls open too!” Brad said.

“By throwing yourself at the wall.”

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“Yeah!” Brad said proudly, thrusting his chest out like an ignorant rooster who didn’t know he was next for slaughter.

“At a random wall. Not even the one the host went through.”

Budi looked up at the ceiling as if asking for help. “They tried that first.”

“They?” Jacob asked. Devorah was leaning forward in excitement- this was going to be good.

“Me and Sushruta and Faith were checking out that spot in the wall the host went through! But we-”

“Not to interrupt,” Jacob interrupted, “but Faith?”

“Fight-the-good-fight-of-faith Barebone.” Budi said, then shook his head. “Why he would need a name as long as a king’s, I don’t know.” Devorah privately agreed- the name was a bit excessive.

“I know who Faith is,” Jacob said, a bit impatient. “I mean, why Faith? He’s a conniving little bastard.”

Brad paused, and tilted his head like a confused puppy. “Faith? Nah bro. He’s a real one. I love Mayflower dude.”

“Mayflower dude,” Jacob repeated, clearly dumbfounded.

Brad lit up. “Yeah! Mayflower dude! Anyway, we were checking out the wall and I had a great idea! If we couldn’t find an opening, we had to make one. Just like in lacrosse.”

“So to do this, you decided to throw yourself at the wall?”

“No,” Budi said. “He decided to pick up Faith and throw him at the wall.”

Huh. Devorah suddenly prayed that her glasses would fall out of Jacob’s pocket and get picked up by Brad. This guy was a riot.

“I’m gonna need you to describe this in detail, please,” Jacob said.

“Right!” Brad nodded. “So it was us, Sushruta and Faith. We were checking out the wall. There were no cracks in it! It was solid.”

“Like a smooth wall,” Sushruta added.

“Smooth as a shark,” Brad agreed, “so I wanted to totally break the wall! So Faith said we should find something heavy and bam! Through the wall.”

“It’s not a bad idea?” Jacob commented. “I wonder about what’s outside the manor too.”

“Yeah bro! So then Sushruta suggested-” Budi groaned. “He suggested that we’re pretty heavy! And that the wall wasn’t ah, uh, a laundry load?”

“A load bearing wall,” Budi spoke up. “Therefore, taking it down likely would not cause too much structural damage. I thought it was prudent to trust him, considering his background in civil engineering.”

Brad pointed at Budi and grinned. “Yeah! That!”

“So you threw Faith at the wall?” Jacob asked again.

“I had no part in throwing that boy at the wall!” Budi protested.

“That was all me,” Brad said proudly. Then his face fell, as if someone had told him that his golden retriever had run away. “But the little dude wasn’t heavy enough.”

“He’s pretty thin,” Jacob agreed, “but you’re mostly muscle.” And it was true, Brad was built. His loose neon muscle tank did nothing to hide the musculature of his arms.

“Which is why we are here, and Brad has taken to rattling his skull.” Budi concluded. “I tried to convince him to stop, but he will not listen to me.”

“So why here?” Jacob asked.

“I asked my bro Sushruta to find a place where I wouldn’t damage the… load bearing walls?” Brad looked to Budi for approval.

“Yes, so we are here and I am watching him while that Nour takes care of Faith.”

“Faith was hurt?”

Brad winced. “Just a little banged up! Nothing some ice won’t fix.”

“Brad was crying,” Budi whispered.

“Just a little bit!” Brad sniffed.

Jacob lightly patted Brad on the back. “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Faith seems like a scrappy guy. Either way, I’ll leave you to it?”

“I’ll run to get Nour if Brad gets seriously hurt,” Budi promised.

“I don’t know, man. Maybe it’s time to give up,” Brad sighed, then slumped over. Despite the large bruises now wrapped around half his body, he still gave off the air of a dog deprived of its favorite treats.

Encouraging this stupid behavior was surely wrong.

But…

Devorah activated one of her charges. With uncareful hands, she flung open one of the cabinets holding ugly figurines and decorative plates. Channeling her inner cat, she knocked one over to test the waters.

“Bro,” Brad said, eyes wide.

Budi dropped the plate he was holding. The melodic crack of ceramic splitting on the floor was all the encouragement Devorah needed.

Pleased with her success and the reaction, Devorah found herself grinning as she systematically threw and broke every piece of porcelain in the show cabinet. Feeling a bit frisky, she even tossed one or two in Jacob’s direction. He yelped and jumped out of the way, narrowly missing a figurine of a Rococo dancer to the head.

“What is happening?” Budi asked in a shaking voice while moving to press his back to the wall.

“It’s the ghosts, bro!” Brad answered. “Like with the ouija board!”

By then, Devorah’s charge had already run up. In all honesty, she was considering using her other one. That was kind of fun.

And then Jacob ruined it.