I told Wu Jian what I had come up with. After a brief silence, I heard a weak sigh over the phone. Then he changed the topic and asked me why I called him. I quickly made up an excuse and brushed it off. I realized I had no idea how to explain what Grandpa Huang had requested from me.

After eating, I strolled around the neighborhood aimlessly. Eventually, it was time for me to go to work in the ghost house.

As usual, lock or not, the door of the ghost house was easy to push open. Crossing the wide, weed-covered courtyard, I entered the hall. Normally the hall was bright and magnificent, but tonight it was all dark. Were the girls on a day off? Before I had time to think of a better explanation, I heard whispered voices coming from the second floor.

My hairs stood on end. I usually wasn"t scared of the ghost house, but that was because all the lights were usually on when I walked in. Though there were always many ghosts there, they would not reveal their ghostly appearance just to frighten me. It was a bit like the mafia: if you work for them, they won"t terrorize you. After all, you make them money.

I tried to calm down and listened carefully. Someone was speaking on the second floor, but I could not hear what they were saying. I whispered, "Sister Hua?" but there was no response. Thinking it over for a while, I turned on my flashlight and carefully walked toward the staircase.

"I hear footsteps," a trembling female voice said, as if scared by my approach. My steps were very light, but there were bits and pieces of garbage all over the ghost house, which creaked and tinkled when stepped on.

I was startled by the woman"s voice and stopped.

A young male voice whispered, "Where? I can"t hear anything."

Then there was silence. I worked up the courage to ask, "Who"s there?"

I heard a sudden shriek from the second floor and a young man rushed out of one of the rooms with a flashlight, s.h.i.+ning it in my face.

I s.h.i.+elded my eyes from the blinding light, but I heard the young man sigh with relief. "It"s all right, he"s human," he said to his companions behind him. Then he turned to me, "Dude, you almost scared me to death."

My eyes began adjusting to the light. "What are you doing in here?" I blinked at him.

Instead of answering, the crowd of youths peeking at me over the railing ran back into the room they came out of like someone stepped on their tails. Curious, I follow them inside, and saw six white candles brightly illuminating the room. There was a table in the middle, covered with a piece of paper with different characters on it, and there was a small plate placed upside down atop the paper.

When I went in, a girl cried, "It"s all your fault! What do we do now?"

Another girl comforted her. I noticed five young people in the room; three girls and two boys.

One of the boys said, "Oh calm down, it"s not real."

Another seemed unconvinced, "What are you talking about, Huang Lei? You heard my sister"s story too."

Huang Lei winked to a girl across the room, "Common, guys. It"s not real, don"t be scared."

I was confused. "Are you guys all right?"

The unconvinced one waved his hand and said, "Yeah, we"re fine. What"s your name? My name is He Xiaoyong."

I made a simple self-introduction, and He Xiaoyong introduced his friends. Only one tomboyish girl turned her back to me and didn"t introduce herself. I didn"t know why, and I had no interest in asking her. I just told them, "I suggest you guys get out of here right now."

He Xiaoyong was about to speak, but a girl called Chen Qianqian said, "We can"t go yet. We have to send her away or we"ll die."

I was stunned, "Send whom away?"

He Xiaoyong scratched his head and pointed to the table with a slightly embarra.s.sed expression. "We are playing a game of Die Xian."

I was astonished. I knew there was something peculiar about that table! Die Xian was like an Ouija board. These guys were really brave to play Die Xian in the ghost house.

"But we"re supposed to all hold our fingers on the plate when playing Die Xian, and we"ve all let go!" Chen Qianqian said, tearing up a little.

A girl called Zhang Xue put her arms around Chen Qianqian to comfort her, but her eyes looked at me accusingly. I couldn"t help but chuckle a little.

"We can"t blame Brother Wu," Huang Lei said. "We can just do it again to send the ghost away."

He Xiaoyong nodded in agreement, followed by Chen Qianqian. The group gathered around the table again, and He Xiaoyong beckoned to me, "Dude, come here."

I quickly waved my hand "no". I had already seen more than my fair share of ghosts and I didn"t need any more of them around.

They did not insist, and put their fingers on the small plate. I pointed at the girl standing with her back to us in the corner. "Why isn"t she partic.i.p.ating?"

Chen Qianqian did not look at me, "Forget it. This one"s nuts."

I shrugged. I supposed they had a fight, so I didn"t pry.

I stuck around to watch them. Die Xian is similar to Ouija, but it only uses a small plate. I only ever saw it on TV before, never in reality.

The kids, each with one finger in the middle of the plate, began chanting: "Come, spirits in the air, and talk to us if you dare."

They repeated the words many times, until the small plate began slowly turning, as if pushed by an invisible force! I felt a chill run down my spine and suddenly had an irresistible urge to glance over my shoulder.

There was nothing there. I relaxed a little and turned back to the table.

I almost jumped. There was another person standing beside He Xiaoyong: a girl in a red dress, her head lowered. She had her finger on the plate just like the others.

I felt my feet go numb and my mouth become dry. I felt like I hadn"t drunk any water in days. I opened my mouth and tried to make a sound, but nothing came out.

No one else seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary. He Xiaoyong asked, "Spirits, spirits, are you here?"

The small plate slid across the paper to the word "YES".

He Xiaoyong"s voice trembled, "spirits, please leave-"

"No!" Chen Qianqian interrupted. "No, we summoned the spirit and we have to ask her to do something for us before she can leave."

Chen Qianqian seemed to have a lot of experience with Die Xian, but she looked more frightened than anyone else in the group.

He Xiaoyong asked, "Spirit, what is the weather going to be like tomorrow?"

The small bowl slowly slid across the table, pausing from time to time. Eventually, He Xiaoyong read out, "Sunny! Sunny, tomorrow will be sunny."

After the task was done, the group tried to send the spirit away. I wondered whether the spirit would go or not. The red spirit seemed to feel my eyes on her, slowly raising her head.