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"Of course, I can handle this What was the point of talking about all that stuff thisto do, so this is e’re going to do Just because I saw soh to keep going We had a deal!"

"All right, it’s OK Cal over for my shoulder

I inched it out of the way The nerve of hi me to calm down

"It’s just that you al about how you used to go to a shrink I know, it was the drugs or whatever unfortunate thing you were into as a teenager, but you know soe about this would have been nice before we started"

I let out a sarcastic guffaw "Oh, so now the fact that we don’t know each other that well is becoht I had been trying to get nothing but information out of him this whole weekend, and now that the tables were turned, it was a proble," he said, and started reviewing the footage he had shot, as if nothing had happened

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

It was getting darker by the minute e returned to the marina and headed back to Al’s He wasn’t all too happy we left and turned an angry shade of purple when the twins told hi on Whiz’s boat Thankfully, the beef he had was just with the twins He left Dex and h I could sense Uncle Al knew so was up with e than ever before I tried to push the incident on the boat out of e offor e

For better or worse, I really didn’t have the luxury of dwelling on it We had a job to do and as afraid as I was, I was far too stubborn to back down Especially now We had a show to shoot and it wasn’t going to film itself

By the time the sky turned a resolute shade of charcoal, Dex and I were ready to go

It had grown dizzyingly wild outside in the last hour, with the wind co from all directions, but it was nowhere near as chaotic as last night We wanted to be as prepared as possible this tio jacket on top of the rest of my clothes It wasn’t camera-friendly like he had hoped, but he also didn’t want ured all black would possibly hide hosts Plus, it smelled like himreally nice

We stood outside the back door, side by side, watching the distant waves catch the yellow light projected froht, with his camera hoisted up on his shoulder I didn’t want to think about ere about to do until I absolutely had to

Finally, he turned to ht rain

"Are you ready for this?" he asked gravely

"As ready as I’ to ever be," I answered

He reached over, picked upgo of you this tiruff I knew he meant it

I nodded He squeezedI never had to let go I wanted hi OK

Instead he nodded "Let’s go shoot so by the hand, and soon ere on the beach heading south with deter into battle I could almost hear dra froh the dunes and up the e at a point or two Dex held on to htened after each near miss so that by the tihthouse, my hand was numb

I didn’t know if the third time would be a charm or not I didn’t see any crazy lauys on rasp the entire tiht of the "darkhouse" fro tears toit all in He slowly let go of my hand, which responded with pins and needles, and took his caan to adjust it and shotyour side Jell-O, re how norht the key out of his pocket and got it ready in one hand With the other he flicked on the cahtness and shielded my face with et used to it Ready to roll?"

Not at all, but I nodded just the sa, but realized I should embrace it with open arht, for lack of a better phrase

Dex hit the record button and gave ers Go

"We are standing in front of the Rocky Point Lighthouse," I said loudly, "about to make the first journey inside with a professional ca to capture on fil spirits who may inhabit these ocean-battered walls"

We decided to have very little narration on film and fill in all the historical facts with voiceovers afterward Dex just wanted me to explore naturally and react toI iest chickenshit I felt hypocritical for calling Dex one earlier

He passed me the key and took the ca and slimy in my hand It felt unnaturally heavy

I sloalked to the door and inserted the key into the lock It clicked; the sound was powerful, even in the howling wind

I put it in my pocket, turned the rusty handle and pushed the door open