"AJ? Where'd he go?" Kevin was whirling around searching for AJ's lanky form.

"A.J.!! Man A.J.! This Howie crap ain't funny!"Nick was calling.

"Man, Kev, he's gone... And he was right. We can't handle this,"Brian said. He looked beyond scared now, he was biting his nails,"We need to leave, get the police, or somebody that can help!"

"Brian, I thought we already went through this.."

"Kevin, open your eyes! Howie disappeared, Nick nearly got killed, and we all nearly got killed trying to save him, and now AJ's gone missing! Who's next Kev? We need to get out of here!"

"Brian.."

"No! We can't handle this! Look, Nick is freezing his butt off, he probably has hypothermia or something!"Brian was holding onto Nick's shaking shoulders,"He's already sniffling!"

"Ok, fine..."

Brian wilted with relief, Kevin had finally come to his senses.

"You and Nick go on, I'm gonna stay,"Kevin said, nodding them on.

"What??"Brian was furious,"We can't leave you here! Are you crazy?!!"

"But you can leave Howie and AJ?"Kevin asked looking at Brian pointedly.

"No. But... It's not the... oh never mind!"Brian gave up, he sounded exasperated," Nick, you doing ok?"

Nick nodded,"Yeah, I think I'm ok... W-we should stay Bri."

Brian grimaced, he looked from Nick, whose lips were blue, to Kevin who had a grim determined look on his face, then sighed"Oh fine, we'll stay. But if he gets pneumonia, Kevin, you're going to be the one who explains it to his mom."

They walked up and down the hallways aimlessly. They peeked into rooms occasionally and got unwanted surprises. Finally they found a bedroom. Inside Kevin went to the bed and yanked off the bedspread. He and Brian wrapped it around Nick, who wasn't saying much anymore. Kevin and Brian didn't think it was just from cold, he was terrified. A fine tremor ran through out his body.

"I think he's going into shock or something. Let's get him out of these clothes, they're frozen,"Brian said,"I think I've got some shirts, but.."

"I've got a pair of sweat shorts,"Kevin said tossing his poor mistreated backpack beside Brian's and leaning over to go through it.

"Ok, lets hurry up and get him dry,"Brian said.

"Come on Nicky wake up,"Brian was saying rubbing Nick's hands trying to generate some heat into his frozen compadre. They were no longer worried about the monster of the house getting them, they were worried about Nick. He seemed to be drifting in and out of consciousness.

Kevin looked scared,"Um Bri, you guys were right. He needs help, now. We should be trying to find a way out of here, and send someone back for Howie and AJ. We need to leave before anyone else disappears... or..."he looked fearfully at Nick,"Come on Nicky, you gotta wake up so we can go."

Nick stirred softly.

"That's it, come on,"Brian said rubbing faster, curses to this drafty haunted house!

Nick's eyelids fluttered and slowly opened, he looked from Brian to Kevin in a dazed manor, they looked funny to him. They were both all pale and fuzzy,"You guys ok? You look weird!"

Brian and Kevin both laughed weakly as relief tickled their stomachs,"He's fine!"

Nick sat up slowly with Kevin's help,"You ok? How do you feel?"

"Like I'm in New York in the winter time without a parka..."Nick shivered,"But that's better than before... Before I felt like I was in Antarctica in my underwear." He sneezed.

"Great, now he's gonna get sick,"Brian groaned. "Kev, don't forget what I said before, you are the one who's gonna talk to his mom!"

Kevin chuckled and stood up to gather up all their things.

"YOU BOYS HAD BETTER GET A MOVE ON, IF YOU WANT TO CONTINUE POSTPONING THE INEVITABLE..BEFORE THE DAY BREAKS, YOU WILL ALL JOIN ME!! HA HA HA HA HA HA!!"

"Great, the crazy-bus-driver- zombie-monster-thingy-that probably ate Howie and A.J. is giving us advice,"Nick said,"We should get out of here."

Brian put another shirt over Nick's head first and pulled it down,"Both Kev and A.J.'s jackets are soaked from being in contact with you. This will have to do."

"Thanks,"Nick told Brian, Brian gave him a hand in getting up.

"What time is it Kev?"Brian asked looking back at his cousin, who was gathering up his bag and the lantern.

"Huh?- Oh um... Hey, that's strange.."Kevin's brows furrowed together.

"What?"asked Nick, he and Brian came closer to Kevin.

"I think my watch is busted,"Kevin muttered, taking it off and shaking it,"Look at the hands."

Nick and Brian took Kevin's watch and held it between them, both hands on the watch were spinning like crazy.

"Um Kevy,"Brian began,"I don't think broken watches do this sort of thing."

"Maybe its possessed.. By..by.. The.."

"Crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy-that probably ate Howie and A.J.,"Kevin and Brian said for him.

"Yeah,"Nick nodded.

"We'd better get out of here,"Kevin said ushering the others out the door and handing Brian his backpack. Kevin picked up the lantern and crept towards the door, he peeked outside and saw no one, "Come on guys, we can't worry about the watch now. It's not important. We gotta get out of here. The coast is clear, I hope."

Back to the halls. They seemed darker and eerier than ever. The windows showed them an endless gloomy night outside. The light of the lantern was beginning to dim and fade.

"We need to find more oil for this thing!"Kevin said, then added lightly as a joke to lighten up the mood of his companions," Man, too bad Howie isn't here. We could wring out his hair to replenish the supply ."

He got fragile smiles from the other two.

"Ok, I don't think we've been down here. There's bound to be more oil, or another lantern somewhere.. The first one wasn't to... guys? Nick? Bri? Hello?"Kevin stopped dead in his tracks. He shined the lantern's dim light around to find the faces of his solemn companions gone. Where was he? He really didn't remember coming down this hallway, and he had been keeping track! Oh no... He had probably just disappeared like AJ and Howie to the others. Kevin fearfully shined the light on up ahead. I should have listened to AJ! We should have been trying to find a way out, not looking for Howie. We can't help... It was a little late to be thinking that way now though.

Kevin sighed, Nick's crazy-bus-driver-zombie-monster-thingy- that probably ate Howie and A.J. was probably going to eat him too now. Kevin wandered down a long hallway all alone, with no signs of Nick or Brian. He heard someone clear their throat, Kevin jumped around at the sound. He whirled around to find himself being confronted by AJ!

"Running would prove to be extremely imprudent,"AJ said in a cool clinical voice.

"AJ? Is that you kid? Hey, it is you!"Kevin bounded up to AJ,"Where've you been? How did you get away from the monster? What's up with the getup? And what happened to your face?"

"Silence!"A.J. roared, he flared the tails of his over coat .

AJ was wearing a perfect, black, tailored tux with long tails in back. He wore ivory gloves on his hands. He looked very elegant and poised. He wore a silver mask over one side of his face covering some horrible disfigurations, that Kevin didn't quite recall being there before. AJ didn't answer Kevin's questions, he only stood there with a superior look on his face.

"AJ? What's wrong with you?"Kevin said taking a step back from him. Kevin bit his lip and, and assured himself that it was just AJ, then said,"Look AJ, I've lost the others, and we need to find them... So come one, we can..." he broke off to look at AJ again, "What is wrong with you?" He demanded, he took a step back from A.J. Kevin had seen into A.J.'s brown eyes, they were empty bottomless voids...

There was something odd about him. It was like he wasn't A.J, but that was impossible because. "A.J., it's me Kevin. Listen I've lost Brian and Nick, and I need to.."

"Shhh!"A.J. shushed Kevin gently,"Do you hear the music?"

Kevin was slowly shaking his head, ok, A.J. had lost his mind, and he was really scaring Kevin,"I don't hear anything A.J. What's happened to you?"

"Listen you fool!"A.J. ignored Kevin's question.

Kevin listened, out of fear of what would happen if he didn't. He didn't hear anything... He felt A.J.'s hands on his face,"Hear it..."

                Kevin was frightened, he stood still in AJ's hold... but what was that? Kevin concentrated. Music! Kevin did hear music! It was a sweet, almost classical sounding melody, played by a harp. Kevin was lost in the beauty of the sound, he slowly began to lose awareness of where he was and who he was with. The music enthralled him, bewitched him, into a deep slumber.