Chapter 362: Chapter 362

A sense of foreboding washed over Jenkins.

He gently gripped Chocolate by the scruff of his neck and tucked the cat back into the inner pocket of his overcoat, wanting to keep him out of harm's way should something unexpected occur.

In the oppressive silence, every eye in the room was fixed on the teardrop-shaped planchette.

After calling out the name one last time, Miss Lindsay whispered a few seconds later, "Are you here?"

The women's hands trembled violently. In the eerie silence, the planchette beneath their fingers began to move, seemingly of its own accord, inching slowly toward the word "YES."

But Jenkins detected no sign of the spirit board activating, no trace of anything unusual. A few seconds of confusion passed before the truth dawned on him:

"Oh, human hands at work."

The way he looked at Miss Lindsay changed instantly. If he wasn't mistaken, she hadn't gathered her friends here tonight for some simple parlor game. The woman was trying to find her friend's killer.

Her method was not only clumsy, it was incredibly dangerous. It was an act of desperation, and all one could say was that her luck had run out.

Still, he didn't lower his guard. The spirit board they were using was genuine.

It was impossible to tell how much silent struggling had occurred among the hands on the planchette, but in the end, the translucent glass lens of the small, teardrop-shaped piece came to rest on "YES."

The men looked on without comment, and the eight women seated around the table remained silent as well.

Jenkins saw Miss Mikhail glance in their direction. In the gloom, she couldn't pinpoint his exact location, but she knew his general whereabouts.

"It seems we have succeeded."

Miss Lindsay spoke in a flat, dispassionate tone. Before anyone could respond, she pressed on with her next question:

"Are you Carly Alex?"

The planchette trembled once more, then slid with unwavering purpose toward the word "YES."

By now, even a Mr. Kevin who was also present understood what was happening. He tugged at Jenkins's sleeve, but Jenkins's eyes remained fixed on the circle of women around the table.

A bone-chilling aura began to emanate from the table, spreading outward, though for the moment, no one else seemed to notice.

Nor did they notice the candlelight slowly beginning to fade. It was a subtle change, one that only someone as observant as Jenkins would detect.

The standing observers were swallowed by expanding patches of darkness, and a strange sense of isolation and fear began to creep into their hearts. The dark seemed to leech away all warmth, light, and hope—a terrifying effect only a powerful evil spirit could conjure.

Jenkins snorted softly, his eyes fixed on a dark figure slowly materializing from the shadows behind Miss Lindsay. It wore a clean, black-and-white nun's habit, its head bowed so its face was hidden from view. But the hair that hung down was matted, rotten, and foul.

An intense chill made Miss Lindsay shiver. She glanced over her shoulder, a puzzled look on her face, but saw nothing.

"Where did a nun's habit come from?"

Jenkins was once again perplexed.

The spectral woman spread her arms, revealing limbs covered in pustules beneath the sleeves. She seemed to attempt an embrace from behind Miss Lindsay, but ultimately recoiled.

The gravedigger's cabin wasn't very large; the evil spirit was well within range of several of Jenkins's abilities. For the moment, he didn't feel the situation was too difficult to handle.

On the contrary, he was now quite curious to see what it intended to do.

No one but Jenkins could see the evil spirit. And so, when it leaned over and placed its rotting hands over the women's, a stifled scream finally shattered the brief, eerie silence.

"It's moving! It's moving!"

It was impossible to tell which woman had cried out. But since most of the guests knew about the relationship between Miss Lindsay and Carly Alex—and that three others present were also connected—their opinion was the same as Mr. Kevin's: Laurel Lindsay was playing a trick.

Still, they all remembered Miss Lindsay's warning at the beginning not to break the circle. Even as the planchette moved with an unnatural force for the third time, dragging their eight sets of fingers leftward to land on "YES" yet again, no one pulled their hand away.

Fear, excitement, doubt, astonishment—a whole spectrum of expressions played across the faces of the eight women.

Meanwhile, while the others were still reeling in shock, Miss Lindsay quickly pressed on:

She began to tremble like a leaf, whether from excitement or fear, it was hard to say. Besides Jenkins, she was likely the only one who realized something was genuinely wrong, yet she had no intention of stopping.

The planchette shot across the board with astonishing speed, dragging their fingers along with it. It paused over the first letter, hesitated for a few seconds, then moved to the second, spelling out a name... For origınal chapters go to Nov3lFɪre.ɴet

A man's voice suddenly cried out. It was Dali Kaige.

Somehow, he had managed to break free of the evil spirit's aura of fear. He let out a hysterical scream and lunged for the table.

Miss Mikhail was directly in his path. She turned, hiked up her skirt with one hand, and lashed out with a kick. The unfortunate Mr. Kaige was sent sprawling to the floor, where he let out a roar like a wounded animal.

"Lindsay, I don't care if this is your idea of a joke or if we've actually contacted something. Send this 'friend' away. Now. Do you understand?"

She had reverted to the same assertive demeanor she often displayed around Hathaway, likely infuriated by what she perceived as Miss Lindsay's deception.

But the other woman was not Hathaway, and she wouldn't be so easily placated.

The two women locked eyes, the air crackling with hostility between them, yet their fingers remained as if glued to the planchette. The name it had finally spelled out was Dali Kaige.

"Are you really behind all this?"

Someone directed the question at Miss Lindsay, but she didn't answer. She just sat there, staring blankly at the spirit board.

Jenkins stood in the shadows, silent like the other men. He watched the ghost in the nun's habit circle the table, periodically pressing its horrifying face right up to one of the women's.

"It is time for you to go. Do not linger. Thank you for your answer. Now, please leave."

Miss Lindsay finally spoke the words of dismissal. She had gotten the answer she wanted.

Jenkins knew it was time to act. If the previous events could be explained away as a prank, the moment the spirit moved the planchette to "NO" in response to the dismissal, Miss Mikhail would undoubtedly realize something truly supernatural was at play.