It began with a meeting at the church with the pastor, who listened patiently to Ali’s woes, probably wondering how his morning had taken such a turn.

Both women were careful to use fake names and kept their faces hidden.

The pastor, thankfully, did not question it and simply went ahead with a blessing for protection against evil entities.

He also kindly offered to visit Ali’s home and cleanse it, but she declined almost immediately. The last thing she needed was someone spotting a pastor heading into her penthouse and starting a scandal before the ghosts even got a chance to.

When they were stepping out of the church, the pastor handed them a rosary.

Ali looked at it before letting out a small huff. "Was that all?" she asked, her light grey eyes sliding towards Jade as they waited for Nigel to bring the car around. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

"Of course not! We have a full schedule," Jade said with alarming enthusiasm, as if she had suddenly taken up a side career as a spiritual consultant overnight. "Your problem is... unique. So I did my research. We need to attack it from every possible spiritual angle."

Ali let out a long, weary sigh as she thought, since she was already dressed like a suspicious grandmother and out in public, she figured she might as well commit to the madness.

And so they continued their city tour of visiting every religious sight possible.

Jade had made an itinerary.... a completely unhinged one.

Their first stop after the church was a quiet temple tucked between two bustling streets. Incense hung thick in the air, bells chimed softly, and before Ali could even gather her thoughts, Jade had already pushed her forward.

"Go on," Jade whispered.

"I don’t even know what to say," Ali muttered.

"Just... describe the ghosts. Don’t mention punching one. Let’s ease into that."

Five minutes later, Ali stood awkwardly while a priest circled her with incense, chanting softly with a small dot of ash pressed onto her forehead.

"Any... improvement?" Jade asked eagerly.

Ali blinked. "I smell like a walking incense stick."

"Progress," Jade declared.

...

Next came a mosque.

Ali barely had time to adjust her headscarf before Jade dragged her toward a seating area. A kind old man tied a thin, blessed thread around her wrist while murmuring a prayer for protection.

Ali glanced down at her arm, then at Jade. "I feel like I’m collecting spiritual souvenirs."

"Shh," Jade hissed. "Respect the process."

....

Then, a tiny Buddhist center.

Ali sat cross-legged, trying to meditate, while Jade sat beside her with her eyes squeezed shut as if she were trying to force enlightenment to happen through sheer willpower.

"Clear your mind," Jade whispered through gritted teeth.

"My mind is currently as blank as it can get," Ali whispered back. "Does that count?"

"I... I guess so?" Jade whispered back, her brow furrowed in concentration.

....

By late afternoon, Nigel had stopped asking questions. He simply drove in a state of silent, heavy judgment, wondering if the two heiresses had suffered a shared head injury the night before.

He was beginning to seriously question whether informing Miss Jade of his boss’s whereabouts had been a good idea after all.

His brown eyes flicked from the road to the rearview mirror, finding Ali slumped in the backseat. She was now adorned with a rosary, a thread bracelet, a tilak, and what he was fairly certain was a thick layer of leftover incense ash in her blonde hair.

Letting out a quiet sigh, he wondered if it was time for him to consider therapy instead.

His thoughts were interrupted when Aliana spoke.

"If one more person waves smoke at me," she said flatly, "I might actually combust. I’ll probably need an X-ray to check the status of my lungs after the sheer amount of sage I’ve inhaled today."

Jade, however, was still scrolling through her phone with intense focus. "Okay... last stop," she announced.

Ali narrowed her eyes. "You said that three stops ago."

"This time I mean it."

"Fine! But we are going back after this, because I desperately need external cleansing now rather than internal."

Jade rolled her eyes before letting out a quiet chuckle.

...

It was five o’clock in the evening when the car slowed near a forested area.

The trees grew denser, and when they looked around, there was not a single soul in sight.

Ali sat up slightly, her fatigue giving way to unease. "Jade... where exactly are we going?"

Jade glanced out of the window, then at her phone, then back outside. "Hm... the location ends here."

"That is not reassuring," Ali murmured under her breath as she peered outside, searching for any sign of a structure that might confirm human presence.

Nigel, who had been quiet until now, finally spoke, his tone cautious. "Boss... this area is quite secluded."

"No kidding," Ali muttered, staring ahead at the dirt path, until her eyes caught an old stone statue by the roadside, covered in thick green moss.

"Wait! I see something," Ali said quickly, and Nigel hit the brakes.

All three of them stared at the statue, which resembled a small demon with pointed teeth. Their gazes then shifted to the side, where a set of stone steps led upwards.

"This is the place!" Jade exclaimed.

Ali and Nigel narrowed their eyes, trying to see where the steps led, before turning back to Jade with expressions that clearly showed they had absolutely no confidence in this plan.

"What?" Jade asked, blinking at the two of them before rolling her eyes. "Relax, we’re only meeting a lady here, and then we can go home. Now come on!" With that, she opened the car door and stepped out as if this were a perfectly normal evening outing.

Ali and Nigel exchanged a long look.

Nigel was the first to break. "Boss, I’m coming with you. I’m not letting you wander into The Blair Witch Project alone."

Ali parted her lips to refuse, mostly because Nigel had absolutely no idea what he was signing up for, but he beat her to it.

"Please, boss, let me come along," he insisted. "I cannot sit here listening to cricket noises while wondering if you’re being sacrificed... or worse, scammed. My ethics simply won’t allow it."

Ali stared at him, "You think this is covered under your job description?"

"At this point, I believe it should be," Nigel replied gravely.

Ali pressed her lips together before letting out a resigned sigh. "Tsk, fine. Let’s just go and get this over with."

Truthfully, despite her doubts about whatever this place was supposed to be, Nigel had always been loyal. If things went south, he was exactly the kind of person who would either get them out... or at least run fast enough to call for help.

With that mildly comforting thought, the three of them made their way up the stone steps towards the archway.

Ali glanced at the moss-covered statue again, "If that thing moves, I’m pushing both of you and running."

"Rude," Jade added, already halfway up the stairs and both Nigel and Ali began to follow her.

As they made their way up, a large stone archway loomed before them. Beyond it lay a small, desolate courtyard, leading up to an old wooden house that stood in unsettling silence.

The air grew heavier with every step, thick with the scent of wilderness and dried herbs, as though the place itself was breathing.

When they came to a halt just outside the gate, none of them moved for a moment. Their eyes shifted between one another, each silently waiting for someone else to go first.

Noticing both women hesitate, despite one of them having been remarkably enthusiastic about dragging them here, Nigel let out a quiet sigh. "I’ll knock."

Just as he took a step forward, the double sliding doors creaked open on their own, freezing all three of them where they stood. A chill ran through the air, and they instinctively clutched at their chests, trying to steady their racing hearts.

When they slowly moved their gaze towards the now-open doorway, they noticed a pale woman stepped into their view.

She was dressed in a flowing white kimono, her black hair tied neatly into a bun. Her eyes were painted with deep red eyeshadow, giving her an almost medieval presence.

For a moment, she simply stood there, watching them pale before her red lips slowly curved into an eerie smile.

Then, in a voice that was far too cheerful for her ghostly appearance, she spoke.

"Welcome... my new customers!"