The house smelled old. Not just the cosy, Granny- style old, but of a hundreds' years worth of dust, and a load of rat droppings. As soon as Raven and her friends entered the house, it hit them like a smothering blanket. It crawled up through their nostrils and invaded their lungs – it was obvious that no one had been in here for many years.

And with good reason, according to Raven. Even her first glimpse of the place – a dull entrance hall, cloaked with dirt and grime – gave off a very bad first impression. She was only coming here for Nelly, her best friend. If it was up to her, she'd be running in the opposite direction. But Nelly had forced her into it.

Some project for her film-making class, though Raven didn't have a clue what it was about. Nelly thought the old mansion would be the ideal back-drop for her movie. It was going to be some cheap horror-film, about a ouiji board. It would no doubt go down well with her teachers.

So, Raven and a bunch of her friends had been literally hassled into 'starring' in the film. Much to Raven's annoyance. Still, spending a whole weekend with Braddock was something to look forwards to – they hardly saw each other any more. Braddock was always with the football team, and Raven always had her nose buried in her studies.

"Everyone – I've found it!" Raven spun around as she heard Nelly's high-pitched voice floating down from upstairs. They'd been on the hunt for the perfect room for the film. Actually, Nelly had been on a hunt, whereas everyone else was sitting in the Hall. Sighing, she stood up and headed upstairs.

Behind her, her brother and his new girlfriend were complaining. Ebony obviously didn't want to be here – with a bunch of strangers in a creepy old manor. Raven didn't really know Ebony all that well – she'd just come into town, after her father got a new job, a few weeks ago. Connor had instantly fallen in love with her – her dead-beat brother had a habit of falling for anyone with a heartbeat.

The room that Nelly had chosen was a grand bedroom. It was slightly less dust-choked than the others, and slightly more gothic too. A bed with black sheets and black velvet curtains dominated the left side of the room, right next to a huge window. It was easy to see why Nelly had chosen the room.

There was already a ouiji board set out in the centre of the room – Nelly's whole film was about a group of people who used one and, after a gruesome series of killings, all ended up dead. It was just like Nelly to think up something as 'cheery' as that.

So, as Nelly gave them the instructions the four of them gathered around the board and waited for her to be quiet. Eventually, once she had shut up and set up her camera, everyone placed a finger on the glass. They let themselves have one last giggle before they were silenced by a look from Nelly. After that, they all fell silent and started the scene.

Luckily, there was no dialogue in this bit – Raven was sure that if she'd had to speak then she would have pissed herself laughing. Though she was almost doing that anyway – sitting around a fake ouiji board, pretending that the glass was spelling out 'DIE' over and over, felt more than a little ridiculous.

The glass was slightly cool to the touch – probably from sitting next to the ice-cold bottle of water in Nelly's bag. One of everyone's fingers was placed on it – Raven's manicured finger contrasting sharply with Ebony's pale and brittle one. Everything went perfectly – from the glass' rapid movement around the board to all of their horrified looks.

The glass was just moving towards the D, when suddenly it lurched in the other direction, towards R. Raven's dark head flew up, looking around the circle. Everyone looked confused. It was pretty obvious that someone was messing about – probably Braddock. Ebony started reading out the letters that the glass was speeding to, "R-E-V-E-N-G-E" She said in a monotone.

"Cut – stop messing around!" Nelly said, standing up and looking like she was about to chuck something at them. Raven took her finger off the glass and turned around to listen to one of Nelly's famous lectures – all about how this was serious for her, and if they were just going to muck around then they should all just go home. Raven actually considered it.

After that first mishap, things ran smoothly. The glass shot around the board just as it was supposed to, and Nelly ran around the outside of the circle like a mad woman – frantically filming from every angle that she could. By the time Nelly said they could stop for the night, Raven was ready to run at her with a knife, just to get her to shut up.

Nelly stayed behind and gathered up her stuff, while the others went upstairs to look for the room they were going to sleep in.

"Hey! How about in here?" Raven heard Connor's voice echoing through the empty walls. She walked towards it, and ended up in a huge room  - like some sort of ballroom. Eventually, the others arrived and it was decided that they would just spend the night there – no one else could be bothered looking out any place better. They pulled out sleeping bags and pillows that they had brought with them.

It was already two in the morning, and the girls were more than ready to sleep – Raven was sure she would be getting bags under her eyes the next morning. If she did, there would be hell to pay. The three girls headed into one of the corners of the Hall to change into their night-clothes. As Raven slipped into a silky red nightdress, she glanced over the hall to where Braddock and Connor were deep in talk. Her boyfriend and her brother, respectively. And both so different – Connor was dark, like her. The two of them shared impossibly black hair, and eyes so black they belonged to the devil. Braddock on the other hand, was so fair it was a wonder he didn't turn into a lobster the second he walked into the sun. His hair was so light it was practically white.

The second that the five of them settled down into their sleeping bags, the boys decided it would be fun to tell ghost stories – and get the girls scared witless. To get the girls extra scared, they told the House's story. The story of how the last owner had been burnt at the stake for being a warlock. It was said that his ghost haunted the halls waiting to seek revenge.

As soon as the word 'revenge' left Braddock's lips, there was a flurry of pillows thrown at him. Nelly was obviously fuming, it was pretty obvious now that he was the one who had been messing around on the ouiji board.

Braddock went into a huff, and turned his back on everyone, pretending to be asleep. He had a habit of doing that. He was always going off into moods. It annoyed the Hell out of everyone. Raven hopped over to him in her sleeping bag, and lay down beside him. She was always the one who had to coax him out of his moods.

"Everyone's just a bit freaked out about the ouiji board thingy. Especially Nelly – you know what she's like." Raven said as she settled down on the floor beside him. He stayed quiet for a minute or so, before saying that it wasn't him.

Raven nodded, and closed her eyes, trying not to think about it.

***