Weber and Josh walked back to the car where Ariel was waiting for them.
They looked through the window of the car and saw Ariel had fallen asleep.
They tried opening the door, but it was locked.
Josh sighed and pulled out his phone, "I'll call her," but Weber raised up his hand to stop Josh, which made Josh look at him with furrowed eyebrows.
Weber made his hand phase through the window and tapped Ariel on the shoulder from behind, and she quickly woke up and whipped her head behind.
"Can you open the door for Josh?" Weber said next to her, which made Ariel ashened because she was sure she locked the doors.
Ariel glared at Weber as he smirked, then she opened the door.
Josh got in and sat down.
"Was that really necessary?" Josh and Ariel asked Weber at the same time.
"You two always say I'm gloomy so I thought I'd do something a bit spooky," Weber replied with a cheeky grin.
Ariel sighed, "anyways, I'm guessing the interview went well?"
"It did. We just have to meet him at 12 am, which is 12 hours from now," Josh said.
Ariel nodded, then looked at Weber, "I guess I didn't have to say you shouldn't do anything that'll expose you."
Weber folded his arms, "obviously. The man just wants us to pretend we saw ghosts and his crew will handle special effects. So we're actors at this point," Weber said leaning back in the chair.
Ariel drove to a nearby motel.
Ariel walked up to the receptionist's desk and spoke with the manager and was handed the key to a room.
Ariel walked back to Weber and Josh and she sighed, "let's go."
They walked for some minutes passing other rooms until they arrived at the 30th room.
Opening the door, they saw the room had a small ceiling fan, two small windows and a mattress that would be enough for barely two people.
Josh grimaced. Weber inhaled, "this is the best they had huh?" he asked.
Ariel nodded, "for our budget, yes."
The men nodded and dropped their bags.
Josh jumped to the bed and spread his arms wide.
"Don't you think Ariel should have that space?" Weber asked, having turned away from his bags to look at Josh.
Josh shrugged, "I'm the only normal person here. I think I should be treated that way," he said and went under his blanket.
Ariel shrugged and put a sleeping bag on the floor and lay down and began going through her phone.
Weber went to a corner, sitting on the floor that was in a diagonal direction opposite to them.
Josh stood up, "I'm going to get us some food," he said and went to the door, then turned back, "and no one stay on my bed!" he said and went out.
Ariel sat up and took the bowl of beans Josh gave her on a tray, then gave Weber a bowl and Josh sat down on his bed and shoved his beans quickly.
Ariel looked at Weber and he kept his head low, avoiding eye contact with anyone, then she noticed her vision was blurry.
Weber felt an emotion that wasn't his. His heart tensed and his eyes widened.
He felt fear.
Looking up, he saw Ariel clutching at her chest, sweat all over her head then she collapsed.
"Ariel!" Weber yelled, and he sprang to his feet and rushed to her, but Josh's hand stopped him from going to her.
"We need to talk," Josh said.
Weber squinted his eyes at him, "what did you do?" he asked.
Josh sighed, "you see, just taking precautions. I don't know about you, but have you forgotten there's an assassin that got rid of everyone in that abandoned train station and kept just me to warn you?" Josh asked.
Weber took back his hand forcefully, "why did you have to hurt Ariel?" he asked, his voice becoming iced.
"First off, I didn't hurt her. That was just a harmless drug to make her sleep," Josh replied looking at Ariel, "it wasn't supposed to make her look so tense before passing out."
"So what do you want to say?" Weber asked folding his arms.
"Ariel might be the very coincidence that ruins us," Josh began.
"Look at this: you're overpowering the Executive Officer and when you start losing, she saves the day. Then she easily gets us a job in a country we haven't even lived in for two days. And to add fuel to the fire, her of all people just so happened to be your lost and now found girlfriend," Josh said.
Weber squatted and held Ariel's hand without replying to Josh.
Then Weber looked at Josh with a deep scowl, "next time, if you want to say something, say it for everyone to hear."
Weber was stroking Ariel's head, his face dull, "I don't know what you gave her but I could sense her fear."
Josh clenched his fists, "it wasn't supposed to be this way..."
"Then don't be so cruel next time!" Weber yelled and turned away and sat down next to Ariel.
"She's helped us so much and this is how you repay her. Without her we'd be dead!" he said.
Josh looked away from them with a frown, "you're right. I'm... sorry," he said and exited the room.
2 hours later.
Ariel slowly opened her eyes, and saw Weber next to her sitting on the floor, gently squeezing her hands.
"What happened?" she asked slowly, feeling dazed.
Weber gave a weak smile, "I think you collapsed from stress," Weber said, which was a lie.
Because thinking about what Josh said, he couldn't help but consider it. Because as much as Josh's method of drugging her was harsh, he couldn't help but ponder if Josh had a point.
Just when he's losing to the Executive Officer Stanford, Ariel shows up. She knows who Weber is. Just so happened to be his girlfriend from the past and got them jobs easily.
It was either luck, coincidence or a set up.
Josh walked in and sighed, "Ariel I just wanted to apologize—" Weber cut him off.
"He just walked to apologize for not bringing more food, right?" Weber asked through gritted teeth.
Before Josh could protest, he saw behind Weber ghosts of people raise their index fingers to their mouths, signaling for Josh to be silent.
Josh started to sweat and forced a sheepish, "yeah, I'll be back."
"I'll go help him," Weber said and ran off to Josh.
Weber held Josh's shoulder as they went to a nearby restaurant, "Josh, don't worry about earlier."
Josh tilted his head at him, "why's that?" he asked.
"You were just taking safety measures and you did what you knew. So I forgive you. Let's just be more open with ourselves next time, please," Weber said, and Josh nodded affirmatively with a smirk, making Weber smile.
11 hours later.
Weber put on a gray hoodie and black jeans while Josh put on a green turtleneck and blue jeans.
Weber and Josh waved goodbye to Ariel as they went out and headed towards the front gate of Robert's mansion.
Robert came out with a black jumpsuit with a camera.
He clasped his hands together and smiled, "great! Let's head out!" he said and they all went into a van.
They drove for an hour and the cameramen started filming.
"Hey everyone! This night we're headed to the most haunted forest in the southern region of Vespera!" Robert said as they were outside, which made Weber abuzz from a strange excitement at his words.
"I've got two friends, Josh and Weber," they smiled and waved at the camera, "and we're going to meet with ghosts. And this isn't any ordinary site. It's believed that many murders happened there," Robert said grinning as he thought of the audience being fooled by his edits.
When they reached the forest, they got down and started walking, flashing their torches around.
The loneliness put the cameramen on edge and Robert on edge, but Weber and Josh were walking looking a bit bored.
Because Weber had a strong connection with ghosts and Josh was used to being with Weber, so seeing ghosts didn't feel as scary.
Robert noticed how casual they were even when they heard scratching or bird noises. While Robert and his crew would shudder, Josh and Weber would just turn casually.
"I think I heard a sound nearby in the form of whispers," Robert said to the camera in a low tone, then the cameramen turned off the cameras.
"Alright. Weber, Josh. This is the part where you two will pretend you're being chased by spectres. Then we cut the camera and my men do their 'magic' and make it look to the audience like you were chased by real ghosts. Easy?" Robert asked.
Weber and Josh nodded affirmatively.
Robert walked over to the van and handed Weber and Josh soda cans and walked back to his crew.
Josh was drinking his soda absentmindedly, same with Weber until a low voice came to his ear.
"Wraith Keeper," it said.
Robert started walking back to them.
"Speak," Weber said to the spectre.
"Please let me ruin this man for disturbing our peace," a ghostly hand only Weber could see pointed at Robert.
"Alright guys, let's start," Robert said.
"As long as you don't kill him," Weber replied to the ghost while Robert looked away, Weber's eyes turning white for a second.
"Show him this is your turf," Weber said with his voice iced and low.