Hanging with the Crew (A Ghost Adventures Fanfic)

III

She also didn't have to worry about getting a hotel while over here as Zak said she could crash at his house and she could fly with the four of them back to the UK on the 28th September. So she had 10 days freedom where she could explore Las Vegas at her own leisure.

She glanced down her watch to see it was starting to creep towards 6.15 am but she had no battery at the moment to phone her lift. Just as she was about to give up and search for a taxi a black SUV pulled up in front of the airport. As the passenger door opened she saw Aaron in the driver's seat while Zak got out of the car.

"Professor." He asked as he approached her, "Professor Anne Lake." She smiled and raised her hand,

"That is me." She said as he came up and shook her hand with such vigor that she thought he was going to shake her teeth like a xylophone.

"Sorry we are late, the alarm went off at the museum as we were on our way." She watched as he grabbed her bags and placed them in the boot of the SUV.

"Was everything ok?" She asked as Aaron came around and opened up the back door for her.

"Yeah, it happens. The spirits like to set off the alarms from time to time." Zak said as he helped her into the back. She had to practically jump into the back seat as she was so short. At only 4ft 9 she was tiny compared to Zak's 5ft 9 frame.

While she buckled in Zak got back in the car and Aaron started to drive towards the outskirts of Las Vegas.

"I thought we would drop your bags off at mine first. You must be tired from your flight?" Zak asked as he turned back to look at her.

"Yeah 15 hours is too long, but I slept on the plane so I'm ok." She said as they pulled up to an iron gate, which opened when Aaron pressed a button on the console.

Pulling up to the structure she couldn't help but voice her appreciation. While it wasn't a mansion it was much bigger than the properties in her area. In fact, she could probably fit 10 of her tiny studio flats in the house.

"This place is amazing." She said just as the door opened and an older lady with bleached blonde hair stood at the entrance as a gorgeous black and white dog ran down to greet Zak,

"Hey, Gracie." He said as he knelt down to fuss the dog, "Gracie meet Professor Anne Lake." While she knelt beside him to give the dog a belly rub the woman came forward.

"Hi, I'm Nancy, Zak's Mom." She said holding out her hand as Anne stood up.

"Anne Lake, please to meet you." She said. So this was the woman she had spoken to on the phone not long ago.

While Zak picked up her bags Nancy put her arm through Anne's and led her towards the house.

"So Anne, is it your first time in Vegas?" She asked politely as she led her towards the kitchen where she was in the middle of making breakfast for them all.

"To Vegas yes, but not to America. I did my doctrine at Pennsylvania State University." She replied as she took in the massive kitchen with its chrome appliances and a huge breakfast bar in the middle of the room.

"That is amazing." She said as she indicated she should sit while the men took her bags to a room further in the house. "So did you know the people who did Paranormal State?" She asked as she started to put pancakes on a plate in front of me.

"Yes, I was friends with them. In fact, they took me on a few of their cases while I wrote my thesis on the existence of demons within modern society."

"So do you believe in demons?" She asked politely as she started to pour maple syrup over the food in front of her.

"Well, there are more things in heaven and earth..." She said quoting Horatio. She smiled as she put down her fork. "To be fair there are valid explanations for the existence of Demons within society. This phenomenon can occur due to psychosis within a person mind. Mental health plays a big part in people believing in things that they don't understand." She said, automatically going into lecture mode. She stopped herself as Nancy smiled, "Sorry, hazards of the trade."

"So do you believe in Demons?" Zak asked as he came up behind her while he gave his mother a kiss on the cheek and grabbed a plate himself. "Thanks, Mom."

"I don't know if I believe in them." She said as he sat next to her, "I mean I'm of the mind that I need to see it before I believe it."

"What about exorcisms? Or when people are possessed by an evil entity?" He asked genuinely surprised that a professor within the paranormal field was such a closed book.

"As I said, psychosis. A person who has schizophrenia hears voices in their head if they have a strong belief in all things paranormal they will automatically assume that a demon has possessed them. They don't want to believe that it is a simple case of mental health that causes them to act the way they do."

"I can see why Chris said you were such a hard nut to crack when it came to all things paranormal." He said as he took a bite out of the banana that was on his plate.

"Yeah, Chris is fun to be around. He obviously is a believer, and while I do believe he hears what he can only describe as spirits. I think there is another possible explanation." He smiled at her, she would certainly be an interesting one to convert to believing in the paranormal.

"What about when people see ghosts with their own eyes or if they get scratched?" She took a drink of coffee while Aaron also jumped in on the conversation.

"Simple, mass hysteria and imagination play a part in it. You tell someone that there has been a ghost of a white lady seen in a "haunted" house and other people will start saying they saw the same figure." As she took another bite of her pancakes Zak spoke up once more.

"What about being scratched, you didn't say how that has a reasonable explanation?" He smiled as he could see her eye light up, she was enjoying this little debate.

"The body is an amazing thing. I saw a case of a girl with Leukaemia a few years ago. She was so sick and the doctors didn't think she would make it. Every morning after her diagnosis she would imagine that every time she went to the toilet the cancer cells would also come out and be flushed down the toilet. A few months later she was cancer-free but not from simple medicine, but from the fact that she believed her body was flushing cancer out." She said, "The body has a way of taking what we believe and showing it on our flesh. Oh, I can feel a burn on my arm. Wait is that a scratch?" She simply stated.

"So if that is the case you would be open to coming on an investigation with us this week then," Zak said as he finished up his food. She looked at him in amazement.

"To prove that it is all imagination, most definitely." He smiled at her.

"Ok, we will leave in a few hours when you have had some rest." He said as he took his plate to the sink to wash it.