“So, what's your name anyway?” the kid asked, eying Arthur. The man figured it must've been a relatively good sign that the teen wasn't trying to kill him. It was an even better one that he was willing to talk to him.

“Arthur,” he answered.

“I'm Royce. Gotta warn you, if you haven't figured it out already, these guys are totally weirdsville. I'll take you to see George first. Dude's probably the most easy goin' out of the three of 'em. Plus, I don't even know if Jackie's still around,” the ghost explained. Billy had already run ahead of them, climbing on the metal support beams and jumping off of piles of rubble. Arthur took in a deep breath, looking around the ruins of the house as they walked. He thought he heard a whispery, airy voice, but he didn't catch a glimpse of whatever it was.

“Oh, Mister Georrrrge!” Billy cried in a sing-song voice up ahead. It was terribly unnerving. “You gotta visitor!”

Arthur thought he'd reached the end of his rope when he set his eyes on the hulking behemoth of a man impaled with thick railroad spikes all over his torso sitting on a piece of rubble, holding a few cards in one hand. The other was replaced with a sledgehammer. Sitting across from the huge man was a headless torso wrapped in cellophane, also holding a few cards in one hand. In the other, he picked up his own head, turning it towards the visitors. He just couldn't do it. He remembered the last time he saw that horrible..thing the large man had become, killing Dennis right before his eyes. “Who the hell you think you are, interruptin' my card game?”

Arthur took a deep breath. The man-George, Royce had named him-had spoken to him. Not thrown a railroad spike through his head, not slammed that massive hammer into his back. Spoken. “Hi, my name is Arthur,” he said, as if he were speaking to a parent of a particularly troublesome student at school. “I've come here to ask for your help.”

“You think I'm some kinda fool, boy?” the man bellowed. “I'm not dumb! You aren't gonna stick me in one of them cells again!” The man stood, and Arthur swallowed hard, taking a step back. He was so much bigger when he stood up...

“No, it's nothing like that at all,” Arthur said, keeping his voice calm and even as best as he could, looking the spirit in the eyes. “It's something very important. If you'd allow it, I'd like to make my offer.” He decided he may as well be as polite as possible. Who knew how little it took to set a ghost off on a killing rampage.

George glanced at Royce, who shrugged and shook his head. “Go on,” George snapped.

“There's...a cult trying to start the Apocalypse.” Arthur grimaced, realising how ridiculous he sounded saying all this. It'd sounded so much more feasible when Kalina and Dennis were vehemently trying to get Arthur to listen about it. Now it just sounded dumb and childish. “And the only people who can stop it from happening are you, and two of the other spirits.”

“What good would it do me to help you?” the enormous man asked, crossing his beefy arms.

“Well,” Arthur said calmly. “If you and the two other spirits stop it all from happening, then all of you can pass on into the next life.”

At that, all motion seemed to still completely. The torso at the stump stopped shuffling his cards. Royce stopped tapping his bat against his sneakers. George stared intensely. Billy looked up. “You mean we could go to Heaven?” the little boy asked, breaking the silence.

“Don't be puttin' that kinda nonsense in that poor boy's head!” George shouted angrily, advancing. “You think it's funny, comin' up here to give us some kinda false hope!”

Arthur took a step back. “It isn't,” he protested. “It's in the book, the same book that-” Before he could realise what a mistake it was to bring up the book, the words were already out of his mouth, and the Hammer seized him by the shirt, lifting him into the air. He knew he was going to die.

“No! Jesus Christ he isn't lying!”

“Stop! Don't hurt him!”

George grunted, glancing at the two new ghosts frantically waving their arms for him to stop. All of the other spirits turned their eyes on Dennis and Kalina, and the atmosphere became even more tense than before.

“You-!” the Hammer hissed.

“So you're back to try to capture us, huh?” Royce said, resting his bat on his shoulder. “We ain't dumb, you know?”

“Look, whatever shitty things you may think of us, that isn't what we're here to do,” Dennis said, holding out his hands in a gesture of peace. “So, just let him down, and we can talk about this, okay? Don't hurt him!”

“Why should any of us trust you?” the Hammer growled. “You're the ones who put us in this place the first time!”

“Okay,” Dennis said calmly. “Believe me, or don't, but I had no idea what Cyrus was planning to do with you guys, all right? I swear it. I mean, everyone who had a part to do in that whole thing is dead, right? I'm dead, Kalina's dead, Cyrus is dead. All dead. So how would somebody like Arthur be able to do something that it took virtually an entire army to do? You guys aren't going to be captured! If anything, you guys owe him. He was the one who freed you, after all.”

George seemed to be considering the information, weighing it in his mind. True enough, all of those involved in the capturing and containment of the ghosts were dead. There was no real threat of that happening right now. And Arthur and his family had been the ones to free the ghosts from their prisons. Jean, the nice lady-spirit, had always spoken so highly of them. But he still couldn't bring himself to trust anyone that was in cahoots with someone like Dennis Rafkin or Kalina Oretzia.

“And what he's saying about the Arcanum is true,” Kalina added. “We do need your help. And if you help us, you'll be rewarded. Your spirits will be absolved, and you can move on. All of you.” Now that part, he definitely liked. He began to lower the terrified man to the ground, letting him go. Arthur immediately stepped behind Kalina and Dennis, breathing hard.

“What are we expected to help you with?” the Hammer asked, crossing his arms again.

“It's required that you, the Jackal, and the Juggernaut destroy Apollyon, a demon who will attempt to start the Apocalypse. A cult is trying to raise him in hopes of becoming his disciples in the afterlife,” Kalina explained, reaffirming what Arthur had already said, with a little more detail.

“That's a lot to ask,” the Hammer said.

“And you have what to lose?” Dennis replied sarcastically, earning him a glare from the bulky man. He flinched.

“Hey, they got a point, man,” Royce added. “Not like we got a whole lot else to do. It's totally boresville out here, you know?”

“Who said you were coming, hot shot?” Dennis asked.

Royce grinned evilly, reveling a little in the step back Dennis took. “Hey man, I go where the wind takes me, or some garbage like that. And besides. Horace likes me. I can help get him on board, you get me?”

“Why the hell would he like a shitty kid like you?” Dennis shot back.

“Shit, guy's a genius with cars. That's where all of his brains gone to!” Royce replied. “Fixed up my baby like new.”

“Where'd he get the parts from? There aren't exactly a whole lot of phantom-Jiffy Lube's popping up into business,” Dennis said.

“We got our ways, man. Come on. Let's go find him.”