All Chapters of In Bed With a Water Ghost: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

10 Chapters

Chapter 1

The conversation went on in the group chat.Mack Slater: "Dude, stop creeping us out in the middle of the night. But seriously, the fact that the hickey is actually in the shape of a cross is pretty weird."Keith Oldman: "I think you single losers are just jealous of Harvey."Will Anderson: "Have you noticed anything off about your girlfriend?"The moment I saw that message, my eyes instinctively went to the bathroom. The shower was running full blast. My girlfriend, Ivory White, was inside, taking a shower.My mind raced as I typed a reply.Harvey Larkin: "Other than being a little more needy tonight, I didn't feel anything weird."Will sent a string of shocked emojis before saying, "The Embercoil Solstice is the day ghosts go hunting for substitutes, and drowned wraiths are especially active. The sun aspect is at its peak on this day, and the human body burns through a lot of energy."You're supposed to stay pure and restrained to protect your life force. But now that she's d

Chapter 2

"Does she have a bruise on the inner side of her knee?" Will asked.He wasn't wrong about that. My heart had ached when I'd seen the bruise on Ivory's leg earlier. She'd just told me not to worry. She said she'd simply fallen by accident while walking and that it didn't hurt anymore.I hadn't told anyone about it, and Ivory had only just gotten back. So how did Will nail it in one shot?Was Ivory really a drowned wraith? I didn't dare think about it.In the group chat, I said to Will, "Yes, there is. How'd you know? But it was just from when she came back and fell."The guys in the group chat were stunned and chimed in quickly."Damn, you were right about that.""Will, I seriously suspect you've been stalking Ivory this whole time.""Ew, dude, that's creepy."Will replied, "That's not an ordinary bruise. It's what happens when the nether aspect in the water congeals in the blood vessels. Look closely and see if it looks like a bluish-purple web. That's how you can tell."I wa

Chapter 3

Ivory suddenly giggled and said, "Come on, why are you so tense? I just want you to keep me company for a late-night snack."I let out a breath of relief. Thank goodness she wasn't asking me to dig out my heart for her.I nodded and, as calmly as I could, answered, "Okay. I'm all done with the lotion. Go dry your hair so you don't catch a cold."She smiled and got up to head back into the bathroom.The moment she disappeared from sight, I hurriedly pulled out my phone and messaged Will privately."Will, I think there's really something off about Ivory! But I don't get it. I've been with her for so long. If she wanted to hurt me, she would've already done it."Everything was just too bizarre. I honestly couldn't bring myself to believe that the girlfriend I'd spent so many days and nights with was actually a drowned wraith.Will replied, "That's because she's waiting for the right moment. To complete a substitution ritual, she has to stay by the target's side for over a year. She

Chapter 4

I needed to figure out a way to get out of here, fast. My mind spun as I searched for an excuse."Well, alright. I won't go fishing, Ivory. I'll just swing by to drop off the fishing rod that I borrowed from Will last time. It wouldn't be nice to keep them from fishing. I'll get some food on the way back, and we can eat together then," I said.Ivory stood there without moving, her gaze unfocused. She seemed to be thinking about something.Then, she smiled faintly and pulled out her phone from her pocket, saying calmly, "Fine, but I'm calling Will to verify this first. What if you're just giving me the slip and sneaking off to fool around?"She made the call before I could say anything.Cold sweat broke out across my back. In my heart, I silently prayed that Will would be sharp enough not to blow my cover."Hey, Will," Ivory said when the call connected."Oh? Ivory?""Are you guys seriously dragging Harvey out in the middle of the night to go fishing instead of letting him sleep

Chapter 5

"Hehehe… Happy Embercoil Solstice. Can I have your body?" the delivery guy asked.His voice was strange and inhuman. His appearance had changed entirely—his face had turned swollen and rotting, as if he'd been submerged in water for a long time after dying.A wave of sheer terror surged up in my chest. I instinctively tried to run, but it was like something had nailed my feet to the floor. I couldn't move an inch.To make things creepier, even though the guy's delivery bag was small, pitch-black liquid kept pouring out of it in an endless stream. In just a short moment, the liquid in the elevator had already flooded past my calves.A biting chill crept up from the soles of my feet and shot straight to my heart."Ding!"At the very moment I was about to fall into despair, the elevator doors slid open. The display showed we had reached the basement.As the doors opened, the black liquid rushed out, and the invisible restraints on my body seemed to loosen a little. Seizing the mome

Chapter 6

The view ahead was nothing but pitch-black, perfectly still water.The front of my car was just over a foot from the guardrail by the lake. If I'd reacted even a second later, the car would've smashed through the barrier and plunged straight into the icy water.Thank goodness I'd snapped out of it in time.From memory, this road was supposed to have several curves, but the GPS had kept insisting that I go straight. On top of that, the creepy phone call had thrown me off. I'd almost gotten myself killed.I picked up my phone from under the seat, where it had fallen during the sudden braking. At some point, Ivory's call had already disconnected.I checked WhatsApp and saw that she had sent me several desperate messages asking for help. I ignored them and immediately started a video call with Will."Will, can you see this? I think I'm lost," I said. I pointed the camera toward the front."Holy shit!" Will yelled. "Why are you so close to the lake? I told you not to go near the wate

Chapter 7

I jolted as a shiver ran through my whole body. My hands tightened around the shovel, and I was just about to swing it around when someone said, "Harvey, it's me!"It was Will's voice.I turned around and sighed in relief. "Damn it. You trying to give me a heart attack or something?"Will said calmly, "Hurry up. Stick close to me."He started walking forward.I followed him and said, "Man, I didn't think you'd actually make it here to save me. I feel a lot safer with you here."He didn't answer. He just focused on feeling his way forward.I shut my mouth, suddenly embarrassed, afraid that I would distract him.The fog kept getting thicker, making my hair damp with the moisture in the air."Harvey…"I heard a voice calling from somewhere in the distance and stopped, frowning in confusion. "Will, did you hear someone calling my name?"Will, who was walking ahead of me, didn't slow down. He just called back, "No. Whatever you do, don't look back. Stay right on my heels."I ins

Chapter 8

Will's face hardened. "Planting roots by the water makes it easy to draw in all the resentment at the bottom of the lake. No wonder this drowned wraith is so strong. As I said before, we'd better move fast."I nodded. Thankfully, I'd been clutching the shovel the whole time and hadn't dropped it. It made digging into the dirt much easier.I'd just driven the shovel in a few times when a woman's sobbing suddenly exploded from beneath my feet. The next second, a pool of blackish-red liquid seeped up through the soil. It carried a thick scent of blood.I was so startled that I stumbled back several steps."Don't panic. Keep digging." Will caught hold of me, his expression steady.I took a deep breath and sped up my movements. The hole grew wider and deeper as I dug, until I had gone nearly three feet down. Below the top layer of soil, the willow tree's thick, gnarled roots finally came into view."That's enough," Will said. "Next, scatter the crushed garlic."I patted my pants pock

Chapter 9

Will took Ivory's hand, his gaze soft and full of emotion. He said, "Ivory, you'll be able to leave this place soon and become truly human again."Then, he proceeded to come clean about the whole story.Four years ago, Will and Ivory had met and fallen in love. Last year, their families had even set a wedding date. Then, the accident happened. One night, while out for a walk, Ivory had slipped into this very lake and drowned.Desperate to bring her back, Will had dug through his family's old tomes and finally found a forbidden ritual called the "wraith substitution".First, he had offered up ten years of his own lifespan, using it to bind the last shred of Ivory's soul within this lake. He'd anchored that fragment beneath the old willow tree at the water's edge. Day and night, it had been nurtured there, hidden and undispersed."This forbidden ritual couldn't be completed with just a single remnant of a soul," Will said.His gaze turned cold and venomous as he looked at me. "We

Chapter 10

Will stared helplessly at the chaos spiraling out of control before him. His voice trembled as he spoke, and he sounded on the verge of a breakdown."The ritual went off without a hitch, didn't it? Where did it go wrong?"Ivory's shrill screams echoed all around us as the flames burned higher and higher, until there was nothing left of her but a pile of ash.I'd been sprawled weakly on the ground, but I now slowly pushed myself to my feet. I looked straight at Will and said calmly, "Because I quietly changed the formation you set up."His eyes went wide. Bloodshot veins crawled across them in a twisted web as he stared at me in disbelief. "You? You did this? But how can you possibly know anything about these arcane arts? And when did you mess with the formation?"I answered steadily, peeling back the truth one word at a time. "Did you really think it was just regular crushed garlic that I scattered? It was soaked in holy water from the church."You thought you had everything unde

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