Tina remained silent for several seconds. Her arms tightened around her body as though she could protect herself from the memories by holding them in place.
"I'm different from other people," she finally said. "I've had a psychic ability since I was a child. I can move things without touching them."
Nick stared at her, but Tina kept her attention on Ash.
"When I was younger, my parents brought me here for a vacation. My father and I argued near the lake, and I became angry. I lost control of my power."
Her voice began trembling.
"The dock collapsed beneath him. He fell into the water and never came back."
Tina had blamed herself for John Shepard's death ever since that night. She feared her emotions because every moment of anger or panic carried the possibility that someone else might be hurt.
She had spent years believing that she killed her own father.
Ash leaned forward slightly.
"What happened after you returned here?"
He now understood Tina's trauma, but that alone did not explain Jason's resurrection. Unless the later Friday the 13th movies had introduced a psychic girl capable of fighting an undead serial killer, her power should not have brought a corpse out of Crystal Lake.
Considering that Jason eventually fought Freddy Krueger and traveled into space, Ash could not dismiss the possibility.
Tina looked toward the floor.
"When the campground reopened, Dr. Crews suggested bringing me back here. He claimed confronting the place where my father died might help me overcome the trauma."
Her expression hardened when she mentioned the psychiatrist.
"Last night was supposed to be my first real treatment session. Dr. Crews kept asking questions that made me angry. He wanted me to lose control so he could study my ability."
Heather frowned.
"He deliberately provoked you?"
Tina nodded.
"I realized what he was doing and ran away. I went to the place where my father fell into the lake."
Her fingers dug into her sleeves.
"I was angry and desperate. I wished that my father would come back."
Ash understood before she finished.
"Your power responded, but it brought up the wrong person."
Fear entered Tina's eyes.
"Yes. The water started moving, and that masked man came out. I could feel something terrible inside him. Then I passed out."
Nick looked from Tina to Ash with growing disbelief. He had entered the room worried about a frightened girl and now found himself listening to a discussion about telekinesis and resurrection.
None of it sounded possible.
People could not move objects with their minds. Dead men did not climb out of lakes.
Science did not work that way.
Ash ignored Nick's confusion and considered what Tina had revealed. Her power was far stronger than ordinary telekinesis. In a state of intense grief, she had reached into the lake and pulled Jason Voorhees back from the dead.
Tina had accidentally killed her father as a child. Now she had awakened an undead murderer in a campground filled with tourists.
Her ability had created another disaster.
Tina looked at Ash nervously.
"Do you know who he is?"
She swallowed before continuing.
"I asked my mother whether she saw anyone near the lake, but she didn't. I started thinking that maybe I imagined everything."
Tina looked toward Nick.
"Then I went to the party, and I saw something else. It felt like a nightmare, but I was awake. I saw the masked man killing someone."
Ash's eyes narrowed.
Her abilities were not limited to telekinesis.
"You saw it happening somewhere else?"
"I think so."
Ash turned toward Nick.
"You said the party was for your cousin Michael. Did he arrive last night?"
Nick shook his head.
"No. We thought he was running late, but he still hasn't shown up. Everyone assumes he got lost or landed in jail somewhere."
Ash gave him a flat look.
"Was he traveling with a woman?"
Nick appeared surprised.
"His girlfriend was coming with him. How did you know?"
Ash leaned back.
Michael had driven toward Crystal Lake at night with his girlfriend. Every condition for attracting Jason had been met.
He had no realistic chance of surviving.
"That answers it," Ash said. "Your cousin is probably dead."
Nick's expression darkened.
"You can't know that."
"Do you have a picture of him?"
Nick hesitated before reaching into his wallet. He removed a photograph and handed it across the room.
Tina accepted it first.
The moment she saw Michael's face, the remaining color left her cheeks.
"That's him."
Nick moved closer.
"What do you mean?"
"He's the man I saw last night."
Tina handed the photograph back with trembling fingers.
"The masked man killed him."
Nick stared at the picture as though expecting it to provide another explanation. He still did not want to believe them, but Michael's unexplained absence no longer felt harmless.
Ash folded his arms.
"You should prepare yourself for the worst."
Nick looked angry, but he had no argument. Michael had not called, arrived, or contacted anyone since the previous evening.
Tina spoke so quietly that the others almost failed to hear her.
"Who is the masked man?"
Ash could not reveal that he remembered Jason from movies in another life. He needed a believable source for his knowledge.
"Do these cabins have any old newspapers?"
Tina looked confused.
"Why?"
"The killings happened a long time ago. If newspapers from that period were left behind, they might explain who he is."
Gwen tilted her head and looked at Ash.
She could not remember him ever reading old reports about Crystal Lake, but she chose not to challenge him in front of the others.
Tina thought for a moment.
"There are newspapers in a cabinet downstairs. They were already here when we arrived."
The campground's new owners had replaced the damaged equipment but kept much of the stronger wooden furniture to preserve a rustic appearance. Old newspapers and other forgotten items remained inside several drawers.
The group left Tina's bedroom and gathered in the living room. Heather and Nick searched the cabinets while Gwen cleared space on the table.
Nick eventually found a stack of yellowed newspapers inside a deep drawer.
They spread the papers across the table and sorted them by date. Dust rose from the brittle pages while faded headlines described accidents, disappearances, and murders around Crystal Lake.
One article contained a photograph of a younger Jason Voorhees.
The report described him as a child born with severe facial deformities and developmental disabilities. Years earlier, Jason had disappeared while swimming at Camp Crystal Lake and was presumed to have drowned.
The counselors responsible for watching the children had failed to notice him struggling in the water.
Jason's mother, Pamela Voorhees, blamed the camp and everyone connected to it for her son's death. When Camp Crystal Lake attempted to reopen years later, she murdered several counselors to prevent the property from operating again.
Her revenge ended when the final survivor, Alice Hardy, fought back and decapitated Pamela with a machete.
The next articles became stranger.
Despite having been presumed dead since childhood, Jason later appeared as an adult and began killing anyone who entered the area surrounding Crystal Lake. Witnesses described a huge man with abnormal strength who survived injuries that should have killed him.
The reports documented repeated massacres, abandoned reopening attempts, and missing visitors. Some articles treated Jason as an urban legend, while others included crime-scene photographs and survivor testimony that made denial impossible.
Crystal Lake gradually became a forbidden place.
People stopped visiting. Businesses closed, roads fell into disrepair, and the campground remained abandoned for years.
The silence eventually caused the story to fade from public attention. A development company purchased the land two years earlier and renovated the cabins, apparently believing the old murders were nothing more than local folklore.
Ash found another article about Alice Hardy.
After surviving Pamela Voorhees, Alice left Crystal Lake and attempted to rebuild her life. She was later found murdered in her own home.
The report could not explain how the killer located her.
Ash tapped the page.
"This is important. Jason doesn't always stop hunting once someone leaves the lake."
Tina stared at the black-and-white photograph of Jason wearing a hockey mask and holding a machete. The clothing differed from what she had seen, but the mask and massive build were unmistakable.
"That's him."
Ash nodded.
"You resurrected Jason Voorhees."
The room became silent.
Tina looked horrified as the weight of those words settled over her. She had not awakened an ordinary dead man. She had released a killer responsible for decades of massacres.
"What are we supposed to do?"
Nick finally began accepting the truth. Michael had vanished before reaching the party, and Tina had recognized him from her vision.
Another couple from Nick's cabin had also disappeared. They left during the night to camp alone in the woods and had not returned.
Until now, their absence seemed like a minor delay. They might have slept late, gone swimming, or found somewhere private to spend the morning.
After reading the articles, those explanations no longer felt convincing.
Nick looked toward Ash.
"Two of my friends are missing too."
"Where did they go?"
"They took camping equipment into the woods last night."
Ash released a slow breath.
A couple had entered the forest alone after dark. Their chances were no better than Michael's.
"We should assume Jason found them."
Nick clenched his jaw.
"We don't know that."
"No, but walking into the forest without preparation could add more bodies."
Ash gathered several newspapers and studied the recorded attacks. Jason possessed enormous strength, felt little or no pain, and repeatedly returned after being shot, stabbed, burned, drowned, or electrocuted.
Physical damage could stop him temporarily, but ordinary weapons had never provided a permanent solution.
Tina looked toward the windows.
"Are we all in danger now?"
"Yes."
Ash answered without softening the truth.
"Jason is somewhere around the lake, and we don't know who he'll target next."
Heather crossed her arms.
"Should we warn everyone and leave during daylight?"
"We need to warn them, but leaving may not be enough."
Ash pointed toward the article about Alice.
"Jason found a survivor after she returned home. Once he decides someone belongs on his list, distance may not protect them."
Nick looked increasingly disturbed.
"So what are you suggesting?"
"We stay together tonight and prepare."
Ash's expression became serious.
"No one enters the woods alone. No swimming, no wandering between cabins, and no couples disappearing somewhere private."
Heather gave him a sideways look, but Ash ignored it.
"We also need to find a way to kill Jason permanently. If we only escape, we may spend the rest of our lives wondering when he'll appear again."
Tina stared at the picture of the man she had pulled from the lake.
Guilt filled her face.
"I brought him back."
"You didn't know what was beneath the water," Gwen said gently. "Dr. Crews deliberately pushed you into losing control."
"That doesn't change what happened."
"No, but blaming yourself won't stop him."
Ash gathered the newspapers and stood.
"We still have daylight. We should use it to warn everyone, search for useful equipment, and learn what your powers can do."
Tina looked up.
"My powers?"
"You resurrected Jason and saw Michael's death from miles away. You might be the only person here capable of fighting him directly."
The thought clearly frightened her, but Ash did not withdraw the statement.
Jason Voorhees had awakened.
Now Crystal Lake also had a psychic powerful enough to challenge him.