To MissieLynne
Seance, Haunt and Romance although it was more haunting with a dab of romance thrown in.
"Come on Belle, you're almost halfway to the hill," yelled Ruby allowing Belle's nerves to already be heightened from the fog surrounding them.
"I'll be there soon!" yelling back as loud as her young lungs enabled her to. "Not my fault you guys always try to make everything into a race." Her complaints already fell on deaf ears seeing her cousin Victor and Ruby already setting up the device they spent nearly a week building. According to Victor, the strange contraption (which mainly consists of a pickle jar filled with pickle juice attached to a long rod stolen from the Frankenstein manor) would act as an electrical rod towards charging electricity onto the jar providing an alternative light source from candles.
Regardless of being cousins, Belle was more of another member of the Frankenstein household as Victor treated her more to a kindred spirit. Perhaps it was because they were closer to age with Victor's twelve over Belle's ten years which allowed them to purse the same interests mainly in spending time outdoors to explore the world beyond their manicured gardens and searching for unlimited knowledge, usually these pursuits were done with the assistance of their close friend and the de-facto leader of the group Ruby Lucas. Unlike Belle, Ruby had a definitive interest in Botany allowing her and Victor to constantly pursue endless experiments over whatever they viewed necessary. As much as the ten year old loved her playmates, she never could understand their obsession in building items as well as many of their ideas leading to either being reprimanded by Victor's domineering father, a minor disaster plaguing the village or worse, a medieval style punishment conducted by Granny leaving Belle to wonder who really was the crazy one between why they continued and why she still managed to tag along regardless.
After ten minutes of heavy breathing from the giant steep climb whilst dragging the weight of her skirt along leaving the hem soaked in mud, Belle reached the hilltop finding Ruby holding onto the rod as she walked around while Victor was sitting down next to the jar writing down observations into one of his many leather bound notebooks.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" she already knew asking the question was pointless as Ruby looked shocked but ignored her and continued walking around.
"No." pointed out Victor as he began cleaning he glasses which were clearly too large for his face, "but that's what makes science so fascinating Belle, we get to try again."
"And again." Ruby stepped in placing the rod next to the jar. "Because the next one could be the proof we need."
Their optimism left Belle speechless. She could never argue back over a subject she had little understand but at the same time could appreciate their love for it even though it tended to get them into trouble. Leaving the two to their own devices, Belle quickly rummaged into her bag finding the book on legends she picked up from the library. Occasionally she would glance back at her two companions as they took turns in trying to continue their experiment trying to prove their results were absolute. Although what Belle clearly saw and would have happily told them had they bothered to listen to her was that current weather while foggy, did not provide enough condensation for an electrical storm despite how frequent they were this time of the year.
After twenty minutes of waiting for a charge, Victor decided for it to be better if they go to the lake for the remainder of the afternoon. The girls happily complied as Ruby began dismantling the parts with Belle assisting at the expense of pointing out how wrong they were in their assumtions. Whether they wanted to admit it or not was inconsequential as it meant a failed endeavor equaling some semblance of a normal activity for them to purse without risking the fear of the adults.
While the Dunkel
Lake was a place the trio had gone to many a time, this part of the Dunkel Forest had been a mystery to them. The trees grew to be larger with each passing second as any remains of a clearing have long since disappeared. There was not an animal to be seen nor heard for miles while the ground was not a smooth terrain, but with rotting tree stumps and logs ready to send the unsuspecting traveler into a sense of dread.
Further into the forest, Belle began to notice any road signs were no longer within sight where the only reason no one had agreed yet to turn back was due to the daylight itself keeping the forest from turning into a place under the world of her many books but she also suspected it was because Ruby did not want to admit they were now lost.
"We should probably go back!" Belle bluntly pointed this out leaving the other two to look at one another then back at her who started to fidget with her dress.
"We're almost there." Ruby continued walking on not bothering to turn back and seeing both Victor and Belle clinging onto the young brunette by both arms as hey closely began walking further and further into the unknown.
"What was that!" shouted both Ruby and Belle walking through complete darkness as they felt a pinch towards their sides as Victor stated he felt something strange as well.
At last they heard noises in the form of snarls and growls leaving coming in many directions.
"RUN!"
Sprinting in circles, Ruby and Belle came to the realization their dresses where not short enough for running as they each tripped several times. Both girls have their cheeks and nose produce several cuts from the twigs but the hems continued to be torn as they continued sprinting to the point where Belle collapse from the weight of the dress. Victor stumbled looking back at Belle as she began to cry leaving him to run back carrying her on his back then catching up to Ruby.
They managed to find a narrow cave to hide; coughing from the sprinting and exhaustion of being killed. After a few seconds, they began to notice there was a lack of noise coming from outside the caver other than their heavy breathing.
"Wolves! I thought this forest was no longer them!" Victor yelled back at Ruby who appeared to be as nervous as him.
"Obviously we're in a deeper part of the forest that none of us expected."
"This is your fault, we're stuck here." The boy proclaimed.
Fighting back tears as she began breathing heavily. "Mine! No Viktor Heinrich Frankenstein, this expedition was your idea." Ruby's ego could not stand the thought of being bested by anyone, even the boy who was a frequent guest in her diary.
The two children began yelling until Victor felt a smack from his forehead coming from Belle who both were ignoring in their quest to prove the other incorrect. Victor gladly placed her down leaving her to smooth out her skirt before pointing out towards their direction beyond the trees lay a large gothic designed tower painted in black.
Both looked confused as Belle became increasingly annoyed. You two can be such idiots sometimes!
"A tower means a building, a building means people and people mean a guide to get us back home."
The idea went over their heads until they decided to follow Belle out of the forest clearing discovering the source of the tower in a form of a large castle built in black stone. Unlike most of the castles throughout the region, this one appeared to be completely intact. The design of the towers held tiny arches throughout the rims and statues of dragons on different corners on the building.
The children looked at one another contemplating as to what to do next when the answer became forced upon them in the form of the sky darkening causing raindrops to fall in utmost speed. Running once again towards the large front door with door handles framed with the mouth of a lion.
Seeing Belle and Victor becoming both frightened and cold, Ruby opened the door allowing the trio to be welcomed.
The inside of the castle was just as strange looking inside as there little signs of it being lived on but unlike the castles the other regions, there were some evidence of habitation. The entrance hall lay tapestries etched onto the walls containing different stories of battles with nefarious creatures, but all ended the same with the supposed hero becoming either dead or become the same monstrous creature. Further down lay several tables on the sides with elaborate vases which saw better days. A small thought crept into Belle's head as she began imagining the castle in a better state; the curtains always opened allowing light to shine the rooms every minute of the day. The vases were filled with roses an lilies covered with lacy doilies as different knickknacks decorated the tables while the portraits appeared inviting rather than dread. Instead the dust around them made it impossible to see what was going and for Belle to deeply look into something that would leave her frightened. They next went onto a large room which must have been the dining hall as the table could have easily hosted 100 people enough to make Granny have a heart attack with the amount of staff she would need to hire solely for the entertainment alone. The table lay a wider gold vase in the centre and each place setting held gold plates with utensils and discolored napkins all ready to be used at any second.
"It appears no one has been here in a quite a while." stated Victor leaving Ruby and Belle going towards the elaborate fireplace finding couches to lay on where to their luck had not been caked in dust. "Still it's raining hard and father would be furious if he finds out we were seen walking out in the middle of the thunderstorm. So I guess it's better to stay here at least until the storm clears up." He began cleaning the dirt and fog from his glasses at the same time hiding his nerves in front of the girls. "What do you guys think?"
"We're staying." Both girls declared in unison lying down onto the couch with Victor using some of the firewood nearby to build them a fire.
As Victor and Ruby began getting the fire ready, Belle looked around the dining hall. The dust annoyed her as it became nearly impossible to see anything but from what little she could find contained a small tea set holding a candelabra and a small clock believing it to be an adorable setting.
A little further lay a small crooked knife catching Belle's eye. The dagger appeared to be strange with its crooked exterior, as she took the dust away noticing a strange name etched on the dagger.
Rumpelstiltskin
What a strange name, perhaps it was an old family name or a battle cry, but it was a word she had never heard of before in any language she would be able to recognize.
"Hey Belle, come on over." shouted Ruby catching the girl's attention leaving her to head back onto the living room finding her two companions clinging their bags closer together.
"I got an idea, how about we conduct a séance?" asked Belle leaving Ruby beaming with enthusiasm whilst Victor gave a deep sigh.
"Seriously? You guys actually believe in it?" Victor always prided himself seeing the world with logic and reason to the point he always asked questions annoying most of the adults around him after they would humor him for several minutes before realizing he was completely serious.
"Come on Victor, you never wondered about how there are occurrences out there we can't always explain." proclaimed Belle.
He quickly nodded back at them, "not really...everyone knows there are no such things as ghosts." Chastising Belle proved to be pointless as she gathered several candles along with Ruby setting up using the tea set Belle found earlier along with a one of the golden silverware.
Belle got Ruby and Victor to sit down in a circle as she got the rest of the items sorted out. "Right so now where do we start?"
"You mean you haven't even figured out yet on how to summon?" Victor was ready to get up before Ruby pulled him back onto the ground allowing Belle to be at ease. Belle can see the looks they were giving her; Victor was right as she had no idea on the person she wanted speak to.
Whenever she and Ruby conducted a séance, they decided it was best not to try to summon close family members to avoid any awkward problems but sometimes it was done under the supervision of Granny as means of humoring the girls whenever they wished to conduct alternative means to amuse themselves.
For nearly five minutes, Belle could see Victor looking at his glasses bored out of his mind while Ruby awkwardly looked at her companion trying to calm her nerves; she didn't want to admit this was a failure as the rain won't let them go back for some time. In her state of nerves, Belle placed her hands onto her dress feeling an object in her pocket as she remembered the dagger from earlier giving her an idea.
"Rumpelstiltskin" she whispered, closing her eyes
"Pardon?" asked Ruby.
Belle looked back at them and smiled read to cite an incantation. "Rumpelstiltskin, Rumpelstiltskin, I summon thee….Rumpelstiltskin."
All of a sudden the room around them began to shake causing the children to start screaming.
"What's happening?" cried Victor as the girls held themselves toward him. The room began shaking caused the children to cover their ears as the noise escalated into a shrilling below.
Ruby clung to Belle's neck as Victor cried yelling at girls he loved them holding onto Ruby. Belle clung onto Victor for dear life while Victor began crying telling the girls he loved them. Belle clung towards Victor crying.
The noises were causing the trio to rapidly lose their minds in which colors and shapes appeared to be out of place. In a fit of clarity, Belle noticed from the fireplace a man standing in front of her dressed in leather. What made him completely special in her mind filled with hallucinations was the fact his skin appeared to be similar to a reptile leaving him to goblin with his unkept wavy hair. He smiled back at her disappearing in poof of smoke leaving Belle shocked as to what she was witnessing.
"No wait!" she declared over the strange man when all of a sudden the shock from the noises and items falling part left everything turning black….