While Dr. Harvey planned for the Bedford's visit, Sara was left to roam Whipstaff's grounds. Perched on the cliffs, she gazed out at the churning ocean. The crisp sea mist tickled her grimy cheek.
"I know this is real" said Sara. "I can smell the ocean."
"Did you go to the beach alot?" asked Casper.
"A long time ago. But once Kirsten got stung by a jellyfish, that was the end of it. So we got a pool instead."
Sara ran a hand through her oily hair. Her nails encrusted with dandruff.
"Why are you so scared of water?"
The girl gazed at her friend suspiciously.
"Well... I mean my uncles are saying you smell... uh... not good."
Sara lowered her head and sighed.
"The first time my eyes lied to me, it was with water" she said. "I was in the shower when it happened. Blood and maggots came out of the shower head. Before I knew what was happening, it was up to the ceiling. I tried to swim, but it felt like hands were pulling me down. Thankfully my mom heard me screaming and everything went back to normal."
Casper remained still. Silently he watched his friend as she stared out at the ocean. Her eyelids growing heavy with every passing second.
"Sara?"
No answer.
"Sara? You okay."
Wordlessly, the girl rose to her feet. Eyes rolled back, her movements were strangely fluid.
"Hey!" cried Casper. "Where you going! Wait up!"
But Sara didn't hear. Guided by an unseen hand, she seemed to glide back to the mansion.
"This isn't a hallucination" thought the ghost. "This is possession!"
"Pull the tassel, Sara. You'll find my secret."
"What are you talking about?"
"The lamp. Sit down in the the chair and pull the tassel."
Deep in a stupor, Sara found her way to Harvey's office. An armchair and Tiffany lamp stood atop a balcony in the library.
"Is this is it?"
"Take a seat. Your in for quite a ride."
Lifelessly Sara sat in the chair and tugged on the lamp's knotted tassel.
WHHHHIIIIRRRRRRR
Suddenly the chair gave a violent lurch. Propelled by a hidden track underfoot, the mechanized pew took off down the balcony. Below the spiral staircase a trapdoor opened, swallowing the charging chair in a billow of dust.
"Damnation! Where did she get to now."
Dr. Harvey raced through the manor. With his patient missing, he couldn't help but panic.
"Dad?" asked a flustered Kat. "What is it?"
"I cant find Sara. Go look upstairs. I'll check the basement."
Instantly fear was brimming in Kat's eyes. Turning on her heels she dashed past the three ghosts.
"Where's the fire, meat bag?" chuckled Fatso.
Kat didn't have time to come up with a retort.
"Sara's missing" she said hastily.
The ectoplasmic threesome turned a hue paler then they already were.
"Oh Jeez!" cried Stinkie. "The psycho's loose."
"I told Doc to put a tracking device on her."
"You two check the south wing. I'll do the lab" ordered Stretch. "And be careful. Yesterday it was pepper spray. Today could be napalm."
"HELP! Dr. Harvey? Casper? Where is everybody!"Shivering in fear, Sara sat glued to the arm chair. As reality faded in, the girl found herself in even stranger surroundings. A cavernous subterrainian chamber carved into Whipstaff's bedrock. A desk sat infront of her piled high with papers, books and tools. But it was the moat that grabbed her attention. Simmering with mist, it toyed with Sara's imagination.
Alluring and repelling.
Carefully Bedford pulled herself from the chair. The old fear of water bubbling in her mind.
"Nothing's going to drown you" she reassured herself. "There's nobody here but you."
Blowing away the swirling fog, the quaking Sara peered into the moat.
Something stared back.
A dark beast gazed blindly with one window-like eye. As the mist cleared, its shape faded into focus.
"Holy crap!" gasped Sara. "Its a machine!"
"THERE YOU ARE!"
Suddenly Sara found herself face to face with an angry Stretch.
"Everyone's looking for you" he scolded. "There's an exit up here. And don't spray me with anything!""How did you know to get down there?"
With Sara's return to the surface world, Casper and the Harvey's couldn't keep their questions dormant.
"I'm telling you, I dont know" Sara murmered.
As if boneless, Bedford sat slumped over by the grand staircase. Covered in dusty cobwebs her eyes followed the spiral design on the floor.
"Well what can you remember?" Kat suggested.
Sara's brow wrinkled in contemplation.
"I was out on the cliffs with Casper" said the girl. "The next thing I knew, I was in this weird lab."
"You found it?" ghasped the specter. "How did you know where it was?"
With an exhasperated groan, Sara burried her face in her lap.
"It was J.T."
"Who?"
"J.T." murmered the girl "I met him in the hospital."
Dr. Harvey struggled to hide his excitement.
"What does he look like?"
"I dont know. He never really showed himself to me. Just says things."
"What does J.T. stand for?" quiried Kat.
"He never said" Sara mused. "He's been talking to me alot since I came here. Something about this house really moves him."
