AN: I'd like to thank alfredofroylan2 from DevianArt for creating a fanart that inspired me to write this story and also Lorena, Charmichan and Minda for their ideas. It is thanks to them that the core of the events of the first chapter was created.

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THE PONY'S HOME MYSTERY

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CHAPTER 1

Pony's Home had always been a wonderful place. With lots of space around, surrounding hills and forest and a river nearby, it was the perfect place for children to grow and play. And the very homely atmosphere of this place helped almost every child that was sent there to overcome their losses and their childhood tragedies. It was their home, their cosy and safe home.

And for decades, the worst that had happened to anyone was just minor cuts and bruises, the result of the kids' crazy games.

Until that day…

It was at breakfast when Sister Maria discovered that some of the kids were missing from the table. No one had noticed that earlier; the washroom had been crowded with multiple kids running about all over the place and no one even thought about checking who exactly was there.

As everyone began eating, she went to the bedrooms to see if they were perhaps still asleep. But all the bedrooms came up empty, all the beds had been done… except for three.

At first, Sister Maria was only upset that the children had failed to fulfil their duties and be on time for breakfast. The missing three, Lorena, Jack and Diana were just how Candy had been, years back. They were known for playing practical jokes and fooling everyone whenever they could get the chance to, so this time, she was sure that it was also another prank that they wanted to pull on everyone. And the longer she searched for the missing trio, the angrier she was becoming. She checked every possible room, every class and then every little corner in the house, finding nothing in the end. Minutes had passed by and the pranksters were nowhere to be found. And they weren't replying when she called out their names.

Oh, she was going to punish them accordingly when they were finally found!

Deciding that the kids must have hidden somewhere outside, she quickly put on her long warm coat. Outside was cold. Very cold. It had snowed last night, not much, for winter hadn't properly arrived yet but it was enough to cover the ground with an even, white blanket. The snow was about four inches deep and looking back at her own, clear footprints, Sister Maria knew that all she had to do was to find the ones that belonged to the children and simply follow them to the place where they had lay hidden. And since her footprints were the only ones in the front yard, she realized that the kids must have left the house another way.

Briskly, she circled the entire house, heading straight for the children's bedroom. Kids usually tried to sneak out through the window…

But underneath the window, she found no expected footprints. And she made sure that no one had used the window as an escape route when she checked the window itself; it was firmly closed and locked from the inside. The snow on the window seal was also undisturbed – if anyone had left through here, there would have been traces of such actions.

Sister Maria circled the entire house once more, wanting to check that perhaps the kids might have left through another window. But to her growing puzzlement, the snow around the house had been untouched, even by animals. The only set of footprints she found were those that led to the kitchen door and back and they were far bigger than what the children would have left. These belonged to an adult, and it could only have been Tom when he came earlier to bring them milk from his farm, as he does every morning.

Yet, it was the only trace and she followed it, thinking that the kids perhaps walked out by stepping into Tom's much bigger footprints to hide their own.

The trail led her towards the orphanage's little barn. It stopped before the massive door, mixing with other, larger footprints on the snow. The snow here was compacted and covered with dry straws here and there. She remembered that here was where Tom had been unloading the hay he had brought for them.

Inside, except for the single horse and a few chickens, there was no one. No one replied to her calls. She even went as far as to climb the ladder and check the tiny attic space where they kept the hay and some gardening tools. But that too, was also empty.

In the meantime, everyone had finished breakfast and as she went back out, calling the kids' names, some of those inside started to get curious. Moments later, the front yard was now filled with children and Miss Pony in their wake.

Only there, Sister Maria began asking the other kids if they knew anything. All the kids shook their heads. But through word to word and question to question, she started to find out more and more. It seemed that no one had actually remembered seeing them this morning!

The women once again checked the entire house, this time also going through the children's clothing. Their warmer clothes like woollen jumpers and winter pants were gone but apparently, their coats and hats were still on the hooks.

"You are right, Maria, if they got out, they must have left through the kitchen." said Miss Pony, whom Sister Maria shared her theory with.

"Maybe they had hidden in Tom's cart and quietly got off somewhere in the forest?" it occurred to Sister Maria.

"If they did, I hope they didn't go too far." Miss Pony said with great worry. "Without their coats they will quickly get cold."

Everyone got dressed warmly and the search began in earnest. For two more hours they had all searched nearby. But even in their secret hiding places, they found nothing.

"Is it possible that they went all the way to Tom's ranch?" Sister Maria suggested.

But when they called Tom, their hopes disappeared. The children weren't there either. "And there is no way they could have stayed hidden without me knowing about it." Tom added. "I unloaded all hay and the cart was empty. Even a mouse couldn't have been able to hide there."

They couldn't let the children wander any further into the forest; they could get lost too. Tom took as many of his men as he could and brought them along to continue the search.

But the morning turned into afternoon and the children were still missing. By then, everyone was seriously worried; it was an early winter day and it was beginning to go dark already.

It was sometime around six when Miss Pony answered a phone call. It was Candy, all cheerful, announcing her arrival in Lakewood and asking if they needed anything from the shop. She was unaware of what was going on and she turned serious when she was told about everything.

Candy, when she hung up, shared the news with someone who accompanied her to Lakewood. And this person didn't waste time. A few minutes later a white touring sedan arrived, Candy quickly got in and they drove away as fast as possible towards Pony's Home. It usually took at least a couple of hours to get there and this time they had to be even more careful, mindful of the slippery road. When they arrived, about nine, they were told that the police had already been alerted and they were now searching, along with Tom and his men, in the forest.

Candy, after a quick greeting, did something rather unexpected. She went straight to the children's bedroom and began digging through the missing kids' belongings, just like both teachers had done hours ago. Only Sister Maria and Albert went along with her; the kids were told to stay in the reception room under Miss Pony's care.

"Sister Maria, let's go back to those footprints. You said there were none on the snow except for Tom's." Albert asked after a while, when Candy was almost done searching in the wardrobes and nightstands. Whatever she was looking for, it was clear that so far she hasn't found anything interesting, for she hasn't stopped for even a second. "But maybe they left earlier than we think? Maybe even before it started snowing?"

"No." Sister Maria was certain. "It started snowing when we had dinner and everyone was at the table. I'm sure because Lorena was helping me with washing up."

"What about later? Maybe they left unnoticed when it was still snowing and the snow covered their tracks?"

Sister Maria mused, trying to remember the previous evening. "No" she said after a moment. "I put them to bed and no one was missing. It stopped snowing for good soon after. But why are you asking me this?"

"Because it might be important to know when they disappeared." Albert replied. Right now, he wasn't able to point out how exactly such information would be helpful in finding the missing kids. He only knew that it might be relevant. He wasn't a detective but since he had taken over the family business two years ago, his mind became more analytical than it used to be before. And now this mind was telling him that all details could be important.

"Albert, could you hold it for me?"

Albert glanced in Candy's direction. It seemed like she didn't find anything in the nightstands because she had begun stripping one of the beds and now she looked like she was also going to search under the mattress. It perplexed him but he didn't ask questions. He walked towards her and grabbed the mattress firmly, sure in the fact that it looked quite heavy. To his surprise, he could lift it with no effort whatsoever. The mattress was surprisingly light. Even a child could lift it up…

Candy ducked underneath the mattress and without any hesitation, she touched one of the wooden panels on the bottom that the bed frame was made of. The panel was apparently loose because one move of her hand and it came away easily, revealing an empty space underneath. But it wasn't actually empty; slipped underneath the other panels and nearly unnoticeable in the narrow gap laid something blue.

"I knew it!" Candy exclaimed and quickly pulled out her find from the gap. It was a little, thin school book and the childish wobbly handwriting on the cover announced to the world in big letters that it was 'Lorena's Secret Diary'.

Candy replaced the panel and without waiting for the mattress to be put back, sat down on the floor. "It's my old bed and my secret hiding place." She explained and opened the diary on her lap. "Looks like Lorena found it too. I hope her diary will tell us what she was up to…"

She trailed off, already focused on her reading. Her eyes quickly scanned the first ten pages and it was only at the most recent entries that she began reading more carefully.

"So, we know for sure that they didn't leave in the evening." Albert went on with the main subject. "And the lack of footprints on the snow makes it quite clear that they didn't sneak out at night. Morning is the only option left."

"That, we know already, Albert." Sister Maria reminded him, a bit impatiently. "The only way they could have left was to sneak out just before breakfast, when everyone was too busy to pay any attention to them."

"Still, something doesn't add up!" Albert pressed gently. "What about the other kids? You told us that they haven't even seen any of those three today."

"Albert, I don't know." Sister Maria was on a verge of tears. "What difference does it make, anyway? The kids are missing, this is what matters! What is important is that we have to do everything to find them! They are somewhere out there, in the cold…"

"I think I've got something." Candy interrupted the emotional moment. "Listen to this."

"Dear Diary,

It's evening now. We just had dinner, helped washing up. We brushed teeth and Lee broke his toothbrush, I don't know how. We laughed at him, he is always so clumsy and Sister Maria scolded us. She gave him new one. Then we went to bed.

I sleep near the window. And it's nice, because I can watch the snow without getting up. It was beautiful! I love snow.

And then… I saw this pretty light in the sky. It was silver and sometimes yellow. And even purple! I told everybody and we all looked outside.

And I argued with Big Mark. He says it has to be the moon because it shines so weirdly when the clouds are thin. He thinks he knows everything! And it's not true! I don't like when he is like that, like he thinks he is smarter than anyone else! The moon is never so big.

I will check it. And I will prove that it wasn't a moon. I will go to our attic. This is the highest place in Pony's Home so from there I will be closer to the sky. The light still shines brightly. And I will find out what it is!

Diana and Jack are going with me because I'm a little scared to go alone. When we come back, I will write again, and it will stay here until the end of the world that I was right, not silly Mark!"

Candy finished reading and for a moment, everyone was in complete silence. "There's nothing else," she said, showing them the next, blank page, "so it means Lorena never came back to write another note. And I bet the attic has something to do it. Did anyone check in there?"

"Well, no…" Sister Maria replied. "But there was no reason to. They couldn't get in there, it's locked."

"All locks can be opened." Albert interrupted. "Where is the key?"

"But that's the point! They couldn't enter there because the key had gone missing some time ago." Sister Maria explained. "But we only keep up there old furniture from the classroom, so we just left it as it was. We were going to change the padlock during the spring cleaning."

Candy turned to Albert and their gazes met. Sister Maria clearly didn't realize how important the detail she had just shared was.

"A dark, mysterious place full of old furniture, locked away by adults who never go there. And the padlock key that had gone missing in unknown circumstances!" Albert summed up, accentuating the word meaningfully and then shook his head. "I think I told them too many stories from my childhood."

Before he even finished, Candy got up, hastily grabbed the electrical torch they brought from Lakewood and dashed outside the kids' bedroom. On the other side of the long corridor, in the main hall there was a narrow door and this was where she ran into. The high steps screeched lightly as she quickly climbed the stairs.

The dark, narrow staircase now filled with sounds of many footsteps; Albert and Sister Maria followed her. And so did some of the kids, attracted by all the fuss. They walked right behind Sister Maria, crowding and wanting to see as much as they could from behind her long black habit.

"So much for the locked door." Candy murmured to herself when she got to the top of the stairs. "Why am I not surprised?"

Albert, the only one who heard her quiet remark, looked from behind her shoulder. It was just as he suspected; the heavy padlock was still in place, hanging from the locking bar and to someone who would look at it from the bottom of the stairs it might have seemed like the door was indeed locked shut. Only someone who stood right next to it could notice that the iron bar wasn't inserted into the door's frame. And when she pushed the door handle, the door opened lightly, almost noiselessly.

"How weird…" Candy noted. "The last time I was here, when we were dragging this stuff up here, I remembered this door screeching so loud that it sent shivers down my spine…"

She looked closer at the door's hinge and then glanced back at Albert. He remembered too and had noticed what she quietly pointed to him. "Sister Maria, did you oil the hinge?" she asked.

"No. We wanted to but there was always something more important to take care of first…"

It was like they had thought; the hand that applied oil couldn't have belonged to an adult. That hand was inexperienced; the amount of oil used was so large that a significant part of it had leaked out everywhere. The wooden panels still carried a quite clear trace of dark stains where it dripped.

The microscopic, almost claustrophobic space of the attic looked just like any other attic would look after being converted into a storage room. It was filled all the way up to the sloping ceiling with old furniture; tables with folded legs placed vertically against the wall, a worn out black board on wheels and a mountain of chairs placed chaotically on top of one another.

"What a mess…" Candy murmured. "I thought we stored them more neatly…"

"Lorena!" Sister Maria called. "Diana! Jack! Are you here?"

No voices answered her call, no expected childish laughter sounded mockingly in a reply. But in the opposite side of the attic something knocked as if something was dropped onto the floor.

"Something is there." Candy stated. "Kids…" she called again and with a sound of warning in her voice, "…if that's you and you have been hiding here all this time when we are sick with worry about you…"

She was hoping that the kids, if they were indeed hiding here, would have understood her warning but again, no childish voices replied. Only the sound of repeated, muffled knocking.

"You are in so much trouble!" Candy shouted, now sure that the kids were deliberately hiding from them for fun.

She dropped down onto her knees and looked under the lowest rows of chairs, helping herself with the torch. The bright beam of white light shot along the floor, inch by inch and for whoever might have been hidden behind the barricade of chairs, it was impossible to escape its beam

But she only found shadows cast by the chairs' legs. Behind the chairs, there was only a brick wall and nothing else.

"Weird…" she heard from above her head. She looked up; Albert stood with creased eyebrows, his eyes slowly and carefully scanning the entire space, from wall to wall and from the floor to the ceiling.

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe I'm wrong but I could have sworn that I remember this attic being bigger…"

To everybody's puzzlement, Albert walked to the side of the barricade, where the tables stood, then to the other side, checking for something he only knew about. But they didn't get to ask him; he suddenly began removing the column of chairs that stood right next to the wall. And before they knew it, he had finished, pointing at something. "I knew I told them too many tales from my childhood." He commented.

As they walked to him and looked at what he was trying to show them, they couldn't believe their eyes. The mountain of chairs didn't fill the entire space between both walls. Between the chairs and the wall, there was a tunnel like looking gap, big enough for a slim person to squeeze through. And most definitely big enough for a child.

Without hesitation, Candy slipped into the gap and walking sideways, began moving along the tunnel. And soon enough, she got to a dead stop. The tunnel ended and before her, there was just an old massive wardrobe with a single, crack in the door. Big enough for three seven year olds to hide in.

"Now, I've got you, you little trouble makers!" she shouted.

Behind her, Albert had more trouble squeezing through. His body was bigger than Candy's and he was forced to move slower, even push the chairs away when it was necessary. But he also finally got to the spot where she stood, just in time to see her as she pulled the door knob. The door opened with a long creak of protest against being so abused. But once inside, they didn't see the expected rascals, grinning at them. They only saw a metal bar and some old working clothes that hung from coat hangers.

"It's empty! I don't understand…" Candy was more than just puzzled. "I was so sure that that noise was coming from in here…"

"Maybe it was a rat?" Sister Maria shouted out from behind the chairs.

In a gesture of building frustration, Candy banged her small fist against the back of the wardrobe. And then a shocking thing happened. The entire back panel didn't offer any resistance whatsoever and simply fell backwards, revealing a dark, empty space behind instead of the solid wall that they expected.

With her mouth still open in shock, Candy slowly walked through the newly created entrance and her jaw dropped even lower as she realized their mistake. Albert had been right when he said that he remembered the attic being bigger. The brick wall behind the chairs wasn't any wall at all; it was a chimney. It was wide enough that it covered the entire width of the floor and it was easy to think that there was nothing more behind it. But there was more; the chimney split the attic into two almost equal parts and this second part was exactly where the children had created their hiding place. The whole space behind the chimney had been cleared, the walls and the floor covered with old rugs. And on the back wall, underneath the window that overlooked the now brightly lit front yard, two old mattresses laid out on the floor, covered with a bunch of blankets. Those rugs and those blankets made the entire tiny secret chamber very cosy and the air in here was surprisingly warm, probably thanks to the chimney. The kids were here perfectly hidden from the world, yet, they could easily watch that outside world from here. It was a great hiding place; perfectly hidden, cosy, warm and comfortable.

And empty.

There were no doubts that the kids were coming up here very often and according to Lorena's diary, they also had come here last night… but now the place was empty.

"I really don't understand that…"

She didn't manage to finish when the knocking that they had all heard twice before, sounded again, this time louder. Instinctively, she pointed her torch in that direction and its spotlight found something that she hadn't noticed before. There was even some more space on the other side of the chimney and something protruded out from there. Yet again, it wasn't any of the missing kids. It wasn't a piece of furniture either. This thing was almost 3 foot tall, as tall as Little Jimmy and perfectly oval in shape.

"A rock?" Albert asked, his brows creased together in quizzical intensity. "Who brought such a huge rock up here?"

"A rock?" Sister Maria, whose head had just popped in through the secret door, sounded completely puzzled. "What are you talking about? Why would there be any rocks up here…?"

"A-Albert…" Candy called him with a hesitant voice. She came so close to the weird object that she could almost touch it if she wanted to and she was the one who could see it best. "I don't think it's a rock. That looks more like… an egg."

Albert came closer and stood right behind her. "You and your imagination, Candy..! Don't be silly, how can it be an egg? Eggs this size simply don't exist on Earth…"

He trailed off suddenly and his eyes widened. It was the 'rock'. As if replying to his last words, it began pulsating faintly in a golden glow.

Candy jumped back with a terrified shriek. "N-not on Earth, n-no…" she said in a shaking voice. "That's… you know…" she hesitated, "…an UNEARTHLY egg."

Albert was almost as shocked as her. But he tried to be rational, as usually. "Candy, I think you have read way too much science fiction books from my library. Be serious. It can't be an egg! It is just some huge vase, turned upside down, and it is probably so thin that the light goes right through it and illuminates it…" he reasoned.

And to prove his theory, he bravely approached the 'rock', bent over and reached out his hand to grab its bottom and turn it upside down.

And here was where all his logic ended. The moment his hand touched the surface, the 'rock', which so far had been glowing in faint gold, now pulsed strongly with a dark purple light. In shock, Albert sprang backwards and continued to stare at the now purple glowing object with widened eyes. Now even he couldn't deny it.

There was no way that the white, electrical light could have created such an effect!

"Dear God, what is it?" Sister Maria nearly choked from behind their backs.

"I… don't know." Albert replied hesitantly. "I've crossed a few continents but I swear, I've never seen anything like this."

Whatever the nature of the object really was, it was nevertheless fascinating and for a few long moments, they watched as the illumination began slowly losing its intensity until it was only a faint pink and then, turned back into gold. They were scared and yet mesmerised.

"The diary." spoke Candy in a quiet, tense voice.

Albert was too focused on the object before them that he didn't understand the meaning of her words at all. "What about it?" he asked her with a bit of absent mindedness.

"In her diary, Lorena said something about 'pretty light' in the sky… silver, yellow… and sometimes purple." Candy explained thoughtfully. "This thing here shines in exactly the same way. Do you think it's a coincidence?"

Albert averted his gaze from the mysterious object and became completely serious. They all were so intrigued by the find that for a moment, they forgot what the real purpose of their presence here was.

"You have a point, Candy." He replied in a very dark tone. "No matter how crazy it sounds, there is a connection here. That light was the reason for the children to come up here. Question is: did they leave after? And if not, did this thing have something to do their disappearance? And how?"

"Do you think they were... taken?" Candy suggested with fear in her voice. "You know, by... aliens?"

"What nonsense are you two talking about?" Sister Maria cut in, visibly irritated. "I thought you would be serious about helping us search for the children, not to treat this as some imaginative adventure and make up ridiculous theories about whatever it is you call it! I thought better of you! "

She turned away and before they could stop her, she walked back out through the broken wardrobe. After a moment, they heard her struggling again to squeeze through the narrow tunnel and soon after that, the shoeing away of the kids that had sneaked into the attic in a meantime. The stomping of many small feet told them that the group had become more numerous than when they had first entered the attic.

And then, the door shut loudly with a bang, as if pulled hard by an angry hand and then the silence fell in the attic.

Candy looked at Albert with despair, biting her lips. "She is just sick with worry about the kids and shocked by this thing, Candy." He said reassuringly. "Maybe even more than we are. And you must admit that this theory is indeed crazy... I can imagine how she feels..."

"We'd better go down and talk to her. I don't want her to be angry at us."

She turned to walk away when Albert stopped her. "Candy, could you leave me the torch?" he requested. "I will stay here. I want to have a better look at our find. We need to know what it is."

Candy hesitated for a few seconds before passing the torch to his hands. "Just… be careful, Albert, okay?" she pleaded with worry. "I can't explain why but I have bad feelings about this… It's like it was… dangerous."

Albert nodded with all seriousness. "I will, don't worry." He promised.

Downstairs, it took Candy a while to calm Sister Maria a bit. She had to admit to herself that Albert was right; worrying about the missing children would put anyone's nerves on the edge. That alone was enough – and their find was just too much. The theory was mad enough for them, even if they lived in the big, modern city and had already read about paranormal activities in the newspapers. For a person who lived in a desolate place on the country side without having access to such articles, for someone as down-to-Earth and at the same time so strong in her faith as Sister Maria, it must have been ten times worse. It was hard to explain this to her, especially that Candy wasn't sure about it herself. The object they had found made everything more complicated than it was already. She had no idea what its role in the children's disappearance that could have been, nor had she a clue as to where they were and how to find them.

And she didn't have the courage to say that their find had awoken a deep, almost primal fear in her and in her opinion, they should take the rest of the kids away until they had solved the entire mystery. It would have sounded too ridiculous, even to them.

But perhaps she should have had.

Some time had passed and Albert finally came downstairs, too. He pulled her to one side and discreetly told her something that made her heart beat faster.

"You are crazy to risk that with so much!" she whispered with anger. "We have no idea what this thing is! Don't you dare go back there alone, with just bare hands!"

He didn't protest when she ordered him to go to the barn and find some sharp tools, just in case they needed them for self defence. Back in the attic, when she had left, Albert had tried to once again touch the weird object but this time he didn't remove his hand when the light changed into purple. And according to what he said, this time he had felt more. The light was accompanied by a slight, a bit unpleasant, vibration. He had no doubts. It was a warning.

While he was out, searching for the tools, she went back to the children's bedroom where she found Sister Maria and Miss Pony, busy tending to the kids. The events of the day and the worry for the missing kids kept everyone on edge but the hour was really late, and while both teachers were going to stay up all night, they knew that at least the youngest ones should be put to bed. They were yawning widely and didn't protest while they were being dressed into their pyjamas. But it was clear that it won't be as easy to make the older kids to do the same. They also had their pyjamas on but one look at them was enough to know for sure that they were far from even thinking about going to sleep. They all sat on one of the beds, bunched up together like a club of conspirators, whispering feverishly to each other about the discovery that they were forbidden to see and they were so excited and full energy that it was obvious that no power would make them fall asleep now. So when the teachers tried and failed to calm them down and then simply took them back to the reception room, Candy understood. It was perhaps easier to let the kids stay up longer and wait until they finally run out of energy rather than force them to go to bed now and having even more energy wasted on trying to keep them silent.

As the teachers with the older kids went to the reception room, she offered to stay behind to make sure that the youngest fell asleep. And they made no trouble at all. It didn't even take a few minutes before their sleepy voices calling her every now and then, had gone silent and the only sounds in the room were just their calm breathing, sometimes sighs and swishing of the duvets as they twisted and turned in their beds.

Carefully, not wanting to make any noise, Candy picked up her small travelling bag which has being on the floor since she had dropped it there upon their arrival. Back at the Andrews' villa, when she had mere minutes before leaving for the orphanage there was just enough time for her to grab some spare clothes and now they were about to become useful. Inside the bag, she had a pair of trousers, shirt and a jumper; an outfit definitely more practical than the dress that she wore now.

Quickly, she undid the buttons and let the dress fall down onto the wooden floor, leaving her only in her underwear. And just as she dove into her bag to take her garments out, she froze mid move. A loud crack was heard from upstairs and less than a second later, a scream filled her ears. It was a terrifying scream of a person in his utmost need and all the blood drained from her face when she recognized the voice, even though it had changed so much.

"Albert!" she moaned and she dashed for the door.

They say that fear gives people wings. Maybe that's true because she ran down the corridor in mere seconds. But she wasn't the first one to reach the stairs leading to the attic. The reception room was closer and some of the kids were already on the stairs before her, looking up into the attic.

"No" she screamed out, warningly. "Don't go up there!"

Only two of them had listened; the other four continued climbing up the stairs. She hurried after them, her feet stomping loudly on the wooden steps as she ran in almost complete darkness. But they climbed much faster than her; one of them apparently had a small torch and they could see so much better than her. She only caught up with them when they were already in the attic. One of the boys and two girls had already squeezed into the gap between the wall and the chairs and she only managed to stop the second boy from entering too.

"Let go! I want to see it too!" he protested but she only pushed him away, towards the door.

"Kids, come back, now!" she ordered them in a frightened voice and as they continued to ignore her, she too squeezed into the tunnel. "Albert, are you there?"

But no reply came from the other side of the barricade and that scared her even more that the noises had done before. Within the passing of a second, she realized that there was something different; the noises and screaming had stopped as soon as they ran up the stairs. She didn't want to even begin to think what could be the reason for this sudden silence.

"Albert, answer me!" she shouted with despair.

Kids, like any other kids, all tried to be the first one to enter through the broken wardrobe. This was what slowed them down for a second and she managed to grab the girls by their clothes. But the boy was in front of them and he was already in there…

She only saw the faint yellow beam of his little torch quickly searching all over the secret room and this faint light was enough to see that Albert wasn't here. The beam of light continued its search along the chimney and then suddenly came to an abrupt stop.

And then, the boy started screaming at top of his lungs and in his fright, he dropped the torch.

She quickly let go of the two girls and in one single jump, she was at his side and retrieved the torch from the floor. One move and she could soon also look in the same direction as he…

Albert wasn't here, no. But there was something else...

Again, the girls were quicker to react; their high pitch screams almost shattered her ears.

A second later, she too, also joined in, in this dead awakening cacophony of terror.