Chapter 1. A strange story

'Is it here?' Richelle looked around. 'Liz, are you sure?'

'Well, it's the number dad gave me,' Liz answered doubtfully.

Liz's dad, who runs the real estate agency, sometimes recommended Teen Power Inc to people who wanted a clean-up done on a house that was going to be sold. That day we were going to the job interview with an old lady. Her husband died about a couple of months ago and she wanted to sell her huge old mansion and buy a nice little house. Liz's dad had already found someone who wanted to buy this house, but the buyer wanted the house and its garden cleaned. That was why Mr Free recommended Teen Power Inc to clean the garden from old branches, rotten leaves and other trash to satisfy the buyer.

'It'll take a month to clean this place,' Nick said gloomily, looking around the extremely overgrown huge garden.

'Well we don't have to clean it all,' I said hopefully. 'Mr Free said that we should only move brushwood and leaves from the garden to make the place look better.' But I had to admit, I was disappointed. We were going to go through a lot of work for peanuts.

I looked around. The house was big and very old. Huge, overgrown garden wasn't welcoming either. There was nothing but tangled bushes, weeds and knee-deep grass. The back part of the house, which was quite big, seemed uninhabited. Its walls looked as though they were about to collapse any moment. The front part of the house, which was built much later, looked better, but all the same, this house needed to be repaired, what the old lady apparently couldn't afford. Behind the mansion I saw a small chapel, which obviously hadn't been used at least for twenty years. The house was on the outskirts of town, so there was nothing but empty ground with bushes and trees behind it.

'Okay, let's go in,' Elmo strode along the overgrown path to the front door.

Liz pressed the ring button. The door opened a crack and a startled wrinkly face peered out.

'Um…hello,' Liz stammered. 'I'm Liz Free. My dad must have told you that we'd come to work in your garden. We are Teen Power Inc.'

The face disappeared and the door opened with creak. We saw the old woman standing in the doorway.

'Hello, come in,' she smiled friendly.

We let ourselves in and stepped into a large living room. The house looked much better here than outside. I'd say it was even noble inside. Pictures, beautiful old furniture - it was obvious that a rich family had lived here long ago. But everything was old and scraped. After repairing this place will be great, I thought.

'Excuse the mess, please,' the woman said, noticing us look around. 'I haven't enough power to clean it up. And since my husband died, this house gradually has been falling to desolation.'

Liz mumbled something with sympathy.

'Oh, no, no,' the woman laughed. 'I'm glad to sell this house. I've never liked it. I'm really happy to sell it and buy a small modern flat.'

'What are we supposed to do, Mrs…er,' I decided to get to the point.

'Mrs Swift,' the woman said. 'I want you to collect leaves and other trash in bags, gather brushwood in piles and mow grass where it's necessary.'

Nick and Richelle cheered up when they heard that there was not so much work as they expected. They both liked only interesting or easy jobs. I guess they got more pocket money than the rest of us put together.

'We saw a chapel behind the house,' I heard Liz's voice. 'Who did build it there?'

'Oh, this is very old house,' the woman replied. 'This house belonged to a very rich man, who made his money by selling slaves. He built this chapel. Maybe he wanted to expiate his wickedness there.'

'What happened to him in the end?' Elmo asked.

'As far as I know his slaves attacked him after all,' the woman answered. 'They killed him and his family. But I don't know exactly history of this house. I had to live here because my late husband loved old spooky places like it, that's all. To tell the truth this place always gave me the creeps.'

'Why?' Tom asked, his eyes wide. 'Do you think this place is haunted?'

A strange expression appeared on Mrs Swift's face. 'I've never seen any ghosts or something, young man,' she said. 'But people say…' she pitched her voice lower.

'What?' Tom leaned forward.

'That in the back block of the house, which had been fired by slaves during the attack and where slave trader's family died, people sometimes see light there and hear moans.'

I shook my head in irritation. I didn't want this woman to tell stories about ghosts. Liz, Tom and especially Richelle would start to rave about it and jump with every rustle, driving me crazy.

'Mrs Swift, we can start to work right now, if you don't mind,' I suggested.

'Oh, sure, dear!' Mrs Swift looked pleased. 'You'll find necessary implements in a shed behind the house.'

We nodded and was about to go, when the door bell rang. Mrs Swift went to answer and the Work Demons, came in, shoving and scuffling with each other. We froze. They also hesitated for a minute, then Henshaw threateningly growled, 'what are you doing here?'

'We work here,' Nick snapped and strode towards the door, but Henshaw stood in his way.

'Come again,' he snarled.

'Boys! Stop quarreling, please!' the old woman mumbled, looking startled. 'There is so much work to do here that I decided to hire two teams. One team will work in the garden and another one will pack things in uninhabited rooms.'

'We came first, so we go to the garden,' Tom shouted cheerfully.

To tell the truth I was glad that we came first. To pick up brushwood and leaves outside was much better than to rummage in the old dusty things inside. We've never worked in one place together with the Work Demons, though. I hope they won't cause troubles for us.

'Let's go,' I said calmly and walked towards the door.

'Kids…um…be careful,' Mrs Swift mumbled. 'Don't come close to the chapel, please.'

'Why?' Nick asked curiously.

'Well…' the old woman hesitated. 'Just in case.'

'Mrs Swift, is something wrong?' Liz asked firmly.

'No,' she mumbled. 'It's just…er…they say that it's haunted. I don't believe it, but all the same, stay away from that place.'

'Don't worry, we're not afraid of ghosts,' Nick smirked scornfully. 'Yeah?' he looked sideways at Tom.

'Why do you think it's haunted, Mrs Swift?' Richelle whispered, ignoring him. 'I mean, you said that you'd never seen anything strange.'

'I hadn't,' the woman nodded. 'But… one of my neighbors came to me this morning. He looked very startled and asked if I opened the chapel last night?'

'Why?' Richelle opened her big blue eyes wide. 'Did he see anything?'

'Well,' Mrs Swift hesitated. 'Vincent, he… He went to his friend's birthday party yesterday and stayed there till midnight.'

'And?' Tom exclaimed impatiently. I dug him in the ribs with my elbow.

'Vincent is quite old man. Besides he was a little drunk. His house is not far from mine, down the street, so he decided to take the short cut through my garden. But he felt tired on his way.'

'Oh, poor Vincent,' Nick snorted. 'Was he very tired?'

'Yes,' Mrs Swift didn't notice irony in his words. 'Very tired. He even decided to have a little rest. It was behind my house, exactly near its old ruined part. Vincent found a nice place beside the wall and sat down on the ground. I don't know how long he'd been sitting there, he said that he fell asleep, but then he woke up because someone was walking nearby. He looked up and hair prickled on the back of his neck. As he put it, a black, burned as a firebrand man was walking right towards him, his head smoked. Vincent wanted to call for help, but he couldn't say a word, he couldn't even move with his arms and legs, as though they were glued to the ground. So he was just lying there, waiting what would happen next. This black man paced around, then stepped into the wall and disappeared. Only then poor Vincent realized that it was the slave trader's son, who'd died during the fire.'

There was a complete silence in the room. Everyone was stuck for words.

'Why did he think that it was the slave trader's son?' Elmo asked finally.

Mrs Swift shrugged her shoulders. 'Vincent says that he saw this slave trader and his family in a picture. But there is more to come,' she added.

'What else?' Richelle whispered, drawing closer to Nick.

'Let me guess,' Nutter Frean put in. 'After that Vincent went home and fell asleep on his bed.'

'No,' the old lady shook her head. 'That is he raced home after that, of course. But he didn't go far, because he felt even worse near the chapel.'

'Oh, did poor Vincent feel tired again?' Nick widened his eyes, pretending to look sympathetic.

'No,' Mrs Swift waved him away discontentedly. 'Something plumped in the chapel as he walked past. Then the light switched on in the windows and voices and moans were heard from inside. But this chapel has been forsaken for many years. All doors there are locked. No one could get inside. Vincent knew it and he realized that it was another ghost's prank. His legs and arms froze again, he couldn't move. So, poor Vincent just stood there till the break of day, paralyzed. Only at the crack of dawn the light faded, the voices hushed and Vincent's legs were able to move. So, he'll remember this night as long as he lives.'

'Wow!' Liz murmured thoughtfully.

'Let's start working,' I strode to the door firmly. This woman irritated me. I had enough of her stupid stories.

###

'What do you think about that?' Tom demanded as we carefully made our way through the overgrown garden to the back wing of the house.

'I think that this Vincent guy was dead drunk and saw pink elephants,' Nick answered indifferently, trying hard to save his clothes from barbed branches.

'No,' Liz protested. 'He saw something weird in two different places. I don't believe it was just ravings.'

'I agree. Something strange happened here,' Tom supported her.

'Let's have a look,' Nick suddenly turned to us, his dark eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Richelle whimpered and clutched his hand, but Liz, Tom and Elmo were also dying to see that place with their own eyes.

'No, guys!' I pleaded. 'We'd better begin to work. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll finish. We have only four free days. I don't want to spend them all here.'

'We'll just have a look, Sunny, that's all,' Liz took my hand. 'It won't take much time.'

I sighed. All our adventures start like that. Nick got curious, or Liz began to sorry someone, or Tom made a stupid joke, or Elmo wanted to receive a scoop for the Pen. And Richelle constantly complained that we got her into trouble.

Nick was already scraping through the bushes towards the chapel. Tom, Liz and Elmo followed him. Richelle gingerly trailed behind them, muttering something about spoiled shoes, broken fingernails and torn clothes. I sighed and shook my head in irritation, but followed them. What could I do?

I caught up with them near the chapel. They crowded on a small clearing beside the door and stared at the old shabby building. It looked really desolate. Paint had scaled off the building, baring the brickwork, the massive oak door had blackened with time. There was a big cavity instead of icon over the entrance. And a raven, sitting on the stub of cross on the roof, finished the picture.

'Nothing interesting,' Nick drawled in disappointment. 'It's just an old, forsaken and very shabby chapel.'

'What did you expect, Nickers?' Tom sneered. 'A corpse or a ghost in the window?'

Richelle winced.

'I reckon it was just tramps or animals, who frightened Vincent. Probably he heard their voices,' I wasn't going to believe in this stuff about ghosts. 'He was drunk, remember?'

'No, it wasn't tramps,' Elmo said calmly. 'Look over there. No one can get inside.'

He pointed at the huge corroded padlock, hanging on the door. I had to admit that this padlock couldn't be unlocked even with the best will in the world.

'What a place,' Richelle shivered. The raven on the roof croaked in reply and flew away.

'Okay,' Nick drawled. 'Let's check this place. There might be the way inside.'

He came up to the chapel and for some purpose kicked at the door with all his strength and wailed with pain instantly.

'Aw shucks!' he grabbed his foot.

'Keep it clean, Nick,' Liz recommend homiletically. 'This is a church, after all.'

Nick gave her a dirty look, but refrained from comments about the malign door.

'You cut blocks with a razor, Nickers,' Tom sneered, tapping his fingers on the solid door. 'Even if you crash yourself against this door, it won't open.'

However Elmo jerked the handle of the door. It didn't even move.

'Well, it still could be animals,' he faltered. 'Maybe they have a creep hole or something.'

'Why did it finish exactly at the dawn then?' Liz objected immediately.

'I don't know,' Elmo confessed.

'Maybe whoever it was, decided to get some sleep,' Nick drawled.

'Yeah,' Richelle snorted. 'They decided to get some sleep exactly at the dawn, and Vincent's legs were able to move straight after that. Don't tell me that it's a coincidence!'

'There's no point in staying here, arguing,' I said. 'Let's look inside through the window.'

'How are we supposed to do it?' Tom looked up.

He was right. Narrow windows situated quite high from the ground.

'Tom, you're the tallest. If you stand on Nick's shoulders you might be able to reach the window,' I suggested.

'No way,' Nick gave a sort of snort and stepped aside. Of course, he wasn't going to let Tom soil his clean, expensive shirt by Tom's shoes.

'Come on, Nickers' Tom sneered. 'You were the one who suggested that we should check this place.'

'Oooh, you two sometimes drive me mad!' Liz hissed, stomping her foot. 'Nick, if you want, you can get onto Tom's shoulders and look inside.'

'Oh, all right, Kontellis, I'll do it,' Tom sighed. 'Climb up.'

'Can you?' Nick looked at him doubtfully. 'I don't want to fall.'

'Hold on to the wall,' Tom answered gibingly. 'Then you won't fall. Maybe.' He crouched. Nick sighed and after two or three tries, he managed to climb on Tom's shoulders. Tom slowly started to straighten, bracing himself against the wall.

'Be careful,' Nick muttered down to Tom. 'You're lifting a human, not a pile of bricks.'

Tom rocked a couple of times, but managed to keep his balance and finally stood upright. But as it turned out soon, Nick's nose hardly reached the window and he couldn't look inside.

'Nick, chin yourself up,' Elmo commanded. 'Tom, stretch your hands up. Nick, if you set your feet on Tom's hands you'll be able to look through the window.'

'How am I supposed to chin up?' Nick asked. 'There's nothing to catch at.'

'Hold on to the grid,' I suggested.

'But it's so rusty,' Nick picked the grid on the window by his finger, looking disgusted. 'It looks as if it's about to break any moment.'

'Jerk it,' Liz gave him a piece of advice.

Nick jerked the grid with vengeance.

'It seems firm,' he drawled in doubt. 'Wait a sec, I'll try again.'

'Listen, Kontellis, move quickly,' Tom growled. 'I'm not a weight carrying crane.'

Nick sighed and caught hold of the grid. Tom quickly raised his hands and fixed his palms under Nick's feet. Nick, standing on Tom's palms and still holding of the grid, finally managed to look through the window. But all the same, he didn't hurry to give us any information.

'Nick, don't be silent! Tell us what's there?' Liz burst out.

'There's a thick layer of dust on the glass,' Nick muttered. 'I hardly can see anything.'

'Oh, how could we forget?' Tom growled, his face bright red. 'Why hadn't anyone washed the window before Kontellis climb up to look through it?'

'Nick, just rub off the dust from the glass with your hand,' Elmo said.

'You know, Elmo, I have only two hands, not three,' Nick snapped from above. 'And I'm catching at the grid by both of them now.'

By this time I was sorry that I hadn't climbed to look through this window on my own. But it was too late to change anything.

'Nick, try to hold on to the grid with one hand,' I recommended. 'I don't think you'll fall. Tom is ensuring you after all.'

Nick followed my advice, and cleaning the glass so-so, he finally deigned to satisfy our curiosity, 'there's no sign of human or animal or anything, just empty filthy room. Nothing interesting.'

'Get down then,' Tom growled. He tried hard to stay steadily, his face was as red as a tomato, his forehead was gleaming with sweat.

Nick, catching tightly at the grid, slowly put his feet on Tom's shoulders. Suddenly there was a cracking sound above the window and a huge piece of brick flew down in centimeter from Nick's temple. Nick jerked, and Tom, who didn't expect it, rocked and losing his balance, collapsed on the ground. Nick landed right on the top of him. Tom howled wildly.

'Stop roaring, Moysten,' Nick muttered, still lying on Tom. 'There's no need to scream as if you were nearly killed.'

'Get off,' Tom shoved him away. 'You're sprawling on me like on a divan.'

Nick snorted, but stood up from Tom. 'My body is aching all over,' he complained, rubbing his shoulder.

'Your body is aching all over?' Tom howled. 'I wonder how you'd feel if something like you crashed down on you!'

'Okay, we've found out that there's nothing important inside,' Elmo quickly put in before Nick and Tom started arguing again.

'Yeah,' Nick nodded.

'Can we start working now?' I put my hands on my hips and stared at them severely.

We wandered through the bushes and long grass to the back wing, took bags and spades from the hanger and started to collect old leaves in bags and gather brushwood in piles.

The others discussed Vincent's adventures for a while, then everyone deepened in their own thoughts and worked in silence. Finally the garden began to look more or less normal. At least we could walk through it without tripping over sticks all the time and snagging our clothes on the prickly branches that hang over everywhere.