Maddie drove the RV slowly, carefully glancing at the GPS to make sure she wasn't about to get lost on the snowy roads. She'd never been to these particular backwoods of Wisconsin before, not even with Jack.
She sighed softly, glancing at the locket hanging from the rear view mirror. It contained the last family picture they'd all taken together. Before Jazz left for college, before Jack was cursed, before Danny withdrew into himself. They all used to be so close, so supportive of each other.
And then Jazz had gotten the highest score on record for the C.A.T. Magazines and news stations from around the country had started calling, asking to speak to the genius daughter from Amity Park. Maddie and Jack had been so proud of her, and when Danny had finally taken the test...
Within normal testing range. Slightly above average.
They hadn't been completely disappointed. They tried not to let it show on their faces as they congratulated him. Took him out to dinner to celebrate like they had with Jazz. Told him they were proud of him.
That was the first night that Danny stayed in his room, ignoring the phone as calls continued to come in for his sister.
Maddie had tried to reach out to him, but Jack told her to let him be. He would find himself soon, sooner than with his mother hovering over his shoulder. And he had started to get better. He emerged from his room a bit more often, started staying out with his friends a bit later.
Then Jack had been cursed. Monster hunts had become more dangerous on her own, so her attention had slipped. Jazz had been ok, she'd made it to college and moved into her own dorm across the country. She was making new friends and enjoying her studies.
Danny had been suspended for fighting two days before winter break had started.
Maddie sighed, parking the RV. For a moment, she paused. She closed her eyes and whispered to herself in a sing-song murmur, "Fill my life with song/And let me sing forever more..."
It was a silly thing, she knew. But her and Jack's first date had ended with a dance to that song. She had walked down the isle to it instead of a traditional wedding march. They listened to it in their car the entire drive when they'd moved to Amity Park. It played when Jazz was conceived and when Danny was born. The song itself was as integral to her family as monster hunting was to her own self. She used to sing it as a lullaby when Jack went out on solo missions and she used it now to bring that warmth of family that she so desperately needed and missed.
Determined now, she grabbed her dufflebag and hoisted it over her shoulder. The machines and inventions inside clanked together, a dull noise that didn't echo even in the vast yard of the castle she'd come to. Thick iron bars surrounded the grounds, snow piled high on unruly rosebushes. There was a great fountain centered before her, the overgrowth of dead ivy keeping the crumbling stone together. Even in the dead of winter, there was a ring of green moss around the inside of the dried out fountain.
The castle itself sprawled out, dark stone reaching high into the sky streaked with the setting sun. Though it had been long abandoned, various windows boarded shut for generations, the roof had never caved in. The door still swung open under her touch without a squeak. Dust clung to the walls and the floor, filling the air with every step. Maddie adjusted her hazmat suit, pulling the collar up to cover her mouth and nose so she wouldn't choke.
Plus, in a castle said to be as haunted as this one, she never knew what magic permeated the very fabric of its being.
The cold of the Wisconsin winter was left behind as she carefully made her way down the expansive entrance hall. She reached up to her hazmat suit, activating the LED flashlight in her plunging black collar and illuminating the mansion's interior. Plush emerald rugs adorned the floor, muffling her footsteps, and she ran a fingertip through the dust on the walls to reveal stone washed with golden paint.
Maddie paused at the glimmer of a crystal vase, still sparkling even under all the layers of dust and grime. She inspected it carefully, realizing that it wasn't crystal – it was carved from a single, gigantic diamond! And the single rose she carefully picked up between her fingertips wasn't hardened and dried with age, it was made from solid gold with glittering emerald leaves and razor sharp thorns. Every petal was a thin, beautifully crafted slice of ruby and, as Maddie twisted the rose, her light caught on several small diamond "dewdrops".
Everything within screamed wealth and she thought to the carefully logged notes in her computer at home and her laptop in the RV as she placed the rose back in its vase.
Every burglar that tried to rob this castle's splendor had gone mad.
Every transient that tried to make this castle their home had their bodies found outside, twisted and mangled.
Every bank that tried to possess the land went under, every mogul trying to take it for themselves became homeless.
But none of that was the true curse of the castle.
It was said a rich lord had come from Europe at the turn of the century, built his castle as a testament to his wealth and status. He hosted no visitors, sired no clan, lived out his long and wealthy life completely and utterly alone. And after his death, as his castle began to fall into ruins, nearby women had started going missing. Vanishing without a trace, without a word to others.
Some came back months later, some came back years later.
All of them had come back without any memories, clinging to some priceless treasure.
Jeweled scepters, golden crowns, diamonds larger than some of the women's fists, each item glittering and sparkling and worth more than what the women and their families could spend in several lifetimes.
No one knew where it all came from. The few that survived the trips into the castle saw no signs of riches, knew of no place a dragon's horde of treasures could be hidden.
Maddie wasn't interested in any of that. She wanted to find the rich lord's apparition responsible for the kidnapping of women and destroy it, to bring peace of mind back to a small town that reached out for help.
Then, maybe, she could try and help her own family afterwards.
She turned off her flashlight and lowered her goggles, looking at the mansion's interior through a bright red haze. Readouts flashed before her eyes, analyzing the glittering traces of magic that hung in the air with the dust motes. The spectral force swirled about her, shimmering ropes draping lightly about her limbs and urging her deeper within the castle.
Maddie's footsteps echoed in the grand hall, and she reached for the holster at her thigh. The cold feel of the silvery weapon, designed to bring spirits to their knees, gave her slight comfort. She had yet to see any spectral entity, but that didn't mean anything. Whatever monster it was could be anywhere, hiding and waiting for her to let her guard down.
She passed through an ornate doorway, intricately sculpted around deep green emeralds that glittered in the firelight.
Firelight?
The gun was in Maddie's hands, her body tense and ready to spring to action. She had emerged into a large, beautiful, if rather dusty, sitting room. A plush chair faced a roaring fire, looking enticingly comfortable. Golden light reflected into the room, gold and jewel inlaid portrait frames sparkling, crystal goblets shimmering, and a king's ransom in gold coins scattered across the floor glowing with every warm flicker.
It was all too perfectly laid out.
Maddie whirled about, ready to flee the room. She was unprepared for a direct attack, Jack usually being the one to remind her that ghosts didn't usually wait for her to complete her recon, and she had left most of her equipment in the RV.
Glowing red eyes bore into hers and she dropped the gun.
Jazz was doing her winter homework on the dining table, but she looked up when she heard the front door close. Danny had kicked off his shoes and taken Jack off his leash, the large dog running to his daughter to lay his head in her lap. Jazz scratched absently behind his ears, smiling at her brother as he wandered into the kitchen.
"How were Sam and Tucker?" Jazz asked. She flipped the page in her her psychology book and offered Danny the seat next to her.
Danny shrugged and ignored the open chair, meandering to the fridge. He poked his head inside, inhaling the cool air without really looking at anything. He hadn't been feeling too hungry lately, his stomach full of stress. Break would be ending soon, and he'd have to back to school...
He grabbed a protein drink he didn't even want and shook it. He could feel Jazz's eyes on him, waiting for him to open up or break down or say anything.
"They're fine. I'll probably go to Tuck's tomorrow for dinner, so you don't have to worry about making anything." He cracked open the lid and took a sip, narrowly avoiding making a face. Powdery strawberry. Gross. He faked a yawn and turned his back on Jazz when she looked up at him. "Dad wore me out at the park today, so I'm heading to bed. Night, Jazz."
And he ran upstairs, locking his door behind him.
He poured the rest of his drink out the window.