Author's Note:

Thank you so much for your feedback on Chapter 1! I'm so glad this story spoke to you. Here's Chapter 2, guest-starring Rachel Berry :-) Enjoy!

A big thank you to my friend hkvoyage/VoyageAsia for looking this over for me. I'm so lucky to have you as my beta 3

I enjoyed writing this fic, and if you're interested, I could definitely write more in this verse. Let me know, okay? It will have to wait until after Puppy Eyes is finished, though.

Chapter 2: Tell Us A Story

Rachel proved to be a pretty brunette with a great singing voice and a very bossy attitude. Blaine did as she said, and enjoyed singing with her, but secretly, he much preferred Kurt.

Again, the boy with the monotone voice asked for dragons when Rachel called for requests, so they sang Puff the Magic Dragon, and then it was time to wrap up the lesson. You couldn't really call it an hour of entertainment, for Rachel had been drilling all the children until they were word perfect and sang in key.

When they left the snoozle room, Rachel told Blaine that his guitar playing was satisfactory but his singing voice could use some work. "Especially your falsetto. It sounds pitchy. I could e-mail you some voice exercises and breathing tips if you like?"

Blaine bit back a smile and gave Rachel his e-mail address. She was quite a character.

When they passed the reception desk, Dolores once again asked how it had gone.

Rachel flashed her a brilliant smile, said that the children were definitely improving, and swanned out of the building with a, "See you next Thursday!"

Dolores shook her head. "Someone should probably tell that one her charges are supposed to have fun. She treats them like new recruits at a military academy."

Blaine nodded.

"You ready for tomorrow?" Dolores asked him.

"Sure. Who am I working with?"

"Nobody. You've seen how it's done now. Tomorrow, you're on your own."

Blaine swallowed with difficulty. He'd be alone? He'd have to keep all those children happy and entertained by himself?

Nerves slammed through him, and he wanted to run like a bat from hell and never return.

"Aww, sweetie, don't be nervous," Dolores said. "Those children are sweethearts, every last one of them. You'll do fine."

Blaine hardly slept that night, but somehow worked up the courage to go back to the children's home the next afternoon. Dolores sent him an encouraging smile and told him to have fun. His answering smile was probably more like a grimace.

When he stepped into the snoozle room, all eyes were on him, and him alone, and he felt his skin prickle and his hands start to sweat.

Music instruments. Yes.

Blaine went to the cupboard and started distributing the instruments, exactly as they had done the previous days.

The moment everyone was holding an instrument, he sat down with his guitar and cleared his throat. "So… Ahem. I'm Blaine. I was here yesterday and the day before that too. Let's start by singing some songs, okay? I'm in the mood for Disney songs, I hope that's okay with you guys."

Blaine fiddled with the guitar for a bit before he started singing. Though it didn't really need tuning, the familiar moves steadied his nerves.

Soon, he was singing his heart out, choosing all his favourite tunes from The Little Mermaid, Mulan, Beauty and the Beast and Tarzan. He didn't notice the time fly by, and only stopped when there was a knock on the door, and Dolores stuck her head in. "The hour's up, Blaine!"

"But we haven't had a story yet!" a girl complained. "That's two days without a story!"

"And Keith hasn't had his dragon fix yet," Ruth pointed out.

Dolores hesitated. "Well, Blaine, if you don't have to hurry home yet, maybe you could sing a dragon song for Keith? I'll count it as an extra hour, though you don't have to stay that long."

Blaine blinked at her, and then nodded. "Okay."

Dolores flashed him a bright smile and disappeared.

Blaine turned back to the children, who were looking up at him expectantly. "We can sing Puff the Magic Dragon…"

The girl who wanted a story huffed and stuck her bottom lip out.

"…or I could tell you a dragon story instead," Blaine continued.

The girl lit up. "Yes. Yes! The story, please!"

"What's your name?" Blaine asked.

"It's Louise May Brown, but everyone calls me Lou."

"Can I use your name in the story?"

Lou nodded, grinning widely.

"Once upon a time, there was a town plagued by a haunted castle on its northern border. In the castle lived a banshee who slithered around town shrieking and touching people's necks with ice-cold fingers and sending them depressing thoughts. There was also a dragon flying around singing their hair and setting their straw roofs on fire, and there were tons of ghosts and pixies and poltergeists that delighted in scaring and annoying the townspeople.

After a few hundred years of horrible happenings, the mayor struck a deal with the inhabitants of the castle. Every year, on All Hallow's Eve, the town would choose one person among their own to go to the castle and spend the night there. In return, the castle's inhabitants would leave the townspeople alone.

The first year, a few young men volunteered to go, and the tallest and strongest of them was chosen to represent the town. He left with a cheery wave, but returned the next day looking fifty years older. His hair had turned white, and he was shaking like a leaf and muttering nonsense under his breath.

Everyone dreaded Halloween from that moment on, because no-one wanted to be chosen to be sent to the castle and return like Crazy Steve, as he was now called.

Yet when the day came, the townspeople assembled on the market place, dead silent, waiting with their hearts in their throats for the decision to fall.

The mayor came and gave a speech about how much better life was now that they weren't disturbed by supernatural creatures anymore. Then, he let his eyes rove over the crowd, and they all held their breath.

In the darkest corner of the market place, under an awning and huddled close together to keep warm, were the children from the town's orphanage and the matron looking after them. Not all of the children were orphans. Some of them lived at the orphanage because their parents didn't want them. Some were missing an arm or a leg, others were often ill, a few behaved oddly or couldn't see or hear.

The mayor's eyes lingered on them. They were a sorry bunch, he thought, and unlike the promising young man he'd sent last year, he was sure none of them would come back much the worse for wear after spending a night at the castle. Or if they did, at least no-one would care. After all the backlash he'd had for sending Steve, the town's indifference about the orphans would be a godsend.

He pointed to one of the older girls. "What's your name?"

"Lou!" Lou shouted, and clapped her hands in glee. Blaine smiled at her.

"Lou, you will go to the castle tonight, to fulfil the promise we made. Good luck!"

The townspeople applauded, and then went home smiling and sighing in relief.

When only the children and the matron from the orphanage were left, Lou looked at her friends and smiled bravely. "Well, off I go, then. I'll see you tomorrow!"

The matron shook her head. "Lou, you can't go all by yourself. What if you have a seizure?"

Lou shrugged, putting on a bit more bravado than she felt. "I'll survive."

"You're not going alone, and that's final," the matron declared.

"I'll go with her," said Ruth.

The matron rolled her eyes. "Ruth, you're blind. How will you be able to tell Lou needs your help? And how will you help her?"

Ruth stuck her chin out and glared at the matron. "I've helped Lou before."

Lou nodded.

"I'll come as well," said Keith. "I want to see the dragon."

The matron wavered, and then gave in. "All right, then. Will you be careful? Please come back in one piece, the lot of you."

Lou took Ruth's hand and nodded at Keith, and the three of them set off on their journey.

The path to the castle was narrow and winding and in some places overgrown. Keith walked in front and used his pocket knife to hack through the bramble bushes so they could squeeze through.

As soon as the castle came in sight, they stopped and stared. However scary it was to be going there, there was no denying the castle was a sight to see. A white stone building that shone in the moonlight, with graceful turrets and a well-tended garden.

It was decorated for Halloween with dozens of carved pumpkins, the candles in them exuding a warm and welcoming light.

Lou described it all to Ruth.

"It sounds lovely," Ruth said.

They smiled at each other and stepped onto the cobblestone driveway. The moment they set foot on it, something swooped down from the sky.

"Welcome, welcome!" the creature said, in a hoarse whisper.

Lou saw Keith stiffen, and stepped in front of him for protection, throwing her arms wide open. "Please don't touch my friend. He doesn't like people touching him without permission. It makes him very uncomfortable."

"No touching, eh?" asked the creature. "Well, well… Sybil won't like that. Don't tell her your names, then, if you don't want to be touched. You give her power over you when you tell her your name."

"Who's Sybil?" Ruth wanted to know.

"She's a banshee," the creature answered. "Oh, where are my manners? My name's Banner. Joe Banner. I used to be the gatekeeper. Lived in that cottage over there. I was killed when the revolutionaries came and killed my master and mistress. I became a ghost, they didn't."

"Nice to meet you, Mr Banner," the three children chorused.

A smile lit up the ghost's blue-grey features, and now Lou and Keith could see him a lot more clearly. He looked like a friendly middle-aged man with a pot belly and a very round nose.

"Would you like a tour of the castle?" Mr Banner offered, and everyone nodded and followed him.

A throat-clearing made Blaine look towards the door. It was Dolores again. "Uhm, Blaine, sorry, but could you wrap it up? It's nearly the children's supper time."

"Okay," said Blaine, and then he turned to the children again. "The next part of the story will be for tomorrow, okay?"

There were a few groans, but most of the children grinned and nodded.

"Please put your instruments back in the cupboard," Blaine instructed them.

They did so, and then filed out of the room, Ruth and Lou bestowing a big hug on Blaine before they left.

Well. Huh. I guess they had fun.

When he passed the reception desk, Dolores said, "Next time, put on a watch, Blaine. And check it every now and then."

Blaine frowned at her. "I don't have a watch."

"Huh. You can afford earrings, a leather jacket, eyeliner and mascara, but not a watch?"

Blaine bit his lip, and then confessed, "Those are all my mother's."

"The motorbike too?"

"My brother's."

Dolores raised her eyebrows. "Ooh. Is he a rebel too?"

Blaine scowled. "He's an actor. In LA. Bailed on me when he turned eighteen. Just packed his bags and left. He didn't take his bike, though, so it's mine now."

Dolores hummed. "Well, if your mother doesn't have a watch you can borrow, I have a kitchen timer here you can use. Just ask me."

Blaine nodded.

"They like you," Dolores said. "You might just dethrone Kurt as their favourite. Ghost stories, though? If they have nightmares, I'm blaming you."

Uh-oh.

"Just kidding!" Dolores laughed. "Seriously, the way they were hanging on your every word, I bet they'll all sleep like a top."

"Oh, great," Blaine breathed out.

"Tomorrow you're teaming up with Kurt again. Best tell him beforehand that you have a story to finish. He doesn't seem the control-freak type, but his sessions are as scheduled as Rachel's."

"I will. Thank you."

Dolores shook her head. "I don't get why you young'uns all want to look like hoodlums instead of the sweet polite boys you are. But hey, you do you, I guess. See you tomorrow, Blaine!"

Blaine came home that afternoon to a note from his mother telling him that she was on a business trip and that she'd be gone until next Wednesday. He sighed, crumpled it and threw it in the bin.

His mom was always gone these days. Being a single parent and sole provider meant working long hours and weekends too.

Well, on the bright side, at least she hadn't seen his black eye or heard about his suspension yet. And neither had his father, thankfully. Yes, he'd abandoned them for a new wife and a new child, but he still liked to meddle in Blaine's life and chew him out for every mistake he made.

So however unfair it was that Blaine got punished for a fight Karofsky had started, he was glad that at least the school hadn't called his parents about it.

And now, after three days at the home, he had to agree with Kurt. Volunteering there was fun to do.

He grabbed an apple and a cup of yoghurt from the fridge, ran up the stairs to his room, took his shoes off and dived onto his bed.

He was actually looking forward to going back to the home tomorrow afternoon. And the best part was that he'd get to see Kurt again. The very thought made his stomach swoop, and he grinned at the ceiling.

I guess it's time to break out my leather pants…