Chapter 7

"Is...is it a ghost?" Jimmy asked in a whisper.

It was a woman, hanging from a rope. She was just hanging there. White. Dead. The body seemed to sway just a little bit, back and forth as if in a breeze. Gibbs brought his flashlight up and she faded. When the flashlight beam moved away, she was back to great detail.

Then, while the three of them stared at her, her eyes suddenly opened and she looked at them.

"He killed me," she said.

Jimmy didn't know what the others were thinking right at this moment, but he was thinking that the only reason he wasn't shouting and running away was because of how in-your-face this was. No more mystery, no more uncertainty. It was a dead woman talking to them. How else could they take this?

"He killed me," she said, again.

"W-Who?" Jimmy asked.

"He killed all of us."

Then, she faded away.

There were a few seconds of complete silence. Then, Tony swore again.

"What was that?"

"What do you think, Tony?" Jimmy asked. "That was a ghost."

"It couldn't be," he said.

Jimmy forced himself to laugh. "What else? I don't see any projector. Do you?"

"What now, Boss?" Tony asked, ignoring Jimmy's question.

"We go on," Gibbs said.

"Okay."

He pulled back the curtain again and there was nothing there. They started down another side hallway. Jimmy hated the silence. He'd never realized just how much sound he was accustomed to. Even when it was quiet, it wasn't really silent. This was silent. Oppressively so.

They kept walking. Halfway down the hallway, something walked out of the wall and turned toward them.

It was a young man, maybe twenty years old. There were stab wounds visible all over his torso, although he was as white as the woman had been.

"He killed me," he said. "He killed all of us."

Then, before they could do anything, the man kept walking and passed through the opposite wall.

"Another ghost."

"Tim said that we'd see them."

"But they're not doing anything to us," Tony said. "Well, nothing besides scaring me into an early heart attack. He also said that they'd kill us. Not that I'm complaining, mind you."

"What about Ellie?" Jimmy asked. "That wasn't just being scared."

"I don't know."

"Keep moving," Gibbs said. "We must be getting closer."

"Closer to what, though?" Tony asked. "Tim or the person who killed them?"

"Either one."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"There. Not quite as smoothly as Mr. Palmer, but we have a fire again," Ducky said.

"Good," Ellie said, softly. "There's something about a fire. It's...life. Nothing else in this house is life. It's death. The best thing that could happen to this place is for it to burn down."

Ducky turned away from the fire and saw Ellie staring at the fire blankly.

"Eleanor?"

"No, I'm not all right, Ducky. You don't need to ask."

She stood up and started to walk away, but then, she turned back to the fireplace, as if drawn to it. She walked back and knelt down directly in front of the fire.

"What did you see in that room?"

"Lights, but not like the fire, not even like the flashlights. They were...death. Death lights. They were all around me. I couldn't move. I felt like the life was being sucked away, leaving just nothing behind. Then...in the hallway, it was like my life was back."

"Perhaps it was. You certainly looked pale when Anthony brought you out."

"It was awful."

Ellie shook her head and looked away. Then, she sucked in her breath sharply. Ducky turned to follow her gaze and found himself stunned.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

It was a real voice. It was a voice he recognized. He opened his eyes. It was pitch black, but he could almost discern a human shape.

"They listen to me. They have to. They belong to me. They brought you to me."

The voice was so familiar.

"Who's there?"

"Don't recognize my voice?"

Tim couldn't reply.

"It's been a while."

Still no response from Tim.

"I would never have thought you'd be here again, but now that you are..."

There was a laugh.

"Let's have some light."

Tim was terrified to have light. All the lights he'd seen in this house after dark had been terrible. He tried to pull away, but the chains clinked, reminding him that he couldn't move.

Then, there were lights. Those awful sickly lights that did nothing to make things better.

And what he saw didn't make things better, either.

His shock was so deep that it finally got a word out of him.

"Jack."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

"Caitlin," Ducky breathed.

Kate smiled. "Nice to see you again, Ducky."

Ducky didn't know what else to say. Here he was, staring at a woman he had personally done the autopsy on.

Ellie stood and backed away. Ducky stopped her. He put a comforting arm around her shoulders and decided that, given her recent experience, it was up to him to get them onto an even keel.

"Caitlin...you're...looking well."

Kate laughed. "I'm dead, Ducky. You don't have compliment my looks."

But it was true. She seemed almost more than alive at this moment. Everything about her was vibrant, including her voice.

"I have to admit that I wasn't expecting to see you."

"I've never been here before, but...I got permission to come."

"From whom?"

Kate smiled. "Not at liberty to say. Who's this?"

"This is Eleanor Bishop," Ducky said. "She is the most recent member of Jethro's team...and she's had a very bad experience."

"Well, that's why I'm here."

"What do you mean?" Ellie said, almost inaudibly.

"This place," Kate said. "It's evil. It's wrong. It shouldn't be here or like this. And you guys might have a chance to fix it."

"Fix it? How?"

"By stopping the person who's created this black hole."

"Timothy is missing."

"I know. Gibbs and the others are getting closer, but they're getting closer to the person responsible as well. I'm not allowed to go upstairs. That's where the other ghosts are. You guys need to get up there to warn them. I can't guarantee the ghosts won't see you and try to stop you, but the one thing you need to remember is that the people who were killed were not killed by ghosts. They were killed by human hands. The ghosts can be frightening, but they can't kill you."

"You're certain?"

"Almost." Kate smiled again. Then, her smiled faded and she looked back. "I can't stay any longer, Ducky. It's time for me to leave. Ellie, it's nice to meet you. I hope you guys can get through this. Oh, and one more thing: Tim was right that the front door doesn't open at night, but there is more than one door. You just didn't go high enough."

Then, she was gone.

Ducky could feel Ellie's trembling.

"Well, that was definitely unexpected," he said.

Ellie nodded.

"Are you prepared to venture back upstairs?"

She nodded again.

"That was Kate?" she asked.

"Yes. Exactly as I remember her. Even her personality was the same. It's a shame you never got the chance to know her."

"You seem pretty accepting of this, Ducky."

"That's probably because I tend to trust my own judgment, perhaps even more than I should. I saw Caitlin with my own eyes, and I know that she's been dead for more than a decade. Not only did I go to her funeral, I was responsible for her autopsy. And yet, here she was, and we both saw her, not just me. If it had just been me, I might question but you, who never knew her, also saw her. Now, I will take both her warning and her advice seriously. You're still armed?"

Ellie nodded.

"Good. Now, acknowledging that you have gone through something I cannot understand, are you prepared for possibly meeting this person Caitlin told us was responsible?"

Ellie took a breath and then stepped back from Ducky's comforting arm. She pulled out her gun and checked it.

"Okay. I'm sorry for falling apart like that, Ducky."

"Oh, no, Eleanor. This was a terrible event for you and there's no reason to apologize or to feel embarrassment for it."

She smiled a little and then took another breath. "Okay, Ducky. Let's go."

"Very good."

They walked out of the parlor and headed for the stairs, flashlights in hand, Ellie also with her gun out. Ducky could see that she was shaking just a little bit, but it was understandable. He just hoped that she would not be adversely affected if confronted by another ghost.

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Surrounded by the lights that had terrified Tim before, he saw Jack. Alive. But his eyes were terrifying in a way that the ghosts had never been.

Jack was insane.

And in a strange way, it actually helped. The ghosts had been terrifying, but that was because he had assumed that they had been the ones to kill Dan and take Jack away. How could a person fight against ghosts? There was no way. They had driven Landon into a permanent state of insanity, but here was Jack. Alive. It now made a lot more sense that Jack was the one who had killed Dan.

That one thought penetrated Tim's terror and got him to think about that time through new eyes. Coming to the house had been Jack's idea. While they had been together when Dan and Landon had started screaming, Tim had been alone when Dan's screams had stopped. What had he seen tonight? Had it really been Dan or had it been Jack? He didn't know.

Jack smiled at him as if he could read Tim's mind. The smile was as terrifying as anything else he'd seen in this house.

The lights were flying around the room, illuminating his crazy eyes.

"You were screaming...in the basement," Tim whispered. "I couldn't hear what you said, but...you were screaming."

For a moment, Jack's expression wavered. Then, his insane smile returned.

"I've never had a repeat visitor before. When they come with me, they don't leave," he said. "Except you. After I killed Dan, I couldn't find you. I tried, but I couldn't find you. Where were you?"

"How did you get out of the house? They looked for you."

Jack smiled again.

"There's more than one way in and out. Can't you feel the air?"

Tim realized that there was a draft. He hadn't noticed it before because of his fear.

He tried to look around, but he couldn't see anything besides Jack.

"Landon got out, too."

Jack laughed again. "Did he? I think he's still here."

"Now what?"

"Now, I add you to the ghosts. I have you again."

Jack lifted a knife in his hand. It looked like it had been used already. Perhaps many times. He could see the dried blood on the blade and on his hands.

"You'll never leave here again."

x.x.x.x.x.x.x

Ducky and Ellie paused at the top of the stairs.

"Which way?" Ducky asked.

"It makes more sense if they kept on down the way we were. More doors," Ellie said.

"I agree."

They started down the hallway together. Ellie was ready to fire. Ducky hoped that she wouldn't accidentally shoot someone they knew.

After they were halfway down the hall, Ellie stopped.

"Ducky?"

"Yes?"

"Are you certified to fire a gun?"

"Why, yes."

She lowered her weapon and held it out.

"I think it would be better if you had this."

"Why?"

"Because I'm afraid that I'll freak out and shoot one of the others. I'm still really edgy."

Ducky smiled encouragingly and took the gun. He was certified, but he didn't make a habit of shooting very often. Just enough to keep certified. He patted her on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Eleanor. I'm feeling more hopeful than ever that we'll get out of here."

"Why?"

"Because Caitlin was here. If there are ghosts, I'm glad to know that there is at least one on our side."

"I wish I could be that confident," Ellie said. Suddenly, she turned away from him.

"Eleanor."

She just shook her head and wouldn't look at him.

"I don't know what those lights were, but I've never felt so afraid as I did when they were all I could see."

Ducky put the safety on the gun and then put his arm around Ellie's shoulders. Perhaps this wasn't the time for encouragement and comfort, but he could see that she needed it.

"It's going to be all right, Eleanor. It is. We're going to get out of here. I promise. For now, let's just get to the others and help them find Timothy."

Ellie took a deep breath and let it out slowly, clearly trying to regain control of herself.

"Okay. I'm ready."

They continued down the hall and reached the curtain.

"You pull back the curtain and I'll be ready for whatever is on the other side," Ducky said.

Ellie nodded and grimaced. She stepped forward and grasped the curtain. She quickly pulled it back.