8 Take it out Aiden Ashley said.
What? No, I m not touching it. Glen you take it.
What? No, my arm hurts. Ashley you take it.
What? No, I m a girl. Aiden you get it.
What? No, I m uh, afraid of pick axes. Glen
Dude, just shut up and take the damn axe.
Aiden reluctantly pulled the axe out of the door holding the parchment out to Ashley. Well?
Well what?
Take it.
Oh, no, no, no.
Ash, take it.
I m not touching it.
Dude just shut up and take the damn letter.
Slowly she reached up to pull the parchment off the hook.
Ashley! Glen shouted causing her to jump. Be careful.
You re such an ass. She said trying again.
Ashley! Aided yelled causing her to jump for a second time. Be careful, he smirked at Glen.
Boys! She shook her head reaching up slowly to take the parchment for a third time.
ASHLEY! The cry was loud and sounded as though it began in the basement and flew through the walls up to the attic.
Spencer! They all cried, Ashley took the parchment and opened the door.
WALTER! Sophia s cry came from behind them, stopping them in their tracks. It sounded as though she was flying through the wall from the attic to the basement.
Run
Up the three flights they flew. Then down the hall to the attic door.
Open it, open it.
It s locked
Try the keys.
Hurry!
No not that one.
I m trying.
Hurry
That one try that one.
Hurry.
I m trying
You re using the wrong key.
Spencer can you hear me?
Damn it man, that key s too small for that door.
Spencer, Clay?
It s not working.
Try the other one.
Spencer, Clay?
WALTER Sophia was flying back their direction.
Fuck.
Run
To where, ass, she s a ghost, we can t hide from her.
Spencer, Clay?
Ashley, shut up! the boys spat.
Let me try. Glen said taking the keys from Aiden.
I ve tried that one.
Oh my God, oh my God.
I tried that one too.
Dude shut up.
Oh my God, oh my God.
Fuck!
WALTER!
Last one, try the last one.
Fuck, Glen said throwing the keys.
Oh my God, oh my God.
Why d you do that?
They don t work.
Not on this door, but
WALTER!
Run! As the trio turned they found themselves face to face with the ghost of Sophia.
Jeremiah, she said reaching a hand out to Glen. Please, please find Walter. 9 They stood frozen for a moment, transfixed by her sudden disappearance.
Well, Aiden stammered, she s a persistent little thing isn t she, Glen? Glen? Glen?
Oh, my, God. Ashley s breathing quickened.
Ashley shut up.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,
What are you doing?
17, 18, 19, 20. Counting 21, 22, 23, 24. It calms me down. 25, 26, 27. 28.
Where s Glen?
36, 37, 38,
Glen? He yelled.
44, 45, 46
Glen where are you?
58, 59, 60, 61, 62
I m up here ass. Stop yelling, Glen called from the attic.
81, 82, 83, I thought this door was locked? 84, 85
No, Glen said, it just needed a little force. You know, a man s touch.
Shut up. Aiden spat.
Ashley, do you have that paper? Glen asked.
230, 231, 232, 233 she said handing the parchment to Glen.
What is it man?
I don t know, but I think it goes with this. He said as he pieced the papers together.
Well, what is it?
I don t know, Glen spat back just as forcefully, I can t see well enough to read.
Ash, where s the flashlight
599, 600, 601, 602 She said turning it on.
Fuck Ashley, why don t you just blind me one time?
Okay I will, she said shoving it closer to Aiden s face. 650, 651
Give me that, Glen said snatching it away.
What is it?
It s a letter.
Well, read it.
Aiden, be patient.
999, 1000, 1001,
Please read it, Glen. Anything to drown out the drone over there.
Father, I have never doubted your judgment before. I have always done the things you have asked of me. I ve tried to be a good son. I love you and Mother both. But I love my sister too, and I just do not think I can go along with this plan of yours. I just do not think Walter is a bad man. He has always brought Sophia joy. For her to lose him, I fear, would surely kill her. And I think you are wrong Father. He will be a good father for those babies. They are beautiful, and the boy looks just like Walter. It would be wrong to take away those children s father. I do not know how you think killing a good hearted man who is very much in love with three people who share his name. I am ashamed to call you father. Never in my wildest imagination would I have ever thought you a killer. It is true, sadly, and it shames me to bear the name Belvedere. I will not be your son, if you go through with this. And I know you will. You have done it once before, I have no doubts that tonight, on the eve of his children s birth, Walter Higgins will be dead at your hands. And I will not be any part of it. And I will no longer be a Belvedere. I am sorry Father, if I have shamed you. But you have shamed be much more. On this, the one-and-thirtieth day of October I will leave our manor. I will leave my sister and my mother. And I will leave you, this stranger I have called father these 18 years, and you shall never hear from me again. I will not be a murder or a murder s son.
Sincerely,
Jeremiah
One thousand eight hundred eighty-three. One thousand eigh
Ashley for the last time, Stop Counting! Stop? Stop counting? You want me to stop counting? Your proof is right there! We are trapped in a house with a mad man s ghosts and you want me to stop counting?
Yeah, Ash, for fuck s sake, it s annoying.
Aiden, man, lay off. She s scared. Glen said in hushed tones. I guess we know what happened to Walter. But we still don t know what s happened to Spencer and Clay.
One thous
Ash, please don t. Aiden begged. Why did the ghost give us that note?
She didn t. He didn t. It didn t.
Say what, Mr. Pronoun.
That was the piece I found in here.
Well, what s on the piece that was pinned in the basement?
Sincerely, Jeremiah.
Don t be a smart ass.
I m serious.
Look on the back, Ashley said, I remember seeing something on the back.
Glen turned the paper over to find It s just a bunch of stick figures on a fence.
Give me that, Ashley said snatching it away from Glen. It s sheet music.
Oh, so the ghost is actually Mozart.
You are so not funny Aiden. Funny looking, but not funny ha ha.
Ashley reached over to receive the high five from Glen but was knocked off balance by a shove from Aiden. She hit the ground hard
God, Aiden, can t you take a joke?
You were just being mean!
You re being an ass.
Guys stop fighting.
Aiden reached out to give her a hand. She swiped it away. Helping herself up she pushed her hand down hard on the floor. When she did the board came loose. She and Aiden both went flying head first.
Aiden grunted and groaned for a minute Geeze Ash you didn t have to hit me in the balls.
Rubbing her head she said I didn t mean too.
Oh my god Glen said. Neither of his hurt friends responded, they merely rubbed their aching parts. He reached into the opening and pulled back a block of gold. There really is treasure here.
What! The pair cried, jumping to their feet.
There must be ten blocks of it. He said handing one to Ashley.
Holy shit, she cried, dollar signs in her eyes. Aiden go grab the gym bags.
He trod down the attic stairs as quickly as his injured body would allow.
What, um, what do you think we should do with it? Glen asked staking the bricks next to him.
What do you mean?
Do you think we should take it?
WHAT?
I mean, how, um. It s a dead mans gold.
He doesn t need it any more.
But what if he starts haunting us if we take it?
I never thought about that, Ashley admitted making her stack taller.
I m back. Aiden said tossing the bags over to the two.
What do you think Aiden? Should we take it?
Well, it s just sitting here. He said bending down to help. We may as well take it and ARG!
DADDY!
GLEN,
SOPHIA
AIDEN
WALTER
ASHLEY
The screams were all deafening. The trio sat hands over their ears until the shrieking subsided.
Aiden what the hell?
B-b-b-b-b-b-b-bones. He stuttered.
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
Glen leaned in to the opening to investigate.
Don t touch it! Ashley yelled at him.
Look at his head, look at his head, look at his head.
Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.
Ya ll sound like a broken record. Aiden bent down to see what Glen was talking about and when he did he said, Let s get out of here. Put it all back and let s get out of here. The pair quickly obliged.
They were half way out the door when Glen screamed, STOP!
No, we are not going back up for that gold.
Spencer, Clay, inside.
Shit,
What do we do, what do we do, what do we do?
What was on that paper?
Music notes.
Music notes? Music notes, music notes. PIANO!
I doubt they are in the piano.
Well, we have to try.
Where s the piano?
In the den,
Where s that?
Follow me.
They ran through the first floor back to where the piano sat.
Well, we're here, what do we do next?
Look inside,
Look inside? Glen asked daftly, They couldn t possible fit inside.
Well, what else do you suggest?
Where s that first note?
Huh?
The first note Sophia gave us.
Ashley dug through her pockets, then produced the note.
Phrases Let the Arrogant Yoke use Keys to Edge Your Search Consider Completely Extinguishing your Greed And Attack the Crisis Earnestly Find Four And Count Get Going Before they Die
How s that suppose to help Glen?
I don t know, but piano s have keys.
Let me see the paper. Ashley looked at it for a moment. Why are some of the words capitalized and others not?
Let me see? Aiden said snatching it away from her. PLAY KEYS CCEG AACE FFAC GGBD.
Great, the only piano player in the bunch is the one missing.
What are those notes again? Glen asked.
CCEG AACE FFAC GGBD
CCEG AACE FFAC GGBD?
Yeah. Glen, man what are you doing?
He sat down at the piano, Okay, so mom made all three of us take lessons when we were kids. This is the first song we all learned how to play. He began pounding a very out of tune rendition of Heart and Soul.
I never you knew you played piano. I m gonna call you Mozart.
And that s why you never knew I played. He said pounding out the final notes. The trio jumped at the sound of a door sliding open. They turned around to find Spencer and Clay laughing hysterically.
You guys are so funny when you re scared. Spencer said in between laughter.
What? Aiden asked.
Both of you.
Huh? Ashley said.
Yeah, Glen said, not so big and bad after all are you?
WHAT? The L.A. kids asked together.
We so got you! Clay said.
You, you, you knew? Ashley said smacking Glen.
Of course I knew. I ll have to admit though putting those bones in the attic was a touch of brilliance. That even scared me.
Huh? Spencer and Clay looked at each other, Whatever Glen. Can we get out of here please? Wanna go take a shower I ve got dust all over me.
Why do you have dust all over you if you ve been down here the whole time?
We haven t. We ve been up and down the secret passages in this place.
The dumbwaiter, the laundry shoot, hidden staircases
What a minute wait a minute. This whole thing, since we started was just playing, and a game?
What, think us poor hicks from the sticks don t know how play games too?
No, that s not what I meant.
What the how did wh
I over heard Kayla on the phone to Aiden last week Spencer admitted. She had no choice but to tell me what you had planned. I told Clay and Glen.
Yeah, these two just wanted to punk out on it, Glen said, But I figured we should give you a dose of your own medicine.
How did when did you
A magician never revels his secrets. Spencer said seductively.
Get your hands off of me. Ashley said.
What? Spencer said, mock hurt in her voice.
That wasn t funny. I was worried about you.
It was hilarious, Glen said, high-fiveing Clay.
So the three of you did this by yourself?
No Kyla helped. She was running the projections of the ghosts.
Pr-pr-projections?
It helps being a genius. Clay said dusting off his shoulder.
I can t believe this. Aiden said sitting down on the piano bench.
Just because we grew up on a farm, doesn t mean we re stupid.
I can t believe Kyla went along with you guys.
Why not, she was going to go along with you.
Where is she anyway?
The heavy pat of feet up the concrete stairs made them jump. With a loud slam the front door opened.
Spence, you re suffocating me, Ashley whimpered.
Guys, Kyla called out of breath. I m so sorry, I m late, I couldn t find the car keys. I only just got here.
No body moved. They barely breathed. They stood staring at girl. Sharing a slow uneasy glance with each other they all screamed, RUN!
Huh? Kyla asked.
Glen grabbed her arm, we got to get out of here.
Why?
Real. Real. Real ghosts. A slow ballad was being pounded out on the piano behind him. Reluctantly he turned to look. There sat Sophia, her ghostly white hands tickling the ivory keys.
Thank you Jeremiah. Thank you.
Run he barely breathed. It took no time for them to catch up to the others, and then pass them. Hurry up slow pokes, he called back.
Come on, come on. Glen said hands out to give his sister a leg over the fence of the Belvedere Manor.
Once she got up to the top of the wall she looked back at the old house. Young Sophia standing on the steps looking longing at a young man whose face she could not see, walking up the steps to her. The twinkle in the young ghosts eyes could have lit up the night sky. The pair embraced.
Spencer, come down, She looked down to see her five companions waiting. Once more she looked to the house. The Higgins s gave her a small wave, and walked hand in hand in to their manor.
[sic]
