Sorry this chapter is a few days late. I was not happy with it so I kept tweaking it.

Chapter 8: Cold Spots

Coraline had to admit, she was surprised Dipper decided to join them tonight.

Dipper had been against going out to investigate the rumored haunted house, but he had still followed them when they left out the backdoor of the Mystery Shack. Stan didn't seem to notice them leave and Mabel and Dipper didn't seem overly worried about him when Coraline asked. Something about soap opera reruns coming on tonight.

Both Norman and Dipper had indicated that they thought exploring this mansion was a bad idea, but here they were, tagging along anyway. If they were coming along just to fit in, then they weren't going to be of any real use, but if they were actually curious and wanted an adventure, then Coraline wouldn't mind having them around, provided they weren't cowards and didn't hold everyone else back.

As they came upon the large mansion on Maple Street, Coraline couldn't believe how perfectly it fit the haunted house imagery. It was an old, Victorian-style house with a large front yard and ominous dark windows. Part of its roof was caved in, and one of the rooms on the top right side of the house had been completely devoured by the fire, leaving a large gaping hole in the side of the house. The paint on the top half the house was blackened by the flames, but other than the crumbling roof and the missing chunk of the third floor, the house looked to be structurally sound. The restoration crew had evacuated the premise in a hurry, leaving their tools lying around the front yard.

"Last chance to turn back," Coraline said as the dark mansion stood looming before them.

No one moved other than to glance at each other, some faces filled with more confidence than others. "Okay then… let's go in and see if we have a real live haunted house on our hands-"

"A real dead haunted house," Mabel corrected.

"Uhh, right."

Coraline approached the house with the others trailing closely behind her. She had met ghost before in the Other World, but this was different. This might be a vengeful spirit. She had to be ready for anything. Coraline turned the knob to the front door, but it wouldn't budge.

"It's locked," Coraline said with a frown.

"Stopped by a locked door," Lili snarked. "Well, that was the shortest adventure ever."

Coraline ignored her. "Wybie? Can you-?" she asked.

"I-I forgot my lock pick set in my luggage." Wybie interrupted apologetically. "Sorry, Jonesy."

"You carry a lock pick set on vacation with you?" Raz asked with a voice that was both confused and impressed.

The older boy shrugged and then nodded to Coraline. "I'm friends with her. I've learned to carry lock picks with me almost everywhere."

Coraline focused her attention back on the door. Could she break it down? She was no doubt the strongest in the group, but she didn't think she had the strength to break down a solid wooden door. Perhaps there was a window they could sneak in through?

To her surprise, Mabel spoke up. "Don't worry, I got this," she assured everyone as she practically pranced up to the door and produced a bobby pin from her thick, brown hair.

She placed a bobby pin in the lock and began to jiggle it around.

"Doesn't that only worked in-" Neil began.

Click!

"…The movies?" he finished in awe as Mabel twisted the handle and the door swung open.

Everyone but Mabel and her twin brother gawked in surprised.

"Mabel's got mad lock picking skills," her brother explained as if this was perfectly normal. "Then again, she can do just about anything with hair ties and bobby pins."

"And yet you still don't appreciate my hair-topiaries," Mabel said with a huff.

"Turning your hair into an ostrich is not art," Dipper snapped back and Coraline got the impression they've had this augment before.

"Like you would know anything about art, Dip-stick!"

"Guys, can we focus here?" Raz asked.

Coraline entered the mansion cautiously. It wasn't as dark as Coraline expected thanks to the lights from the street lamps shining in through the overly large windows, illuminating the furnitureless entryway and the large ornate staircase in the middle of the room. Coraline flipped the light switch on the wall, but the lights didn't turn on.

The walls were bare and the only sign of human life were the new planks of wood and power tools scattered on the floor. Coraline had to step over a drill as she made her way further into the house, adding more evidence to the hurried nature in which the construction workers must have abandoned their work.

"Why is it always giant, creepy, old mansions that are haunted?" Neil asked. "How come there aren't movies about haunted apartment buildings?"

"Or how about haunted trailer parks?" Wybie added.

"Or haunted treehouses," Neil said. "I've always wanted a treehouse… haunted or otherwise."

Dipper stepped forward gingerly and peered up the large staircase. "This place is huge," he remarked. "And really old. It must be one of the oldest buildings in town."

Coraline noticed Raz place his fingers to his temple, a look of concentration on his face. As Dipper looked back at the group, he seemed to take note of Raz's strange movements as well.

"You okay, man?" the behatted boy asked.

Raz jumped in surprise as he quickly ripped his hand away from his temple. "O-Oh! Yeah, just a… a small headache."

Dipper frowned. "Maybe we should go?" he offered a bit too eagerly. "If you have a headache you don't want it getting worse."

Raz shook his head. "No, I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? Maybe it would be a good idea if-"

"Listen, Pines," Coraline snapped. "If you're scared and you want to leave that's fine. Anyone who doesn't want to be here should leave the adventure to the rest of us."

Dipper opened his mouth to protest when the ceiling let out a long, high-pitched creek. Everyone's heads snapped upwards. It sounded as if a large amount of pressure was being placed on one of the floorboards upstairs. After a moment, the noise stopped, leaving them in strained silence.

Wybie let out a shaky laugh. "This place is pretty old. That was probably from a rusty pipe or someth-"

"Shh!" Lili hissed.

Tap-tap… tap-tap… tap-tap…

Coraline felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as a tapping sound echoed through the spaces between the walls. Coraline couldn't shake the image of a fingernail tapping against a metal surface again and again, like something was impatiently waiting for them.

On the other hand, it could just be the pipes like Wybie said.

The tapping stopped and Neil let out a relieved breath. "Was that… was that someone tapping?" he asked, moving closer to Norman.

Coraline walked to the wall on her left and stiffly outstretched her hand. Determined not to hesitate, Coraline rapped her knuckles against the wall three times.

Everyone held completely still and listened.

Coraline could hear the wheezing breathing of Neil behind her, but nothing else made a sound in the eerily quiet house. The pounding of Coraline's heart against her chest began to slow as she let out a short laugh. Those strange noises must have really been the pipes.

There was a loud bang from upstairs, and Coraline's heart leapt up into her throat. The sound of fast-paced footsteps came from upstairs. Coraline came to the terrifying realization that the footsteps, which were steadily growing louder each second, were of someone, or something, running as fast as they could straight towards them! In any second, Coraline would be able to see it appear at the top of the stairs.

Coraline took a fearful step back, her eyes fixated on the top of the stairs. Out of the corner of her eye, Coraline saw Raz and Lili step forward towards the staircase, their finger's flying to their temples' as if they were both struck with simultaneous headaches, but the look on their faces were ones of determination, not pain.

The sound of running was almost upon them now, and Coraline's heart was hammering loudly in her ears. Her body was buzzing with both terror and excitement, and she wasn't sure if she could tell the feelings apart.

The sound of running came to an abrupt halt and everything went silent.

Coraline peered through the darkness up the top of the stairs, but no one was there.

"Hello?" Coraline called. "Is anyone up there?" But there was no answer.

The footsteps seemed to have stopped in the hallway to the right of the staircase, but if Coraline climbed the stairs, she might be able to see what had made that noise. She had to know what it was.

"Th-that doesn't have to be a ghost," Wybie whispered. "There could easily be a person upstairs. They might be dangerous."

"Y-yeah," Norman agreed weakly. "Maybe we should leave."

"I don't think that was a person," Raz said calmly, removing his fingers from his temple as Lili did the same.

"What makes you say that?" Coraline asked.

Raz shrugged. "Just a hunch."

"I-I guess there is only one way to find out," Coraline said, surprised by the sudden stutter in her voice. She walked upto the stairs and placed a hand on the railing. "It's okay if you guys want to stay here. I just have to see what that was."

Lili scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Please, Blue, you act like you're the only brave one here. I'm not scared of whatever's up there, alive or dead."

Lili began to ascend the stairs, and Raz followed close behind her.

Coraline turned to tell the other kids they could wait down here, but Dipper and Mabel were already following closely behind the other two; Mabel even seemed to be skipping. Coraline saw Norman give Neil a look she couldn't quite decipher, and they too began walking towards the stairs. Wybie mumbled something about this being a terrible idea and pulled a flashlight out of his backpack before following the other kids.

Coraline's surprise must have shown on her face, because Dipper chuckled nervously as he stopped beside her.

"We have two choices, either wait down here or go upstairs," Dipper explained. "Either way we're going to be scared something or someone is going to attack us. I'd rather know what it is we might have to defend ourselves from. It's better than just sitting here in the dark."

Coraline nodded dumbly, still taken aback by Dipper's sudden logic and bravery. For a nervous kid, Dipper wasn't as much of a coward as she had been expecting.

As they ascended the stairs together, Coraline noticed air was developing a strange chill that seemed to bite at her ears and the back of her neck.

Mabel shuttered, clutching her sweater closer to her. "Brrr, is it just me, or did it get really cold?"

Wybie frowned. "Heat rises…" he said slowly. "And there are no open windows up here that I can see. It doesn't make much sense for the second floor to be any colder. Plus, some spots seem to be colder than others."

The windows on the second floor were a little smaller, allowing less light in. The kids found themselves squinting at each other in the dark.

Coraline grabbed Wybie's flashlight out of his hands, and shined the light down the hallway to the right. Whatever had been running towards them earlier was nowhere to be seen.

Coraline approached the closest room. This had to be right outside of where the footsteps stopped and it was possible that whoever it was quietly snuck into this room.

"Coraline," her cousin called out in warning, but she ignored him. She could feel Raz's presence beside her, and secretly she appreciated the backup, even if realistically Raz wouldn't be able to do much of anything against either a ghost or a potentially dangerous person hiding in the room.

Taking a breath, Coraline turned the knob of the door and pushed it open. Coraline shined her flashlight around the room, illuminating the small study. Like the rest of the house it was empty of furniture, and anything else of interest as well.

"Nothing's here," Coraline called to the rest of the group and she could hear multiple relieved sighs coming from behind her. Coraline did a thorough check of the open closet, just to make sure no one was hiding in there, but it too was empty.

When Coraline returned to the hallway with the rest of the kids, Raz spoke up. "I think we need to come up with a plan."

"I did have an idea," Coraline began. "But I don't think you guys will like it."

"Please don't tell me you want us to split up, Jonesy." Wybie said with dread as he pulled a second flashlight out of his bag.

"Just hear me out," Coraline said and Wybie let out a long groan. "As far as I see it, we have two best options, one for each possible scenario that we could be dealing with."

"And what are we dealing with?" Neil asked.

"We all heard something up here, right?" Coraline said. "If we think whatever we heard might be just some people squatting in this house, then the best option is to stick together and open each door one at a time. This way we will eventually find them and if they attack us, we'll have safety in numbers."

"Okay and what's the second scenario?" Norman asked.

Coraline couldn't help but grin in excitement. "The second scenario is that there really is a ghost here and the best option is to split up and try to find it!"

"But why would splitting up help?" Neil asked. "That never turns out well in the movies."

"Think about it, if it's a ghost, then it can move from room to room without anyone seeing it. If we go as one group it can avoid us easily, but if we spread out we have more of a chance of seeing it. Also, a ghost might be more willing to show itself to just a few people instead of all of us."

"And what if it doesn't want to avoid us?" Dipper asked. "It didn't seem to avoid the construction crew."

"Here's the thing, Pines," Coraline said lowly, leaning forward. "The people in the construction crew were adults; they were probably big with a lot of muscles, right? If the ghost is strong enough to attack them and drive all of them out of the house, then do you really think it matters how many of us there are? If the ghost wanted to attack us, I don't think it matters if there are two of us in a group or all of us."

The room fell silent at that sobering thought.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Dipper said with a frown.

"I-If there is a ghost, it might not want to scare us at all," Norman spoke up. "Maybe the construction crew was too much for it. If we split up, we're less likely to frighten it, and maybe it will be willing to talk to us."

"Frighten a ghost?" Lili asked with a scoff. "I've never heard that before. Isn't it usually the other way around?"

Norman shrugged. "I-It's just a theory."

"Now all that's left is to decide is what scenario we have on our hands," Coraline said. "If we think there are living people hiding in this house, we go together. If we think it's a ghost, we'll split up and try to find it in groups of two, okay? Now, raise your hand if you think there is nothing supernatural going on in this mansion."

Not a single hand was raised.

Coraline stared. "Even you, Pines? I thought you said ghosts weren't real?"

Dipper rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, it's hard to ignore the facts," he said with a sheepish smile. "A ghost sighting, strange noises, cold spots. I'm not an expert, but I've seen enough horror movies to know what that means. And then there were those footsteps we heard stopin this hallway and we didn't hear them move away. If that had been a corporeal person we would have seen him by now, but there is no one else here."

"Okay, I get that," Coraline said slowly. "But that doesn't explain how calm you all are about meeting a ghost."

"What do you mean?" Mabel asked. "You're calm too," she pointed out.

"I don't really scare easily," Coraline said. "But I figured at least a few of you would, right? We're going to try and find a ghost that might try to attack us, but you're all just… just fine!"

"So?" Lili asked.

"Sooo," Coraline emphasized. "I have to ask. Have any of you had experience with the paranormal before?"

There was no immediate reaction to her question, just an awkward silence as the kids looked around at each other curiously.

Eventually, her cousin was the first to speak up. "N-no, I haven't," Norman said.

Neil shook his head, but not before giving Norman a long look.

The twins exchanged quick glances. "Neither have we," Dipper said, speaking for the both of them. "That's why I said I didn't believe in them earlier, remember?"

Coraline looked over at Raz.

"Nah," Raz said casually. "I've seen a lot of weird things in my life- most of them involve my family- but supernatural? No."

"I haven't either," Lili said. "What about you?"

Coraline could feel Wybie staring at her as she shook her head. "No. I wish… but no."

"So, basically no one knows what they're doing," Wybie summed up. "Great."

"Well, whether we know what we're doing or not, we should start doing it soon," Raz said.

"We'll split up into pairs," Coraline said. "The Wonder Twins can take the hallway to the right and The Lovebirds here can take the rooms to the left. My cuz and Neil can check the third story rooms on the right and Wybie and I can check the third story on the left."

"What do we do if we find something?" Neil asked. "Do we have a special call or signal?"

"How about we just scream for help?" Wybie suggested. "It's simple, easy to remember, and I'll be doing it anyways if I actually see a ghost."

Coraline chuckled and nodded. "If we see anything or hear anything yell as loud as you can and we'll all come running. Does everyone have a flashlight?"

Dipper pulled one out of his backpack and Neil and Norman held up their cell phones.

"Don't worry, we'll use these," Norman said.

"What about you guys?" Dipper asked Raz and Lili, but Raz waved off his concern with a hand and a confident grin.

"Don't worry, we've got it covered," he assured them vaguely.

"Okay, if you haven't found anything after checking all the rooms, meet back here," Coraline said. "Once we're all back together we can decided what to do next."

Mabel threw her hand into the middle of the group. "Okay, hands in everyone!"

Coraline stared at the girl and Raz shifted awkwardly beside her.

Dipper rolled his eyes. "Mabel… just… no."

To Coraline's surprise, another hand joined Mabel's. "Yeah! I've always wanted to be apart of one one these!" Neil exclaimed excitedly.

"Great!" Mabel cheered. "Anyone else want in on this?" she asked as she waggled her eyebrows at the rest of the group.

"Come on Norman, do it with us!" Neil encouraged.

"Uhh… okay, I guess?" Reluctantly, Norman put his hand in as well.

"Okay, go team on three, got it?" Mabel asked.

There was a chorus of "one, two three," and then "go team!"

Coraline noted that Norman's voice in the chant had been either been missing or too quiet to here.

"You idiots do realize that your lives are in more danger than they've ever been, right?" Lili asked. "Or did you forget we're hunting an angry spirit?"

"We don't know if it's angry," Norman said as he pulled his hand awkwardly back to his chest.

"Yes, I'm sure the ghost was just trying to be hospitable to the construction workers," Lili said sarcastically. "It's probably just misunderstood."

"Come on guys, let's move," Dipper reminded them. "We have a lot of house to cover."

Coraline and Wybie began climbing the creaky wooden stairs to the third floor of the house while the other kids dispersed into groups. She could hear Norman and Neil climbing up the stairs not far behind them.

Once at the top, Coraline began carefully checking rooms for any sign of a ghost while Wybie held up his flashlight to add to her own light, illuminating each room further. Without the furniture or any sign that people had lived here, the empty rooms made her feel like she was peeking into an abandoned graveyard without any headstones. There was something unworldly about walking through an empty house that used to belong to someone else. It reminded Coraline of when she first moved into the Pink Palace Apartments with her family, and how empty that place had looked when it was full of nothing but unpacked boxes. Searching through that apartment was exactly what lead her to find that little locked door sealed underneath the wallpaper…

A shudder ran up her spine. Now was not the time to think about Her.

"Why didn't you tell them?" Wybie asked suddenly.

Coraline sighed. She should had known there was a reason why Wybie had been quiet for way too long. He had only been waiting for the right time to confront her.

"You've seen ghosts before," Wybie insisted. "And you beat that… thing. Whatever she was…. the Other Mother. You're the only one of us that really has any experience with the supernatural."

Coraline ran her hand through her hair as she twisted around to face him. "What was I supposed to say?" she challenged in a low voice. "I have no proof and that story is too weird to believe on its own. They would just think I was making it up. Besides…"

But she let her sentence hang as she opened another door. Nothing, just another ghostless graveyard.

"Besides what?"

"Nevermind, it's stupid," Coraline said as she shut the door and began to make her way to the next.

"What is it?" Wybie prodded.

"Leave it alone, Why-Were-You-Born," Coraline snapped.

But of course, whether is was a rare slug or a topic of conversation that just needed to die, Wybie didn't know how to leave anything alone.

"Come on, Jonesy, just tell me already. You wouldn't have mentioned it if you hadn't wanted to tell me."

Coraline knew he was not going to let this go. "You're going to think it's stupid but…" she hesitated. "I… I don't like to talk about it." Her hand was on the doorknob of the next room, but she paused before opening it. "I just feel like if I talk about it… if I talk about her, then she might come back somehow. I don't know… that probably sounds crazy."

"Okay, yeah," Wybie admitted slowly. "That does sounds a little paranoid."

Coraline turned to face her friend with a growl, punching him square on his upper arm. Leave it to Wybie to say things without a filter.

"Ow!" he yelped as he rubbed his arm. "What did I do?"

"You're supposed to tell me that I don't sound crazy. That's what a normal friend would do!"

Wybie sighed. "What I meant is, she's gone Coraline. You made sure of that, and you shouldn't be worrying about her anymore. It's not good for you." Wybie reached up and placed a hand on her shoulder, giving it a little shake. "You won, and she's not coming back."

She wanted to believe that. She really did.

But she couldn't.

"I wish I could be as sure as you are about that."

Featured in this chapter: everyone lying, Coraline thinking she's physically the strongest one in the group, and the one time in the history of the world were splitting up may not be the worst idea ever invented… ooor maybe not.

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