A/N: Hello, guys! It's me again. I hope you like the house, cause that location's gonna be here for a while, anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 12:
``That, well, look´´ The boy pauses and looks around ``I think... I think the ghosts are organized...´´
``What?´´ Tooth asks completely confused ``What do you mean by that?´´
``Well, their placement when I saw of them outside... It wasn't random.´´ Jack says, as though not quite sure how to explain it.
``I don't get it. Not random how?´´
The teen hesitates. ``Well, On the way here, when Sandy picked me up, while we were on the slide, I noticed quite a few weird things.
First: There were no apparitions at all at the entrance, even though there should always be a few strays, it was completely empty for about half an hour walking, then there were small groups always out of each others sight, in sort of rings around the mansion itself as if they were... Well... Protecting it. Patrolling the parameter for unwanted visitors, namely: us.´´
``So what are you saying? The ghost are suddenly capable of reasonable theoretical strategies?´´ Bunny challenges, obviously not buying it.
``It could be, though, right? The source is here, no normal rules apply.´´
``I guess, but where does that leave us? Do we go on anyway?´´
``Yes, but in the spirit of full disclosure I thought you should know.´´
``Fine.´´ Bunny says skeptically.
Despite the fact that apparitions capable of thinking strategically sounds like a ridiculous thing, Bunny is unsettled.
He can't deny that the distinct lack of spirits is wired, he'd done his homework, read mission reports from other red-zones and by all accounts what Jack says is true.
Nevertheless, no going back.
They restart walking, occasionally stopping to put recorders and more cameras in location that seem advantageous.
As depicted on the floor-plans, the dining-room is, in a rather bizzar architectural choice, a sort of island surrounded by a hallway.
This basically makes it a stone cubical containing their future base, with the entrance on the right side of it.
After a moments contemplation, Jack decides to walk around the left, instead of taking the direct right-sided way, so as to use the chance to set up more of their surveillance devices.
The house is eerily silent despite the repeated question of the team-members without ghost-sight and the answers they ever receive, mostly consisting of: "nope, no ghost" and after while "Oh my gosh guys! I'll tell you when I see them!".
But aside from that there's nothing, no flies, no birds, no cicadas. This absolute silence is a telltale sign of a haunting.
Living animals avoid dead humans.
So is low temperature:
And the corridor is cold, freezing actually, without the sunlight they had had outside, the cold November air creeps trough their jackets, scarfs and gloves and there's really nothing they can do, except ignoring the fact that it'll likely get even worse during the night.
The only one who does not seem bothered by this is Jack and as they once again stop, this time in front of the one to the dining room.
Bunny can't help but mention Jack's apparent immunity to temperature, purely professional interest of course, his curiosity is in no way related to the way his teeth are chattering quite loudly.
``Say, Frosty, your weapon, is it responsible for the fact that you can walk around in nothing but a hoodie and jeans when we all have to dress up as though exploring the Antarctic? Because I've never heard of a weapon actually influencing a guardians physic´´
Jack stiffens.
``It's complicated.´´
`` That mean ya can't explain it?´´
``Whether I can or not, I'm not going to. Why are you so interested anyway?´´
``Cause I'm freezin' an' you're not.´´
Jack reaches for the doorknob.
``Right. Well, too bad for you. I...´´ He doesn't get any further then that because the second that he pulls open the door there's an old chair flying right at his face.
``Son of a...´´ He barely manages to raise his arm so his elbow get's hit instead.
Without a seconds hesitation Bunny slams shut the door and jumps back, not that it does any good, the apparition, done with throwing around furniture, bursts through the door.
Apparently it can't be stopped by such trivial things as a solid object in it's way.
Damn its intangibility!
Jack scrambles desperately to push back all of the guardians at the same time, simultaneously he goes for his staff swinging it in such a way that it cuts through the ghost, effectively freezing it with a very thin layer of frost.
``Fuck. That was way to close´´
A second spirit comes through the wood. And a third.
``Oh, you gotta be kidding me.´´
``What!? What, Jack, what's happening ?!´´ Tooth all but screams at the teen as he pushes her again, out of the ghost's reach.
``Ghost! Damn it!´´ A wall of ice shoots up in front of Bunny.
``Tell us what to do!´´ North shouts backing away and fumbling for his swords.
Jack grabs Sandy arm, defenseless because of the bags, pulling the smallest guardian behind his back.
Again he swings his staff and creates another wall this time blocking both Bunny and Tooth.
``Just don't m...´´ He interrupts himself to duck under a skeletal arm and throws an icicle, it pierces the spirit's chest and pins it to the wall, the head rolls around on it's shoulders loosely, very loosely, ugh.
Jack knows he can't hold the ghosts off forever, they'll be able to move again soon and the chances of him finding the bones in this kind of situation are practically zero.
He tries to create another ice-cubical around the last ghost but this one doges and goes straight for the Psychic's head, swinging through the air something that looks like...
``A fucking hatchet! No way!´´ he screams angrily throwing himself to the left narrowly avoiding the slaughtering instrument.
The cubical entrapping the second apparition is already cracking slightly and Miss-hatchet (because that ghost might once have been something akin to female) is already swirling around going for Jack again.
He sees no other choice, shooting an icicle straight at miss-hatchet, again missing, he throws himself against the door leading to the dining-room hitting it hard with his shoulder.
The old wood, already fragile due to rot and mold, gives way with a loud crack.
He falls through into the room behind the door and, not paying attention to the wooden splinters, uses his hand to push himself from the floor immediately, turning towards the ghosts.
``Jack!´´ Tooth yells, all of the guardians have their weapons drawn and look ready to jump forward, the only things keeping them back being their inability to locate the ghosts and the various ice walls.
``Get in! NOW!´´ They obey as soon as Jack pulls back his ice, running to join their team's newest member in the dining room.
Sandy's sand-hand flings the bags in first, then the guardians follow.
As soon as they enter Jack slams his staff to the floor, resulting in a loud bang and the floor boards burst as another wall of ice breaks through, far thinker then the previous ones and filling the entire door way, it doesn't stop there however.
The ice grows and grows encasing all of the walls not leaving an inch free for ghosts to pass through.
Not pausing for even a second, Jack whirls around and scans the room for further potential threats.
Wildly his eyes fly over every inch of their location, finding nothing he sighs and let's himself fall to his knees.
``Well,´´ He pants ``That was way too close for comfort.´´
Being met with only silence, he looks back at his companions who are still staring at the ice surrounding in awe.
``Amazing,´´ Tooth gasps finally, recovering from her shock.
The guardians turn towards Jack.
Seeing him sitting on the floor, North ask:``Are you alright, Jack?´´
``Fine´´ Jack says ``I'm fine.´´
What happened back there?.
The teen grunts and lifts himself of the floor, dusting down his pants for the second time that day, he grins and answers:
``Well, there were a few ghosts... I mean I got rid of two but that hatchet lady... ugh seriously, I think she died with the hatchet. How does that even happen, dying with a hatchet in hand.´´
``Damn it, Frosty! Why'd ya tell us ta stand back? We could'a helped!´´
``Ohh, I'm so sorry! I was a little busy trying keep you alive and fighting of ghosts to worry about giving you directions!´´
``You managed before!´´
``Before we were fighting in a huge empty space, I had loads of room to dodge and have you back away, too. You could fight without coming so close that it'd be dangerous.´´
``Oh, I remember it being pretty close!´´
``And yet I managed, didn't I?´´
``SO, why not do it like that again? I won't stand by on the sidelines!´´
``To bad, but you'll have to trust my judgment.´´Bunny looks like he's about to protest but jack is faster: ``Shut up and listen!´´
Affronted, the Australian steps back and closes his mouth.
``Sorry!´´ Jacks says loudly, ``Sorry...`` He sighs wearily and rubs his forehead ``Look, if I think you can help without you being in danger I will let you know, but if you guys constantly rush headlong into danger just because you can't stand to do nothing, it'll cause far more problems then it'll solve! So if I decide to fight on my own, then I have a reason for it, alright?´´
``...I get it. Look, I'm... Sorry, I guess. It's hard to just stand there and do nothing. We're not used to it.´´
``Yeah, nothing we can do about that.´´
You did great, though, Jack.! Three on one? Amazing.
The teen actually blushes at this and looks away, obviously embarrassed.
``Anyway there aren't any ghosts in here now and there won't be any getting through my ice. What time is it?´´
Tooth hesitates, staring at Jack for a little while longer and then pulls back her sleeve to look at her digital watch.
``Uhh, around 3:00 pm.´´
``That should give us enough time to set up in here before the sun's down.´´
``Shouldn't we go around looking for the source first? As long as it's still bright?´´
``After what just happened? I don't think so. We'll prepare the equipment and spend the first night looking through the cameras we already have. We can determine where the most activity is and look at those places in the morning.
It'll only work for the first floor, of course but that'll be enough for day one.´´
``We haven't even looked through the entire house yet.´´ Bunny protests.
``Right now, I won't risk leaving this room.´´
``...You're the boss, Frosty.´´
``Thanks. Now. I've never done this before, the whole setting up tech thing, Tooth, you'll have to tell me what to do.´
Her face lights up enthusiastically at the prospect of explaining her caft in detail, ``Of course! See, the first thing you want to do now is...´´
It takes about an hour and Jack ends up spending more time walking around the room, making sure he hadn't accidentally sealed the room off , with one or more ghosts still inside, then listening to Tooth's lecture.
He'd have the apparitions trapped in here.
He finds a few bones, most of them from animals such as rats or mice, (ghost touch affects animals the same as humans), but no human remains.
At least, not just lying on the floor, that's not saying much tough, considering that the house had once belong to a serial-killer and been used as a place to hide the bodies.
There might be corpses in the walls or the floorboards.
Jack starts carefully knocking up and down the walls, listening to determine if they might be hollow and inspecting the floor for indication that the rotting wood has something other underneath then earth and stone.
Both he and the others finish at the same time.
There are now five monitors with belonging speakers, similar to a CCTV-system they receive the feed from the cameras and recorders, set on plastic camping tables.
There are also five setts of headphone, somewhere between the recording device and the headphones the team at the AGGA working on technology related to the paranormal had managed to make the sound waves emitted by apparitions audible clearly, when usually only a few individuals can hear them.
There seems to be no real rule about this, all Psychics can hear the spirits, of course, but there are also a few normal guardians who can, even some untrained average mortals.
However, one of the first things Jack had asked was whether any of the others had this particular ability and it turns out, they didn't.
Luckily: Headphones.
``Well, then Frosty. If you're done checking for secret passages... What are ya actually doing anyway?´´ Bunny asks walking over to the teen who's just finished inspecting a vaguely suspicious crack beneath his feet.
``Never read the tell-tale heart, Fluff? * There might not be a heart-beat but the concept's popular to dispose of bodies anyway, in uninhabited buildings at least.´´
``Fan of Poe are ya?´´
``He's my favorite.´´
`` Bit macabre, isn't it?´´
``Well, considering our live-style, I feel practically at home... I figured his stories are... familiar.´´
``... Can't deny tha' I guess.´´
``Besides, he also wrote humor and satire, it's hysterical.´´
Bunny blinks, surprised.
``What?´´ jack says, unsettled by the Australian's stare.
``Nothin' just... The fourteen-year-old with the eighteen-hundreds humor.´´
``Well...I'm not fourteen, Fluffy!´´
Sensing the conversation loosing it's track, North steps in.
``Ve have more important matters to talk about.´´
``North's right. Stop getting distracted.´´ Tooth chastises them.
She gestures towards the monitors and headphones: ``How do you want us to go on, Jack?´´
``Right, Well. Throughout the night, I'll watch the footage we get and listen, obviously.
I'm gonna need two of you to help me with the audio though, still means three of you get to sleep. You can take turns.´´
``You're not sleeping at all then?´´
``Never mind me Tooth, it's fine. ...you... brought coffee right?´´
Sandy points to one of the remaining unpacked bags triumphantly.
One water-boiler AGGA-long-last-battery driven and instant coffee. No milk, sorry.
``Aren't the AGGA-ll-Batteries only supposed to be used for the ghost-hunting stuff? I thought you were all rules and guidelines?´´
Not when it comes to coffee, I'm not.
``Now that's the spirit, Sandy!´´ Jack cheers.
The two wink at each other at exactly the same time, Tooth laughs.
``Alright, If ye two are done bonding over your caffeine obsession, which, really, borders on concerning, could we get back ta the job?´´
``Fine, but it's not like we're in a hurry.´´
``Jack, why don't you rest a little before tonight? We can take care of the audio-feed.´´
``Thanks Tooth but like I said, I'm fine.´´
Then, let's get settled in, I think the folding chairs and the lamps are in... That bag, over there.
Even though most of a guardians job is fighting ghosts and burning stuff, there are also quiet moments.
Moments without dead people attacking, moments without fire-hazards being created intentionally, moments in which they just have to wait.
Moments like this one.
Every guardian has their own ideas as to how they spend these quiet stretches of time, their unique habits and distractions.
Bunny mostly draws, no surprise there.
He's sitting on the floor, back to the wall sketchbook on his knees, quietly drawing while wearing a pair of headphones, not so much waiting for ghostly activity and more to just hear the quite static, he finds it very calming for some reason.
Sandy and North are playing cards, the two are sitting opposite each other and seem to be far less concerned with winning the game then with catching the other while they're cheating, because that they certainly are.
Tooth always takes something with her that needs fixing, be it a cellphone, a tape-recorder, a CD-player... She's always tinkering with something or other.
Jack, for his part is lounging on his chair, legs hanging over the arm rest and head resting on the edge of the camping table, he too, is wearing headphones.
And, Bunny realises, he's reading... He's reading... Bunny snorts.
``Lovecraft? Really?´´ Of all things.
Jack looks up from the book and scowls at his fellow guardian.
``What is it with you and my taste in literature?´´
``What is it with you and your habit of morbidly reading books with content ironically related to our situation?´´
``Was it necessarily to formulate it quite like that?´´
``Too eloquent for ya?´´
``I doth not pond'r the deep'r myt'ries of prop'r communication n'r doth i presume to und'rstand true v'rbosity!´´
... Silence. Then:
``Hah! Bunny! You should see your face!´´ North shouts from across the room.
Sandy is laughing silently and the Russian takes the opportunity to raise from the ground a little and take a good look at the other's cards, only to be hit playfully by a sand-hand making him loose his balance and fall face first to the floor, nose hitting Sandy's cards, taking them down with him and letting his own go flying.
They spend a few minutes blaming each other for ruining the game and then nonchalantly recollect whatever cards they can get their hands on and continue playing as though nothing had happened.
Tooth glances towards the ruckus and shakes her head exasperatedly.
Turning towards Jack and Bunny she asks: ``Are you guys picking anything up?´´
``Nope´´ Jack says, doing his obligatory every three-minute-look over to the monitors and finding nothing, he sighs: ``Did any of you bring a portable TV?´´
Bunny rolls his eyes and stands up, walking to the coffee machine.
``Hey Frosty, you want more coffee?´´
``Hah, now who's got the caffeine obsession?´´ Bunny glares back and Jack, sensing the potential threat of having to get up from his comfortable position to, beware, get his coffee himself, rolls his eyes. ``I always want coffee and thanks.´´
Comfortable silence descends upon them once again and the next time Jack looks up from his book he does so because of the noise caused by Tooth packing together her tools.
He avoids his eyes, blinking, her Flashlight pointed directly at his face, he massages his forehead with his fingers ``What're you doing?´´
She raises her head at his voice and, upon seeing him shield his eyes from the light, points the flashlight elsewhere.
"Sorry" she mouths.
``What...´´ Jack begins but Tooth presses a finger to her lips and nods her head towards her right.
Jack glances over and makes a conscious effort not to laugh out loud, both North and Sandy fell asleep long ago, cards spread all of the floor.
There are quite the number of them falling out of North's sleeves and there is a mirror laying behind the Russians back, presumably the one Sandy's sand-hand had been holding there to look over his opponent's shoulder at his cards.
``In about three hours, wake one of us to take Bunny's place at the headphones.´´ she whispers, then she reaches over pulling one of the unpacked sleeping bags over to her.
``Night´´ she says quietly.
The last thing she sees before she falls asleep is Jack preparing to drop an ice cube down the back of not-quite-as-alert-as-he-should-be-Bunny's shirt.
It's a miracle none of the three sleepers wake up when two minutes later said Australian starts to furiously whisper promises of a painful and prolonged death by torture to Jack.
A/N: Did you like it? I hope you liked it. Tell me if you did? Plesase? Just generally, tell me what you thought^^
Have a nice day.^^