Notes: Now you will be subjected to misadventures based on some of my adventures in haunted houses with MoonlightTyger. I will probably have more of that later. Also, I've had a headcanon for some time that Radley is a Papa Wolf when his loved ones are hurt, albeit one not likely to tip off the deep end as Kalin is prone to do. I've had some fun conversations about it with XenoEmblemFTW and others and it makes for an interesting contrast. Of course, if something were to happen that would push Radley's tolerance to zilch, bad guys beware!

Chapter Eight

Radley flinched as Billy ran out. His first instinct was to run after him, but when he heard the door slam he paused. Maybe Billy needed a moment alone. Radley needed to run damage control with Marty too.

He looked back to the redhead. Marty was staring up at the ceiling now, looking defeated. ". . . I guess . . . if he's telling the truth, there's no hope of fixing anything now. . . ."

"That's probably what Billy's thinking too," Radley said gently. "If you guys can talk things out when you're both calm, I think you still have a chance."

"You don't really think Billy would hurt you, do you?!" Scotch exclaimed.

"I didn't think it at all until it happened," Marty retorted. "Twice now." He looked away. "I really can't do this right now. If you all think I'm the bad guy, then fine, whatever."

"We know you two are both hurting," Radley said. "Whoever did this to you is cruel." He laid a hand on Marty's shoulder. "I won't pressure you. We'll talk when you're feeling better. Right now you should sleep."

"Yeah, like I can do that," Marty muttered.

"We'll mostly leave to give you more peace and quiet," Radley said. "But one person should stay, I think. It's not safe for anyone to be alone now."

"I could stay, if you're okay with that, Marty," Clint said.

"Yeah." Marty sighed and closed his eyes. "I wish my uncle had never left all this to me. We don't belong here. I want to go home."

"So maybe we should just go home before anything worse happens," Scotch said.

"But he did leave it to me," Marty said. "Whatever's going on here, he thought I could fix it. I have to try. And I want to know why Radley was targeted. I won't be at peace until I know that and bring them down. For all we'd know, they might even follow us back home."

Radley sighed. "That's possible," he admitted. "Well, you rest and then we'll talk about it again." He headed for the door. Everyone except Clint followed him. Kalin pulled the door shut after them.

"You'd better talk to Billy, Radley," Biff said in concern.

"I'm going to," Radley said. Rare anger flashed through his eyes. "Whoever this guy is, he's been doing all the right things to push my buttons. I was already mad because he physically hurt Kalin. Now he impersonated Billy to tear down the friendship that was just starting to mend between him and Marty. The emotional damage he caused could go on for who knows how long!"

". . . Do you think they ever will fix it?" Scotch quavered.

". . . I don't know," Radley admitted. "Well, I'm sure that if we catch the creep and he admits what he did, that will help the healing get going."

"It's kinda sad, though, if it takes seein' the imposter unmasked that does it," Biff said.

"Yeah, it is," Radley said. "Maybe after Marty rests a while, he'll be able to think it over and extend trust to Billy again anyway. Marty's been pretty badly hurt today. What he said seems to be true, about people lying to his face. Maybe it's honest misunderstandings, but it can look like lies too. And . . . well, I have to admit that after Billy already crushed him in the past, being pushed down and chloroformed by what looked like him would be absolutely emotionally devastating, and that's an understatement."

"He took a knife to the heart," Kalin quietly supplied.

"Yeah." Radley looked to the closed door. "Well, I'm going to try to talk to Billy. Why don't you guys try to find out if Virgil and Jimmy are having any luck?"

"Right." Scotch took out his phone to start texting.

Radley knocked on the door. "Billy?"

After a brief silence, he heard Billy respond in a hoarse voice. "Yeah?"

"Do you wanna talk?" Radley asked.

". . . I guess." The bolt slid out and Billy opened the door just enough for Radley to walk through. It was clear he'd been crying.

"Hey, I'm sure Marty will come around," Radley soothed. "He's just really upset right now."

"He's got every right to be upset, and to not trust me," Billy said bitterly, wiping away the tears from his eyes. "I hurt him too much to ever fix it. Now this fake me finished driving in the knife I'd already put there."

Radley shut the door behind him and gathered Billy into a hug. "Marty's really traumatized, and I can't blame him," he said. "But you know he forgave you and was trying to put things back together. He'll remember that, and he'll believe the truth that this time it wasn't you."

"I don't know that," Billy said. "You can't know it either."

"I know Marty's heart," Radley said. "And I know yours." He rubbed Billy's back. "It's going to be okay. You guys have a bond that's too special to be torn apart by something like this, especially when what happened in the past didn't do it."

"I want to believe that," Billy said quietly. "But . . . that look in Marty's eyes. . . . I only saw that once before, when I really did betray him. . . ."

It was hard for Radley to think how to counter that. He sighed sadly. "That imposter really did a number on you guys, alright," he said. "Marty needs a little time to think things out, but it'll be okay. I believe that with all my heart."

"Maybe if we could catch the imposter," Billy mumbled.

"Virgil and Jimmy are on that right now," Radley said. "In fact, I should see if they've checked in yet." He took out his phone.

Billy leaned in to look. "Well?"

Radley sighed. "There's nothing yet." He tapped out a text and waited, but there was no reply.

Billy snorted. "That creep probably ganged up on them." He wiped at his eyes and headed for the door. "Come on, we'd better look for them."

Radley had to smile at how quickly Billy made that decision and changed his focus. "Yeah, we'd better."

xxxx

Most of the others were swiftly looking too, including Scotch and Biff. They ended up wandering into the basement, but down a different path than what would take them to the crypt.

"Virgil!" Scotch called. "Jimmy?" His voice echoed eerily up and down the stone corridor.

Biff shuddered and moved closer to him. "I don't like this place," he said. "Why'd we come down here?!"

"I thought I heard footsteps," Scotch reminded him. "Maybe it was the creep they were chasing."

"Or maybe it was one of the servants," Biff countered. "I think we've been down here long enough. Let's just . . ."

Scotch suddenly shrieked and grabbed the front of Biff's shirt. Biff jumped a mile, turning to see what had scared his daring friend so much.

When he saw the battered and decaying skeleton slumped against the wall, he wished he hadn't.

"What the heck?!" he screamed. He gripped Scotch's wrist and pulled him farther down the hall.

It was soon all too obvious that they had wandered into an ancient dungeon. Several cells came up on either side of the corridor, some stained with what looked like blood and others still with rotting skeletons inside. Scotch was screaming as well as Biff, their sounds of horror only made more frightening by the acoustics that made the cries echo over and over until they faded into the distance.

Biff didn't think he could get any more scared, but when they rounded a corner and saw a body hanging from the ceiling, turning and twisting as it struggled against a noose, he went completely sheet-white.

"What?!" Scotch shrieked. "He's still alive! We've gotta help him!"

The rope suddenly broke and the form crashed right in front of them. The dead eyes of a corpse stared up at them.

"That's been dead for ages!" Scotch wailed. "What just happened?!"

Biff had had more than enough. He hauled Scotch up into his arms like he would a small child and took off running, holding the younger boy to his chest.

Scotch had little choice but to wrap his legs around Biff's waist and clutch his friend's shoulders for the ride. "What are you doing, Biff?!" he yelped. "I can run just fine!"

"I want out of here!" Biff screamed. He tore up some stone steps, trying to ignore the laughing skeletons looking out of cell windows on either side, and burst through an old, wooden door that was weathered from the elements. It slammed shut behind them.

Scotch took several deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He slowly unwound his legs and jumped to the ground, but still gripped Biff's shoulders. ". . . You know, that was an awful lot like a haunted house," he said. "I mean, the kind people pay to go in. Do you think maybe someone's messing with our heads?"

"I don't know!" Biff retorted. "But my head is sure messed with!"

Scotch went over and pulled on the door. "Oh great. Now we're locked out!" He took out his phone. "And oh seriously?! No signal again?!"

Biff's shoulders slumped. "This time I'm the one getting us into a mess," he groaned.

". . . Well, at least it's not always me," Scotch said with a weak laugh. "Come on, Biff, we'll just walk around the castle until we can find another door."

But Biff had stepped back, shining his phone's flashlight on the door and the surrounding area. ". . . The castle isn't here," he announced morosely.

"Huh?!" Scotch spun around. "Come on, it's gotta be here!"

But Biff was right. Apparently the dungeon they had been running through had led away from the castle. The door was surrounded only by a tiny stone structure that housed the stairs going up.

"Um . . ." Scotch rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, so we're on the grounds then. . . ."

A disturbing rustle startled them both. The night breeze was too soft to create such a strong sound. Either it was an animal in the bushes or . . .

". . . Did that tree just move?" Scotch gasped.

Biff paled. The huge evergreen near them had completely shifted by several centimeters. He grabbed Scotch protectively, pressing him up against the locked door.

"We're in the forest!" he wailed. "We're gonna die out here by killer trees!"

"Biff, calm down!" Scotch cried, but he was afraid now too. "The trees won't hurt us! We didn't do anything to them! They didn't hurt Marty's aunt!"

But when more trees shifted, closing in on the tiny structure and the two terrified boys, it was harder to keep track of that logic. Biff sobbed, throwing himself in front of Scotch and trembling as he waited for the end.

xxxx

Kalin was frustrated. Of course it would take hours to thoroughly search even one floor in the castle, but after two hours and no sign of Virgil and Jimmy, he was more than a little concerned. And now Scotch and Biff had gone off the radar again too. He threw his hands in the air as he turned to face Radley.

"Everyone's disappearing!" he exclaimed. "You'd better make sure Marty's still safe."

Radley quickly tapped out a text to Clint and soon got the reply that all was well. "He and Clint are okay," he frowned.

"Scotch and Biff aren't answering now," Kalin said with a scowl. "Do you know where they were going to look?"

"I think I saw them heading for the basement," Billy said, "but in the opposite direction of the crypt."

". . . Okay. What was it Jarvis said was in the other direction?" Radley mused.

"The dungeon," Kalin intoned. "No one wanted to look there on the tour."

"And he's been sleeping, so we haven't been able to ask him about those diaries," Radley said in frustration. He looked back up the hall. "You know, I think I'll check in with him again now. We need to know if there's anything in those diaries that might help us."

Kalin and Billy followed him along the corridor until they came to Jarvis's room. Radley quietly knocked.

"Come in," Jarvis mumbled.

Relieved, Radley pushed the door open and stepped inside. "How are you feeling?"

"I could be better, Sir," Jarvis said. He was still laying in the bed and did indeed look as though he'd seen better days. The harsh knock on the head was clearly still paining him.

"There's a lot of that going around," Radley said. "We're still looking for the creep who did this. He's hurting more people and he ran off with one of Marty's uncle's diaries. What exactly is in these diaries? Who would benefit from them?"

"I haven't read them," Jarvis said. "But I do know Master John was worried. He always said he knew they were on to him."

"Who's that?" Radley frowned.

"I always assumed he meant people like Martha and Jonathan Keith," Jarvis said. "We all knew they wanted the castle. Although to be honest, Master John did say that it wasn't those we most suspected whom he most feared. I don't know what he meant by that."

"Why didn't he ever tell you?" Kalin grunted. "How did he expect to be safe if he wouldn't confide in anyone?"

"I don't know," Jarvis said. "I wonder if he suspected me or some of the other servants. I can't fathom why he would, though."

"Greed doesn't only affect those at the top of the social food chain," Radley mused. "There's no reason why some of the servants couldn't want the castle too."

"But they wouldn't be able to get it unless there aren't any living heirs to inherit," Jarvis said.

"And so far, the only person they've really tried to kill . . . is you, Radley," Billy exclaimed. "Why?!"

Radley shook his head. "I have no idea. It really worries me, though. A lot of people could be in danger. Just because they've only tried to kill me so far doesn't mean they won't try to kill the Keiths. Maybe that creep who was coming out of the coffin planned to kill Marty if he hadn't ran away."

"The fake me just chloroformed him, though," Billy said. "Why not kill him then?"

"Maybe there's more than one creep," Radley said. One was bad enough, but he couldn't deny it seemed like multiple M.O.s were happening. One definitely seemed to want to kill, but the other seemed to prefer only temporarily incapacitating people.

His phone rang and he took it out to answer it. But before he could say anything, Scotch's terrified voice crackled over the receiver. "Radley!"

"Scotch, what is it?!" Radley exclaimed. "Where are you and Biff?!"

". . . Forest! . . . The trees . . . help! . . ." The call broke up worse and died.

"Scotch! Scotch?!" Radley gripped the phone as he yelled into it. When it was clear it was no use, he tried to redial the number. Nothing happened. He looked out the window at the darkened trees in the distance. "What would they be doing in the forest?!" he said in frustration. "They knew the plan was to go tomorrow!"

". . . If you'll forgive me, Sir, where were they before this?" Jarvis asked.

"I don't know!" Radley shot back. "Billy thought they were in the basement."

"There is a door leading into the forest from the dungeon," Jarvis said. "The dungeon is deep and goes away from the castle."

"Oh no," Radley groaned. Immediately he turned and ran for the door. "Come on! We have to get there now!"

Kalin lingered. "If the . . . trees actually are acting up, what can we do to stop them?" he asked. He wasn't sure he had ever asked a more outlandish question.

"I'm sure I don't know," Jarvis said. "No one has ever really found a solution."

"Fire, maybe," Radley said darkly. "Threatening it, I mean. We wouldn't really set the forest on fire."

"Any hint of fire makes them angrier," Jarvis said.

"Then I guess we'll just have to go and see if they'll let us take Scotch and Biff out of there," Billy said.

Not satisfied, Radley turned away and stormed down the hall. "Come on."

Kalin and Billy hurried to keep up. "What about the others?" Kalin asked.

"Well, so far we have four guys missing, Marty hurt, and Clint watching him," Radley said. "Unless we can find Virgil and Jimmy, it looks like it's just the three of us."

Billy didn't seem surprised by Radley's angrily protective attitude. Kalin wasn't either, he supposed, having seen that from him now and then in the past, and yet somehow it was jarring to see Radley so upset when normally he was easy-going and gentle. Any time Radley got furious like this because of being protective of others, he still always stayed in control. Perhaps that was what Kalin found the most surprising, given that he himself was prone to tipping off the deep end if he became a Papa Wolf.

Radley led them to the stairs and then also to the flight leading into the basement. He turned away from the route leading to the crypt and guided them into the dungeon.

". . . Um, gee," Billy said when they started seeing the old skeletons. "Why would these things be left around through the centuries?"

"It's no wonder the place would be haunted," Kalin grunted.

They rounded a corner and encountered the hanged man dangling from the ceiling. Radley tensed, fear flickering in his eyes. What if that was Biff or Scotch?

When the body started to kick, Billy screamed, gripping Kalin's shoulder. Radley started to look desperately for a way to cut the person down. But before he could find one, it crashed down in front of them.

"A skeleton?!" Billy snorted in disgust.

Radley's eyes darkened. He dropped down beside it, searching until he found a panel in the back. "It's an animatronic," he announced. "It looks professional, like what you'd see in a haunted house." He straightened, still angry. "Someone was going to a lot of trouble to scare people."

Billy slowly started to relax. "Biff would have completely lost his mind," he agreed. "I think even Scotch might have got scared."

Radley walked forward until he found the other stairs and the laughing skeletons. "They were being driven up to this door," he said. "It must be the one leading into the forest."

"But why?!" Billy exclaimed. "Were they controlling the trees too . . . or did they just want to send those poor guys out hoping the trees would attack?"

"Either way, they were being carefully manipulated," Kalin spoke up.

Radley ran up the stairs, ignoring the cackling skeletons, and pulled open the heavy door. Biff and Scotch tumbled onto the landing, shaking violently. Outside, the trees were clustered around the door. In the dark, it was impossible to tell if they were somehow also animatronic.

"These guys weren't doing anything to you," Radley said coolly. "Let them be."

The trees just stood there, making no move to attack. Radley shut and bolted the door and turned his attention to his trembling friends.

"Radley!" Scotch stumbled up and launched himself at his friend and leader, hugging him close. "I thought we were done for! Biff was ready to sacrifice himself to save me. . . ." He choked and looked away.

Radley gently held him and looked to Biff, who was curled in a ball and still violently shaking. "Biff! Biff, hey, it's alright. You're safe now," Radley tried to tell him.

Kalin knelt down and laid a hand on Biff's shoulder. He jerked, slowly looking up at his friends. "This place was awful," he moaned. "It was worse out there, but . . . the skeletons. . . ." He shut his eyes tightly.

Radley reached over to one of the windows and switched the thing off. The sound of the demonic laughter was promptly reduced. "They're fake, Biff," he said. "I don't know what the deal is outside, but in here, someone was deliberately trying to scare you guys."

"I knew it!" Scotch exclaimed. "It was too pat!"

Biff slowly uncurled himself. "Fake?" he said doubtfully.

Radley pulled the skeleton out of the window and showed the battery box. "Yeah."

Biff relaxed exponentially. "So now what?"

"Now we find Virgil and Jimmy," Radley said. "And after that . . . we get whatever diaries haven't been swiped and find out what's so important about them."

"Sounds like a plan!" Scotch chirped.

"Yeah." Radley sighed. "I just hope those two are alright. Around here, it's hard to say what's going to happen next. But every time something happens, I don't like it."

"Who does?!" Biff retorted.

"The bad guy," Scotch said, and no one could disagree.