Notes: It was Amber2002161's idea for me to have Kalin have some Psychic powers, but I take it in a much different direction for my verse than she does in hers. And Scotch's group's misadventure is inspired by more of the haunted house antics MoonlightTyger and I experienced.

Chapter Eleven

It didn't take long to round up the rest of the Bunch and tell them what was happening too. Albeit also confused and not sure what to think, they were all willing to follow Radley and help rescue Jarvis.

"Does anybody know you faked your death, though?" Scotch asked. "I mean, I guess whoever made the wax thing would have to know, but what about Jarvis or any of the other servants?"

"None of them know," John replied. "It had to be that way for their safety. I was hoping that if these people didn't give up, I'd be able to quietly bring them down before the will finished going through probate and Marty inherited. But as we all see, that didn't happen."

"So what was the deal with the stolen projectors?" Radley frowned. "Was it just a coincidence that you and Jarvis were around when they were swiped?"

"It was our pilot who took them," John said. "He was part of the whole mess. We didn't find out about it until much later. Or I should say, I found out about it. I suppose Jarvis knows now, though."

"Won't you, like, get in trouble with the law for playing dead and even putting everyone to the trouble of working out your will?" Virgil said.

"I hope not," John said. "I've been working with some people who have been trying to bring these loonies down. They investigate supernatural problems and crimes committed with the use of magic."

"Really." Radley quirked an eyebrow. "Well, in this day and age, I guess even the law is finally acknowledging that's necessary."

"It's just a new organization," John said. "They've had a few successes, a couple of them major. They worked on helping uncover what happened to some poor soul when he was murdered using magic. But it's all very hush-hush still. It's organized under the direction of Yugi Muto."

"Yugi?!" Kalin and Radley exchanged a shocked look.

"Yes, the original King of Games," John said. "If you're into all that dueling thing. I know all of you are."

"To some extent, yes," Kalin said. "And we personally know Yugi. He hasn't mentioned any of this to us, though."

"He's required to keep it quiet," John said. "If it becomes more of a mainstream thing, maybe they'll go more public with it."

"So why can't these guys help you now?" Virgil grunted.

"I've contacted them and they're on their way," John said, "but something needs to be done to save Jarvis now! It might be too late by the time they can get here."

"Alright," Radley said. "We get that."

Marty nodded. "We're all in this."

"Thank you, all of you." John stopped walking in front of the crypt. "Well, here we are, gentlemen."

"Okay." Radley looked to the others. "So the plan is that we'll all go down together and then spread out looking for Jarvis. Be careful of the bad guys. Take them down quietly if you can, but don't go deliberately looking for trouble and set them off. Once we get Jarvis away from them, we'll figure out how to hold them here until back-up comes."

"Right," Billy said.

The area under the crypt was still just as eerie, or perhaps even moreso since they knew someone was being held against their will. The lights were on, but only very dimly, and it created grotesque shadows on the walls and floor. But even dim, it revealed they were there, forcing them to try to stick to the shadows as they moved.

It was Kalin who saw Jarvis, helplessly tied up on the floor while several men stood over him. Some were sneering, while others were stone-faced.

"You know you'll have to tell us sometime," one said. "If you won't cooperate now, we'll throw you to the trees, we will."

"You can't risk actually doing anything that could kill me," Jarvis pointed out. "Not if you truly believe I know such an outlandish thing!"

"And you definitely do know it, old man," a second grinned. This one was clearly an American. "Your master trusted you with everything. He had to have given his formula to you!"

"I know I can't make you understand, but there is no formula!" Jarvis cried in despair. "There isn't any way to take the dyne out of the castle and not demolish the castle in the process!"

"We know there is," a third man spoke up. This one sounded Cockney. "So why don't you give it up already and let us in on it? We'll let you live if you do."

Kalin stepped forward out of the shadows. This had gone far enough.

Everyone jerked and looked up at the sound of his shoes on the stone tiles. "What are you doing here?" the first man scowled.

"He says there isn't a formula," Kalin said coolly. "Let him go or you'll have to contend with me."

"You're no contender," the Cockney snorted.

"Oh?" Kalin allowed the dark energy from his Psychic powers to form an aura around his being that pulsated with his feelings.

The Cockney stumbled back. "What's that?!" he gasped.

"Just some stupid trick, the same as what we were doing," the American retorted.

The energy morphed into a field that shot out like a horizontal ring and knocked them all down.

"Are you sure?" Kalin pulled Jarvis to his feet and undid the ropes. "Let's go."

Jarvis stumbled, but gripped Kalin as tightly as he could. "Of course, Sir," he said. "But if I might ask, how did you do that?"

Kalin gave him a sideways glance. "Maybe I'll tell you sometime." With that he pulled Jarvis with him and ran.

Before the criminals could follow, Scotch, Biff, and Clint dropped down in their midst. "Hi," Clint sneered, and promptly kicked out at one who tried to rise.

"You can't catch us!" Scotch crowed. He turned and ran for the passageway leading to the church.

The crooks scowled. "Why would we care about you people?" But when they looked in the direction Kalin and Jarvis had gone, no one was there.

"You'll have to, if you want to nab anybody!" Scotch said.

Swearing in frustration, the criminals gave chase.

Biff ran up alongside Scotch. "Are you sure this was a good idea?!" he exclaimed.

"No, but at least we're being the distraction we were supposed to be," Scotch said.

"We won't get caught," Clint insisted. "I'll make sure of that."

They ran and ran until they burst through the door of the church. But then, instead of continuing to run, they could only stumble to a horrified and disbelieving halt. Transparent people were sitting in some of the pews. In others, beings that looked like sheet-covered ghosts were rocking back and forth.

Biff screamed, the sound echoing off all the walls. Scotch just stared.

Clint wasn't impressed. "Come on, guys, it's just holograms again," he protested.

"I don't see a projector," Scotch said.

Biff sobbed. "We've gotta get out of here!"

The door slammed shut and they jumped.

"They're locking us in!" Scotch said in disbelief.

"Let's try the other door!" Clint ran past the ghostly pews and to the front door. But when he pulled and pushed on it, it also wouldn't budge.

"Now what do we do?!" Biff wailed.

"Call for help . . . again?" Scotch groaned.

"Anything to get out of here!" Biff said.

Scotch pulled out his phone, but hesitated. "We don't want Kalin to end up coming back to rescue us, though," he said, "and the other guys probably need to stay free to cover him if they need to."

Biff looked ready to cry, but he knew Scotch was right. "Then we're doomed," he moaned.

"We're not licked yet!" Clint insisted. "There has to be another way out of here! And if there's not, well, these ghosts aren't bothering us. Maybe they'll leave us alone if we leave them alone."

"I'm not gonna bother them!" Biff cried.

Scotch patted him on the shoulder. "Yeah, we'll leave them alone. If we haven't got out of here by the time Jarvis is safe, someone will come looking for us. But we'll be looking! We don't want to have to be rescued every time something goes wrong."

"I just wonder where the preacher is," Clint said.

"Maybe it's better we don't know," Scotch remarked.

xxxx

In the main passageway, as Kalin pulled Jarvis along and Radley joined them, Virgil led Jimmy, Marty, and Billy as back-up while they all ran. So far no one else had come out, but none of them knew what to make of that.

"Come on, is there really no one else mixed up in this mess except the boss guy?" Virgil frowned.

"That would be a good thing, wouldn't it?" Jimmy said.

"I just thought it would be a bigger deal," Virgil said. "They've been doing so much crazy stuff to us."

"If there's one thing we should have learned, it's that it only takes one or two people to really do something hurtful," Marty said.

And it didn't take long for them to learn that lesson again. As they all ran, trying to keep Kalin, Radley, and Jarvis in view, a trapdoor opened underneath their feet and swallowed all four of them. With screams of shock and terror, they slid down a long slide before coming out in a heap in a room that was all at once filled with evil.

Jimmy shivered. "Does anyone else feel that?" he quavered.

"It'd be impossible not to feel it," Virgil snorted. "What's the deal? Where did we land?"

Old torches on the walls all lit up at once, revealing a bloodstained room filled with all manner of deadly devices. Most of them were unknown to the group, but Billy saw one or two he recognized.

". . . That's a rack," he said in horror. "We're in a torture chamber!"

". . . Oh, you've gotta be kidding," Virgil snorted.

The quartet shakily got up. It was all too obvious that Billy wasn't kidding in the least. And as they stood there and stared, the medieval machines started up apparently by themselves, creaking and groaning with the horrible sounds echoing off the walls. When the mechanical sounds mixed with what sounded like human screams of agony, the friends bunched together in alarm.

"If we're logical, we can acknowledge that this must be more animatronics set up to scare us," Marty said.

"The dungeon didn't feel evil like this when we went through it," Billy said.

"So let's turn around and find the way out of here!" Virgil said. "That slide can't be the only route! Somebody's going to a lot of trouble to separate us, and it can't be for any good reason."

"You think it's deliberate?!" Jimmy exclaimed.

"Well, what else?" Virgil said. "The question is why?! They can't be that determined to get Jarvis back!"

"They could be," Billy said. "But even if that isn't their reason, it must be something bad."

Trying to push past their feelings of distress, they spread out and felt across the walls for other possible passages. When Virgil pressed and a panel swung inward, he stared into the tunnel in relief. Anything had to be better than where they were.

"I've got it! Let's go!" he called.

"Good," Billy exclaimed.

He, Marty, and Jimmy swiftly ran over to him and they vanished into the world beyond the wall.

xxxx

Kalin didn't stop running until he and Radley got Jarvis upstairs and into the back hall. Then they slowed to a stop, Jarvis doubling over as he breathed heavily.

"Are you okay?" Radley asked.

"Yes, thank you." Jarvis straightened.

"Did you know any of those people? Or what they wanted?" Kalin asked. He turned, pushing the door to the basement shut and bolting it. The last thing they wanted was to be immediately caught again.

"I know what they wanted, but I don't know who they are," Jarvis said.

"Well, they'll probably be coming after us soon," Radley said. "We need to get out of here and to someplace safe. Do you know which rooms don't have secret passages?"

"Yours doesn't," Jarvis said.

Kalin nodded. "Then come on." He grabbed for Jarvis's wrist.

A footfall at the top of the stairs brought their attention up. Marty's uncle Jonathan was standing there, gripping the stone banister. "Whatever is going on?" he demanded.

"It's pretty convoluted and we don't have time to explain," Radley said. "But Jarvis was just kidnapped by some unctuous creeps and we're trying to get him out of here."

Mr. Keith stiffened. "Well, come on then," he said.

But Jarvis didn't move. "I don't really want to go with you, Sir," he said. "You might be mixed up in this whole mess yourself. They're looking for a formula to take the dyne out of the castle, and I certainly know you would like that yourself."

Mr. Keith glowered in frustration. "You honestly think that just because I might like that, I would stoop to abduction?!"

"I don't know," Jarvis said, "but you're not well-trusted around here."

"Hey, wait a minute," Radley frowned. "In all the commotion I didn't think about it, but what happened to our . . . other friend?" He looked knowingly to Kalin, who stiffened.

"I haven't seen him," Kalin realized.

"Oh, seen who?!" Mr. Keith grumped.

"The person who told us Jarvis needed help," Kalin said. "We separated downstairs. Maybe he went with one of the other groups." He took out his phone and texted the Bunch. He frowned at the replies.

"What is it?" Radley asked.

"Scotch, Biff, and Clint are trapped in the old church with ghosts and the others just escaped the torture chamber," Kalin reported. "None of them have seen . . . that person."

Radley threw his hands in the air. "Maybe we really were had," he said in disgust. "The whole thing sounded crazy, but I was willing to believe it at least long enough to save Jarvis."

"For Heaven's sake, who?!" Mr. Keith demanded.

Radley sighed and exchanged a look with Kalin. ". . . John Keith," he admitted.

Jarvis went sheet-white.

Mr. Keith stared at him, his mouth working but with nothing coming out. ". . . What kind of cruel joke is that?!" he finally burst out.

"He claimed he faked his death because of the people who were after him," Radley said. "We checked him out and saw he wasn't wearing a mask or make-up."

"And he was solid, so he wasn't a ghost," Kalin said.

"So unless shape-shifting is real, or somebody found a ringer to fool us, it was him," Radley said. "Only now he's gone. And if he really is on the level, maybe the bad guys got him now!"

"He was definitely dead!" Mr. Keith snapped. "I saw him in the coffin myself!"

"He claimed it was a wax dummy," Radley said. "Although . . ." He paused, studying Mr. Keith with a frown. "You know, if you didn't have a mustache, and you did your hair different, you might look like him enough to fool us. What are you doing here anyway? And where's your wife?"

"She's here too," Mr. Keith insisted. "We both came to check on all of you! We were worried. I wasn't expecting to be accused of all manner of outlandish things!"

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry," Radley sighed. "Things haven't been good here, we're all on edge, and honestly, we don't know who to trust. But we have to trust someone, so here's what we're going to do. Jarvis, you go with Mr. Keith and find some of the servants. Find a room without a secret passage and stay there! Kalin and I will go back downstairs and try to find . . . whoever that was we were talking to."

"Right," Mr. Keith said with a curt nod. "Come along, Jarvis."

Jarvis still looked wary, but he was so shaken by Kalin and Radley's story that he didn't protest. He stumbled up the stairs to Mr. Keith and they headed down the hall.

Radley turned back to the bolted door once they were out of sight. "Alright, let's go down there," he said.

Kalin was staring back up the stairs. "Don't you think we got out of there with Jarvis too easily?" he said. "The Bunch was all waylaid, but we weren't stopped. Maybe we were too quick for them, or maybe we just didn't run over a trapdoor, but on the other hand . . ."

"No, you're right, that is weird," Radley frowned. "What do you think it means? Was it all a set-up? And if it was, was Jarvis in on it or was he really an innocent victim?"

A cry of pain and surprise from upstairs sent both of them running.

"That was Mr. Keith!" Radley cried.

"I just realized—we didn't check Jarvis to make sure he wasn't an imposter," Kalin snarled.

". . . You're right," Radley gasped. "Maybe we didn't even get the real one! But that would mean . . ."

"Yes, gentlemen."

They both jerked to attention as Jarvis reappeared, sneering at them both. He reached across the balcony railing, taking the heavy sword off the wall. Then he turned back, pointing at it them as he slowly advanced. "It was a set-up, you're right. I'm not the real Jarvis. We wanted to isolate the two of you and take you out."

"To break down the morale of the Bunch?" Kalin growled.

"To leave them directionless," Jarvis said. "We researched all of you. We know how they fell apart when you were defeated and taken prisoner in the States." He looked to Radley.

"They've grown a lot since then," Radley shot back. "They're all getting out of the traps you set on their own. They'll probably be here soon."

"Then let's give them a show, shall we?!" Jarvis lunged with the sword and Radley jumped back, grabbing a small table to hold up as a shield.

Kalin looked at Jarvis, the rage beginning to roll off of him in waves. "You're not going to harm him," he vowed.

"I'll get rid of both of you if I'm lucky," Jarvis replied. "And you won't be able to activate those Psychic powers of yours or whatever they are. I'm wearing an amulet that protects against that." He gestured at a purple stone hanging around his neck. "My comrades slipped it to me right before you attacked them."

Kalin's eyes widened. "What?!" He concentrated, trying to will the dark energy to burst forth from his being. But Jarvis was right; no amount of struggling was bringing them forth, and Kalin had to focus on the physical battle that was happening right now. He grabbed a chair and lobbed it at the man. Jarvis dodged, not wanting to damage the antique chair with the sword.

Radley didn't have the same inhibition. Even though he didn't like destroying anything that could make money, he liked the thought of them dying even less. He threw the table, where it glanced off of Jarvis's head and knocked him down with a grunt.

Kalin ran forward. If they could just get the sword away from him, they could easily take him down in a physical fight.

But Jarvis recovered too quickly. He lunged, aiming the sword right at Kalin's abdomen. Kalin tensed, bracing himself in a split-second for the blow.

"NO!"

It all seemed to happen in the space of an instant. Radley screamed. Kalin felt himself being grabbed by his shoulders as he and Radley tumbled to the floor. The sword cut his coat and his shirt as he fell. He was that close.

Jarvis got up, enraged, his visage twisted in a sickening, sadistic grimace. "Both of you, die!" he roared, plunging the sword downward at Radley's back. His intention was clear—he planned to spear them both while they were close enough that the sword would go through them both.

There was no chance for escape this time. All Radley could do was rise up, gasping as the sword went through his body and then had nowhere else to go. He knelt there, breathing heavily. He had stopped Kalin from being impaled too, but saving himself had been impossible.

Kalin leaped up, heart pounding, staring at his friend in disbelieving horror. "Radley!?" It was a nightmare. It couldn't be real. Maybe the fairy was sending him another vision of what might happen. Maybe it hadn't happened yet. . . .

But it had.

Radley grabbed the sword with both shaking, gloved hands as he gave a choked gasp. "Oh . . . God . . ." He looked to Kalin in devastated anguish and pain. This was the vision the fairy had shown Kalin. Now it was coming true. Radley had desperately wanted to avoid that, but in the end there hadn't been a choice. Now he could barely speak. "Kalin . . . I . . . I'm so sorry. . . ." He fell forward, his eyes closing as he let go of the sword. It remained buried in him.

Kalin caught him, trembling, looking to the fake Jarvis with nothing but rage and heartbreak in his eyes. "You did this!" he roared as he got to his feet. "You killed him!" The dark energy burst from him as a wide ring, far more powerful than what he had used in the basement. In an instant it shattered the amulet around Jarvis's neck and sent him across the hall to crash hard into the stone wall. He fell limply to the floor in a heap.

His strength spent from the sudden, ferocious burst, Kalin fell as well, tumbling down the stairs to crash at the bottom with Radley's body in his arms.