Chapter 4: Magically Managed
Noah's eyes become wider and his heart thumps against his chest as the creepy Keelbolt house comes into view. Even if Adriana said that the Ghostbusters came and got rid of all the ghosts, it didn't make the place any less scary, especially to a little kid. As described before, the entire structure leaned to the left, all the windows were dark and dusty, some of the shutters were crooked or missing and the entire front lawn was overgrown with weeds. He swallows and tries to avoid looking up, thinking the house was looking at him.
"I'm surprised your parents bought this place," Carly Beth says, as she and Sabrina tow their bikes alongside Adi.
"Why?"
"The place has been empty for years and it honestly seemed like they were going to knock it down and build something else."
"My mom has a thing for older houses. She says they have more 'character' and she loves filling them with antique furniture and one of our house actually became a tourist attraction."
"Wow. What does your mom do for a living?" Sabrina asks.
"She's pretty much a historian, and basically a tour guide for whatever museum will have her. My dad is an army sergeant so we move around a lot, meaning my mom can't teach at a university or do research like a lot of professors."
"Your Mom's a professor?" Sabrina gasps.
"Yes, she is, Dr. Andrea Walton, specialization in history. She could literally do archeological digs if she wanted to, but with us moving around, we make the most of what we're given."
"Must be hard to move all the time," Carly Beth adds.
"You have no idea," Adi sighs.
They've reached the driveway of the house and Adriana turns around and unties the skateboard from Noah's bike. Carly Beth goes over and holds her brother's hand, helping him as he limps towards the door. The older sister can sense his fear.
"It's okay Noah, there's nothing to be afraid of."
"But it looks so scary."
"Appearances can be deceiving. Remember what Mom says about never judging a book by its cover?"
He nods.
"It's the same for houses. Just because something is old, doesn't make it scary."
Adi pauses at the door on the front porch and turns to the group. "Before we go in, please don't mention that you think the place is haunted?"
"How come?" Sabrina asks
"I have a four-year-old sister who's afraid of everything. If you mention that there might be ghosts in the house, she'll be sleeping in a tent outside for the rest of her life."
"That bad huh?" Carly Beth asks. She could relate to this mentality. For a long time, she was scared of many things and unfortunately, a lot of people took advantage of that, especially Steve and Chuck. She hated being afraid of everything, but since her experiences three Halloweens ago, she'd become braver and knew that there was real evil out there and stupid campfire stories were nothing to be afraid of.
"You have no idea," Adi rolls her eyes before opening the door.
"Mom I'm home!" she calls into the place.
The three other kids cautiously follow her inside. The place looked even older on the inside and was also crammed full of boxes of the family's things. There was a large black chandelier hanging above them in the foyer, it had no candles in it, but there were spider webs and thick layers of dust on the branches. Speaking of spider webs, it hung from the high ceiling like a big black spider. To their left was the living room, filled with old furniture covered in white sheets that surrounded a fancy looking fireplace made out of thick gray stones. On their right was a staircase leading up to the second floor. There was very old looking wallpaper on the wall beside the stairs and some spots were more faded than others revealing shapes where picture frames likely hung. At the end of the foyer was a door, leading into another part of the house.
"I never thought it was so big," Carly Beth says to herself in amazement. The ceiling above them was vaulted and echoed their footsteps back to them as they walked along the floorboards.
The door opposite the entrance to the house opens, revealing a woman that Noah recognized from this morning. They all immediately assume that this is Adi's mom. The two looked a lot alike with long dark hair, but her eyes were a dark brown compared to Adi's green ones, and obviously much taller. She is cleaning what looks like an antique crystal bowl in her arms.
She smiles when she sees her daughter but is also surprised at the company they have. She never expected her daughter to make friends so quickly.
"Hi, honey how was your day?"
"Okay," the preteen shrugs.
"Just okay? You seem to have made some friends."
Adi looks at her feet and the two other girls look away shyly, unsure if they can be called friends since they just learned each other's names.
"They're not really my friends, the boy and I kind of collided on the schoolyard and he's too hurt to ride home."
"Adriana Juneau Walton, I told you to be careful on that skateboard. It's a miracle that you haven't gotten a concussion on that thing yet," her mother scolds her.
The girl just rolls her eyes and tries not to blush at the fact that her mother used her full name in front of total strangers. "Where's the medical stuff?"
"Don't you roll your eyes at me young lady, and it's in the box at the top of the stairs."
Adi hurries upstairs to find what she needs to dress Noah's wounds, leaving the three kids with the mother. She sees the blood, dirt, rocks, and grass stains on Noah's knees and elbows, and she knows what to do.
She disappears back into the kitchen to put the crystal bowl away and comes back with a stool and a cloth soaked in warm water.
"Come and sit here… uh… sorry I don't know your names."
"I'm Carly Beth, this is my brother Noah, and this is my best friend Sabrina."
"It's wonderful to meet all of you, but let's have Noah sit down so I can clean you up."
The boy cringes and shrinks against his sister, afraid that it was going to sting. Mrs. Walton is confused by his reaction, fortunately, the boy's sister explains.
"He thinks that the cloth is going to sting. He hates the stinging stuff for cuts."
"Oh honey, don't worry about that," the woman says with a smile. "This is just warm water on a soft cloth. I just want to clean the dirt and grass off you and I promise it won't hurt."
Noah still hesitates, gazing at the stranger with his timid blue eyes.
"How about we sing a song while we do it?" she suggests, doing what she does for her youngest daughter to distract her. "What's your favourite song?"
Noah shrugs and doesn't respond, even with Carly Beth nudging him to sit on the stool.
Mrs. Walton takes the hint. "How about I teach you a song that I loved growing up and my youngest daughter loves it too? Did you know that it's magical?"
While Carly Beth and Sabrina want to snort at the idea, Noah tilts his head slightly but looks very curious. Plus, both girls had encountered magic before, in the form of a rubber mask.
"What makes it magic?" Noah asks.
"You'll see," The woman smiles. "Okay, I'll teach you the song and it goes like this…"
"I hear the train a-comin'
I hear it close at hand
I hear those car wheels rumblin'
And rollin' through the land
Get on board, little children
Get on board, little children
Get on board, little children
There's room for many-a-more
I hear the train a-coming
She's coming round the curve
She's loosened all her steam and brakes
Straining every nerve"
As she sings the song, she makes train noises and smiles the entire time. Once they go through the song once, she gently takes Noah's hand and helps onto the stool, asking him to make the train noises this time. He slowly starts to smile and nod along with the song, making the noise of the train as she sings.
Carly Beth and Sabrina are a little too self-conscious to sing along but smile and tap their feet. As they sing, Mrs. Walton gently begins cleaning up Noah's legs and arms, getting rid of any blood and dirt.
They continue to sing even as Adi comes down with the solution and band-aids. She knows what her mother is doing, it's something she did for her every time she fell off her skateboard. She also does it for Ginny, every time she scrapes her knee on the sidewalk or bumps her head. Her father even told her that Mrs. Walton did the same song routine for Michael way back in the day, before he turned into a jerk. Adi knows the lyrics by heart and sings along, while her mother keeps Noah's attention, she applies the "stingy stuff" as gently as she can and then puts the band-aids on. She was sort of an expert at dealing with wounds considering her skateboarding career. While Noah does wince one time, the song keeps him calm through everything.
When he's all fixed up, they stop and he smiles.
"I didn't feel anything at all!" he says with excitement.
"That's the magic of the song," Mrs. Walton says with a wink.
"Thank you so much, Mrs. Walton," Carly Beth says politely.
"You're very welcome, I'm glad we could help."
"Feeling better Noah?" Adi asks.
He nods.
Just then, a girl with curly blonde hair races into the room and wraps her arms around her mother's legs. Her ringlets bounce like springs as she peers out at the three strangers with her sisters. She has very big brown eyes like her mother and many freckles on her cheeks.
"Mommy?" she says in a quiet voice. "Who are they?"
"This is Carly Beth, Sabrina, and Noah. Noah had a big booboo on his knees so we sang the magic song to help him feel better."
"My favourite song!" the little girl says, smiling widely. She opens her mouth and begins to sing.
"It is a magical song," Carly Beth says.
"This is my sister Virginia, but we call her Ginny for short," Adi says introducing her sister to the kids from school.
Just then, the front door opens and then slams shut. Everyone turns to see a lanky and very tall teenager with long blond hair pulled back into a crude ponytail, growing whiskers on his chin, and hazel looking eyes standing in the front hall. He has headphones in his ears, a ball cap turned backwards on his head, a logo t-shirt, and camouflage cargo shorts that are too big for his hips and hang down lower than anyone would like to.
"What's with the party?" he asks, dropping his book bag and helmet onto the floor.
"These are some of Adi's new friends," Mrs. Walton says.
Again, the three older girls cringe and look away as again they technically just met.
"Wow, Sistwerp made friends already? And they actually look normal."
"Go eat worms, Mike!" Adriana shouts back, mortified of her brother's annoying nickname being said in front of her peers.
"Yeah Eat worms!" Ginny parrots back.
"That's enough both of you!" the mother snaps. She did not need this negative behaviour to be shown in front of guests and for her youngest daughter to be exposed to the endless teasing of her older children. "Michael leave your sister alone and pick up your things. I don't need more things to clean up."
"Did the movers put the bed in the basement?" Mike asks, ignoring his mother's request.
"Yes, they did and you can start moving your things down there."
"It's scary down there," Ginny whimpers.
Mike walks over and kneels to his sister's level.
"That's why you need to stay out of the basement VinGin," he says. "Who knows what's down there… maybe a few gremlins that eat your toes."
A fearful look crosses Ginny's face, she gasps and clings to her mother tighter than before, trying to hide in her mother's pant legs. Noah feels a wave of fear as well but does his best to hide it.
"Michael Nevada Walton, how many times do I have to tell you…"
Adriana knows their mother is going to chew her brother out and lecture him about scaring Ginny. She signals to the group to head for the door and they gladly follow.
Once outside, Adi shuts the door and exhales loudly in annoyance and relief.
"Sorry about that," she says.
"That's your brother huh?" Sabrina asks.
"Unfortunately, he's such a pain in the neck and he always loves scaring Ginny. Be glad your brother is younger Carly."
The older sister nods and looks at Noah, she can tell he's relieved to be out of there, but the mentioning of gremlins has him worried.
"Don't worry about what he said kid," Adi says. "My brother is full of baloney. One of these days he's going to get the scare of his life and then he'll know what it's like…"
"One day…" Carly Beth nods, remembering how she wanted to make others pay for scaring her.
"Thanks so much for your help," Sabrina says.
"Yeah, thank you." Carly Beth nods.
"Thank you," Noah says.
"Any time guys. Again kid I'm so sorry for the crash, but I guess it worked out, you learned a magical song."
A smile returns to the boy's face and he nods. He then goes to the driveway to retrieve his bike, Sabrina and Carly Beth are starting to follow.
"Take it easy on the bike," Adi adds. "I guess I'll see you guys in school."
"Yeah, thanks again Adi," Sabrina calls as they prepare to head home.
"And watch out for ghosts!" Carly Beth smirks before the trio ride away.
A/N: Credit to Cedarmont Kids for the lyrics. There's a sort of theme with Adi's family and I'm wondering if you know what it is. I also referenced another Goosebumps book in here. Please follow and review. Special thanks to Knight-Bishop who has been a fan since the beginning and has endless patience.