A few moments later, Courage and Mr Worth were in the front yard of the
house that Courage had seen on the news. At first the house seemed empty
but then Courage noticed a faint light moving around inside one of the
rooms on the lower floor. He pointed the light out to Mr. Worth.
"I wonder who is in the house at this hour?" Mr. Worth led the way to one of the windows that had been broken during the fire. "You will have to go into the house first, Courage. Once you are in the house, go to the front door and open it. You will have to invite me in before I can come into the house."
Courage climbed through the broken window and looked around. He was surprised to find that the room he was in seemed to be the only room that had any real damage from the fire. The room next to the one he was in had a little bit of damage but the front room appeared to be completely untouched by the fire. He looked around to make sure that whoever it was in the house hadn't heard him. Then he opened the front door. Mr. Worth waited at the door until Courage motioned for him to enter.
As Mr. Worth stepped into the house, Courage found himself wondering why none of the other ghosts he had encountered had ever waited to be invited before coming into his house. He wanted to ask Mr. Worth about this when he heard footsteps behind him. Quickly, he ducked behind Mr. Worth.
A man with a flashlight appeared in the hallway then disappeared into one of the other rooms. Mr. Worth walked into the room behind him while Courage stayed out of sight in the hallway. The man was looking through some of the boxes that were stacked in a corner. After watching him for a moment, Mr. Worth made his presence known.
"Who are you?" he calmly asked the man.
The man was so startled that he dropped his flashlight. He quickly picked up the flashlight and turned around to face Mr. Worth. The sight of the ghost made the man drop the flashlight again as he fell backwards into the boxes.
Courage giggled and Mr. Worth looked back at him. "Come in here Courage."
The man sat where he had fallen into the boxes and just stared at the sight of the ghost and the pink dog. Mr. Worth turned and looked back at the man. Courage couldn't help but notice the amused smile on Mr. Worth's face.
"Let's try this again. My name is David Worth - you may call me David. This is my friend, Courage. We came here to see if we could find anything out about what is going on here."
"W-w-what d-do you mean b-b-y what i-is g-going on here?" The poor man stammered.
Mr. Worth sighed. "In case you haven't noticed, there have been three fires in the last two days and there is a freak electrical storm wreaking havoc all over the place. Not to mention the fact that there are angry spirits haunting this whole area."
The man studied Mr. Worth for a moment. "Then you're not one of those horrible things that have been following me."
"Well, technically, I am a spirit too. Just not one of those spirits." Mr. Worth seemed a little annoyed at the man. "Now, I'll ask you one more time, who are you?" Mr. Worth's voice sounded more than a little impatient.
The man took a deep breath and said, "I'm Alden Dillon. Claudia Dillon was my mother." He tried to untangle himself from the boxes but found himself in a difficult position.
Mr. Worth offered Alden a hand up and the man hesitantly accepted the ghost's help. As Alden stood up and brushed himself off, he slowly began to speak. "I think I'm to blame for some of the weird things that are happening ... but .. I didn't mean... " he sighed. "Let's me start at the beginning." He led Mr. Worth and Courage into the front room of the house which had been untouched by the fire. He sat down on one of the chairs and motioned to the other chairs. "Make yourselves comfortable. It's kind of a long story."
Mr. Worth sat down on one of the chairs and Courage sat down on the large rug at his feet.
Alden gathered his thoughts and began to speak. "My father worked in the Nowhere Museum. He was in charge of many of the historical exhibits and he even set up the Egyptian exhibit that the Nowhere Museum had one summer. He knew a lot about history and mythology. One day, the museum acquired several boxes of old artifacts - - I can't remember exactly where my dad said they were from. These boxes had many different pieces of weapons, stone jewelry, clay dishes, and several stone tablets with writing on them. My dad was asked to find out more about the tablets and try to find somebody to translate them. He worked on those tablets day and night." Alden paused for a minute as a brilliant bolt of lightning lit up the room followed by a sharp crack of thunder.
Courage shivered as the wind blew in through the broken window. Mr. Worth looked down at him knowing that it wasn't just the cold that was making the poor little dog shiver. "Come up here, Courage." He said, inviting Courage to jump up on his lap. Courage gratefully curled up in Mr. Worth's lap. He felt much safer up here.
Alden waited for Courage to settle down then continued. "After studying about those tablets for several days, my dad became convinced that they could somehow be dangerous. He convinced his boss to let him keep the tablets locked up safely in this house." Alden looked down at his hands which were shaking.
Mr. Worth's eyes widened as if he knew exactly what Alden was going to say next.
Alden took a deep breath. "The tablets remained locked up in two seperate boxes in this house until my mom passed away. My brothers and I were going through some of the stuff that was stored up in the attic when we stumbled upon one of the tablets. I looked at the tablet and tried to read what was written on it."
"You read the words aloud?" Mr. Worth's voice was suprising calm.
Alden nodded. "But - - nothing happened when I read the tablet. It wasn't until the next day when we found the second tablet that strange things began to happen."
"What happened when you found the second tablet?"
Courage could see the fear in Alden's eyes as he looked over at Mr. Worth. "It was about 20 minutes after I read the words on the second tablet. I got this creepy feeling of being watched. The air in the house started getting cold. Later that day, we were taking a few boxes of stuff to the museum and I could swear I saw a strange white shape out of the corner of my eye. It was following me."
Mr. Worth gently put his hand on Courage's back to calm the nervous dog. "Was that the night that the fire started in the museum?"
Alden quietly nodded.
"What happened after that?"
Alden looked nervously around him. "This place is really beginning to give me the creeps. Is there somewhere else we can talk?"
Mr. Worth thought about it for a minute. "Just tell me one thing, where are the tablets now?"
Alden was shaking visibly. "I think one of them was in a box that went to the museum. The other one should still be in this house because I took it down to the first floor with me. I was going to try to find out what the words meant but I forgot about the tablet when I got that horrible feeling of being watched."
Mr. Worth gently nudged Courage to get him to move then stood up. "We need to find those tablets, but we should wait until daylight when those spirits quiet down a little bit."
Alden got up and began to look nervously around him. Courage felt a cold chill run down his spine making his fur stand on end.
Mr. Worth reached down and picked Courage up in one arm.. "Come on Courage, we have to get out of here now. Hold on tight." Courage held on to Mr. Worth's arm tightly with both paws.
"Please! Don't leave me here!!" Alden looked terrified. A second later Courage could see why he was so frightened. Two ghostly white shapes had appeared outside the window.
Mr. Worth reached one hand out to Alden. "You must hold on to me if you want to go with me. Make sure to hold on tight because I cannot hold on to you."
Alden grabbed tightly on to Mr. Worth's hand and followed them out the door. The ghostly shapes did not seem to want to get too close to Mr. Worth so they were able to walk out onto the porch and into the front yard.
"Remember, Alden, hold on tight and do not let go until we get to where we are going."
Mr. Worth slowly began to disappear taking Courage and Alden with him.
"I wonder who is in the house at this hour?" Mr. Worth led the way to one of the windows that had been broken during the fire. "You will have to go into the house first, Courage. Once you are in the house, go to the front door and open it. You will have to invite me in before I can come into the house."
Courage climbed through the broken window and looked around. He was surprised to find that the room he was in seemed to be the only room that had any real damage from the fire. The room next to the one he was in had a little bit of damage but the front room appeared to be completely untouched by the fire. He looked around to make sure that whoever it was in the house hadn't heard him. Then he opened the front door. Mr. Worth waited at the door until Courage motioned for him to enter.
As Mr. Worth stepped into the house, Courage found himself wondering why none of the other ghosts he had encountered had ever waited to be invited before coming into his house. He wanted to ask Mr. Worth about this when he heard footsteps behind him. Quickly, he ducked behind Mr. Worth.
A man with a flashlight appeared in the hallway then disappeared into one of the other rooms. Mr. Worth walked into the room behind him while Courage stayed out of sight in the hallway. The man was looking through some of the boxes that were stacked in a corner. After watching him for a moment, Mr. Worth made his presence known.
"Who are you?" he calmly asked the man.
The man was so startled that he dropped his flashlight. He quickly picked up the flashlight and turned around to face Mr. Worth. The sight of the ghost made the man drop the flashlight again as he fell backwards into the boxes.
Courage giggled and Mr. Worth looked back at him. "Come in here Courage."
The man sat where he had fallen into the boxes and just stared at the sight of the ghost and the pink dog. Mr. Worth turned and looked back at the man. Courage couldn't help but notice the amused smile on Mr. Worth's face.
"Let's try this again. My name is David Worth - you may call me David. This is my friend, Courage. We came here to see if we could find anything out about what is going on here."
"W-w-what d-do you mean b-b-y what i-is g-going on here?" The poor man stammered.
Mr. Worth sighed. "In case you haven't noticed, there have been three fires in the last two days and there is a freak electrical storm wreaking havoc all over the place. Not to mention the fact that there are angry spirits haunting this whole area."
The man studied Mr. Worth for a moment. "Then you're not one of those horrible things that have been following me."
"Well, technically, I am a spirit too. Just not one of those spirits." Mr. Worth seemed a little annoyed at the man. "Now, I'll ask you one more time, who are you?" Mr. Worth's voice sounded more than a little impatient.
The man took a deep breath and said, "I'm Alden Dillon. Claudia Dillon was my mother." He tried to untangle himself from the boxes but found himself in a difficult position.
Mr. Worth offered Alden a hand up and the man hesitantly accepted the ghost's help. As Alden stood up and brushed himself off, he slowly began to speak. "I think I'm to blame for some of the weird things that are happening ... but .. I didn't mean... " he sighed. "Let's me start at the beginning." He led Mr. Worth and Courage into the front room of the house which had been untouched by the fire. He sat down on one of the chairs and motioned to the other chairs. "Make yourselves comfortable. It's kind of a long story."
Mr. Worth sat down on one of the chairs and Courage sat down on the large rug at his feet.
Alden gathered his thoughts and began to speak. "My father worked in the Nowhere Museum. He was in charge of many of the historical exhibits and he even set up the Egyptian exhibit that the Nowhere Museum had one summer. He knew a lot about history and mythology. One day, the museum acquired several boxes of old artifacts - - I can't remember exactly where my dad said they were from. These boxes had many different pieces of weapons, stone jewelry, clay dishes, and several stone tablets with writing on them. My dad was asked to find out more about the tablets and try to find somebody to translate them. He worked on those tablets day and night." Alden paused for a minute as a brilliant bolt of lightning lit up the room followed by a sharp crack of thunder.
Courage shivered as the wind blew in through the broken window. Mr. Worth looked down at him knowing that it wasn't just the cold that was making the poor little dog shiver. "Come up here, Courage." He said, inviting Courage to jump up on his lap. Courage gratefully curled up in Mr. Worth's lap. He felt much safer up here.
Alden waited for Courage to settle down then continued. "After studying about those tablets for several days, my dad became convinced that they could somehow be dangerous. He convinced his boss to let him keep the tablets locked up safely in this house." Alden looked down at his hands which were shaking.
Mr. Worth's eyes widened as if he knew exactly what Alden was going to say next.
Alden took a deep breath. "The tablets remained locked up in two seperate boxes in this house until my mom passed away. My brothers and I were going through some of the stuff that was stored up in the attic when we stumbled upon one of the tablets. I looked at the tablet and tried to read what was written on it."
"You read the words aloud?" Mr. Worth's voice was suprising calm.
Alden nodded. "But - - nothing happened when I read the tablet. It wasn't until the next day when we found the second tablet that strange things began to happen."
"What happened when you found the second tablet?"
Courage could see the fear in Alden's eyes as he looked over at Mr. Worth. "It was about 20 minutes after I read the words on the second tablet. I got this creepy feeling of being watched. The air in the house started getting cold. Later that day, we were taking a few boxes of stuff to the museum and I could swear I saw a strange white shape out of the corner of my eye. It was following me."
Mr. Worth gently put his hand on Courage's back to calm the nervous dog. "Was that the night that the fire started in the museum?"
Alden quietly nodded.
"What happened after that?"
Alden looked nervously around him. "This place is really beginning to give me the creeps. Is there somewhere else we can talk?"
Mr. Worth thought about it for a minute. "Just tell me one thing, where are the tablets now?"
Alden was shaking visibly. "I think one of them was in a box that went to the museum. The other one should still be in this house because I took it down to the first floor with me. I was going to try to find out what the words meant but I forgot about the tablet when I got that horrible feeling of being watched."
Mr. Worth gently nudged Courage to get him to move then stood up. "We need to find those tablets, but we should wait until daylight when those spirits quiet down a little bit."
Alden got up and began to look nervously around him. Courage felt a cold chill run down his spine making his fur stand on end.
Mr. Worth reached down and picked Courage up in one arm.. "Come on Courage, we have to get out of here now. Hold on tight." Courage held on to Mr. Worth's arm tightly with both paws.
"Please! Don't leave me here!!" Alden looked terrified. A second later Courage could see why he was so frightened. Two ghostly white shapes had appeared outside the window.
Mr. Worth reached one hand out to Alden. "You must hold on to me if you want to go with me. Make sure to hold on tight because I cannot hold on to you."
Alden grabbed tightly on to Mr. Worth's hand and followed them out the door. The ghostly shapes did not seem to want to get too close to Mr. Worth so they were able to walk out onto the porch and into the front yard.
"Remember, Alden, hold on tight and do not let go until we get to where we are going."
Mr. Worth slowly began to disappear taking Courage and Alden with him.