E1pnvn's Note: Hello everyone! Thanks for reading my story! I hope you enjoy it, and even if you don't, at least I can take solace in the fact that I affected someone, even if it was just by making their eyes sore. Seriously though, this is my first fanfiction so go easy on me. This story takes place awhile after Ocarina of Time and is all about Sara, a sixteen-year-old who lives on Lon Lon Ranch, and her adventures concerning Skulltullas. Just so you know, Sara is Malon's daughter but I won't say who her father is so that Malinkers or non-Malinkers can fill in the blank to their liking. And that's pretty much the story. There will be romance later on, with plenty of action and silliness in between. Enjoy! And REVIEW!

Oh wait, almost forgot: DISCLAIMER- I don't own Zelda; Nintendo does

SKULLTULLA HAUS

By E1pnvn

Chapter one - Arachnophobia

There's only one thing in the world that scares me: spiders.

Which is kind of ironic since I live on a ranch. It seems like there's always a spider lurking around somewhere; either in the corner of the barn or in an old milk bottle or sometimes even in the farmhouse where I live with my grandfather. In fact, I can't think of any other place in Hyrule that's more spider-infested than Lon Lon Ranch in the summertime. So basically, I'm always getting nasty eight-legged surprises.

Any other bug I can tolerate. Slugs and snails: no problem. They're a little slimy and they're pests when it comes to crops but they're relatively harmless. Bees I actually find rather attractive with their yellow-black bodies and I've never been stung by a wasp so they don't bother me either. Even cockroaches aren't too bad.

But spiders... I just don't do spiders. They're gross. And scary and creepy and crawly and nasty and... ugh! I hate them.

But isn't it strange how sometimes the things you hate can end up changing your life? It's funny how things work like that. I guess its just bad luck. I can't think of any other reason why spiders were the things that turned my life upside-down and inside-out. Why couldn't it have been cute, fuzzy bunnies? Or slugs or snails or any other bug? But no, it had to be spiders.

And it all began, ironically, on a relatively spider-free day. I woke up at dawn, like I always did, and went downstairs to get breakfast going for grandpa and I. I had to cook because my grandpa, Talon, was old and senile and probably wouldhave forgotten what he was doing in the middle of frying eggs. Actually, he had done so on many occasions before. So, I made breakfast every day to save the time (and the eggs).

I whistled to myself as I cooked some bacon in my skillet. When the bacon was just starting to turn brown, I looked up at the ceiling for no real reason and got my first surprise of the day: There weren't any spider webs up there. There weren't cobwebs along the roof beams or threads hanging from the corners or anything. It was perfectly clean. Now, I'm not saying that I'm a neat-freak or that spider webs creep me out as much as spiders do, but it was nice to see that I wouldn't have any little friends coming to visit me in the kitchen. I couldn't help but smile as I prodded the bacon with a spatula and went back to whistling.

When I had breakfast done, I woke up Talon and ate with him then went out to start my chores. My first job of the day was to let the horses out of the stable and into the corral. This I did with ease and I found that, again, I didn't run into any spiders. I was quite happy about this because I usually found the little critters slinking around the stalls. But today, I was lucky. And my luck didn't end there. When I went to feed the Cuckoos, there weren't any spiders in their pen either. And when I went to go milk the cows, no one had decided to build a web in my milk bucket overnight. In fact, by the time I returned to the farmhouse for lunch, I had nearly forgotten that spiders even existed.

I found Talon sleeping in his chair just inside the house. It was his job to greet any customers that came by and do buisness with them (sell them milk, give away bottles, force them to play strange Cuckoo games, etc.). It had always been his job, even when my mom was a kid, and he was quite good at it, even though he was always falling asleep. I poked him and he woke with a start.

"What in tarnation!" he barked, looking around wildly.

Then he noticed me and relaxed a little.

"Oh, Sara," he said. "Yeh scared the bajeepers out of me!"

"Sorry about your bajeepers, grandpa," I said with a grin. "But it's time for lunch. Do you want me to make anything special for you?"

"Hmm..." he said, scratching his chin.

He thought for awhile, then looked confused. I knew what was coming next. Whenever grandpa thought for too long, he always forgot what he was thinking about in the first place. Such are the disadvantages of being over ninety years old.

"Huh, what?" he said. "What were we talkin' about?"

"Lunch, grandpa," I said.

"Oh right, lunch," Talon said. "What're we havin'?"

I smiled a little. "I was thinking of just making sandwiches," I said. "If that's okay with you."

"Sounds just dandy," said grandpa.

I disappeared into the kitchen for a second, coming back a few minutes later with our sandwiches and two bottles of milk. We sat down at the table and ate.

When we had finished emptying our plates and milk bottles, I brought the dishes into the kitchen and dropped them in the sink. Dishes weren't my job: cleaning them was part of grandpa's chores. Of course, he would probably end up forgetting to do them and I'd have to clean them, but I didn't have to worry about that right now. I went back into the living room, where grandpa had resumed his post at the chair by the door. It looked like he was dozing off again.

"See ya, grandpa," I said. I made for the door, about to go do my other chores, but he stopped me.

"Oh, wait Sara," he said, sleepily. "I forgot to tell you..."

"Tell me what?" I asked him.

"Hmm..." said grandpa. He scratched his head. "It was... I had to tell you to... Oh, tarnation, I've gone and forgotten it! Hold on a sec, lemme try and think about this..."

He tapped his head, as if trying to dislodge somethingfrom his brain, and scrunched up his face in concentration. I'd always thought that it was kind of funny when grandpa tried to remember things. But I always tried to help him nonetheless.

"Did it have anything to do with the ranch?" I asked.

He nodded. "Yeah... I think so..."

"Did it have to do with crazy Cuckoo games?" I asked, hoping beyond hope that it didn't.

"No, no..." grandpa said.

"How about horses?"

"Nope."

"Queen Zelda?"

"Nope."

"Evil mutant ducks with Keatan masks?"

"No-Hey!" he said and I burst into giggles. "Tarnation, Sara, this is serious!"

"Sorry, grandpa. I couldn't resist," I said, still smiling.

Grandpa chucked. Then, a light suddenly seemed to turn on in his head.

"I remember now!" he said, triumphantly. "I needed you ter deliver some milk to a bloke down in Kakariko Village. Can yeh do that for me?"

"Sure," I said. "I'll get the wagon ready and head on down there."

"The milk's all ready to go, right outside of the stable," he said. "Thanks a ton, Sara."

I smiled and left. It didn't take me long to get ready. The wagon we used to deliver milk in was small and had only two wheels and no cover. I loaded it with so many milk boxes that it creaked under the weight, then I tied it to one of the horses to be pulled. The horse I chose was a friendly white mare named Midnight. Why she'd been given such an oxymoronic name was beyond me, but she responded to it so there was no changing it.

When everything was ready, I mounted Midnight and soon we were ambling out of the ranch and down the road through Hyrule Field.

It was a beautiful day out. The sun beat down on me but there was a cool breeze that evened out the temperature. Flowers dotted the field, swaying lightly in the breeze, and bees buzzed around among them. I even saw a Pea Hat a few yards away. It was a giant, flower-like beast that was very dangerous, I knew, but looked rather pretty from a distance.

Unfortunately, the pleasent ride only lasted a few minutes before we had crossed Zora's River and were at Kakariko's front gates. Kakariko Village was once inhabited only by a shadowy, magic-loving race called the Sheikahs. But when the Sheikahs had died out, the last survivor of their race, a lady named Impa, had turned the village into a thriving city, open to everyone. It was a nice little place, even though it was crowded, and most of the people there were farmers or paupers (except for one lady who took care of Cuckoos, but she was a whole other caste unto herself).

I rode in, greeting the knight who guarded the front gate, then took Midnight over to a stable where she could stay. I left the wagon near the stable and went to find the man I was supposed to be selling milk to. His name was Mr. Brown. I knew him pretty well because he often stopped by the ranch to pick up milk or eggs. He lived in a big house near the town's graveyard and soon I was standing on his doorstep and knocking on his door.

"Your milk's here, Mr. Brown!" I called.

There was a bit of a commotion inside as someone came hurrying to the door. Then, the door swung open and Mr. Brown appeared, smiling. He was tall and thin, with graying brown hair and a fuzzy, caterpillar mustache.

"Why, good afternoon, Malon!" he said, good-naturedly.

I couldn't help but laugh. "Uh... Mr. Brown-?" I started, but he realized his mistake before I could correct him.

"Oh, Sara!" he said. "I'm so sorry. You just look so much like your mother!"

"I understand," I said. "I get that a lot."

He chuckled. "So, how are your folks anyway?" he asked.

"Oh, they're good," I said. "We got a letter from them a few days ago. They're in Termina right now; Dad's doing some buisness up there. But they should be back in a month or two."

"Wonderful," said Mr. Brown. He paused. "So... About that milk?"

I smiled and led him over to the stable and my wagon. With his help, I was able to haul the milk boxes over to his house and store them in his cellar. When it was done, he handed me my rupees and I tried to leave, but he insisted that I stay and have some tea and cake with him as a reward for my help. So I stayed (come on, who can say no to free cake?).

Mr. Brown and I got to talking, mostly about how our families were doing and such, and his wife brought us out some tea. I'm not sure if it was because of our conversation or Mrs. Brown's delicious chocolate cake, but I completely lost track of time and the sun was already setting by the time I left. I said a hurried goodbye to the Browns and went to the stable to pick up Midnight and the wagon.

But when I got there, all I found was Midnight and a stable hand. I looked around but the wagon was nowhere to be seen.

"Um... Excuse me?" I said to the hostler.

"Yeah?" he said, looking bored.

"Did you see what happened to the wagon that was here earlier?"

"Yeah, some guys came and picked it up," said the hostler.

My heart sank.

"Who were they?" I asked.

"Dunno," said the hostler. "They said it was their wagon so..." he shrugged. "I let them have it."

I felt like hitting him. The idiot! He'd let some theives make off with my only wagon! And those things don't come cheap you know.

Talon was not going to be happy about this...

The hostler watched me as I was thinking these worrying thoughts and smiled. "Oh, I get it," he said. "You had your eye on that wagon didn't you?"

I stared at him.

"It was MY wagon you son of a Keesh!" was what I wanted to say, but what came out of my mouth was: "Yes, I did."

"Well, there's a wagon just like it for sale at the bazaar across the street," he said. "You might be able to buy it for, say, 300 rupees."

"I don't have 300 rupees," I said.

He chuckled, which made me want to slap him even more. "I guess you're on your own then," he said.

I made a face and started to get Midnight ready to go. I had the saddle and bridle on her and we were ready to leave, when the hostler spoke again:

"Actually... Maybe I CAN be of help."

I turned to look at him. "What d'you mean?" I asked.

"I know a place where you can get the money," he said.

"Where?" I asked.

"There's this weird old house on the other side of the graveyard," he said. "Whenever people go there, they come back with tons of cash!"

"Oh really?" I said, skeptically.

"Seriously! They do!" he said. "I saw a guy go in there once and come back out with a Giant's Wallet full of rupees."

I can usually tell when people are lying. It's like a weird gift that I have. And somehow, I felt like this guy was telling the truth, even if his story sounded crazy.

"Well, if everyone who goes there gets rich, why isn't this whole town loaded?" I asked.

"Well..." said the hostler. He smiled mysteriously. "It's 'cus everyone's afraid to go there. You see, when people go to that house, they either come back with rupees... Or don't come back at all."

I raised an eyebrow.

"It's true!" he said. "They just disappear without a trace. Some people say that the house's haunted. But me and my buddies think that some kind of homicidal maniac lives there or something."

"That's just stupid," I said. "I bet those are just rumors."

"Well, if they're just rumors, why don't you go pay the house a visit?" the hostler asked.

I don't know why I reacted the way I did. Maybe it was because of his tone of voice; the way he sounded like he was challenging me. Or maybe it was because I really DID need the money for a wagon.

Whatever the reason, I found myself saying: "Maybe I will!"

And with that, I stomped out of the stable, walking straight across town and into the graveyard.

Like I've mentioned before, the only thing in the world that scares me is spiders. And you can lay to that. Not even Kakariko's spooky graveyard at twilight scared me, although it did depress me a bit. The place was dismal, that was for sure. The gravestones loomed in the darkness like solid shadows and seemed to radiate gloominess. I made my way through them, trying to stay on the path and not walk on any mounds. The mounds didn't scare me, but I kept thinking that I sure wouldn't like someone walking on ME if I were dead.

The sun had fully set now and it was getting harder for me to see where I was going. I stubbed my toe on a gravestone and swore loudly, but kept going. After what seemed like hours, I finally saw my destination.

The house stood before me like some kind of gray beast. It's cracked and shutterless windows stared at me like unblinking eyes and its door, which was barely hanging on its hinges, looked like a gaping mouth.

I admit: I was almost scared then. But my doubt only lasted for a second and soon I was climbing up onto the house's front steps. I came to the door and knocked.

No answer.

I knocked again.

Still no answer.

I had expected that no one would be home. Not even a homicidal maniac would live in THIS dump. So, how was it that those people the hostler mentioned had gotten their money? I was starting to think that he'd made up the whole thing. But my curiosity kept me going and I opened the door and entered the old house.

The first room I walked into looked like it had once been grand. It was huge, with a ceiling so high I couldn't see it, and had a big spiral staircase at its far end. I imagined what it must have looked like when the house was new... The wood floor must have been polished and the room had probably been lit by the chandelier that hung above me. But now the room was gray and dark. The floor was rotten and had termites and the chandelier was nothing more than a hunk of wood that had somehow managed to stay hanging from the ceiling. It was kind of sad really.

I went over to the staircase and tested one of the steps with my foot. It seemed sturdy enough so I started climbing them. I looked around me and realized, with a shiver, that the house was full of cobwebs. They were in every nook and cranny imaginable and it gave me the willies to think of how many spiders it took to make so many webs. I just hoped that the spiders had left with the house's old owners.

At the top of the stairs was a door and I went through it to find myself in a hallway. It was long and narrow, with old paintings hanging from the walls on either side. I walked a little way down the hall, looking at the paintings. I could barely see them because they were so covered in dust, but I noticed that they were all portraits. Portraits of people with red eyes. Sheikahs? One in particular caught my eye and I stopped to look at it. It was of a woman with long gray hair and a crooked, mischeivous smile. Her red eyes seemed to bore into me. She was definitely a Sheikah; I could tell by the clothes she was wearing. They were blue and silver robes with pictures of eyes all over them. Non-Sheikah Hylians never dressed like that.

Her painting was larger than the others and reached from the floor to the ceiling. As I was inspecting the top of the picture, I got a glimpse of the ceiling and did a double take. My jaw dropped at what I saw and I would have screamed if I hadn't been so shocked. The entire ceiling was covered in spider webs. And I mean COVERED! I couldn't even see the actual ceiling through the thick web.

It was then that I started hearing it. There was a strange scratching sound coming from somewhere nearby and it sent chills down my spine. It started quietly at first, but then grew gradually louder.

NOW I was scared.

I bolted back out of the hall and into the entrance room. The scratching kept getting louder and louder as I clambered down the stairs and made for the door... But then I stopped dead in my tracks.

The front door was covered by webs! Those webs hadn't been there before! I tried to tear them off, but they were surprisingly strong and wouldn't break. I was panicking now. I couldn't get out!

I turned and looked around wildly. There had to be another way out. There just had to be... I ran back up the stairs and into the hallway full of paintings. I raced down it, hoping that there would be an exit at the end of it.

The scratching sound was booming in my ears now. It seemed like it was coming from all around me. My heart was pounding and tears were burning my eyes. All I could think of was getting out of this place. I had to get out. I had to get out...

Finally, I saw a door at the end of the hall. I was so close to it; I just had to run a little bit further. The scratching sound suddenly stopped. I didn't take heed of it though; all I wanted was to get to that door. I reached out my hand to grab the doorknob...

But then something suddenly fell down from the ceiling right in front of me. I yelled and jumped back. Then, I saw what it was.

Hanging in front of me was a spider. But this wasn't an ordinary spider. It was huge, almost as big as me, and had a white body and yellow legs. All this was enough to terrify me, but there was something else about the beast that made it even worse: its eyes. It had two blue eyes, right in the middle of its white body. But they weren't spider eyes. They were human eyes. And right above those eyes was a tuft of red-brown human hair.

I was so horrified, I couldn't move. I just stood there shaking and moving my mouth, trying to scream and failing.

The monster in front of me moved closer, making an all-too-familiar scratching sound. Then it spoke:

"Hello."

My poor mind just couldn't take that. I fainted.

E1pnvn's Other Note: Well, that's chapter one! Hope you liked it. Please review and come back for more!