Chapter 10: Brat Attack

George kept glancing over at Clarisse as they headed out of the mansion. She finally noticed it, and raised an eyebrow of confusion.

"What?"

"Huh? – Oh, nothing," George said quickly, "I was just, er…admiring your hair in the moonlight. It looks quite nice down," the ghost said. Clarisse mumbled a thank you, and shivered a bit. It was now nighttime; Clarisse didn't realize how long they had spent in the mansion. It was also October, so the night sky was quite nippy.

"Cold?" George asked. Clarisse nodded.

"I guess you don't feel stuff like warmth and coldness, huh?" she asked the ghost.

"Yes…one of the upsides…and downsides…of being dead," George said casually.

"Oh, that's too bad," Clarisse said, shivering again. She looked up at the night sky, and George saw that it was time to make his move.

Now, George Gracey was a man of great dignity. He was held in the highest standard, and valued morals a great deal. But that was George Gracey the man.

George Gracey the ghost, who hadn't gotten any action in over a hundred years, stretched his arm out behind him and Clarisse, flexing his fingers, and slowly put his arm around Clarisse's waist.

"Does that help?" he asked. She nodded absentmindedly, as they continued down the path. He relaxed a bit, smiling, and tightened his grip a little. Clarisse suddenly realized that George Gracey had his arm around her, and she stopped and stared at him. When he realized that she was glaring at him, he raised his eyebrows.

"What?" he asked innocently. She rolled her eyes.

Suddenly, Clarisse noticed a ghost running up the path and towards them.

"Master Gracey!" he said, speaking with a British accent, "I believe that I have found…the…" The ghost slowed and stopped as he saw that George's arm was around Clarisse. George saw him looking at this and quickly removed his arm.

"I was, er, just keeping Ms. Parker warm while we were searching – she was a bit cold."

"I bet," Dustin said, rolling his eyes, and then realized what he had run up here to say. He began to explain everything that had happened in the graveyard.

Meanwhile, Madame Leota watched the conversation through Little Leota, glaring.

"Little Leota," she hissed, "Stall them! We only need a few hours more!" She whispered to her daughter. Madame Leota had a remarkable head for controlling the minds of others like she had done with her daughter in the graveyard and the construction worker who caused the 'unfortunate death' of Adam Parker, but in a situation like this it was best if Little Leota did it herself.

After finishing talking to her daughter, her face disappeared and was replaced with a grandfather clock somewhere in the house. This was no ordinary clock however – it was demonic looking, with large eyes and teeth carved around the face of the clock. A snakelike pendulum swung back and forth with each second, and bright red hands that looked like serpent tongues. But the strangest thing about this clock was that it went to thirteen instead of twelve. Currently it read eleven o'clock.

"Just two more hours," Leota said softly, with malice in her voice, "And he will have been here long enough to draw power from him. And once I've gained that last ounce of power, I will finally be free!"

The fortuneteller cackled with delight as another minute passed.

Dustin finally finished his story, and Clarisse had a hopeful look on her face.

"So where is he headed to now?" she asked.

"Er…" Dustin faltered, "I didn't exactly catch where they were headed…but my best guess would be the gallery."

"Back to where this all started," Clarisse said, looking at George.

"Well, let's go then!" George said, "We wouldn't want to keep you from your husband!" But as he said this, Dustin detected a hint of sarcasm in his voice. Was George developing a crush on Clarisse?

The three were about to leave, when all of a sudden they heard a giggle. It was soft, but still audible, and Clarisse started looking around, trying to figure out where it had come from. A second passed, and then a small girl appeared on the path in front of them, blocking their way to the mansion.

"Hi there," she said, smiling. Clarisse's jaw dropped. This girl was the spitting image of Madame Leota.

"Oh, it's you," Dustin said, smiling, "Did you find your daddy?"

"Yep," the girl said with a grin, and pointed to George. "He's right there."

George's face suddenly paled.

"Wh-what do you mean?" George asked nervously. Clarisse eyed George. Apparently he was even more of a player than she thought.

"Mommy says that you're my daddy; and she says she can prove it," Little Leota said with a giggle.

"I think she must be mistaken," George said quickly, trying to maintain his composure, "Now if you'll excuse us, we need to go back inside, so-"

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that," the small girl said, her expression changing to one of cold spite.

"Why not?" Clarisse demanded.

"My mommy said not to. And I'm going to make sure that her wish is followed."

The little girl suddenly floated up into the sky, her green eyes changing to bright white. She lifted her arms up then suddenly thrust them towards Clarisse, George and Dustin. They flew backwards, through the graveyard gate, and landed hard on the ground. Clarisse winced in pain, and saw the girl psychically shut the gate.

"I'm afraid that you're going to have to stay in here for a while," she said. The gate was now glowing green, and it seemed to be melded shut.

"Can't you walk through it?" Clarisse asked the ghosts, and they shook their heads.

"Ghost barrier," Dustin explained, "She's probably put one up around the whole graveyard."

Little Leota giggled playfully. "Four eyes is right – you're all trapped now, and soon my mommy will control everything in the house again! But first, I need to take care of you," she snarled, and raised her arms above her head. All of a sudden, the ground started to rumble, and Clarisse saw that it was cracking – Little Leota was causing an earthquake. George and Dustin were able to float, but Clarisse was not. She quickly grabbed on to the fence, and hung onto it while all the ground around her fell away into the depths of the earth.

"What do you mean?" Clarisse yelled to the girl, trying to hang on.

"Your friend was the last thing she needed to regain her strength…and in a few hours, when the clock strikes thirteen, she'll be able to draw more power from his spirit and become whole again! And maybe," she added softly, "she'll finally want to play with me."

Clarisse glared at the child. Whatever she and her mother were plotting, it meant harm to Adam. And Clarisse would not let that happen. She began to climb the high fence.

"Hey! What are you doing!" Little Leota said with a frown. The not so innocent little girl watched as Clarisse reached the top, then jumped over.

"You and your mom aren't going to get my husband!" Clarisse yelled to the ghost. She did then the only thing she could think of – took off one of her high heels and threw it at the girl.

It hit her right in the nose.

"Ow!" she shrieked, holding her nose as the shoe fell back to earth, "That hurt!" The girl started to bawl, and fell back to the ground. Little Leota landed gently on the path, and before she could recover, Clarisse grabbed her by the waist and held her up in the air.

"Hey! Put me down!" she whined, "I'm telling my mommy!"

Clarisse smirked, and then threw the tiny girl with all of her strength. Little Leota went sailing through the air, over the graveyard.

"You meanie-head!..." echoed over the sky as the ghost vanished from sight.

The barrier around the gate dispersed, and the ground that had fallen from the miniature earthquake reappeared.

"Well done!" Dustin said admirably as he reopened the graveyard gates.

"Yes, that was quite…interesting," George said with a smile, "I've never liked that little hell-raiser…"

Clarisse, Dustin and George quickly headed for the mansion now that Little Leota was out of the picture. But that little misadventure with the brat had eaten up a lot of time – there was only an hour and a half left until thirteen o'clock…