Chapter 4

An hour later, Joseph and Chris were getting over their fears, and they thought that the energy in the painting was gone. They gathered their courage and went back upstairs. This time, they crawled on the stairs. When they approached the top, they both looked at the painting in front of the stairs. At the moment, nothing happened. They slowly rose from the stairs. Joseph walked over to his box and picked it up. Apparently, he'd dropped it when he tumbled down the stairs. Joseph and Chris went left from the stairs. They turned around left in front of a door right next to the stairs. They checked to see if it was unlocked. They discovered they could enter the room. They opened it, and they saw another bedroom. It was small and dark. The bed had purple and pink bed sheets, and most of the other furniture in the room was stained brown.

A strange sight came into view. The room began to twist and twirl out of its shape, and then, it quickly returned to its normal appearance. Joseph and Chris felt energy over the bed, so they decided to walk over. They saw a puzzle coming into view. It was like a board game that involved following a path to spell out a phrase. Chris and Joseph solved the word puzzle in 15 minutes. The game spelled out the phrase "the sky is ruddy, your fate is bloody".

The puzzle disintegrated into the surface of the bed. Joseph and Chris walked away from the bed. Just after walking from the bed, they saw more spirits yet again. The spirits of Mr. Knox and Burden stood in front of the bed, and they acted as though they were going to engage in sexual activities. Burden told Mr. Knox that since she knew where the puzzles were located, they could win their reward after solving them all. Suddenly, Burden kissed Knox, and she wiggled off her jacket. This revealed a very attractive red dress that was almost revealing. Mr. Knox instantly was all over her, and he and Burden got on the bed and hugged each other to death. Then, the ghostly drama ended.

Joseph and Chris left the room and went across the hall to another room. The room was large and had a four-poster bed to the right. Next to the bed by a nightstand, there was a brown rug with a maze design sewn on it. There was also a highboy, a dresser, and a fainting chair. To the left of the door, there was another door with a large mirror that covered the whole door. In the back of the room, there was another door. Across from the four-poster bed, there was a brick fireplace.

Mrs. Knox suddenly appeared. She was sitting on the four-poster bed. She talked to herself and commented on the rug with the maze. She mentioned that she solved maze puzzles when she was a little girl. Mrs. Knox slowly faded away.

Joseph and Chris walked over to the maze slowly and discovered that they had walked into another puzzle. The maze rug quickly slid off the position it was at, which caused Joseph and Chris to slide back with it. Then, chess bishops popped up from the floor. Joseph and Chris moved over to the bishops and knelt down. Chris took off his backpack, and Joseph set down his box so that he could use both of his hands.

"I don't know much about chess bishops," Chris said.

"Why don't we go to the clue book?" Joseph asked.

"Great idea!" Chris said. Joseph and Chris left the puzzle, and turned around, and started heading for the door. Suddenly, in the mirror, they saw Mrs. Knox in strange clothes. It seemed that she was reciting a message that the boys could not understand. When the apparition disappeared, the boys headed out the door and ran down the hall. Then, they turned right and ran downstairs.

They walked into the library. A yell was heard from the upstairs, and then, all of the guests appeared in the room mysteriously. The only one that was absent was Tad. The ghosts were all talking about solving puzzles and seemed concerned about what Stauf was doing. Temple suggested that everyone should play as a team, but nobody seemed to like his suggestion. Mr. Knox said that Stauf was watching them and scaring them, and that they should all play his "game". Then, all the apparitions except for Mrs. Knox vanished. Then, she too vanished with them.

Joseph and Chris headed towards the clue book when the drama finished, and opened it. There were two clues in the book about it. The first one said, "If my bishops cannot convert you, perhaps you can convert my bishops." The second one said, "Use traditional bishop moves to exchange the positions of the white and black bishops. You cannot move into a square where you can be captured." Then, the page turned by itself again, and then, Joseph and Chris were taken through the door again. They returned to the room with the chess bishops puzzle.

"I know a little about chess, so the clues and I can help us," Joseph said. Then, Joseph and Chris approached the puzzle again. They began moving the bishops, and the magical opponent moved its pieces. As they expected, the puzzle was very difficult and time consuming. Many times, they failed to make any good moves, so they had to start over again. The same holographic outline of the house appeared every time the boys reset the puzzle.

Joseph and Chris had spent three hours on the puzzle. Still, they had not made much progress. At last, they decided to quit and go back to the library to see if there were any more clues that the clue book listed. They got up and ran to the library. They opened the clue book and saw the words, "The puzzle is solved!" Then, they were transported back to the Knoxs' room again.

Joseph looked at his watch. It was 7:30 pm! "Well, Chris, I want to call it a night," Joseph said. "I'm tired of solving puzzles, I want to do some night activities."

"Like what?" Chris asked.

"Well, you know, like reading, solving crossword puzzles, things like that."

"I'm going to read," Chris said.

"I'm going to do a crossword puzzle, but where are we going to sleep?" Joseph wondered.

"We'll both sleep in this room. It's the biggest one we've discovered." Chris said.

"We can also use this room to store the things we brought with us at least temporarily. I'm tired of carrying this bulky box around," Joseph commented.

"One of us will sleep in bed, and the other one will sleep on the floor in the sleeping bag," Chris said.

"We don't have to," Joseph replied. Then, he opened his box, and he took out a mattress that was folded and had metal stands underneath. Joseph took out a square black remote control and pressed the red button in the center. The bed unfolded and fell to the floor. Then, four thin legs lifted the bed upward. Then, Joseph pressed one of the smaller red buttons on his control, and the bed got just as long as the four-poster bed in the room. Joseph pressed another button, and then, the bed turned into a four-poster bed. Joseph moved the bed next to the four-poster bed, closest to the door.

Chris stared at the bed with his mouth wide open. "It's one of my latest inventions," Joseph said.

"Well, now we have to decide who sleeps in what bed," Chris said.

"I should sleep in my bed," Joseph said. "It's my bed, and I should take care of it."

"Then I'll sleep in the other bed," Chris said. Joseph and Chris set their possessions down, and got everything they needed out. Then, they each went out into the hall to change into their robes.

"Chris, look and see if there's a bathroom," Joseph said.

"But what if something scary happens when I'm alone?" Chris asked.

"I'll make sure you're all right, Chris," Joseph said. "I'll go with you."

Joseph and Chris searched the halls for the bathroom. First, they tried to open the door right next to them. It was unlocked. Joseph and Chris opened the door slowly, while keeping their backs to the side of the wall. To their luck, the room was a bathroom.

Chris looked in. "It's safe," he said. Joseph and Chris entered the room with the things they needed for the night. The bathroom was pretty average. It was small, and had a black and white tile floor. In the upper right corner, there was an old fashioned bathtub with a shade over it. Above the bathtub on the back wall was a small casement window. Next to the tub was an old fashioned sink. Over it, there was an oval mirror. On the lower part of the right wall, there was a toilet. The lights were on, just as they were in all the other rooms in the house.

Suddenly, there was something that caught their attention. On the tiles on the floor, there was a chess knight puzzle. It had black and white knights in a 5 by 5 grid pattern. The black knights were near the bottom right corner, and the white knights were near the upper left corner. The center tile was empty. Apparently, the object of the puzzle was for the knights to switch sides.

"Do we have to do another chess puzzle?" Joseph said angrily.

"Why don't we try to solve it wisely? While I take a bath, you try to solve it, and while you take a bath, I'll try," Chris said.

"OK," Joseph said.

Chris took off his robe and got in the tub, and he began to take his bath. Joseph was hard at work solving the chess puzzle. When Chris got out of the tub, and put his robe back on, Joseph had solved the puzzle.

"Great job!" Chris said. Suddenly, they saw Burden in the tub, who began to drown. Joseph and Chris closed their eyes at this sight. When it was over, they opened their eyes, and then, Joseph took off his robe and got in.

Later, Joseph finished his bath, and then put his robe back on. Chris and he gathered their stuff, and walked out of the bathroom. They went back in the hall, and walked up to their room, where the door was wide open. Suddenly, before they even realized something began to happen, the door to their room slammed faster than light-speed.

The tremendous and startling door slam startled Joseph and Chris. Joseph gave Chris a sneaky look. Chris had an expression that seemed puzzled to what Joseph planned to do and had part of his mouth slightly open. Joseph pointed up, and then, Chris looked up. Above the door, there was a transom window. It was hanging open on its chains. In fact, when Joseph and Chris looked at all the doors closely, they realized that all of them had one.

Then, Chris looked at Joseph and had a sneaky grin, too. Joseph pulled a grappling hook that he had built, out of his robe's left pocket. The sneakiness in their faces increased.

Chris grabbed onto Joseph, and Joseph grasped the hook. Joseph aimed the hook at the transom window and fired it. A steel cable shot out from the grasping area, and hooked onto the transom window. Joseph and Chris began to move upward, and then suddenly, they bumped into the upper part of the wall. Chris grasped onto both sides of the wall, while Joseph grasped onto the door, and then jumped down onto the floor. Chris did the same.

Joseph and Chris were breathing, relieved that they were now safe in their room. Suddenly, the apparition face of Stauf appeared about 5 feet away from them. He looked angry. He approached the boys. Chris crouched down behind Joseph, as Stauf came closer. Joseph put his arms backward, as a way to protect Chris. Just as Stauf was about to become nose to nose with Joseph, he disappeared. The door, which had been closed and locked, now unlocked and opened.

"Phew!" Joseph said.

"Let's go to bed, and read, and do crossword puzzles," Chris said.

"OK," Joseph said. Joseph walked over to the door and closed it. Chris walked over to the four-poster bed that belonged to the house, pulled the covers, and got in.

"Joseph, can you get my book?" Chris asked. "It's in my backpack."

"Sure," Joseph said. He walked over to Chris's backpack and unzipped it. He found Moby Dick. Joseph got his crossword puzzle from his box, too. Joseph handed the Moby Dick book to Chris.

"Thanks," Chris said. Joseph placed some sheets on his bed from his box, and then he lifted them and got inside. Joseph pulled the covers back up as he put his finger in his ear. He had many emergency items in there. Then, he found his emergency pencil. It was covered in earwax. Joseph went to the bathroom and cleaned the pencil. Then, he went back to the room and got back in bed.

Then, he pressed a button on the left side of his bed inside, and then, over the mattress a fluorescent light fixture turned on. Fluorescent light filled the interior of Joseph's bed.

"You really do build good models. I may only have to read with a halogen flashlight," Chris said. Joseph got out of bed and took some tools out. He crawled onto Chris's bed, and did some work on the top. Joseph then pressed a button behind Chris's pillow and another fluorescent light glowed. "Thanks, Joseph," Chris said. "You really aren't a dummy." Joseph nodded, beaming, and then, he set his tools down and went back to bed. Joseph began trying to solve the crossword puzzle on his sheet. Chris was reading Moby Dick. Suddenly, just as Joseph was about to fill in the last word on his crossword puzzle, he was magically pulled in front of the fireplace. He looked up, and there was a ballerina toy that spun around. There was a picture of some creature with a knife. There was a donkey right below. Joseph believed the painting was called the Nightmare. Suddenly, the case on the toy lifted, and the silver ballerina toy began rotating and playing a musical jingle. The creature in the picture began stabbing the donkey, and blood came out of it.

"Chris! Check it out!" exclaimed Joseph. Chris got out of bed and went to where Joseph was. Chris saw the same thing.

"Wow," he said softly. The action stopped, and then both boys returned to bed. They continued to do their night activities.