Chapter 7

Just when things couldn't any worse, it did. As soon as Casper had reached the gates, three teed off specters met him. Casper went right by them but Stretch reached over and pulled him back.

"She lied!" He fumed to his nephew.

"I was hoping for an autograph." Fatso said dejectedly, frowning.

"She lied to get us out of the house. We'll just hafta to throw her out!" Stinkie smirked evilly.

"Let me go! Kat's been kidnapped!" Casper tried to slip free, but the eldest of the trio would have none of it.

"Good for her, but bad for you. If she's not here, we're just gonna have to take it out on you." Stretch gave him a wicked look and turned to his other two siblings.

"Casper looks a little pale. Don't he, boys?"

Fatso and Stinkie laughed mischievously in response. Casper still struggled to break free; his hopes of reaching Kat in time grew dim.

"I think he could use a little sun, literally!"

In a blink of an eye, the group had vanished. A few yards away from where the ghosts had been, a car bounced through the gates. She was terrified. Not only of his crazed behavior, but that she told him where the Lazarus was. Who he was resurrecting sounded as if he was better off dead.

Kat sat still in the passenger seat, silent tears spilling down her cheeks. Harry stared straight ahead as the manor grew closer.

"What's wrong Harry? Why are you like this?" She asked.

He said nothing. Parking the car at the entrance, he got out and went around to the trunk. The case carrying the Goblin armor and partially dissembled wing was unwieldy and heavy; Harry picked it up as if it were nothing. He turned just in time to see Kat dash up the steps and into the home, seeking refuge in its maze of corridors.

Leave her. You have more important things to do.

Nodding wordlessly, Harry held tight to the crate and walked into the manor.

Meanwhile, Kat sat huddled in a coat closet. The very same one she and her father raced to after meeting up the ghostly inhabitants for the first time. In the darkness, she could hear the loud creak of the front door. Then silence. She was too far away to hear anything more. She waited a few more minutes, then crept out of the space to the room directly across, which was Harry's. She had told him of the tunnel to the machine that was in the floor of the study, but not of the one in here. The answer was carved right on the door. Poseidon's trident was engraved on it as well as emblazed on almost everything in the room, especially the walls. Kat pushed on a section of wall with the symbol, it sprang open to reveal a plain staircase headed downwards. As she was about to step down, she noticed something. The ouija board lay open on the dresser next to her.

She should stop Harry, but how could she? Maybe if she spoke directly to whatever possessed him…? She gathered the board up, closed the curtains for effect, and sat crossed legged on the bed. Lightly as she could, she placed her fingertips on the rim of the answering glass. She remembered his name was Norman.

"Why are you tormenting your son, Norman?"

Her voice shook a little. The indicator took its time, slowly sliding over each letter: V-E-N-G-E-A-N-C-E.

"For what?"

Again, the pointer leisurely meandered over the elaborate board:

S-P-I-D-E-R-M-A-N, it spelled. The session held just this morning played over in her head. Harry had said Spider-Man had killed his father.

"You want revenge on Spider-Man? Is that why you're pushing Harry to bring you back?"

Swiftly, the marker moved to the upper two corners, circling one word than another. YES, NO. Kat frowned.

"Then why do you want to come back?"

With each letter uncovered, Kat shivered, the fear spreading through her: T-O-K-I-L-L-Y-O-U. She gasped and knocked the board away, sending it clattering to the floor. Now she really had to stop Harry. As she disappeared down the secret steps, she didn't notice the marker slide across the yellowed parchment. Guided by an unseen hand it rushed back and forth between two letters: H-A-H-A-H-A-H-A-H-A.

Back in the basement, Harry inspected the last few containers of crimson stained liquid. There was only a trickle left in each. At first a slight panic seeped into him, was if there wasn't enough?

There's plenty. His father's voice snapped. Just hurry so I can live again, I want to find out if cats really do have nine lives.

Harry smirked at the statement and expertly twisted the cap off of one vial. He then proceeded to break off the closures of the others, dumping the contents of each into the first one. Now he lifted the nearly half full glass in his hand and put the lid back on carefully.

"Harry! Stop!"

Kat's voice echoed off the chamber walls as she emerged from the tunnel. At first she halted in her tracks. He was wearing some strange green costume, an even stranger expression plastered on his face. Mustering up all the courage she had, she ran forward. He ignored her and placed the container in its spot and spun the wheel, just as she said. He looked over to his father, who gave one last look and vanished inside. Now was the time. Harry pulled at the rusty controls, the machine roared to life.

"No!"

She had reached the platform, headed for the red tinted glass. Harry headed her off and wasted no time in spraying her with a bit of sleeping gas in his gloves. She stumbled back, a bit dazed at the vapor. It wasn't enough to put her out completely, he wanted her to see. He held her firmly in his grasp and together they watched and listened as the contraption finally gave one last heave of steam from its bellows. The screech of machinery grinded to a halt and everything stilled. For a moment. A series of loud bangs radiated from inside the steel gray apparatus. From Kat's clouded vision, she saw the door buckle and cave. An emerald clad shape materialized from plumes of fog. It was murky and distorted, but she could see the burning yellow eyes. And they were headed straight for her.