Chapter 3:

(I better warn you guys, with this chapter I go a little off the cutesy small-town kiddie program. In other words, the ghosts attack, but not in the typical Danny Phantom fashion. I'm a grade-A horror fan. I personally don't think it will be that scary, but if you're looking for something kiddie-friendly, well, let's just say I'm gonna have to change the rating with this chapter.)

Natalie opened up the door of the Cranny Bookshop. The bell rang, and Natalie could smell lemons on the air.

"She's making tea!" Natalie giggled, dropping her soda into the trash. Natalie skipped into the kitchen in the back.

Kay was stirring a boiling pot, dropping cloves into the pot.

"Natalie!" Kay beamed at her. "You're just in time, I need some cinnamon."

"The famous Lemon family tea," Natalie laughed, searching a cabinet for the cinnamon. "The cure for about anything that could possibly ail you… short of massive blunt force trauma, that is."

Kay laughed. "The recipe has been passed down from Lemon family matron to Lemon family matron for generations, and the day Brian knocked me up, making me the latest Lemon family mama, his mother shared the secret ingredients with me." She lifted up the wooden spoon, tasting it slightly with the tip of her tongue. She screwed up her face, shaking her head rapidly.

"Any chance of you sharing it with me?" Natalie asked, handing her the cinnamon.

"The day you marry one of my boys we'll talk."

Natalie shot her a dirty look.

"Sorry kiddo, Lemon family tradition. Even the guys don't know." Kay dropped three sticks of cinnamon into the pot. "And tradition is everything to Mama Lemon." Kay rolled her eyes.

"That why she looks like SHE swallowed a lemon every time she visits here?" Natalie grinned.

"Pssshh, she may have never approved of me, but we get along fine. Try this." Kay offered the spoon to Natalie, who took a small sip.

"God! It tastes like sludge!" she gasped, spitting into the sink.

"Sludge?" Kay tasted it. "Nope, like drinking acid. Good, we're on the right track."

Natalie looked shocked.

"Well it's not done yet, now is it?" Kay asked.

"This is really stupid." Damien said, pulling his leg out of a rotten floorboard.

"Yeah, I heard you the first five times." Danni rolled her eyes. "We just need to find David and then we can leave, okay?"

"He won't come, not until he's run up the stairs and figured out there's no power in here." Damien lurched backwards, his leg freed suddenly from the floor. "I told him Mike would pull something dirty."

Danni caught the twin in her arms. He brushed off his pant leg.

"Let's look for the stairs, David would of headed there first."

Damien rolled his eyes. What was it with girls and thinking they knew everything. First Mom, then Natalie, and now Danni?

Danni scanned the walls of the mansion. Years of neglect had caked the walls and furniture and grime. One wall had a large hole allowing kudzu and other weeds to spill in.

Damien trudged behind her, kicking aside debris. He glanced to the wall, spotting a nick in the corner. He walked up to it, tracing it with his finger.

"Danni, look at this!"

Danni joined him, staring at the nick in the wall.

"Do ya think the ax-killer made it?" he asked her in barely contained excitement.

Danni squinted, looking at it closer. The wood in the nick was clean compared to the surrounding wall.

"Naw, this is a new one."

A blue mist escaped from Danni's lips. "Oh no…" Danni whispered. Danni turned quick, pulling Damien down in time to duck the axe swinging at their heads.

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"The ghosts are moving tonight, restless, hungry." (Elisha Cook Jr. –House on Haunted Hill)

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Danni and Damien hit the floor. Danni looked up at their attacker who was prying the axe from the wall where it had lodged.

He was dressed in a white collared shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, black pants held up by suspenders. In place of a tie however, hung a length of frayed, coarse rope. He glowed a slight reddish tint, hovering several inches above the ground.

"It's the Carter family butler!" Damien gasped.

"Beware." His gutteral, choked voice had a haunting echo. His glowing grey eyes were wide and sad. The axe popped out of the wall, shedding wooden splinters onto the two children. "Beware."

Danni pulled Damien to his feet and they ran, the ghost flying after them.

Danni pulled Damien through a doorway, finding it to be an empty room. The ghost flew in after them, trapping them.

Damien closed his eyes tight as the ghost raised his axe above his head. Damien felt a strange lightness that spread from where Danni was gripping his arm to his stomach. He felt the axe, but instead of crunching down into his head, he felt a tickling sensation as it passed effortlessly through his body. Danni pulled him forward, running.

Damien opened his eyes, looking backwards at the now incredibly confused ghost.

"Come on, Damien! We've got to get out of here!"

"Not without David! We can't leave David!" Damien pleaded, pulling back on Danni's arm. The thought of leaving his brother tore at his insides like ragged claws.

Danni dragged him behind another corner, cupping his mouth with a hand. She glanced around the corner. The ghost floated down another corridor, searching for them.

Danni sighed. They had to find David fast if they were going to escape with their lives. She faced forward, trying to get it together. Looking forward, she noticed the stairs.

"Ugh, of course." She groaned. "The stairs. Damien, you get out of here and I'll look for David."

"No way! That ghost is blocking the way to the door, and I'm not leaving you and David!" he huffed stubbornly.

Danni glanced at the stairway. "Oh, all right, but stay close to me."

They crept up the stairs, conscious of ever squeak and creak the stairs made under their feet.

Danni was also all too aware of the unsteady stairs that shook sunk to the sides as they climbed up the circular stairs to the tower room.

Damien flinched as one of the rotted oil paintings lining the stairwell crashed down from its perch, rolling and crunching down the stairs.

Danni was relieved to see the tower room door as they finished their ascension. She even noticed a small line of light under the door, meaning David must of made it too.

"Beware!" She butler's ghost moaned, rising in midair beside the stairs where Danni and Damien were catching their breath. It swung it's axe at Danni's head, who ducked just in time, grabbing Damien's hand and running, out of breath to the door.

Danni grasped the doorknob, twisting it back and forth. It shook uselessly in its socket. Danni pulled on the door, then pushed, Damien's arms wrapped around her waist as he tried to add his own meager mass to the effort.

The butler raised his axe above their terrified heads, his grey eyes were filled with tears. He swung it down with one last mournful "Beware!"

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Thanks to everyone who has shown interest in this little project of mine by reviewing.

Chapter 4 is coming up fast.