19
"So," Sam said, shoving a fern out of his path. "How much of this hell hole have you been through?"
Elizabeth turned slightly, floating right through an outreaching rose bush. "Not much."
The four living beings and the singe ghost had decided to take the more direct route through the gardens that stretched through the middle of the house. A glass covering soared overhead, filtering what should have been sunlight but was instead roiling thunderheads. The path they were on wound its way through the garden, a massive place filled with every type of flower and vegetation imaginable, from fruit plants to exotic flowers. Space in between were beautiful fountains and statues of angels, cherubs, animals, Greek goddesses and gods, among other things. With the exception of the sky overhead threatening to rain fury down upon their heads if it could break through the thin glass barrier, Sam found the garden to be peaceful. Heather's small hand was wrapped in his as she trailed behind him, picking her way past some of the thornier species of plant that had overgrown onto the path.
"Shoulda brought a machete," Dean grumbled, swatting aside a branch.
"Oh enjoy it," Kya said. "Unless the tomato monster attacks, I feel okay here."
"Tomato monster?" Dean responded incredulously. "You can't be serious."
Heather laughed. Sam tightened his hand around hers. He in no way felt for her what he had for Jessica. All the same he felt it was now his duty to make sure she stayed alive and she wasn't an unattractive girl. She was small, about 5'3" with raven black hair that curled in loose waves around her face, touching the tips of her shoulders. Her eyes were dark brown and her skin a golden brown, the color of brown sugar. She was Hispanic by heritage and her voice held the slightest trace of the accent that went with the heritage, leading Sam to believe she was fluent in both Spanish and English. She really was a beautiful girl but Sam couldn't bring himself to get past his broken heart. At the moment he was just enjoying the feeling of having a hand in his own and somebody to look out for other than his brother.
He listened to his brother and Kya continue their conversation about the likelihood of there actually being a Tomato Monster and smiled to himself. It was the first time in a long time that he had seen Dean actually content with his world and he didn't want his brother to lose that. Despite the fact that his own love life was in shambles, mostly due to himself not being able to let go of Jessica, he wanted his brother to find happiness.
They came to the center of the gardens where a circular clearing had opened up, lined with blossoming rose bushed of all colors. In the center of the clearing was a huge fountain of stone, four tiered, and spouting clear water down the sides. At the top was an angel, wings outspread and face tilted toward the sky above with a look of serenity and wisdom plastered for eternity on its stone features.
Elizabeth held out a ghostly arm to tell the others to cease walking. "I feel something."
"Must be the tomato monster," Dean said under his breath.
His joke was broken by a ghostly man that stepped out from the rose bushes, passing right through them. Kya gasped, jumping back. She recognized the facial features, the startling blue eyes, the stern jaw and thin nose. She had seen them before on someone much younger.
"Colton!" she exclaimed, causing both the boys to fall into defensive postures.
Dean withdrew a gun and aimed it with one arm while holding Kya back with the other. Sam stepped up beside his brother in much the same manner, pushing Heather behind him to shield her with his own larger frame.
Elizabeth hovered off to the side, anger stamped across her features.
"We've been looking for you," Dean grated.
The ghost held up his hands as if to ward them off. "I know. I was waiting. Hoping you would find me."
Dean cocked his head to the side, looking past the gun to the man's face in puzzlement. "What the hell are you talking about? Why would you want us to find you?"
"Please, it's not what you think. Put the gun down and let me explain."
Dean looked at Sam and Kya who returned the gesture with a shrug from each of them. Dean lowered the gun slowly but kept it in his hand. He nodded to the ghost of Colton Banks to start speaking.
"I can't leave this garden," Colton said slowly. "If I do the house will consume it like it has everything else. I've been able to keep this place and the foyer safe, but that's as far as my energy will go."
Kya shook her head, confused.
"It wasn't me who put a curse on the book. I created this piece of fiction for the sole purpose of good writing but it proved to be my doom. I've been trapped here ever since my death, unable to move on."
"I don't understand," Sam said in frustration. "If it's not you then who is it?"
Colton looked at them gravely. "My son. Hunter."
"Hunter?" Kya exclaimed.
"Yes. When I died unjustly he was so angered at the town for their betrayal of me that he used dark magic to curse the last legacy of my life. It's his anger and power that keeps this place running. My brother has never been able to find a cure for his bloodlust. He wanted the book for himself, so that he could use it to devise even more fiendish ways to kill," Colton looked sadly at Elizabeth. "That's how you were killed, my dear. Jason learned that the book was in your possession and he killed you for it. Only it wasn't there."
Elizabeth stared at the ground as Kya pushed past Dean to stare hard at the man. "How do you know all of this?"
Colton motioned toward the water that stood in the bottom tier of the fountain, about three feet deep. "I can see into your world through the water's reflection when the sun shines. Which isn't very often. Only when I can outdo my son's will and take over control of this place for an instant. Hunter thinks that vengeance is what I want. He can't hear me from here so he doesn't know how I feel."
Dean shook his head. "Would it change anything if he did?"
Colton looked away sadly. "Probably not. My son is consumed by anger for what the town did. In his eyes they stole his father away. The real killer walked free. He was killed years later when the town turned on him."
"We know all of that," Kya told him. "Why can't the people that die here move on?"
"Hunter uses the power in their souls to help him power the place. They can't move on until the book is destroyed, breaking the curse."
Dean scoffed. "Now why didn't we just burn the damn thing?"
Sam ignored his brother's rhetorical question. "How do we get out of here?"
Colton shook his head. "I wish I knew."
20
Dean sighed and ran his hands through his air, finally replacing the gun that he had pulled on Colton. Kya watched him pace back and forth while she stood next to Heather near the fountain.
"You're telling me that we're stuck here?" Dean demanded finally.
"Not exactly," the ghost corrected. "I'm telling you that if there is a way out, I don't know what it is."
Elizabeth shook her own ghostly head. "I haven't been here long but I know that most of the people who get in here don't get back out alive."
"That's very comforting, thanks," Dean said sarcastically.
"Dean," Sam said sternly, "It's not there fault. We got ourselves into this mess now we're just gonna have to find the way out."
Another explosively agitated sigh from Dean. "I know that Sammy. But as many times as we've come close to being sliced and diced in this madhouse, I'm wondering if we'll be living long enough to accomplish that."
Colton shook his head sadly. "I'm sorry. I never meant for all of this to happen."
"It's not your fault," Heather said, finally speaking up. "You didn't know any of this would happen."
Kya nodded her agreement. Her brain was working overtime, trying to figure out the most likely way to escape from this place. Originally they thought that if they found and destroyed Colton's ghost then that would set them free. That was no longer the case. Their must be some other power source from within the book, something that they had overlooked. She turned away from the fountain to stare out over the gardens, thinking back on everything she had seen and discovered since starting this case.
After wracking her brain she had still come up empty on ideas, before Heather put a hand on her arm.
"Call me stupid," she said hesitantly. "But if Hunter is keeping this place going, then wouldn't he have a way to find out what's going on inside the book?"
Kya turned a startled look on the younger girl. "You could be onto something. Even if he does, though, I don't see how that's going to get us out of here. He's probably laughing at us right now."
"I think I might know something that could help," Elizabeth said, coming to join the other two girls. "Colton wrote the book, but obviously when Hunter put the curse on it, he changed what was written. Colton's words are no longer relevant to what's happening here. But I remember reading a page from the original version for a research project at school, and it said something about a tower."
Kya turned abruptly to face Colton. "Did you write about a tower in the original version of this story?"
"Why, yes," he said, caught off guard. "It was the final stage, the climax of the story. The tower housed the mansion's guardian, the creature that kept it operational. The heroes escaped by destroying the creature and the tower. But I don't see how that's relevant. The tower no longer exists here and my writing isn't part of what this has become."
Kya nodded. "I know that. But Hunter can't have changed that much. The original foundation of your story still exists, otherwise you wouldn't be able to control parts of the mansion."
Dean caught on to her train of thought. "Where was this tower at, originally?"
"At the back of the house, through the gardens," Colton replied. "There's a secondary kitchen back there, and then the back wings of rooms, a study, a ballroom, and then a staircase on the far right side of the house. But the staircase isn't there anymore."
"What's there instead?" Sam asked.
"A wall," Colton replied.
Heather shook her head. "Just because we can't see the staircase doesn't mean it isn't there. Maybe if we finish the story the way it was supposed to end, we can reverse what was done."
Sam nodded, his eyes lighting up at the possibility. "If we end the story, there's nothing else left after that. It just might work. We might go back to where we belong, or back to the beginning of the story."
"I'm not liking that idea," Dean grumbled. "I don't want to go back to the beginning of anything, other than this day."
Colton stared at the ground. "It could work. It's a shot in the dark, but it could work."
Dean's face set grimly. "A shot in the dark is all we've got."
"It's better than nothing," Sam agreed. "Better than standing here and trying to click our heels to get home."
"I don't know about you," Dean told his brother, "But I'm not wearing any ruby red heels."
"The color might work for you," Kya laughed.
Dean made a face and shook his head. "As fun as this chitchat has been, I want to get the hell out of here. So why don't we go try this shot in the dark?"
"I'd rather not and say we did," Heather replied, "But I want to go home too."
Sam nodded at the ghost of Colton. "Then let's go."
