Chapter 3: Ghostly Appearances

"Wait, you're descended from Dracula?" Silver asked, shocked at the revelation. "Who was your great grandfather?"

"Charles Hedgehog," Sonic told them as he flipped to the next page and saw a picture of Dracula. He was a black hedgehog with red eyes and his quills were pointed up. "Pretty threatening looking dude; wonder what made him that way..."

"Are the rumors of him being a vampire true?"

Sonic smirked, then looked at Silver and Blaze with a glint in his eyes. "I want to suck your blood," he said jokingly in a Romanian accent.

"Very funny, Sonic." Blaze shook her head and looked away as she crossed her arms. The blue hedgehog chuckled.

"What else does the book say?" Silver asked.

Sonic flipped through it until he saw something. "Here's something interesting."

"What is it?" Silver asked.

"A murder that happened in the castle a few centuries ago..." Sonic trailed off as he read the account. "Someone named Shadow was killed in 1508 as he was living there. Apparently he's Dracula's son," he continued.

"Does it say why?"

"No, it doesn't."

"Probably some kind of thing with his family or something," Blaze said.

Sonic looked at Silver. "You mentioned something about that felt off about the castle? What was it?"

"I don't know. It could be this Shadow. If he stuck around after being murdered, that is."

"You mean, he's a ghost haunting my castle?"

"Maybe. I'd have to look around to decide if that's what it is or not."

Sonic nodded and closed the book, then walked up to the front desk. "Could I check this book out?" He asked the librarian.

"If you're careful with it, I suppose it couldn't hurt," the librarian replied.

She checked it out and handed it to him. Sonic walked back to Blaze and Silver. "What do you want to do now?"

"I think we'll go off on our own for a few hours." Silver looked at Blaze as he spoke.

Blaze nodded in agreement.

"Go ahead," Sonic said. "I'm going to go back to the castle."

The three left the library, and Sonic waved to them as he headed home. Once he was at the castle, he continued reading the book. The book was interesting, he had to admit. He had no idea that he was descended from Dracula, and thought it was pretty cool. He flipped a page and saw a picture of Shadow.

"Can definitely see the resemblance," Sonic muttered.

He continued to read about Shadow, growing interested in the hedgehog as he read. There still wasn't anything about why he died. Sonic also read that Shadow had a brother named Mephiles. The two seemed to get along well, according to the book. Sonic closed the book and sighed. What could Shadow have been murdered about? After a few more minutes drumming his fingers on the book, Sonic stood.

"Time to go back to the library."

He walked up to the front doors but as soon as he was about to exit, he felt as if someone was watching him. Pausing and looking around, Sonic couldn't help but remember what Silver had said earlier. If Shadow was still living in the castle after all this time...A breeze went past him. He shuddered, and left. It was a few moments before he was walking into the library again, having run there to make sure he had enough time to browse.

"May I help you?" The librarian asked as Sonic walked up to the front desk.

"Would more books about Dracula be in the same area as the one I checked out?"

"Yes, they would."

"Thanks."

Sonic walked over to the section he was in before and looked around for any other books about Dracula and his family. A few minutes later, he found some. Carefully, he carried them to the front desk and checked them out. Sonic went back to the castle and sat down on the sofa. He picked up the first book and began to read. This book told of the history of Dracula and his family. For a while he lounged there reading. As he read, a breeze blew past him and he thought he felt someone watching him. Sonic looked around.

"Hello?"

There was no response besides another breeze rustling his quills and the pages of his book. The blue hedgehog looked down and saw the pages flapping. They stopped on a page of Shadow.

"Shadow? You are here?"

Silence followed. A few minutes later a voice sounded. "I am."

"I can hear you?" Sonic looked around for the source of the voice but couldn't see anyone.

"You can."

"But I can't see you..."

"I'm a ghost. I'm invisible," Shadow said. "But I am here, I assure you."

"Well duh." Sonic pouted. "Guess Silver was right."

"Who's Silver?"

"A friend of mine."

"I see...what are you doing in my castle?"

Sonic smirked. "I live here."

"Yes, I could tell that. Why did you choose this one?"

"Something about it caught my interest. It felt like home to me. Probably because I just found out that I'm descended from Dracula."

"You managed to trace your family history back that far? Impressive."

"I got a book from the library that has information about Dracula and his family. My great-grandfather's name is in there. His name's Charles," Sonic said.

"Then you figured it out by chance."

Sonic rubbed his nose. "I guess you could say that. So, how long have you been watching me?"

"Since you arrived."

"I interest you that much?"

"You have no idea how long I've been alone here."

"It must be lonely for you. How long have you been here?" Sonic asked.

"A long time."

"I read that you were murdered."

"I was."

"Do you know what happened?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Fair enough," Sonic said. There was a silence in the room then. "So, think I'll ever be able to see you?"

"Maybe. If I feel like showing myself."

"What do you do around here?"

"Whatever I feel like."

"How'd you become a ghost anyway? Can you not pass on for some reason?" Sonic asked.

"I didn't feel the urge to leave. So I stayed here."

Something told Sonic that Shadow wasn't telling him everything, but he went with it.

"I see."

"Anyway, I don't mind you living in my castle."

"That's good. It's nice to hear my ancestor is here."

Shadow chuckled. "I'm a little removed from your family tree, don't you think?"

"I suppose. Hey, you don't mind if my friends Silver and Blaze stay here for a few days? I invited them to spend the night."

"You already told them they could."

Sonic smiled, and Shadow's voice vanished. The blue hedgehog stretched, and looked up to see Silver and Blaze walk in. "Welcome back."

"Hey," Silver said. "What have you been doing while we've been gone?"

"Reading."

Silver nodded, then sensed something. He looked around. "Is Shadow here? I'm sensing a presence."

"Yeah, it's Shadow."

"Cool. Has he shown himself?"

"He's talked to me, but I couldn't see him."

"Keeping to himself for now, then?"

"Apparently. How was your walk?" Sonic asked.

"It wasn't just a walk. And we had fun."

"That's nice to hear. I'm glad you had fun."

"Would you mind if I looked around the castle?" Silver asked.

"Go ahead," Sonic said.

"Thanks." Silver stood up and walked into another room.

Sonic looked at Blaze. "What did you and Silver do after you left the library?"

"We went for a walk, hung out for a while. Just did a variety of things," Blaze told him.

"Sounds fun. Do you like it here?"

"We do. It's a nice town."

Sonic smiled. "Yeah, it is."

"What prompted you to move here?" Blaze asked.

"Station Square was getting boring. I wanted to try something new."

"But why this place in particular? There had to be something that made you pick it."

"I'm not really sure," Sonic said. "I guess...it felt like home to me."

"That's as good a reason as any."

The blue hedgehog smiled. His stomach rumbled, so he went into the kitchen to get something to eat. Silver was in there, looking around. "Find anything interesting?"

"I was wondering where your cake mix was, if you have any," Silver said. "I wanted to bake a cake."

"I don't have much of anything like that yet."

"Ah," Silver said. "Guess I'll just see what's in the refrigerator, then."

He opened the fridge. Silver brought out some yogurt, then sat down at the table and began to eat. "So, have you noticed anything here other than Shadow?"

Sonic shook his head. "No, not yet."

"Maybe there isn't anyone else."

"He might be the only ghost here, then. What did talk about when you spoke to him?"

"The castle and him, mostly."

Silver smiled. "It'll be interesting to have a ghost around."

Sonic nodded in agreement. "Maybe I can learn some stuff from him, too."

Silver took another bite of his yogurt. "So," he said. "What do you think about being a descendant of Dracula?"

"It's always interesting to find out who your ancestors were."

Silver smiled. "Yeah, it is."

"The fact that I own the castle now's just amusing."

Silver smiled. "Do you mind if I dance with Blaze in the ballroom?"

"Not at all."

Silver stood up and went into the living room. "Would you like to dance with me, Blaze?"

"I'd love to." Blaze stood and went over, placing her hand in his. The two walked into the ballroom and began to dance.