Author's Note: Here's the sequel I promised. This story is dedicated to my friend LuMezenga and Ma Corrêa who had the main idea for the plot and to Stefanie for giving me Stefan's name.Again I do not own anything, all those rights go straight to Joseph Delaney. Hope you like it. Read and review it.
Chapter 9: The Haunted House
Tom and I went to the hotel's reception and we found Mary on her father's place reading a book. We tried to look casual, like we were just going to take a walk. We stopped by the reception's table and rang the small bell. Mary looked up, closed her book and tried to smile at us.
"Hello, how can I help you?" she said.
"We are going to take a walk. Do you suggest any interesting places here?" I asked.
"Here? There is none. Little Wismming is not very touristic city," Mary answered.
"Not even a haunted house? This is the place where a haunted house should be. The environment is perfect for it," Tom said.
"Well… There is a haunted house not far from here. If you follow the street in the direction of the church, then turn to the right and keep walking straight, you'll get there. The house is isolated. It's the last one in the street. You'll definitely recognize it when you get there. But I wouldn't go there if I were you. It has the reputation of haunted for a reason. Nobody dares to get into the house, but there are rumors that a monster that eats human souls lives there," Mary said.
"Interesting…Thank you, Mary," I replied.
Mary tried to smile again and got back to her book. Tom and I left the hotel and followed Mary's directions. We headed to the church, and then turned right and we kept walking straight. As we walked through the street, I could feel a cold wind even though it was summer, which meant we were getting closer. At least, the sun wasn't so close from setting down. We finally spotted the house. It was very isolated just like Mary had said. The closest house was half a mile away from it. We stopped in front of it before getting into it.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Tom asked me.
"Yes, we are already here. It's worth a try," I said.
I opened the front gate and walked to the door. Tom followed me. He grabbed the key he used to open all lockers, but before he could do anything, the door opened itself. There was definitely something inside of the house. I looked at Tom and he stepped into the house. Everything was dark, so Tom lit up a candle. There were three doors just like in my dream. My heart raced.
"Now, which way do we go?" Tom asked.
"To the left," I said remembering my dream.
Tom went first and I followed him. The room was just like the one in my dream, but the furniture was old and dirty, like it had been years since someone actually lived there. The fireplace was on again and the scene made me shiver. I held Tom's hand and he looked at me.
"There is something here. I can feel it," he said.
"That's good… Right?" I hesitated a little.
"Probably not. Are you sure you want to do this?" he whispered.
"Not anymore," I whispered back.
The door behind us, then, shut down. I tightened Tom's hand and looked back.
"Now there is no way out," Tom said.
"Great, now we have to wait," I replied.
Tom and I stayed in silence for a couple of minutes, when a wind lit off his candle. The fire in the fireplace extinguished and everything went dark. I couldn't see anything.
"It's coming," Tom whispered in my ear.
A gray light came from another door. It was thin as smoke. It stopped in front of us and finally it shaped itself. It seemed a ghost of a normal 40 year old man, but for someone who had dealt with ghosts before, I knew that the spirit in front of us wasn't just a ghost. It exhaled power and presence.
"I knew you would come, but I must tell you Alice, you are very strong. It was harder the usual to get into your head and make you dream," Fiend said surrounding me.
"Just say what you want," I said firmly.
"Everything on its time. First, there is a thing or two I want to ask you," he said.
"If I'm able to answer it, I will," I said.
"Strong minded, I see. Well, first question: Did you release Stefan?"
"Yes."
"Why did you do it?"
"I do not owe you any explanation," I said regretting it at the same time.
"Alice, don't," Tom whispered in my ear.
"You should answer my questions correctly," Fiend got a little mad.
"If you already know the answer why are you wasting your time?" I asked.
"I have all time I want, but you don't. So, I would suggest for you to stop being arrogant and answer the question," Fiend got closer to me and I shivered.
"Well, I was upset. He persuaded me and I released him. Anyway I don't owe you any explanations of my actions. You could just stop asking questions and tell us how you can help, if you can actually do that," I challenged him.
"You are a stupid girl," Fiend screamed. "Do you know how long it took me to lock Stefan? He was ruining my name and reputation. I am supposed to be the Master of the Dark, not him. He was more powerful than I thought. It took me 2 years to catch that bastard. He was supposed to remain in that graveyard forever."
"He was about to get out of there. He was awakening. All I did was accelerate the process. It's not my problem if you can't control your own son," I shouted back.
"Of course it is. You released him, he is your brother. You're a failure as a Fiend's daughter. Now that Stefan is free, he is coming after me. If I get destroyed all my sons and daughters will suffer the consequences and that includes you," Fiend screamed again. He was furious with me.
"I thought you wanted to help me to get Stefan. It seems you are very afraid of him, but right now I am thinking of helping him to destroy you. You are the most useless god ever created," I started to feel the hate running through my blood. "I don't give a damn if you are the Devil, or my father or whoever. You're pathetic and I don't know why people fear you. You're not even alive. This is just a part of you. You don't have half of your true power here. The last spooks must have been idiots because they couldn't destroy you."
Fiend didn't say anything. His ghost stopped in front of me and he looked deep into my eyes. I tried to avoid it but I just couldn't do it. I kept looking at him until everything was black and all I could see were memories. My memories. First, it was Bony Lizzie slapping me because I messed up one of her potions when I was 4 years old. Then, I saw her locking me up in a small dark room, grounding me because I tried to use a spell outside the house. After that the images passed too fast and I couldn't recognize the situations. When it finished, I stumbled back and I felt Tom's hand on my back, helping me. Fiend's spirit was still in front of me looking furious.
"Don't mess with me, girl," he whispered dangerously. "I can be your worst nightmare. I can track your mind, make you remember your worst memories and make you live in pain and fear for the rest of your miserable life."
"You are a pathetic excuse of god," I whispered back.
"Alice, stop it," Tom whispered in my ear.
"Don't forget that you asked for it," the spirit said.
He stepped back, closed his eyes and his fists. The house started to shake, it was like an earthquake. The fire in the fireplace started to grow and burn the carpet and the curtains. Tom grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the door behind us. It was shut and the fire started to spread throughout the room. In a few seconds almost the whole room was on fire and the house was still shaking.
"You won't escape," Fiend's voice echoed in the house.
I looked back and Fiend's spirit wasn't there anymore. Tom was trying to open the door, but he wasn't getting anywhere. I looked around the room searching for another way out. When I finally saw a window we could break. I grabbed Tom's arm. He stopped and looked at me.
"Come with me," I told him.
He nodded and followed me. We tried to avoid the fire, but it was hard to move because the house started to shake even more furiously, like it was about to explode. We got to the window. Tom tried to open it but it was stuck. I grabbed his staff and put myself in front of him.
"Cover your eyes," I told him.
He did as I said and I broke the window.
"Let's go," Tom said and got out first to help me.
When I was about to get out, the ceiling fell on the ground and I looked back.
"Forget it, Alice. Come on," he said and helped me to get out.
When I was finally out of the house, we heard a whistle, like a pressure cooker that was about to explode. We started to run, but we didn't go far when we heard the house exploding. Tom pushed me to the ground and made me cover my head. After a while, we got up and looked back at the house. It was no longer a house, just a pile of burnt wood on the floor. There pieces of the walls and of the furniture everywhere. Tom looked at me and then to my arm. It was bleeding.
"Are you ok?" I asked.
"Yes, I am. Your arm is bleeding," he said worried.
"I'm fine, don't worry. It was probably the glass that I broke. It is nothing. I can take care of it later."
"We have to leave. The explosion will call people's attention. They will come soon. Let's get out of here and go back to the hotel," he said.
I nodded in agreement and we headed back to the hotel.
While we were getting closer to the church, we could see a bunch of people heading to the house, of course, because of the explosion. I just hoped that nobody had seen us going to the house or leaving it.