Chapter Eight

A/N: Another chapter. I don't own clue. Enjoy!

I had changed out of the dress and back into my regular clothes as Peter carefully placed the journal into his bag. I stepped back out from behind the curtain, the delicate dress cradled in my arms. I set it down gently on the old steamer trunk before turning towards Peter.

"It's so sad; she loved Plum, but as far as I can tell, they never really knew about each other's feelings." I sighed, remembering Evelyn's sad words.

"Yeah," Peter sighed, glancing down at his feet as if he were ashamed of something.

I bit my lip and crossed my legs, wishing that I didn't have to go to the bathroom.

"Hey Peter, you still have that blue print, don't you?" I asked. He looked back up at me as if he just remembered.

"Oh, a bathroom! Right!" he nodded, throwing the blueprint onto the table. Unrolling it, we both searched the ancient scrawled words that hung over each room. "There," he pointed, his finger stabbing at a small closet-like room that was down a long, narrow hallway that eventually led to the kitchen.

"Oh, thank you!" I sighed happily, rushing to my feet and grabbing my candle that had slowly been melting away in a corner.

We both rushed down the stairs, thankfully being able to open the door at the bottom this time. Finally, we found the room that I so desperately needed. I set my candle on the middle of the floor, trying to light up the darkness of the room. It was as dilapidated as the rest of the house, and at first I was worried about sitting down on the toilet unless there was something living inside of it, but I just crossed my fingers and got it over with.

Emerging from the dark space, I re-joined Peter in the hallway.

"Feel better?" he smiled over at me.

"Much," I sighed.

"Hey, want to see if David and Jackson are still down here? I'm getting kind of freaked out being split up from the rest of them." He explained, throwing a worried glance around the claustrophobic corridor. I nodded enthusiastically, wanting to see someone else besides just the two of us. I felt like we had been deserted in this house by ourselves.

We both started down the hallway, at first attempting cheerful small talk. Pretty soon we were quiet, our fear silencing us. Our lights gave us only so much comfort in the blackness of this house and I constantly felt as if we were being followed.

Finally ahead of us I could make out the door to the kitchen. Swinging it open slowly, we both looked inside. It was as dark as a cave back here; no amount of light pollution was able to sneak in. I stepped more fully into the room, resisting the urge to hold onto Peter. The door creaked close behind us, and my shallow breathing sped up.

"Well," Peter attempted a weak smile, "No one's here. Guess we should-"

Before he could finish a loud crashing noise made us both jump. We trained our lights on a pile of dishes as they clattered to life.

"Maybe it's just a mouse or something," Peter whispered back to me, as if that thought would comfort me at all. And then, something black streaked out from the pile, making the dishes collapse noisily onto the floor. Whatever it was melted into the shadows, but I could see yellow eyes staring at us from the darkness.

"Peter," I whimpered as we both stared at the creature.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Let's get out of here."

"Agreed." He nodded back. We made for the door. Peter slammed himself against it, but it didn't budge at all. I cried out as he fell onto the floor, surprised by the sudden stop. I helped him up, but he was shaken.

"T-the door," He scrambled to his feet, backing away from the exit, "It's, somebody nailed it shut!" he pointed at it. I blinked before shivering in fear.

Someone was behind us; we were trapped down here with someone… something!

My thoughts terrified me more than whatever was behind the nailed-shut door. I felt all the blood drain out of my face. One look over at Peter and I could see that he was as pale as I was. Good thing I went to the bathroom earlier.

Another clatter from the undead dishes sent us both rushing backwards into another door. The pantry. We both fell flat on our backs as the door opened behind us. Trying to get my breath back, I looked around, and then saw something strange.

"Peter," I asked, crawling over towards the back wall that was covered in shelves, "Why would someone need a doorknob on a shelf?"

"What?" he asked, getting to his feet.

I turned the old metal knob slowly as Peter stood by my side, and then the whole wall opened like a giant door. For a moment we were speechless, staring into the abyss of a secret passageway. And then Peter smiled down at me and I just had to smile back.

He held a hand out towards me and I could see that he was shaking. I clutched it tightly and we set off together, closing the door behind us. I don't know if I took his hand because of my fear, or because something in his wonderful dark eyes had made me want to more than anything right then.

We followed each other in a single-file line through the dank, dark tunnel for what seemed like an eternity. I gave a sigh and noticed that I could faintly see my breath.

Glancing behind me I made out the dim shadows of David, Heather, and Jackson. I was getting really tired of having to be the brave one. Didn't anyone realize that I was just as scared as them? But with everyone else falling to pieces, it was up to me to keep control. Like always.

Up ahead my cold flashlight beam made out something that glinted like metal in the darkness. I tried to squint and make it out, but as we grew closer I finally knew what it was. I ran my hand down the dusty, rusty metal and shivered with the cold.

"What is it?" Heather asked. I turned back to her with a small smile.

"The end of the tunnel; we've finally reached where it leads to!"

"It leads to… a dead end?" David asked. I gave him a funny look before turning back to the large slab of metal. Giving it a push at one end, it slowly revolved open.

Everyone crowded around behind me as the "door" opened to reveal a room. Looking out, I caught my breath. The room was covered in windows (all boarded up) and held old antique metal benches and what once were plants. Many had long since died, but some had sprouted into the room wildly, taking the space over and transforming it into a jungle.

"A conservatory…" I breathed, stepping down into the room.

"A what?" Jackson asked. I almost jumped. I hadn't realized that he was next to me.

"It's kind of like a covered patio. See, the walls are made out of storm windows. Or, they were." I shrugged, tapping on the walled-in glass.

David was helping Heather out of the secret passageway, which was disguised down here as a rather large painting with an elaborate frame. A silence wrapped itself around us as we studied the room. Then, we all turned back to each other.

"Well, what now?" Heather asked.

We were answered by a distant scream. I tried to not look pale as a shiver went down my spine.

It was Peter.



Madison and I had followed the secret passageway, and I don't remember ever being as scared in my life. I was still shaken from what had happened back in the kitchen, and it didn't help that the tunnel we were in was dark and old and very narrow. I could barely see anything, even with my flashlight. That's why it was such a shock when all of a sudden the tunnel ended and we were left staring at a wall stained with bloody handprints.

Suddenly I lost it. I felt hot and cold all at once as the tunnel seemed to get smaller and darker around me. I turned around quickly, my eyes darting around fearfully. Someone must be behind us; someone was waiting there to kill us, I knew it. My breathing became shallow as Madison stared at me.

"Peter, are you alright?" she asked. I jerked away from her, pushing up against the wall, which then fell open.

I screamed as I fell down into the room, landing with a thud on the carpet. Groaning, I blinked my eyes open to see Madison gazing down at me from a part of the bookcase that was opened up. Her face was pale as she looked down around the room.

"Peter…" she said weakly. I looked around. I had fallen inside the study, landing right on the blood-stained carpet.

"Auh!" I cried, jumping to my feet. Madison leapt into the room, landing close to me. We both cowered together as we stared around us. And then there was the noise of running and people shouting, and everyone else was standing in the doorway.

We all gave little screeches as we caught sight of each other before standing still and just staring around our group. And then Madison fell against me.

"Oh…" she moaned quietly, her eyes fluttering open and close. I caught her and she smiled up at me weakly.

"I don't like this anymore." She murmured with a sad smile, her eyes finally closing.



Mrs. Peacock sidled up closer to col. Mustard, the quiet mansion getting to her. She was the one that had found poor Reginald and she still couldn't get the image out of her head. Someone so young…

"Mrs. Peacock?" Mustard inquired. She glanced up at him and he noticed her red eyes. She gave a sweet smile.

"Sorry col. Mustard, but I'm afraid I'm a little on edge ever since…" she trailed off, giving a little sob as tears escaped from the corners of her eyes. The col. melted.

He put one of his rather large, very strong hands on the crying woman's shoulder, making her look up at him through her tears. He handed her a clean hankie from his front pocket, embroidered with an elaborate MM.

"Please Elizabeth," he asked, his eyes seeming very tender for a man who has spent most of his time wrestling alligators and chasing lions, "call me Michael."

Mrs. Peacock slowly smiled up at the large, formidable man in front of her.

"Of course, Michael." She spoke timidly. She normally called him Michael anyway, since she never addressed a man by anything but his first name (even if she didn't know it,), but tonight after the murder she had been suspicious and too frightened to flirt.

Suddenly, the lights in the very large house flickered and went out.

"Oh, horsefeathers!" Mustard muttered.

I felt like I was moving, and then I realized that I was being carried. I tried to open my eyes, but they felt so heavy.

"You think she's alright?" I heard Jackson ask quietly from somewhere nearby.

"Yeah, it was just all the excitement. She just fainted, it'll be okay." I heard David answer.

I felt someone's eyes on me, and I shifted slightly, aware that whoever it was, it was the person who was carrying me. Their hand rubbed my arm softly, and I smiled, relaxing. Whoever it was sighed as we rounded a corner.

"Here, lay her down on the couch." Alex whispered and whoever was carrying me set me down gently on a lumpy surface, which I realized must be the worn-out couch in the lounge.

As they set my body down, they leaned in closer to me and I could smell their shampoo. I smiled and stretched out. They wrapped something around me that was warm and comforting and leaned in closer. I felt a soft hand on my face, brushing the stray hairs out of my face.

"Maddy… please be okay." Their voice hummed in my ear and then I realized that it was Peter. He had carried me here and wrapped me in my jacket that I had taken off when I had tried on the wedding dress. My eyes fluttered open and I saw him gazing at me with such tenderness in his eyes, such emotion that I had never seen before.

"Peter…" I breathed, and his face immediately masked whatever it had been showing the second before.

A loud bang sounded from upstairs and everyone froze. We all were quiet, hardly breathing, as we all listened. Very quietly we could hear careful footsteps from upstairs.

"Alright, that's it," Jackson huffed, "This place is haunted!" he threw his hands up.

"No, Jackson," Alex corrected him shakily, her eyes wide with saved-up fear, "Someone's in the house."

And then the two last candles in the lounge burnt out and the constricting darkness settled in around us.

A/N: Ahhhhhh! Scary! Or, at least I hope so. Fluff and creepiness are a fun combo. You go from all sweet and fluffy to cold and shivery. Anyways, another long-awaited chapter. Enjoy and review! I'll try to post another one soon, but I can't promise anything. Summer band has started. I hate band. Oh well, senior year!