Day 3

Lancaster Castle- Archives

3:01 p.m.

Jeanine Davis-

Piles of large, ancient books loomed over me on the desk. They were re-written records of everything that had happened in the prisons. Who knew that the crown would think to keep things like this around? But I was stuck. I didn't know who or what I was looking for.

I sighed, and let my mind wander back to the feelings and words I had been attacked with.

"I was used by her in every way imaginable."

'What did he mean by that?'

"Jean?"

I almost jumped out of my skin, and glanced up to see Gavyn walk into the archive room.

"Hmmm?" I quickly turned back to the books but was handed two pieces of papers instead.

"What's this?"

"A comparison list. Mother made it and thought it could help you."

He pointed to the first page he gave me.

"This is a list of the accidents that you found. They're all dated. And this-" he pointed at the next page. "Is full of execution dates. We think the spirit was an officer of some lower rank."

"How could you tell?"

"Lin recorded the ordeal and Vyn and I went back over it." Lucy spoke confidentially.

How could I even overlook Lucy? She plopped herself down next to me cheerfully and pushed some of the books out of the way.

'Vyn?' It just dawned on me. I glanced between the two of them and shook my head. 'It's possible.'

"You really don't have to go through all of these, silly goose."

I fell silent and glanced at the list.

"Have you eaten yet?" Gavyn asked as he sat down next to me and flipped a book open.

I shook my head and continued studying the list.

"Nope, I've been busy."

"Busy with what? Listening to the bugs?"

Glaring at Gavyn with the darkest look I could muster, I pushed myself away from the desk and took the papers with me.

"I need a white board. Let's go back to base and we'll come back when we know what we're exactly looking for."

"Yes but you need to eat first." Lucy lectured me.

"I'll be fine. Besides, I have a granola bar back at base, let's go delineate children!"

Gavyn shot Lucy a slightly worried look.

"Oh no Lucy! She used a big word and then called us children. She suddenly got inspired."

I glared at him again and wanted to throw something at him, but had nothing to use as a missile.

"You're lucky. Come on you two. We have work to do!"

I was quick to leave the couple behind; I was finally getting a lead. As I crossed the courtyard, movement had caught my attention. I slowed down to a stop and watched a bus full of inmates march into the prison part of the castle. But for some reason, one had really grabbed my attention. He was the oldest one of them all, or that's what it seemed like to me. His face was covered with a white beard and moustache. He wasn't in a bad condition; actually, he looked healthier than a horse.

"Sis?"

The prisoner's eyes flashed over to where I was standing, and for a motherent, his brown eyes locked with mine. I felt a chill down my spine as he started to walk away, then broke the contact. Biting my bottom lip, I turned away and carried on about my business.

'We might need to talk to the prisoner in the cell that's haunted.' I sent to Gavyn, though I resented that remark.

'We've thought about it before. But if it's going to happen, you know father won't let you in on it.'

'I know.'

8:57 pm

Lancaster Castle- Secondary Base

"Okay, so we have three possibilities." I sighed as Madoka wrote of the white board.

After two whole hours of marking out possible dates on the white board, we were finally able to narrow it down into three promising dates that had one too many suspicious deaths, or not enough.

Gavyn casted me a side long glance

'You still didn't eat supper either, did you?'

'I had a candy bar. Besides, I'm too busy to eat and I don't have an appetite to satisfy.'

'You used some power.'

'And I made up for it with a candy bar. Now twin, let's pay attention to Auntie. She hates it when we tune her out.'

"We should assign the dates to a group. Yasuhara, you and Jean will take August 12th, 1763. Gavyn, you and Lucy will take-"

Madoka fell silent as an alarm on the screen started to warn us of activity.

"The temperatures are dropping rapidly in the tower and in the office." Lin called out to us as we rushed to the screens. "But there's no apparitions at all."

"Switch it to the thermals." I ordered.

Everything turned to dark shades, showing no sign of heat anywhere at all.

"What could possibly cause the spirits to move react like this?" Lucy asked in wonder.

"Jean," Gavyn turned to me quickly. "Call mother and see if they have any activity."

I flipped my cell phone out of my pocket when all of the electricity shut down. My screen went blank as the entire castle blacked out.

"The electronics aren't working. Let's go see what's wrong." Lucy suggested.

I felt everyone move around me in the darkness, searching for anything to be used as light. There was a small flicker of flame as Yasu flipped out a lighter.

"Let's find candles, shall we?"

There was a quick shriek followed by a loud thud.

"Oh my god Lucy! Are you okay?"

'Gavyn, please try to not kill my friend. I'd appreciate to have her around.'

'It was an accident.'

"I think I sprained my wrist, that's all. I'll be fine." She answered back cheerfully.

I closed my eyes and tried to recall the blue prints of the room. I knew there were candle holders on the wall by the door, but that was for decoration. Weather it held candles or not was a different story.

However, when I reached for where I thought the candles were, I ended up smacking someone in the face.

"Ow!"

I took a deep breath in.

"Oops. Sorry Auntie. It looks like we had the same idea. Are there any candles in that?"

"Oh yeah. We'll be good for a little bit." I could feel her move next to me as if she made a grab for them. "Yasu, dearest, will you bring that lighter over here? We found some candles."

"I'm here!" I jumped, startled when I heard Yasu's voice exactly behind me.

It didn't even help that he held the lighter up close to my face. Even though it was pointless, I shot him a dark glare. I prayed he would feel the glares, but if he did, it didn't stop him at all. Soon, some light filled the room, and every other person held a candle.

"Okay, what next?" I asked Uncle Lin.

"We go see if the other group needs any help."

"Right! Lead the way!" I stepped out of the doorway and let Lin take the lead to mother and father. I waited for Lucy to walk through the door before I fell in step with her.

"How's your wrist Lucy?" I asked her quietly.

She gave me a small smile, but her eyes held pain.

"I'll be fine."

I gave her a stern look before I picked up my step to catch up with Lin.

'She needs to see Ayako when we find the other group.' I sent to Gavyn.

I heard him trip behind me.

'I did hurt her, didn't I?'

'Probably, you great brute.'

It wasn't long before the other side of the hallway filled with candle light followed by the voices of the other group.

"Mother? Father?" I called out to them. Their chatter ended and we could hear the echoes of their footsteps speed up.

The light rounded the corner and with a great relief, we had found them.

"Are you guys okay?" Ayako was the first one to ask as she pushed ahead of the group.

"Lucy might need to see you first Ayako. She's tripped over Gavyn as soon as the lights went out, and I think she hurt her wrist." I said quietly.

Ayako pushed me out of the way, and went straight to Lucy. Father was the next one to greet us.

"Did you have any activity on your screens before we had a black out?" He asked Lin.

The tall man nodded his head.

"Yes. All of the rooms' temperatures began to drop considerably. When we got ready to call you, the blackout happened, and all of the electronics shut off. Not even cell phones or flashlights work now."

There was a ghastly, horrifying shriek that resounded throughout the castle. It bounced off the walls as the volume increased, and it sent our hands to our ears. And just as quick as it had started, it had ended. The lights slowly flickered back on, revealing letters on the wall. I looked around the old walls and stifled a groan as a nasty smell filled the small halls.

"Blood." Takigawa answered the unasked question. "It's written in blood."

"Leave." I answered. "It wants us to leave. Now."

And of course, that's what was written on the walls. 'Leave Now'. We looked over to mother and father for instructions.

"Let's recuperate in your base for a minute. Then we'll run the footage and see what we can see." Father finally spoke. "And after that, I feel it's best that we rejoin groups. It's obvious that everything is tied in together."

"Right." We all agreed and started to head back to our base.

"Jeanine, hold on." Father called out to me.

"Yes sir?"

The two of us held back towards the end of the crowd, and let the others go into the base. Father studied my face before he took a deep breath in.

"You're mother had a dream, but it was blurry. She can't remember what was involved. Have you seen anything?"

I shook my head.

"No sir."

I started to turn back to the base, but he caught my wrist.

"Jean." His voice was soft, pleading even. "I know something happened earlier. Don't hide stuff like this from me. Please. I can help."

Guilt instantly gripped my heart so hard that I took a step back. Father let go of my wrist and watched me.

"I-I'm sorry Father. I thought I could handle it." I whispered back to him. "I heard the spirit. He told me that he was used by her in every way imaginable. He attacked me with strong emotions."

"Like what?"

I folded my arms across my chest and rubbed them.

"Love, hate, betrayal, and confusion. I think he'd been betrayed by a lover."

Father made a face and even grumbled.

"It wouldn't surprised me." He looked up at me and sighed. "Let's get this case cracked so we won't have to deal with it anymore, shall we?"

I smiled at him and held his hand. He gave an encouraging squeeze.

A/N: Whooo! A long chapter! Yay! Okay, it's long in my book. I'm sorry it took so long to get it out there, this one was interesting to write, and I kept getting distracted. I apologize. Also, I just celebrated my 18th birthday, so that was one of my many distractions. I apologize again, and I hope I didn't leave it at a cliffie. I don't like those either, and I'm sorry if I had done it before. But here it is! I hope you all enjoy it very much!

Love,

Jazzy