Diclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H.

Outside the sun had set, and the last light from it mad the sky in the west glow in a dim dying light while the first stars appeared on the eastern part of the dark heaven. The trip to the car went without incidents, but the looming shadows of the forest and the overwhelming feeling of a thousand unseen eyes looking at her, made Will almost want to run back inside.

Luckily, the electricity in the old asylum was still working, because right after she slammed the car door, some lights went inside the institute, and from one of the windows she could see her mother wave her hands happily to her. Will waved somewhat reluctant back. As she went up the twenty or so stairs to the great wooden doors, she casted a quick glance over her shoulder. Now, as there were lights coming out from the inside, the surrounding forest turned even darker than before, and the cold wind made it impossible to determine if the moving shadows came from branches shivering in the wind, or something else... Suddenly she heard a sound piercing the night.

"Hoo-hoo".

The guardian felt her hair rose on her neck. She turned to the door, and without thinking, she used her superhuman guardian power to force the door open with such speed and strength that it were almost torn off the hinges and ran inside. "Damn" Will screamed in her mind, "I let myself be scared of an owl. I should be more careful, the last thing I need is to explain why a perfectly solid door suddenly fell off." The teenage girl casted a quick glance at the still functional hinges and closed the door carefully after her. The reception hall was completely silent in the dark, the only light came from the passage leading to the wing were they would be sleeping tonight. The tiny light made the few furniture in the hall cast dark shadows. The passage to the left wing and the doors at the top of the stairs were pitch black, a sudden and unwelcome soft single, thud, from top of one of the stairs made her rush back to her family not wishing to stay in the hall for a moment longer than necessary.

Back with Susan and Dean she found the lights on in the corridor. Dean greeted her and took the suitcase and two bags containing their few necessaries needed for their little trip. Her mother wasn't finish yet making their bedrooms ready, so Will sat down on the sofa while Dean took their luggage to the bedrooms. Will seized the opportunity to see if the TV still was functional without her special aid. She plugged in the outlet and tried to turn on the old television. Channel one: Fog! Channel two: Snow! Channel three: More snow. Channel four: Black! Will went up closely to the old apparatus and whispered to it,

"Hi, my name is Will, who are you Mr.?"

There was a short buzzling sound before a metallic voice answered back, "It is Miss. My name is Annett miss Will."

"Oh, sorry," Will whispered back, "do you think you can keep your voice low so my parents don't hear you?"

"Of course," Annett said.

"Is there any show on the air tonight?" Will asked hopefully.

"No, I am afraid not. My cable connecting to the antenna is broken off, and it have been so for many years."

"What" said Will, genuinely surprised, "you mean Dean's aunt didn't watch TV?"

"No, nobody has been watching me since the rest of the staff moved out, and not long after that the cable broke one night. I have no idea how it happened, but Ms. Betty never sought to have it repaired."

"Ms. Betty?" The teenage witch said.

"Ms. Betty was the elderly woman who lived her after rest of the people here moved out. For a while at least, but the old boss lived here too. However, he disappeared shortly after the asylum closed, and as far I know, he was last seen while he was looking for something in the basement, but no one ever saw him coming up again. Perhaps he wanted to run away in all silence, after all he had just lost his job and maybe wanted to start a new. I mean, with so many of his patients disappearing without a trace, who would employ him?"

"Will are you talking to yourself?"

Will froze up when she heard her mother's voice, but luckily, she was still out in the corridor and hadn't seen her yet.

"No mom, I am just fixing the TV!" Will shouted back with a nervous voice. She put her index finger on her lip to signalize to Annett that she had to be quiet, then she snapped her fingers and voila, the TV screen turned to life with whatever was on channel four, just before Susan came around the corner and looked at her. Will smiled and waved her hand lightly to greet her mother, "Guess we are lucky tonight, there is a documentary about whales on channel four right now."

"So the old TV is still working I see, I hadn't really expected that." Susan said smiling back to her daughter. "Hey, Dean!" Her husband however, was unpacking their luggage and responded only with an unintelligible answer.

"Will have fixed the TV, do you want to watch whales before we call it for a night?"

There came a positive reply from a bedroom a little further down the corridor.

"Hey Will, it seemed that we truly had to travel all the way out here to be able to have some family time together." Her mother said happily and sat down on the dusty sofa witch complained under her after being out of use for some time. Will on the other side, cursed to herself that the TV could not continue her story for now. The doubt she had about her own sanity was set aside for the moment being; something had happened her, and Will knew she had to learn more about it so that she could protect her family if something occurred.

The rest of the evening was calm, everybody as far as William, enjoyed the documentary. Will had rushed to hide the broken TV cable under a carpet when her mother's attention had turned elsewhere for a short moment. Dean had magically conjured a bag of chips, something that made Will's mood brighten. They talked to each other about trivial matter and looked for programs on the other channels when the documentary was over. In the end, they had found a movie that Will was certain usually only was able via cable TV. Susan however didn't like the movie so much, so instead she started to talk to Dean.

"So what do you think about this place so far?"

Dean gave his reply, "I am not sure yet. I don't want to move all the way out here if that is what you think. If we are going to keep this place and do something with it, that would mean we will have to pay an awfully lot in taxes, and the place is in serious need for a restauration from the little I have seen so far. My thought is to have a good look at the entire estate in the morning to see how the rest is. It has a great potential for someone who would like to turn it into a hotel. If I say yes to the lawyer, it's only so we can sell it to some others. Just look at the surroundings, endless forests and mountains close by is rather attractive for developers, not to mention the old building itself can take many guests. The people in the village would certainly be happy if somebody came and restored this place, it would provide jobs for many of them."

"I wouldn't bet on the last one," said Will, taking her attention away from the movie, "The guy we spoke with in the village seemed less than thrilled about the thought of other people staying here. How do you think tourism would be if the guests suddenly started to disappear?"

Her mother turned to her, "Will my dear, don't go around believing such stories, if we look at the papers the lawyer brings with him tomorrow, I am confident that they will give an entirely other story about why this place was closed."

Dean became quiet after what his stepdaughter said, so Susan turned to look at him. "Don't tell me you believed in that silly ghost story too," she said disbelieving, "Really, am I surrounded by superstitious children?"

"No no," her husband answered quickly, "But the house is old and should be met with an open mind. There must be hundreds of stories in its many walls. From the silent prayers of the first monks to the poor people who had a different reason for coming here in later years. Some stories are known, some are hidden, some are true, other lies, put together they give the house a soul and make the place feeling more alive."

The last statement made Will lose all confidence she had built up during the movie. Her thoughts went back to what the suspicious people at the Inn had said and the way they suddenly had reacted, the old man's tale, and that the TV indirectly had confirmed what he said later. Something was amiss about this place.

Her brother had fallen asleep by the time the movie ended, and the rest of them also felt ready for bed, but Will had decided to sneak out a little while later and talk some more with the TV.

"Ahem," Dean cleared his throat, "Did anybody see where the toilet was?" They all stared at each other.

"Will maybe you can look for the bathroom while I and Dean put William to bed, so can you come back and tell us where it is," her mother suggested.

"Yes mom" came the somewhat reluctant answer from Will, and she walked out to the corridor.

"Let's see," Will thought to herself, "This wing was restricted to the staff, so I am sure there should be a toilet or a bathroom here too. From the hall to here I have passed the laundry room, the kitchen and here is the living room, further on are some small storage rooms and unknown numbers of bedrooms, so I guess it must come after the bedrooms then."

With that in mind, she walked further in to the long corridor, grabbing her toothbrush on her way while she thanked the heavens beyond Kandrakar that the lights were on in the corridor. She walked straight forward and opened doors after doors with dark bedrooms and storages until she came to the end of the corridor were the lights stopped. There, the corridor made a ninety-degree angle to the left and continued even further inn to the dark.

Luckily, the last door she opened had a bathroom inside. She turned on the lights. It was clear that the old woman had used it because it still contained shampoo, toothpaste and other personal things that was relatively new. She opened the tap and found the water flowing, albeit there was no warm water coming out. Will brushed her teeth, spit out the foam and let the water flush it down the sink. The sound of water flowing down the tubes was painfully long and scary, the sound of running water seemed never to stop on its way deep under the house. When it finally did, Will was already finished with washing her hands. Back outside in the corridor everything was deadly silent. The redhead stood still for a moment before she walked forward to have a peek at the dark corridor around the corner.

"Wonder what's at the end of this" Will thought, "and why the lights didn't come on, maybe there is another switch for the lights here."

Will looked behind her to see if her mom or stepdad was coming. Neither of them did. She made a wave with her hand towards the lightbulbs on the ceiling and the lights turned on immediately. The rest of the corridor was similar to the one she came from, with more doors on the left side and windows on the right side, facing the dense forest on the outside. At the far end of the corridor, she could see a door with a sign above it; Stairway, it said. Seeing there was nothing more, Will waved her hand again and the lights went out. She walked quickly back to her parents and told them where to find the bathroom, then she walked to her own room, finding William fast asleep in her own bed. After taking off her clothes and shifting into her pyjamas, she went to bed beside her little brother.

However, after both Dean and Susan had been into her room and said their goodnights, she didn't fell asleep, but waited a while until she was sure everybody else was sleeping before she snuck out of bed and back to the TV. Carefully not to wake her little brother who slept beside her. This time the corridor leading from their bedrooms was so dark that she couldn't see the end of it, and no lights came in from the windows. In the dark it is not the absent of lights that scares you, it is what you believe might come forth, which you fear. And the way to the living room felt way longer without lights.