Though they had gone through the wind so many times, Sam's and Phantom Dan's landing were never any less painful. After they took a moment to let the ache in their sides subside, Phantom Dan stood up and helped Sam to her feet.
"Ow," she groaned and massaged her right side, "How do you manage to put up with this for five years?"
"You get used to it," he answered, "Then when I get tired of being sore all over, I head back to Purgatory and rest for a while."
"Purgatory?" Sam stopped rubbing her side and looked up at him.
"What?" he smirked, "You didn't honestly think I actually live here in my old journal, did you?"
"Well, kind of. I mean, I don't know where ghosts usually go. I thought you were sort of haunting around here, really."
"Like in those ghost stories children like to come up with to scare each other? No. I'm not haunting my own journal."
"Actually," Sam gave a smirk of her own, "You kind of are. You've been hanging around here, haven't you?"
"Hm, I never really thought about that. I gues I sort of am haunting this old thing. But not to scare anybody. I... I just..," Phantom Dan paused and turned around, staing ahead and seeing nothing, "I just want to see them all again, even if they're just memories. To see them all laugh and smile so I can laugh and smile along just one last time. I keep telling myself that. Just one last time. Only, the last time never seems to come around."
Sam reached out and gently touched his shoulder, "Can't you see them in Purgatory?"
"No," he sighed, "They've all moved on. The only way I can see them again is ether in the cemetary or in here. Here is much more pleasant since I can actually see them and not their tombstones."
Sam stood next to him in silence for a few seconds. She leaned in close to him and wrapped his arm aaround her neck, not knowing what to say. Phantom Dan used his otherhand to pull her closer to him and stroked her hair. After a few moments of silenve, he started walking towards the exit, stikk holding her.
"Come on," he said, "We've still got a bit more to go ."
She let him steer her down the stairs and into the parlor where Dan and Tucker both sat. Dan held Showenhower's book open in his lap with Tucker sitting right next to him. Both were stainge down at it as Dan turned the pages.
"July 31st, 1888," Phantom Dan began, "This would be the last day I ever saw Tucker alive."
Sam said nothing. She just watched the scene in front of her.
"Hey!" Tucker grabbed his friend's wrist, stopping him from turning to the next page, "Doesn't Penelope have that necklace?"
Sam waslked behind the sofa and peered over both men's shoulders to see what they were talking about. There was that familiar golden chain with its green pendant right there on the page.
"You're right," Dan answered, "She does. Hey, give me that portrait of her you found."
Tucker dug thhrough his pockets and pulled out the piece of paper. Dan took it and unfolded it right below the necklace's illustration. He compared the one in the book to the one that Mrs. Masters wore in her portrait. It was a perfect match.
"What does the book say?" Tucker asked as he grabbed it from Dan's lap and started to read the entry for himself. Dan and Sam crowded around him as he read the entry out loud.
Amulet of Aragon. This is yet another treasure that I hold in my posession. Unlike my crystal ball staff and Book of Dark Magic, I actually do know how it came into my family. The siimple version of this story is that it was a gift presented to me by Pariah Dark himself. A more detailed version is that Pariah Dark couldn't stand to look at it after rumors started to spread about the death of his daughter, Princess Dorathea.
According to the gossiping spinsters around here, Prince Aragon was so jealous that the princess was his father's favorite child, he had an amulet created in order to kill her. It worked. When the rumors reached Pariah Dark's ears, he had his son executed and gave me the amulet with the promise that I never let him ever see it again.
After having studied the amulet in the Book of Dark Magic, I concluded that if indeed those rumors were true, then Prince Aragon had used the amulet to drain Princess Dorathea's life force from her body and transfer it into his own. Apparently, absorbing another person's life force makes the wearer of the amulet more youthful in appearance. The amulet essentually serves as a never ending fountain of youth. Who created this amulet and how the prince managed to convince them to do it is something I shall never know, nor is it anything I ever dare ask Pariah Dark. But, I do know that this amulet could prove itself to be useful to me T
"Okay," Sam whispered to herself, "That is seriously messed up."
"Okay," Dan said almost immediately after Sam spoke, "That is seriously messed up. If what this lunatic is saying is true, then we need to find that amulet and destroy it."
Tucker held the book closer to his face and squinted at the entry, "What's this 'Book of Dark Magic?' I didn't see anything like that anywhere. Did you?"
"Well," Dan shrugged and started flipping through the entries, "Maybe Penelope doesn't have that. Or, we missed it. I don't know. Ah! Here it is!"
He stopped and read the entry out loud.
Book of Dark Magic. Another artifact that the Showenhower family has always proudly displayed in their home. No one knows how we came to own it, not that it really matters anyway. This book contains every bit of dark magic known to the world. Spells, potions, objects, rituals, the list goes on. An immortal entity whom many humans refer to as Father Time decided that he needed a record of every bit of dark magic that has ever existed. He did not wish to use them for ill purposes. What he wanted was to study them and assist the other immortal entities that guard our universe in their efforts to fight against the constant evil that still threatens our world to this very day. Unfortunately, shortly after having written the book, someone broke into his clock tower and stole it. The thief was never apprehended, something I consider to be a very good thing. Now that I have the book, I can study its secrets. Who knows. Perhaps I'll be able to add in a few spells of my own.
"God, I hope he didn't," Sam muttered.
"Me too," Phantom Dan replied.
"Well," Tucker said when Dan finished, "That's kind of creepy."
"What is, gentlemen?"
Startled, everyone looked up to see Mrs. Masters leering down at them with her fake smile. Tucker and Dan looked at each nervously. Unlike Dashiel, Mrs. Masters was no idiot. Looking for pictures wasn't going to work this time. But before they could come up with an answer, she grabbed the book from the two, glanced down at the page, and slammed it shut.
"What are you doing poking around my things? For shame, Daniel. I expected better from you."
"Oh, cut the act!" Dan snapped as he stood up, "I know exactly what you're doing! And I'm going to stop it!"
"Really?" she asked, looking amused, "And what is it am I doing?"
Tucker joined his friend, "You've been killing off all your husbands, that's what! Well, you're not killing Dan's father! We're not going to allow it!"
"Why, Daniel! Mr. Foley!" she pretended to be outraged, "I have no idea what on earth you're talking about! Where in the world did you come up with these crazy accusations!"
"They're not crazy!" Tucker shouted back, "They're true! You're using that amulet to kill everybody!"
"Mr. Foley, are you feeling quite well? Perhaps I should escort you to a doctor."
"Tucker doesn't need a doctor," Dan said, "He needs the police to come here and arrest you!"
"And what will you gentlemen tell them? That I'm using some magical amulet to suck out my previous husbands' life forces?"
"We never said anything about the amulet sucking out everybody's life force. We just said it was killing everyone."
"Busted," Sam smirked, "Look, she's so mad, her face is turning red."
"Well," Mrs. Masters attempted to calm herself without much success, "Whatever it was you said, it's still absolutely ridiculous! Now, I don't care whether or not Mr. Foley needs a doctor, the fact remains that he needs to leave. Come! I'm escorting you out!"
She grabbed Tucker by the arm and started to drag him towards the hallway. He yanked himself out of her grasp.
"I can escort myself out, thank you."
"Fine," she followed him as he stomped out of the room, "But Bertrand and I will be following you out! Bertrand!"
Sam and Phantom Dan weren't able to see Bertrand. The wind started to pick up again. Sam grabbed onto Phantom Dan and waited for the next entry.
