Chapter 5
Hiccup's POV
'Okay, so maybe introducing Astrid to TV wasn't the best idea.' I thought as I watch my ghostly roommate float on the couch in the living room watching a telenovela marathon. It was already our fourth day living together and she was hooked on the show.
I had managed to fix her axe the day before and it was now proudly hanging above the fireplace mantle in the parlour. When Astrid saw the fixed weapon she became ecstatic and tried to hug me but flew right through me. So she settled for surprising me with dinner that night.
"Astrid I'm heading to the farmers market." I tell her as I take my keys. "Did you want anything?"
"Hiccup I'm a ghost. Aside from finding out if Frederika will ever come out of her coma I'm good." She tells me and then as an afterthought adds. "We are all out of parsley and thyme. Did you add it to your list."
"Oh right. Forgot those." I tell her and make a mental note.
"You go ahead. I'll watch the house." She tells me while leaning closer to the TV.
It took me ten minutes to drive towards the farmers market. When I arrived it was already fairly crowded. It was an open air market and all the stands looked interesting.
I walked along the stands and had bought some strawberries and peaches. While examining the eggplants I ran into Sadie.
"Why hello Hiccup." She cheerfully greets me. "How's living in a haunted house?"
"Sadie, nice to see you again." I tell her. "The house is actually fine. How are you doing?"
"Doing great. I'm actually here with my dad, but I think I lost him." She says while looking around with a frown. "That man is always wandering off."
"Hold on. I'll go find him. I wanted to introduce you to him anyways." She tells me and dashes off. As I'm waiting for Sadie I resume my search for the perfect eggplant. It was then that I felt a tug on my pant leg.
"Psttt, down here." I heard and then looked down. "Is she gone?" The guy asked and I nod. He quickly climbs out from under the table. "Her old man tends to dislike me somewhat." He says and holds out his hand. "Dagur de la Ranged at your service."
"Hiccup Haddock" I tell him and shake his hand.
"Oh you're the guy who bought my family's old house." He tells me.
"Your family's old house. You mean Hofferson Hall?" I ask for clarification and he nods.
"I didn't think anyone would restore it though." He says and nudges me in the side. "You find anything of interest yet?"
"Of interest?" I ask. "You mean the local legend about the treasure?" To which he nods.
"I haven't looked for it." I tell him. "I got no need to."
I see a slight frown form on Dagur's face then. "That's…disappointing." He tells me. "I had hoped to finally break this stupid curse."
"C..Curse?" I ask hoping for some clarification.
"It's an old family story about how a witch cursed us to have misfortune." He tells me and lets out a short historical laugh. "Now really. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?"
"N..No…Of..c..course n..not." I stammer out getting a little creeped out by him.
"Really?" He asked looking skeptical.
"Y…Yes." I managed to say, and before he could ask further we were interrupted.
"Dagur!" Was yelled by a black haired woman who was marching in our direction followed by Sadie and a burly man in a sheriff's uniform.
Once she reached us she grabbed Dagur by the arm and gave him a swat on the back of his head. "I've been looking all over for you!" She yelled.
"Hey I was just having a nice friendly chat with the guy that bought our old family house." He says and gestures to me.
The woman turns to me and holds out her hand. "Heather de la Ranged." She introduces herself. I quickly shake her hand and do the same. "I'm sorry about my brother. He tends to be a bit obsessed with that house." She explains.
"I think it's time we left Dagur." She says ushering her brother in the other direction. "Nice meeting you Hiccup and thanks for helping me find my brother sheriff." She says and they disappear into the crowd.
"I'm sorry you had to meet Dagur Hiccup." Sadie says while coming to stand next to me. "But let me introduce you to my dad."
I see the burly man in the sheriff's uniform offer his hand. "Alvin Treacherous at yer service." He says. "I see you and my daughter are already acquainted."
"Yes sir. If I could ask. What was with Dagur? He seemed obsessed with that local legend." I state curiously.
Alvin takes a good look at me and sighs. "Well yer living there now, ya might as well know. The de la Ranged's all suffer from some form of mental illness. All except for Heather. She's been taking care of her brother for a while now. Dagur is obsessed with the tale of the curse and thinks that if he can find the treasure he can cure his illness."
"You should be careful around him." Sadie adds. "If he thinks you know something about that legend he'll probably stalk you."
"Aye, that's a possibility." Alvin adds then hands me a business card. "Ya should call if you ever need anything. I'll be keeping my eye on that boy. The locals are gossiping about how he yelled at Heather for selling that house and that he would do anything to get it back in the family."
"Why did Heather sell the house actually? I was surprised by the price they were asking. She could have gone higher." I asked Alvin who looked pensive but it was Sadie who answered.
"Heather told me why." She states and then starts to whisper. "Just don't tell anyone else, but she got fed up with her brother's obsession and decided to try to end it by selling the property. Since it was regarded as a haunted house she didn't think that it would go for much or that there would be many people interested."
"The de la Ranged's were a wealthy family in the past but they fell on some pretty hard times. It was one misfortune after the other." Alvin sighed. "That poor girl has got a lot on her shoulders."
Alvin, Sadie and I talked for a little while longer while we browsed the market. After an hour of shopping I head back to the house with a car full of groceries.
Just as I pulled into the driveway I saw the front door of the house open and that man from a few days ago, Drago if I recalled correctly, along with two other men ran out onto the lawn while screaming loudly. They then fell over each other in a slump, all babbling incoherently about monsters, demons and possessed houses.
I decided to give the sheriff a call and it took only a couple of minutes before a police cruiser pulled up.
Alvin and his partner stepped out of the car and he looked at the three delirious men on my lawn. "Well I didn't think you'd be seeing you again so soon Hiccup." Alvin said. "This here is my deputy Savage. Let's get these men down to the station."
"We'll book them and they'll be charged with breaking and entering as well as trespassing." Alvin commented as he placed Drago in the back of the cruiser.
"I wonder what spooked them so." Savage commented. "These two are the Grimborn brothers, local thugs, and I know that they don't scare easily. Heck, they are as white as ghosts."
"GHOSTS!" The three men yell. Savage's statement having set them off.
It takes a while before Alvin and his deputy can calm them down. Once they are secured in the car Alvin turns to me. "I don't know what happened in that house of yers and I don't really want to find out Hiccup." Alvin tells me. "You seem to know a bit more than yer letting on but I won't pry. Just be careful lad."
I nod to him and wave goodbye. As soon as they are gone I sprint into the house.
"Astrid!" I called out worriedly. I then hear Toothless meow from up the stairs and I see him trot to my bedroom. I follow and when I open the door I see Astrid floating an inch or so from the bed.
"Astrid?" I call. "Are you alright?"
I see her give a small nod and then she says. "It took a lot more energy than I thought to scare those three. They were talking about how they would convince you to sell this property by making it seem like a robbery took place and that the house wasn't safe."
She then lets out a weak laugh. "I decided to teach them a lesson. They won't be showing their faces around here anymore."
"Thank you Astrid." I tell her.
"It's nothing." She replied. "Could you do me one favor while I'm getting my strength back?"
"Sure, just name it." I tell her as I pick up Toothless who was looking for some attention.
"Can you use that remote thingy to record my shows? I don't want to miss anything." She tells me and I couldn't help letting out a laugh.