Notes: Since this is a different verse than the one where the demon vanishes Kalin, I will do something a little different with the basement this time. Also, Crystal Rose of Pollux introduced me to The Rutabaga Rag.

It Can't Be Denied

After all the brightness and beauty of the upper levels of the villa, it was a bit of a shock to travel downstairs where it was much darker. The windows there were could not reflect much light as night came on, and what little there was seemed more eerie than comforting in the setting.

Radley groped for a light switch. Failing to find one, he took out his phone and turned on the Flashlight setting.

Kalin reached above him and pulled on a string. A dim bulb came on, bathing the stairs and part of the first room in light.

Radley smiled in relief. "Did you see that was there?" he asked.

"I hoped," Kalin said. "That kind of light switch is common in the Satellite."

"Well, so electricity has been hooked up down here," Radley mused, "and it looks like the basement is all finished." He indicated down the corridor, where more rooms were visible. "That's encouraging."

"But it won't help much if there really is something here," Kalin said.

"No, it won't," Radley sighed. "It would be nice if the Crewmembers were all drunk and hallucinating pink elephants, wouldn't it?"

"With our luck, it's not likely to be that simple," Kalin intoned.

"I know," Radley said.

They went through the first room, slowly advancing towards the hall. More light switches turned on more modern fluorescent lights. The first room was very large and open, with one side devoted to a laundry room. An expensive washer and dryer were hooked up and ready to go.

"Oh, this is nice," Radley said. "If we opt for no one to live here, we should take these for whoever might need them."

"Would you want to use a washer Malcolm's men used?" Kalin grunted.

Radley smirked. "Not without cleaning it first. Honestly, though, Malcolm didn't skimp on cost for himself. These look absolutely top of the line. It would be foolish to let them waste, and I don't really want to just up and sell them either."

Kalin nodded. "They would have been extremely popular in the Satellite. People might have literally injured or killed others to get something this good."

Radley's eyes flickered at that chilling statement. Unsure what to say, he just walked on ahead.

The hallway featured a bathroom early on and several assorted rooms that appeared to be fixed up as more bedrooms. Unlike some of the upper level bedrooms, however, all of these were tidy.

"Hmm. It doesn't look like the Crew did much here," Radley said. "I guess they were all afraid of that mysterious whatever it is."

"There was another bedroom on the other side of the first room," Kalin said. "I wonder if they all connect in a continuous hallway."

"You'd think so," Radley said. "Let's go back and look at that now. That doorway looked bigger." Intrigued by that aspect, he turned and went back to the first room.

To get over to the other door, they first had to cross through a part of the main room that had been made into a library. Bookshelves stretched to the ceiling and two book carts were out in the aisle. Books were on every shelf and in both carts.

"Wow," Radley said. "Let's hope not all their reading consisted of dirty titles."

Kalin glanced at the spines. "Most of these seem to be non-fiction."

"Hmm. I see a lot of books on science and metaphysics," Radley mused. "It's hard to believe any of Malcolm's men left these, unless it was Seluga. Maybe it was the mysterious prior resident."

"Maybe," Kalin said.

Radley opened the door into a bedroom at the back of the room. "Oh, this is bigger," he said. "The room looks very nice too. But . . . there's something ominous about it. . . ." He frowned.

Kalin walked in too, an involuntary shiver going up his spine at the unsettling feeling in the room. There was no light on, and when he flipped the switch, nothing happened. Spotting a door off to the side near the back, he opened it and blinked at the sight of another, lighted hallway. ". . . This can't be the right angle to meet up with the main hall," he said.

"A back hall?" Radley came to look. "That's so weird." He stepped into the hall and immediately felt like running out. The bad feeling was only stronger there. "Could this be what Malcolm's men felt?"

"You wouldn't think they'd run because of a bad feeling," Kalin said. "Surely they would need more than that." He stepped into the hall too.

"As for me, though, since I'm pretty sure we wouldn't both be imagining it, it does make me feel like running," Radley said. "This kind of feeling is only the symptom of a larger problem. It sure feels like something is in here. The ghost stories Scotch watches always talk about bad feelings that get worse and worse, sometimes to the point of finding it hard to breathe." He placed his hand on the wall.

". . . That's disturbing," Kalin said. "But I'veheard that too."

"Let me guess—you watched that kind of thing as a Dark Signer," Radley said.

"Yeah . . . but it's more that the entire B.A.D. area of the Satellite felt similar to this," Kalin said. "Just much worse. Roman Goodwin, the leader of the Dark Signers, said it was because of all the restless spirits there."

Radley grimaced. "Oh. So we've got at least one restless spirit, huh?"

"I would say so," Kalin said. He started to walk ahead anyway.

Concerned, Radley hurried after him. ". . . Did the ones in the Satellite do anything to try to hurt people?" he asked.

"Sometimes," Kalin said. "We were unable to use some parts of the Dark Signers' hideout because they would immediately knock things over or throw things at us or start using the appliances we put there themselves."

"Well, that's terrifying," Radley said. "So it looks like we'll need to ask Pastor Green to come do an exorcism."

"Do those really work?" Kalin couldn't keep the scoff out of his voice.

". . . Honestly, no, not all the time," Radley admitted. "But I don't know what else to try."

"And if it doesn't work?" Kalin asked.

"Then we sure can't bring anyone down here," Radley said. "Most tours don't let people go everywhere anyway."

"What would you give as a reason for keeping them out?" Kalin wondered. "If ghost hunters learned about it, they'd be here with bells on."

"I wouldn't give a reason . . . probably." Radley paused. "Actually, if the exorcism didn't work, maybe I'd want to let ghost hunters try."

"I doubt anything works if the spirit is stubborn enough," Kalin said.

"Probably not, but I'm really not crazy about something like that being here," Radley said with a dark smirk.

Kalin glanced around at the rooms they were passing. Most were bedrooms, but he paused at a very large bathroom. The toilet was off in a nook by itself and there was a separate shower and a spacious jacuzzi.

Radley stared at it. "This looks amazing," he said.

"I'd be afraid to use it with the restless spirit down here," Kalin said. "You just can't trust them."

"Yeah," Radley sighed. But his eyes gleamed with determination. He would make sure it was safe to use. He wanted that jacuzzi.

They walked on. The bad feeling wasn't increasing, which was encouraging, but it was still unsettling to feel the irritation and the eyes watching all along the way.

". . . Someone told me about his sister's home in New Orleans," Kalin said at last. "There are several areas completely blocked off to them, including the entire North wing. The spirits won't allow the living to be there at all."

". . . Why doesn't she move?" Radley said in disbelief.

"It's her home," Kalin said. "She refuses to let the spirits throw her out. She's furious she can't use those areas, though. They've tried all kinds of exorcisms and reasoning with the spirits and nothing works."

"I guess the spirits figure it was their home first?" Radley sighed. "Maybe it's not right for me to try to rout this one out. It's not doing anything, just being mad we're here. I'd probably be pretty irritated if I was haunting my house and new people came to make it theirs."

Kalin shrugged. "If you want to try the exorcism, maybe you should. But if everything fails, you wouldn't have much choice but to co-exist with it."

Radley grimaced. "It sure doesn't sound very fun. But I'm not gonna be chased out of here by it."

"Good luck then," Kalin said. Pondering that statement, he quickly added, "I'll be here for you either way."

That brought a smile. "That's encouraging, Kalin. Thanks." He paused and then said, "This is one more really good reason not to leave our current home."

"If it's really what you want," Kalin said. "But if you want to live here, don't give up on trying. Maybe the spirit is only in this back hall and the bedroom leading into it."

"It still doesn't sound appealing to live here with it," Radley said. "I want all of our home to be something we can feel good about being in. Our home might be a lot smaller than this, but it's safe and free of ghosts."

"That is a definite improvement," Kalin had to admit.

Radley stopped walking and sighed. "Should we keep going, Kalin, or turn around and go back? We haven't seen all of this place, but we also haven't seen all of the main hall. And by now the Bunch is probably wondering where we are."

"I'll do whatever you want," Kalin said. But there was a definite curious gleam in his eye. He really wanted to see more.

Radley took note of that. "Let's look some more," he said. "It's really strange there's no clues to this person's identity at all besides a few science books. Maybe we should go in the bedrooms and see if there's anything in any of the drawers."

"All of these bedrooms look unused," Kalin said. "It's like someone furnished them and then decided not to live in any of them. It could have just been Malcolm."

"I know," Radley said. "But it really seems like there must have been another modern owner before him."

When they passed the next bedroom, he went in and opened the nightstand drawer. Finding nothing, he also tried the dresser drawers.

"Anything?" Kalin asked.

Radley shook his head. "No." He sighed and walked back to Kalin in the doorway. "There's no sign of the room being lived in at all, just like you said."

"Maybe we should head back," Kalin said.

But something just ahead had caught Radley's eye. "Did you see that?" He looked to the next room. "Call me crazy, but I think I just saw a flash of colorful lights."

". . . No, I see it too," Kalin said. "They're visible through the hinge crack of the next door—green, orange, and purple."

"Halloween light colors," Radley mused. He pushed the door open farther and then just stared. So did Kalin.

Beyond the door, the room was a veritable Halloween paradise. The lights had been strung along the wall near the ceiling and down around the doorway into a room branching off of that room. A widescreen television was off and reflected the lights. Other Halloween decor, such as a full-length skeleton in a cloak with a lantern and a skull with flashing red eyes, also adorned the room.

"Would Scotch ever love this," Radley remarked. He stepped into the room and a creepy voice intoned, "Come in, come in!" When Kalin followed, the same thing happened.

"Voice-activated," Kalin realized.

Radley went back out and came in recording with his phone to activate the voice again. "I'll show this to Scotch," he said.

Kalin went ahead to the connecting room. "What's in here?"

He blinked in surprise at the mad scientist's lab that filled the room. It thankfully didn't look real and was obviously an extension of the Halloween retreat. Fake blood and plastic brains adorned tables and the slab.

Radley arrived in the doorway to record the scene. "I wonder who in the world set all this up," he remarked. "One of Malcolm's men seems the most likely choice."

"If it's one of the nice ones, they should still be in town," Kalin said. "But why didn't they collect all of this? Were they too afraid to come back down here?"

"It seems so, doesn't it," Radley mused. "Ironic that they love Halloween but got scared off by a real spirit." He looked back to the first room. "Also, why is everything on? Either that one light switch in the bedroom activates everything in the back hall, it's been on continuously for who knows how long, or . . ."

"Someone or something turned everything on when we came in," Kalin said.

"I'm betting on the latter," Radley said. "Hopefully it was just one of Malcolm's men deciding to get his jollies scaring us. But I'm afraid the idea of it being the spirit is more likely. If Malcolm's men were too scared to come down here, then . . ."

Kalin frowned. "Would it really be the spirit, though, when it hasn't done anything else to scare us except watch us in disapproval?"

"It doesn't seem like its style, I'll admit that," Radley said.

"Maybe more likely, when Malcolm's men came to get their stuff, the one who put everything up came down to get it and was scared off by the spirit," Kalin said. "It's probably been on continuously since then. That hasn't been that long. The lights might last without burning out."

"I don't know," Radley said slowly. "It's been several weeks. I really think they'd show some signs of wear by now, but none of the bulbs are burned out."

Kalin grunted. "We'll have to ask Malcolm's men about it."

Radley nodded. "And we'd better turn everything off ourselves on our way out. Leaving holiday lights running continuously without supervision is a fire hazard, to say nothing of how high it makes the electric bills go."

". . . How does the town get its electricity anyway?" Kalin suddenly asked, embarrassed that he didn't know. He had just taken it for granted and not really thought about it further.

Radley smiled a bit at Kalin's expression. "We have our own power plant," he said proudly. "Marty helped get it going."

"That's impressive," Kalin said in surprise.

"We think so too." Radley winked and moved back to the first room. Finding the plug, he pulled it out to undo the lights. The skull, however, kept flashing.

"That must be battery-operated," Kalin said.

Radley picked it up and switched it off. "And I don't know where that voice came from," he said. "It didn't sound like it would have been from the skull."

"I don't see anything here that could have caused it," Kalin said. "Let's just go for now."

They stepped back into the hall.

Two seconds later, the lights were back on and the skull was flashing.

Radley and Kalin started, stared, and promptly exchanged a long look.

"Let's . . . calmly find the way out and go back upstairs now," Radley said in a perfectly even voice.

"I agree," Kalin said.

They turned to walk back the way they had come, not content to wander about looking for a second exit.

Several doors up, Radley reached and gripped Kalin's hand. He did not want to see them get separated, even by one falling behind the other.

Though initially surprised, Kalin quickly gripped Radley's hand in turn.

They walked side by side up the hall, their strides increasing the longer they walked. When at long last they reached the bedroom, they rushed through the open door and into the library to the sound of a deep, demonic cackle.

Radley slammed the door shut. "Please tell me I imagined that," he groaned.

"I heard it too," Kalin said.

"I'm talking to Pastor Green tomorrow," Radley said. "Or tonight, if we see him at the diner." He pushed away from the door, physically shaking as he did when badly frightened.

Kalin went up behind him and laid his hands on Radley's shoulders. "It's alright now," he said. "We're safe. The bad feeling isn't out here."

Radley managed a smile. "Yeah . . . it's not. Maybe you're right that it just wants the back hall for some reason." He reached up, laying a hand on Kalin's.

Kalin smiled too.

When the shaking slowed to a stop, Radley drew a shuddering breath. "Let's get out of here," he said.

Kalin nodded, drawing an arm around Radley's shoulders. "Let's," he agreed.

He kept a firm hold on his friend as they went back towards the stairs. It had been a frightening and a disturbing experience, yet in another way, Kalin didn't mind it so much. They had come through it safely and . . . it had honestly been nice, adventuring together. He had liked when Radley had grabbed his hand too.

From the way Radley relaxed into Kalin's arm, he seemed to have similar thoughts on at least some of that.

After a few moments, he chuckled. "You know, usually it's kids who have experiences in haunted houses and end up running for their lives when the ghosties troll them. We're just a few years late."

Kalin had to smirk. "That's one way to look at it."

"Really, though, Kalin, I'm glad I was with you and not alone tonight," Radley said. "I liked our little adventure . . . even the spooky parts."

Kalin's smirk became a genuine smile. "I did too."

By the time they arrived at the diner, Scotch had started up a mini-concert and was entertaining the patrons with another bizarre song. To Kalin's shock, Scotch had adopted a fake German accent and was singing about dancing vegetables.

Radley burst out laughing at Kalin's expression. "You've never heard of The Rutabaga Rag?" he said with a gleam in his eye.

"No," Kalin said flatly. "Where does Scotch get these things?!"

"This one he found fiddling around on YouTube," Radley said. "It's a song from Disney's Symposium on Popular Songs, sung by Ludwig von Drake."

". . . He must have been delighted," Kalin remarked.

"Oh yeah. He came running up to me announcing he'd found the perfect song," Radley smirked. "And he pretty much did; it's perfect for him."

"No arguments there," Kalin said, still staring as Scotch continued the song.

"The first time he sang it, he wanted some of the others to dress up as vegetables," Radley giggled. "They said No. Sometimes, however, they're willing to wear hats that look like broccoli or shirts with rutabagas on them. Scotch accepts that compromise."

". . . I don't think I would wear that," Kalin deadpanned.

"I don't think you would either," Radley smirked. "And it's not my style. But it's fun to watch them perform it."

They settled down at Radley's favorite table. After the song, Scotch bounded over to them. "Hey!" he exclaimed. "I had the most epic time riding my new Duel Runner! Some of the guys did races with me in the desert!"

"Cool," Radley smiled. "We figured you were getting in some good riding time."

"How was the villa?" Scotch asked. "Did you figure out what's wrong with it?"

"Not entirely, unfortunately," Radley said. "But we did discover there's at least one restless spirit." He took out his phone. "And we found a place you'll love. Sadly, the naughty spirit seems to as well."

Scotch stared at the Halloween rooms with starry eyes. "Oh man! I missed this?!"

"They're always available," Kalin grunted. "Always."

Radley nodded. "We tried to turn off the lights and the ghost put them right back on again," he admitted.

"The ghost loves Halloween! How neat is that?!" Scotch gushed. "Can we go back there after dinner?!"

Radley grimaced. "We'd rather not, unless Pastor Green is here and can come with us."

"I think he's here!" Scotch leaped up. "I'll go get him!"

Radley gave a weak chuckle and leaned back. "Well, we knew Scotch would be excited."

"We should have figured he'd be that excited." Kalin looked around and spotted Scotch at one of the far tables, talking to the pastor. "But will the pastor be up to coming with us? He's still recovering too."

Radley frowned and nodded. "There's no harm in asking, but it might be too taxing for him right now. He should really have some help at the church. I was hoping now that Malcolm's gone, it'd be easier to get help, but no one's come."

"It sounds like even most clergymen gave up on Crash Town," Kalin said.

"Most did," Radley agreed. "Pastor Green was the fifth one who came out. He was the only one who really clicked with me. The others . . . well, some of them seemed judgmental and none of them invited me into the chapel."

"I thought pastors were always into saving 'lost sheep,'" Kalin grunted.

"That's why they came out in the first place, but they got discouraged pretty fast." Radley sighed. "And they seemed to figure I was a lost cause from the start. That did nothing to change my feelings on God after everything my family had told me."

"It wouldn't have," Kalin said. "Maybe you should write and complain about them. They didn't do their job right."

Radley gave a dry laugh. "I never thought of that, but it's an interesting idea."

Scotch skipped back over to them. "Pastor Green says he can come either tonight or tomorrow!" he announced happily. Suddenly realizing something, guilt flashed through his eyes. "Oh. . . . You probably need to rest after the long day, don't you, Radley? Tomorrow would be better. . . ."

Radley sighed but smiled. "Let's see how I feel after dinner," he said. "I would like to see if Pastor Green can get rid of that creep soon, since it's clearly unfriendly."

"Maybe it was just pranking you!" Scotch said. "Maybe it's not really dangerous!"

"Then it would be nice if we could actually communicate with it and find that out," Radley mused.

"The problem will keep until tomorrow," Kalin spoke up. "We should wait until then."

Radley smiled a bit. "Maybe so," he mused. "For now, let's eat and then we'll figure it out."

Deciding to accept that compromise, Kalin nodded and picked up a menu. They would talk more when Scotch wandered off again.