by S.J. Drew
notice. If there were any ghostly groans or other sounds, they were drowned out by the conversation. Finally they finished their sweep of the gallery and went down the stairs to get some coffee and tea from the beverage station.
Dina poked her head out of the office and said something in Russian, and then quite clearly, "Carrie! Mark!"
"Is something wrong?" Isabella asked.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said, blushing. "I wasn't shouting at you, of course! I'm sorry, but the twins are supposed to help out on weekends and I'm having trouble getting them to do their chores."
"Can't you text them?" Maryann asked.
Dina laughed. "Sure, if we got any cell reception out here. Text them! That's funny! That's why I have to shout, I'm afraid."
The twins were not summoned, but apparently Zac was.
"They're not in the pub," he said. "And I think Mark's been in the tool shed again. I keep telling him, I don't mind if he uses the tools but we need to be told first! Honestly." He shook his. "I'm sorry. Twins, you know, and now they're growing into teenagers."
"We're doomed," Dina said with a smile. Then she frowned. "But seriously, go find them."
"Darth Pater is on the job," he replied, and left the office in search of his children.
Leah giggled and Nora rolled her eyes slightly.
"Are you Darth Mater?" Nora asked Dina.
"No, I'm more into Star Trek than Star Wars. But Zac, well, let's just say when we found out we were having twins I had to fight long and hard to keep my children from being named 'Luke' and 'Leia.' Luckily for them, I'm pretty stubborn. We eventually compromised with something us and the kids could live with."
"Yeah, 'Leah' is fine, but 'Leia,' that's rough," Leah said.
The office phone rang and Dina excused herself. The group went outside to enjoy a walk in the brisk morning air. This time Leah distracted Stephanie while the others chatted.
"There's nothing I can find," Isabella said.
"What about those cold spots?" Maryann asked.
"What cold spots?" Nora asked.
They explained.
"I still think it's just a drafty old stone building," she said dismissively, "especially this time of year when the A/C is shut off and the heat isn't on yet."
"We should walk around the village, just in case," Maryann said. "And go into all the shops we can. Once they open anyway."
"That should keep Steph happy," Nora said dryly.
After their hike they did go to the "village" and first stopped at the bakery for a snack, which Stephanie generously paid for. Then they visited all the shops, although there really weren't that many. Stephanie gushed over many items, and Maryann gushed over some items as well and had to be reminded of what their purpose was. In the end, they came back around to the pink cottage and found no evidence of anything supernatural.
Maryann was sufficiently cheered up she continued to chat with her cousin and the other three seperated and went into Nora and Isabella's room to talk.
"This place is not haunted," Isabella said, "at least not as far as I can tell in any way, shape, or form. I mean, I could be wrong, but so far there's nothing out of place."
"I'll take your word for it," Leah said. She glanced out the window. "Hey, is that Carrie and Mark?"
The other three looked up.
"Yeah," Isabella replied. "But what are they doing?"
"Not helping their parents, obviously," Nora said.
The twins suddenly appeared startled and ran out of sight.
"Well, that's not suspicious," Leah said.
"They're probably just trying to get out of their chores," Nora replied.
"Yeah, probably. But it looked like Carrie was carrying a toolbox or something."
"They're not our kids; they're not our business," she said sharply.
They turned the discussion back to the subject of the haunted castle, and were interrupted a little while later by Maryann and Stephanie. Stephanie had convinced Maryann to go to the castle and play some games, so the rest of the group went with them. They spent the afternoon in the pub and it was actually quite pleasant. Isabella was half-listening to the other guests to find out if anyone else was discussing the alledged haunting, but most guests seemed to be focused on the games. They returned to the cottage to change for dinner and this time both Maryann and Stephanie were wearing fancy cocktail dresses.
"Where did you get that?" Leah asked. As she often roomed with Maryann, she was pretty familiar with what the redhead packed.
"Oh, I brought that," Stephanie answered. "I didn't know what I wanted to wear, so I brought a whole bunch of stuff, and Maryann and I are the same size."
"It all works out!" Maryann said, with something closer to her usual level of enthusiasm. "I'm sorry there's nothing for you guys."
"Hey, it's fine. Dresses aren't my thing unless they're part of a costume," Leah said.
They had dinner in the Great Hall again, and found themselves seated with the same group as the night before. Without the distractions of games, the main topic seemed to be the haunting. Jen was the most vocal and reported feeling cold drafts, especially in the gallery but sometimes in the hallways, and hearing strange noises. Patrick and Neil reported more strange noises in the Great Hall when it was empty enough to hear. Darnell and Matt were skeptical. After dinner they stayed in the Great Hall and played games. At midnight, as on the previous night, the lights dimmed, brightened, dimmed again, then went out for about twenty seconds before coming back on. The band noticed Zac frown and head outside. And as on the previous night, after the excitement died down, the games soon broke up and people returned to their rooms.
Stephanie immediately went to bed and the others had a quick meeting.
"We should go back to the Great Hall and investigate," Isabella said. "I want to hear those noises for myself."
Leah yawned. "Do we all have to go, or can Nora and I just go to bed?"
"I guess we can go by ourselves," Maryann said slowly.
"Thanks. Just make sure you don't split up," she replied, and went to her room.
"You know we aren't much help here," Nora said with a shrug. "Call us if you get in trouble," she said, and went to her room.
"Sometimes these gifts just aren't much fun," Maryann started to say, before she was interrupted with a yawn of her own.
"We'll wait about half an hour and head over. Do you want to play cards? It''ll keep us awake," Isabella said.
After forty-five minutes and Maryann's victory over Isabella, they quietly crept out of the Enchanted Cottage and back to the castle. By now all the buildings in the "village" were dark as shops had long since been closed and the other guests had finally gone to bed.
"It's a little spooky," Maryann said in a low voice.
Isabella cast spirit sight on both of them. "I don't see anything unusual."
The castle had been technically locked at 10:00, but registered guests were given a key to the castle along with their room keys. Only the games' library was fully lit; the overhead lights in all other public areas had been turned off and they were illuminated by wall sconces only. The sconces were bright enough to prevent anyone from tripping over the heavy furniture or decorations but that was about it.
"This is a little spooky too," Maryann said.
"But I don't see anything unusual."
"Aren't we supposed to hear something?"
The Great Hall was quiet. They could hear the faint hum of equipment in the kitchen, but that was all.
"Let's walk around," Isabella suggested.
They walked quietly around the room. Isabella examined the tapestries, suits of armor, and other decorations in the room. Maryann followed closely behind.
Suddenly they heard a low, soft groan that stopped after a few seconds.
"What was that?" Maryann squeaked as they stopped in their tracks.
Isabella looked around. "Nothing," she answered, much more confused than frighte
ned.
"Are you sure your spells are working right?"
"Are yours?" she retorted with uncharacteristic sharpness.
"Sorry," Maryann said contritely, and got her pendulum out. It didn't budge. "Okay, yeah, I got nothing either. Just an empty suit."
Isabella suddenly looked thoughtful. "Is it?" she murmured, and got out her penlight and started to examine the suit of armor.
They heard the groaning sound again.
Maryann jumped. "There it is again!"
"I know; I heard it."
"What are you looking for?" she asked.
"I think sometimes we get so caught up in the supernatural we forget how to look for an ordinary explanation," she said, on her hands and knees as she examined the base.
Maryann started to help, but then they heard the ghostly groan again. "What is that?"
Isabella stood up and lifted the facemask on the suit very slightly. "Huh."
"What? What?"
"Come on, we need to look at the gallery."
"What are we looking for?" the redhead demanded.
"I'll show you," the blonde answered cryptically.
In about an hour they returned to the Enchanted Cottage and went to their respective bedrooms.
Maryann and Isabella were difficult to rouse the next morning on account of their late night, and the others ended up letting them sleep in and brought them breakfast. Maryann drew Stephanie out shopping so the others could talk.
"Well, I think we've solved this mystery," Isabella said.
"Doesn't Maryann usually hang the lampshades?" Leah asked.
"What? Nevermind. So yeah, the answer is really simple," she said, and explained her theory to them.
"So maybe we shouldn't always look to the supernatural for answers," Nora said when Isabella was