Page 21 of Chillingham Castle

“Can we leave it open and come back?” Lich wondered as he moved his camera around. The figures were dropping out one by one.

“No. Who knows what this asshole might warp it into?” Lucky replied as Lich was shoved roughly.

“Stop!” the demon ordered.

“No. These souls are not yours to torture. They deserve rest!” Lucky retorted.

Lich hissed, and Trunk moved just as my light caught it. A black, wrinkled, clawed hand knocked the camera out of Lich’s hands, and it clattered to the floor.

“Tell me you captured that?” Lich demanded.

“Got it,” Trunk replied as I swept around for the camera. I located it, and Lich picked it up. Miraculously, it hadn’t been damaged.

“Just a few left,” Ghoul stated, and Lich murmured in agreement.

The oppressive darkness seemed to push down on us. The demon ranted and threw stones, trying to break Lucky’s focus, but Lucky held on.

“That’s it,” Ghoul announced. “Everyone who wanted to cross has.”

“We have to send him back,” Lucky replied.

“An exorcism now?” I asked.

“Yeah. There’s no choice. I don’t think sealing him in is fair; he’ll starve, and while he’s a demon, I’m not cruel,” Lucky explained.

“If you exorcise him, and we need you later…” I let the sentence fall.

“We can trap him for the time being, and I’ll come back at the end and get rid of him,” Lucky replied, and I agreed. That was a better plan. I wondered how Jack was getting on with the King Edward Room.

Jack

Absolutely nothing had happened. We’d been here four hours, and not one thing had pinged, squealed, or screeched. We’d brought some extra Spirit Balls and a Spirit Bear. Children had tragically meant to have been hacked to death here, but there wasn’t a single beep.

“What are you thinking?” Reaver asked me as I glanced towards the empty gallery again.

“That bothers me. I feel that men hung from it, but there was nothing in the research,” I replied.

“Dive, did you get that?” Reaver queried.

“Yeah, and Jack’s right. There’s no record of anyone being strung up there,” Dive confirmed.

“Yet, it won’t leave me alone,” I murmured.

“As in actually seeing it, or just imagining it?” Reaver pushed.

“Good question. I don’t know. It’s disturbing the fuck out of me, though,” I replied.

“Could it be this entity fuckin’ with you?” Coffee asked.

“No. I don’t sense anything else, do you guys?”

Head shakes came back at me.

“We know that spirits don’t act on command. Maybe tonight isn’t our night,” Reaver said.

“True,” I murmured. I looked towards the gallery again and flinched. As clear as day, I saw several male, bloated corpses dangling there.

Reaver sent me a concerned glance.