Chapter Three.
Callie
“What do you think about them?” I asked Sunny as he sat on the bed, keeping a watchful eye out.
“Who?” he asked, staring at the window.
“The Spirit Chasers.”
“They seem like the UK version of you,” Sunny said, a frown crossing his face.
“What is it?” I stared in the same direction as Sunny.
“Thought I saw a shadow by the window. Ignore me.”
I picked up the radio. “Reaver, Sunny believes he saw a shadow by the window. Can you check back, please?”
“Lich here, Callie, give me a few moments.”
I sat patiently, and the radio crackled after a few minutes.
“Sunny was correct. A shadowy figure appeared briefly, then vanished. “Have you got any other activities?” Lich replied.
“Nothing I’ve seen.”
“Okay, Callie, we’ll keep you up on the big screen. And thanks for the compliment, Sunny,” Lich said, amused. Feeling stupid, I facepalmed. I forgot the cameras recorded voices as well as movement.
“Might have been an insult, dude,” Sunny retorted with amusement.
“If you’re calling Callie a crackpot, that’s fine by me,” Lich said. “I’ll still take it as a compliment, but don’t cry when Callie bitch slaps you.”
Amused, I laughed as Sunny grinned. “Nothing better than when my woman gets kinky,” Sunny said, and Reaver and Lich both groaned down the radio.
“I like them,” I said, grinning.
“Yeah,” Sunny grunted, but he was smiling too.
Apart from the shadow, nothing else happened by the time we took a break. The cook had left several platters of sandwiches out. But while things hadn’t happened for us, they had for some of the others.
Trunk and Jack
“Are you enjoying your trip here?” I asked Jack.
“Yeah. My mum’s from here, and I was born here before moving back to the States when I was three months old,” Jack replied, and my eyebrows raised.
“So, you’re part English, but you’ve never visited?”
“No. Mum never came back. There was nothing left for her here. But I’ve been curious about England for a while.”
“And the Mermaid is steeped in history,” I pointed out.
Jack nodded. “Conducting investigations here has been a dream of mine. This is amazing.”
I heard a noise and cocked my head. Jack’s gaze flew to the chair by the window. I went to speak, but Jack raised a finger and shook his head. There it was again. A single drop of water hitting something. Quietly, I lifted the camera and began filming.
“I thought this had a lady in grey or white?” Jack murmured.
“This room is also where dry clothes become wet, remember?” I stated. As I stopped speaking, we detected another drip of water.
“Right, I’m going to start looking,” Jack said, getting up. I zoomed in on the chair and pointed.
“Start there; there’s a puddle,” I replied.
Jack frowned and crossed over to it. Sure enough, there was a tiny puddle. Jack looked confused as he searched all around the chair. Finally, he shook his head.
“There’s nothing, Truck.” But we both heard the third drop fall, and the puddle grew a little in front of the camera.
“What the hell?” I exclaimed. Jack took the camera and let me search, but like him, I turned up nothing.
“How is this happening?” I demanded, completely confused. I picked the radio up. “Is anyone free?”
“What’s up?” Haunt asked immediately.
“We’ve got water falling but can’t find where it’s coming from. Can someone else come and confirm?”
“On my way,” Reaver said.
“Cheers.”
“Keep me updated,” Haunt ordered.
How freaking confusing. What was happening here? Two minutes later, Reaver knocked on the door, carrying a camera.
“Just listen,” I said to my Veep.
We sat down in silence, and as Reaver was looking bored, there was a drip. Reaver jumped up and checked around the seat. He even got on the chair and checked the ceiling above us.
“There’s a loft hatch down in that direction. Could there be a burst pipe above us?” I asked.
“Stay here, and I’ll go check it out,” Reaver said.
“Braver man than me to go into a haunted attic,” Jack chuckled. Reaver paused at the door, and I laughed.
“I’ll come,” I said, and his shoulders relaxed. “Jack, stay here so we know when we’re above you.”
“Okay.”
I followed Reaver up to the hatch where, luckily, there was a loft ladder.
Nobody could call me a coward, but I made Reaver go first. After all, he was Veep; that was his damn job.
Reaver sent me a dirty look and gingerly poked his head up into the hatch and released a shriek, and I yelled.
Reaver grinned, the wanker, and I punched the back of his knee.
“You fuckin’ idiot!” I cussed him out, nearly launching the camera at him. Laughter was pouring out of the radio as Lich howled.
“That’s one for the outtakes,” Lich chuckled.
“What’s going on?” Haunt demanded.
“Reaver’s a dick,” I snapped.
“Tell me something I don’t know. Behave!
Fuckin’ kids,” Haunt complained, and both of us laughed this time.
Reaver disappeared into the loft, and I followed him.
We listened carefully but detected nothing.
We moved to where we believed the room was and thudded on the ceiling.
Jack’s muffled yelp confirmed our position above him, and we began searching.
“I don’t get it; there aren’t even any pipes running across here,” I said.
“We all saw that water appear,” Reaver agreed.
We performed a final check before returning to the room.
As we approached, I heard Jack speaking and wondered what the hell was going on.
Reaver and I paused, and Reaver’s eyebrows shot into his head.
Jack was doing a presentation. I listened and nodded to Reaver.
Jack was good and obviously comfortable in front of a camera.
I opened the door and walked inside. We’d done twelve episodes so far, and Haunt still appeared stilted, as did the rest of us. Jack didn’t even break role as he wrapped up the narrative and turned to me.
“Anything?”
“No, there are not even pipes above us,” I replied. Which just made everything that bit weirder.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Ghoul
“Are you okay?” Lucky asked me with concern.
I was vigorously rubbing my brow.
“Something is watching us,” I muttered. Lucky turned the camera on and began filming. The TV station loved the idea of a psychic, and we had to get some footage of me in every episode.
“What are you sensing?”
“An older man, I’d say mid-fifties. He’s active but non-threatening, just likes to watch life go by,” I replied.
A deep bark made me jolt, and I smiled. “There’s a dog, a Border Collie. They died together, but I’ve no name or year of death. He’s not really talking, just watching.”
“No details?” Lucky pressed.
“None.”
“You’ve got orbs,” Reaver announced, making me and Lucky look around. “They’re right by Ghoul’s head.”
“Nope, you’re seeing things,” Lucky replied.
“Tell ya now, they’re there, brother,” Reaver retorted.
“Are you serious?”
“Deadly. This was one of the reports that orbs showed on camera could not be seen by the naked eye. There’s literally one in front of your nose, bro; reach out,” Lich ordered.
Obeying Lich, I reached out but felt nothing. What the hell? “Are you pissing about?”
“Nope. There’s orbs right in front of you,” Lich replied. Lucky picked the camera up and peered through it. Stepping back, Lucky met my gaze before looking through the lens once more.
“Lich is right. There’s an orb right in front of you, but we can’t see it.”
“Well, we’ve not had that before.”
“No. We’ve had bumps, bangs and noises but never orbs,” Lucky agreed.
“Are you picking anything else up?” Reaver asked.
“No. Just the guy and his dog. The dog’s witnessing something in the corner though. It’s fixated on it, but I can’t sense anything. If there’s someone else here, they’re heavily masked,” I replied.
The radio cracked, and then Gizmo broke in.
Coffee
Dive and I were both uneasy. We sensed that someone was watching us, and it was not a pleasant experience. I’d put some Rem Pods down, and Dive was trying the Ovilus, but nothing was communicating yet.
“What do you think?” Dive asked.
“The room is different from before. As if something has upset it.”
“The entity below us?”
“Could be, brother. But I’m really feeling unwelcome, and that’s unpleasant to say the least.” I rubbed my stomach as a sourness settled in it.
“Are you feeling threatened?” Dive asked, and I considered his question.
“More intimidated and unwanted than anything else. I’m getting strong piss-off vibes,” I replied.
“Snap.”
“Fear. Me.” The Ovilus spat the words out, making us jump. We’d not expected that.
“No. Why should we? What’s your name?” Dive called out.
“Fear.” The Ovilus squealed, startling us both for a second time, and we frowned. Now it was getting spooky.
“Your name is Fear?” I clarified.
“Said. So.”
“Talk about an attitude,” Dive commented mildly.
“Fuck. You.”
“That was clear,” I muttered, amused despite myself. Dive gasped as the temperature plummeted.
Our breath left us in puffs of foggy air, and we shivered.
“You. Will. Fear. Me.”
“No, we won’t.” Trust Dive to get argumentative with a ghost.
“Let’s try again. What’s your name?”
“Fear.”
“Nope, not calling you that. Are you the person watching others while sitting on the bed?” I asked.
A dark chuckle ran around the room, very faint, but we detected it.
“Guess that’s a no,” Dive quipped.
The temperature plummeted further, and frost appeared on the window. Okay, that was something to worry about.
“Time to leave,” I said to Dive.
“Agreed.” We both moved, but to our horror, the carpet grew a thin layer of frost. We forced our feet to move, fighting the pressure trying to keep us here. This had never happened in this room before, and it was downright scary.
Dive and I shoved forward, with Dive grabbing the camera as we passed it. It was almost breathtaking how everything turned back to normal as soon as we crossed the threshold.
“That room is dangerous,” Dive muttered.
“Ain’t disagreeing. Nobody should go in there alone.”
“Need to tell Haunt,” Dive mentioned.