Chapter 21
Seth looked at Gio, Troy and Cairo. “You all heard that right?”
“We heard. Let’s go downstairs and look for the others. We’ve not found anything up here that can help,” Cairo suggested.
They all moved towards the staircase. Gio walked behind them, hand on his ever-present sword, ready for anything.
They reached the bottom of the stairs without encountering anything.
“That was too easy,” Troy commented.
They were just moving off when they saw the wolves, Jamie, Ivan, Olly and Adrian walk into the hallway.
“Well, none of you have been used as tribute for the bogeyman,” Seth said, sounding relieved and looking them over.
“Ian nearly was, but Adrian healed him,” Kevin replied.
“You’re getting sloppy, puppy,” Troy teased.
“It’s true. I was ducking flying tables, beds and chairs at the time, not looking for flying ice picks.”
“Sounds fun,” Seth said, grinning. “Did you find anything else?”
“Yeah. A friendly female ghost told us that Derrick sold his soul to an evil demon,” Kevin told them.
“Would killing the demon break the contract?” Cairo asked Adrian.
“It would depend on the wording of the contract. Everything can be broken, you just need to find the way.”
“Before we do that, we should look for Mathis and Gabe,” Jamie put in. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck are standing on end, and the atmosphere feels like it’s getting heavier.”
They formed a circle around Jamie, all of them looking outwards.
The rubbish that was scattered around the floor and the furniture started flying around them, slowly at first and then getting faster. They used their hands and arms to batter the rubbish away.
Adrian started muttering. He put his hand into his bag and pulled out a black crystal. He held it in front of him and muttered some words no one understood, but suddenly the rubbish stopped flying and gently fell to the ground.
“So that worked,” Seth said.
“We should find Gabe and Mathis, hopefully they’re okay,” Cairo said.
Ivan turned to look at Jamie, but the circle was empty. “Where’s Jamie?” he asked in horror.
Mathis and Gabe had searched the other rooms and found no more pentagrams, but in the final room, they found more runes, this time on the walls and ceiling.
“Someone here really liked the occult,” Gabe said, looking around at this new set of runes.
“Do you know what they say or do?” Mathis asked, looking at the ones on the ceiling. He pulled his phone out and snapped pictures of them. He saw Gabe doing the same.
“I recognise some; they are used to trap spirits. They’re very much like the ones I used on your metal box to capture the dark spirits at White Ladies, but these are not just for dark spirits; they can trap any spirit.”
“That could be why they say this place is so haunted. Although we’ve not seen much ghostly activity. There was the ghost outside and voice and the slamming door, but that’s it.”
“Maybe the others are having better haunting experiences.”
The bogeyman accepts the tributes offered.
Gabe looked at Mathis. “Tributes?”
Mathis shrugged. “The only tributes I can think of are from The Hunger Games.”
Gabe shook his head. “I’ve never seen it. But could the voice mean tributes, as in sacrifices? If so, we need to find the others; they might be in trouble.”
Gabe rushed towards the door, when it slammed closed. “Really? You’re getting predictable now.”
Mathis punched the door, but nothing happened. He tried kicking it, but again, nothing happened. “Let’s try a window.”
They walked to the closest one. Mathis tried again to punch through it, but nothing happened there either, not even the smallest crack appeared.
Gabe pulled his wand out and drew the power rune in the air, flinging it at the window. Nothing happened. “Well, that didn’t work.”
“Little witch, I have a feeling we might be the tribute.”
Jamie opened his eyes, expecting to see himself inside the middle of the circle in the foyer, but he wasn’t. He spun around, trying to figure out where he was, but it was too dark to see. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and clicked on his torch.
He saw he was in a room with Mathis and Gabe. “Mathis, Gabe,” he called out, but neither man heard him.
Jamie put his hand out, cautiously moving forward. His hand hit something. He moved his hand around, feeling. It was some sort of barrier.
“MATHIS, GABE,” he shouted while banging on the barrier.
Again, they didn’t seem to hear him.
He looked at his phone, wondering what to do. He needed to find a way to contact Ivan and get out of this barrier thing, but how? He looked at his phone again and, shaking his head at his own stupidity, he quickly found Ivan’s number and dialled it.
“How could he vanish without us, without me, noticing?” Ivan asked, running a hand through his hair.
“Magic,” Adrian replied. “We need to find that demon. Hopefully, that will lead us to Jamie.”
“So, how do we find the demon? Thiago?” Olly queried.
“It might help to have Thiago here,” Adrian said.
“We probably should have brought him with us in the first place,” Ian commented.
Seth pulled out his phone and called Raz, who answered on his first ring.
“Hey, Seth. Do you need me?”
“Thiago and you, if possible, we have a demon problem.”
“Okay, we’ll be with you in a moment.”
Just as Seth hung up, Thiago and Raz suddenly appeared in front of them. They arrived so quickly that Raz still had his phone out.
“Whoa, demon energy is all over this place,” Thiago said, turning in a circle and looking around.
“Apparently, one of the asylum’s former residents, a chap called Derrick, sold his soul to an evil demon, we think for immortality.
We need that immortality taken off him,” Seth told him.
He looked at Raz. “Mathis and Gabe haven’t returned from their search, and Jamie has just vanished from the middle of our circle. ”
“Do you know where Mathis and Gabe were searching?” Raz asked, concerned.
“That corridor,” Cairo said, pointing.
As they talked, Thiago walked to the middle of their group and bent down, touching the ground. “It can’t be,” he muttered, standing up with a look of concern on his face.
Raz stepped forward. “Tia?”
Thiago looked at him. “I recognise the demon magic. I can follow it to find Jamie, if you want to get searching for Mathis and Gabe.”
“Don’t go alone,” Raz cautioned.
Thiago stood on tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss and a sad smile. “Sorry, I have to.” The next moment, Thiago vanished.
Raz took a step forward and then stopped and hung his head.
There was silence for a moment, which was interrupted by a phone ringing.
Ivan grabbed his phone out of his pocket and sighed when he saw Jamie’s name. “It’s Jamie,” he clicked answer. “Jay, are you okay?”
“I think so, but I think I’m in a weird force field or something. I’m in a room with Mathis and Gabe, but they can’t see or hear me. To be honest, I'm surprised my phone is working.”
“Do you know where the room is?” Ivan asked.
“No, but they’re trapped in the room, and there are runes everywhere. I have no idea what they mean, though.”
“We’ll find you,” Ivan promised him. He heard a strange noise, then laughter. “Jay?” There was no answer. He looked at the others. “We need to find the others now.”