Chapter 57 - Isle of Ghosts

Fairy Tail: Paths of the Soul

An hour after departing from their hometown, the girls arrived in Johdine and stepped off the ferry's gangplank. Amber took a deep breath of the salty air; it'd been a while since the last time she was here, the day she met Axel and Zeke. Everything was exactly as she remembered it, but it still felt strange to be back. It'd only been two months, but so much had happened between then and now that it felt like a lifetime had passed.

"We have arrived!" An exuberant Leena shouted, resting her hand on her hip and pumping her fist into the air.

"Leena..." Sasha edged closer to her, growing a little red in the face. "People are staring..."

"Meh, I don't care." She said confidently, strolling off towards town. "C'mon, the hero's have arrived!"

With that one statement, Leena marched off. Sasha frantically followed after her, not wanting to be caught in the crowd. Amber watched the two of them leave, then glanced down at Bell, who seemed to be waiting for her. "Is... She that energetic on every job you guys take?"

"Mh-hmm." She nodded. "Every single one."

Amber chuckled at her response, it seemed like this was something she'd grown accustom to. "How're you so OK with it, but Sasha isn't?"

"Listening to my sis fawn over that fire guy, Raven." Bell patted her stomach, like just thinking about it made her queasy. Amber nodded her head, and Bell sighed. "You get use to it...”

Bell began walking away as well, leaving a stunned Amber standing alone at the dock. The three of them all had to be around Carra's age, but they where all so mature it made her wonder if they really would be OK doing the job without her. Between Leena's dauntless courage and ability to read a situation, Sasha's people skills, and Bell's levelheadedness, it seemed like they'd be able to handle anything on their own.

Shaking the thought away, Amber trudged after them. That kind of thinking, that everything would go smoothly, was exactly what screwed up their last job. And she'd be damned if she let that happen to these three on her watch.

Half an hour later, the girls had arrived at their destination. Their trek by water hadn't ended with the ferry; the mansion they where suppose to be investigating was located on an island just off Johdine's shore, just out of sight from port. Renting a boat proved to be no problem, and with Leena's water creations propelling them along, they arrived at the island in question in short order.

In stark contrast to what they'd seen of Johdine that day, the new island looked fairly rundown. A small cluster of trees around the shore obscured the ocean, and the shore itself was made up of a great many tiny rocks rather than sand. Overgrown grass crept up through a broken stone path, leading from a small dock to a huge mansion sitting in the center of the island. Shear black tiles made up the roof and water stains ran down the walls underneath every window. Black, ashen looking siding and an unsettling whistling of the wind came from an open window on the upper level. Even if the job had made no mention of ghosts, one could've been forgiven for thinking the place was haunted. To top it all off, a strange cloud cover had blown in while none of them where looking; making it appear that a rain storm was only minutes away.

"H-hey, Leena?" Sasha mumbled, creeping closer to her friends. "A-are we really going in there?"

Despite holding her head high with her hands placed proudly on her hips, Amber saw a tiny bead of sweat run down the back of Leena's neck. "Heroes have to be brave." She mumbled, beginning her assent up the overgrown stone path.

The others followed suite, growing uncomfortably closer to the property. To nobody's surprise, the building didn't become any less spooky up close. It only got worse as Amber noticed a savage looking gargoyle perched atop each of the building's four corners, a detail that she thought it best to keep to herself. "So..." She mumbled as the four of them approached the door. "Do we knock, or...?"

"Hello, Dears."

"Kyaaaaa!" Sasha screamed, and they all spun around. Amber's hand landed on her belt, ready to set Armeria on the attack. But all they found behind them was a kindly looking old lady smiling at them, a small blue watering can clutched in her bony hands.

"Oh, I'm sorry dears. I didn't mean to frighten you." She peered around the group, to see Sasha huddling behind Amber and pulling her cap down over her eyes. "What brings you to my humble abode?"

While Amber could still hear her heart beating in her ears, Leena reached into her fanny pack and produced the job poster. "W-we're here about the ghosts..." Despite her confidence not a moment ago, her voice came out as barely a whisper. "We're from Blazing Soul, a mage guild on the mainland."

"Oh, you are?" The woman held her cheek, and her smile grew larger. "Well, I'll stop disturbing you then. You're free to look around, but I doubt you'll find anything. That request was made by my grandson, and he has quite the wild imagination, let me tell you."

The girls all exchanged a glance, and some of the confidence returned to Leena's voice. "No need to worry, citizen." She proclaimed, giving the old woman a thumbs-up. "We're on the case."

A few moments later, the girls where inside the mansion. The old woman they'd met had left to tend to her gardening, saying that they where free to check anywhere they wished. A large staircase sat before them, and two open doors led in opposite directions, so they'd obviously have to split up. Going alone was out of the question, if Sasha hadn't made that point clear then Amber would have, so they decided to go in pairs.

"Sasha and I will check the basement." Leena exclaimed, pointing to one of the doors. "Bell and Amber. You do upstairs first, then we'll meet in the middle to check the ground floor."

Sasha tensed up. "W-why do you and I have to go to the basement first?"

Leena shook her head. "You and I have to go together, Sasha. Bell is the strongest of us, and Amber is injured. So if something bad happens, Bell's going to protect her."

There where two things wrong with that assessment in Amber's mind. First: She was fairly sure that Sasha was questioning their destination, rather than the pairings. And second: she was supposed to be taking care of them, not the other way around.

Before she could make a complaint, Bell took her by the hand and spoke up. "We don't mind doing the basement." She looked up at Amber, barely a hint of an expression on her face. "Right?"

After Amber nodded in agreement, Leena shrugged and took Sasha by the arm. "Alright, we'll do upstairs then." She took half a step towards the grand staircase, when another gust of win blew through the house. The howl that came with it sent a shiver down all of their backs, and Leena took her foot off the first step. Despite looking scared herself, Amber could practically hear the gears turning in Leena's head. "Ok... Maybe we should check the main floor first. We don't want to get too far away from each other if something bad happens."

Nobody had an argument, and the girls headed in separate directions. Amber and Bell stepped into a hallway lined with paintings and entered into the first door they came across. It was pretty big, paintings hanging on two walls to the right and left, and a large, three-sectioned window taking up most of the wall opposite them. It was left partially open, and the long citrons that framed the window flowed in the wind. The room itself was fairly empty; a black, antique piano sat in the corner next to the window, and two arm chairs sat facing each other on either side of a small coffee table. Several brass instruments stood on stands under the window, each emanating a feint whale with every gust of wind that blew past.

"Ok..." Amber crossed the room in three massive strides, shutting the window and ending the ghastly symphony. "We don't need to hear that..."

Bell nodded in agreement, taking a moment to look the room over. "It's a music room." She ran her finger across the top of the Piano, clearing away a thick layer of dust to reveal an almost flawless ebony finish. "Everything's so dusty..."

Amber did the same to one of the brass instruments, revealing a mirror like polish underneath. She flicked her hand to clear the dust, causing her to cough when it took to the air. "Maybe she doesn't play much anymore?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Bell did a quick lap through the room before arriving at the door again. "Let's try another room."

Not seeing many other options, Amber followed her into the next room. This one was about the same size as the last, but with bookshelves lining each wall. The only place where there where no books was a small fireplace, in front of which sat a long couch with a blanket draped over it. Amber's first instinct was to sit down, as her legs had begun to ache from all the walking she'd been doing.

Staring into the fireplace, she noticed something strange. Namely, that It was clean. No bucket of ash, no firewood, no kindling; there wasn't even a smell. It seemed odd, but the last room hadn't been used much, so maybe the old lady they'd met just didn't feel comfortable lighting fires in the house anymore. "Hey, Bell? Do you...?" She turned around to find Bell going along the bookshelves, pulling each book out half way and pushing it back in again before moving onto the next. Whatever she was up to made Amber forget what she was going to ask, and curiosity got the better of her. "What're you doing?"

"Looking for a secret passageway." She said simply, a slight twinkle in her eye. "It's in all the movies: Every old mansion has a secret passage in the library, right?"

Dumbfounded, Amber just shrugged. "I don’t think-."

"Kyaaaaaa!" They both went rigid the second they heard Sasha scream.

A trio of glowing cubes appeared around Bell with a snap of her fingers, and Amber gripped at her belt as they rushed into the hallway. She made out a shadow disappearing out the mansion's front door, and focused on the other hall. "Sasha?! What was-?!"

"We're ok!" Leena yelled across the hall. "It was just a raccoon!"

"It was huge!" Sasha cried, sounding as if this job was really taking its tole on her.

Letting out a huge sigh, Bell waved her hand and the cubes she'd conjured disappeared. Amber began to chuckle. She didn't mean too, but imagining what must've happened tickled her funny bone. "She dosn;t like being scared." Bell mumbled to her. "One time we tried telling ghost stories on an overnight job, and I don't think Sasha ever fell asleep that night."

Her chuckled turned into a full-blown laugh, but she quickly got it under control knowing Sasha could probably hear them. "C'mon, let's try another room."

While everyone was eager to continue, the next hour or so of searching proved to be entirely fruitless. The next room Amber and Bell came across was a bedroom, or a guest room, considering its size. There was nothing more than a four-poster bed, a dresser, and a night stand, all of which where empty and covered in a thin vial of dust. Even the bed, as neatly made as it was, looked like it hadn't been disturbed in a very long time.

The next place they looked ended up being the kitchen, and a foul smell hit them the second they opened the door. A pipe underneath one of the sinks had developed a slow leek, which had in turn allowed a slimy patch of algae to grow across most of the tile floor. Bell almost slipped on it during the coarse of their investigation, and between that and the smell, neither of them felt the need to take too close a look at anything.

As they moved onto their fifth room, Amber had a through. They where suppose to be looking for ghosts, not treasure, why where they bothering to search each room? Furthermore, what where they suppose to do if they actually found one? Just hack and slash at it? She was no expert on ghosts, but she was pretty sure that wouldn't work. Given it was Isa who signed off on the job, it probably would have been a good idea to ask her advice on the matter before they left.

But they hadn't, and here they where searching through the what must've been the hundredth empty cabinet. Blowing a strand of her bright red hair out of her eye, Bell let out a long sigh and turned around. "This isn't working..." Amber nodded, realizing that Bell must've been thinking the same thing. "All we've got left is the basement, and we haven't found anything."

Another chill shot up Amber's back; everything she'd been thinking about for the past little while flew out the window. Even if they'd found nothing so far, the mansion was still creepy, and there was no way that was going to change by going into the basement. Still through, Bell had a point. "Did you want to meet up with the others first?"

"Nope." Bell shook her head, brushing past her to the large, looming door that no doubt must've led downstairs. "Don't worry; I can protect you if something bad happens."

Her words stung more than she could have known. Amber bit back any kind of retort she may have had, doubting that she meant it maliciously. Shaking her head to get over the shock, Amber followed after her.

The door to the basement creaked open, revealing an inky blackness that looked like something out of a horror movie. They felt around for a light switch, but there was none to be found. Bell plucked a candlestick off a nearby table and ran into the first room they investigated, the one with the fireplace. She returned a moment later with a lit candle in one hand and a flint in the other. "I saw it earlier." She mumbled, sounding proud of herself despite her mousy voice. Amber nodded and took the lead, determined that if anything jumped out at them, she'd be able to stop it.

Each of the steps creaked on their descent, like the house itself was trying to scare them away. Soon, Amber felt hard concrete under her foot, indicating that she'd reached her destination. Even with Bell following close behind her with a candle, the two of them could barely see anything. There where no windows, and the candlelight wasn't nearly sufficient enough to see. Cabinets and chairs had been stacked around them almost to the ceiling, and a number of shadowed shapes sat just outside of what the candle illuminate.

"Sasha would've hated it down here." Bell mumbled, taking a step back towards the stairs.

Undaunted, Amber took the candle and stepped forward into the darkness. "She's not the only one..."

The two of them advanced slowly, Amber kept her hand on Bell's shoulder, while Bell clutched at the back of Amber's shirt. The path through the clutter was narrow, and it zigzagged through the basement like a maze. Amber kept looking behind her and making note of what they past by, just in case they needed to make a hasty exit. A large cabinet, a stack of chairs, a vanity with a broken mirror, another stack of chairs, a large rocking horse. Somebody would really have their work cut out for them if they wanted to organize this mess.

A few minutes into their trek, Bell suddenly snapped her head away for something, then tightly wrapped her hands around Amber's waist. "Haa!"

A little winded, Amber spun around to see what was wrong, only to see a small grey hand reaching out to them from the darkness. "Wha-?!" She gasped in surprise, folding her arm around Bell's head and swatting the hand away.

It felt odd. Solid, cold, and... Stone? Her heart-rate calmed slightly, and Amber held the candle up to investigate. Before her stood a stone torso, a female's torso. A sad expression on the face gazed out into nothing, and one of her hands rested under her chin. The other was reaching out to them, and must've been what frightened them.

Amber chuckled nervously. She'd almost gone on the attack, set Armeria to destroy everything between them and the stares, all over a statue. "Uh... Bell?" She patted the girls head. "It's just a-."

Just as suddenly as she'd grabbed her, Bell stepped away and bowed her head. Her bangs covered her eyes and she held her cheek, but she could do nothing to hide her embarrassed flush. "It touched my face..." Amber tried not to laugh, but a small giggle still escaped her lips. With how mature she was, it was easy to forget that Bell was still just a kid. "Let's go back."

Not wanting to spend any more time down here than necessary, Amber nodded and handed her the candle, and the two of them backtracked to the stares. Going back was a lot easier than going forward. They'd left the door at the top of the stares open, so they knew what direction they needed to go, and they moved a lot quicker now that they knew what was ahead.

They made it part way up the stares before either of them looked back, watching the shadows dance in the firelight. "Well... I guess there was nothing down here after all." Said Amber, before she took a deep breath and blew out the candle. Bell nodded and continued up the staircase. Amber was careful to watch her step, as it sounded like the stairs would collapse on them at any moment, and that was when she heard a faint whisper behind her.

I don't like the dark...

Amber's head shot up. Bell was staring right back at her, a hand covering one of her ears, seemingly like she was asking if she'd just herd what they through they heard. "Go." Amber ordered, dropping the candlestick and pushing Bell up the stairs. "Go, go go!"

She didn't need any more encouragement; the two of them burst into the hallway and Amber slammed the door shut behind her. Sasha and Leena where waiting for them in the grand staircase, a look of confusion on both their faces. Amber grabbed Sasha by the collar and Bell planted her hands in the center of Leena's back, and together dragged themselves outside.

"Hey, hey! Wait a second!" Leena shouted, trying to push back. "What's going on? Why are we going outside?"

Despite her protests, they didn't stop moving until they where halfway to the dock, at which point Amber and Bell both dropped to their knees. They where both gasping for air, so no answer came. None the less, Sasha seemed to pick up on the situation based on their expression. "W-what did y-you find?" She asked in a shaky voice.

"There..." Amber gasped. "Was... A voice."

Sasha went ridged, glancing back at Leena for some direction. She too looked shaken, stealing a nervous glance at the old mansion. "W-what did it say?"

Bell stood up and brushed off her skirt. "It was in the basement." Her face was as white as snow. "It sounded like a girl saying: I don't like the dark."

Sasha's face went pale, but Leena suddenly tapped her on the shoulder before anything else could be said. "Wait... Didn't you say that a minute ago? When we went looking through that big closet?"

Her face going from sickly pail to bright red, Sasha pulled her cap down over her ears. "Oh no... Do you think I...?"

Finally catching her breath, Bell puffed out her cheeks in annoyance. "Again?"

"What?" Amber was completely lost, but there was no way she was going back inside to figure it out. "What are you talking about?"

As Sasha had hunkered down and began fidgeting with her hands, mumbling an endless line of apologies, so Leena stepped up to explain in her place. "Ok, remember how she can read minds? And how she's not that good at it?" Amber nodded slightly, rubbing her aching legs. "Well... Telepathy can be used a different way too, to project thoughts. She can communicate with us like a radio." She patted her friend on the shoulder, trying not to sound harsh when she said. "So... Basically it's the same problem as before, on the boat. Sometimes she reads someone's mind without meaning to, and sometimes she broadcasts what she says by accident.”

Amber glanced at Sasha for confirmation, but the girl was too flustered to even look her in the eye. "So..." She began, hating herself for even considering this. "Do we go back inside?"

Given how exited she'd been when they'd set out, Amber was suppressed when Leena shook her head. "I don't think so." She looked at Bell, who nodded in agreement, and there was no doubt in anyone's mind what Sasha thought. With a heavy sigh, she rested her hand on her hip and said. "I guess it's: mission failed." Amber was almost relived to hear her say that. These girls just kept surprising her around every corner. Helping Sasha to her feet, she began down the path towards the boat with her head held high. "C'mon, let's go home."

The trip back to Johdine was pleasant enough, though a lot quieter. Spending the last few hours expecting something to jump out at them seemed to wear everyone out, though that didn't stop everyone from pitching in on the row back to shore.

"So, you lady's 'ave a nice trip?" One of the dockworkers asked as they began mooring the boat.

They all exchanged a glance, not knowing exactly how much of the story to tell. Or rather, how much of it they wanted to relive. "Yep." Leena nodded finally, giving the dock worker a thumbs-up. "It was smooth sailing, citizen."

The dockworker chuckled to himself, finishing in helping them tie the boat off. "So... Whereabouts did ya go? I noticed you coming in from the west, nothing out that'a'way but rocky shores and reefs." He paused a moment to scratch his chin, then added. "Oh, and that old island with the mansion, I suppose."

"That's where we went." Sasha mumbled sheepishly.

Leena pulled the job flyer from her fanny pack and handed it to the man. "We're mages from Merow City. We came here to investigate that old house for the old lady who lives there."

"Old lady?" The worker turned his head to the side in confusion. "The place I'm talking about is abandoned." The girls exchanged a glance, and the worker continued to look over the flyer while he talked. "Ghosts, huh?" He laughed in disbelief, handing the flyer back to them. "Sorry lass, but I think we're talking about different islands. Nobody's lived in that mansion for over a decade now."

Next Chapter – Progress on All Fronts