by Mac Flynn
"Sir!" Puer shouted.
"Should we assume you two are all right with all your jabbering?" Ficus called down to us.
"We're fine!" David called back.
I shifted and winced. "Mostly fine." I dug something sharp from my rear and held it up. My flashlight was gone, but David shone his light on what I held.
My eyes widened as I realized it was a broken human leg bone. I yelped and tossed the bone. It clattered into the darkness. David pointed his flashlight at the ground beneath me. His eyes widened and he held out his hand to me.
"You might want to get up," he advised me.
I blinked at him. "Why?"
That's when I decided to turn around. The sharp, bony, cloth-covered floor beneath me was one vast swath of skeletal bodies. They were stacked one on top of another to create a grisly game of doggy pile. I yelped and leapt into David's outstretched arm. He lifted me off the pile and pulled me to a clear spot on the floor.
"What's the matter?" Ficus yelled at us.
David pursed his lips as his eyes swept over the dozens and dozens of bones. "We seem to have hit upon a rather grisly treasure, Doc. There are skeletons down here."
"Skeletons? What kind?"
"The human kind."
"Sir!" Puer exclaimed.
Ficus's voice sounded strained. "Just stay there. We'll come to you."
Something moved in the pile. My pulse quickened as I watched a lump rise from the mix of cloth and bone. The thing was covered in the ragged remains of the clothes of the dead, and resembled a great hunchbacked figure in a filthy hood and cloak. It raised its head and a pair of gleaming red eyes glared at us.
David backed up with me firmly against his side. "Actually, Doc, we'd rather come to you."
"It'll be faster the other way!" Ficus insisted.
"Believe me, you don't want to be down here," David warned him.
The creature shambled through the bones. It stretched out its arms and revealed two bony limbs that ended in toe joints. Its arms were strung from knees, and the movement of the cloth revealed legs formed from rib bones stuck to one another to create thick limbs.
I clung to David as we backed up and the thing shambled forward. "W-what is that?"
David shook his head. "I don't know, and I don't think we want to find out." He tilted his head back and looked at the hole in the ceiling. The hole was ten feet above us, and another twenty feet to the second floor where we could see the faces of our comrades. He looked to me with a grim expression as he handed me his flashlight. "Hold on as tight as you can. This is going to be a bumpy ride."
I wrapped my arms around his neck and nodded. "Ready."
He clutched me to himself and took a deep breath. Then he ran at the creature. "What are you doing?" I screamed.
The dark eyes blazed with evil and it swung one of its deadly clawed hands. David ducked the blow and leapt onto the thing's head. A high-pitched shriek spewed from beneath its hood. David jumped upward from its head and cleared the first hole.
The creature snatched at his ankles, but missed. It raised its arms above its head and gave another high-pitched cry.
Our friends above us leaned back and their eyes widened. "What in all that is holy is that?" Puer asked us.
Ficus leaned forward over the hole and waved at David. "Quick! Up here!"
David turned us so we faced the hole and the thing inside its great mawing mouth. "What's the hurry, Doc? It can't get up here."
The creature howled again and stretched out its arms. The bones beneath its feet climbed up its body like an army of white ants and connected themselves to the arms. The extended limbs grasped the edge of the hole and pulled the rest of the body off the ground and towards the first floor. And us.
David stumbled back with me still safely in his unsafe arms.
"Sir!" Puer yelped.
Ficus shone his flashlight on the creature's red eyes. The thing screeched and shielded its eyes, but nothing stopped its terrible march. Ficus whipped his head to Puer. "Don't sit there blabbering! Shine your light on it!"
Puer swallowed and nodded. They both flashed their flashlight beams on the creature. The bones on the arms sizzled and steam rose from their white surfaces. The thing cried out and its fingers slipped a few inches off the edge.
Ficus looked to David. "Hurry!"
"Coming!" David replied.
My mate rushed up the stairs on our left just as the creature's body reached the hole. I looked over his shoulder and shuddered. Those terrible eyes glared at us with a murderous intent. It climbed out of the hole and slithered across the floor, following our footsteps as we rushed up the steps. We reached the second floor and met our friends near the hole. David set me down and glanced at his medical friend.
"What is that thing?" David asked the doc.
Ficus knelt on the ground and furiously rifled through the contents. "The bodies of those poor souls who were killed by the evil in this house."
"Shouldn't they hate the house and like us?" I pointed out.
He shook his head. "They're jealous of the living, and wish for us to join them in their torment."
Puer glanced from his master to the doc. "Is there nothing that can be done to free such pitiful creatures?"
Ficus lifted his head and glared at Puer. "Start worrying about yourself. These things don't mean to hug us."
David pulled out the vial of holy water. "Will this holy water help?"
A loud, deep chuckle startled us. We whipped our heads to the stairway. The rotten thing reached the landing and blocked the hall with its decrepit corpse. A figure appeared beside it. It was Gardi. A wide, crooked grin adorned his face. He leaned his side against the creature and bowed his head to us.
"Good afternoon, my early guests," he greeted us. David pulled me behind him and growled at the phantom thing. Gardi chuckled again. "Is that any way to treat your host? And I had such plans for you."
David tensed. "Pity. We were just leaving."
Gardi glanced up at the stench-ridden bony thing beside him. "Oh, I don't think so. You see, my friends here love guests. They love them to death, if you'll pardon the pun. They would dearly love for you to stay."
"Aha!" The cry of joy came from Ficus. He pulled out a square metal box with pictures of animals on the four sides. There was a crank on one side which he cranked around and around.
Gardi's eyes widened before they narrowed. He curled his lips back in a snarl. "What are you doing there, human?"
Ficus chuckled. "Just a little surprise." A small musical sound emitted from the box.
Gardi whipped his head up to the rotten corpse and jerked his head towards us. "Destroy them."
The corpse dragged its body towards us. Its elongated arms stretched out and threatened to wrap its bony fingers around our necks. We backed up, but the hole blocked our escape path.
"Doc, if you've got something planned, you'd better do it now," David hissed at him.
Ficus pumped the handle faster and faster. A maniacal glint slipped into his eyes as the music sang faster and faster. "Get ready!" he yelled at us.
"Ready for what?" I asked him.
"This!" He stopped his grinding and tossed the box.
The box flew in an arc and clattered to the ground at the feet of our rotten foe. Both Gardi and it glanced down just in time to see the metal lid to spring open. A jack-in-the-box toy doll sprang from the box and waved its tiny hands and head at them. The pair startled back and drew into the shadows beyond from the stair landing.
Ficus picked up his bag and whipped his head to us. "Run, you fools!"
David swept me into his arms, but I pulled on the collar of his shirt like it was a pair of reins. "Not without Ruth!" I insisted.
"All right, but you're not coming with me!" he replied.
David dropped me into Puer's unwilling and unprepared arms. I was nearly dropped to the floor, but the old servant held me up long enough for me to set my feet on the boards. David turned and leapt across the ga
ping hole to the other side of the hallway.
"What the hell are you doing?" I shouted at him.
He paused and glanced over his shoulder to flash me a winning grin. "Meet us outside on the side of the house." He glanced at Puer. "Keep care of her."
Puer pursed his lips, but nodded. David turned and rushed into the darkness that lay at the end of the hall.
I started for him, but Puer grabbed my hand. "We must leave," he insisted.
I whipped my head around and glared at him. "We can't leave him!"
He smiled at me. "Have faith in Mr. Dives, and let us hurry. He dislikes late appointments."
I frowned, but let Puer lead me down the stairs.
9
What remained of our party fled down the grand staircase and to the first floor. We swept across the leave-covered hall and rushed to the open doors. That's when they slammed in our faces. We slammed into them and tugged at the handles. They weren't budging.
"Did you think a little parlor trick would free you from me?" a voice spoke up.
We whipped around to find Gardi striding down the stairs. Behind him shuffled his bony pet. He reached the bottom of the stairs and set his arm atop the end of the banister.
His dark eyes fell on Ficus. "It's not every human who knows ghosts dislike surprises. How did you find out such a secret?"
Ficus smirked. "We'll call it 'tricks of the trade.'"
Gardi chuckled. "Perhaps it is, but I'll wager you are running out."
Ficus popped open the clasp of his carpet bag and the top parted. "Care to try out your theory?"
Gardi turned his eyes down at the hole. A dark rope of bones flew out of the opening and stretched itself towards us. A bony hand lay at the end of the rope and grasped Ficus's bag. It tore the parcel from his hands and slipped back into the darkness from whence it came.
Gardi tilted his head back and laughed. "Now say you, my friend? What can you do without your bag?"
Ficus narrowed his eyes and stalked towards the pair. I reached out for him, but Puer held me back.
I whipped my head around and glared at the servant. "What are you doing? He's going to get himself killed!"
Puer smiled. "Have faith in Mr. Ficus, as well."
I pursed my lips, but returned my attention to Ficus. He pulled up his sleeves and stopped ten feet from our foes. "You would been better off to leave me with my bag."
Gardi chuckled. "And why is that?"
Ficus grasped his hands together so they were mirrors of each other like the yin-yang symbol. A strange light emanated from between his hands and cast shadows over his face.
His smirk slipped back onto his lips as the light brightened. "Because I'm more dangerous without it."
Gardi stumbled back and raised his arm over his face to shield his eyes. His teeth were clenched together and he grasped the banister tight in one hand. "What are you doing?"
Ficus chuckled. "Just a little magic. Now watch the birdy."
Ficus pulled apart his hands. The light burst forth and exploded into a million tiny, glowing blue birds. They flew at our shadow foes like a focused ocean wave and attached themselves to their clothing. The tiny birds wrapped their bodies around the bones of the creature and the body of Gardi.
Then, one-by-one, they started to explode. These weren't large explosions, but they were brilliant bursts of blue light. Every blast blew apart the bone to which they were attached. The death creature screeched in pain and fell back onto the stairs.
Puer grasped my arm and pointed at the bony creature. "Look!"
I didn't need his finger to show me the small white clouds of mist that floated from the bony body every time a bone blew to pieces. The creature writhed and screamed. The cloth that covered it was pushed off by the clouds of mist and revealed a black skeleton beneath the armor of miscellaneous bone parts. Its empty sockets contained a pair of red eyes that glared back at us.
Gardi caught our attention as he screamed and flailed around. He slapped his arms and face and clawed at the little translucent birds, but they wouldn't come off. Those lights, too, burst, but his body didn't crumble. Instead, a thick mess of black smog was pulled from the flesh piece by piece until a whole shadowy form was transposed over Gardi's body. The shadowy creature had the same red eyes as the skeleton thing.
Ficus leaned back and sucked in air. He leaned forward and blew. The smog form was separated from Gardi and pushed backwards into the black skeleton. The smog creature disappeared into the skeleton. Gardi's eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the floor.
The skeleton climbed onto its body feet. The miscellaneous bones fell away and it was left with only a few bits of sparse, rotten clothing.
The creature took a step forward and shook one of its bony fists at Ficus. "Damn you, sorcerer! I'll make you pay for destroying my souls!"
Ficus scoffed at him. "They weren't your souls to begin with, demon, and as for paying, my bill is too expensive." He clutched his hands as before and another blue light appeared from his hands.
The skeleton's red eyes widened and brightened. It turned tail bone and raced up the stairs. Ficus opened his hands. A large, brilliant blue butterfly flew from his palms and fluttered after our foe. Its huge wings were five feet long and its antenna two feet tall. The details were that of a monarch, and its majesty stayed true to that name as it floated up the stairs.
It caught the skeleton halfway up the flight and enveloped the bones in its wide wings. The skeleton let out one final, high-pitched scream as the butterfly released its energy. The light was so strong that Puer and I averted our eyes. When the light faded we looked back at the stairs. A fine sprinkling of black powder drifted onto the stairs.
I glanced up at the ceiling looking for its light like the other destroyed bone. "Where'd it go?"
Ficus chuckled and pointed a finger at the floor. "Someone other than those poor souls."
The door behind us burst open. We spun around and watched David fly into the room partially transformed and prepared for a battle that was very much over. He blinked at us and looked past our little group at the pile of ash and Gardi's limp body.
"Did I miss much?" he asked me. I walked over to him and rapped him upside the head. He winced and rubbed the sore spot. "What was that for?"
"For being late!" I snapped. "Where the hell were you, anyway?"
"I dropped something during the transformation, and it took me a few moments to find it," he admitted. He glanced at Ficus and arched an eyebrow. "Are all of the souls gone?"
Ficus jerked his head over his shoulder. "Sniff for yourself."
David lifted his long snout and sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything except must and cobwebs."
Ficus strode over to the stairs and picked up his bag the skeleton creature dropped. He brushed the dust off the carpet sides and turned to us. "You can expect my bill will be quite large, especially as I consider this a house-call."
David smiled and bowed his head. "Of course, my dear doctor."
My eyes widened and I grasped David's arm. "Ruth! Is she-" He set his hand on mine and nodded.
"She's fine. I left her outside near the car," he assured me.
My shoulders slumped and I ran a hand through my hair. "Finally some good news. . ."
Puer stepped up to us and bowed. "I am sorry I couldn't be of more help, sir."
David chuckled and patted Puer's shoulder. "You were a great help, Puer. Without you who knows what Dakota would have done."
I whipped my head up and glared at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"
He stepped back and held his hands up in front of him. "Nothing important."
Ficus strode past us and paused in the doorway to half-turn to our little group. "If you people are done patting each other on the back, I would like to go home now." He nodded at Gardi's limp form. "And could somebody pick that fool up and bring him with us? This is no place for the living."
I frowned. "Shouldn't he feel right at home here?"
Ficus sh
ook his head. "Not anymore. The phantom has been exorcised and he's as human as any of us." His eyes flickered to David. "Generally speaking, of course."
David hefted Gardi's body over one shoulder and we left that dark house. Our time in the manor house was long enough that the sun was setting in the west. We returned to the car and found Ruth seated in the back. She was fast asleep. I reached out to her, but David, now human once again, grabbed my wrist and shook his head. "Best let her sleep. Hopefully she didn't see anything, and if she did she will think it was a dream."
I frowned and took a seat close beside her. "I wish I knew what we saw." Puer got the car started and turned around so we bounced down the long driveway.
David furrowed his brow and glanced at Ficus. "What did happen in there while I was rescuing a damsel in distress?"
Ficus leaned back and shrugged. "Nothing important."
I snorted. "You had blue butterflies and birds flying out of your hands."
A sly smile slipped onto David's lips. "Then the good doctor had to prove his chops to the lowly skeleton?"
Ficus frowned. His bag lay in his lap, and he scooted it closer to his chest. "That damned idiot stole my bag. I had no choice."
I glanced from one male to the other. "Mind filling me in on the details?"
David nodded at Ficus, who turned his face away. "Our good doctor here is not only a top-rate physician, but he happens to be an expert sorcerer."
Ficus's eyes narrowed and flickered to David. "Warlock."
David bowed his head. "I sit corrected. He's a warlock, and a very good one. Not many could have outmatched the evil in that house."
"You mean the skeleton or the phantom?" I asked him.
"They were one and the same," Ficus revealed.
I blinked at him. "Come again?"
Ficus sighed. "The black skeleton beneath the bodies of the trapped souls was the original body of the phantom. I merely freed the souls that protected its body, reinserted its own black soul into its body, and destroyed that."
David clapped his hands. "Bravo, Doc! It's so simple and yet so magnificent."
