HDA - Living in Darkness Trilogy - Pt 2 - The Search

MOONSPELL

PiperMerlyn

Chapter 4

The Chapters

Wednesday afternoon, everyone met over at the Hardy home. Halloween was five days away and everyone was thinking of where they were going to have their annual party as well as who was going to do what. Callie glanced at her boyfriend. "You're quiet."

Chet gave her an odd look. "You didn't hear then?"

Callie sighed. "What was it this time? A monster or something."

"No." Joe was equally quiet and he shared a long look with his brother. "We saw something at the school library today."

Frank pushed himself to his feet and shook his head. "I think we should go back, check for cameras, mirrors, something."

Vanessa frowned. "What did you see?"

"It wasn't just us," said Joe, now sounding defensive. "Ms. Harrison saw it too. So did the janitor."

Callie looked from one brother to the other. "Saw what?"

"A ghost," said Frank heavily.

Liz Webling, who worked on the school newspaper and was Chet's steady girlfriend, frowned. "No way. I didn't know the school library was haunted. It must be because it's so close to Halloween." When everyone glared at her, she frowned and tossed her long dark ponytail over one shoulder. "What?"

Tony Prito shook his head. "Never mind." He leaned back against the chair his own girlfriend, Sarah Nordstrom, was sitting in. "It probably was a prank. You've been saying all the others were pranks."

"But who?" asked Joe. "It was an older woman, probably in her fifties. She was wearing this weird long dress with long flowing sleeves but the fabric looked psychedelic. She had long hair with a scarf in her hair. And peace sign necklaces."

"She was looking for something. She kept going methodically down the stacks as if searching for one particular book," added Frank with a shake of his head. "If I hadn't seen it..."

Vanessa frowned. "You'd be amazed what you can do with a camera, a computer and a projector."

"That's what I thought," said Frank. "But we looked. There were no cameras or projectors."

"But it's the library," said Callie. "The library has at least a dozen computers."

Frank shook his head again. "Nothing more than simple CPUs, nothing with the power output for this."

In the silence, Chet cleared his throat. "Liz is right. It is close to Halloween."

Allan Hooper grunted where he sat with his girlfriend, Karen, on the sofa. "Don't be ridiculous, Chet. Next thing you'll tell me is you believe in little green Martians."

Chet gave him a wide-eyed look. "Isn't Marvin proof enough."

Sarah frowned, a petite blond with expressive green eyes. "Marvin Collier?"

Everyone grinned and Callie shook her head. "He means the cartoon Marvin the Martian, who's always wanting to conquer Earth and being thwarted by Bugs Bunny."

Frank sat down next to Callie. "Okay, Joe's right about the pattern. But I'm getting tired of the pranks. We--"

"No, we do not," stated Callie emphatically. "We have to decide who's doing what and where the party is going to be."

Vanessa nodded. "Someone had better have a good idea for location too."

Joe was staring into the middle distance and didn't say anything until Vanessa slapped his knee. He blinked and looked at her. "What?"

"Location. Any suggestions?"

Joe narrowed his blue eyes. "The Lancaster estate."

Frank shook his head. "Joe, Sullivan Graves said that's where they're staying."

"I'm sure he'd okay a party. The Lancaster estate is spookier than Hogwarts."

"Okay, enough with Harry Potter."

Vanessa sighed. " Lancaster 's off limits. Some place else."

Several places were named but were immediately vetoed. Sarah, the only freshman in the group; everyone else were either sophomores, juniors or seniors, raised a hand. "What about the old caretaker's house?"

Joe looked puzzled. "What caretaker?"

Frank got a gleam in his eye. "The Birch Road Cemetery , Joe. Did you know old man Harold Jenkins lived in a house built smack dab in the middle of the cemetery. Legend has it, the vengeful ghosts he'd cheated by switching coffins and burying them in cheap pine boxes, rose up one Halloween night to set things right."

Callie frowned. "But we'd have to go through a cemetery."

Joe laughed his evil laugh again. "All the better."

Tony had a thoughtful look on his face and he was nodding. Suddenly he grinned. "I like it. Spooky. People will want to come to a party, even if it's in a cemetery."

Vanessa frowned. "You think it's legal? I mean I don't know if people would want us trampling graves."

"We won't be," said Frank. "There's a clear path to the house. And the party itself will be in the house."

"Yeah, but people invariably wander off, " said Liz. "You know."

The entire group knew what she meant. Sometimes it was a dare to go off and do some necking in a cemetery. Frank remembered a year he'd gone off with Callie while Joe had gone with Iola. He still remembered that Iola got mad at Joe that night and actually walked all the way through the cemetery and home alone. He cleared his throat. "We'll probably need to check and see if we can use it. If not, we'll have to think of some other place."

The group stayed for another hour, discussing everything but never coming to a decision on location. When everyone had finally left, Joe sighed and sat back down in a chair. "Frank, are we going crazy?"

Frank frowned at his brother. "No."

"Did we really see a ghost?"

"No."

Joe gave his brother a long look. "You could've said that a little more convincingly."

"Ha,ha," muttered Frank. "Go do your homework or something."

"Go do yours."

"Boys, dinner's ready," came their mother's amused voice.

Joe and Frank turned to see her standing in the doorway. Laura Hardy laughed softly. "Some things never change. I couldn't help but overhear. What's wrong with the Lancaster estate, didn't you use it last year?"

"Someone lives in it now," answered Joe.

Laura looked stunned. "It was falling apart, full of cobwebs." She shook her head. "I always expected to see the Munsters standing outside, ready to get in their weird car whenever I pass that place. Who moved in?"

"Archimedes Slade," said Joe, as if his mother would know exactly who that was. "And Sullivan Graves."

"I'm supposed to know who they are?"

Joe sighed. "Archimedes Slade writes horror novels and Sullivan Graves is a magician."

"Ahh," said Laura Hardy, smiling softly. "Now I get it. Come on, boys."

Joe waited until his mother had gone back to the kitchen and glared at Frank. "Not a word."

Frank smirked. "Wouldn't dream of it."

***

"Hey, Frank, I need the encyclopedia." Joe glanced at the paper in his hand. "The letter H."

"For Halloween?" asked Frank, not even looking up from his computer.

"Not even funny." Joe stepped further into the room. "Are you playing that game again?"

"No. I thought I'd check out Archimedes Slade. Did you know twenty-five years ago, he wasn't even a choice for his publishing company? They rejected every manuscript he sent them for nearly five years."

"So?"

"So, at twenty-five, one day after Halloween, he meets a theoretical scientist, they marry and he hits the best sellers' list. Do you know he's had at least one novel on the best sellers' list every year, sometimes two."

"Yay,yay, want me to do a cheer too?"

"I thought you were a fan."

Joe grunted and walked over to the shelf where Frank's set of encyclopedias sat in alphabetical order. "I'm a fan of his books Not him. He's downright rude."

"I checked Graves too. He's retired from magic, according to what I could find. Seems it was his sister that Slade married."

"Whoop-de-doo." Joe pulled the book labeled G-H and glanced back at Frank. "And this is relevant how?"

"Well, the other dude, Reiden? His sister married Sullivan Graves. Guess who his sister is."

"Why. I wait long enough you'll tell me."

Frank rolled his eyes and groaned. "Rowan Trance."

Joe propped a fist on his hip and mimicking his mother, asked, "And I'm supposed to know who that is?"

"Rowan Trance. She's this rock singer who favors black and red--black leather and red blood."

Joe blinked. "You mean the vampire chick."

"Yeah."

"So?"

"Patterns, Joe. There's a pattern here. The mummy belongs to a horror writer who's brother-in-law happens to be a magician. And the magician's wife is the goth rocker Rowan Trance."

Joe grunted. "So?"

Frank stood up. "Too many weird things, Joe. And it all started when they came to town."

Joe blinked. "You think Archimedes Slade is doing the pranks? For publicity?"

"Or maybe because he's eccentric or crazy." Frank shrugged. "I don't know. But I think it's worth checking out."

"Why not ask Merlyn?"

"You seriously don't think she'd help us, do you?"

"Never know, until you ask." Joe started for the door. "I'm borrowing this."

"I should charge you. I'll have to go into your room to get it back."

"Don't worry. The clothes are in neat piles on the floor. You have a path," added Joe as he left.

Frank just sighed and shook his head. Little brothers....

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.