The Curse of Taloncrest Manor

Chapter 24: Triple Trouble

Everyone retreated from the third floor balcony and rushed back to the Conservatory, which was now a safe spot for Ricardo and company thanks to Melody, Dischord, and their followers switching sides. Dischord informed the other members of the Songsworn about the change in plans, and stated that they were not to harm the mansion's visitors any further, which was met with unanimous agreement among those in attendance. 

"So.....we seem to be in a bit of trouble....." the vizier muttered. 

"Indeed we are," Elijah agreed. "Does anybody have an idea about how we can take him out?" 

Melody, who had been deep in thought for several minutes, came up with a plan. "I believe I can provide us with something we may need." 

"During my early years as a ghost, I spied on Thomas and realized he had been teaching himself to hone Abdiel's power even back then. He had a book he often used, to record the spells in. Additionally, it contains chants that can be used to reverse said effects; 'counterspells', if you will. Luckily for us, as he grew more and more efficient at using the demon's power, he discarded the spellbook in his quarters rather than keeping it on his person. If we can get that, we may be able to gain an edge over him." 

"Where is his room?" Cooper asked. 

"It's on the other side of the third floor." 

James spoke up. "There's more to the third floor than what we already saw?" 

"Yes. There's a second door other than the one you all came from, when you confronted me before." Dischord pulled Melody aside for a moment. "Do not misunderstand me; this is a genuinely good plan.....but once we accomplish this, how do you plan to get them to Thomas in the first place? He's on the roof, and we have no way of getting the living ones there." 

She shrugged. "I suppose we will worry about that when the time comes." 

After the two of them had turned back to the group, Ricardo clapped his hands. "Alright, we have our mission! Let's go explore the west wing of the third floor and see if we can't find the spellbook, or any other leads on who this 'Thomas' character really is." 

***********************************************************************************************

Ricardo, James, Cooper, Elijah, Jane, Melody, and Dischord crossed the third floor balcony again and entered the west side of the area. Unfortunately, upon arriving at Thomas' quarters, Cooper found that the room was locked. "Darn it!" he complained, hitting his fist on the door in frustration. "What do we do now?" 

"Hey, guys!" Elijah called to the others from further down the hallway. "This door's open. Maybe we can check here.....?" 

The door Elijah had opened also led to a bedroom, but this one contained three beds with one in each corner---and a dresser in the fourth---as well as a bunch of children's toys scattered all over the floor and a helicopter mobile hanging from the ceiling. On one of the beds, there was a large, stuffed T. rex that was missing its head, stuffing pouring out of the opening where it ought to have been. 

Elijah took out the radar and scanned the room. ".....Three spirits detected." 

Melody's eyes widened as she realized what room they were in. ".....Oh, no....." 

Just then, the head of the T. rex toy floated by, a short distance from the ground, seemingly propped on nothing. Suddenly, the spirit jumped back and turned visible so that Ricardo and his friends could see it. "Wh-wh-what....? How can.....how can this one detect us?! He's not a ghost!" it said in a panic, pointing at Elijah. The ghost took off the T. rex head, revealing its actual form. "Girls, come on out. No use hiding anymore....." it said with a sigh. Soon, two more ghosts materialized, one on either side of the first one. 

These ghosts looked completely identical to each other; short, pudgy, and wearing the traditional Songsworn cultist robes. Their hoods were all pulled over their heads to hide their faces, leaving only two vertical white ovals to represent their "eyes". 

Cooper immediately turned to Melody upon seeing their attire. "Your.....cult.....involved KIDS, too?!" 

"Ugh....what are you three doing here?" Melody asked the girls in an annoyed tone, ignoring his question. 

"What are you doing with these.....live.....people?" one of the small ghosts shot back. "Weren't you the one who gave us orders to destroy them on sight to begin with?" 

The second small ghost elbowed the first one. "Easy there. That's our Grand Magistrix you're talking to." 

The third one said nothing. Instead, it slowly walked up to Melody and bowed, with her responding in kind. 

"I'll have you know that as of right now, these people are our allies. Neither you nor any other members of the organization are to put them in harm's way." the Magistrix stated. 

The short ghost in the center stared at Ricardo and his friends for a few seconds with narrowed eyes. But ultimately, it conceded. "Very well. Any friend of the Grand Magistrix is a friend of ours. Moving on....I believe we have not been properly introduced. My name is Cadence, and these are my friends, Cantrelle and Clarion." "Together we are.....The Triplets!" Clarion proclaimed excitedly. "We are but a humble few of the many members of the Songsworn cult. However, we spend most of our time up here because the Grand Magistrix keeps suspending us from meetings for being 'too annoying'." 

".....You all kept chewing on the other cultists' robes during one gathering, and you caused a power outage at another." Melody said incredulously. She looked at Cantrelle, the short ghost on the left. "And you also stole the microphone from me at one point and proceeded to drop a diss track about Bartholomew Taloncrest." 

"Oh, come on! You have to admit that rap was pretty great." Cantrelle protested.

"No, it wasn't!" Melody sighed wearily. "Whatever. Listen, we're trying to find a way into Thomas' bedroom. Do you three have anything that could help us? Like, a key or something?" 

Cadence reached into her back pocket and pulled out a gold key. "You mean.....this key?" she taunted while hanging it by its string and swinging it back and forth in front of the party. 

"Where did you find that?" Dischord asked. "We were messing around in the other rooms up here and found this key on a dresser inside the butler's quarters. Of course, given that we're ghosts, we wouldn't have any need for it, but we decided to keep it anyway because it's shiny and looks amazing." Cadence explained as she stared at the key with almost hypnotic eyes. The ghost began to drone off-subject. "Like, did you even see the hue on this thing? It's got to be 24-karat at least. If we weren't ghosts, we probably could have sold it. I'd imagine it'd fetch us a pretty penny on eBay---" 

"ENOUGH!" Melody roared, causing the Triplets to flinch. These girls are so irritating..... she thought to herself. But no worries. Just get the key from them and then you never have to see them again. She took a deep breath. "Cadence, we need that key. Can you give it to us, please?" 

"Hmmm.....let me think....." Cadence replied, before pulling the other two girls into a huddle for a few seconds. After a while, they made a decision. "You can have the key.....after you do a favor for us first." 

Melody clenched her fist in annoyance. "Yes....? What is it?" she asked with gritted teeth. 

"See, my friends and I have only had ourselves for each other's company for the longest time. It's not often people come over to play. Entertain all three of us for a bit, and we'll let you have the key. Doesn't even matter if we win or if you guys win," Cantrelle explained. "All that matters is the fun." 

"How about.....a game of hide and seek?" Clarion suggested. 

Cadence's eyes widened. "Hide and seek.....with this many players.....? Sounds good!" She turned towards Melody and her allies. "Are you agreeable to this?" 

"I mean.....we have to save Rose, so I'll take anything we can get at this point," James answered reluctantly. 

Dischord patted Melody on the back. "It's okay, Grand Magistrix. At the very least, they do not bother you during your sermons anymore." 

She sighed. "I think I'm gonna have a migraine by the end of this....."