Carson's Mark: School of Screams

Prologue

Kennedy walked through the grass, the morning dew feeling slightly cold and wet on his ankles as he led the dog back through the yard to the front porch of the castle. The building was really more of a manor house with a tower on one side, but his parents and grandparents had called it the castle, so Kenny and his sister called it that too. The silvery grey dog leapt up all four of the front porch steps, his leash dragging behind him as Kenny had let go to walk at his own pace.
"Somebody's excited this morning," he smiled at Jack as he caught up and opened the door. He checked the dog's paws to be sure they weren't too wet before letting him off the leash to trot around the halls, the bell on his collar jingling as he moved otherwise silently.
     "Did you two have a good walk?" A voice from the living room asked.  Kennedy walked the few steps from the entrance hall to the room.  A life-sized doll in a midnight blue, gothic style dress with black trim sat on one side of the large couch in front of the window on the far side of the room, her long, dark red hair pushed behind her ears. 
     "Morning, sis," Kenny greeted her.  "Jack is energetic today, he kept wanting to jump around on his leash."  The doll's pale lilac eyes blinked once.  Her pale lips opened as she spoke again. 
     "Perhaps he senses something is going to happen today," she suggested.  Kennedy shrugged. 
     "Maybe," he said.  "He wasn't whining or whimpering though, so maybe it's not a bad something, if it's anything."  The doll nodded.
     "Or perhaps it's just Jack being Jack," she said.  "He's always been an odd one." 
     "Could be," Kenny agreed.  Just then, a fluffy, caramel colored cat with darker brown points and stripes on its back strode into the room, followed by a taller man with dark hair waring a grey button down shirt and dark slacks.
"Good morning, Chloe," the man greeted. "Good morning, Kennedy." The siblings greeted him back.
"Are you feeling a bit better today, Simon?" Chloe asked him.  As if on cue, Simon began to cough.  He turned to cough into his sleeve. 
     "I was going to say yes," he answered in between coughs.  "But apparently my lungs still say no."  The furry cat looked up at him, tilting its head and meowing once. 
     "Maybe you should go back to bed," Kenny spoke this time.  Simon shook his head. 
     "It's been a week since I got here and I've done nothing but stay in bed," he responded.  "I've been feeling restless and I need to move around a bit."  The cat walked over to him and rubbed back and forth around his legs. 
     "You still have a few days worth of your antibiotics left," Chloe told him.  "You might risk the pneumonia getting bad again if you try to do too much too soon."  Simon sat down in an armchair on the opposite side of the room from the siblings. 
     "I'm not going to go run five miles or anything," he said as the cat jumped in his lap.  "I just need to get up and walk a little.  I don't do well when I have to be still for too long." The scar at the edge of his left eye twitched as he winced from another coughing fit.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Kennedy asked, now starting to actually worry.
"I did take my antibiotics before coming downstairs, if that's what you're asking," Simon said as he gently scratched the cat's cheeks. Kenny noticed that the other young man's already fair skin looked a little paler than he'd seen the last couple days, but he didn't say anything right away.
"Besides," Simon continued. "I don't think I'm going anywhere for a while now that Muffin decided she wants cuddles."  He leaned back in the chair as far as he could, trying to relax. 
     "You look a little paler than usual," Chloe pointed out.  Simon let out a sigh, causing another few coughs. 
     "I... saw something this morning," he admitted, his face turning slightly embarrassed.  "Or someone."  The siblings were immediately interested. 
     "What did they or it look like?"  Kennedy asked his question casually enough, but his eyes showed his excitement.  Chloe's glass eyes were harder to read, but she pulled her doll lips into a knowing, understanding smile. 
     "Was it a spectral, elderly woman of average height with short, curly silver hair and solid, pale blue eyes?" She asked gently. 
      "Yes," Simon answered slowly. 
     "That's Grandma Nina," Kenny jumped in.  "She likes to come up from the cemetery once in a while to check on us."
     "Cemetery?" Simon asked.  Chloe gave him another warm smile. 
     "We have a family cemetery a little way past the tree line in the back," she explained.  "Any spirits you see around the castle or the grounds are most often friendly family members checking in.  Nothing to worry about."
"Oh," was all Simon said at first. He seemed unsure what to think of the information, but said nothing against it. He simply continued petting Muffin as she leaned against him and purred, her bright orange eyes narrowed in pleasure. The room was quiet for several seconds before Simon spoke again.
"Is that what Jack is, as well?" He asked as the big, wolfish-looking canine came trotting past the archway opening of the room, his blue-black tongue lulling out one side of his mouth. The siblings shook their heads.
"The dog is an entity that's existed on this land since before our family arrived," Chloe explained as the sound of Jack's bell entered the kitchen, probably heading for his food and water bowls.
"It's due to the respect that our first ancestors showed him," she continued. "And the continued respect of following generations that he stays here with us. He's come to love our family over the decades, he's chosen us. The closest thing we can come up with is that he's some kind of dilute-colored, non-hostile hellhound or similar creature, but we don't know a hundred percent." Simon nodded as he absorbed the information, his former-detective's mind filing it away to chew over later.
"So he's like a guardian spirit?" He asked. Kennedy nodded slightly.
"Of a sort," he answered, taking off his glasses and cleaning the non-frosted lens with a cloth. "He does provide protection for family members, but he's also a protector of the land around the Castle, our grandparents had to get his permission before giving the acreage for the neighborhood to the county." He gestured out the large picture window behind Chloe to the two rows of houses that lined the wide residential street at the end of the Carson driveway.
"Not to mention, the dog is the one who chooses the family members who inherit the property in each generation," Chloe added. "And he's never been wrong about any of us so far." Simon nodded again, rubbing between Muffin's ears.
He was still unsure where he stood in terms of how much he believed in the paranormal or mythical creatures, but he did know he'd now seen and experienced enough in the past year or so that he was definitely open to it. After all, his last few cases before his discharge had pulled him into that realm for answers.
Jack chose that moment to walk up to the entrance of the room, where he stood looking at each of them in turn.
"He knows we're talking about him," Kenny laughed as the dog walked over to him, asking for pets.
"Apparently, he knows lots of things," Simon said, still petting the cat.
"He's a smart dog," Chloe said, gazing fondly at the large canine. Suddenly, Jacks large, triangular, German shepherd-like ears perked up and he went on alert. He barked twice and trotted quickly back into the entrance hall.
"He hears something," Kennedy said as he followed the dog.
The pooch was staring out of the sidelight window on one side of the double doors, his big, broad head raised up, and his long, broad muzzle open slightly, making little warbling noises. His longer than average tail was held straight behind him, nose pressed right to the glass. Kenny looked out of one of the crescent-shaped windows in the doors, but didn't see anything at first. He did, however, begin to feel a presence somewhere on the other side of the door as Jack barked once more.