Cherry Visits the Haunted Mansion

chapter 12

They all then came back inside the mansion after memorizing the way back to the gypsy within her crystal ball. Ezra and Emma met them inside.

"All right, now we went to Hell and back to get this thing," Jim told Leota as they showed the key they had retrieved. "Where's the door out of here?"

"First, you must find the trunk." Leota replied.

"Trunk? What trunk? You never said anything about a trunk." Atticus glared as two shadow figures appear behind them.

"Not door?" Jim asked then.

"No, not door, trunk." Leota replied.

"She's right, the key doesn't go to a door, but to the trunk up in the attic." The boy told them from behind.

The others flinched and looked over.

"Children..." Ezra and Emma whispered once they saw the boy and girl who dressed like they were from ancient times compared to this century.

"They look just like us." Mo said, referring to herself and Atticus.

Atticus slowly nodded.

"Who are you guys?" Cherry asked.

"I'm Thaddeus." the boy said.

"And I'm Josephine." the girl then said.

"We were going to be Edward and Elizabeth's children." the boy then explained who they were and why they were there.

"Were?" Mo asked.

"We were killed before we could get adopted and before we could tell Edward about what really happened to Elizabeth." Thaddeus said.

"You were killed?" Atticus frowned.

"Yes," Josephine frowned back. "We knew too much... We found out what really happened to Elizabeth, but we had to be disposed of which destroyed Edward. He lost his love and the children he could've raised as his own heirs, so he took his own life."

"Who killed you?" Drell asked, surprisingly enough, not having known himself.

"Ramsley," Thaddeus frowned. "He was also the one that poisoned Elizabeth."

"Ramsley..." the others whispered.

"The butler did it..." Cherry mumbled. "How cliche..."

"Yeah." Mo nodded.

"Okay, tell us everything while we're going back up to the attic." Atticus said as he picked up Madame Leota as she was now just a crystal ball.

"Easy!" Madame Leota warned Atticus.

"Don't worry, I'm very careful with crystal balls." Atticus said.

"We better get started." Thaddeus said.

"Right." Josephine agreed.

"This is bad luck," Madame Leota warned Atticus. "This is very bad luck! I'm getting nauseous!"

"Oh, be quiet!" Atticus scolded.

"So why did Ramsley kill her?" Mo asked.

"Jealousy?" Cherry asked.

"Find the trunk and you will find your answer." Madame Leota stated.

"Alright then." Atticus said.

"Come along then." Emma said as she closed the door of Madame Leota's room.

The walk to the attic was a long and yet annoying one. Leota's ball glowed as they came into the dark as night attic.

"Please be careful with me, I'm fragile, very, very fragile." Madame Leota told Atticus.