Scratching The Surface

Chapter 3

Miss Dare looked around the kitchen of the old house, her face pale against her red hair. "That man bought the house. His name is Jason, so you know. He has a wife and two daughters."

The melancholy voice filled the room in a low whisper. "I know, Rachel." A wind swept through and lifted the curtains, fluttering through her fallen hair. "You did good."

A smile graced her lips when she heard his attitude. "Please don't run him out. I think this will be a good fit."

"I wasn't planning to." the voice responded, no speaker in sight. "They'll tear this place down if it gets too bad."

"Exactly." Rachel tied her hair up in a loose ponytail before picking her bag up. "I'm going to get going if that's alright with you. I should get home."

"Wait." The doors slammed shut, but Rachel didn't get too worried. She was used to it. "Did you find out? About his grave."

Rachel shook her head. "I'm sorry, Nico. I'll try to let you know if I do, but it seems like a lost cause. He just...disappeared from history."

"I understand." The voice became even sadder than usual as the doors slammed open again. "Please leave now, Rachel."

~Line Break~

Jason and Piper started packing the little things they had as soon as Jason did the paperwork. They didn't need to bring furniture━the house was already full of it as if nobody ever moved out━so they packed only their personal belongings and anything else that meant anything to them. In the moving truck, they brought all their children's furniture incase the house hadn't had children before.

The day they got the keys, they packed the moving truck and drove.

"Jason, promise me again," Piper demanded quietly as they got closer to their new house. Her choppy hair was in a couple braids and her white teeth flashed behind pale lips. "Promise me that this house is good."

"I promise." he glanced away from the road to give her a smile. "It's our new start."

Piper looked back to check that the kids were still asleep in their car seats before grabbing Jason's hand. "It's safe for the girls? No mold or carbon monoxide or anything?"

He nodded. "Safe as our apartment was. If not safer."

"It is good to get away from the city." Piper agreed. She looked out the window to the rolling countryside, her hand moving to pick at her lips nervously. "But only if it's safe. If something happens, no one will be around."

"There's a neighbor a mile down the road." Jason didn't know if that helped or not, but couldn't take it back. "I mean, it's not like we're completely alone. And we won't need anyone."

"I hope you're right." Piper rested her head on her hand and stared out the window again, dropping the conversation. She knew as well as he did that they couldn't go back. Their money had gone into this house and their apartment wasn't theirs anymore. They had nowhere else to go.

Jason eventually pulled into the dark driveway under the canopy of willow trees. He could tell Piper liked it just from her face but decided not to comment. He didn't want to somehow ruin that.

"Jason, is this-" Piper was cut off from their youngest daughter's loud sobs. The six-month-old girl had awoken from her nap, only to be met with the sudden darkness from the trees.

"Maddie, it's okay." Piper unbuckled before climbing into the backseat with her daughters. "I'm right here." She kissed her youngest girl on the forehead before holding her chubby hand.

Jason turned the lights inside the car on. "Pipes, be careful."

"I unbuckled in our driveway, Jason. I think I'm fine." Piper kept close to Maddie before looking to the other girl. "Katie, did Maddie wake you up?"

The four-year-old nodded but didn't seem scared. "Are we there yet?" Her speaking was getting better, no doubt, but Piper still had a hard time understanding her.

"This is our driveway." Piper's voice switched to how she would read them bedtime stories. "And it leads up to a really big and pretty house."

"Really?!" Katie sat up more to look out the window.

Piper nodded. "And guess what? Daddy said it even has a balcony."

Katie's eyes widened, no doubt every story of a princess at a balcony filling her mind. "Mine?"

"I don't know yet, sweetie, but we'll see." Piper kissed her head before kissing Maddie's again. Before she could think of anything else to comfort the poor girl, the trees gave away and the sun shone again. Jason turned the light off and Maddie stopped crying, but Piper hardly noticed. She couldn't look away from that house...

She felt like Katie did. She felt like they were royalty.

"Well?" Jason pulled the car as close to the house as he could get, the moving truck that Leo drove parking right behind them. "Let's get going so we can be done by dark."

Piper helped the girls out of the car, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open. Katie bounced around her with her doll flying with her, and Maddie clung to her mother.

"So you like it, Pipes?" Jason asked, going to his wife. "I made the right choice?"

Piper smacked his arm gently. "Of course you did, you idiot. But how did you pay so little? Who did you kill for this place?"

Jason laughed, but his laughter hid the uneasiness that filled his chest again. He felt like him and his family was being watched, but from the house itself. His mind kept going back to what Leo had joked about the month before, how ghosts could have been what Miss Dare had been fearing. But he didn't believe in ghosts, and neither did Piper. They believed in what they could see.

But something told Jason that this wasn't right.

~Line Break~

Nico watched out of the third-floor window, his eyes as dark as the room around him. That new man, Jason, stood with his wife and daughters as if he owned the place. As if he owned Nico's house.

Bringing a hand to his neck, Nico rubbed the area with raw remembrance. He knew someone had to live there for the house to remain standing, but hated the idea of anyone living amongst the rooms and the shadows that Nico had been filtering through for hundreds of years.

"Jason Grace...it's nowhere near a pleasure to meet you."