Haunted Souls

Chapter 2

Bianca had her arms crossed, her dark hair falling into her face as she tried to ignore her siblings. Ethan was on one side of her, rapping about something he should never have even known about. Maria was in her carrier on Bianca's other side, sobbing as loud as a newborn could. The small car couldn't hold that much noise, couldn't do anything but echo it back over them.

"Are we almost there?" she finally asked, unable to take it for any longer. "I'm about to throw myself out of the car."

"You and me both," Nico muttered.

"We should be there in five minutes if this GPS is right," Will answered, elbowing Nico. "Can you try to calm Maria down?"

"Calm her down? Don't you think I would have already?" Bianca tried to stuff the pacifier (dummy in British English I think) in the baby's mouth. "She won't stop crying."

"Get her bottle out of her bag and try feeding her." Nico offered. "If it works then we'll have five minutes of peace. Ethan, where did you learn that song?"

"Your phone," Ethan replied. "You play music when you do the dishes."

Will tried to glare at Nico without looking away from the road. "You play that music around him?"

"In my defense, I thought he was outside." Nico shrugged. "But yeah."

Bianca rolled her eyes. "Now it's got us wishing we didn't have ears."

"Hey!" Ethan elbowed her side, causing the bottle she held to fall onto Maria's lap, causing her sobbing to increase.

"Ethaaaannnnnnn." Nico covered his ears. "Now she's never going to stop."

Will himself was ready to cut his own ears off. "We're here. We're here. Everyone, please be quiet." He parked the car before getting out, almost falling to his knees as he met the silence of the Scottish landscape. There was no one around for miles, nothing around but the medium sized castle that stood about fifty feet in front of them. One large tower, a large set of doors, walls that looked as old as Jesus. "Wow..."

Bianca was next to jump out of the car, followed by Nico who had picked up Maria to try and calm her. The baby started to relax in the arms of her favorite parent, but her whimpering never seemed to cease. As he dug around for her toy, Bianca stood next to Will with awe written on her face. "Woah... It's really ours?"

"Yeah..." Will wrapped an arm around Bianca's shoulders. "Was it how you were expecting?"

"Better than I was expecting." she leaned against her father, fully trusting him even though she knew she wasn't really his. Not by blood, anyway. "Can we go in?"

"Let's get Maria calmed first." Will helped Ethan out of the car as Nico tried to calm the sobbing baby, most of his attempts fruitless until he let the baby suck on his finger. In minutes she had quieted down, leaving an exhausted Nico to look at Will in shock.

"Well...I'm not complaining." Nico finally stated. "Are we going in?"

"Yeah, we can get our bags after we figure out where we're going to be sleeping tonight." Will held onto Ethan's hand as tight as he could without hurting him. "Ethan...stay with me, okay? I don't want you getting hurt."

"Hurt by what?" he looked up at Will, his large eyes as green as the grass at their feet. "Nobody else lives there, right?"

"Right." Will kneeled down so he was closer to Ethan's height. "But sometimes these places could have dangerous floors or walls because they're so old. So you just have to stay by me for now until I say it's safe, okay?"

"Okay." Ethan agreed. "Can I have a piggy back ride?"

Will grinned as he helped his only son onto his back. "Hold on tight."

"I will," Ethan promised. "Let's go in!"

Will led them inside the castle, the dark interior taking a minute to get used to. The first thing he noticed was the large staircase, it's wooden steps looking as if they would cave in at any moment. The railing was covered in cobwebs, peeling here and there and leaving chips of paint on the steps. Will didn't trust it to even hold Maria.

"Awesome..." Bianca took a step into the room. "I thought you said your grandma lived here."

"That's what I was told." Will grabbed her arm before she could go far. "But now I'm questioning it."

"It'll...be fine," Nico assured them. "We'll make it work." He looked around the room before moving in the direction of a doorway. "Come on, let's see what's in here."

Bianca ran to catch up with him. "We're exploring, now?"

"Exploring for a place to sleep." Nico corrected. "We need to make sure we can settle in tonight. It's not like there's a hotel nearby."

Bianca deflated. "Party pooper."

"Yeah, yeah." Nico led her through the doorway. "You'll be thanking me once you run into a thing of spiders."

Bianca shivered. "Hopefully there aren't any."

"If you stay with me, I can kill them," Nico explained, walking down the dimly lit hallway. Portraits lined the walls, seeming to stare at them as they walked. "If you go off by yourself...well, you'll be their dinner."

Bianca elbowed him but made sure not to jostle Maria. "Meanie."

Nico elbowed her back. "It's the truth."

Bianca looked behind them, frowning when she didn't catch sight of Will or Ethan. "Dad? Where did they go?"

"Probably off looking somewhere else." Nico glanced behind them before continuing on. "Come on. We have to find a candle to light. It's getting dark."

"There's no electricity?!" Bianca screeched.

Nico smiled thinly. "Nope. This'll be fun."