Four
“Gotcha!” Thor looked up from the big musty volume balancing in his lap at Sam’s exclamation.
“We have a winner.” He announced brightly. “Emily Brighton, died 1888. Get your coat.”
“Wait!” Thor called but Sam West was already down the porch steps, his wavy shoulder length hair bobbing around his broad shoulders.
“Where are you going?” Thor’s mother shuffling out onto the porch looking like she’d just woken up stopped the boys in their tracks. “Hold on till I get my coat...”
“No, mom.” Thor said quickly. He gave Sam a conspiratorial glance before continuing. “This could get dangerous. I want you to stay here.”
Thor’s mother gaped at her son. “I’ve had my share of danger Thor. I’m coming!”
“He’s right.” Sam jumped in, “we don’t don’t know what the hell we’re walking into, don’t worry about Thor, I’ll take good care of him Mrs...?” Thor glared at him but Sam chose to ignore it.
“Stevens,” Thor’s mother answered with a girly pitch, “but you can call me Hazel.”
“We’ll be back Hazel, I promise.” Sam flashed her his best smile and a disgusted noise escaped Thor’s throat.
“Just get in.”
Sam couldn’t stop the grin spreading across his face as the Mustang pulled away from the farmhouse.
“Where to?” Thor asked eager to steer the conversation away from his mother.
“Bakersfield.” Sam replied, “Emily Brighton was a sixteen year old maid. She worked at Ravens House until her untimely death.”
“And?” Thor prodded as the car lurched down the country roads.
“And she was raped and murdered by her boss. There’s hundreds of sightings of her ghost haunting the house, which was a hotel until a fire tore through the place.”
“So the plan is to...what? Talk to a ghost?”
Sam laughed despite himself. “You’ve never been around ghosts before, have you? They don’t really talk. More like reign down fiery vengeance on just about anyone that crosses their path.”
“We’re going to die.” Thor announced.
“Relax, its not my first rodeo. Hopefully Star will already be there when we show up.”
“How do you know she will?”
“Because this is the only ghost for miles that’s powerful enough to match her criteria, and I know my sister. I just have a feeling, trust me, she’ll show.”
***
It took three hours of Thor driving like a madman and Sam bitching about his borrowed clothes, before they reached the abandoned town of Bakersfield. “Thought the fire was in the hotel?” Thor murmured as the Mustang inched past the dark and gutted houses that loomed like silent sentinels.
The town consisted of a single street. Buildings that had long since been left hugged the pot-holed road. Black and charred wood and other debris littered the sidewalks. “What the hell happened here?” Sam wondered aloud, “all the book said was that a fire broke out in the hotel, nothing about the town burning as well.”
“Something bad happened here, that’s for sure.” Thor murmured. He urged the car faster. The atmosphere that hung over the town was dark and foreboding, like the devil itself had came to visit.
Sam pointed ahead. Dawn was breaking, bathing what looked to be a mansion in glorious orange flame. “That must be the hotel.”
The Mustang left the town and followed a winding slope of a road. Ravens House sat on a lonely hill, high above the town. Sam pushed open the gates that gave with a noise of fingernails down a blackboard. The Mustang purred up the drive and came to a stop outside the house.
Thor let out a low whistle. “Must have been impressive in its day.” He muttered. Ravens House was Victorian in style but most of the features that had made it beautiful had been marred by the fire. Retrieving a crowbar and two torches from the trunk, Thor forced the heavyset doors open with a splintering of wood. “Age before beauty.”
Sam threw an annoyed look his way before taking the offered torch and stepped over the threshold. As soon as he did a strong gust of wind, emanating from somewhere deep in the bowels of the house, nearly knocked him over.
“There must be a broken window or something.” Thor offered hopefully.
Sam, noting the kid’s reluctance to enter, gave him a sobering look, “there’s no wind.” He said simply. Head held high Sam walked into darkness.
Thor stood on the cracked stone steps looking after him. He had learned to trust the power he had inherited, and right now, it was screaming at him to get out of here.
“Well?” Sam’s voice beckoned from inside.
With a deep breath Thor Stevens entered Ravens House.