“A costume party in an old manor, the king of predictability strikes again.” Mitch said as he stood with Jasper, the two had come through the forest in order to gain reconnaissance on the manor itself.
As they stood in the distance with binoculars in hand they watched the manor where they saw guards walking about the front door and side walls. “Where does he even get all this money..?” Mitch whispered.
“Rich families, usually how these types of folk get started and into any position of power.” Jasper explained as they lay low to the ground, hiding within bushes. “But this is starting to get troubling. We aren’t going to be allowed in tonight, but we won’t be able to just watch from a distance.”
“We will surely be at a disadvantage this time. Spirit walking is our only choice.” Mitch reasoned based on what he could see of the building. “We won’t be able to get anywhere near close enough to see into the master bedroom without alerting suspicion otherwise.”
“At least your head seems to still work.” Jasper said. It wasn’t exactly a compliment but Mitch would take it as one and enjoy it. It was a sarcastic compliment in his own way, for what that was worth.
“I’ve been practising, so I should last longer this time.” He explained, putting the binoculars down to note how many guards they had seen.
Jasper sneered at him, only a few moments from saying something before Mitch interjected “Shut up, don’t you dare.” In a hushed tone.
It led to a quiet chuckle as Jasper put his binoculars away and took Mitch’s pair to put away. “Four guards outside in total, though none of them are the two we saw upstairs.”
Mitch took notes into the document he had brought along and also marked the physical appearances that they could note from here. “Alright, we gotta make a plan of attack when we get back.”
With that the two quietly retreated from the bush they were using as cover and began the quiet trek to the car which they had parked by the main road to avoid them noticing them getting too close.
Once in the car, seatbelts were on, and conversation began. “Security has been beefing up around here from the last time we were here.” Mitch started, reading the previous files about how one my guard was seen the first time, and the next time they arrived there was another. Today it seemed there were two more, which was concerning to say the least.
“It looks like whatever rich family our friend has, is giving him more money than he should have.” Jasper grumpily grumbled, pulling out onto the main road that led back to Carlow. “Four guards outside, from what we saw only those two we saw with him are actually inside the building.” Mitch stated, putting the file away.
The moon hung high in the sky as Mitch stared out at it. Driving on these roads towards home in the middle of the night was one of the few times he took to just appreciate the stars in the sky that you don't see much of in the towns and cities. “We are going to have to take turns going in there, even if we spirit walk.” He stated, turning his attention briefly back to Jasper.
“Yeah, we don’t want someone to stumble across two unconscious people close to the manor and cause a panic.” Jasper replied, giving him a slight nod of acknowledgment when he looked over before he focused on driving again.
“Not sure how this is going to go.” Mitch sighed heavily, closing the folder. He put it into the glove compartment and then turned the lever on the side of his chair to begin laying back. “Let’s hope Lara is ready for it, one fuck up and we are out of options.”
“We have to trust in her.” They fell silent for most of the ride home, outside of boring chatter they hadn’t much else to discuss without her.
“First of all, a costume.” Jasper said as he slapped down the folder onto the table.
Both looked at him rather confused that that would be the first plan of attack for tonight's meeting.
“Are you feeling okay?” Mitch asked, leaning his elbow on the table and resting his head against his palm.
“Well, we need Lara to fit in.” he said confidently, a bit too confident some would say. He pulled his chair from the table and sat down to mimic Mitch’s position.
“I have already sorted a costume, there’s no need to be so worried about something as small as that.” Lara added, pulling the folder close to swing it open.
She laid out the second set of sheets they had that was about the planning phase. They had filled out a portion of it already to do with their reconnaissance.
“Mitch and I plan to take turns entering the venue in spirit form to observe what is going on as best we can.” Jasper began to explain. Sounding somewhat disappointed that her costume had already been chosen.
Lara took a pen from the table and started writing that down under the last step they took. “I’ll be entering the party in costume.” She explained while writing it down.
“I’ll try to get any information from my friends at school too.” Mitch chipped in, though it wasn’t much he felt the need to have it in the file.
“So, tomorrow at 7PM Lara gets dropped off near the manor and walks the rest of the way, then Mitch and I get into place when everyone is inside.” Jasper stated in a ‘matter of fact’ tone. Placing his hands onto the table where he fidgeted with his wedding ring he continued “We then take turns entering the building, watching and waiting to see what trick he is trying to pull.”
“We aren’t even sure if he is trying to pull something.” Mitch corrected.
They both looked at him quizzically but shared a nod. “True, but he already has access to information that the population shouldn’t have. So we need to monitor and make sure that he does nothing with it.”
“Yeah, I get it.” Mitch replied wearily, leaning off of his palm “I’ll get back from school, finish up what needs to be done for school and then prepare right away after that.”
“Good, I assume you will prepare back at the apartment?” Jasper asked Lara.
“Yeah, I’ll get into costume there. I’ll also post something within the group to show excitement for the event.”
Jasper said “Good, hopefully he isn’t smart enough to trace you back to us.”
“Given his current track record we are fine on that part.” Lara sneered in response, slipping the sheets back into their correct placements.
“With that, it seems like we are all done here.” Mitch sleepily said, standing up and pulling his chair out. “I’ll head off home then.”
“No energy drinks or potions tonight.” Jasper said, slapping his arm and pointing at him in jest as he passed. “Need to be fully aware, and you’ve been using them too much lately.”
“I got it, I’ll actually sleep tonight.” Mitch replied in a sarcastic tone, slapping his hand out of the air in response “Make sure you are awake on time.”
The two sheared a short, tired chuckle and nod before Mitch walked out into the main hall. “Goodbye, nan!” Mitch would shout into the halls.
After a moment's silence he would hear “Goodbye!” echo through the upper halls into the foyer.
During classes the next day a large number of students had arrived in halloween costumes. Mitch had touted an old costume he used to wear when he was a kid, which was a vampire's large collared cloak and a set of fake fangs.
During lunch he got to meet the other guys again as he did every day, Shaun sporting a mask worn by a serial killer in a series of comedy horror movies and a cloak to go with it. “Hey man!” he would exclaim as always. It was hard to not feel his enthusiasm any time he talked. Hell, it was hard to not get enthusiastic himself being around him.
“Hey.” He said slightly muffled as he sat down, it was hard to talk with these fake fangs. He gave a glance around the hall to see what Emma came as. She donned the likeness of a popular actress in one of her earlier roles of a witch.
“Everyone has plans for tonight?” Mitch asked, feigning ignorance to the fact he already knew what they planned to do.
“Yeah, we are heading out to a party out of town.” Emma replied, occasionally having to fix the hat since it kept sliding off to one side.
“Oh cool, who’s party is it?” He asked again, keeping a casual tone.
“P. Normal is hosting a party by the manor we visited, ghost themed.” Shaun explained, having to take off his mask to start eating. He set it into his bag and returned to his lunchbox.
“Oh, that sounds a bit weird.” Mitch struggled to say, any S sound causing him to sound like he had a lisp through the fangs. He would eventually remove them and wrap them up in a little tissue before he started eating the cold curry he had prepared for the next few days.
“We are all heading up with my dad again.” Shaun added, leaning on the table and staring out the window across the hall from them. “We got special armbands that let us get in, so sadly we can’t invite you.”
“Not sure I would wanna go to a party made by him.” He chuckled. When things got a bit quieter, as they usually did, he took out his phone to check in on his weekend school group.
It seemed that Joel had been filling the chat with messages about the family event that was coming up in a few months. “We gotta start practising!” was the first message that he saw, followed by “This is going to be in front of the entire family! That means people from all over the world will be there!!!”
It was the first time he had ever seen Joel so passionate about something that wasn’t old sci-fi movies. “There will be events in every category we study in school, we gotta brush up on our weak areas!” He sent it as his last message. Mitch had been well ahead of him in that case, having been practising his spirit walking almost every day now.
After reading through a few more texts of Saoirse asking what kind of events would come up and Joel explaining it, he decided to add something in. “We should take some time to practise on the weekend then.” He sent which would get an immediate thumbs up emoticon from Joel.
Though they began typing he put his phone away once more and returned to the topic at hand with Shaun. As he opened his mouth to ask a question, he was cut off by that funeral ringtone from the group's phones.
“A reminder?” He asked.
This time Emma would let Shaun check his phone and tell them, to which he would promptly say “Yeah, just a reminder for the party tonight.”
“Well, know anything about the party?” He asked when he finished, popping the lid back onto the container. “Any cool gimmicks or games?”
Shaun shook his head as he said “No idea, all I know is it is gonna be up at the manor where the rune is.”
“Right, right. Makes sense.” He responded as he put the container away, so much for this lead.
Once the sun began to set the party was set to start. While Lara was walking up the path that led to the manor, Mitch and Jasper took position on the further side of the house away from any beaten path. Here they set up a blanket on the dirt behind a large tree and took a seat.
“Nothing to fear.” Lara muttered unto herself as she saw the looming manor in the distance. Lights were flickering on the top floor to make it look like a pair of eyes watching you in the distance.
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There was already an ample sized crowd at the door, seemingly 30 or so people waiting to be let in. Confusingly she didn’t recognise most of them and only saw a handful of them wearing the armbands.
She saw Shaun and Emma in the distance but she had talked with Jasper and came to the conclusion that it would be best to leave them alone. They wanted as few traces back to himself and Mitch as possible.
Standing idly by the door waiting for it to open she scanned the crowd. It seemed to be a mix of ages, though a large number were mid to late teens there were still a few older people, though no older than 30.
She listened to snippets of conversations going on around her where she could hear that some seemed to be here just to laugh. “Let’s see what dumb shit he pulls this time.” An older man said to his group.
On the other end of the spectrum, she heard Emma airing her excitement of the event and hoping they would get to see something like the rune again. There were also others who seemed to just be here for the amount of effort that Joseph had put into previous halloween parties that he had held.
Moments later the door would swing inwards, revealing that the main hall had a thick fog that began to roll out and down the small set of steps. “Come on in.” One of the bouncers said as he stood beside the doorway, waving the group closer.
They followed up and after having their invitations checked entered the foyer of the old manor which had been done up with lights, fog machines, and a stereo system that was playing some ambient horror music to set a mood.
“Rather impressive if not a bit too much.” she thought. The party itself began quietly as everyone began to mingle in the lobby where they were told to wait for some time. There were two tables of refreshments, one of which was guarded by two bodyguards. It seemed alcohol was being served at that table and people were required to submit ID’s before they could receive any.
“Feels like a real party.” She said to no one in particular.
She felt a shiver run down her spine while she waited and likened it to most likely being one of the two entering the building. She looked about but couldn’t really see anything in this crowd which seemed to only be growing as more and more people arrived.
Eventually she learned the purpose of the armbands that were given as one of the bouncers took notice of it around her wrist and said “If you could wait by the stairs please.”
“Alright, thanks.” she nodded, striding over to the bottom of the staircase. There was already a small group gathering who were all wearing the same armband. She found herself just watching the crowd while waiting with this small group.
It was an assortment of costumes where she could see some had put in a lot of effort to the makeup, costumes, and even their acting. Others though, either didn’t come in costume or threw together something at the last moment. It made her feel a bit better about her low quality, and somewhat low effort Witch costume.
“VIP’s may come to the basement.” Would echo through the hall as a security guard came down to them and gestured at them to follow him to the left of the room. Following the group she noticed that shiver ran down her spine once more and now she could attribute it to Mitch as she saw him ascending the staircase in visible strain from the distance he had travelled from his body.
She certainly wasn’t very comfortable going into the basement of this dingey old manor, especially since basements weren't a common thing in Ireland so this had to be specifically built by the old owners. Who knew what forms of trap doors or hidden entryways actually existed down here. It could have been none, it could have been a lot, the chances with what she had recently seen were not out of the question.
The fog would trickle its way down the stairs towards the basement where it pooled at a door that was covered in locks and pads. “Did you know, the owner was said to never allow anyone into the basement?” The guard would explain as he took out a large set of keys. “They said something about it always being locked off to any visitor.” With what she had been told about the first job that was taken here she could piece together that it was a blatant lie but no one else would have known that.
If it had been any other time of her life, this set up and story probably would have had her shivering and close to a panic by this point. She knew now about real spirits and demons which leads to things like this no longer being as impactful as they used to be.
Others though would audibly be breathing heavier, even a wince or two heard every time he unlocked another padlock that fell to the ground with a large thud on the wooden floorboards.
“I can’t fault them for the presentation…” She thought while she stood near the middle of the group. She could see Emma and Shaun ahead of her so she chose to stay at the back.
With the last lock undone, a louder thud was heard, followed by the sound of chains rapidly rattling as their weight had them slide out of position and collapse onto the floor which caused the fog to disperse and the dust to fill the air in front of the now barren door.
“Well, watch your step.” the guard warned as he pushed open the door and went inside where it was too dark to see anything ahead of them.
“This has to be some gag, or skit.” she reasoned, following the group into the basement where the guard slipped through the door from the shadows and closed the door behind him. She couldn’t hear anything else as the screams of shocked partygoers as they were left in complete darkness.
The group spread out a bit as some would attempt to pull on the door to get it open again, though heavy metallic sounds indicated it was being locked back up from the other side.
She couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous now as people began to take out their phones, turning on the flashlights to shine and look around the old cellar which contained rows upon rows of shelves that had anything from files, to boxes filled with toys on them.
“What’s going on here?” One would ask, clearly terrified in her tone.
“It’s gotta just be a gag bit to spook us.” Lara would assure, taking a few steps ahead of the group to examine the far side wall “I don't see a door over there, so let’s look around for another one.” Her nerves only kicked in once she had spoken and had eyes on her. Quickly moving to begin examining the walls so she didn’t have to think about it.
The small group began to move to the left side of the room, some staying at the main door as they clung to their respective partners. A couple stayed behind, the older woman calming her boyfriend who had been cowering since the lights went out.
As she watched the group move, she felt herself in darkness again as all the lights were taken off of her direction.
That was when she felt what she would never want to feel down here. A shiver ran up her spine, and her breath became cold.
This was enough to make her begin to panic, though it made her fit in with the group as she looked about the room from corner to corner. She couldn’t see much with the large shelves of boxes around that blocked her view.
She followed the group closely now so she could see what was going on. “Something in basement. feel it.” She hurriedly typed out into a message to send Jasper before turning on her flashlight to get a better view.
The group struggled to find any kind of exit, the only door within the basement being the one that they had come in through. The panicked chattering of the crowd blocked out any chance she had to hear if something was actually down here with them. Though she occasionally heard what she thought was walking separate from the group as they stood by the door, it was hard to tell.
Soon all sound was drowned out by the sounds of screams as the sound of a large chain slamming against a wall from the other side of the basement. She covered her ears and backed up so her back touched the wall though that would do little to protect her against any kind of fiend or imp.
“Get oooouuutttttt!” would echo through the room in a wispy tone which was enough to have the crowd shake and shiver, Shaun mostly excited about all this as others cowered.
The attempt at being scary was enough to cause Lara to feel somewhat at ease as no spirit would do something this tacky. The worry was still there as she felt that cold feeling she had slowly vanished.
“It left?” She mumbled to herself, no one else able to hear her with the ambient spooky noises.
After a few moments a figure would approach from the back of the room, slowly coming into the light. They were wearing a fairly convincing zombie outfit with makeup resembling his flesh hanging off.
“Get oooouuuuuttt” He snarled, limping his way closer to the group.
She felt it quite hard to feel scared at this form of act anymore, and just stood by the door waiting to be let out as other guests panicked and let out bursts of screams and shouts.
After some more back and forth of the chain noises and the man in a zombie costume getting closer, the door would eventually open and they were allowed to rush out.
When they got to the top of the stairs she noticed that there was another group at the bottom of the main stairs that she waited at a few moments ago.
“Basically a carnival attraction.” She thought that group would be taken to the basement after them. “At least whatever that was is gone now.” She saw Jasper now by the basement who gave her a brief nod before he went down.
The party continued for some time, droning on with generic horror ambiance and idle chit chat she decided to have a drink while waiting. Partly wanting to fit in, and partly still wanting to enjoy a bit of her halloween night. She felt bad for Mitch at this stage, forced to work on a night that should be spent with friends at his age but she also knew his dedication to his ways.
After every group had been taken down to the basement, the hall was alive with chatter. The overall consensus was that people quite enjoyed the little adventure in the basement and it worked to set a tone for the party.
Amidst all the talking and laughing the fog began to intensify around them. The crowd began to quieten as the lights dimmed. Soon enough the music quietened and a light would shine upon the top of the staircase where Joseph came from the door on the left dressed up as a much more regal vampires attire complete with a large cape with gold trimmings.
“I hope everyone is enjoying the party so far!” he called out, though kind of hard to hear since his voice didn’t project that far.
The crowd was essentially forced to part as the guards came through, leading what looked to be a real camera crew this time that waited by the staircase and recorded his descent. “I have a very special event lined up for everyone next!” he called out at a now mostly audible level.
With the event they had just gone through below everyone seemed to be getting rather excited at the concept of another, but Lara was more than sceptical of this plan.
“This one is going to be seen by everyone at the same time so follow me upstairs, and leave the VIP’s up front.” He instructed.
After a bit of shuffling by the guards she was up front following rather closely behind Joseph as she ascended. It felt surreal when she looked behind her and saw the crowd essentially following her lead, even though it was Joseph they were actually following.
She would be lying if she claimed it didn't make her feel nervous, but knowing there was a job that needed to be done she pressed on and tried to not let it get to her.
They were once again led to the same master bedroom where the wall had been previously knocked down to make it easier to have a large crowd inside. “Now, I think some of you here have seen what I have done with this before!” he proclaimed, standing over it once they were all settled in.
Lara nodded along with the other V.I.P’s as they parted to the side slightly to allow those in the back to see slightly better. “The fancy light show?” Someone in the crowd would jeer, leading to another “got some more LED’s in there this time?” It seemed to come from the drunk college students who had no costumes, clearly here with their girlfriends who were in full costume.
Joseph seemed to take the attempts to anger or upset him in his stride. “Perhaps, you’ll have to wait and see.” He rebutted.
This time he got onto his knees, rubbing his hands together “So, are you all prepared to witness something that could change the world?”
“My arse it will.” Someone else from the crowd called, a few more chiming in with jokes and jeers but it didn't deter him at all.
“Then be witness to what I can do.” He said before he put his hands down onto the rune where it began to lightly glow again.
“Look at him.” An older man laughed next to what Lara could only assume was his wife. “Another little light show.”
The crowd began to chatter and mumblings of disbelief in his ‘power’ began to circulate.
“Well then, if you all doubt what I can do.” He said with a light hint of amusement in his tone, as if he had been waiting his entire life for this moment, his moment. “Let’s get people up here to try and do what I did themselves.”
With that he invited up people from the front to try and activate the lights they said he had. One by one they would come up and kneel at the rune, but no one could find any way to activate the light show that he had. Some tried copying exactly what he did and others tried slightly differently and others just tried different methods entirely but it just wasn’t activating.
Though she was avoiding going to the front, she was eventually told to come up and attempt the rune herself so that he could have irrefutable evidence that it was not some light show. She tried to politely decline but they insisted, and with the crowd's eyes on her back she decided to head to the front.
“Now, if you will.” Joseph said, motioning to the rune below.
She had a split moment to consider her options here, though there wasn’t much of a choice here since she wasn't very good at controlling the manaflow of her body.
With the crowd's piercing eyes staring her down, she decided to kneel and place her hands in the exact position that she had seen him place his. She made a choice in this instant, to purposely let it begin to glow like before, just idly touching it to let her natural magics sink in which was nowhere near enough to set it off.
“Looks like it’s a sham to me.” Lara said as she stood up, looking at the wide eyes bulging from Joseph as he stared at her. She felt the crowd was watching her with similar silence but they were quick to get chattering about it.
Though Joseph was not a man who gave up so easily and he grabbed her hands after “You have the potential too!” He proclaimed.
“W-What?” Lara asked, taken aback by his sudden optimism of the event.
“You can learn to harness that power!” He continued to claim, the crowd quieting when they heard him again. “Just watch!”
That was the moment it happened, and everything about this situation changed in a single instant.
He kept his hands placed firmly on the rune until the light began to fill the small crevasse within the rune design. Pooling up within these gaps it eventually looked like it was physically ready to burst.
The crowd watched on in awe as the rune did explode, causing a pillar of light to expand into the air. “Witness my power!” Joseph exclaimed as he pressed onto it with a visible amount of exertion on his part which caused the pillar of light to expand and soon fill the entire room for a few brief moments before Joseph collapsed and the light stopped.
The crowd was left in a catatonic shock as the light faded, each and every soul in the room looking like they had just seen forbidden knowledge.
Little did they know; They had.