They didn’t find any answers in the morning. Just like last night, they couldn’t find the house anywhere they searched. Addie felt certain that this was the right place, she remembered the surroundings quite well from when she’d gone ethereal with Squishy.
So, why couldn’t they find the house? Book still didn’t want to help, it just sat dormant inside of her. She wanted to ask it questions, but Book had never once been so stubborn to refuse her before. Unlike with Squishy and Ember, Book couldn’t communicate with her when it was inside of her soul. Even though it could go in and out of Addie, she knew they were not soulbonded, so, they couldn’t communicate with just their thoughts or feelings. Overall, it was all just very frustrating.
“Should we try going south instead?” Nettal proposed after they ate breakfast together in silence. Addie had been too busy thinking and prodding Book to talk much.
“No,” Addie sighed, “We don’t have Book’s map anymore, won’t we get lost?”
“Can’t Squishy lead us?” Nettal suggested again.
Pointedly, Addie looked at Squishy who perked up to look back at her. “I could likely eventually get us to the southern ruin site, but I believe that to be unnecessary.”
“Do you have an idea?” Addie asked excitedly. Come to think of it, Squishy had been thinking hard last night before bed.
“I am wondering if this ruin site only exists ethereally,” he emphasized the last word, even sending along the mental image of the haunted house at the same time.
“Consider, in the two other ruin sites, my lady, you were given access to new soul-fire techniques. But, soul fire is only half of the powers you’ve gained since bonding with Ember.”
Addie’s mouth dropped into an ‘o’ of understanding, nodding her head along with Squishy’s idea.
“What?” Nettal brought her face closer, trying to answers. “What did he say?”
“He thinks that maybe we have to be ethereal to get to the haunted house,” Addie repeated for Nettal.
In response, Nettal scrunched up her face in thought before saying, “Didn’t Book say to never go all ethereal soul mode near the ruin sites?”
Addie tilted her head. “I thought Book only said not to do that for the first ruin site.”
“Well,” Nettal shrugged, “You’d remember better than me, since it always talked to you the most.” Then her face turned more serious, “But still, are you sure this is a good idea?”
Squishy replied, “I believe we may have no other choice. What can we do but go ethereal if the next ruin site doesn’t exist otherwise?”
“Okay fine,” Nettal said after hearing Addie repeat what Squishy had said, “But I’m coming with you.”
Addie smiled. Just knowing that Nettal would always be there for her filled Addie up with warmth.
“Okay, together,” she agreed easily, nodding her head firmly.
Walking over, Addie began to get ready to use her magic on everyone.
“Wait,” Nettal stopped her. “Let’s think of a good plan first. You said you saw eyes last time, right? Oh! And, I think I should check that soul damage I found on you yesterday. What if you aren’t healed yet? We might need to wait.” Nettal had some really logical-sounding things to say, but Addie thought maybe she was just nervous and trying to delay.
Regardless, Addie’s mom always did say to properly listen to the healer, so she decided to let Nettal have her way. So first, Nettal and Lotty used some magic to check up on Addie’s soul. Apparently, all the damage had healed overnight, just like Nettal had thought it would. Just for good measure, she even checked Squishy, too, but he didn’t have any damage.
Next, they spent some time planning. Addie thought she wasn’t too good at making plans, so for the most part, she nodded along with what Nettal said. She wouldn’t really call it a ‘plan’ completely, but more a set of rules that Nettal wanted her to follow: don’t get close to the house if it sucks her in, run away if they are in too much danger, stuff like that. Plus, they decided to walk about five minutes away from the area, so that they wouldn’t appear right next to the house.
Finally, after listening to tons of rules, Addie prepared her magic and pushed everyone out of their bodies one by one, starting with Squishy. Watching him go completely slack and limp was kind of scary, but his body could still breathe even like this, so that helped soothe her discomfort. She made sure Nettal was lying down before doing her, and Lotty came right after that. He lay in a curled-up ball next to Nettal, of course.
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Before laying down herself, Addie picked up Squishy’s limp form, nestled herself on the other side of her cousin, and plopped Squishy down on her chest. This way, all four of them were closely snuggled together, just to make sure their bodies would stay warm in the cooler daytime weather— especially since it was mostly cloudy.
When Addie opened her eyes, she was floating above their bodies. Like this, her ‘body’, and even her clothes, had a light blue hue. Squishy was the same, making his normally black body look quite different as a blue shade. Nettal and Lotty gave her a big surprise though, they weren’t blue at all. Instead, their soul-bodies matched their normal eye color— a vivid, bright green that reminded Addie of emerald.
Opening her mouth to speak, no words came out. She had to catch herself, once again remembering that she couldn’t speak like this. Nettal was staring at Addie with her mouth open, but she must have realized the issue at about the same time Addie had.
This hadn’t really been an issue before, since Addie had only done this with Squishy in the past, always able to talk with him through their bond. This was a new challenge, how would they communicate without words?
Nettal turned around and dramatically pointed behind her. In the distance, Addie could make out the haunted house again. She hadn’t even noticed it since she’d been so focused on Nettal. But sure enough, just as Squishy had thought, the ghostly, wisping, ever so gently moving house stood in the same spot they’d seen it at last time.
“It appears my theory was correct.” Squishy sounded quite smug.
From this far away, Addie could not make out the eyes they’d seen last time. Regardless, she felt a slight draw toward the house, as if something was physically sucking her closer. The feeling was very light, barely noticeable from this far away. But since she knew to check for it, she definitely was able to tell it was there.
Nettal floated closer to her, offering up her hand. Without hesitation, Addie grabbed it. Her hand felt warm, light, and almost kind of spongey. It definitely didn’t feel the same as in the physical world. Even so, Nettal’s hand provided just as much comfort and gave Addie just as much confidence as it always did.
Checking her cousin’s face and meeting her eyes, Addie watched Nettal give her a quick nod. She interpreted it to mean that she’d leave this mostly up to Addie.
In that floaty, dreamy way that didn’t quite feel real, Addie began leading Nettal closer to the house— the surroundings seeming to move by rather than it feeling like they were actively moving themselves.
As they got closer, Addie could make out more details on the haunted house. She saw the same wooden porch, four log cabin walls, and a matching wispy triangular roof. Behind the porch sat a wooden door, with a knocker; though, Addie couldn’t make out its exact shape from this far away.
She checked the bottom step leading up to the porch, but the eyes from yesterday didn’t come back. One thing really stood out though, as they got closer to the house, the tugging feeling that wanted to suck Addie in closer go stronger and stronger.
Between twenty and thirty paces away from the front porch, Nettal tugged sharply on her hand. For a moment, Nettal’s hand actually passed completely through Addie’s, causing her hand to evaporate and reform a moment later. It didn’t hurt, but it had felt quite uncomfortable.
In any case, Nettal was quick to re-grab Addie’s hand. More gently this time, she pulled Addie closer to her and farther away from the house at the same time. All four of them just observed the house silently for a while, Addie not quite sure what was causing Nettal to wait.
“Should we go in?” Addie asked Squishy through their bond.
“I think we would be smart to wait. Perhaps Nettal has some kind of idea she’s pondering.”
And so, for a few minutes, they just waited, staring at the ghostly house which seemed to ripple in an invisible breeze. Since it was daytime, Addie could see the house quite a bit better than she had yesterday. Rather than being a slightly blue house, it appeared to be more grayish during the day at least.
After about another minute, with no change from the house, Nettal turned slightly to face Addie directly. Addie did the same, not seeing any reason not to. Putting on a serious face, Nettal began to point her finger toward Addie’s chest. She did it gently, but purposefully, clearly trying to tell Addie something.
“Is she asking for Book?” Squishy suggested.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Addie tried to give Book a big poke. Still, it refused to answer her. When Addie opened her eyes again, she shook her head no.
Nettal stared up with a thoughtful expression and then seemed to come up with another idea. She once again pointed toward Addie’s chest, but then right after she flapped her arms by her sides like a bird.
That was a clever idea! Addie realized. With another poke, but one to Ember instead of Book, she prompted her favorite birdie to come flying out.
Ember materialized from out of Addie’s chest, just like always. She wasn’t even a different color like everyone else, she just looked like her normal self— black body and wings with a white head. Her purple soul flames began roiling around her wings a moment later. She looked at Addie with a side eye, inspecting her for a moment.
With practiced ease, Addie projected an image of Ember flying closer to the house to her birdie, and she did so a moment later. She flew close to the house, swooping down near the porch without touching it before circling once around the entire outside. She flew back right after.
Ember hadn’t seen any eyes, either. What was a bit interesting, though, was how Ember both saw and didn’t see the house. It was like she had two sets of eyes, or maybe it would be better to say she had two senses of sight. One, for the physical world, showed nothing but grassland. The other, for the ethereal world, showed the same house that Addie could see now. Most interestingly, from as close up as Ember had gotten, the house appeared to become slightly more opaque than what it looked like now. As it was, Addie could practically see through the ghostly walls and to the grass on the other side of the house. Though, mind-bogglingly, she couldn’t see inside the house no matter how hard she tried.
In the end, Addie decided there wasn’t much else they could do but get closer and explore. Ember would stay out, to help them or maybe use flames in the worst-case scenario. There was something comforting about having a flaming bird who could set fire to haunted houses, after all.