Every Boy Should Face His Demons, Charlie Boone! - 6. Chapter 6

"Mrs. Viggerol was very specific," Horace told them, as they sat around the kitchen table drinking hot chocolate. "She said she was here several days and only thought she experienced a few odd moments, before she actually saw or heard anything unusual. But then it seemed to all come at one time. She only stayed another day after the first event. The second night, she left."

"And she only saw stuff at night?" Kippy asked.

"That's what she said," Horace agreed. "She thought she might have heard things during the day, but it was her experiences at night that most frightened her."

"Uh, we talked to her today," Charlie volunteered. "In a roundabout way."

Horace gave a nod. "I suspected as much, when you mentioned her by name."

Kippy smiled. "Well, someone in town told us the rumor that the house was haunted. And we sort of learned that the story came from Mrs. Viggerol. So we had a sort of chat with her."

"I see."

Kippy nodded. "We got the impression she didn't think it was ghosts that were visiting this place. She seemed to think it was more like....well, demons."

Horace coughed out a laugh. "Oh. Yes, well. I know there are many names for what people deem to be supernatural forces, but I tend to subscribe to the idea that they are all one in the same, but simply possessing different personalities, just as do people."

Adrian looked amused at that. "So some ghosts are cool, and some are just assholes."

Horace's smile widened. "Eloquently put."

"I have a question," Ricky said, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. "I want to know if the...the radiation you've detected here is strong enough to be unhealthy. I mean, I've read stuff that says that even living too close to power lines can be dangerous."

Horace held up a hand. "Rest assured. Even though what we have detected so far seems enormously powerful, it is only because the experience was amplified by the detector's somewhat showy indicators and sounds. It is designed to detect very tiny amounts of energy. The actual radiation here is quite within safe limits."

Ricky gave a little sigh of relief. "I mean, I can't have my family members living inside a microwave oven, or anything. My cousin would freak if she suddenly had to sell the house right after she just got it."

"Not as much was known about the dangers of electromagnetic radiation at the time this house was built," Horace agreed. "But Mr. Ravishaw - and certainly Mr. Tesla - were at the forefront of the field. If anyone had even a glimpse of the dangers at that point in time, it would have been them."

"Yeah," Adrian said, patting Ricky's hand. "And remember that people have lived here for over a century. Mrs. Ravishaw is almost ninety, right?"

"Oh, yeah." Ricky smiled. "That makes me feel better."

Moped, laying on the floor beside Ricky, picked up her head then and looked around the kitchen. Ricky looked down at her, and went to reach for her. "What's up, girl?"

But the dog suddenly came up off the floor and moved back towards the front of the house, giving every indication that she was on the hunt. The boys looked at each other, and then pushed back their chairs and followed the dog. Horace, looking briefly surprised at the sudden reaction, took another sip of his cocoa before putting it down and going after them.

They found Moped in the living room, hovering intently over Horace's carpetbag. Even as Charlie and the other's arrived beside her, they could all hear a faint chirping sound issuing forth from within.

"That's my vibration sensor!" Horace called, coming into the room. He made it to the bag and bent over the open top, and reached down inside and withdrew another one of his small devices.

"Something's vibrating?" Ricky asked. "I don't feel it."

The device went silent in Horace's hands, but he quickly set it on the floor, where it started chirping again. "Please, no one move."

Moped didn't understand the instruction, and wanted to stick her nose down into the carpetbag to explore. Ricky sank to his knees and pulled the dog close, restraining her. The detector immediately started making an odd little warbling sound, and Horace quickly pointed at the dog. "She's slapping the floor with her tail."

Adrian laughed, and sank down beside his boyfriend, and helped to restrain Moped's tail. The dog thought it was all a game, but after Ricky shushed her a few times, she seemed to understand that they wanted silence.

The detector went back to chirping, sounding like a particularly talkative cricket after a night out on the town. The beat was irregular enough to notice, but very steady.

"What is it?" Kippy asked. "Something making the floor vibrate?"

They listened, but could hear nothing. "The heat isn't running at the moment," Ricky said. "You can hear that when it starts."

"It's an amazingly sensitive device," Horace explained. "My own home is about two hundred yards from the main road, and I've had the detector go off when large trucks go by."

"There are no main roads close to here," Ricky said. "And no traffic. Certainly none that takes this long to go by."

And then, just like that, the detector went silent. Everyone stared at it a moment, but it did not resume it's chirping. Horace bent down to retrieve the device, and just his movements on the floor set it to warbling again. But again it went silent as he picked it up.

"Why does it go quiet when you grab it?" Ricky asked. "I would think picking it up would really make it take off."

"It's basically an accelerometer," Horace explained. "It measures minute changes in the directional movement of its sensor, caused by the vibrations of things like footsteps on the floorboards, or rapping on a wall. But it has range limits, and will ignore anything beyond that. Me picking it up introduced an acceleration far beyond what it's designed to measure, so it just ignores it."

"What made it stop?" Adrian asked.

Horace barked out another laugh. "I don't even know what made it start!"

"Could it have detected us out in the kitchen, just moving at the table?" Charlie asked.

"Oh, I'm quite sure it could. But you don't understand, Charlie. The unit was turned off." He looked around at the boys. "What made it start running?"

Ricky gaped, and then smiled. "Oo-ee-oo-ee-oooh! This is a joke, right? It's on a timer or something?"

Horace offered the device to him. "You can check, if you like. But I assure you, really, I never joke about these sorts of things."

Ricky looked at the proffered device, but shook his head. "No. I believe you. It's just...it's almost Halloween. Kind of convenient for the ghosts to show up now."

Horace turned off the detector and carefully put it back into the bag. "It has a rocker switch set into a guard baffle, which serves to activate it. Nothing can touch the switch, and I have carried it about in my bag for some years now without difficulty. There is just no way it could turn on by itself."

Ricky gave a little shake to his head, and indicated the archway back into the center area. "Might as well get back to our cocoa, before it gets cold."

They returned the way they had come. But they had hardly stepped into the kitchen when a bold, clear note - just one - echoed throughout the house.

They all stopped as if struck, and stared at each other.

"That was the piano!" Kippy said.

They turned as a group and headed back to the library, but all was peaceful when they got there. Nothing looked out of place, and no one was present. They went to the piano, but now all was silent.

Kippy frowned then. "Who put the cover down over the keyboard?" He looked around, but no one said anything. "I played a couple of notes earlier, but I left the cover up."

"It was up when we got here," Ricky said, remembering.

"It was," Adrian confirmed.

Charlie nodded. "I agree."

"Most interesting," Horace said, again steepling his fingers before him. "Most interesting."

"What do you make of that?" Charlie asked him.

"Why, nothing. It appears that we've had two instances of unusual activity, but nothing is as yet conclusive." He smiled. "Until something occurs before my own eyes, I will reserve judgment." He chuckled. "And even then, I will have doubts."

Charlie frowned. "It's almost as if we were being teased."

"That's a very good description," Horace said, nodding. "And it could well be true. A mischievous personality has been observed in paranormal behavior many times before now."

Ricky gave a small laugh at that. "A demon with a sense of humor. That's all we need!"

Charlie had been watching and listening to Horace, and now smiled. "You're an interesting sort of ghost hunter. You aren't as I imagined you would be at all. I sort of expected you to be launching into explanations of spectral whatsits every time someone farted." He laughed at the expression that appeared on the older man's face. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a skeptic instead of a believer."

Horace chuckled, and gave a brief nod of his head. "Guilty, as charged."

"You're a ghost hunter, and you don't believe in ghosts?" Kippy asked, sounding almost like he thought the idea sacrilege.

"Actually, I do believe...in something. I do believe that there are forces in our world we are not generally aware of. I believe that the end of our physical life may not be the end of our - for want of a better word - spiritual life. But do I believe that every building on the planet that is said to be haunted actually is? No. Do I believe that such events are even remotely commonplace? No. I believe that supernatural phenomena, when they actually exist, are exceedingly rare rather than commonplace."

Kippy grinned. "Well, then, I have to ask you: have you ever seen a ghost?"

Horace looked thoughtful, and then nodded. "I believe I have."

Kippy leaned forward. "What did it look like?"

Horace let his gaze touch each one of the boy's eyes in turn, as if double checking that he wasn't being taunted, and then he nodded. "It looked just like a living person. Except it wasn't."

Charlie and Kippy looked at each other, and Kippy frowned thoughtfully. "I believe him."

Their own experiences with Billy and Will had proven that those two could look very much human if they felt the need. And very much not human, it they felt otherwise. One thing ghosts were, was creative.

Charlie gently rubbed his jaw in thought, then nodded. "I like your approach. We've just witnessed two improbable events, but we still don't know what they are. So we just wait until we witness some events that leave less doubt, correct?"

Horace smiled. "You're a bright young man, sir."

Kippy reached over and gave Charlie an affectionate prod. Horace noted that, and simply smiled. Charlie wondered what the man thought of them. He had to have noticed their closeness, yet he had given no indication that he was put off by it, or even particularly curious about it. The smile seemed to suggest that he was not terribly concerned with the issue at all. Some older people still ranged from uncomfortable to outright hostile when presented with evidence of gay relationships; but Horace seemed not to be in that camp. Or, he simply felt it not a part of what they were doing here just now.

Either way, it was interesting.

Charlie looked around the library one more time, and then shrugged. "I guess we're done here for the moment. And our cocoa is probably cold by now."

Kippy frowned, and lifted the cover of the piano keyboard. Everything looked normal. He took a finger and pressed a key, and another clear note rang out.

"Wonderful sound," Horace said. "And the acoustics of the room are quite interesting, too."

"The lack of furniture gives it a certain resonance," Charlie agreed. "Close it again, will you, Kip?"

His boyfriend nodded and closed the cover. "Any specific reason why?"

"I just want to know the cover is closed in case we hear another note."

They returned to the kitchen, and took turns reheating their cups in the microwave, and then sat at the table again.

"Have you known Mrs. Viggerol a long time?" Charlie asked Horace.

"Oh my, no. I don't know the lady at all. I just got the one letter from her. She must have gotten my name and address from one of the sites online."

Kippy smiled. "You advertise?"

Horace returned the smile. "Not exactly. But I have been mentioned several times in the literature of others." He looked pleased with himself. "I am somewhat known in the field."

"Famous, or infamous?" Ricky asked, the rim of his cup mostly hiding a teasing grin.

Horace barked out another laugh. "I guess it depends on who you ask."

Adrian put his elbows on the tabletop and leaned toward Horace. "What do you feel about this house?"

The man laid a hand against his cheek, considering the question, while letting his eyes move about the kitchen in a very analytical manner. "Well --" His gaze finished its curious circuit of the room, and came back to rest on Adrian. "I feel a definite interest in this place. I feel there is more here than meets the eye."

Adrian nodded, his expression serious. "And what do you feel about us?"

Now the ghost hunter smiled. "You four? Oh, you are at least as interesting as the house."

"We try," Kippy said, offering a toothy smile.

But Horace shook his head. "I am quite serious. You four young men have quite the aura about you. You all exude a sense of experience far beyond your years. And I get the distinct impression that none of you are strangers to mystery or adventure."

Charlie looked over at Kippy, who now looked thoughtful. "We have a sense about you, too," Charlie said, turning back to the ghost hunter. "There is more to you than meets the eye, as well."

Horace looked pleased, and his chest swelled a bit. "I have the sight, if that's what you mean."

"The sight?" Adrian asked.

"Yes. After years of experience in this field, I have learned that not everyone is in tune with the paranormal. For many - or, rather, most people - it simply doesn't exist at all. They are blind and deaf to it."

"But you're not?" Ricky asked.

"No. Another small percentage of people are subconsciously aware of things beyond the norm. They get impressions, and they sense things, but they are unable to actually interact with the paranormal." He nodded. "And still fewer - a very few, I have found - actually have the sight. The ability to see, hear, and interface with the paranormal. I have that ability." The older man held up his hands. "It's why I find myself mostly playing the role of the skeptic. Ninety-nine percent of the cases I investigate are simply in the imaginations of the people involved. Or, purposeful attempts at fraud."

Horace leaned forward then, and pointed at Kippy. "You have the sight, too. I sense it." He waved a hand around the table. "All of you have it. I find it quite astounding to meet four other people with the sight, all in the same place."

Charlie was a little bit stunned. He was used to the feeling he got around Max and the other elves, and around Pacha'ka, Ragal, Casper, and some other aliens. A sense of awareness that he had never felt around members of his own kind, save for Kip, Rick, and Adrian. It had been enough of a shock to sense it in small doses from Mrs. Viggerol; but now, with Horace, it seemed they had actually found someone with skwish that was more than just in a formative state.

The man was strong enough to sense their own skwish!

"We haven't seen anything in this house," Charlie said. He wasn't sure yet how much he wanted to let on to the older man how aware they were of their own abilities. He certainly wasn't ready to share the fact that they knew elves and other magical beings, or that they had been flitting about the cosmos in alien starships for the last several years.

Horace's eyes narrowed. "But you do sense something unusual here, in this house."

Kippy looked at Charlie, and then nodded. "Yes."

Horace sat back in his chair and smiled. "I don't mean to pry. I feel you have a perfect right to your privacy. I just wanted to place us on an equal footing, if possible. We stand a much better chance of obtaining results here if we work together knowing we are all able to see and hear and experience the same things."

"I think we just proved that, with the piano and your vibration sensor, didn't we?" Ricky asked.

"That is not what I mean," Horace countered. "Not exactly, anyway. The vibration sensor was actually active. We don't know what started it going, but I pressed the switch myself to turn it off again." He frowned. "The piano note may or may not have been real. I tend to think it was real, as I noticed the dog's ears prick up when it occurred."

"I thought animals were even more sensitive to the paranormal than humans," Adrian said.

"I have not found that to be so, other than in the area of normal sight and hearing. Dogs may react to sounds we cannot hear, and their eyes are better at detecting movement than are ours, and in seeing in low-light conditions. But I have yet to find a single animal that truly has the sight. In the few genuine cases of paranormal manifestations I have worked upon, dogs seem unable to see or hear events that are truly not a part of our own world, unless those manifestations actually produce genuine visible or auditory phenomena."

Kippy smiled. "I love your ghost guy talk."

Horace's eyes twinkled. "It goes with the territory. It took me years to get comfortable actually saying things like that without having an urge to laugh."

Charlie felt better about things now. Nothing like knowing where you stood with someone. "Well, we'll have to be thinking about going to bed in a while, if we plan to get up early. Is there anything else you'd like to do before we go up to our rooms?"

The ghost hunter nodded. "I would like to see the entire house, including the cellar."

Ricky looked surprised, and that emotion quickly transferred itself to the face of the other boys.

"Um, we were shown through the entire house when we got here," Charlie said. "We didn't see a cellar."

"You know, there has to be one," Ricky spoke up then, shaking his head. "Even if Annie didn't show it to us. When the heat gets cranking, the pump sounds are obviously beneath us."

Charlie nodded. "Oh, yeah. Well, let's go look around then. There has to be a way to get down there."

"I can tell you about where the doorway is, from the plans," Horace offered. He pulled out his cell phone and drew his finger across the screen a few times, tapped some icons, and then frowned at what was displayed there. "I know I saw that in one of the diagrams---" He moved his finger on the screen several more times, and then nodded. "Here it is." He turned and looked back towards the front of the house. "The doorway is behind the central staircase, in one of the front rooms."

They got up and put their empty mugs in the dishwasher, and started for the front of the house. Moped bounced past them and skittered across the polished floor in a game she had obviously been playing for some time. She got her balance, and looked back at them, her eyes bright. Catch me if you can!

"Ghosts don't seem to bother Moped," Adrian said. "Maybe she feels the good aura this house has."

Horace looked startled at that. "You're aware of that, too? A sense that this is a happy home?"

"Yes." Kippy agreed. "The sense is very strong, and we've all felt it."

"Even my cousin," Ricky admitted. "It's one reason she wanted the house so badly. It seems that a lot of people looked at the place before her, and liked it from the outside, but not after they had been inside."

"Extraordinary." Horace shook his head at the notion. "Does your cousin have the sight as well?"

"We don't think so," Charlie said carefully. "We've gotten to the opinion that people with no, uh, sense of sight seem uncomfortable for some reason once they come inside. Some other people have the sight, but it's quiescent, for want of a better word. Undeveloped. They can sense the happiness of this place, but they can't see or hear any of the, um, phenomena. We think Annie might fit in there. Only people like us, with an active sense of sight, can actually experience whatever is happening in this house."

Horace stopped in his tracks and stared at Charlie, and the others drew to a halt before him.

"What?" Charlie asked.

Horace's gaze traveled among the four boys. "You sound...it just sounds as if you are far more experienced with the sight than I supposed."

"We get around," Ricky said, trying to make light of it.

Horace squinted a moment, but then offered them a wan smile. "As I said, I respect your privacy. But, please, if you see or hear things I seem not aware of, let me know."

"I don't think that will happen," Charlie returned. "We sense that your sight is very active."

The older man looked thoughtful then. "You know, I was frightened to death the first time I actually experienced paranormal activity. Oh, my. But I noticed thereafter that the experience seemed to have sharpened my ability to sense such things, and that the few successive experiences that were genuine seemed to hone it even more." He looked around at them. "Perhaps this explains Mrs. Viggerol's slow response to things happening here. She said in her letter that in the first few days she was employed here, she only occasionally thought she heard something at night, or caught motion out of the corner of her eye. But that once she actually saw something, it all came on in a rush thereafter. Perhaps the original experience awakened her sight, just as happened to me?"

Charlie knew that their own skwish had been sharpened over time by their proximity to the elves using magic, but that Max had detected it in them even before that. And, that once it had been brought to their attention and really started to get going, it had picked up steam fairly quickly. It did seem that their abilities were getting stronger with each new adventure that they embarked upon. Could this one be no less an energizer of sorts?

"We feel kind of that way, too," Charlie agreed. "Our own sight has been getting stronger with experience and time."

It was plain that the older man wanted to ask them what experiences they'd had; but instead he simply nodded, and pointed towards the front of the house. "This way."

They passed the grand staircase and entered the front room. The one across the vestibule was outfitted like a living room; but it seemed that Annie had yet to decide on a function for this room, too. Or, to fully furnish it. There were antique-looking tables by the front windows, a couple of nice wing chairs, and a large cabinet next to the fireplace. Probably furniture left behind by Mrs. Ravishaw. But the center of the room was empty, a lavish oriental rug being the only occupant.

"Man! It sure will take a bankroll to furnish this place!" Ricky decided, looking around. "Half the space in this house is probably empty!"

Horace had made his way to the back wall of the room, behind which was the grand staircase leading up to the next floor. Charlie and the others wandered after him, and they walked along the wall together. They were almost to the outside wall of the house when they spotted the door.

It was much smaller than the other doors inside the house, and obviously had been made to be unobtrusive. It was wainscoted, just as the wall to either side, with no trim around the doorway itself. Just a narrow rectangular line in the wall suggested that the panel opened at all.

The knob was small and painted the same color as the wall. Horace grasped it and turned, and the door opened outward easily and silently. Only darkness was revealed within.

But the ghost hunter felt around on the wall inside, there was a soft snap, and a single light came on above. They were presented with a deep space, like a narrow walk-in closet, at the end of which was an opening in the floor occupied by a wrought iron spiral staircase that descended into the area beneath the house.

"Simple enough," Horace decided. "Mind if we look?"

"Nope." Ricky sounded eager to explore, himself. "Let's go." He turned to Moped, who was watching them with interest. "Stay here, girl." He looked at the others. "I don't want her falling down some old staircase. Last one in pull the door closed."

Horace led the way to the stairs and looked down. "Lights on down below, too. No problem seeing. Shall we?"

He started down, and the boys followed. The staircase was narrow, and would have been a tight fit for anyone of serious bulk. But they made it easily enough down to the stone floor at the bottom, and spread out to look around.

There were two furnaces - or boilers, more properly - both large, both looking fairly new, and each the centers of an octopus-like sprout of insulated pipe work that spread across the roof of the basement and vanished upwards into dark chases between the walls. One set of pipes obviously serviced the room above them, while a number disappeared into a stone wall running the length of the room. Charlie spied a wide set of stone steps at the back of the basement, that led up to a steel outer door that apparently led outside on the back side of the rear wing of the house.

"Just as I thought," Horace said, examining the pipe works.

Charlie smiled at the man. "And what did you think?"

Horace beamed at him. "You will notice that this outer wall is circular, but that this back wall is straight. Yes, I do believe...this is only half the basement."

Charlie looked around, and saw now what the man meant. It was easy enough to imagine the bulk of the house overhead, and to see that the long back wall neatly bisected what would be a circular basement...if it existed as such. The outer walls were of rough-hewn but square stone blocks, just as was the center wall. The center wall did not look newer than the foundation wall, not at all an afterthought. At first appraisal it would seem that only enough of a basement had been provided to house the heating equipment. But the way that some of the pipes disappeared into the back wall suggested a space beyond, even if just a crawl space large enough to deploy the heating.

"Do you think it matters?" Charlie asked.

Horace came over to him and held up his phone. "See the drawing here? The basement is depicted just as we see it. This broken line, here, continues the outer wall in a circle behind this center wall, to denote the full foundation of the house. But the other half of the circle is not represented in the drawing as an open space at all, and nowhere in the drawings could I find an entry shown to the other side."

"Maybe there isn't one," Charlie said, passing along his own idea. "Maybe it's just a crawlspace. Enough room to allow the heating system and electrical to service the other side of the house."

"Perhaps. And yet there is still the odd steel framing of this house, and the regular beat of an electromagnetic field of some kind, which we detected. Remember?" Horace looked at the center wall. "If Ravishaw concealed machinery of any kind here, a hidden basement would be just the place."

Ricky moved toward the stone wall. "Let's look for any doors, okay?"

They thoroughly examined the entire center wall, pushing upon it and tapping with their knuckles, until they all felt silly. But the wall was every bit the solid stone it looked to be. They finished, and regrouped by the staircase. Horace looked slightly disappointed, but far from defeated. "We'll need to check the other front room. There could simply be another unobtrusive doorway there."

"Wouldn't it be in the plans?" Ricky asked.

Horace sighed. "One would think. But let's look anyway, shall we?"

They went back up the spiral stairs, turned off the lights, and closed the door. Moped was delighted at their return, and came to Rick for a pat on the head. He obliged, smiling, and she accompanied them to the living room across the vestibule, where the group of them walked all the way around its perimeter. But no door was found. The area of wall equivalent to the location of the door in the other room was simply blank wall here, and nothing else.

Kippy sat in one of the chairs and looked around the room. Moped came over to him and sat, asking with her eyes to be petted. Kippy dropped a hand on her head, and stroked her reassuringly. "No door. And I have to say I'm getting a little tired." He grinned at Charlie. "I hear our bed calling my name."

Charlie smiled himself, knowing exactly what it was that Kippy wanted. Some snuggle time, to relax before going to sleep. "I think I hear the voice, too."

Horace gave a little sigh. "I wonder if we might just check the library before turning in? I would hate to try to sleep thinking an undiscovered doorway to the other cellar might be right there, waiting."

Kippy sighed, but got to his feet. "I'm game. Come on."

They walked around to the library, and inspected that room, too. The walls were plainly not concealing any doors. The ornate hearth, with it's wooden side panels and large bronze ember screen, yielded no clues.

"I have to admit to being disappointed," Horace told them. "I was certain when I first saw the plans that the cellar looked odd. But perhaps it was simply a matter of practicality. I'm sure it was less expensive to have a half basement beneath a house of this size."

"We could look outside," Ricky suggested. "Maybe there's a way down from out back."

Horace brightened a little, and smiled. "You're tempting me, but not tonight. I, too, have grown weary." He leaned forward. "Besides, the exterior entry that we saw in the part of the basement we entered was clearly drawn in the plans. There is no such entry shown to the other side."

Ricky threw up his hands. "Well, that just sucks!"

Everyone laughed.

They headed for the staircase to the second floor, Moped tagging along behind Ricky, obviously aware of where they were going and that it was time to settle down. She had a bed in the room with Rick and Adrian, and would presumably stay there for the night. They turned out the lights downstairs, and headed up to their rooms. They said their good nights to Rick and Adrian at the stairs, and Charlie and Kip and Horace proceeded up to the third floor.

"So much space here," Horace said, as they paused in the central area before heading off to their rooms. "I cannot imagine taking care of a house this size." He smiled at them. "Good night. If you hear or see anything, please wake me."

They parted, and Charlie and Kip went to their room and shut the door. Charlie locked it, just for good measure.

They cleaned up in the bathroom, and then got into bed. The room was chill, though not cold enough to be uncomfortable. It made snuggling together beneath the covers very nice, indeed.

"So, what do you think?" Kippy asked, as he made himself at home in Charlie's embrace. Just for good measure, he kissed him.

Charlie smiled. "Mmm. I'd give that kiss a nine. Not bad, but you've done better."

Kippy sighed. "About the house, dummy."

"Oh. Well, so far it's been interesting."

Kippy touched the tip of his nose to Charlie's, and stuck out his tongue and gently swiped it along Charlie's lips. "You think it's haunted?"

Charlie considered that, then shook his head. "No. At least, not the way that Billy haunted the house he lived in." Charlie frowned. "My gut tells me we're dealing with something different here. Just what...I have no idea."

"My skwish is not saying much. But I agree with you that something unusual is going on here."

As if by unspoken agreement they both paused, listening. Far below them, they could hear the boiler pumps start up, and soon soft ticking sounds emanated from the radiators underneath the windows as they heated. But otherwise the house was quiet.

Kippy arranged himself against Charlie then, and sighed. "I'm tired. Wake me, if the ghosts come in."

Charlie laughed. "I was going to ask you to do the same thing." They settled back and closed their eyes.

Charlie mulled over the many interesting things he had learned that day. It was exciting to think they were possibly on the trail of some arcane electrical experiment even partially conducted by someone like Nikola Tesla. That some little bit of history so far unreported might be hiding in this house was a thrilling idea to consider.

He thought about the activation of Horace's vibration sensor, but was even more captured by what had happened with the piano. Electronics could be testy at times, but Charlie could see no way the piano could have played a note on its own. That required the application of force, by depressing a key so that the hammer would strike a string.

But, then again...they hadn't really looked that closely at the piano's guts, had they? Maybe he should do that tomorrow, just to cover all the bases.

Charlie opened one eye as he felt Kippy slide into sleep. Some small amount of light reached up from the outdoor illumination on the veranda, which they had left on. Enough to frame the bedroom's windows in a soft glow from without. The room was not totally dark. He surveyed it one more time, found everything in its place.

If whatever was in this house was going to visit them tonight, it would need to wake them to do it. Charlie closed his eye again, nuzzled Kippy gently, and turned out his own inner light for the night.