Despite the illumination of the full moon hanging slightly behind the old, run-down house on the crest of the little hill, there was an unshakable eerie feeling all around. The wind shaking the leaves of the trees on either side of the dirt road didn't help much either; all it did was cause the shadowy shapes to dance about. After taking a deep breath to calm her nerves and remind herself that the shapes were only shadows, Aidyn looked at her friends around her, briefly wondering if they were upset with her at all. She had been the one to get them into this mess after all. The memory of the event that had led to the current moment was still fresh in her memory.

“You guys think that you're soooo great, doncha?” Richard Slynn snapped, that sneer that seemed a permanent fixture of his face giving him a particularly nasty look. He wasn't pleased to have his “fun” interrupted as she and her group of friends came around the corner of the small candy shop, Carmel's. Of course, his “fun” involved bullying kids that were typically a grade or two younger than he and his cronies. The poor boy who had been unlucky enough to catch Richard's eye took advantage of the momentary distraction to wriggle from the larger boy's grasp and haul off down the street. “I betcha you wouldn't last twenty minutes in Old Man Ferwinkle's house on the hill. Me and my buds have done it tons of times.”

The usual response was to ignore Richard and move on, but he wasn't going to have any of that. “You're all just a bunch of chickens!” he laughed, blocking their path, imitating chicken noises and flapping his arms as if they didn't realize what he was saying. “Probably afraid of the dark and everything! Just like a bunch of babies!” That had been crossing the line for Aidyn, and before she knew it, she was telling him, and his cronies, that they would do better than stay for twenty minutes. They would spend the whole night in the creepy, decrepit house.

“Well? Are you chickens going to go in or are you going to forfeit right now?” Richard said, the sneer practically audible in his voice. As usual, his nasally voice was a pale orange color that felt like a splash of ice cold water, causing her to shiver involuntarily. Hearing all of those words sent cascade of flavor over her tongue as well, changing at every word. Hard, spicy grape to juicy, cold mashed potatoes to hot, rough bubblegum and more. A different taste for every word that came and went as he spoke, the same as what happens during any other conversation. Focusing on those flavors made it a lot easier to ignore Richard's laughter as she readied herself to do what they had come to do.

Looking up at the gate and fence made of black iron, and the dark silhouette of the house, it probably hadn't been her best idea to accept the bet, let alone make it worse. But, Aidyn wasn't one to dwell on the past. Taking another deep breath to steady her nerves, she walked up to a section of the fence near the gate that was loose and stepped through, an action that was really quite simple for her due to her small size. The others, who were all larger than her, would have a bit more trouble, but every one of them would still be able to wriggle through.

Once everyone was through, they went up to the door as a group. Another blast of wind made her jump as a milky brown filled her vision and the sensation of a solid shove centered on her shoulder. Of course, both sensations vanished immediately once the wind died down. She had just been too focused on the door in front of them, and that wind had come from nowhere. That didn't stop the slight blush from appearing on her face as Richard's laugh became audible. Afraid of what she would see, she didn't bother looking at her friends.

As calmly as she could manage, she reached forward with her friends and pushed the door open, the creak filling the night air. Surprisingly enough, the sound was a warm white, though it did send pin-pricks of cold down her back. Once inside the creepy building, Aidyn took her bag off her back and pulled out a battery-powered lantern for herself. She did have an extra in case it was needed, but she didn't wait to see, her curiosity leading her to enter what would have been the living room of the building. The most notable thing in the room was the wooden stand that held an ancient-looking television. Directly across from that were a large couch and recliner, which had several gouges in the cushion covers from animals using the material for nests. The boarded up windows did allow some moonlight into the room, but it was barely enough to see more than dark shapes. With the illumination of the lights, it was possible to see little animal tracks in the dust that covered everything, though only because the dust looked thinner in some places.

A flash of movement out of the corner of her eye made her jump before she realized that it was just the dusty television screen showing her reflection. Her black denim shortalls with white stars and numerous paint stains was rather hard to see in her reflection, which wasn't true of her neon green t-shirt. For once, she was rather glad that her feet were only big enough to fit into shoes designed for younger kids, as the multi-colored shoes she had on had the light-up feature. While not very useful for seeing around her, the pink flashing lights did have a tendency to loosen the atmosphere of the place.

After analyzing her reflection for a few more seconds, she moved towards the television stand to set her lantern on top, thereby illuminating a little more of the room. Curiosity momentarily abated, she turned to her friends in the room with her. “What do you guys want to do now?” she asked, still feeling a little bad about getting them roped into spending the night in the house. Hopefully they weren't too mad about it. She had brought some cards and the like to pass the time if they wanted, though she wouldn't mind exploring either.

Anwen had nearly slapped Aidyn when she had accepted the challenge that Richard had presented them with, but she had been too terrified to make her move. Oh goodness... She thought as the door had creaked open and revealed what could have been the opening scene to a Scooby-Doo rerun that her old television at home picked up. In a way, she was glad that she could be with her friend, especially since the other girl didn't have much to her in the sense of patience. She was sure that Aidyn would have backed down the moment that she got to the gate, and that would have made their entire group look bad. Then again, she didn't see why they had accepted to stay an entire night in the city's haunted mansion, albeit she didn't sense any powerful spirits within the vicinity. She walked over to one of the couches, the springs poking through the fabric, and managed to find a spot that wouldn't stab her butt nearly as badly. "I told you that there would be a trial today, Aidyn... and that you would have to make the best decision not just for yourself, but for others." She'd read the girl's fortune with her Tarot cards earlier that afternoon, although the girl didn't even listen to a word she said or even paid any attention to anything other than the pretty artwork on each card.

She took out her deck and began to shuffle it, looking hesitantly over at Luke, who she knew was probably still terrified that the cards were demonic in some way or another. She laid out the cards in her own pattern and muttered some words under her breath, all of them in Irish, nothing that the others would even begin to understand. Then she began to flip the cards over, one-by-one, until she could easily view all of the cards and decipher their meaning. Her brow furrowed before she looked up at the others, "Perhaps we should find a bathroom or something? You know, so we don't have to go outside and find our way back in the middle of the night?" After making the suggestion, she looked back at the cards and bit her lip, as if panicking. I have no idea what this means... the Wheel of Fortune is present, as is the Fool, which means that there is a journey that will begin, but the Wheel states that there is going to be a change... and a dramatic one at that with the other cards present...

A week ago - School Library

"Look at her; she thinks she is so high and mighty. Little Miss Ice Queen too good to talk to people who are not part of her Freak Squad." The girl talking was a cheerleader wannabe from a grade higher than Nixie. She dressed like she was sixteen not thirteen and rumor had it, she had already started dating by the time she was ten years old. Nixie was 11 and still thought most boys were stupid. She kept her nose pressed in her book, ignoring the other, barely even flinching when the girl got closer to her and touched her bare shoulder.

"Ouch! And she is even cold as ice! What a weirdo." The girl rolled her eyes and her and her friends started to laugh. Nixie pressed her nose closer to the pages in her book. She knew her skin had an unnaturally freezing temperature, but it was not so cold that it would hurt someone. People are so dumb.

Present Day - Haunted House

Around her friends, Nixie was really energetic and usually went with the flow. She was more of a follower, but nobody seemed to mind. She was the baby of the group and the smallest. She looked around the entrance of the so-called haunted mansion and narrowed her eyes. Sure, it was dark, and she felt a strange chill swirling through her veins, it felt like ice. It did not bother her much. She preferred the cold over anything else because of her condition.

"Did anyone else notice a weird icy feeling?" She walked over to a floor length mirror that was hanging on the wall. The mirror was oddly lacking dust. Had somebody been through here recently? Nixie looked into it and jumped when she saw a crow take off from behind a shelf and fly out of a broken window. She spun around, hoping it had been something that happened for real and not something that just happened in the mirror.

Rubbing her hands together nervously, she chuckled.

The stair banisters caught her eye. The stairs that led up to another story were very eloquent looking and she could imagine what they must have looked like when this place was brand new. There was what looked like red carpet on the stairs, but it was so stained and tattered, that it was hard to be sure of the color.

"Maybe we should find a bathroom. Do you think there is even running water?" She twisted up her noise at the idea of the smell if they all went to the bathroom and could not flush the toilet. Ew.

Chris didn't like this, it was hard enough lying to his parents about going here but seeing it now? Quite frankly it was terrifying. As they moved towards the house and Richards taunts became more annoying Chris was having a hard time not freaking out. With a little difficulty Chris moved through the iron fence and moved along with the others, trailing behind. Chris was feeling guiltier and guiltier as they moved closer to the house and he was about to call it off and face the consequences of an angry mother when something caught his eye.

Making sure nobody saw him, Chris bent down and picked up the rock he had seen on the ground. It wasn't all that impressive but the cracks made a nice pattern and the flecks of shiny stuff made in sparkle nicely in the moonlight. Noticing he was lagging behind too much Chris picked up his pace and pocketed the rock, it would be a nice addition to his collection.

When they entered the house it was about as creepy as he thought it would be. With creaky floorboards, shattered windows, and even a flippin crow. Yup...It was going to be a long night. With that in mind, Chris decided to explore a little. It wasn't spelunking but you work with what you got. Looking around the house was in pretty bad shape, the wall paper was peeling, the aforementioned crow had pooped in several places, and the floors were loose. As Chris stopped gazing at the ceiling he looked at Anwen and saw that she was looking at her cards weird. Chris was always interested in her predictions and he had found that one way or another they usually came true, sometimes pretty clearly while other times obscure.

Sitting down next to her, Chris dismissed something about finding a toilet and asked her what her cards told her.

"Hm...I rather like this place."

Devon made a low sound in his throat, following after the rest of his little 'group' with his pale hands resting calmly inside of the soft fabric of his khaki shorts. The black-haired boy merely wore his usual casual wear - a white shirt, slim black hoodie, shorts, and sneakers. The hood was resting on his head, shading his eyes from the prodding eyes of anyone else, and although the hoodie did a great job of protecting him from the cold, Devon absently wondered why he felt stifling all of the sudden. While he was usually neutral to cold temperatures, he was actually starting to enjoy the frosty, brisk winds that surrounded the 'creepy mansion'. It was all a bit...odd, but not really all that important.

He raised a sharp eyebrow at the small hole they had to go through to move through the gate. Of course, the smaller females of their group easily slipped through, but it was a tad tight for Devon. Being the second-tallest of the group, he had to bend down at an awkward level and slip his slender frame through the hole, scratching his bare right leg on the wire, even though, like always, he didn't feel even the slightest sting from the cut. It was something that plagued his life. Instead of feeling pain...he just felt an overbearing, cold emptiness that seemed to flit through his heart. "Freakish..." Devon slightly quickened his pace, catching up to the girls that walked in front of him, although a quick glance behind showed that Chris was lagging behind, doing something weird probably. Devon simply shrugged, turning back around.

The door was already beginning to close with an ominous creak, and Devon boredly opened it with a lean leg, his hands still folded lazily in the pockets of his hoodie. For some reason, despite his stoic, dark, and brooding appearance, the boy was feeling both invigorated and creeped out. The cold, empty feeling inside of his heart - something that festered inside his soul for a very long time...well, it was beginning to grow, and while it gave him more energy, it also made him feel more...cold? Emotionless? Dark? Whatever...he needed some time to figure this out.

While the others discussed amongst themselves, Devon leaned against the entrance and closed his eyes, mentally meditating. Unknown to him, the crow that perched on the window-sill beside him flew forward, softly landing on the boy's shoulder and staring at his friends with sharp crimson eyes. The feeling of sharp talons in his shoulder caused him to look up, and he raised an eyebrow at the crow, the avian mimicking the boy's movement. He was very laidback, however, and with a shrug he turned his attention back to his thoughts, ignoring the fact that he looked very, very ominous at that moment - standing by the shadow door, his form basically invisible, and a crow with odd red eyes sitting on his shoulders.

'Whatever.'

He was starting to use that word quite often.

There was something haunting about the night's gentle breeze. It rattled trees and fences, and made spooky hissing noises every once in a while. If he listened really closely, he could almost hear his name being whispered! A shiver ran down his spine at the thought, but Luke tried his best to ignore it. He couldn't be scared, he told himself repeatedly. It would only worry the others, and they had enough on their plate. Although, to be honest, he didn't really know what the fuss was all about. He couldn't understand why it mattered who stayed in someone else's home the longest. Was it really important to prove yourself to others?

Luke shook his head, pushing his thoughts away. None of that mattered anyway. Aidyn had seemed determined to see the challenge through, and Luke wanted to support her as best as he can. It didn't matter what the reason was; he didn't want to let Aidyn and the others down. If he had to be brave, for his sake as well as everyone else's, then so be it.

Of course, that was easier said than done.

Luke held his yellow flashlight with both hands, grip tightening the nearer they got to the creepy mansion. It took all of his energy to ignore the shadows dancing around his peripheral vision—why does nighttime make everything creepy?! He hummed softly to himself to soothe his frayed nerves, but it didn't help much. The only thing that gave him some solace was the narrow beam of light radiating from his flashlight. He concentrated on how it broke through the darkness, and although he still had to muster all of his courage to even move one step, he found that he wasn't as jittery as before.

Once they were in the mansion, Luke wasn't sure whether to be relieved or be even more terrified. Upon stepping foot in the decrepit building, a strange sense of foreboding had washed over him, and it felt like something was trying to stop him from going further. He chalked it up to his skittishness, though; he was definitely just being a scaredy cat.

Still, the whole place looked exactly like the haunted mansion from that movie he watched, right down to the old-fashioned furniture. Luke drifted toward the brightest part of the room—which was by the television, where Aidyn had set down her lantern—automatically. Unlike the others, he didn't feel particularly compelled to explore. In fact, he really wouldn't mind if they just stayed in the living room all night. Watching the others curiously move about the room made him smile, though. At least they looked like they were having fun.

"Are you cold, Nixie?" he asked, after the younger girl had asked about a weird icy feeling. He knew that her skin was always unnaturally cold, but that didn't mean she didn't get cold once in a while, right? "I can lend you my jacket, if you waa--"

Luke's heart practically leapt out of his chest when a crow popped out of nowhere and flew out the window, only to return moments later to perch on something… or was that someone?... by the door. His eyes trailed after the dark bird, and as he looked down to avoid staring at its creepy red eyes, he had to do a double take.

"D-Devon… ?" he asked uncertainly, making sure that it was indeed their friend standing by there.

Pathfinder said

Anwen was muttering under her breath in Irish, trying to comprehend what the cards were telling her. Suddenly she felt a spring pop out and stab her in the buttocks. She yelped a little and then looked over to see what had caused the chair to do so, seeing that it was Chris. She gave him a smile, one that would melt anyone's heart, and said, "Oh, I'm not really sure what the cards have to tell me this time..." She giggled a little and said, "If my mother were here, then she would know, but I'm not her and that's okay." I'll just have to keep trying if I'm going to be as good as her." She then pointed down at the Wheel of Fortune card and then the Fool. "These two are part of the Major Arcana, meaning that they are of higher importance, like the corner pieces of a puzzle." She shuffled them close to one another and then she said, "The Fool means that journey is about to begin, but it will be one that you have never ventured down before, like learning to play a new instrument or moving to a new town for the first time." Then she held up the Wheel of Fortune card, a smile ever present on her lips. "This one refers to a change that may improve your luck, or show that you're going to have bad luck soon."

She then sighed a little, her frustration showing her voice ever-so-slightly, when she said, "By all means, it seems like the cards are telling me that there will be a dramatic change soon, for all of us, and that will we begin a new journey that will make us stronger and smarter." She then giggled, "I'm hoping to become smarter, so then I can get better grades than Dennis and Kane." By this, she was referring to her brothers, whom none of her friends had met. If only they were here to help us... they're much braver than I am... Despite the sad thoughts, she simply smiled as she reshuffled her cards and put them in the specially sewn pocket that she had made for them in her backpack. She looked up at Devon and Luke and couldn't help but chuckle slightly. They're totally opposites, but... they're still really good friends.

After Anwen mentioned telling her that she would have to make an important decision, it took Aidyn a moment to remember that Anwen had done her thing with the cards earlier. Aidyn didn't exactly understand what she had been doing or what she meant when she told her that; she had just asked to see the cards. They had pretty interesting designs, and she had needed some source of inspiration for later. “S-Sorry, Anwen,” she said, feeling pretty awful about the whole situation. She hadn't meant to drag them along with her, but it had inevitably happened anyway. Curious as to what she was doing, Aidyn walked over towards Anwen and sat on the floor to watch, though not before watching the crow fly out the window.

Anwen's voice as she asked if any of them thought it would be a good idea to find a bathroom was a silvery color and felt like a gentle breeze as always. That caused her to smile because it wasn't the stormy lash that meant she was angry. Aidyn opened her mouth to say that finding a toilet didn't matter, though Nixie seconded Anwen's idea and gave her enough time to realize that saying that wouldn't be a good idea. It would definitely draw too many questions, and, while they were good friends, she didn't think that she wanted to answer those questions.

A sudden yelp from Anwen caused Aidyn to jump as she looked to her friend to see what was wrong, noticing then that Chris had joined Anwen on the seat, and that he was asking about her predictions, his voice a vibrant green with the feeling of a strong hand. Aidyn tried to pay attention to what Anwen was saying to Chris, but it was a lot easier said than done. The words that Anwen was saying were registered and understood easily, but the how and the why of it eluded her, which is what made it harder for her to focus.

As her mind wandered, Aidyn was aware of Luke talking to Nixie. His normally cheery voice was a little different, which was probably because of the atmosphere, so instead of being bright yellow, it was goldenrod. Likewise, it had the feeling of a stiff poke instead of the gentle pat that it usual had. Both of these were particularly sharp when he jumped and said Devon's name. A sudden shift in the feeling of Anwen's voice from gentle to firm caused Aidyn to refocus on what she was saying to Chris about the cards revealing something that didn't make sense. It was back to the feeling of a gentle breeze fairly quickly, however, as she talked about how she hoped that whatever was coming would make her smarter so that she could get better grades than her brothers. That was a feeling that Aidyn could understand. Marie, her older sister, treated her like a pest most of the time, while Codette liked to one-up her in everything. Both of them got better grades than her on average, though they couldn't touch her in math or English.

“Does anyone want to go exploring or play a game?” Aidyn said once Anwen had stopped, her own voice a vibrant orange that had the feeling of pleasant warmth. She was beginning to grow antsy and wanted something to help pass the time and/or take her mind off the current situation. Her thoughts certainly weren't helping to lighten the mood of the room after all. Hopefully the others wouldn't be too upset with her to engage in some friendly activity. Surely they couldn't want to be there any more than she did.

Nixie walked walked away from the stairs and turned to look at Luke when he asked if she was cold. She shook her head hurriedly, her cheeks dusting a light pink. "No, I'm fine for now." She lowered her head, watching her shoe as she traced shapes into the dusty floorboards. Drawing was fun and she was momentarily distracted until Luke continued to talk, being so nice as to offer her his jacket. She glanced up and shook her head, eyes widening when the boy trailed off and stared across the room at Devon being really weird. It was that crow again. What a weird bird. Did it think they were going to feed it? Weren't crows wild? She shrugged it off and looked away from both boys. All three of them were strange; boys in general were odd, but sometimes... just sometimes, they could be sweet and cute, too, but they quickly went back to being silly little boys. She inwardly giggled at her random thoughts. She was the weird one.

Walking over to the couch, she set down next to Aidyn. She listened as they talked about the cards, not really getting the whole fascination with them. How could they possibly tell the future? Magic stuff like that couldn't possibly be rule; her father said so and he never lied. Though the idea of a journey to make them all smart and strong really appealed to her. Because of her small size, she was always the last at finishing races or last to be picked for sports in gym class and though she loved to read, she had a really hard time with math and science. If she suddenly started to bring home all A+s on her homework, her parents would be so proud.

Beaming at the very idea, Nixie glanced at Aidyn and nodded excitedly. "What sort of game Aidyn?" She looked around the creepy old mansion and the most awesome idea popped into her head.

"This place would be perfect for hide and seek, wouldn't it?"

Devon suddenly looked up at the sound of voices, and the boy released a breath of pent-up air, his eyes suddenly returning to their dark crimson hue, instead of the glazed coal color they were before. He glanced at Luke, pushing off of the door, and mentally frowning at the feeling of a piece of wood - a splinter, sliding painlessly into the pale flesh that acted as his skin. "No, I'm the bogeyman." The child gave Luke a sarcastic grin, showcasing a row of pearly white teeth. Luke was a good friend - although they were basically like night and day. Luke was nice, kind, and considerate to others, while Devon was basically the opposite. Quiet, ominous, and sharp, preferring the solace of nighttime rather than the overbearing cheerfulness of the daily sun. But, regardless, they were friends, and Devon actually enjoyed their differing attitudes. It's what made Luke such a great friend.

He glanced to his left, half-lidded crimson eyes staring into the similar sharp eyes of his pure black crow friend. It opened it's odd white beak, releasing a soft 'caw' instead of the shrill yell most of the avian species released. Devon responded with a murmur, bringing his hand up and petting the bird on it's tiny head. Despite the fact that he hadn't petted a crow before in his life, which was odd, considering owls and crows seemed to have some sort of in-depth attraction to the boy, he wasn't afraid, nor hesitant when dealing with the little bird. To him, it felt like an actual pet, despite only 'knowing' it for a few minutes. "I'll call you Yami..." Devon whispered softly, so as to not allow the others to hear him being creepy and talking to a crow. It would be disastrous to any sort of intimidating or mystifying appearance he may have built up around himself, and he would die before embarrassing himself so hideously. The crow responded by, in a shower of pitch black feathers that seemingly didn't shed away from his body, flying from the boy's shoulder and smoothly perching itself on his head. Thankfully, his black hoodie was still on and zipped, so he only felt a comfortable gripping as the crow settled itself comfortably on the top of his hood.

"This is going to make me look like an idiot..." Devon muttered, walking from where he had been standing in the darkness, and closer to the others, who seemed to have taken residence on the dirty, torn furniture that belonged to the mansion. Nixie, Aidyn, Anwen, Luke, and Chris. Hearing Aidyn's question, and patiently listening to Nixie's answer, Devon finally made himself fully known, walking into the 'social circle' and sitting on the edge of a large, leathery brown lounge chair. Hide and Seek seemed a tad...childish and immature, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to pass the time.

"...I left my book at home." He scoffed at his own impudence, reaching into the pockets of his black shorts and grasping through the loose change, wallet...no mini-horror story. Dang it.

"I'm up for hide and seek." Quickly realizing how childish he may sound, Devon followed up, rather childishly, with a hurried, "Just because I'm bored." He stubbornly looked away, the crow that perched on top of his head following the boy's movements.

Relief washed over Luke at Devon's confirmation, and he returned his sarcastic grin with a sincere one. It took him a while to get used to the dark haired boy's sarcastic tendencies. Luke initially had a hard time discerning when to take his words at face value and when not to, and that led to a lot of pretty embarrassing missteps. They seemed to clash in everything they did, but instead of making them drift apart as he originally feared, their contrasting personalities actually made them closer as friends. Synergy born from antitheses or something like that.

In any case, he felt stupid for even worrying about it in the first place. Of course that was Devon; who else could it be? A gho-- Luke had to physically stop himself from finishing the thought, tapping his hands lightly against his head repeatedly to do so, or he would start freaking out all over again. His heartbeat already went up a notch, and he had to take a deep breath to regain his composure. Looking around, he realized that the others have already eased into their less than ideal surroundings. Devon was still in his corner of darkness and enigma, but the others have all convened by the couch, watching as Anwen did her fortune telling. It was only him that was still jumpy. Luke scrunched his nose in disdain as he realized how ridiculous he was being, but even he was amused by his own folly. Right now, he was acting like a little kid afraid of his own shadow! He chuckled to himself, feeling slightly relieved.

"Stop lurking in the dark and join us here, bogeyman," Luke called out jokingly before he sat down across from Aidyn and Nixie. He caught only the last bit of Anwen's predictions, about there being an impending drastic change, but he made sure to keep it mind. His lips curve into a gentle smile as he thought back on Anwen's previous tarot readings, most of which were pretty spot on. That was pretty amazing!

Luke glanced up at Aidyn after she gave the group some suggestions of things they could do. He noticed the tiny girl looked less at ease than the others, and he was suddenly worried that she was feeling guilty about the situation they were in. Almost as if he were driven by instincts, his hand automatically reached across to ruffle the girl's hair and he flashed her a comforting smile. Aidyn should have been used to this habit of his by now. He does it whenever he thinks he sees her start to get restless.

In response, Nixie suggested a round of hide and seek. Luke was conflicted. On one hand, this would be the first time he'd get to play the game. The disadvantage to his family's constant traveling was that he never stayed in one place long enough to get to know and befriend kids his own age. This was one of the things he'd always wanted to try. On the other hand, and this was a big drawback, scary mansion. He wasn't too keen on the idea of willingly separating himself from the others and hiding alone in a dark corner, where there were probably more eerie crows and gho— y'know.

Before he could share his worries, Devon had joined them and casually sat down on the couch, nary a word about the bird perched atop his head. Luke stared at black bird for a moment, then chuckled. It still gave him the creeps, but he couldn't shake the feeling that the two of them just fit together. He told Devon as much, commenting on how the bird looks completely comfortable with him.

Anyway, that was two for hide and seek. Luke didn't want to spoil the others' fun, so he decided to tough it out and kept quiet.

Anwen slowly dropped her backpack on the floor and then gazed about at her friends. She couldn't help but grin when she saw everyone trying to act cool about playing a game of hide-and-seek. Some of them are trying to act so much older and mature... hopefully that won't take away from the fun of tonight. She thought this to herself before she chuckled quietly. She stood up and stretched her hands in the air before she started walking casually towards the middle of the room, acting as if she were stretching and nothing more. Then suddenly, she spun around and put a finger on her nose, "Nose goes that I'm not the seeker~!" She then darted from the room and inwardly thought that she had just acted extremely childish, but that was alright by her. Her feet moved swiftly as she dashed up the stairs. I'm going to hide in the attic... if there is one, of course... She didn't dare think of what creepy crawlies lay in store, mostly because she wanted to have the best hiding place. They'll never find me in the creepiest place in the house!

The muted colors that belonged to shoes moving across the floor was one of the things that let Aidyn know that her other friends were going to join them at the couch. Seeing them walk over was the other thing that let her know that, though seeing Devon was admittedly harder due to all of the black that he was wearing. If you weren't looking for him, he was really easy to miss. Regardless of how she knew they were coming over to the couch, it was a relief because it meant that they weren't that mad at her.

That relief was reinforced further by Luke suddenly ruffling her hair and smiling at her in a comforting manner. Aidyn was about to return the smile when Nixie asked what she had in mind, her voice an icy blue with the feeling of a splash of ice-cold water. Aidyn opened her mouth to say that she had brought some cards and a board game or two, but Nixie spoke before she could, recommending that they all play a game of hide-n-seek.

“That would be awesome!” Aidyn exclaimed, hopping up with excitement. Vaguely, she was aware of the dark purple color and the prickly sensation that was Devon's voice. The flavor of the words let her know that he had mentioned something about forgetting a book and that he would join in, though only because he was bored. Luke seemed a little hesitant about joining in, but Aidyn had no time to dwell on it because Anwen took that moment to say that nose goes for who was it before darting up the stairs to the second floor.

Without hesitation, Aidyn put her nose to her finger, feeling relieved to find that she wasn't the last one to do so, and darted off herself, heading through the door next to the television and grabbing her backpack on the way by. Within a few feet, she noticed a ancient-looking door that was hanging open to reveal a flight of descending stairs. Not bothering to think about what she was doing, Aidyn went down the stairs and closed the door behind her to eliminate the chances of the seeker coming down and finding her.

Once the door was closed behind her, Aidyn reached into her backpack, pulled out her small flashlight, and turned it on so that she could see as she descended the steps. Apart from the layer of dust all over everything, the basement was fairly clean. Momentarily distracted from the need to hide, Aidyn swept the beam of light over the room, jumping a fair bit when they landed on a black body with eyes that appeared to glow. Hissing violently, the cat turned and disappeared into a crack in the wall.

Knowing for a fact that that scare had forced some of the urine out of her system, Aidyn went about pulling a fresh Goodnite from her bag, as well as some other changing supplies. She definitely had a few minutes before someone came looking for her down in the basement at the least, so it would be the best time to change. In a few moments, she was wearing the new Goodnite, the old one balled up and tossed into a plastic shopping bag, along with the wipes she had used, which was itself tossed into her bag to keep it hidden. Then she went about pulling her shortalls back up her legs, concealing the image of Tinkerbell on the front of the Goodnite.

Not for the first time, she felt an immense relief that her friends had no idea about her condition and weren't around to see the evidence of it. In addition to resulting in her dying of embarrassment, they would surely never want to associate with her again, and they were really the only good friends she had. She pushed all that away, however, and began to earnestly look for a place in the basement to search, hoping that she could find a good place before whoever was it came to the basement to look.

Chris hurriedly went on his knee and sprinted out of the room, large thumps fallowing. Now that he was out of the way from the others it was time for him to find a spot, which was harder than one would think. Being as big as he was it was a little difficult to find a hiding spot since he couldn't fit in cupboards and some closets. With a little ingenuity though he found his way. Going up the stairs Chris made his way to the master bedroom.

It was a nice enough place if you ignored the the mildew, the dust, the cobwebs, the creaky floorboards, and the smell of rot... ok it wasn't all that great. Looking around there wasn't much places to hide since he couldn't fit underneath the bed and the rest of the furniture was made for folded clothes but soon he found a walk in closet and decided it was a nice place to hide. It there was almost no visibility and from the feel of it there were still clothes hanging up. With some digging around Chris stood behind some coats, jackets, and dresses grinning. This was the best hiding spot ever.

Not wanting to be it, Nixie put her hand on her nose as quickly as possible. She laughed and ran away like a small child. Well, she was 11, though her 12th birthday was coming up in a couple months. She ran around the main room and then darted into a door that she found. It led into a room that looked like it had been a kitchen. It was a very big kitchen. The sink in the kitchen was huge, almost like a bathtub.

She walked over to the sink and peered inside. She wrinkled her nose; there was a small amount of dirty water on the bottom and she could feel her skin crawling. Ever since she was three, she had been terrified of water, of places where it would be possible to drown. The sink was deep, but could she drown in it if the water was turned on? Though there was probably no longer any running water in the mansion.

Nixie grabbed a old towel off the kitchen counter and threw it into the sink, watching as it soaked up the remaining water. That done, she somehow managed to climb up onto the stove next to the sink and hopped inside. She scrunched herself down into a tiny ball and put the dirty towel around her. She was a kid. She did not care much about becoming dirty.

Anwen couldn't help but stifle a giggle with her hand as she made it to the end of the second story hallway and looked around. There were tons of doors that she could have gone and hidden in, but she wanted to go to the attic. She wondered where on earth the stairs or ladder to it would be, so she entered the door on her right and slowly closed it behind her to eliminate any noise to hint at where she had hidden. When she turned and looked at the room, she felt her hair stand on end and a shiver run down her spine. It seemed as if there were silhouettes of people scattered at the other end of the room, and she nearly yelped with fear--but then she realized that they were simply fitting mannequins for homemade clothing. Her mother had once bought a few and attempted to make a dress for her, but she'd been too sick to ever finish it. Mama will be able to do the things she loves soon... that's what Papa said, anyways... She thought to herself in order to keep herself from tearing up at the thought of losing her mother.

She then noticed that there was a ladder beside one of the mannequins, leading to a hole in the ceiling that she assumed would be the attic. With a small grin, she dashed up to the ladder and took a couple of steps up onto it, making sure that it wouldn't break under her weight, but it seemed surprisingly sturdy. With an excited chortle, she climbed cautiously up the ladder and hoisted herself into the attic. There were tons of large boxes that she could hide behind, but there was one thing at the end of the room, right in front of the surprisingly large window. The object was tall and rounded at the top, covered in a large dust-coated sheet that may have been white once upon a time. She slowly made her way towards it and pulled down the sheet, revealing a large mirror. Her eyes grew large as she gazed into its brilliant, and clean, surface. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought that she saw a figure behind her, but when she turned around, she realized that it may have been a figment of her imagination.

Crawling behind the mirror, she gazed out the dirty window and wrapped the sheet around her shivering shoulders. In a way, she hoped that the seeker would find her sooner rather than later. There was a presence lurking in this house... and she couldn't tell if it were friendly or not.

Luke had always been a reflexive person. His body reacted a lot faster than his mind, and sometimes (or a lot of the times) he would have finished whatever he was doing before he'd even realize that he did it. Like that one time, when he and his parents were taking a boat ride to this remote island, his favorite cap was blown away by the wind. He had instinctively jumped for it, diving into the sea to reach for it. It was only after he had retrieved it that he realized what he had just done, and as his mind slowly caught up, he remembered that he didn't know how to swim in the first place. You could guess what happened next. His dad had to go in after him, and he wasn't allowed to leave their hotel room for three days.

But he was digressing. Point was, Luke was quick to react, whether he liked it or not.

His finger was on his nose the moment Anwen called out the game, and his feet were carrying him down the hallway and through the first opened room he came across. He was only vaguely aware of the others as they spread out. By the time his brain caught up, the first thing he realized was that he was under the stairs. There were thumps that came from the ceiling, probably as the others ran upstairs to hide. He was sure that Chris was one of them, as his heavier footsteps were distinctive.

The next thing he realized was that it he was in a cupboard of some sort. Unopened boxes were strewn all over floor, most of them discolored and crumbling, showing their age. There was a dilapidated shelf across from him, with dusty containers, filled with gross-looking substances, lined up by height still on it. Cobwebs were on every nook and cranny. He thought he saw a spider crawl by, but as he tried to get a closer look, the door he'd left ajar had suddenly closed. Now it was too dark to… uh-oh.

And that brings to him to his final realization. His eyes had adjusted quickly to the lack of light, so it didn't occur to him at first. But now that it had, a sudden surge of overwhelming panic coursed through his whole body and he fell to the floor as he tried to steady his suddenly erratic breathing. He frantically searched for his trusty flashlight, but it wasn't in his pockets; he had put it next to Aidyn's lantern outside. His thoughts were becoming jumbled as images of ghosts and demons popped in his head. He scrambled toward the door and immediately reached to open it, but there was only a hole where the knob should have been. In a fit of desperation, he had even thrown his whole body against the door, but it still wouldn't budge.

"No." It came out as barely audible whisper. His eyes were welling up with tears even though he tried hard to keep them back. "No no no."

His knees gave in then, and he felt any reaming strength he had seeped from him. He sat huddled against the door, arms wrapped around his head and eyes screwed shut.

After about five minutes of looking around the basement with her flashlight, Aidyn found what appeared to be the perfect hiding spot for her: a small shelf that went around the top of the basement where several boxes were stored. She was just small enough to fit on the shelf. It would have been a better spot had she been small enough to fit behind the boxes, but there was no way that anyone would be able to do that, as most of the boxes were already touching the wall and still stuck out over the edge of the shelf.

Luckily for Aidyn, there was enough supplies around the room to construct a makeshift step-stool so that she could reach the ledge and pull herself up. She dragged a chair over and set two boxes on it, using a third box to climb up onto the chair with the boxes on it. From there, it was a simple jump to grab the ledge and pull herself up. Unfortunately, the jump itself caused the chair and boxes to tip over, spreading out in a mess. Hopefully no one thought that that was suspicious, considering the rest of the room wasn't that much neater than where she had jumped up, but she wiggled down the ledge to the next set of boxes just in case.

Then, she prepared herself to wait, reaching into her bag and pulling out her Nintendo DS to play some Pokemon until she heard people come closer. The volume of the system was all the way down of course, so there was no way that they would be able to hear it, and she could always close it before they could see the light. There was just no way that she would be able to sit there for however long it took her friends to find her. Sitting still had always been a problem for her after all.

Devon Tyler

Finding himself with his index finger on his nose last, Devon sighed. So he would be the seeker. Already most of his friends had darted off in search of a good hiding place, with Nixie going off last. The crow that was perched calmly on his head squawking slightly at the sudden commotion. Sighing once again, Devon dutifully closed his eyes and began a slow count to one hundred, as per usual. Sure, most of them would have found a hiding spot by then, but everyone deserved an ample amount of time to find a good hiding spot. It made the challenge of finding them that much better.

Once he had finished counting to one hundred, he walked over to the television and grabbed the flashlight from the top of it. It wouldn't do to be unable to see after all. That would make the game a bit too difficult, as there were a lot of shadows for the others to hide in in the abandoned building. As he began looking for people, all the while remaining as silent as possible to avoid missing an audible clue as to where they were, Devon heard a thump from nearby. And it wasn't a soft thump either. It sounded like someone had fallen and landed quite hard on the floor or something. But, it sounded like it had come from nearby on the left, even thought it appeared that the left was nothing but the wall under the stairs. It wasn't until he had scanned it a few times that he realized that there was a faint cut-out that appeared to indicate a door, though there was no knob.

Overwhelming curiosity and suspicion lead him to try and peer through the hole, though nothing but pitch-black darkness greeted him. He had been certain that he had heard the thump from that general area, however, and it wasn't like he was going to give up until he was satisfied that it had been nothing. So, he aimed the flashlight at the hole and tried to peer through again, casting a beam of light against the wall and moving it around a bit. But, when it turned out that he couldn't really see anything that way, he tried to get a finger into the door itself to pry it open. Unfortunately, it seemed that, while the doorknob was gone, the mechanism that the doorknob had controlled was still fine, so it didn't do anything.

But that meant that the door could still be opened if there was something that could cause the mechanism to move enough to slip past the guard on the door, so Devon entered the kitchen and began to look around for something small and pointy, eventually settling on a very thin knife that had rusted and corroded beyond repair. With that in hand, he returned to the door and began fiddling with the mechanism to see if he would be able to open the door that way.

Nixie tensed up when she heard someone come into the kitchen. When she heard the eerie sound of the crow, she knew for sure that it was Devon. She scrunched down as tightly as she could in the sink, but after what felt like forever, she could hear the sound of footsteps leaving. She felt proud of herself that he had came in and did not notice her. Though another part of her shuddered. Did that mean she would never be found because if Devon thought the kitchen was empty, he might not come back?

Oh no, what if I'm in here forever? What if they all leave thinking I decided to go home? As she started to panic, Nixie felt water from the sink dripping. She wiped the dirty water off her cheeks, but oddly felt more calm after the water touched her skin. It was really ironic, because she usually felt anything but calm when face with a situation where there was the chance she could drown, such as in a very deep sink. Which was preposterous. Nobody drowned in sinks, even big ones, except maybe poor babies who were neglected by their parents.

By now she was thinking very random things, which she often did. Nixie pulled her body up and peeked over the edge of the sink and could see Devon outside the kitchen door, trying to get inside another door with what looked like a knife. Why would he be doing that? If the door was locked, then nobody would be hiding behind it.

He's so strange... though I wonder what is behind that door. She sighed and set back down in the sink.