Chapter 56: The house of Spirit

The woods that team Hunter were traveling through, were twisted. The grass grew so tall to reach the bark of the trees. Vines were scattered this way and that, with the bushes covering the forest floor. The woods smelled of oak and sap. The group stopped a moment.

"I thought this was gonna be grassy," Ella said. "This is ridiculous, is this even considered the docks of Bay City?"

"Yeah, it must be," Trent said as he pointed to the edge of the forest, directing attention to the cliffside. "Below that cliff is more docking areas, so we are not too far off."

"M...maybe I took us down the wrong way," Owen said.

"Yeah, maybe, loser," Trent responded.

"Trent!," Ella said sighing. "You did fine Owen"

All of a sudden they her a squeak. Almost a squeal. The team looked at each other.

"THAT NOISE!," all three of them shouted in unison.

"Where did it come from?," Owen questioned.

"I don't know," Ella responded.

"It must be deeper into the forest!," Trent said perceptively.

"Then let's go," Owen said.

"Right!," said the other two.

They walked deeper into the woods following the sounds of squeaking and scratching as they went. The more deeper they went, the more louder. Then, they saw it. A clearing! They broke past the wall of trees to find themselves to be face to face with an old, run down house. It looked to be two stories high. What held it together was a rickety wood, worn from the weather. The paint of the house (if any) was stripped away from its boards. Around the house was an old wood fence. In front of the fence was a sign that read: 'Property of Spirit, the final resting place'.

"'Final resting place'?," Owen said gazing at the sign.

"Spirit? What spirit?," Trent questioned.

"I dont know...this house seems very old," Ella said gazing at the walls of the house."spooky"

"Says you, it's just another job. No need to turn tail and run now," Trent said.

"I wasn't saying that!!," Ella retaliated.

"Well, in any case. It's weird. Why a house in the middle of nowhere?," Trent said gazing at the top windows.

"Maybe someone didn't want to be found out?," Owen asked.

"...Or they wanted people to know who it is so they can turn around?," Trent added.

The house seemed to creek as it sat. The possible years that it has been sitting there has eroded the boards of this cabin-like house. The squeaking can be heard, now, coming from inside the door.

"That sound!," Trent said.

"It's in there!," Ella exclaimed.

"Let's go!," Owen said.

They all slowly approached the door of the house. Their steps creaked the boards under their feet as they climbed the steps of the front porch.

"I-is it even open?," Owen nervously said.

"Obviously not," Trent snapped quietly at Owen.

"Well, let's knock first...," Ella said quietly.

Ella put her fist to the door and gave it a knock, which caused the door to creek open slowly.

"O...oh...okay...," Owen said nervously.

"I guess no one is home?," Ella said a bit relieved. The house was pitch black inside. No lights were on. The house seemed bare, no furniture, no painted walls, no anything.

"It's...bare?," Ella said to herself.

The stairs seemed to lead up to the upper floor. All of a sudden, the teams right arms started glowing white with a symbol on it.

"Wha! What's this?!," Owen said a little freaked out by it.

"It's your spirit sense, moron," Trent said.

"Spirit sense?," Owen said gazing at it.

"Yes, normally people cant see spirits. The only way we can see their plain of existence is by that," Trent said.

Trent put his hand on his right arm and closed his eyes. Ella came up and grabbed Owen's left hand.

"Like this, silly," Ella said.

Ella put his hand over the glowing white light on his right arm.

"N-now what...," Owen said.

"Close your eyes," Ella giggled.

Owen closed his eyes, then felt something change. He opened his eyes and everything was the same as it was.

"D...did it work?," Owen asked.

"I don't know, you see that mouse over there?," Trent said pointing in the dark.

There, sitting, cleaning its face was a small mouse.

"Yeah...what of it?," Owen said.

"That's not a mouse. It's the spirit we came for," Trent explained.

"Huh?!," Owen said in disbelief.

"A simple task, really," Trent said.

The mouse looked up at them and hissed an unholy screech from it's small mouth.

"Believe me now?!," Trent said covering his ears.

Owen called his red blade.

"Got this!," Owen said as he rushed in to attack the mouse.

"Stop! You idiot!,"Trent screamed.

Owen swung at the mouse, but it dodged the blade. The mouse ran about the room of the house.

"Damn it!," Trent said trying to run after it with his blade.

"I got it!," Owen said chasing it.

"No, I got it!," Trent said, coming the other way.

Bam! Owen and Trent then hit each other's heads and fell back. The mouse then ran for a slit in the all, where it escaped. Ella sighed.

"Great, Great!! Thank you so much, loser!! I mean, have you seen a mouse before?!," Trent said angrily.

"Trent, that's enough," Ella said.

"No, he stopped our chances for ever completing this mission now, Ella," Trent yelled."I hope you are happy, loser."

Owen just tended to his head, which was throbbing nonstop from the impact. Ella then looked at Owen.

"S-srry...," Owen said looking away.

"It's okay, Owen. The sun is going down anyway. We should really hold this off until tomorrow anyway," Ella said while helping Owen up and then helping Trent.

"Yeah...," Trent said sighing in exhaustion.

"Let's pick it up tomorrow team!," Ella exclaimed happily.