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That, and we had an entire security staff at the castle. It was nice to know if we ran into anyone with a bit too much interest in what we were doing that we had an escape.
It took us about fifteen minutes to take in all of the businesses. Behind the circle of businesses was a circle of homes, some small, some bigger, and all well-maintained. Everything in this town seemed a little too perfect, but then again, for them, it was still tourist season.
As we passed another bulletin board I noticed flyers for ghost tours and shuttles to a ski lodge nestled in the mountains nearby. The entire town catered to winter, and even during the day, the twinkle lights were glowing and everything seemed just a bit removed from the fast pace of society.
It was refreshing.
The fact that we also had a good signal out here was a bonus. It was the best of both worlds because half of our work relied on technology. We could never truly escape it, nor did I want to. I just needed a change of pace.
Bellmore was exactly that.
“The coffee gods have spoken,” Ethan said, shifting direction and leading us straight to the coffee shop, Mountain Roast. It wasn’t as small as I imagined. There were plenty of tables and nearly every single one was full. I guess in a small town filled with snow and icy temperatures, they took their warm drinks pretty seriously.
“Oh my God, you’re from the Spirit Vlog!” a girl yelled out, the entire place descending into pure silence as everyone in the room turned to look at us.
The girl in question was wearing all black, from her lipstick to her ripped jeans to the oversized band t-shirt she was wearing.
“Hi,” I said awkwardly, giving them a little wave. I used to be a lot more weird about being approached, but now I’d almost gotten used to it. Though… no less awkward.
“Are you guys here for the castle?” she asked. She hadn’t sat back down, nor had anyone else started to speak. Literally, they were all hanging onto our words.
“We are,” I admitted. “We’ll probably also do the ghost tour at some point. We want the full Bellmore experience.”
“My dad runs that,” she said excitedly. She was practically vibrating, she was so hyper. She waved at the man sitting at her table. He turned around to face us when she first walked in but had turned away soon after. He seemed a bit more reserved than his daughter.
His eyes were full of amusement as he nodded his head in greeting.
“It’ll be nice to have some like-minded individuals around,” he said, giving us a wink. “Now, sit down, Sadie. Let them have their coffee. Not everyone is used to this cold.”
“That’s for sure,” Lincoln grumbled as he blew hot air onto his fingers.
That seemed to break the silence in the room. A few people chuckled as they turned back to their conversations. The noise level picked up to a normal volume again and I let out a breath of relief.
Now that the attention was off of us we walked further into the shop and took our place in line.
The barista worked through the two ahead of us before giving us a bright smile.
“Welcome to Mountain Roast, What can I make for you?”
“I’m going to need a caramel latte with an extra shot of espresso,” I said before Ethan piped in.
“I’ll take the same.”
“Americano for me,” Lincoln added.
“Hot chocolate,” Ben added. “Actually, make that two,” he said, turning to us. “I’ll take another one to Ryker.”
“On it,” she promised, tapping into the register and letting Lincoln pay before she waved to the few tables that were now unoccupied. “You can take a seat, and I’ll bring it out to you when it’s done.”
We’d barely sat when Sadie was turning back to us. Her father tried to protest, but this is exactly what we needed. The locals would be the ones with the stories.
Elizabeth probably had plenty of horror stories of her own, but she was a bit hesitant to share them all. I wasn’t sure if it was fear or worry that held her back, but we wouldn’t judge her. This was our job and passion, we were the least likely to not believe her.
The local stories might help us figure out what went wrong at Bellmore Castle. Especially if the haunting stemmed from the town itself. There was a ghost tour here after all.
“Have you seen anything at the castle yet?” she asked.
“We just got in and slept there last night,” I said, “but nothing so far.”
