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The castle felt alive again with the entire staff coming in. The maids were working, and we were trying to stay out of their way.
Margaret had been shuffling about, keeping tabs on the castle itself. The groundskeepers were clearing the long driveway out now.
In the light of day and noise in the castle it was hard to believe how crazy our nights had gotten.
“Alright, we’re ready,” Ryker said before sitting next to me and facing the camera. “Go, Brea, in three, two, one.”
He hit play and I put a smile on my face. I didn’t feel it but I hoped they wouldn’t notice.
“Hey, Darklings, we just wanted to tell you that everybody is fine. Last night, things went a bit crazy, which is definitely the understatement of the century,” I said with a humorless laugh. “We aren’t really sure what happened, but Ryker was stuck in some sort of trance. Once we got him off of the dock, he was fine. We’ll have to look into some sort of protection for that dock before someone gets seriously hurt.”
Lincoln moved into the frame and added to my statement.
“We haven’t been able to update the others about the attic last night,” he said as he took the seat next to me.
“Well, spill,” I demanded, focused on him now instead of the camera.
Lincoln recounted the activity in the attic, from the voice clippings that they heard and the glass orbs.
“We haven’t had a chance to look at the audio yet, but I guarantee we’ll have plenty,” Lincoln concluded.
“I think we have officially gotten more footage here in the last few days than we have in any other investigation to date,” Ben said. “The activity here is strong.”
“Too bad it isn’t just all harmless activity,” Ryker said. He hadn’t looked the same since last night. He was still slightly pale and had been quiet. His blond hair was sticking up from one too many times of running his hands through it. The dark circles around his eyes were startling today.
I hoped our spa day would help get him back to normal, making him forget about this place for a little bit.
We truly wanted to make sure that we could protect Elizabeth from whatever was here. But if it was to the detriment of my guys, I wasn’t sure I could do it.
“So, now we are going to take some time for ourselves today. The guys don’t know it yet, but I hired some masseuses to come in, and they’ll be here in about half an hour to give us full-body massages. Apparently, this place also has a pool and a sauna, which means it’s about to be the best spa day of our lives… face masks and all. We’ll make sure to post all the pictures on the blog so make sure you check that out later today!”
I laughed as the guys all chimed in with their excitement at the surprise. I loved that they were secure enough in their manliness to love massages and pampering as much as I did.
We said a quick goodbye and turned off the cameras.
I’d been meaning to put more pictures on the blog but we’d been so preoccupied that I kept forgetting.
“Let’s make sure to take some aesthetic pictures today—get any of the castle, the grounds—just stay away from the lake,” I said as I pulled out my phone and took a picture of the snack spread.
“No worries there,” Ryker said. “I don’t know what came over me but I never want to go back out there.”
“You hadn’t really been able to tell us more than just you thought you were drowning. Did you see anybody out there? It looked like you were talking to someone,” Ethan said.
“There’s a man holding what looks like a big blade. It was a machete or something. It’s hard to remember the details now. Everything is kind of fuzzy. He was yelling and running toward me.” He paused, trying to remember the details. “Oh, he was calling me Stanton. Maybe keep that in mind when you do your family tree, Ben.”
“Already on it,” Ben promised, jotting down a note in his phone.
“Then he eventually stabbed me, and I fell into the lake. I was drowning, fighting against something dragging me down and I couldn’t swim to the top. The water was warm, though, like it was summertime. Is that even possible up here?”
“I’m not sure. We’re pretty close to the mountains,” I said. “Either way, it was a vision, so anything could be possible.”
There was a loud knock on the door and Margaret poked her head in.
“Your masseuse has arrived early. I’ve got them setting up if you want to follow me. I’ll show you where you need to go.”
“Were you as surprised as I was to find out there was a pool here?” I demanded.
“Yes,” Ethan grumbled. “You know I’d have been there at least once a day if I knew.”
