Searching For Treasure - By L.C. Davenport Page 0,46

skillet. He poured a cup of coffee. "Dana, try to drink this. Careful, it's hot."

Dana had pulled herself more or less under control although she hadn't yet stopped shaking. "I hate black coffee."

"I know, but try to drink it anyway." Dana obeyed and took a small sip, making a face. "That's my girl."

Oscar walked forward with a bottle. "Perhaps some brandy?"

Noah put a hand on his arm. "No, man, that'll make her sick. Someone tried to give her some of that stuff when our parents died and she threw up all over the place."

Jack took a plate from Mrs. Babineaux and slid it in front of Dana. "Here, I want you to eat this."

Looking back at her was the most perfectly grilled cheese sandwich Dana had ever seen. Golden, crispy and thick with gooey cheese, it was a thing of beauty. "Wow,”she said, turning it this way and that.

"Dana?" She broke off her study of the sandwich and looked at Jack. "Can you tell us now what happened?"

Although she felt as if she was defacing a piece of artwork, Dana bit into her sandwich. Tasting every bit as wonderful as it had looked, it nonetheless fell like a rock to the bottom of her stomach. She quickly took another sip of coffee. Shuddering once in memory, she took a deep breath. "I heard music. I thought it was just another goofy trick like the chicken. But I walked into that web and there was something behind me."

"Something?"

"Maybe a someone, but it felt like a something. I felt its hot breath. It hissed like something inhuman. And it whispered something. Then it-it licked me. I-I felt its teeth."

Noah stepped behind her and began to gently massage her shoulders. "Easy now, it's okay."

"What did it say?" asked Grace, sliding into the chair next to her as Jack continued to urge her to eat.

"What?"

Noah prompted her. "You said it whispered something, Dana. What did it say?"

"It said, 'Get out, get out before you go to hell, and rot inside a corpse's shell'."

"D, that's from 'Thriller'." Everyone looked at Jack.

Grace was puzzled. "What kind of ghost is going to be quoting Michael Jackson?"

"The human kind, Grace,”Rose replied with disgust.

Dana felt a dark humiliation burn in her belly. "Do you mean I've been screaming down the castle over angel hair and 'I Love the 80s'?"

"You didn't know, D," Jack said. Satisfied that she had eaten enough, he removed the plate and sat at her other side opposite Grace. He clutched her cold hands in his own. "Somehow, whoever is behind this managed to tap into your one true phobia."

"Wait a minute; you make it sound like this was directed specifically at me."

Jack looked around the room. "Anyone else freak out at spider webs?" He was greeted with a chorus of headshakes.

"But how could anyone happen to know that?" Noah wanted to know, his hands still on Dana's back.

"You told us this morning at breakfast, Dana.”Mark spoke up for the first time.

Jack looked at the boy sharply. "I don't think I like the way that sounded."

Mark looked confused. "What?" Then his eyes widened as Jack's meaning struck him. "Uh-uh, no way, I would never, Dana I didn't mean-"

But Dana was already shaking her head vehemently. "No, I refuse to believe that anyone in this room had anything to do with this."

"Then we come right back to someone else being in the castle,”insisted Rose.

"I tell you, it's not possible,”Oscar exclaimed. "We would have seen some kind of sign."

"Why isn't it possible?" Jack expelled air in frustration. "Mrs. Babineaux has been here all weekend and until today, none of us had seen her either."

"I kip to myself, I don' mix wit' the guest folk."

"So it is possible. Are there any unused rooms, cellars, hidden passages?" Jack asked.

Oscar continued to deny each suggestion. "Every room is open to view at all times except the bedrooms, and the only one not being used at the moment is the one left vacant by Brett and Austin. There is no cellar. The ground water is just too high. And I've never found or even heard of a secret passage."

"Forget it, it doesn't matter because I've had enough. Noah and I are taking Dana out of here," Jack said.

"No." Everyone looked at Dana, surprised by the cold finality of the single word. She shook her head slowly, but emphatically. "No,”she said again.

"D, not too many minutes ago you were screaming as if you'd seen Satan himself," Jack said.

"Well, it wasn't Satan himself and