I Can Talk to Ghosts...

Maybe it was the realization that this maybe seriously real, or that fate of the town may rest on his shoulders, but Alan wasnt feeling so good. They had left the three kids in the back of his car and then they got out and headed out to where Duncan was leading them. He'd said he'd come with them to show the exactly where the clock is. As they ventured further and further in, the trees started becoming thicker, and closer together and soon the two of them had to start side stepping to get passed some of them. Duncan led them to a very strange place where the trees spread out and around a much larger one. It was huge in height and radius and it was the color of charcoal; it was also dead.

"Well that's nice." Alan said as they walked around it to where Duncan was.

He'd already told Kyra not to touch the tree... or anything else for that matter.

"This is the clock..." Duncan said pointed down at their feet.

Alan looked down. They were standing just before a stone marker that was covered in vines and leaves. He knelt down in front of it and pushed away the vegetation. There were almost dial like pieces of stone that were built into the marker with numbers on them.

"Wow..." Kyra knelt down next to him, "It's like stone age version of a countdown clock... jeez..."

"All we have to do is set it back to 100?" Alan looked up at Duncan.

He nodded, "When the shadows touch the marker... turn it to 100."

Alan looked at the shadow of the tree that was just below the edge of the stone, "When it touches the edge or the dials?"

"The edge..."

He turned back to the shadow and then waited. Ever so slowly did it stretch forward until it touched the very edge of the marker. Alan then turned the dials slowly until they were at 100. There was a sudden flash of light that blinded the two of them as they fell backwards. The dials suddenly began to glow bright and then just as it all had happened, it went back to normal. No lights, no glowing numbers.

"What was that?" Kyra asked.

"I dont know..." Alan helped her up, "Are you okay?"

"Psh, I'm fine. Little dots all over my vision, but fine none the less." She said standing.

"Is it over?" He looked toward Duncan, "Are we done with this?"

"Yes... now its not until another 100 years." Duncan nodded.

"Good..." He sighed.

"Alan!" A small voice yelled.

"We want to go home!" Another followed it.

"Crap!" Alan kicked leaves up over the marker.

Zack, Will, and Danny came from the trees.

"I thought we said stay in the car!" He said coming around the Sorceress' trees.

"But we got bored!" Zack whined.

"We wanted to come see what you guys are doing!" Will added.

Danny just nodded quickly behind his brothers.

"Well we're done with it now so we can go home..." Alan said, "Come on."

"Oh! Can we play here?" Will looked passed him at the tree, "I wanna climb that tree!"

"Me too!" Zack said.

"No!" Alan said leading them away from it, "Nobody's touching the tree, we're going home. It's getting late anyway."

Kyra came around and joined him and the kids, "Come on, let's go I'm starving right now."

"You guys must be too, so let's just go home and get something to eat." He said.

But as they were turning back, Will and Zack slipped passed the two of them and ran for the tree.

"No!" The two of them shouted.

The boys ran toward the tree, but just before they reached it there was a sudden chilly wind and leaves shot up in front of them. They were startled and fell backwards as the leaves fell down in front and around them. Duncan was floating there in front of them making angry arm movements at the two kids while glaring out at Alan.

"Stop them!!"

Alan lifted Danny up and handed him to Kyra, "Hold him!"

She took him from him and then he ran up to the other two and Duncan. He grabbed them by their arms and pulled them to their feet.

"You guys are in so much trouble." He told them.

"Why cant we just touch the tree!?" Will asked as they tried to get out of his grip.

"It's just a stupid tree!" Zack argued.

"It's not just a stupid tree!" Alan hissed at them, "It's a very, important, tree and you aren't allowed to touch it!"

"Well I wanna!" Zack said then bit Alan's hand.

"OW! You wicked little... Zack!!" He yelled angrily.

In a determined fit to be bad, Zack went right up to the tree and turned around to face Alan, he stuck his tongue out at him and then just as Alan darted for him he slammed his hand against the tree. There was a sudden and instant silence in the air, and then a huge explosion of air. Zack was thrown back as was Alan and Will.

"NO!" Duncan shouted.

"Alan!" Kyra put Danny down.

"Damn it!" Alan pulled Zack and Will back, "Go back to the car! NOW!"

The three kids didnt need a second order and turned around and ran back to where the car was parked.

"Now what do we do?!" Alan looked to Duncan.

He just looked at him, "GO!

Not really knowing what to do, or wanting to stay, Alan listened to the ghost and ran back to Kyra. The two of them then quickly headed back to the car. Alan got in and started the engine then reversing it back away from the trees. There were dark grey clouds beginning form in around where the grave was. Blue lights danced through the clouds like lightning and a fierce and cold wind had picked up suddenly. Alan finally reached the road and then turned the car around. The sky had turned dark beyond the regular night time darkness and the clouds had grown more ominous. They were just staying in front of the clouds as they were racing toward the town. The freak light shows up in the clouds however were a different story. The lights would strike through the clouds and then suddenly hit the ground with such force it threw dirt and tree pieces into the air. One suddenly hit just in front of the car.

Alan swerved the car to the left avoiding the strike of lightning and just barely missing breaking off his mirror on a tree. What really threw them all off and startled the living lights out of them was that something jumped right out of where the lightning had struck. It jumped straight over the car as Alan did another quick swerve to avoid it.

"What the heck was that?!" He looked back a couple of times at the thing standing in the road.

"Are we at your house yet?!" Kyra had been tossed to the side of the car and was somehow lying upside down under the dashboard of the passenger seat.

Alan's Shelby came speeding into town startling some of the residents and angering some pedestrians. He slammed the brakes and the car came to a screeching halt in front of his driveway. They literally sat there for a few moments trying to figure out what had just happened (as well as Kyra had to straighten herself up right in the seat).

It wasnt until Will turned around did anyone move.

"There are things coming down the hills!" He said sitting up on his knees and looking out the back window.

The rest of them turned back and looked out the window as well. Sure enough, something was coming from where they had just come from, only this time there were more of them.

"In the house!" He said pushing his door open.

They all got out and then they ran into the house. They ran up stairs and Alan told the kids to stay in his room; and to stay put this time. They didnt seem like they were going to disobey this time. He and Kyra went down stairs cautiously. They could hear the noises outside from people screaming and running away, as well as something else; some kind of shrill growl that mixed its self with the people. The two of them stayed out of the main view of the window and just moved one or two of the blinds to see outside.

"Oh, my, god..." The two of them practically said at the same time.

People were running from creatures. Not animal, but creatures like something out of a horror story. They ranged from the size of a German Shepard to the size of a Great Dane. They were black and shinned like a polished metal but there were thin lines running all around their bodies. They were like neon blue lights that flared up and glowed bright when the creatures attacked something or growled or roared. From what they could see, these things didnt have eyes. Just slits in their throats that opened and closed when they were breathing. They had long slender tails that they swung around behind them as they were running and then held them over their heads when they werent. The tips of their tails split into three small extensions which had long slender blades on the tips of them that glowed blue as well.

"What the is this?!" They turned around and leaned back against the wall of the window disappearing under it.

"What are we going to do?" Kyra asked.

All of the sudden, Duncan came through the wall. Though, he came through so quickly that it threw books off the book case he'd come through and caused them to fly half way across the room. Scared the crap out of the two of them, but Alan saw it was just Duncan.

"Duncan!?" He looked at the ghost, "What the heck is happening?!"

"These are her creatures!" He said floating closer to the two of them, "This is her first cause of chaos on the town that damned her..."

"What are they?!" Alan asked as Kyra took a glance out the window again.

Since Alan's house was so close to the woods and hills, the creatures had already seemed to have gone through their area and were starting to head into town. Somehow, luckily, unlike some of the other cars, Alan's dear Shelby was still in perfect condition... except for maybe a scratch or two.

"They are called hounds..." Duncan looked afraid which was weird; why would a ghost be afraid... nothing could happen to him.

"You mean... like hell hounds?" Alan asked warily.

He shook his head, "No... these are below the hell hounds, these are worse. They are the Hounds of the Damned, those whose souls were specifically tormented for something."

Alan sat back against the wall. Great, they were dealing with not only some crazy sorceress with a billion year old grudge, but creatures from hell... could this night get any worse?

He looked at Duncan, "Why do you look so scared? You're a ghost, none of this can hurt you."

Duncan looked out the window, "No... I can be hurt... they can see ghosts and spirits... they can harm them too..."

Oh, wow... okay so maybe being a ghost wasnt as "immortal bringing" as it sounded. Alan knew this wasnt going to end if he just sat here. As much as he would have loved to just sit up stairs in his room and pretend like none of this was happening, he was probably the only one (aside from Kyra and his cousins) that knew what was going on.

"How... how do we stop her?" He asked.

Duncan hesitated for a moment. "There are two options... you either have to go to her burial sight and seal it once again..."

"Or?" Alan didnt like how he hesitated.

"Or you have to break her curse. You have to get rid of her spirit..."

Well those were just wonderful options. Go reseal some hundred year old tomb for a vengeful sorceress who probably really REALLY doesnt want to go back, or go find her soul and destroy it or whatever.... fun.

This night was just getting better and better.