Page 23 of Chillingham Castle

“I’m Jack. If someone is here, I’d like to speak to you. I come with the greatest respect.”

Nothing replied. I crouched and dangled my hands in the lake. It was cold, and I nearly snatched them back. The gentle waves lapped at my fingers.

“Is anyone here?” I called, and suddenly I felt a yank. I frowned and just caught my balance, but too late. Something grasped my hand, and I was pulled forward and underwater.

“Jack!” Reaver roared as I was speedily dragged away. I swallowed lake water and began panicking as I thrashed.

I surfaced and gulped in some air, and my eyes widened at how far I’d been hauled from shore. Fuck.

“Jack!” Suga yelled, pointing, and they had the rope. They started pulling me in, but something caught my legs. I dragged in a lungful before I disappeared underwater again.

I turned and saw ghastly white faces surrounding me. Hate blazed from their eyes.

“Southron.” The word floated in the lake, and I shook my head violently. I struggled and kicked upward, breaking the surface and found myself farther from shore. Reaver, Suga, and Trunk yelled and hauled on the rope.

I grabbed another breath before being dragged under again.

“Die. Drown. Sassenach. Blood enemy. Murderer. Southron.” The words hit me like daggers as the spirits here did their best to submerge me.

I fought as hard as I could, but hands began undoing the rope at my waist. The fear of drowning became real. I managed to wrap the end around my arm as it came untied, and a harsh shove forced some air from my lungs.

A ghastly face appeared out of the gloom, skin with rotting holes and orbs milky white, and grinned at me, and I screamed.

Water flooded in as I panicked, and then I was being hauled upwards. My head surfaced, and I gulped in deep breaths even as something latched onto my legs. From behind Reaver and the others, I saw Haunt’s team racing towards us.

The spirits won and dragged me farther from safety, and real fear leeched into my bones.

I drew in air quickly, even as the ghosts yanked me back, and once more I was underwater. I tried shoving them away, but that was useless. There were too many, and my hands just passed through them anyway.

Sheer panic made me fight and struggle, even though I was fighting the water. Then I was hauled roughly through the lake. When I surfaced, I saw Haunt, and the others had reached Reaver and were pulling me out. Moments later, they put their hands under my arms and swiftly pulled me out.

“This damn castle wants to kill me!” I spluttered.

“Are you okay?” Haunt shouted as they kept dragging me away from the shore.

“There’s some fuckin’ angry ghosts in there!” I exclaimed, spitting out lake water.

“Christ, Jack. My heart stopped when you went in,” Reaver snapped.

“Yours did?” I mocked and began laughing.

The Spirit Chasers looked at me as if I were crazy.

“Jack, did you hit your head?” Haunt asked.

“They called me a Sassenach,” I howled, slapping my wet jeans.

“He’s hysterical,” Lucky added, concerned.

“The man had a near-death experience; of course he is,” Ghoul retorted.

“There’re ghosts down there, a lot of them. I know Evie mentioned people had been pulled in, but that exceeded anything previously described here,” I stated, calming down.

Haunt made the connection. “Do you reckon the entity has riled them up?”

“Yes. I think it’s riling everything in the castle. Nobody has spoken to Lady Mary up until now, but we’ve had two conversations. The demon in the cellar, or whatever this is, is amplifying the other ghosts, or marshalling them…” I drifted off.

“What?” Haunt asked.