CHAPTER 5

NESAIA

*Day 2

*Spring (April 29)

*Noon

*In this: Nesaia, Selene, Steve

I take off around the perimeter of the castle. I sweep every little crevice and nook I can find, searching for anything suspicious. Needless to say, Donovan Castle is enormous.

The wind blows my clothes against my body and whips my hair around my skull. The breeze feels nice, cool and soft, like a perfect water temperature, not too hot and not too cold. I continue for another few minutes before I spot someone.

As I near the back of the house, I see a shadow of a man. I swoop in and quietly land, tip-toeing on the roof above him. I peer over the edge to see who it is. I don't recognize him, which is strange. and I've never seen him here nor in town.

He has light dusty blonde hair, a hint of a beard and wearing black clothes. He keeps waving a flashlight in the window.

I go invisible and glide down to the ground. Silently creeping up behind him, I grab ahold of his arms.

He swings them around, knocking them back to hit me. But instead of injuring me, his arm goes right through my stomach.

Ha, now I gotcha!

He turns around and frantically looks for the attacker. To him, it appears that no one is there due to my invisibility.

I tackle him and he falls to the ground with a loud thud. I pick him up by the wrist and dart straight up into the air.

He is yelling the whole time.

I telepathically yell to the others, "Guys, I may need your help now!"

"I'm coming, Nesaia!" says Selene. A second later, Selene arrives. She came alone because Sasha cannot teleport. "I'm here. What's the plan?"

"You grab his feet and I'll grab his arms; we'll take him to the storm cellar and search him!" I suggest. Selene says something out loud, but I don't catch it in time since my mind was on what to do with him. Then, I get an idea.

The man frantically looks around, but sees no one.

"I suppose he is hearing voices, ha! That'll show him not to mess with our home! The cops will come and lock him up in a loony bin. We'll follow him to the station when they arrest him. That'll give me the chance to talk to him mentally while he is getting interrogated."

Ghosts and other supernaturals can psychologically influence humans. We can do this by talking to them mentally like a one-way telephone, but only if they are impressionable. It can also be done if they allow themselves to become possessed.

We also use our powers on them, but it depends on the individual using the powers and their moral code. Some, like Selene often respects other's boundaries. While people like Genevieve pushes those limits.

Getting in his head will make him seem crazy and they will put in in a psych ward.

Selene looks a little concerned and takes on her voice of reason. "Is that what you really want to do?"

I shake my head. "No, but it would be satisfying."

"No, Nesaia, let's not. We've got better things to do than make the man go insane."

I nod, listening to her logic. She is correct.

I hold him up by both wrists, while Selene unlocks the storm cellar.

To him, all he sees is the outside door to the cellar opening by itself.

The cellar is connected to the left side of the castle, eventually leading to the dungeon.

He visibly trembles as his eyes widen. He kicks his feet and tries to yank his hands out of my grasp. He tries his best to back away from the invisible being opening the door.

"No! No! No! I don't want to! Stop!" he begs.

It takes one hard punch to his head, and POW, he's out like a light. I drop him like a log, satisfied with my aim.

Selene glares at me with disapproval. "I could have simply put him to sleep with magic. You didn't have to punch him."

I smile cheekily at her. "It was satisfying though."

Shaking her head, she bends down and checks his pulse. "Yep, still breathing."

Before Selene can grab his arms, I grab his feet. I drag him down the stairs, his head thumping on each step along the way.

The intruder is taken down a stairwell into a stone room. When you first descend the stairs, you enter the storm cellar. It holds a variety of objects that could be useful in case of any storm.

We look around for a place to set him. We decide against the fireplace due to fire pokers that could be used as weapons. We dump him near some blankets and barrels filled with food and beverage.

Selene crosses her arms, staring at him, but talking to me. "At least you're not as rough as Rogue.

The cellar is spacious, but not nearly large enough to fit everyone on the property. For that, we would have to spread out and venture down into the long corridors and stone dungeon beneath.

Since only Selene has the key, she makes sure the door leading to the corridor is locked securely. "We don't need the intruders venturing into the corridors and throughout the castle. If they are to go through, I'd ideally like for them to be locked in the dungeon."

"Are we going to put him in the dungeon?"

She eyes me as she pockets the key. "No, not yet. We will if it comes to that. We should hurry before any more intruders arrive."

"I think we should call the cops," I say, watching the unconscious man.

Selene side-eyes me a moment, thinking. "If we do, we won't have much time to figure out his purpose for being here."

"Do you think we should interrogate him first?"

"Maybe," she says, approaching the man. Selene searches his pockets for anything. She finds an ID, a cell phone, and a folded-up piece of paper.

As she examines each, she rolls her eyes. "Did you want to get caught, Steve?" she asks even though he's currently unable to answer. She unfolds and reads the paper aloud: "Steve, go to Donovan Castle. Look for the back door and break in quietly in case there are alarms, find the fortune and steal it! You know what to do."

"But really, Steve? Why would you keep this on you? You're basically incriminating yourself." Selene looks down at him before addresses us telepathically. "Well, that was generic! Not every place has a back door. Obviously breaking in if you don't have a key. Where is this fortune they are talking about? I've never seen anything except what I've had from my jobs and what came with the castle. Since we bought it and the last owner died without any living relatives, it would be ours to keep, right?"

"As far as I know! Wait, if they sent this guy, wouldn't they have more guys coming? This guy has about as much common sense as a door knob to steal a fortune." I start to panic a little, but then grasp control of myself. A ghost is of no use in a frantic panic attack!

"Oh...yes, they would!" Selene now looks even more worried than she was before. All a sudden, Selene flies out of the storm cellar through the door, leaving it locked behind her.

I dart after her, but halt, staying in the cellar. Then, it occurs to me why she did—Sasha.