Because she was out all day, she wasn't as tired once it got to nighttime. Kevin had suggested they'd start their search then and there, but Angelica wasn't stupid.

She wasn't going to explore a haunted house at night. That's how people died, or got possessed.

She may not have liked horror movies but she knew how they operated.

What they did instead as set up a campout in the living room. The fireplace was functional, but she was going to have to fix and clean it out first.

Apparently Kevin wanted to live in this one too.

What she wanted to do was create a little living space up there for him, with a door for her to knock on in the wall. He could still use the flue and all of that, but she wanted ease of access without having to blindly grope up into his safe space.

Plus if she wanted to make a nice living space for him she wanted to widen it out, and she'd need to open the wall to do that anyway.

That night, however, after she had cleaned it out, she set a fire in that fireplace, so they could roast marshmallows.

She wasn't sure where Kyle got the marshmallows, but she was going to assume that he was visiting the neighbours already looking for people to scare. Wonderful.

After making three boxes of Kraft Dinner and setting out one dog dish, two bowls and a saucer of it for her monsters, she had gotten the couch ready for what was essentially going to be a camp out. She had dug her comforter out of the boxes, as well as her pillows and they were already on Chad's couch.

She had her own bowl of Kraft Dinner, but honestly she felt scuzzy.

She had gone to the washroom, but the pipes had been rickety and she was certain blood came out of the faucet.

Yeah, she wasn't going to try and wash her face or brush her teeth or shower when the water was acting up. She wasn't getting poisoned by some ghost mojo.

Tomorrow she'd see about getting herself washed up, even if she had to go to a gym or something. Did this town even have a gym?

It wasn't one of the things she was worried about when she first started planning this move.

All she cared about was if that town had an antique store, a book store, a store to buy games and somewhere else to buy candles. She also needed to be sure that there was a pizza place within delivery range, and she was in luck, the town had all of that.

But she hadn't been concerned about a gym.

She had actually slept well that night. Yes the couch wasn't as comfortable as a bed would have been, but with her monsters around her she had gotten a good night's sleep. Much better than when she had been in the car.

She spent the morning making breakfast. She had Kevin help with the water, turned out his power with a dampening field actually did help with ghost mojo. All the water she got out of the kitchen was normal.

First thing she had to talk to that ghost about was maybe not making the water red.

She had coffee for herself and made pancakes for the monsters. Including little mini ones for Babs. She had tried to eat too, but she was too nervous about the ghost and when it might pop out again.

Once they were done the plan was to split up and look for anything that might be considered a Soul Piece. Kevin was to stay with her though, because he had the dampening field. It would make it harder for the ghost to pop up and scare her.

Chad and Babs took the top floor, Kyle took the basement and Kevin and Angelica took the main and second floor. Damn this place was big.

She knew it was big when she bought it but like... having to search each and every nook and cranny.... It really emphasized how big the place really was. It was one thing reading specs and seeing a digital blueprint, it was something completely different being in the place.

The ghost, however, was not playing nice. While it didn't pop up around her, it was slamming doors behind her, or in her face and throwing things at her. She almost had her nose cute off by one door and she got hit but three different pillows and one baseball.

She wasn't even sure where the baseball came from because she hadn't packed it.

Angelica rubbed her head, putting the baseball into her pocket so it couldn't be used against her again. She scowled down to Kevin.

"You couldn't stop him from throwing things at me?" she snarled but he just shrugged.

He had a little smirk on his face that she didn't trust. She had a feeling he could stop the objects getting lobbed at her head he just didn't care to.

He probably found her getting pelted with random objects funny.

At least the ghost hadn't thrown anything sharp yet.

Maybe she should switch with him out with Kyle.

"Useless, utterly useless," she muttered but she knew Kevin didn't care.

She bent over to look under the bed, but nothing was there. When she stood up though, she yelped, because she wasn't expecting Kyle to be right in front of her.

He winced when she yelped and, honestly, it made her feel bad.

"Jesus! Why didn't you have Kevin warn me?" she cried. She glanced to Kyle, desperate to explain why she would yelp, when it was only him. "I'm on high alert, over here. Did you know the ghost has been throwing things at me?"

Kyle turned to Kevin who was sitting calmly on the bed. He looked at Kyle and then to her and then back to Kyle.

"I said I'd dampen the psychic field around her so it couldn't manifest. I said nothing about stopping moving objects."

Kyle made a noise, a sort of growl of warning and Kevin actually got up and moved back and closer to her. Like she was going to save him from Kyle after admitting that he could have stopped her from getting pelted.

"Do you want to argue or do you want to tell her about what you found?"

Now Angelica was usually down for Kyle giving Kevin a taste of his own medicine, but obviously this was more important.

"Found? You found something?" she asked.

Kyle nodded happily, and Kevin was smiling smugly again. "Yes. He did. In the basement."

Yeah.

That wasn't good news.

The basement was arguably the most terrifying part of any house. She had a feeling this one was going to be worse... seeing as the place had been haunted for so long.

"Fine, we'll go, but Kyle, you're staying with me, make sure it doesn't throw anything at me."

Angelica, with Kevin and Kyle, made their way down to the first floor. They stopped only for Chad and Babs to catch up. Angelica scooped up Babs right away and put her on her shoulder.

"Right, apparently Kyle found something in the basement. I want all of you to come with for moral support," she said. "Oh and the ghost is throwing things at me, so y'all see something, warn me or stop it."

She got a version of yes from all the monsters present and then they were making their way down into the basement.

She let Kyle lead the way, in fact, she made absolute certain that Kyle was in front of her at all time.

The basement spanned the whole house, in the sense that it was the same size, if not a bit bigger than the floor above it. If she was remembering the blueprints right, there were two walls that went outward under the ground. They were storage areas, and being underground made them cooler.

Kind of like a fridge, before fridges were a thing, except not that cold.

The walls were made of stone, large stone slabs that were grey. The floors were tiled. But even with the light on, everything seemed dingy and dark.

She knew from the pictures that there were five rooms. The main area was supposed to be like a living room of sorts, or a den. It had a couch, and a carpet and a Ping-Pong table that was folded up. There was even space for an entertainment center, but the previous owners had taken that when they moved.

Then there was the room that used to be the kitchen for the old house. It had been turned into an office, but still had a kitchen feel. This was done by the owners who had turned the place into a hotel.

The bed and breakfast owners had kept it that way, except they used it more as a prep kitchen. There was still a working dumbwaiter that went to the upstairs kitchen. So they could get food ready for the next day's guests, store it in the fridge over night and then heat up in the morning.

Then there was the electrical room, where the electrical panel and the boiler was. It also housed the central heating and cooling units.

Then there was the room that was just storage.

It used to be the servants quarters, but now it just held boxes of junk that were left behind by previous owners.

It was probably the creepiest room in the house, it was also the darkest, and of course, what Kyle wanted to show her was in there.

Angelica stopped short of the door. "It's in there?" she asked. Kyle turned back to her, he didn't even have to nod for her to have her answer. "Oh no, no, I'm not going in there. Can't you feel it?"

She was referring to, of course, this heavy feeling of dread that just radiated out of that room. Her fight or flight instincts were clamouring at her heart, flight more so than fight. Something was in that room, something that didn't want to be bothered.

And if she was being honest here, she didn't want to bother it either.

Kyle turned back to the room and then back to her.

"He says he can feel it," Kevin said. "We all can."

Angelica shook her head, foolishly she felt like she might start crying. "No, no, I don't want to go in there... can't you get it and bring it here?"

Kyle shook his head, which was not reassuring at all, and had Angelica groaning.

"He says he'll be with you the whole way," Kevin said for him. On her shoulder she felt Babs settle herself, before she let out a little trill. "And she's going to be with you too."

Chad gurgled, reaching out a tentacle for her ankle. "And Chad too," Kevin added but she already knew that he was going to come.

"You promise?" she found herself asking. "You promise you're all going to stay with me? Right?"

Kyle nodded, Babs gave her another trill, and Chard gurgled. Kevin on the other hand said: "No... I'm going to stay right here."

Kyle directed a growl in Kevin's direction and the little Krampus grappled onto to Angelica's leg. Hiding his face into her knee.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry, I'll go!"

For a moment they all stood there, her monsters all holding onto her, except for Kyle who was standing between her and the door. She was just trying to muster up whatever bravery she usually had. I mean, she had sassed a robber both while she was waving around a gun and when it was in her face.

This should be a piece of cake... right?

"Okay... okay... let's do this."

Kyle disappeared, probably into the room, all she had to do was follow him. But first... "Kyle's gone into the room right?"

"Yes," Kevin said right away and she nodded. Alright, that meant it was time for her to go. She walked purposely up to that room, deftly put her hand into that darkness, groped for that light switch and then confidently turned it on.

She turned on the light, hoping that it would make it look better, but nope. The added shadows just made everything so much worse.

But at least she could see Kyle again.

He was standing at the back wall.

"He says it's safe to come in," Kevin told her and though she wasn't sure if that were true or not.

Still, Kyle wouldn't steer her the wrong way. She walked as quickly as she could over to where he was standing and then stared at him.

"So where is it?"

Kyle pointed down to the floor where she saw nothing but dust bunnies and cracking concrete. There was nothing here.

"In there," Kevin said pointing to a point in the molding that was cracked. But, upon a more thorough second glance, she saw that it wasn't a crack but a whole missing piece. It kind of looked like there was a mouse hole.

No wonder Kyle couldn't get it, his hands were too big.

"Really? In there?" she asked. When they all just stared at her she knew that that was exactly where it was. Of course it was. "Right, y'all watch my back, make sure nothing sneaks up on me while I get this."

As they all chirped their understandings to her, she got on her hands and knees in front of the hole. She tried to peer into it, but couldn't see anything. She hadn't thought to bring a flashlight or her phone to illuminate, which was stupid thinking back on that now, but she figured if it was dangerous Kyle would tell her... or stop her if Kevin hadn't told her.

She went to reach her hand in and there was a sudden thwack and when Angelica turned Kyle's hand was in front of her face. She straightened so she could see what it was that he had and found it was a mouse trap.

He was glaring off in one direction and then suddenly, he fisted the mouse trap and started to squeeze. It squeezed until the wood snapped and the metal pinged. When he was done he threw the pieces to the floor, so all could see the destruction he had caused with so little effort.

"Uh... why did that seem like that was a threat display?" Angelica asked.

"That's because it was," Kevin said.

"Did... did Kyle catch that?"

"He did."

At that Angelica straightened again. "It threw a mouse trap at me?" she cried. "How rude!"

"Angelica... the soul piece?" Kevin urged.

"Oh right."

Getting back on her hands and knees she tried to wedge her hand back into the little space but her hand was too big as well.

"Hey Babs... do you think you could help?"

Babs chirped right away, and then scampered right off of her shoulder. She disappeared into the hole and when she came back out she had a piece of fabric in her beak. Once Angelica had a hold of it she could tug it the rest of the way out.

She was expecting a blanket or a shirt, but that wasn't what eventually popped out.

It was a teddy bear. Maybe. It looked like it might have been a teddy bear at some point.

It seemed to be made out of some kind of hemp fabric. Like the kind of fabric feed bags were made out of. It had been stuffed with straw that seemed to have gone bad, which had made the bear concave on itself in places. It had one button for an eye, what seemed to be a black little nose. The mouth looked like it might have been drawn on at one point. But it had both of it's round ears and most of it's shape.

There were some holes here and there, but it was definitely salvageable.

Angelica stood and then showed off her find. She dangled it in front of Kyle but he seemingly didn't notice. He was staring again, back the way they came, towards the door. His muscles were coiling, like he was getting ready to spring, but she didn't know what had set him off.

She followed his gaze and saw what he saw.

The man standing in the door way looked completely different from the first one that had appeared the day before. He was impossibly tall, muscular. He was in an old timey uniform like he stepped out a civil war re-enactment. His features were sunken, both his eyes were missing, and he was entirely see through... so he wasn't a real person.

He was still black and white like he stepped out of an old movie. The Uniform was the same, the placement of the medals slightly different, he didn't seem as in disrepair as he had originally.

They sort of stood there staring at one another and then his mouth opened in a cruel twisted kind of way and he screamed.

The sound was nothing more than a wail, this blood curdling, heart wrenching shriek of agony and anger.

Angelica grappled onto Kyle.

"Make it go away, make it go away!"

Kyle answered it, with it's own roar. His jaw descending, his teeth protruding. Chad leapt out of the shadows and into the light in front of the door way. He was part way between the ghost and the rest of them. He puffed up, revealing his under belly and his own mouth. Five of his tentacles up in the air quivering, hissing as he did so.

Babs puffed up all her feathers, and let out her own screech, similar to the one she had been making the first night Angelica had met her. Except she was still on her shoulder, so it really just went into her ear more than anything else.

And it was enough.

The ghost vanished.

But Angelica didn't feel better.

She didn't feel better until she was out of the basement and on the first floor.

Surrounded by her stuff, on her own couch, with her monsters around her. She sat there catching her breath, letting everything go back to normal around her.

Only then did she look down to the little teddy she had in her hands. Only then did she let herself smile.

Shefinally had the upper hand.