Once Bound Always Bound

Chapter 16

Ben shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not entirely sure. We could hang around and see if this young woman comes stumbling into the museum. In the meantime, we could try and find the hat."

"Where do you suppose we look? This house could have many different passages that we wouldn't know about. That and I'm sure that we would need to take the guided tour of the house, that way we can gain access to all of the rooms, just to look around for the hat," Father Kent reminded Ben before jumping at the sound of a door opening behind him.

Both Ben and Father Kent turned and found a young woman walking out of a room, where the door was recently closed.

The young woman glared at Father Kent and Ben in confusion. "Are you two gentlemen waiting to take a guided tour through the house?"

"Actually, we were looking to pay to take a stroll through and go at our own pace," Father Kent said causing the young woman to look at him in suspicion.

"Did you pay for admission," The woman asked.

"We were just about to," Ben said while glaring at Father Kent.

"Don't glare at me. I'm not the one sneaking off to rooms that have closed doors; especially when I don't even work here. Should I go and report you to security or the manager; or something," Father Kent challenged the young woman.

Ember let out an annoyed huff. "First of all, that is such a Karen thing to say. Secondly, I work here. It just happens to be my day off. But I had forgotten something. Hence why I'm here now having this conversation with you."

"But do you have actual proof that you indeed work here," Father Kent began.

"Ignore him. He doesn't know what he's talking about," Ben said. "You wouldn't by chance be the woman named Ember, that Gabbie has mentioned to you, are you?"

"Gabbie? Oh, you mean Gabbie with the little boy, who is moving into the old Gracey mansion, that is said to be haunted," Ember asked.

"That would be the very house," Ben said.

"Who are you two," Ember asked.

"I'm Ben, the blonde man is Father Kent. We need your help and expertise on a topic that you may have a lot of knowledge on," Ben said.

"And that would be," Ember asked.

"Ghosts. There is one in particular known as the hatbox ghost. He's the bad one tormenting all of the other ghosts in the mansion, all while looking to finish his collection on souls, so that way he can be free...or something like that," Father Kent explained.

"We're looking for something... something that used to belong to the hatbox ghost himself," Ben said.

Ember thought about what she heard, before speaking up. "You cannot allow the hat box ghost to be set free. If he manages to break free, who knows what kind of havoc he would cause. Do you have any clue as to what it is that you are actually looking for," Ember asked.

"We're looking for a hat box. But the thing is, we don't know which room to find it in; and we really need it so we can bring it back to the mansion," Ben explained.

"Well then Ben, you need someone who is capable of filling you in about all the details about Mr. Alistair Crump that there is to be known. Be warned now, finding the hat box won't be so easy, because it's well hidden," Ember said.

"What makes you think that you are an expert on all of this," Father Kent asked.

"I work here as a tour guide. Naturally it's my job to now everything that there is about this place. Even the so-called secret passages that people believe to be made-up. Is that enough proof for you," Ember asked.

Ben turned to Father Kent with a knowing look. "It could be a huge help to us. And if we send her away, we would be dumb."

"But how on earth can we be sure that she isn't telling us a lie, just so she can go wandering around the house and not get in trouble? I think we should try and see if she will be useful to us or not," Father Kent said.

"I bet you don't know half of the things he's done to help remove people out of his life, so he could get everything that he truly wanted," Ember said.

"I'm sure he paid a few people off to get rid of others. And by that, I mean kill them," Father Kent said.

"Do you have proof to back that up? I don't believe that you do have proof. But while i have been working here, I have had the advantage of doing a little exploring of my own. I manage to find a few secret passages that I'm sure Alistair Crump himself used," Ember said.

"Do you have proof," Father Kent threw back Ember's word at her.

"Follow me and I will show you the proof," Ember said before leading Ben and Father Kent to a sitting room

Father Kent glanced around unimpressed. "Wow. This is truly some proof that you have that Alistair Crump had secret passages to commit dark deeds."

Father Kent was quick to shut his mouth when Ember opened a door leading to a secret passage. Ben and Father Kent glanced over and noticed that Ember had pulled a book off the bookshelf.

"Impressed yet," Ben teased Father Kent.

"Not in the least. She had someone else who works here show her how to open the door, leading to another room," Father Kent replied.

"Why don't you make your way down? That will tell you if I'm lying to you or not," Ember said.

"I don't trust you," Father Kent said.

"Then you can stay up here. I myself will head down there and check. If there is proof down there, I'll bring it up, and show you," Ben said before making his way down the stairs, which led to a dirt ground.

Ben got on his hands and knees, crawling all around, until he stumbled upon a skeleton.

What on earth? Is this truly the remains of a human corpse? Oh my god. It's the corpse of the guy who is tormenting the ghosts, Gabbie and Travis. This is the guy whose hat we need, Ben thought to himself as he grabbed the hat, before crawling out of the hole, making his way up the stairs, into the room where Father Kent and Ember were waiting for him to return.