P.I.E - A Limey Rivalry

Part 16 - An Amateur Ablution

Down in the harrowing, unpredictable depths of the Gumball Family Estate's basement, the young paranormal investigator: Johnny Ghost – along with the charming supernatural examiner: Bryn Underhill – were having an absolute field day. Once all of the hidden doors had been opened and every minuet light had been switched on – for reasons still unknown for the two, they had been heavily checking all the rooms in sight and they weren't leaving any paper or draws unchecked.

As for the actual things they were finding, they were less than successful. Most of them were old newspapers, that documented the rise and fall of the company, or ancient letters, discussing business or other things. Beyond that, most of the rooms were empty.

Since there was sufficient lighting, the two decided that they didn't need to stick next to each other, so they split up. Logically, they covered more area this way.

Ghost had just finished searching through a small chest of draws, which were all cripplingly bare, when he let out a frustrated sigh. He had no idea just how big this basement actually was, but based around how long they had spent travelling down just two of its corridors, it must have been absolutely massive. It should be at least the area of the estate, Ghost pondered.

Over in another room, Ghost just barely heard Bryn yell, "Ghost! I think I've found something that fits our interests quite nicely!"

Ghost turned to the direction that he had Bryn's voice come from and smiled faintly. Of course Bryn would find something first, Ghost thought, It's a good thing we're not competing.

Briskly trotting to the exit of the room he was in, Ghost peered down the corridor. Bryn was not there.

"Where are you?" Ghost called out.

"I'm in one of the rooms near you. Believe me, you can't miss this one," Bryn answered. His voice still sounded far away.

"Fine," Ghost said before he began walking down the corridor and checking each room.

Granted, it didn't take him long to find a certain room that did look shockingly different than the other ones. An open door revealed another corridor, however this one wasn't endlessly long. The walls were marked with scratches. They weren't like the three marks that they'd been finding, either. They were legitimate marks left by desperate fingernails, and Ghost hazard a guess by assuming those belonged to people trying to escape.

Ghost could feel a weak paranormal presence emanating down the corridor. Years of experience had given him the ability to understand the certain aura of supernatural entities, which helped him out immensely.

He continued down the small passageway until he entered a room. There were no electric lights in this part, so it was entirely dark. Luckily, Bryn was using his flashlight to light the area. Well, one particular area. One spot on the floor, at the centre of the room.

Ghost looked at the lit-up circle and nervously offered, "Huh," before letting silence fill the dark room again.

Within the circular glow of Bryn's flashlight was a massive pentagram, painted onto the stone floor.

"Indeed, Ghost," Bryn said, hearing his 'huh', "It seems The Gumball Family practised in the occult."

Ghost walked over to the pentagram and managed to stop his movement before he knocked over a candle that he could only faintly see. He crouched down to examine the stick of wax, it seemed to have been used, as it had melted halfway down. It was also a white candle, which Ghost found confusing; you shouldn't use white candles when summoning or casting anything relating to the unholy; white indicates purity.