The Alien Orb (10 page)

If it had been one of them and not a
stranger then the person must have been missing when it took place
and he wondered about the people that he had not seen, and from
what Mortimer told them they had checked up on them and that there
was at least ten people there that never came in contact with
anyone when it took place, and had been sleeping, and Bryson
realized that they had made a mistake by not checking them at their
rooms to see if anyone had been missing, and he also realized that
they never thought it was them and that they would not have gone to
such lengths to carry anything out.

Bryson realized the infernal place now had a
killer, who had a motive to kill for, and they and all the evidence
had shown that the person could not be in the wood and was hidden
away somewhere in the colossal castle, and that they would have to
sleep there with him lurking in shadows.

Chapter 17

The Treasure
Quest

The entire castle was colossal and dangerous
beyond belief, even during the day, and they had checked all the
stuff that they had accumulated and found there had been many
occurrences and deaths during the day, and nobody seemed to want to
go into the unexplored regions, where they also thought the killer
lurked.

So when they started their investigations of
the castle it was in search of the treasure there and was organized
by Mitchell and he brought all his men, with Bryson and the two
psychic investigators, and some scientists and archaeologists, who
were curious what was in the unexplored regions.

They had been no further than the
central region, and region that they slept in on the second floor,
so Mitchell
’
s idea of going to the central region of the
top floor was really interesting.

Bryson climbed the stairs studying
everything, while curiously watching Mitchell as he followed him up
and occasionally listened to everyone else behind him, and Bryson
noticed that his surroundings seemed to get dirtier the further up
they went and by the time they reached the top they were sweeping
giant webs away, which seemed to increase in size, and he started
to consider there being dangerous spiders there.

“
Well,
”
Mitchell finally announced,
breaking his silence.
“
We now know that killer has not been here!
Though there must be other staircases up here, so we still have him
being about as a problem.
”

They entered the top floor and it looked
incredible to Bryson. It was like another world and like seeing a
real haunted place, place where supernatural existed, and he
considered it as being either one of the only places like it on the
planet or one of the most powerful places on the planet.

The corridor had to be the most ghostly
darkest places he had seen, and with freezing cold and snow it was
even more still, silent, and empty of life as was possible. Even
with the lights on there were strange haunting dark shadows and
glows that held secrets and dangers!

Some of Mitchell
’
s men insisted in announcing
their being there clearly to the killer, if he was up there, and
they insisted in leaving him until the police arrived. And even
though it was one of his men and he had directly attacked them, he
had escaped and it was a police matter! Though he was sure most of
them actually still intended to do something when they
could!

They grouped closely together and wander
down the corridor in the one direction with startled and amused
faces as they searched its interior, with faint thoughts of what it
would be like there at night. The place to everyone there seemed to
be the source of all the occurrences in the wood, and it at times
was like being in a central area where something existed that was
more powerful than anything else there, and perhaps on the planet,
and the stuff in the wood avoided going there because of its power
and that they were being checked and it had hidden intentions to do
things with them.

The treasure being hidden away there was
like something were using it to lure people there to their deaths,
and he wondered again if he would survive this adventure!

Merton wandered about offering anyone next
to him a cigarette, and spoke to them confidently, and they gave
startled expressions at their surroundings and what he actually
worked as and a famous leading investigator of psychic
occurrences.

Mitchell, Bryson noticed, was giving them
confidence and his wisdom in carrying out the task ahead, while
gently persuading them to do what he wished, and use their powers
of deduction to find clues or anything there. There main motivation
seemed to be money, and they were all positive that was what
motivated the killer there.

As they passed different rooms it became
clear that nobody had been there in many decades. Cobwebs and dirt
just about shrouded everything they met with!

Nothing showed any clues to what Bryson
wanted, and it made little sense.

The killer had to be ruthless and
carefree to have done it in the way that it had been done,
especially to one of Mitchell
’
s men. The person had done it under their
noses! Yet it could indicate that he never knew them or what they
were like?

From the looks that that he caught he knew
that the incident had affected them all. Some of them were
argumentative when they mentioned the dead guy, and he was sure
that they had not found any major clues.

Bryson touched his sore forehead with his
fingers feeling if the coldness had sunk into his brain.

He saw that it had still stopped snowing and
that there was a good chance, according to a forecast, that the
weather would stay that way until the night.

He wondered if the place had actually turned
people insane! He wondered if the killer had an interest in
anything else and if they were thinking of him as being only after
one thing.

A loud helicopter thud gradually emerged
away in the distance, and they all grew silent and considered the
arrival of the police, and at a window Bryson and some of the
others watched it and another three helicopters arrive, making them
even change their interest there to below the castle, where they
landed, and Bryson watched the faces of all the police and people
connected with them get out and looking about slightly amused but
mainly very curious, and some actually knowing some things about
the place, and he heard some of their communications blaring out as
they told of their arrival and what the place looked like.

The police had a hard time realizing what
they were dealing with, and Bryson listened to the person he was
sure was in charge of everything. He had clearly been communicating
with the police elsewhere in his helicopter.

“
We can separately look about
more,
”
Merton declared, clearly losing interest with looking out the
window.
“
We
can cover more ground ...
”

They all split up more and into groups,
going into rooms more, and searching more.

Bryson marched away himself straight to
where he thought one of the main rooms was, which was larger and
unusual, and he was sure it belonged to the owner that had
reconstructed the castle, if he had even lived there or had it
built for him before his death.

It was incredible how fast Mitchell rushed
after him, and he watched Merton follow him, seeing it was the most
interesting place to go.

The others mainly agreed to search the
corridor and to check paintings and antiques, which were really
ancient and valuable looking, especially being there and covered in
such dust and dirt.

The door to the room at first seemed locked
when Bryson reached it, before the other two had made it to him,
and he quickly confirmed it was locked before trying to shove it
in.

“
Curious!
”
Mitchell muttered.
“
Very curious!
It
’
s got a
lock and it
’
s locked!
”

Merton ducked and stuck his eye to the
keyhole and moved back, and asked,
“
We could wait and try to find a key,
which may not exist, or we could just break in?
”

“
Let
’
s break in!
”
Mitchell quickly replied
first.
“
What
’
s in there could be of great value! And if we
leave it someone else could get here first! This place is getting
more and more people ...
”

“
Alright!
”
Bryson replied.
“
The door can be replaced
anyway, if it
’
s of any value ...
”

Mitchell immediately left to nearby rooms
until he found what he wanted, and arrived with a large log of
wood, which had been in a fireplace, and used it to smash in the
lock and viciously shove it in, until the door screeched right open
and Bryson saw only darkness and then windows that were covered by
thick curtains, and dust flew down over them as they moved in and
they entered like they were entering a tomb.

The mess was shocking! Webs and fungus had
shrouded everything and an ancient bed was left rotted away within
the room, with small amounts of ancient furniture around the edges
of the large room, and Bryson attempted to age it all but never
succeeded.

“
The owner liked a large
bed,
”
Merton muttered, humorously, examining its remains, watching
a dust cloud from their entrance float in beams of light, from
streaks of sunlight from the window where Mitchell started opening
the curtains, trying not to destroy the rotted remains of them, and
looking out at the wood from there with some
fascination!

They then crept around the room watching his
fascination of the wood, and his drawing all the areas of interest
in a vague map, and listening to their creaks and cracks from the
floorboards.

Bryson
’s
attention fell on the bed again
trying to imagine what age it was, and he realized it was early
twenty-century technology.

When he moved back he saw the humorous side
of what they were doing. The place interested him and he liked such
places and their history, imagining all the past events and people
who had been there, and all the many hours and days and thoughts
that they had, and he wondered what the future would hold for it
and fantasized being in a time machine shooting through the depths
of time. What would the future be? And what would the outcome of
their investigations there be? What would the future be now that
the murder and all the police were there? Was this the end of the
desolation of it? Or could the place become so deadly that they
would have to isolate it from humanity?

He saw a small drawer under the legs of the
remains of a wardrobe in the corner of the room and saw it had not
been seen, and investigated it with interest, while he considered
the room from different perspectives. He wondered if the people had
just slowly left there or had been forced out by the occurrences
there, or had they died there?

The stiff drawer revealed it was full
of old clothes and he looked through and man
’
s clothes considering what
he had been like.

Mitchell never investigated anything any
further and assumed that they had found what they were going to,
while Merton copied Bryson and still searched unusual places and
objects that he came to, and looked under a small gap below the
bed.

“
This place is
gruesome!
”
Bryson muttered.
“
This place must have been the biggest castle
in the world when it was built! And it could have had one of the
richest people too! It must have been the most magnificence
building to live in at one time, with luxury beyond other
people
’
s
wildest dreams! And look at what it ended up like! One of the worst
deadliest places on the planet!
”

He wondered if something might occur to
mankind in hundreds of years with the world turning desolate like
the castle! Could this be really what happens to the whole of
civilization one day? Will the remains of the human race end up
living in the remains of everything, treating it as desolate
gruesome remains of an ancient race obsessed with size and power,
building immense structures for unknown strange reasons?

“
An incredible place with an even more
incredible history!
”
he remarked, flicking webs away from
him.

“
Do you think that we made a mistake
being here?
”
Merton asked, seeing his change of feelings.
“
This place is
cursed with deaths ... And not just one or two people at a time
...!
”

“
A ruthlessly place with many lost
secrets that does not like people staying in its locality for too
long ...
”

“
Let
’s
check somewhere
else!
”

As they left they were amazed at how far the
others were going to search the place, and even Mitchell gave a
surprised look at what some of his men were doing and that they
were frantically yanking up floorboards all over the place, as well
as in specific places.