Snippet #2679385

When Duke bent down to do his thing with the skull, Briella politely looked away. She wasn't freaked-out or disgusted by it. No, of course not! But Briella knew that the visions he saw weren't always nice. They were usually the opposite. (Plus, any vision that came from a half-buried skull likely wasn't about puppies and sunshine.) Giving Duke a few seconds to compose himself—without people ogling at him—was the polite thing to do. At the minimum.

Her suspicions about the vision, unfortunately, were confirmed.

"He was a worker, a gardener I think. Jakob Ekland slaughtered him with a cleaver, chopped him up, and mixed his remains into the soil." Duncan paused, and Briella recognized the macabre, wry grin. "The roses were beautiful."

"I'm sure they were," she replied, equally wry. In this line of work, it was either laugh or cry. She took one last photo. "All that nitrogen had to be good for the soil. Or was it carbon? I'm not sure. I never really paid attention in biology. Looks like Jakob Ekland did, though. Good for him."

Of course, then Leon just had to freak out Cassie with his ghost-whisperer abilities. Briella was more than used to the quirks of the other Spirit Detectives, and she wasn't really that annoyed (amused, maybe), but... it'd be a shame if Cassie got scared off. Then again, if she couldn't handle ghosts, this wasn't the right group for her. Thankfully, Cassie seemed a bit shaken but determined to pull on through.

"I don't know about you guys, but I signed up for ghosts," said Cassie. "Not skeletons."

In response, Briella gave a half-laugh, deliberately ignoring how pale the younger girl looked. "Right? Unfortunately, ghosts tend to hang around skeletons. I'm not sure why." She winked at Cassie. The teen was already learning how to cope. Humor was Briella's favorite way, too. It was a lot better than freezing up.

Briella saw Dawa stop out of the corner of her eye, but before she could turn to look, Duncan's words caught her attention. She partially listened to Duke's explanation about the key and silver. It was nothing she hadn't heard before. Then, the de-facto head of the Spirit Detectives paused for a moment before continuing.

"Richard says this has to be the most professional job we've ever done. I just want us to be safe, and prepared. We have less than two hours of daylight left. Then we'll have until dawn tomorrow or a little after. Steven and the others should be back by then. Let's see what we can get done between now and then."

Duke looked a bit uncomfortable, giving that speech. Really, why did Richard go and shove everything on poor Duncan? Sending the Spirit Detectives into the weirdest (and most haunted) farm, telling them to make a TV show, and sending two new members, while he was at it? She didn't understand Richard sometimes.

"Sound great to me!" she said loudly, drawing the attention back to her and away from Duke. "We should probably set up all the equipment before night. Who wants to help me place the fancy tech throughout the house?" Honestly, it wouldn't take that long. Maybe an hour at most. Every device ran on lithium-ion batteries, which lasted for years. Being sufficient and self contained, nothing needed pesky wires.

The camera began to buzz as she approached the house. She paused by the doorway. Then, Briella stepped inside. The second her foot crossed the threshold, she froze.

Y͏̨͍͈̮͎e͏̴̢̨̖͉̞̼̬̫̮̥̳͙͖̬̟̬̮ͅş̗̞̘̜͍͎̹͟,̸̵̛̗̣̟̳̹̼̞̘̼̞̬ ̡͕̪̥͈͉͖̣͇͔͇͇̣͟y̶̧̛͘͏̳̰̖̪͍̩͍̟͔̗̮̮̟͖̺͇̗̳̮ò̪͙̹͕̺̹̜̱̹͎̞̬͉͝͞ͅͅų̷̰̙̮͙̤̝̱̤̦͎̯͟ͅ ̵̩̬͔w҉͏̖͇͉͜ͅi͢͏̕҉̪̮̲̬͍͖͚̼̥͉̝̯̼͚̭̭̟̤̖l̸̸̩̞̬͎̕ͅͅl̢̗͔̱̪͖͇̤̟̣͉̭̙̘̀͢ ̶̶̮̻͓͈̳̣̥͟d̸̨̮̗̯͎̘̦͇͇̗̥̥̥̻͖o̷̡͏̞̫̗̭̜̰̣.̶͈̻͚͈̲̳̪̀͠Y̶̬͖͉̠͠o̩͎̟͉͕̝͝͡u͈̟̝͞͠ ̛̙͍͇̬͇w̵͙̘̩͚̺̠̕i̫̩̗̲̼̯̞͍l̩̖͎͚̤͚̻͜l̹͖̮̜͖̝͇͡ ͍̣̫͎̬̺̜́d̛͎ò̺̮̭̀ ̲̱̟̼͚̪̯͡n̴̻͚̮͓͖͈͍̕͝i̸̦̘̝̬c͍̱̳̠e҉͖̗ͅḷ̩͎͈͍̺̝y̨̨̱͉̙.̵̟͉Y͕̘͘es͖̘͎͚̤̖.̻ͅ ҉̮ ̗͓̗̰̰͓̭͟ ͏ͅ ̙̣͕̗̖̖͞ ̹͖̖͖ ҉̪ ̮̤̥͕ ͕ ̲̯̺̦͓̖͘ ̯͕͕ ̴



The voice sounded like a corruption of all that was human. It was a recording of a recording that had been distorted beyond comprehension, fading into wretched sounds that had no resemblance to words. Each syllable dripped with amused malice. Neither male nor female, young nor old, loud nor soft—it simply was.

"The hell?" she muttered to herself. Briella shuddered violently. It felt like something had stolen all the warmth away. Then, the moment passed. She glanced at her camera. The land outside the farmhouse had a strong magnetic field, but it was nothing compared to the amount of Teslas inside the house. "The creepy stuff isn't supposed to happen to me," Briella joked. "I'm just here for tech support."



͖͎̞̝̪̬͖̓̀ͪ͋ ̢̠̣̀ͥ ͉ͬͭ͜ ̷ ̢ ̨ ̢ ́ ͠ ̛ ̡ ͟ ̶ ̛̹̬͔͉̲̺̥ ͖̝ͮͫ̅͋ͪͨ͘ͅ ͟ ͠ ҉ ̼͍̻̖̂̂̒̉̾̅̕ ͧ̚ ́ ͠ ̛ ̡ ̡̼̉͗̆̓ͤ ́̿̽͊̂ ̅́̀͑͋ ̼́̈́ͥ ̰̝̟̖ͪͤͧ̅̀͛ ́ ͠ ̛ ̡ ̝̍̄̚ ̛̹̬͔͉̲̺̥ ̪̻̟͉͉͓ͭ̿͋̒͆ ̷ ̢ ̨ ̢ ́ ͠ ̛ ̡ ͟ ̶ ͟ ͠ ҉


(And yet, she could still hear the fading whisper laughing softly in her head.)