Chapter 64 - Hunting For The Skeleton

Louise knew that couldn't be the maid, who had screamed for her help. If Emily wanted, she could have killed Meg and was right now using the Meg's voice to bait everyone back into the manor, but she wasn't stupid for it. She had fallen for the trick once with Lady Viola, but she wasn't going to fall for it again. 

Emily had started her killings, and Graham was away from Habsburg and in Hungate now. By the time their coachman and the other servant, who had been sent there, would reach Graham, it would be too late for him to return again, thought Louise in her mind. 

"What do we do now, Lady Louise?" asked Gilbert, a deep frown on his forehead. 

"We need to find her body. Find her skeleton and burn it," stated Louise, hearing the scream continue inside the manor. 

"Do you know where to find it?" asked Father Edward. 

Louise shook her head, "I don't know. But I am hoping Gilbert will help us here. You know what Emily did during the time she was married to Graham and if there's any safe place that she felt, she must have kept her body. It shouldn't be too far and should be somewhere here in the estate."

The servants had a terrified look on their faces and they looked at each other, before one of them spoke, "Milady, the estate is acres of land. I doubt we'll be able to cover it quickly in this short amount of time. Isn't it better to come back tomorrow here?"

Camella nodded her head, "We can ask the help of the officers and it will be faster. 

To this, Father Edward frowned and asked them, "Do you think she will let you walk out of here without harming you? If I knew she was going to attack today, I would have brought more of the holy water. With the little amount I have, it won't be enough and we will need to send her back where she actually belongs today," he whispered, slightly worried that the vengeful spirit was lurking somewhere around here. 

"Father Edward is right. I think it is better if we split into groups of three to cover the ground quicker," suggested Louise and everyone looked apprehensive about it, but they decided to go along. "Gilbert, go with them, I want you to check the grounds where we found the dress before. Dig out the area and see if you find anything. We need to go to the lake."

"It is impossible to look at what is at the bottom of the lake, milady as it is dark," said one of the servants.

The servant did have a point, thought Louise and she said, "Leave the lake for now and go check the graves of the other family members. See if you find any ground that looks bumpy as it has been pushed up from below."

"Yes, milady," one set of the servants left and so did Gilbert, he made his way with two servants towards the forest. 

"I will accompany you, Lady Louise," informed Father Edward as the ghost wanted Louise while the rest of the people in the manor were only pawns. 

"Will it be enough? To burn her skeleton?" questioned Louise, her eyebrows knitting together in question. With the servants who had dispersed to find Emily's skeleton, Louise noticed how the cry for help had slowly stopped, leaving the entire place quiet. The rain had stopped, leaving the ground wet and muddy. 

"She hid the body, it means she knows that it is important to preserve it if she wants to continue to haunt the manor and you now," replied Father Edward and Louise nodded her head. 

"Have you tried to see where the evil and dark energy is stemming from? We could possibly follow it," said Louise, her eyes looking at the man hopeful. But instead, she received a grim expression on his face. 

"The energy that is heavy is the house, milady. I don't know if it is because she is in there, or if it is because she has been living in the manor with all of you for so long, her energy must have spread out and it has now turned into her den," explained Father Edward. 

"Okay," said Louise, nodding her head, while trying to keep her calm. The marks around her neck had turned even more visible with finger prints on it as the ghost had tried to squeeze her to death. 

"Where is Mr. Reed?" questioned Father Edward and Louise's eyes turned to look at the entrance gates of the manor that came behind the trees that were visible to her. 

"He went to Hungate. I have asked the servants to fetch him from there as soon as they can. I think they probably thought they should call him before they call you," which was probably why Father Edward never crossed paths with the servants, thought Louise to herself. "I am hoping he finishes his work as soon as he can and returns. Let us take a look near the lake and see if we find any footprints there."

Father Edward nodded his head and then followed Louise, trying to take a look on their way to see if they found anything odd that would stand out, but the rain had possibly washed everything and anything it could so that Louise would not be able to find it. 

While the servants had scattered into two groups as they were frightened after seeing Lady Viola's body along with Emily, who looked nothing less than a rotting body, they tried to stick together. Every once in a while, they looked over their shoulder to make sure they were not being followed and to see if there were any strange movements. 

Gilbert had quickly reached the forest grounds and with the help of one maid, who carried the lantern and the other male servant who started to dig the ground, the butler helped in shoveling the mud out from its spot. 

On the other side, Father Edward kept muttering prayers to keep the evil away, but it wasn't enough. 

Thunder growled up in the sky, shaking the ground that was beneath them and the wind started to breeze again, which was ice cold. 

Louise carried one of the lanterns in her hand, looking around the corners outside the manor. 

"Louisseee…" Both Louise as well as Father Edward turned alert on hearing Emily's voice, "You can search all you want, but you will never find my skeleton," came the whispered voice, reaching their ears. 

Louise's hands turned into fists. Emily was back to playing and taunting her. 

"What do you want?!" she questioned the ghost, looking at the manor from the outside and trying to see if the ghost was standing behind the windows. 

"Your death. Your blood on my hands, just the way I have killed all the other wives," claimed Emily.

"You are dead, Emily. You do not belong to this world anymore, you don't belong to this family-" 

"AHHHHH!!!" the ghost screamed, Emily's voice echoing through the empty manor where there were no living people in there. And slowly the scream turned to the ghost cackling as if she was happy. "You are scared. I will kill you slowly, take my time." 

Louise wondered if there was no breaking away from this curse. If Emily wouldn't be stopped, she would continue to kill people mercilessly, just so that she could live with Graham. It didn't matter to Emily that Graham didn't love her and never would. 

Not stepping inside the manor, they tried to find the skeleton, while Emily slowly slipped out of the manor to kill the other people one by one, so that she could find Louise all alone and would then torture her worse than she had done to Lisa. 

With Father Edward, Louise continued to walk on the grounds of the manor, but she doubted there could be a place that Emily wanted her body to stay in. It had to have some sort of meaning. 

"We should go check the lake," whispered Louise before looking at the priest and saying, "The lake. It might have answers."

"But it is too dark to swim in there, milady," stated Father Edward and Louise nodded her head. 

"Yes, I know. But I think there's residue of someone in there," and they quickly made their way towards the lake, running with the lanterns in their hands. When they reached the place, the lake looked nothing less than an abyss which was ready to swallow anything that would enter it. 

Fog escaped from Louise's mouth because of the temperature that had dropped around the Reed's estate. Her eyes frantically looked around, while the priest wondered what the lady was thinking, if she was planning to take a dive in the water when it was ice cold. 

"Graham is in trouble," said Louise, "And Emily is going to hurt him more, we need your help!" 

For a moment, Father Edward wondered if Louise was asking him or if she was losing her mind. 

"Please!" shouted Louise, while looking at the lake. She received nothing but silence in return. Her lips quivered because of the cold biting into her skin.

After a few seconds, Father Edward noticed the surface of the lake shake and so did Louise. Soon the surface broke and Father Edward gripped on his cross and the holy water that he hadn't dared to put it in his pocket. 

"This cannot be happening," whispered Father Edward, on seeing the ghost of Lisa Reed make her way towards them. It was as if with every step that the ghost took, the more her body turned visible. 

Louise noticed how the woman looked the same as the time when the ghost had scared her before she had found her skeleton in the bed of the lake. 

"Why is Lisa' spirit here?" whispered Father Edward, not knowing that they were dealing with more than one ghost.

Lisa's ghost didn't pay attention to the man, but instead looked at the woman who stood next to him. "You didn't leave," Louise spoke to the dead person, who stared back at her. 

"Can't leave," came the distorted voice of Lisa. 

"What if this is Emily's trick?" asked Father Edward, because the vengeful ghost pulled many tricks this evening. 

"It cannot be," replied Louise, "Emily hates her, she would never try to be her, but instead take her place."

Louise had come here because this had been the only place she had met Lisa' reflection. Somewhere, she had a doubt that she would find the woman here. As if after Emily had placed her skeleton in here, the woman's spirit had been trapped. 

"Do you know where to find Emily's body? Have you seen where she had placed it?" questioned Louise and the ghost shook its head. 

"I don't know," Lisa's ghost replied. "I cannot leave the lake."

"Her spirit must have been stuck here for far too long to leave," said Father Edward and he said, "The only way to make spirits leave is by burning their body."

Louise had hoped that Lisa would somehow know about it, and if she didn't, it meant the skeleton was not in the lake. Where else would Emily hide it?

"Emily had gone as far as to change the bodies from Lisa' casket so that she could take her place and be loved before," said Louise, trying to rack through her brain for answers with the little time they had. "There's Lisa' room inside the manor."

"It isn't me anymore." 

Louise turned to look at Lisa, who stared in the direction of where the manor stood. 

"It isn't I but you, whom she wants to replace and she won't stop until she settles it," came the soft whisper of voice from Lisa. "I was Graham's yesterday, you are his today. Places that are dear to Graham with you."

To her? Louise asked herself. 

Emily's ghost hadn't left the manor, and she wondered if she was guarding her skeleton that was in the manor, while the others were looking for it outside and in the grounds of the manor. 

Which places were important to them? Asked Louise, trying to remember the time they had spent together and all she could think was the study room and their bedroom. The bedroom. 

"I know where her skeleton is," said Louise to Father Edward. She remembered the time when Emily's ghost had laid on the same bed as them in the middle of the night. It wasn't because the ghost wanted to scare her. 

Though Graham and Emily had been married for only a month, Emily had still shared the same room as Graham, sleeping on the very bed and the bedside where Louise had been sleeping until now. Emily had killed the first three wives and had replaced their position. Not knowing that one day, she would be replaced by Louise. 

"Thank you," said Louise to Lisa and the woman stared at her. 

"Will you do me a favour?" asked the ghost, a phantom who had been dead for the last five years. Louise nodded her head, not knowing what Lisa's ghost wanted. "Burn my body too."

"I will," responded Louise, not knowing how lonely it must have been for the ghost to live and be stuck in here. 

"I am sorry for your loss," said Lisa, even in death, she looked somewhat beautiful. Louise wondered if Lisa could sense one's grievance, that she had lost too many people in her life. First her parents, and now the Reed's members. She saw Lisa' ghost didn't stay around and disappeared back into the lake. 

Louise and Father Edward quickly made their way back towards the manor. On her way, she stumbled over a stone that she hadn't noticed, and the lantern in her hand fell on the ground. Knowing there was no other way to stop the ghost, they had to go back inside the manor to make sure the skeleton was burnt and Emily wouldn't play more tricks on them. 

The former maid was a crazy woman, who must have been affected too deeply with her mother and father's death and her sister, leaving her all alone in this world. The comfort she had tried to seek had turned into a quick obsession and there was no turning back for her. 

To think that all this time, Louise had been sleeping in the same spot as Emily, she didn't know how to feel about it.