Nightmares Vs Magic

She picked up the phone again and repeated to Annabelle what Laurence had first requested from the beginning. 

"Please get Bence and yourself up to the attic, as quickly as you can." 

The illusions did finally stop after Vernon had completely cleared the largest window of the house of ivy and the rest of the house of the roots and plants clinging to the walls, like caging around it, the others were also able to safely explore the other rooms, opening up the curtains. The young woman kept her hand on the crank to prevent it from playing again.

Some more natural sounds climbed up the ladders to the attic as the detective appeared, taking careful steps towards her slouched and tired form. 

"How do you feel?" He gently asked her, kneeling to sit beside her. 

"She's a skeleton, how long do you think she's been here? Never found?"

"For as long as the house was abandoned. These old houses are just now being noticed, after the past owners, died and their descendants are now inheriting them."

Dove stayed silent, looking at the skeleton across the room, not much meat for even the bugs to pick on anymore. 

The music box in her hand didn't put up much of a fuss anymore. She passed it to him to inspect.

"It wasn't the mentally ill or even the old family members haunting the house, it was the nanny. The rooms we saw belonged to the kids she took care of, her spirit was confused, thought we were the children, tried to herd us into the rooms."

"Do you think she was a good nurse?"

She thought for a moment, looking around the room. 

There were locks on the outside of the doors, and then a lock for the inside of her room. 

"Well, the locks were certainly questionable, but maybe she was just paranoid or afraid, or maybe judgmental."

Laurence then stood up, holding out a hand for her, and she took it, still using her legs, refusing to let him put much effort into pulling her up. The window behind them was becoming more lit up, some of the greeneries were now just falling off. 

She sighed, subtly basking in the warmth of the setting sun. 

"However way she treated them, I just know that when she died here, she must've been thoroughly confused, maybe following a routine that she did when she was alive until living visitors came... So, what's next?"

"Closing inspection, one more attempt to patrol around this place." The detective put a hand in his pocket as he rotated the music box in his hand.

"But that's just something Bence and I will be doing; you and the others will be resting."

He offered to escort her out, but she shook her head and decided to fully explore the rest of the house, now that nothing crazy will happen, so he let her follow him and Bence after the two men had the other interns sit aside, to which they also rejected. 

Joon was intrigued by the mannequins, specifically their mobilities, and was begging for permission to take them since he didn't get to see them in action. The boy was staring with envy, watching Annabelle describe what she saw when seeing them try to chase after her and Bence in the basement. The mannequins were the main part of the strange movements and figures that some passerby would see either as silhouettes in the windows or the ones making movement in the gardens at night. Due to all of this, they would need to be studied, much to Joon's triumph. 

Bence watched Joon bounce on his one flesh ankle as he yammered to the alchemist, that he was shadowing, to schedule when to pick up all the mannequins for study. The corner of his mouth nearly twitched upward at the boy's cheeky enthusiasm.

Dove ushered Annabelle and Vernon to follow her so as to keep them on a leash, looking to Laurence who smiled quickly and nodded his head at her, before then helping Bence to inspect the house, starting from the outside.

Having a calmer look around, we were able to breathe better, and Annabelle was happy about not having any safety rules as we went from room to room. All the bedrooms had a toy, or more like an enrichment item of some sort, but we could tell which were for the children and which belonged to the older family members. The kids' rooms were upstairs, I assumed a good 5-6 kids based on the number of beds, one room had two separate beds, another had a singles bed on one side and a bunk bed on the other. 

Surprisingly not as many bedrooms in reality. That hallucination was insane. It was just two and what was considered a good size for a master's bedroom in the 1900s, late or mid, I don't know when this house was built. Hell, it could've already been old by the time the family with their nanny moved in, and they installed the bathroom and stuff. Grandma's room was downstairs, with her knitting needles that she used for making little stuffies for the kiddies still there, with her yarn. Every room save for the master's had a shower built in, all different but for the same purpose. 

The children's bedrooms did have locks, and with some pictures left behind, I saw how big some of the kids actually were. Maybe the nanny really was afraid? Who knows what happened, it's not my business and no one asked me.

"Didn't think I'd ever see an old house with pink walls." Annabelle commented as the three explored each room, but she looked at the picture frames left behind. "Always thought it'd be too frivolous for the people of the 1900s

"It was likely a choice made by owners from the 1800s then, they had more frivolous interior designs, and a safer one too." Dove replied, observing some cracks. 

"I read that back then, something about green paint having arsenic, so pink was safer."

"And then, the newer 1900 homes ended up using asbestos!" Joon suddenly popped in and responded. 

Dove nearly jolted in surprise as she looked over her shoulder at him, smiling at the pink walls while thinking of the irony. 

Joon had finished his call and decided to join them as Laurence and Bence were still busy, and they were also still waiting for someone to come and retrieve the body in the attic. Bence told them to not go near or touch her. 

"Yeah, but I guess how else would people learn about the chemical without a couple deaths I guess." Dove tried to match what she guessed was his humor, although she could not make her tone sound uplifting. 

Joon snickered at this, Annabelle did too. 

"How else would they learn?"

"They won't pay attention unless something scary happens."

We stopped exploring the second floor and went down, where the odder rooms that are no longer built today were. Or, even if they were, it's very little because most modern people have the interior design skills of someone designing uncomfortable airport lobbies and waiting rooms. All because of 'efficient' designs and 'different materials'.

Vernon went to a certain room and the others followed. The study room, he found the little flower box that hung outside the window of the study, still hanging in there despite the rusted hooks and the dented wood. There were still flowers growing from the small bed of soil, albeit wilting just a bit. 

Dove followed him and gingerly looked over his shoulder, to which he scooted a bit to the side for her to have room to peak over his shoulder. A con to being similar in height.

As soon as Vernon opened the window and leaned over, looking at them from above, the wilting flowers seemed to lift up their heads to him, like sunflowers raising their heads up to the sun. 

"This used to have lavenders in it." He said to her. 

"Oh, but they look different now." 

"But still alive too." 

He didn't even will them to move for him, it seemed like they were just waiting for him to notice them. 

"I'm too tired to coerce any of them into moving right now, but they still like looking at me." He said when Dove asked him if he had moved them like the other plants before.

Although his hair covered his eyes, nothing could cover his blissful smile...

Some people arrived later, in a hearse, a couple others in different cars. I think one was the real estate agent and a coworker of his, I just asked Laurence if we could all go back to the cars while he talked to them. He regretfully said we couldn't, since there were questions that we had to answer. Vernon was upset he couldn't use any of the bones for his garden, Bence kept trying to explain to him, but it was like trying to keep a cat's attention.

Of course. I have to interact with people, and of course, they were going to ask me questions that are perfectly normal for the situation but their tones are gonna make it sound deathly serious and then I'll get too nervous and lose all the confidence in my voice as I try to answer back and it's not like I can ask them to speak a bit more gently because people don't work that way-

The young woman unknowingly stoic and tired expression on as the people who arrived in the hearse came up to ask her about the body of the nanny. Laurence stayed next to her, but he chose not to say anything, still studying her in a way.

I mean, yeah considering how Laurence was there, I had a weird wanting to at least be composed, stay mature, I don't plan on sounding eagerly friendly, but I know I'm not a professional, so I didn't try to talk like that either. The same way I used to act to hope my teachers would always have a good impression of me, I just wanted to act,,, 'mature'? No, upright/well-behaved/impressionable- No none of that exactly! I just, wanted to act like someone, confident and composed, I guess. He's nice and professional, I want to give off the same vibes that he does.

"Attic, down the second-floor hall. I can show you there if need be." She said in a low toned, fast paced voice. 

I didn't mean for it to come out like that! I was just afraid I'd mess up if I said too much! I sounded just like my mother.

It seemed to make the two almost flinch a little as they shook their heads. 

"No, no, that's alright. We can find it." One said as they hurried into the house, and Dove quirked an eyebrow, head jerking as she watched them rush past and into the house, carrying an empty body bag folded over. 

She looked towards Laurence with a concerned look.

"Did,,, Was I too mean there? "

He simply gave her a light chuckle and a smile, shaking his head lightly as Bence walked up to him, asking for the music box, to which he handed over. 

The necromancer would have to inspect it along with another coworker. Since there was only one skeleton in the house causing all the mess, he didn't have as much work as expected, save for tracking down the families of each of the poor souls who fell victim of becoming unwilling 'dolls' acting as the house occupants for the nanny.

"You're fine, you did good today, I think they just noticed how tired you are. Your eyes are strained." 

He could tell even with how dark it was getting from the sun going down.

Yeah, that whole black and white, chalky filter sure did a number on me, even if it was fake, or whatever paranormal illusions are considered.

More questions came from the few people that arrived. 

"What happened to the over grove?"

Vernon just told them he moved it somewhere better. The holes he dug would've been uneven after the morticians removed the other skeletons there, so he put the pieces of greenery and roots that once climbed the house, into each of them before burying them back up after. 

"Is the house still alright?"

Annabelle said it was still in shape, while Dove said nothing but kept a straight face as she showed the pictures of some damaged parts to him. Nothing that would require any big construction, but mildly annoying to have so many.

A van drove up to the house, the driver came out looking for Joon. He recognized the man as he bounced on his living heel again, eagerly going back in while the driver followed him. Two other people came out to help get the mannequins.

Now that I actually saw them, turns out they weren't the mannequins I was thinking, more like life-sized, ball joint smooth wooden dolls. Where the heck would the family have even gotten those? No wonder Joon was so eager.

The pictures everyone took was to be submitted through an email each of them would receive, and some copies were to be made to send to the real estate agent so he can figure out what repairs would need to be made before he can put the house back on the market.

When they all drove back, Annabelle still had more energy left and went back up to the gym floor. 

"I'm off to bother Ursa if anyone needs me!" 

Joon practically ran up the stairs with her, heading for the labs to eagerly tell the others about the dolls he found and was intrigued by. 

It seems like Vernon and Dove were the only tired ones. 

"You can go home early if you want, the rest of the procedures after the case is mostly writing reports. Since you were with me, I can recall most of your actions and observations, just be sure to submit the photos to the email link once you get it." Laurence kindly told her. 

Dove's eyebags must've been awfully prominent today. She shook her head. 

"No, I'd like to finish my full shift as usual. Today was, a little strange, I'd like it to end normally at least."

He paused, and then both him and Bence standing next to them gave her quizzical faces after they reached the detective's floor, all three stepping off as she waved to Vernon as the elevator doors closed for him. 

"A little strange? You sure are being polite to describe it like that, we almost got trapped, and I'm sure you couldn't have missed any of the other weird things today like you usually do." Bence said to her as he carefully held the music box, planning to examine it.

He walked over to his desk, taking his phone out to lay near his keyboard as he searched through his drawer for one of his tomes. 

Dove tilted her head at those last couple of words. 

"Like I usually do?" She echoed back for Laurence to clarify. 

"Yeah, for the past few days after we got a new batch of interns, we've been keeping all this magic on a down low, introducing it to the newcomers slowly." He opened a couple of drawers to his desk, searching, then knelt down to the bigger drawer at the bottom, pulling out what was clearly a magic book as he held it by the spine on his palm, standing back up to present it to Dove. 

"Although, not for Annabelle and Vernon, those two were different, we mostly did it for you and Joon. That boy got very excited when he first noticed the small signs and just made the alchemists show him everything else. But you-"

He let the book sit on his palm, his fingers flattened as well as the book stayed balanced on its spine, then it suddenly opens. The pages rapidly flapping as the whole thing split open to magically right down the middle pages, showing some drawings of horrific creatures inside, very similar to the nightmares seen at night or near windows. 

Laurence glanced from the pages to Dove's face, she didn't really shudder or react much to the drawings, just grabbed her own arm as a form of comfort from the surprise, returning his stare, inviting him to continue. 

"You,,, barely reacted much, we almost thought you just honestly haven't noticed. Even after a couple days, it just got to the point Bence didn't even bother hiding his real job from you. Today, we literally just decided to let you see everything to at least get something out of you while introducing you to our world." 

"What world?" 

He snapped the book shut, a hint of black smoke arising from the pages like it was huffing out evaporated ink, using his index finger to gesture her to follow him as they went back into the elevator, and he pressed the button for archives.

The basement floor. 

"The one that'll explain to you why we're able to see the nightmares that other people can't, the one that reveals the physical forms of creatures considered myths, and basically the one where magic is real, but not the childish kind." 

The young woman hummed as they stood in the elevator. She looked at the book in his hand, and then to the button he pressed.

So far, I was familiar with nearly all the levels in the building save for the sixth, and excluding the rooftop and the basement, as there was never any reason for me to go to any of them before. The top floor was empty, unoccupied, the rooftop had a garden of some sort, but I did wait for the day I'd have to go to the archives floor. I thought it'd be to move some things from the files room to down there, not like this.

The silence between them was alright, but the girl was both curious and uncomfortable with the silence. 

"I have always noticed." She shrugged. "I just didn't think it was my business to question it unless I was to get involved. I could tell it was normal to the rest of you, so I didn't feel the need to be wary of it, because all of you acted normal with it." 

"Well that certainly explains it." He finally lets out a laugh. 

The reflective doors in front of them showed their faces, their stiff standing bodies, slowly loosening with good conversation, 

"At this point, today was just a subtle, 'Hey kid! Look! Magic!', and still, not much from you, not a single panic, but we did get a scream."

"Well, you were with me, and you weren't panicking much..." She tried to find a reason for her own reactions.

"I get that but believe me when I say I might already have a guess as to why your reactions to all this is so toned down." 

The elevator finally stopped, a very light bounce of the lift and the doors opened.

The basement floor, or, the Archives, was much neater than expected. We were immediately greeted by a polished, wooden floor design, with bookshelves on the side, reaching all the way to the ceiling, and then just following the walls from there, the legendary ladders on wheels attached to the shelves, to slide past each of the books on were also there, on each side. There were no walls, sort of, the shelves were the walls, and it wasn't just books on the shelves, one section looked like it had binders filled to the brim, another had airtight jars of scrolls. I knew they were airtight because there was a cloth over each of the neck tops, tightly secured with ribbon string.

"There's, a lot of research here. Whoever works here must be a really good organizer." She said, looking around.

It wasn't completely archaic fancy however, there were desks in the middle, desktop computers on each one. It looked arranged the same way computers in school libraries were.

"Well, years of research collected, all the way from,,, sss..." He mentally thought and remembered, making that light, non-aggressive hissing sound. 

"A little after the medieval times, whenever our dragon began recording stuff. You likely won't ever meet the person assigned to this floor, they're shy." 

"Oh right,,, dragon... Say, I never really hear much about this dragon, who's apparently our boss?"

He shrugged as they walked further down the hallway of shelves, turning a corner.

"She's not social, just studies in her cave on top of her piles of whatever treasures she's horded during each century, or so I'm told at least from our, older, coworkers."

They turned another corner, passing a place that was labeled, "Useful History", mostly filled with scrolls and binders and a computer in the center, that was followed by other sections labeled, "Scientific Mistakes", "Human Facts- Mustn't Forget", and "non-human/living beings", all with their own archaic materials and one piece of modern equipment.

I could tell, and was hoping, that they kept all this research both on paper and digitized. I know it would take some effort to do both but so far, I was sincerely hoping that was exactly why each section had a computer. It would've been the right kind of efficient, and smart for keeping the information just in case something happens to one or the other. The papers get destroyed, or the computers get hacked and info erased. Makes me giddy to want to ask more but I couldn't.

"She used to go out more, but that was before it got so crowded and before skyscrapers."

Turning another corner to a place labeled, "Nightmare containers" is when they finally stopped, more like a section or a small square room, glass wall and door separating it from the rest of the knowledge. 

"Is this floor, like the biggest because it's underground?" She asked, feeling not so shy as before, while looking up at the glass wall.

He chuckled again, grinning, and she turned her head to him, strongly curious. 

"Sorry, I'm not laughing at you. It's just nice to hear you ask questions, being as curious as anyone else would, finally."

He stepped forward, walking towards the door, but the door had many locks on it, some look like they would require large keys. Dove was near flabbergasted but stayed silent.

He was fully conscious, clearly smart, and not the type to just suddenly joke by bumping into glass and pretending he didn't see it, he's not silly like that. He was going to show me something without saying anything, one of my favorite character interactions to read about in books, that much I knew.

Laurence confidently strolled up to the glass, held up the magic book containing the scary monster drawings inside, and pressed it against the glass door.

Just like magic, it suddenly glowed green and he just, phased or walked right through the glass, it rippled like water as he went through. I could no longer hear his footsteps as he fully stepped inside the room, turning around to look back at me with a grin, tilting his head, watching for my reaction. 

I tapped my foot against the hardwood floor to make sure my hearing was still fine. When I heard the satisfying sounds, I then took my turn to slowly, carefully, walk up to the glass. He didn't shake his head or mouth for me not to, so I thought I would try and touch the glass. 

Sure enough, it felt solid to me.

Laurence snickered from the other side as he watched her interact with the walls put up by multiple locking spells, like watching a child interact with something new to them but old to him.

He turned around to do the routine thing, there was a pedestal in the middle of the room, along with a computer sitting beside it, although it didn't look like any normal one. An opened book laid on the pedestal, he picked up the pen next to it and the screen of the computer suddenly turned on that same second, like the pen was a trigger. I guess it was a logbook of some sort, like a magic security system but library level, and then he just put the book onto a random spot on the shelf, only to then walk over to the opposite side labeled "Empty", and taking a random one out. 

He walked back through the glass door without actually opening it, again like it was just gravity-defying water rippling for a few seconds as his body passed through, before stilling back into solid glass. 

"The best way I can describe this floor at the moment, is that because it stores so many memories, it is the most magical. No normal customers or clients can easily access this place, and even if they did, they'd have to figure out the 'library maze' trick." He smiled gently as he gestured for her to look behind her. 

Dove turned around and was taken back to see they were back at the elevator doors, all the way back at the beginning. 

She reached behind her as she quickly turned back to make sure he was there. He patted her shoulder and smiled. 

"Sorry, sorry. Almost forgot what happened today. I'm still here, this floor has no intentions to hurt you, it just wanted to make the trip back more convenient for us." 

"This floor is alive..." She said in a near questioned tone, yet it was mixed with a tone that said she could already tell. 

He nodded as he gently coerced to turn back to the elevators, walking with her to go back up. 

"That little 'maze' trick is a part of its security, a lot of research here is very valuable and gets updated every day. It's also why we never sent you down here before. The data from the computers here can't be accessed by the computers on the above floors unless during an emergency. I knew how calm you've been, but I also knew that the Archives' little security measure certainly would've scared you."

"... And yet, you brought me to a haunted house." She said quietly.

She hesitantly stared at him, he was already staring back, but when he cracked a smile and chuckled, she no longer nervous and also chuckled with him. 

"Yeah, I did. I'm sorry kid, I would've had to eventually." 

"What,,, what do you mean by that?" She asked in a slight nervous tone that he could detect.

"I just wanted to see whether you would qualify, and you certainly do."