CHAPTER#34

"I feel woefully underprepared," she said, looking at his clothes.

"You learn to dress quickly around here." He winced when he heard a door bang, then proceeded down the stairs. He stopped at the second floor, but the hallway was dark and no sounds could be heard from that direction. He kept going but didn't make it much farther before he saw Cerulea fire past him.

"Hey! What are you three-" he stopped when he saw five different colored orbs of light chasing after her. Cerulea reappeared, crashing into his chest.

"Bad spirits! Bad spirits!" She grabbed the neckline of his shirt and scrambled underneath. The orbs came around the corner and scattered before colliding with him. They swirled around in the entryway and then disappeared into the office.

What fresh hell were they dealing with now? He walked into the office and saw that the orbs had gone missing. He took a couple of steps in and the chair behind the desk launched itself at him.

"What the fuck?" He covered his face with his arms, the chair smashing into him. He fell down and rolled, fresh blood trickling down his face. He had bitten his lip. Was the furniture here possessed now too?

An orb blasted out of the chair and passed through the wall. The chair, thank god, remained motionless. Beth helped him up while Zel watched from the doorway. Once standing, he grabbed the bottom of his shirt and shook it. Cerulea fell out, landing on her back on the floor. She kicked her feet to right herself, but Mike helped her up.

"What were those things?"

"Bad spirits!" She flapped her wings, hovering in front of his face. "I caught them breaking dishes, so they chased me."

"Where did they come from?" When he turned around, he realized that one of them was missing. "Tink?"

"Husband!" Her voice was faint, but he was able to follow it. They all ended up at the top of the stairs to the basement. Walking down, he felt a sense of foreboding. Sure enough, he spotted Tink next to the freezer. A small hole had been carved into the concrete wall, and Mike knew exactly what the issue was.

"They came through the Vault, didn't they?"

Tink nodded, pulling her goggles over her head. "Big mess inside." She picked up the piece of chalk hidden below the freezer and drew a door next to the hole. Beth watched, her jaw open in disbelief as Tink knocked and the door opened, letting her in.

He was going to follow her, but stopped. The large shelves had been knocked over, and all manner of items had spilled out along the floor. The goblin was able to move amongst the items without touching them, her tail lifting high at times to avoid an errant touch of something. He still had no idea what all was in there, but Tink had reassured him that everything was very dangerous.

"Uh oh." Tink knelt down and picked something up. She worked her way back out, holding something in her hands. When she pushed the pieces of it together, it was an old clay jar.

"Okay, enlighten me. What am I looking at?"

"Jar of Souls. Emily bring back from England. Bad ghosts trapped in here, like to throw things and make big mess."

"Poltergeists." Beth spoke from behind them. "There were poltergeists in that jar."

"Uh huh. Jar broke. Can't put them back." She handed Mike the pieces. "Unless can maybe fix?"

At the suggestion of fixing the jar, three lights burst out of the freezer. They swirled around him and then hit him in the chest, knocking him down. The jar slipped from his fingers and shattered on the floor. The room filled with cackling laughter before the lights vanished.

"Or not." Tink picked up a shard of the pot. "Nope. No can fix now."

"The bigger question is why." Zel was peering through the hole in the wall. "Why did the rats put a hole here?"

"I'm guessing they were trying to get in."

"That would seem logical, but think again. Why would they want to get in?" Beth stuck her head through the door. "Is all of this stuff dangerous?"

"To take something obviously. And yes."

"Then why the mess? If they knew what they wanted to take, why is everything knocked over?" She stepped inside, causing Tink to squeak in protest. Tink grabbed Beth by the hand and dragged her back.

"No go, no touch! Super dangerous." She wagged her finger at Beth. "Tink can go, but not you?"

"Why do you get to go?"

"Goblin skin tough." She patted herself proudly on the chest. "Bad spell not hurt Tink."

"Wait." Mike knelt down in front of her so they were face to face. "Are you resistant to magic Tink?"

"Uh huh. Goblin good at surviving bad spell, skin very strong. Tink hit in head once by very bad spell but survive. Make hard to talk though."

"Yeah. Yeah you did." He put his hand between her horns and tousled her hair. He had seen the moment in a memory of Emily's. A wand had blasted the goblin in the face, knocking her clear across the yard. He had always thought Tink's speech was the product of being a goblin, but it was actually the result of a brain injury that should have killed her. "If you looked in there, could you tell if anything was missing?"

"Tink know. Tink help take care of Vault." Something upstairs shattered, causing everybody to wince.

"Ok, here's the plan. The Vault can't stay open like this. If the rats did take something, they might be back for more. Tink, I want you to get this cleaned up so we can see what is missing. Beth, I need you to keep watch out here so that Tink can focus on her job and staying safe."

Tink nodded and walked over to the freezer. She stuck her hands behind the wall and retrieved a pair of gloves, which she slid over her hands. "Tink ready."