The Ghost Town

"Let's go," Aegeas said, making his way up the staircase. Hopefully this would be the last time he had to go up or down this structure; he hated every part of its rusty, slippery surface.

Dean remained on the ground with Zalio - it just made the most sense. The last thing he wanted was for a demon or partial to attack Zalio when he was countless feet off of the ground and away from the fight. Charlotte, Kartiel and Herobrine followed Aegeas up the staircase, all sticking close together as they approached the top.

When Lasan saw the first block of light in front of him, he gently placed one foot on. Then another. It held. He gulped, watching more blocks of light appear in a staircase pattern around him. But he knew there wasn't any other way - at least, any other way he liked - so he took a deep breath and headed up the steps.

Aegeas reached the top of the regular stairs first. Glad to be on flat ground, he looked around. "Anything that might be of use?" he said, straining to see through the misty darkness.

The trio that had followed him up also began to look for something that could be of use. After a few more minutes of searching, Charlotte's eyes landed on a nozzle. She gestured to it. "I think we can get water from there." It was only a short distance away, and the stairs that Zalio was making could easily lead up to it.

Aegeas nodded. As Lasan approached, the otter reached down and tugged on the nozzle. Covered in rust, it wouldn't budge for a few seconds. Then it creaked. A trickle of water poured out in time for Lasan to reach the structure and set down his barrel on it.

"That went about as smoothly as it could've gone," said Aegeas to himself. He tried not to think about the climb down.

Dean's original plan was to watch from the ground below, but, just as they were in the middle of filling up the container, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. His grip on his bat tightened. That was undoubtedly a ghost from the old fashioned clothes, and even more likely to be a partial than anything else. He hoped they'd finish filling the container up soon; the ghost wasn't wandering towards them, but there was a growing possibility that they were going to notice them soon.

Aegeas, nearsighted as he was, never would've been able to spot the ghost. Lasan, however, caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of his eye as he set the barrel in front of the stream of water. A chill ran up his spine. What was that? Why was it there? What was it doing?

"Everything alright down there?" Lasan called to Dean.

"I'd say yes," Dean shouted back, "but then I'd be lying! There's a ghost down here. I don't think she's noticed us yet, but she's definitely a ghost from those clothes that she's wearing. But don't worry - I've got my bat."

Lasan wasn't exactly reassured by the bat. "Should we come down there?" he said.

"Where is it?" Aegeas said, grabbing onto the railing and peering down. He sounded a bit frantic. Now Lasan felt a little less keen on staying on where he was.

Kartiel, Herobrine and Charlotte muttered similar questions, all clearly worried by the ghost.

"You should probably come down," Dean replied, "but do it very, very slowly. We don't want to draw the ghost's attention." He raised a finger and pointed in her direction. "And the ghost is right there."

Thankfully, Zalio didn't seem too stressed about the situation. He reached into his bag and pulled out two small daggers. He held them out in front of him, only to pause and look over at Dean.

"This wouldn't work on a ghost," he realized.

"Yeah, they wouldn't-" Dean started to agree, only to glance down and see what they were made of. "Wait, are those iron daggers?"

Zalio nodded. "Yeah. Unfortunately, I forgot to pack my diamond ones today-"

"No, you don't understand, Zalio," Dean interrupted, giving him a big grin. "Those are perfect! Iron works great on ghosts. That's why I have all the iron nails in this bat. And a bit of holy water in the finisher, but we'll have that soon."

Lasan shook the barrel, hearing the sloshing of water inside. "I think it's about as full as it's going to get," he said. "We'd better get going. Ready to go, Zalio?"

But, as Lasan lifted the barrel and walked to the railing, he saw Aegeas clinging to the railing. The otter focused on a point on the ground, eyes bulging.

"Ready?" Lasan said.

Aegeas shook his head. "I'm not going down there," he whispered.

Ugh, of course. He must've seen the ghost. Lasan knew how strong Aegeas's grip could be, so it'd be impossible to pry him away, even without considering Lasan's holding the barrel. So Lasan turned to the others and said, "Have any plans?"

It was hard to make out Aegeas holding onto the railing, but, after a bit of squinting, he was able to see what the holdup was. Dean let out a particularly loud groan. "Aegeas, you can't stay up there!" he shouted. He had to turn around again and keep his eyes on the ghost - he couldn't risk her getting too close without knowing why she had decided to stick around her death. "If you stay there, we'll have to leave you behind. And if we leave you behind, a ghost could climb up those stairs and get you!"

That was just a bit of a lie. The stairs that led up to where Aegeas were appeared to be made of some sort of alloy that likely had iron in it. Any partial would be running the other way if they got too close. But, still. Aegeas staying there was a horrible idea, and he needed him down.

"If he doesn't get down," Kartiel suddenly said, leaning over the railing beside Aegeas and peering down at the two people on the ground, "Hero, Charlotte and I can use our magic to pry him off!"

Herobrine turned him. "I don't think he would like us that much."

Kartiel shrugged. "At least he wouldn't be dead."

"You do know he's standing right next to you two, right-" Charlotte started to say, only to fall silent when she noticed something in the distance. "G-guys, I think we have something else to worry about."

Dean turned. The ghost he had been keeping his eye on had disappeared into one of the buildings. Charlotte, unfortunately, was not referring to her. She was referring to the girl wearing relatively modern clothes that was coming down the street that eventually led to the water tower, and the little girl that was clutching her hand. That wouldn't have normally been a problem. They looked human enough.

But there was a little more to them.

They were covered in burns.

Burns that no one could have ever survived receiving.

Lasan shook his head. "We can't do that," he said. He gritted his teeth and looked back at Aegeas, who was now staring at another spot. Since the other three had done the same, that could only mean the ghost had moved, or there was another one. Neither was all that great. So, he chose to look away. "I don't know what he's thinking right now, but, if we startle him, he might lash out. Can we fight off the ghost, or maybe knock him out, or distract him, or something? I don't want to get violent here, but it doesn't look like we have much choice."

"It's actually a they," Zalio quietly said. Dean glanced over at him and saw that the grip he had on his iron daggers had tightened considerably. Even his stance had changed; this seemed much more serious than before.

But something didn't seem right.

He ran over the details in his head. They were children and burn victims. Everyone could see them. They were heading their way. They should have been partials - which would process a great threat, since partials tended to get violent and children didn't have the same moral conduct as their adult counterpart. He should have been swinging his bat already.

But he couldn't.

They came closer. It suddenly became easier to make out details about the two. The little girl was gripping the older one's hand as tightly as Zalio was currently holding his daggers. She turned to the older girl - her big sister, maybe? - and said something, clutching the burnt remains of what must have been a teddy bear close to her chest. The older ghost looked ahead and stared at the group assembled with eyes that were suddenly alight with terror. She took her hand out of the little girl's grasp and scooped her up, holding her just like the little girl was holding her teddy bear.

Then she darted away from them, down the nearest street that happened to be far away from where the water tower was. Dean's eyes widened at the action. He couldn't explain why everyone else in the group could see the ghosts, but those weren't partials. There were too many unique actions, and the fear was one that he had encountered in the past.

"We need to go after them," he simply said.

They were kids. If they were that scared of an adult, that must have meant other hunters had been through here. Hunters that hadn't cared if someone was a partial or not, and hunters that were fine with hurting children. To make things even worse, their clothes suggested that they had only recently died - the trauma the two kids must have gone through was enormous.

Lasan gaped at the two figures below. Hard as it was to see, they looked like ghosts. The ghosts of children, to be exact. And when they ran away, anger seized him. If these ghosts were dead people, that meant something - or someone - had killed children. Probably everyone in the entire town.

He tightened his grip on the barrel, causing the sides to creak and groan. Lasan wheeled around to find Aegeas still gripping the railing. That wouldn't do. Reaching an arm out, Lasan peeled one of the otter's hands from the railing. Aegeas instantly turned around, face contorting in rage for the split second before seeing Lasan. The otter stared up, blinking.

"These ghosts are here for a reason," Lasan said. He kneeled down so he'd be at Aegeas's height. "And if that reason's a person, we'll make them a ghost too."