Tag: halloween

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MYSTERY OF THE LUSTARAY
CLOCK GHOST: PART TWO

“THERE’S ALWAYS A WAY THROUGH”

A ghost sang out a slow flowing melody with no words. His song was tragic, slowly rising, rising, then falling hard every time. Cade and Blake stared intently at the massive dark orange clock set high on the empty black wall.
“We found it,” said Blake high-fiving Cade.
“Yeah we did,” Cade answered, nodding rhythmically.
“You seriously think we’re carrying that clock out of here?”
“Not anymore,” Cade answered. “I didn’t know it was this big.”
“You saw the picture?”
“Well yeah, but, but, I’ve never seen a clock like this before. Clocks are supposed to be small.” The kids stood right under it, gazing up at the slow ticking clock with the second hand dragging around, making the only sound in the empty room. The distant ghostly singing echoed out in hidden halls.
“How we going to reach it?” Cade looked around at the dusty desks spread across the gloomy classroom, then smiled. “Cool, let’s build.” The kids dragged all the desks to the front of the class. Then they began stacking them on top in the center, then another layer on top of that, followed by a final desk in the center making a castle of desks. The tragic singing grew more clear. They worked to lift the old, worn out desk in the center up to the top of the stack.

“You think it will…” Cade jumped up on the top desk. “Hold?”
“What’s the worst that could happen?” Blake asked, before giving a shaky nod to the distant floor. Cade pulled at the clock hand slowly dragging by, but couldn’t hold it back. Then he touched the different numbers he could reach. Blake started looking behind it. “Look, the hour hand isn’t moving.”
“The hour hand never moves, what you talking about?” asked Blake.
“Yeah it does, you just can’t see it.”
“Then how you know it’s not moving?”
“I can tell,” said Cade, pulling at the hour hand. It began to turn. A loud, eerie whining started up, knocking the kids back. The tragic ghostly singing suddenly stopped cold.
“What is that?”
“I think this must be it, the key, the hour hand is the key,” Cade said excitedly, “the key to the treasure.”
“There’s no treasure,” a quiet, solemn voice answered. The kids spun around to see a frail ghost lit up in a soft green haze.
“I’ve been stuck here in this cold, empty underground classroom for years.” Cade and Blake exchanged anxious looks. “You see, when you become a ghost, you can find yourself in a cold, dark empty place that you can’t escape. Every day I just sit on the bare floor and stare at the cracks in the walls. I try to picture something cool happening, something I can remember, but I can’t see anything. All I see is the dark orange clock ticking, hour after hour goes by, and nothing changes, no one visits, and I have nowhere to go.”
“We’re here now,” said Cade.
“That’s right,” said Blake with an energetic smile.
“There is a mystery,” the ghost continued, “some way out to a better place for me where I can be free, but I can’t figure it out.”
“We can,” Cade answered confidently.
“That’s why you invited us,” Blake added.
“What are you talking about?” the ghost asked.
“You invited us here,” said Cade, “that’s what the other ghost said, the one with the mop.” Eerie whining grew louder from the slow ticking clock.
“I haven’t seen him in years. He never talks to me. How would I have invited you?” Cade pulled out a small black book and opened the page to the picture of the dark orange clock. Then the ghost pointed to a blacked out section in the center of the page. “See this? The one who invited you didn’t want you to see this.”
“See what?” asked Blake. Then the ghost pointed to the old, worn out desk where writing in soft green glowing letters appeared:

Someday the students will be called by the clock
To find the dingy classroom closed by a heavy lock
The young student failed in the art school
He tried too much, to make everyone else a fool
But one day he will return, to finish what he begun
He cannot escape, nor can anyone else, until it’s done
The way through is revealed by the name Lustaray
Fight through the heavy confusion to see one way
If you try to see the light all at once, you will fail
Go through the center and you will prevail
They all want to shine like a brilliant light
This is where you will find the way that’s right
But lights only shine in the dark night…

Eerie whining grew louder as Cade quickly wrote down the prophecy. Just then the ghostly singing started up again, echoing in a slow driving rhythm with a steady booming around the room. The kids turned to see the dark orange clock flashing to the rhythm.
“You moved the hour hand,” the ghost answered quietly. “That’s why he invited you. He knew you would look for the secret in the clock.”
“What is the secret?” asked Cade.
“There’s a way to lock down the entire school. It was put in place so a dark enemy wouldn’t be able to enter, but no one can leave either, not even the ghosts. The ghost with the mop is the one who invited you here, because he doesn’t want to find a way out. The way the lockdown begins is by moving the hour hand.”
A twisted-confused look came across Cade’s face. “It’s locked down now?” he asked.
“It’s in the process, but it takes time,” the ghost answered.
“Why did he need us?” asked Blake.
“Because he’s a ghost, too weak to move it, but you can, and he knew kids like you would try it, to find the secret.”
“He’s going to do everything he can to block your way.”
“We need to get moving,” said Blake.
“How much time until the lockdown is final?” asked Cade.
“You have one hour.” The kids turned back to the prophecy, reading it over as the ghostly singing grew stronger around them.
“There’s a way out in this room,” said Cade, talking fast. “What have…” He turned to the ghost but he was gone. Blake looked around at the empty dark room lit by the flashing dark orange. Then he moved over to the walls feeling the cracks. Cade started looking around the floor. Tragic singing rocked the walls. Blake glanced at the clock showing 11:10.
“We have until midnight.” Cade started shaking.
“What if we get trapped here? We’ll never…”
“Cade, we’ll figure it out. Trust me.” Cade shook his head. With an intense gaze, Blake repeated, “Trust me. It’s us. We can find our way out of anything.” Cade slowly nodded.
“Let’s go then.” The ghostly voice sang slower and slower, his voice slurring, the tragic flowing melody blurring together. Cade walked up and down the floor, staring close at the dark marble. Long dark shadows stretched right down the center from the dark orange light from the Lustaray Clock, flickering to the ghost song. He began crawling across the cold floor feeling the numerous cracks and scratches throughout.
Blake started pounding at various points on the wall. Then he began launching himself at the wall. Cade turned and watched with a perplexed gaze.
“This may be a dumb question, but…”
“I’m just trying to find the trap door or whatever.”
“Who says there’s a trap door?”
“I didn’t say there was one…”
“There probably isn’t.”
“Well we have to try something.” Cade shrugged, then started crawling up the floor to the left of the long dark shadows stretching across the rugged crack in the floor, bouncing to the tragic song. Just then the lights went out. The ticking stopped, and the singing went quiet.
“Blake, you there?”
“Yeah.” Just then the sky appeared as flickering dark orange moonlight spilled through the rushing clouds. The kids looked around at the narrow valley between the mountains where the School of the Arts set nudged in the corner. The air remained completely still in the silence over the valley.
“We did it!” said Cade, walking over to Blake. “We made it out.”
“I don’t know what we did,” said Blake with a shrug. “I guess we’re that good.”
“We made it out like that,” said Cade making a fast clapping motion. The kids started walking up the valley, celebrating.
“I still don’t know what we did,” said Blake.
“Yeah, that was easy.”
“Too easy.”
“Blake, hold up, hold up,” said Cade, taking the prophecy out of his pocket. He held it up under the passing moonlight. “Fight through the heavy confusion,” he added quietly.
“We’re not out.” The kids looked around at the dreamy scene. “Get back to where we were standing.” Blake pulled out his pocketwatch as they made their way back to the field: 11:23.
“What’s the clue about Lustaray?” asked Cade.
“It’s in the center,” said Blake. “Look, look, there’s the word, star, in the center.”
“That must be the key. So we have it, look for the star. But there was no star, so…” Cade knelt down with eyes closed tight, whispering to himself. Blake read through the lines over and over again in the silent night. After several long minutes, Cade jumped back up. Blake looked at him with a questioning look.
“I got nothing,” said Cade.
“Look at this,” said Blake pointing to the last three lines. “I think this is it.”
“The dark way.”
“What does that have to do with a star?”
“Stars only shine at night,” said Cade with a shrug.
“What would be the dark way in the classroom?”
“Down the center? I don’t know. It would have to be, well, down the center I guess.”
“How we going to find it out here?” asked Blake.
“Look for clues, things that look like the classroom,” said Cade. They looked around at the field under tall, wild grass. Flickering dark orange moonlight splashed through the rough dark clouds. The kids started pacing around the slow building slope. Long, flickering rays of moonlight stretched out across the field. “Blake, you remember the grass being this tall out here?”
“No. Why?”
“There has to be a reason, to confuse us…”
“To hide the ground,” Blake said excitedly. He started crawling along the cold ground.
Cade got down then said, “It looks and feels like the floor,” he said, moving his hand over the cold ground with various cracks running through.
“It has to be in the floor then,” said Blake. “In the darkest part, down the center.” Cade looked around at the passing shadows stretching past the long flickering moonlight rays. Then he glanced back up at the dark orange flashing moon before a smile slowly crept across his face.
With eyes lit he said, “Let’s get out of here.” The kids worked their way into the long flickering moonlight rays. They crawled along until they felt a large crack in the ground.
Darkness fell over them. Tragic, ghostly singing began from the heavy dark center of the dark waves flowing out to the left and the right. A grand auditorium appeared, dimly lit by dark orange lantern lights from high balconies. Dark ghosts sit waiting in the shadows. Cade shot a mixed-half anxious expression at the seats each displaying a different green glowing ghostly face.
“What we do now?” Blake whispered.
“We find the way out of here,” answered Cade. Blake glanced at his pocketwatch: 11:41. “It better be fast.” Just then the ghost with the mop appeared in a high balcony over the stage, singing the tragic song ringing out across the entire auditorium. He reached up and turned one of the lights. Cade watched as suddenly every light momentarily went out from the top, one by one, to the bottom. Just then blood red curtains flew in from both sides, flowing out to the left and the right across the stage, clashing at the center.
“So what’s the way out?” asked Blake.
Cade turned to him with eyes lit bright under the dark orange lights. “You already know. Let’s get there.” Just then green ghosts appeared at the ends of every aisle and across the stage.
“They’re blocking our way to the stage,” said Cade. Blake crawled over the seat to the row below, with the back folding down over the chair. “How are we getting past them?” Cade asked, crawling over the seat to where Blake was. He shook his head. “Why aren’t they coming after us?”
“They don’t want to close in too much and leave a space we can break through.” Cade started playing with the seats, flopping the back up and down. “Cade, this is no time for playing.” He sighed, looking at his pocketwatch: 11:47. Cade pushed it down, it came back up fast. He pushed it down harder, it came back up faster. Blake sighed again, shaking his head. Just then the ghosts began singing out the slow, tragic song, the eerie, twisted notes bouncing up and down, then falling swiftly in the dark orange flickering auditorium. Suddenly, the auditorium began slowly stretching out, further and further away. The kids turned to each other with panicked expressions.
“What we do now?” asked Blake. “How we getting to the stage in time?” Cade started pushing the seat back up and down again. “Come on, Cade.” Cade looked up at the flickering dark orange lights, then smiled.
“Ready to go surfing?”
“What?” Then Cade whispered to Blake. Blake smiled brightly. “Let’s move.” He glanced at his pocketwatch: 11:54. The ghosts sang louder and faster around them.
“On three, one, two, THREE!” Cade turned the two seats in front of them, then they jumped down on the backs, sliding down as every chair down the row fell forward. The kids surfed fast down the slowly expanding rows toward the distant stage. Ghosts rushed down the side aisles toward the stage, gathering in a crowd. The sad ghost began singing in a really slow, slurred deep voice;
“I’m never going home again.”
“I’m never going home again.”
“I’m never going home again.”
“I’m never going home again.”
“I’m never going home again.”
“I’m never going home again.”
“I’m never going home again.”
Blake checked his pocketwatch: 11:57. The stage drew closer and closer. Just then ghosts rushed in from both sides down the final aisles. The kids jumped off.
“Follow my lead,” said Cade who then dove down into the next aisle. He pushed several chairs down ahead, then waited. Blurry green ghosts closed in on all sides. Blake looked at him with raised eyes. Cade motioned for them to hold. Blake pointed to the time: 11:59. Cade silently counted; one, two, three. “NOW!” Cade and Blake exploded out to the left, pushing past the stunned ghosts. They circled around them, jumped up on stage, then sprinted for the break between the two red curtains.
Darkness fell over them, then the valley appeared under dark orange moonlight, lighting up the old School of the Arts.
“Are we really out?” asked Blake. Cade looked down at the short dark green grassy field and smiled.
“We’re free.”

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DARKCORNER LAND FEATURE:
WHAT IS THE YOUNG GHOST LOOKING FOR?

“THERE’S ALWAYS A WAY THROUGH”

When you explore the gloomy valley on an October night, where the haunted School of the Arts still stands, a place Cade and Blake have been to several times before, because they were intrigued by the story of the Lustaray Clock and it’s deep secret, or so they thought. But that’s not the real reason they ended up there. It wasn’t by chance they found the book that told of the secret of the Lustaray Clock, haunted by the old ghost who can’t find his way out. They were invited, but it’s not exactly a friendly invitation. Will they figure out the secret, the real secret? Will they have what it takes to find their way out? Because some students never did. Even as you enter the valley, you might get lost in the deep underground classrooms…

The massive hidden clock ticks in a slow rhythm. The clock hand drags around and around, sounding like a groaning ghost, groaning because he can’t find his way out. Every tick strikes with a sharp cold chill entering in you. But the groaning just goes around and around in the empty, stretching dark. Every step you take in the never ending hallway made of black dusty marble barely lit by wide-spaced dark orange lit lanterns. The lights flicker to the rhythm of the clock ticking from all sides. Inside a classroom, several ghost students sit listening to the teacher, with a low voice, talking incredibly slowly, his words slurring together. The kids just sit there completely still, staring straight ahead with emtpy expressions. As he writes various math equations he keeps repeating the same phrase over and over in a deep, slow, slurring voice:
“I’m never going home again.”
“I’m never going home again.”

The lesson never ends. The students have to answer a complicated essay question. If they get it right, it might finally be time to move on to the next lesson, but it never is. There’s always another question. They can’t leave their desk. They can’t leave the classroom with bare, dingy walls barely lit by gloomy green lights, that slowly grow dim, then slowly grow bright, then slowly back to dim, over and over and over. There are no windows. There is some answer to the questions that can lead them to become free, but they can’t figure it out. That’s because it’s not really about the questions, it’s about why they are there in the first place…

The never-ending hallway runs between the rows of classrooms holding students prisoner. The only ghost you see in the hallway is the one who mops the floors. He mops in slow, sweeping strokes, moving slowly up the hall. He stops from time to time, to check his mopping, scanning the floor with his sunken, empty dark eyes. Usually, he goes back to re-mop the floor, with even slower strokes. Sometimes you can barely see him, in flickering green light. Sometimes he stops to listen to what’s happening in the classrooms. There’s a mysterious moment that happens every once in awhile, when he’s listening to one of the lessons, to the students’ response, in a critical lesson or project. He sets the mop to the side, and slowly claps quietly to himself, pacing, pacing, but with a faint smile that only lasts for a moment, then while still clapping, he has a sad, anxious look on his face, before quickly getting back to his mopping the glossy floor running directly down the center of the underground…

In another classroom, a lonely student sits in one of the desks. There’s no one else there, but him. He stares at the high grand stained-glass windows with pale shafts of light that fade quickly in the dark classroom. He reads the same book, over and over again, sometimes getting up to pace around the classroom. Sometimes he draws pictures on the board, but he keeps trying to make them better, adding more and more to them until it gets to be a big mess and he erases the entire picture in frustration. He paces around, glowing in a slow green fire. He has a sad, hopeless gaze that always looks down. He always goes back to that book, reading it, studying it, trying to find the answer. He just can’t figure it out. It’s a small, colourful book, that doesn’t seem to have much to it. But no one knows what’s in it, or why he studies it, but they know what he’s trying to figure out…

Gloomy shadows reach out like long, twisted fingers, as the lonely ghost groans on and on, going around and around in the dark orange dead light. The time never stops. The sad, quiet ghost creeps along the hallway. He stops and stares through the door, directly at the student, but he never says anything. Once in awhile, the ghost students pass through the hall. The student calls out to them, talks to them, and asks them questions, but they never respond. Can they hear him? He’s not sure. He goes back to his study, trying to find the answer. He tries to figure out why that student was so popular. He wonders if there are any students who could ever help him figure out the mystery he can’t solve. Why didn’t they like him? Why didn’t he have any friends? What did he need to do? Why can’t they see him? Even when he was alive, he felt like a ghost…

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CHARACTER FUN FACTS:
WHY CAN’T CADE PLAN HALLOWEEN PARTIES ANYMORE?

“THERE’S ALWAYS A WAY THROUGH”

Cade Mayson doesn’t get to plan the Cashes Dade school’s Halloween Party for the elementary students anymore. The aliens destroyed their school and the entire kingdom while the citizens are now hiding out in the mountains, but that has nothing to do with it. Cade was fired from the planning committee well before that because of his crazy ideas. Many of his crazy ideas were shot down in the meetings, but he still tried to work some of them in to the party. Here’s what happened:

Early on during the Halloween Party, the kids were hanging out, some dancing to the scary music playing from the band in the large auditorium of the school dimly lit by dark orange chandelier lights hanging from a high dome and along the circular walls. A cake was brought it, with glittering neon green-lit candles throughout, designed like a castle. At first, it looked like what they expected, until more candles lit up revealing a ridiculously tall cake rising well over 30 feet tall. Several kids gasped, while several others whispered, “Oh no.” The cake was supposed to be large, but not this large. It looked amazing, but it wasn’t supposed to be that tall, because it was leaning, and wobbling, as the students carrying it took one shaky step after another down the staircase trying to get the heavy cake to the stage, then it happened, but it didn’t fall, it got too close to one of the chandeliers and caught on fire.

If only that was the only thing that caught on fire that night. Cade had another idea. He wanted to conduct a scary light show. He had a small cannon that could shoot out a dark powder that would put lights out. His plan was to shoot at the high chandeliers and put out the high lights so it would get really dark, then he had these special candles he was going to light up and I guess dance around with them in the balconies. They leave streaks and impressions in the air so it can look cool. The problem was, Cade didn’t do much research about the powders when he bought it at the store, in fact he didn’t do any research. He doesn’t like research. He could have asked Ben Caldade, another student in the party planning who knew how they all worked and it might have worked out right, but he didn’t. He “thought” it was the right one. It wasn’t. It was an explosive powder. Luckily he missed the lights and it fell to the floor and hit with a bang, but shockingly he didn’t get that it was the wrong powder so he tried it several more times until he hit one of the lights. It exploded, fell to the floor, and started a small fire in the seats that had to be put out. You’d think that was the last time something would be caught on fire that night, but you’d be wrong…

One of Cade’s favorite things about Halloween is trying to scare people. Sometimes he tries to get a student to think they have to go to the school basement to get something. He’ll put out the lights and dress up as a ghost or some kind of zombie and creep up silently behind them, then just be standing there with a creepy smile on his face. Sometimes he just hides in the craziest places to jump out at just the right time. For this party though, he had a more elaborate plan, and of course, it involved fire.

For weeks Cade made his “ghost” at home. He tried to make it look as realistic as possible, whatever that means. He made sure no one would see it until that night. He hung it on a string from the balcony. Near midnight, he got ready to release it, but it couldn’t just fly across the auditorium, it needed to be on fire. So he lit it up and let it fly. The kids watched in disbelief, knowing who was behind this bizarre looking ghost on fire as it fell, and hit the seats, and started them on fire.

At midnight, Cade was with the other students in the auditorium, under close watch, when in a sudden chilling rush, all the lights went out. Loud, heavy ticking echoed throughout the auditorium, the ticking of a massive clock, ticking slowly, with the clock hand dragging, dragging around and around.

Some of the students looked at him in shocked, disbelief.

“You can’t blame this one on me,” he said gazing up curiously. The clock ticked on and on and on in the chilling dark waves through the silent auditorium carrying only the dead clicks and tragic dragging of the clock hand, going circling around and around, always missing what’s right there in front of them. Then a fiery green ghost appeared in the center aisle, holding a mop. He began mopping the floor in slow, dragging strokes. He had a rough face with sunken, dark eyes. All of the students moved back toward the wall, trying to hide in the shadows, except Cade. He just stood still, staring directly at the old ghost, swishing his mop slowly back and forth. After several long moments he looked up, gazing directly at Cade and said in a rough voice, “You don’t realize where you’re going. I know your fate. I know your fate.”
“What…what are you talking about?” Cade barely got the words out. Struggling to meet his gaze he asked, “What is my fate?”
“You’re looking at it…”

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MYSTERY OF THE LUSTARAY
CLOCK GHOST: PART ONE

“THERE’S ALWAYS A WAY THROUGH”

The minute hand ticked with a dead echo, the sound dying fast into the blood red night. Flickering red moonlight splashed over Cade’s short dark hair falling low over his intense gaze.

“You ready?” Cade asked.

“Let’s go,” Blake answered, running his hand through his short, choppy blonde hair. Cade slowly broke a smile as the two kids slowly opened the old, creaking gate, glowing like a soft orange fire. The dark orange lit up School of the Arts appeared ahead past the heavy, twisted gardens full of large green and blue leaves spiraled around. The second hand groaned slowly, echoing through the empty air, groaning slowly around and around as the two 12 year olds crept up the dark orange glowing brick path narrowly cutting through the garden.

Just then black figures flashed across the sky overhead. The kids ducked down, crawling ahead in the deep shadows. A chilling wind pushed down on them. The image of the dark orange clock appeared. The minute hand left a burning orange glow. The second hand blazed across the clock face with empty darkness between them. The ghost cried out across the sky. The kids looked up to find themselves inside the garden room of the school, locked inside…

We’ll get back inside the School of the Arts in a moment. The mystery to solve is how can they get to the Lustaray Clock, and how can they escape? What’s the secret of the Lustaray Clock? Knowing that answer will be a strong clue for how to escape this haunted school. Can you figure it out? Check out the post called:

DARKCORNER LAND FEATURE: WHO IS THE LUSTARAY CLOCK GHOST?

This post will give you a description of the School of the Arts which will offer clues to the mystery. Check out the prophecy at the end which offers the key clues to finding the answer for the mystery. Click on this link to check it out:

https://dadestarmysteries.com/darkcorner-land-featurewho-is-the-lustaray-clock-ghost/

Let’s get back to the story, but be prepared, you might not escape…

The kids gazed up at the massively high marble black walls in the gigantic room, dimly lit by numerous dark orange candles hanging from the trees throughout the hall.

“How did we get in here?” Blake whispered. Cade just flashed him a wide-eyed, confused expression. The dead hands ticked on and on and on.

“Over here,” Cade whispered, ducking into a narrow, twisted path between dark twisted green trees called Deyvas. Chilling winds whistled through the glittering green leaves, barely lit by the dark orange candles hanging from the twisted branches curling around.

“What?” asked Blake.

“I said, ‘over here,'” answered Cade. The minute hand pounded against the wall on all sides, dying into the chilling silence.

“No, I heard that.”

“Then why did you ask?”

“Because you said something after that.” The tragic groaning circled back around, never ending, never finding relief.

“Maybe I said something clever about the trees.”

“Did you?”

“I don’t know.” The deyvas closed in, falling down over the path ahead. “Back up slowly.”

“That’s what you said?”

“No, that’s what I’m saying now.” The distant ghost groaned through the massive dark chamber with the turning second hand.

“How do you not know what you said?”

“I don’t know. You remember everything you’ve ever said?”

“In the last thirty seconds? Yeah.” Dead whispers shot out from the high balconies holding more Deyvas, hanging far over the edge with long candles pulling them low over the black marble floor. “Did you hear that?”

“Yeah, it’s them,” Cade answered in a low voice. Heavy trees closed in. Candles lit up just ahead of them. The ghost cried out again in a voice searching in the dark. The kids found a narrow path cutting ahead where more whispers went back and forth. The clock groaned louder around them. Two long dark pools appeared ahead, reflecting the flickering candle lights with a single round table between them. The kids slowly crept ahead. Just then the dark orange clock appeared high above them.

“We found it,” said Blake as the kids gazed up at the clock groaning louder and louder around them. A chilling wind rushed down through the dark twisted gardens. Most of the candle lights went out. Whispers grew louder around them. The kids pushed ahead as the branches closed in.

“Stay focused on it,” said Cade, “stay focused on it.” The clock grew brighter and brighter, burning in a dark orange fire until all around them went completely dark.

“What’s going on?” Blake whispered.

“I’m not sure.” Just then eerie, sour sounding fiddle music started up around them with a cheerful but off-key melody. Green glowing ghosts began to appear, dancing in swift, sharp motions ahead of them, stretching far to the left and right seemingly endless. The kids backed up against the cold dark wall. The hidden clock ticked quietly with distant dead echoes. “I think we’re farther away.” Cade nodded strongly.

“Let’s get past them,” said Cade. The kids jogged along the wall, staring down at the designs of twisted ghostly faces, hiding from incredibly tall people looking down at them from high towers, gazing down from the balconies. Dark orange crystal chandeliers floated around in the murky dark air high above the dancing ghosts. Blake gazed out at the many complicated scenes of politcal debates and battles across the black marble floor barely lit by the dingy lights flickering to the fast, stumbling rhythm of the floating music. After several minutes the floor turned dark before complicated designs of dances and games spread out across the floor under the dancing ghosts.

A bright green ghost appeared suddenly directly ahead, mopping the floor. He held out his hand, letting go of the mop as it froze in place. His rugged face turned on them. The kids spun around and flew back down the wall.

“Should we cut across the floor?” whispered Blake.

“I’m not sure.” Cade glanced back. The old ghost started tapping his feet to the rhythm of the music and the mop fell back into his hands. Then he started gliding fast towards them.

“How are we getting away?”

“We have to disappear. Follow me.” Cade kept glancing at the dancing ghosts, moving in wide circles. “Now.” Blake slid across the floor as Cade disappeared. He turned right. Cade flew between two dancing circles. Blake sprinted after him, staying low to the slick floor. The kids took a sharp turn cutting between two more groups of dancing ghosts. “See?” Cade turned back momentarily, with a smile, “They’re too focused on their dance, as long as we don’t cut between them.” Blake glanced back at the empty darkness.

“He’s long gone,” he said, nodding rhythmically. The kids swerved to avoid another group then sprinted between several more groups before reaching the far wall. They turned around, leaning back against the cold wall, vibrating to the barely audible dead ticks of the distant clock. They could only see the dancing ghosts across the vast floor under the dingy floating shine. Just then the old ghost appeared again. The kids started to run, but he held out his right hand and they fell back against the wall.

“You can’t outrun me,” he said in a raspy voice as the kids struggled to move from the wall, but they were frozen in place. His eyes glowed in a dark, dead green stare.

“What do you want?” asked Cade.

“How are you going to find the Lustaray Clock?”

“Who says we’re trying to?” asked Blake.

“That’s why everyone enters here, looking for the secret clock. Everyone enters this school with big dreams, but they all turn to nightmares.”

“Who are you?” asked Cade in a low voice.

“I was a janitor here when this school was open. I died 30 years ago. I’ve been here ever since. I have to clean this entire floor tonight. They demand that this floor shines under the lights for the party.” Blake and Cade exchanged highly anxious looks.

“You do realize you don’t have to do this anymore right?” asked Blake. “I mean, you’re dead.” Cade nudged him hard in his side. “What? He is,” Blake answered as he felt the clock’s dead ticking heavier and heavier behind the wall.

“I don’t have a choice,” the old ghost answered. “I can’t get any other job. They won’t let me leave, and I don’t know how to escape.”

“But you’re…”

“Life continues on after death, it’s just a lot…quieter. We continue as spirits. They told me I have to do this job while I’m here, and I just can’t leave, but I’m not sure why. I just can’t leave. Ghosts can get stuck in different places for years and years, maybe never escape.” His sad, empty eyes turned downward as he dragged the mop slowly across the floor.

“Is there a God? Have you seen Heaven?” asked Cade, shuffling his feet across the slick floor as the eerie, sour music continued around them.

“I don’t know if God or Heaven exists,” the ghost answered, leaning heavier on his mop. His dark eyes began to reflect a slow hand turning, circling slowly around and around. “We don’t know yet.” The dancing ghosts and the dingy lights turned to a murky, gloomy glow behind him. “But I wish I could leave, but I never could, watching the students building their projects, creating new dances, creating amazing designs, I always thought I could do something like that, but every time I got started, it just got too complicated, they never wanted it, it was never good enough, never good enough…”

“They’re gone now,” said Cade. “The students are gone.”

“No,” he answered, with a crooked smile, “some are still here, still trying to finish their projects, especially him.”

“Who?” asked Cade.

“The one who is stuck in the underground classroom where the Lustaray Clock is. He was obsessed with it, couldn’t stop staring at it.”

“You mean the Lustaray Clock ghost?” asked Blake. “He was a student here?”

“That’s right, and he’s been expecting you.”

“What do you mean?” asked Cade.

“Didn’t you realize the real reason you’re here? He invited you, and it’s time, time to meet him.” Cold darkness fell over them. They couldn’t see anything. The emptiness around them was silent until they heard it…

Dead, heavy ticking of a massive clock, with the clock hand groaning as it swung around and around and around, never ending, never reaching it’s destination, just circling around and around slowly in the empty cold darkness, where time never stops, and no one ever leaves…