The Vaults

“You should probably leave.”

I struggled to swallow as I nodded. I turned for the door and heard rubber gloves snapping against skin. It was all the urging I needed. I flew down the hall, up the stairs to the sidewalk. I blinked against the bright light and gulped fresh air, trying to control my stomach. I knew my uncle was into some weird shit, but I had no idea how weird.

The room looked like it had been baptized in blood.

I shook my head. There was no way I was going to be able to get that sight out of my mind. I rubbed the back of my neck as I leaned against the cool stone of the building behind me. A few deep breaths had my nerves settling back down to where they were supposed to be. I slid down the stone to the sidewalk to wait. I stared, not seeing the busy street in front of me. All I could see was bloody walls and strange shapes drawn on stone.

“Freaked out a bit?”

I jumped at my uncle’s words. I looked up at him, squinting against the sun behind him.

He squatted down and nudged me. “You gonna be alright?”

I shook my head and slowly got to my feet. “I don’t know, Sean. What the hell was that?”

Sean shrugged as he stood again. “Happens every few years. Cults like sneaking into the vaults and having their ‘rituals’.” He attempted to do air quotes but was constrained by the bucket of cleaning supplies in his hand.

I wiped the dirt off the seat of my shorts as he locked the door. “Was that human blood?”

Sean shook his head and gestured for me to follow him. “Probably not. They usually use pig or cow.”

“How often does this happen?” I asked, not believing ‘every few years.’ By how calmly he talked about it and cleaned it up, I would guess it happened every few weeks.

“Honestly, this is the first time in probably a year.” Sean chewed his rust-colored moustache and glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “It used to happen a lot more.”

I shook my head. “I knew there were crazy people in Edinburgh, but I had no idea they were complete nutters.”

Sean shrugged. “Haunted places always draw out the nutters and there’s always one or two really crazy ones in the mix.”

“So, what’s so special about the vaults?”

“Your Da’ never told you the stories?”

I shook my head. “You know Da’, he doesn’t talk unless he has to.”

“So that’s why you’ve left the island for a summer with me in Edinburgh. Just needed someone to talk to.” Sean laughed and put an arm around my shoulder. His secretary had asked to have the summer off to travel abroad, so Sean had jumped at my offer to work for him until I started University.

“One of the reasons. So, what about the vaults?”

Sean held the door of the Olde Towne Haunted Tour office open and motioned for me to enter first. It was a small square store-front that held two desks and a few filing cabinets across the back wall.

It looked like the love child of a travel agency and a new-age shop. Thanks to the absent born-again hippy secretary, crystals, beads, incense, and pagan symbols were scattered amongst the brochures and posters advertising haunted places in the UK to visit, alongside pictures of ‘paranormal entities’ who’d been unlucky enough to be both caught on Earth and on film. It was a little cluttered, but it worked.

Sean headed for the bathroom to drop off the cleaning supplies and get cleaned up. I sat behind the vacant secretary’s desk and doodled on a notepad until he returned.

“Okay—the vaults.” Sean sat down behind his desk and propped his boots on the corner. “Have you been down there before today?”

I shook my head and he tossed a brochure at me. I caught it and flipped through the pictures and witness testimonials of paranormal things happening below the streets of Old Town Edinburgh.

“When businesses began thriving in 18^th century Edinburgh, one brilliant man decided to dig vaults out of the rock under the stores for merchants to store their goods. Problem was, the vaults were too damp for any goods, so the merchants abandoned them. Seedier folk soon took them over. Imagine all of the terrible things that happened in the back streets of the big cities in the 18^th century: thievery, alcohol, murder, prostitution, rape—then condense it all into a three block stretch of 15 rooms.”

I shuddered as I broke out in goosebumps.

“It was a bad place to be, and people lived down there. There are no records of how many people died—or were killed—and to be honest, I don’t want to know. So, as you can imagine, the vaults built up a lot of bad energy while they were being used, and that stuff just festered when they were bricked up. Then, when they were opened again, that energy was just waiting for people to come play.”

“I didn’t realize that you actually believe in this ghost stuff.”

 “I’ve seen too much to not believe.” Sean smirked.

“So why do you take people down into them?”

Sean shrugged. “People like to be scared. The vaults are the perfect place for it. Besides, I like them. They’re part of an interesting and forgotten part of this city’s history that I get to share with every person who tours the vaults.”

“You’re weird, Sean.”

Sean laughed. “Right you are my lass, but I am never boring. Am I?”

I shook my head. “Nope.” I felt my uncle watching me as I fiddled with my pen. “Can I investigate the vaults sometime?”

“Not alone.”

I looked up to see him solemnly shaking his head. “There are only a few people who are allowed in there alone and none of them are women.” My mouth dropped open and Sean held up a hand. “Sorry, lass. There is somebody down there who doesn’t like women and I don’t want you to run into him alone. He is not kind. That’s why Bridget quit two years back.”

“You let somebody live down in the vaults?” I frowned, trying to remember why my cousin quit a good job at our uncle’s business. “What happened to her—to Bridget?”

“Not a living person—a ghost. We call him Jack. I need to have a conversation with my brother about not telling you stuff. Bridget was told three or four times by a voice to leave. She didn’t, so he grabbed her arm and dragged her to the steps. I saw the bruises and scratches myself.”

“A ghost hurt Bridget?”

Sean nodded. “Bridget quit a few days after the attack. That was the last time we let a woman go in by herself. We don’t know if he hates women in general or just doesn’t like them being alone in the vaults. Jack hasn’t had such a violent reaction to women in groups, although a few have reported that they’ve been shoved or poked.” Sean shrugged. “I don’t blame her, myself.”

He dug around in the bottom drawer of his desk and tossed an old photo album at me. I flipped through a few pages of the vaults before I found pictures of my cousin. There were clear hand shaped bruises as well as scratches on her arms and across her back. It looked like somebody had shoved her face-first into a stone wall.

“Shit!” I whispered.

“It was all pretty superficial, but it was scary enough that we closed the vaults for a week and called in a priest.

“Is this why people stopped breaking into the vaults so much?” I asked, remembering what Sean had said earlier.

He rubbed the back of his neck and made a face. “Oh, I don’t know if I want to tell you that.”

I leaned forward and propped my crossed arms on the desk. “Come on, Uncle Sean!”

“Well…” He trailed off and studied my face. I tried to not look overly eager in case it scared him from telling me. “Fine. If you have nightmares tonight, don’t be blaming me.”

He paused.

“A little over a year ago, a group had broken in and were doing some dark stuff down there. From what I heard, they were engaged in… activities… that made the Druids look like magicians at a fluffy Victorian séance. Anyway, something went wrong and one of their leaders died.”

I nearly jumped out of my chair. “What?! How?”

“The official report was asphyxiation. They said it was due to an allergic reaction to the herbs they were burning.”

“That seems plausible.”

“Yeah, except his group claimed they had burned those exact herbs many times before and he’d never had a problem. It was even a blend that he had come up with himself. They claim that something in the vaults killed him.”

“What do you think?”

Sean shrugged. “After all I’ve seen during the ten years I’ve been working in the vaults, it’s easy to believe anything. Either way, we barred off that room so nobody can get in anymore, just in case. As word of his death traveled through the nutter community, they stopped breaking in—until last night, that is.”

I stared at the pen I was fiddling with as I processed what he’d said. “The vault that we were in today… That wasn’t the one he was killed in, was it?”

Sean smiled kindly. “No, Iona. That one is still barred off.” He chewed his moustache like he was trying to decide whether to tell me something or not. “But it was the vault across the hall from there...”

“Ugh!” I shuddered and rubbed my arms.

Sean laughed. “Hey, my next tour is scheduled for tomorrow night. Want to come along? You’ll have to answer questions people ask when they call for reservations, so the experience will be good for you.”

I vigorously rubbed my hands through my short hair. “Sure. Why not?”

Sean smiled a little too devilishly for my taste. “Good.”

***

I took one last look at the sky and imagined the stars I couldn’t see because of the city lights. I hoped I would see them again. A chill ran through me at the thought and I rubbed my arms. “Get a grip, girl,” I muttered, struggling to escape the fear that gripped me.

I took a deep breath as I followed the last tourist into the stairwell and pulled the door shut behind me with a solid clunk.

Sean had stopped halfway down the stairs and turned so the group was sandwiched between us. The candle sconces he’d lit earlier didn’t make enough light to see very clearly, but it definitely upped the creepiness of the vaults.

“Welcome to the Old Town vaults. I’ve met most of you already but if you’re like me and can’t remember a name to save your life, I’m Sean.”

I watched my uncle charm and relax the group of overseas tourists who were half excited and half terrified.

“Now, the first thing I want you all to know is that anything that happens down here, including but not limited to strange sounds, feelings, and touches, are not staged. This is not a haunted house at Halloween where somebody in a mask chases you with a chainsaw. This tour is strictly the vaults, us, and… whatever happens to be here already. There are some rules while you’re down here that will not be bent or broken, or your time here will be over.” I could just see Sean hold up his index finger in the dim light.

 “Number 1: Nobody’s to be left alone. If it’s too much for you, which is perfectly okay, do not leave the group. Let me know and I will escort you outside. I repeat: do not leave the group.”

I scanned the group as he held up a second finger. Most of them were holding up pretty well, but I couldn’t help but guess which ones my uncle would be escorting back up these stairs before the end…. And hoped I wouldn’t be among them.

“Number 2: If you are feeling sick, this includes nausea, light-headedness, and dizziness, let me know immediately and I will take you outside. I quit working in pubs because I was tired of cleaning up puke, and ambulance crews really hate carrying people up these stairs.

“Number 3: No Ouija boards, Wiccan spells, Druid chants, fortune cookies, séances, crystal balls, tarot cards, black magic, white magic, Voodoo, Hoodoo, or Goblin Kings will be allowed. There’s enough energy down here that we don’t need to throw something else into the mix. Besides, it might anger the residents. The only thing that I will allow are prayer beads or similar items, worry stones, stress balls, nicotine gum, and grabbing your neighbor, but only if they are amenable to being grabbed.”

While many people in the crowd laughed at my uncle’s list, a few looked worried. I shuffled around my list of who would leave early. The pixie-looking blond girl already clinging to the Harry Potter wannabe were my first choices.

“Number 4: The candles are real, and they are lit with real flames, so please avoid touching them. Once again, ambulance crews do not like carrying people up these stairs. Along those lines, no smoking, either.”

Sean pointed at me. “That lovely lass with the boy’s haircut at the top of the stairs is my niece, Iona. This is her first tour of the vaults also. So, while she won’t be much help with the history and the happenings, she is familiar with how we operate at Olde Towne Haunted Tours. If you have any questions, you may ask her.”

I resisted the urge to shrink back into the shadows and gave them a half-assed wave and shaky smile instead.

Sean grinned up at me before turning his attention back to the group. “Any questions before we enter the vaults?”

A middle-aged woman wearing a utility vest and a huge bag raised her hand. “Is photography allowed?”

Sean nodded. “It is, but please be mindful of those around you. We will be in dark rooms, so let us know if you will be using a flash in enough time to shade our eyes. I have been blinded enough by over-eager photographers and their paparazzi flashes to last me a lifetime. Alright, let’s go!”

“Uncle Sean!” I blurted to stop him.

“Iona?” He looked up at me with an eyebrow raised.

“You forgot about the ghost hunters.”

Sean smacked a palm against his forehead. “You’re right, lass! My apologies. We do have three members of Arcane Unlimited, a ghost hunting group from the States with us tonight.”

The woman in the utility vest who asked about photography gave us a huge smile and a wave. A woman wearing a Twin’s baseball cap and a man wearing a Ghostbusters shirt about the same age also waved. “They do have license to do their investigation, but they will be held to the rules of the tour. I just ask that you do not dawdle overly long in the vaults.”

Sean led the rest of the way down the stairs and headed to the vault at the very end of the hall. As he walked, he gave the group the history of the vaults in a voice just loud enough to echo in the narrow corridor.

I breathed in the cool, damp air and wished I had that stress ball Sean had mentioned. I caught myself playing with the silver Celtic cross on a cord around my neck and forced my hand back down to my side.

A tall, scruffy guy with a man-bun—I guessed he was in his late-teens or early-twenties—slowed his steps so he was at my side. “Hey, if you get scared, you’re more than welcome to grab onto me.” He gave me a look that was more leer than smile.

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine,” I gritted out, reminding myself to be nice. The guy was a paying customer after all and I didn’t think Sean would appreciate me adding to the vaults’ body count, no matter how obnoxious the customer was.

He shrugged off my rejection. “Well, if you change your mind.” He winked at me before rejoining his two friends. The one wearing an Ed Hardy shirt looked me over and nodded his approval.

I rolled my eyes.

American tourists.

I followed the last person into the first vault and backed up to the wall next to the door as everybody else filed around my uncle in the middle of the room.

“This was one of the smallest vaults area and is the smallest we will visit tonight. We call it The Children’s Vault because we have had numerous women say that they have felt small hands hold theirs, and both men and women have claimed to have felt tugs on the hems of their shirts or pants as if a child is trying to get their attention.”

Tiny ghosts—awesome, I thought as I crossed my arms and tucked myself closer to the corner, as if that would protect me.

“Would anybody mind if we record to try to get some EVPs?” Ghostbuster-shirt guy asked, holding up a small digital recorder.

“EVP stands for electronic voice phenomenon and is common with hauntings,” the utility-vest woman explained.

Most of the group just shrugged or shook their heads. The man pressed a few buttons and announced what vault we were in. “If everybody could be silent for just a minute or two, that would be great.”

Amazingly enough, the entire group fell silent. I caught Sean’s eye and we shared looks of surprise. You don’t often witness tourists staying quiet for more than a few seconds at a time.

I jumped a little when Ghostbuster spoke. “If there is anybody in here, could you speak into the small red light in my hand? It will record your voice and we will be able to hear you.”

We stayed silent for another minute and he nodded. “Thank you all. If you don’t mind, I would like to do this in each vault.”

The group mumbled their agreement and began milling about a bit.

The pixie girl squealed and nearly jumped on Harry Potter’s back. “Something just touched me!”

“I’m sorry, honey!” A short, plump woman with blue hair, kind eyes, and a weird accent put a hand on Pixie’s shoulder. “I think that was me. I was just shuffling to warm up a bit and I think I bumped you.”

“Oh.” Pixie smiled sheepishly and covered her face. “I don’t know if I can do this,” she mumbled to Harry. He put an arm around her and pretended to be brave.

“I can walk you out if you get overwhelmed,” Sean reminded her.

The woman from the ghost-hunting group in the Twin’s cap walked over to the blue-haired woman. “You were cold?” She asked, all business-like as she fished a device out of her jacket. When the woman nodded, she pointed the device at the air around her. “Cold spot. Ten degrees drop right here.”

“You’ll find them all over.” Sean nodded and motioned for us to follow him through the door into the next vault.

“What makes cold spots?” Man-bun’s friend with a faux-hawk asked.

 “The theory is they are caused by a paranormal entity pulling the energy from the air to manifest, and that drops the temperature,” Utility-Vest answered.

Pixie and Harry both whimpered. I really hoped this wasn’t their first date because if it was, whoever thought of it was not getting a call or text back.

Thankfully, the only thing that happened in the next two vaults was some more cold spots and teamwork when Ghostbuster asked for silence for recording. I stood in one by the door of the third vault as long as I could, then I had to find a less occupied spot.

On our way to the fourth vault, a tall girl in her mid-twenties stumbled, only keeping upright when she grabbed onto the super tall guy she was with. He wrapped his arms around her and helped her get settled.

I couldn’t help but wonder if they were basketball players. Seriously, they were the tallest couple I have ever seen. In places, the guy had to duck to not hit the ceiling and both had to duck to get through the doorways.

“Are you alright?” Sean asked as he turned at the sound.

“Yeah.” The woman nodded. “I just tripped on something. Be careful, it’s like ankle-high.”

My uncle frowned as he wound through the group. “We keep the hall clear of obstructions.” He pulled his flashlight out of his pocket and shined it on the floor around her feet.

“It was probably a ghost,” I muttered.

Apparently, that was louder than I intended because Pixie screamed, Utility-Vest rushed over with a glowing box in her outstretched hand, and my uncle glared at me.

“It… it did kind of feel like a hand—a cold hand,” Basketball Girl whispered before pressing her hand to her mouth.

“I’m getting a lot of energy here,” Utility-Vest said. Twins and Ghostbuster rushed over with various devices in their hands and waved them at the area where the girl had tripped.

I whirled around when I heard a man chuckling behind me but only found an empty hall. I turned and quickly counted heads, but all the tourists were still in the group. “Did anybody hear that laughing?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

“Oh good.” Blue Hair sighed. “You heard it too.”

Pixie started whimpering. Harry curled into her side. Ghostbuster joined me at the back of the group with his glowing devices and recorder.

I eased my way to my uncle’s side. “Was that Jack?” I whispered.

Sean shrugged. “Hard to tell considering how many different people we have down here. Could be though. He’s usually the only one who talks.”

I exhaled and leaned back against the stone wall of the hallway with my arms crossed. “Well, I think we now know that he hates women.”

Sean chuckled quietly and winked at me. His eyes flashed past me and he shot to attention. “Sir, please don’t go much further down the hall. There’s a steep drop off a few feet past the light.” Sean corralled the ghost hunters back to the group and moved everybody to the fourth vault.

It was the largest room open to the public in this section of the vaults and was where the pub above ground had kept their extra kegs. There was an iron ladder attached to the wall a few feet from the door which led to a landing that was about five meters deep. The landing sat directly under the pub’s storeroom and was where they would prep kegs before they went through the trap door up into the pub.

“Let me know if you see a girl in a green dress in here.”

Sean’s comment caught my attention. “Who is she?”

Sean grinned at me. “Back when this room was used by the pub upstairs, the owner was down here looking for something one night. He turned and saw a girl in a green dress up there on the landing.” Sean aimed his flash light at the landing. It was barely bright enough to reflect off the back wall. “He yelled at her for being down here and ordered her to wait for him so he could take her back up to the pub. Probably whip her, too. But, before he could take more than a handful of steps, the girl screamed at him. The next thing he knew, he was on the floor behind the bar upstairs with an employee and a few regulars staring down at him.”

“Does he remember how he got there?” A short, bald man holding Blue Hair’s hand asked.

Sean shook his head. “Until the day he died he never remembered. His employee said he had come up out of the vault looking dazed and pale. He wandered around the pub, doing his job but not speaking to anyone until he finally collapsed behind the bar.”

“Did anybody find the girl?” Twins asked, furiously writing in a notebook.

Sean shook his head. “She was never seen again. The pub owner naturally asked around, describing her to everybody who would listen for the next week or so and nobody knew who she was. His hunt was cut short when he received word that his brother in Inverness had been killed in a carriage accident.”

“Banshee,” I breathed, the fairytale floated to the surface of my mind like a piece of driftwood.

Pixie screamed.

She freaking screamed.

After we were talking about a banshee.

Everybody, including Sean and myself nearly jumped out of our skin.

The old woman who had been enjoying the tour so far clutched at her chest while her husband bent over trying to catch his breath.

“What the hell was that?!” Basketball Girl scolded Pixie.

Pixie was too busy sobbing into Harry’s shirt to answer. “I think it’s time for us to leave.” Harry whispered to Sean.

“I’ll walk them up to the street,” Sean announced to the group as he backed toward the door. “Anybody else ready to leave?”

“Franklin, you go with him.” The old woman patted her husband’s arm and pointed at Sean.

The old man shook his head. “I’m not leaving you alone, Esther.”

Esther waved a hand. “I’ll be fine, honey.” She grabbed the closest person, who happened to be Man-bun. “This young man will keep me safe!”

“Uh…” He stuttered, glancing between Esther and Franklin. He finally nodded and pulled Esther’s hand through his arm. “Sure, I’ll keep an eye on her, but I won’t make any promises to not run off with her.”

I could imagine Esther’s blush as Franklin laughed. “Don’t be doing that, sonny. She’s been taking care of me for fifty years so I’m fit enough to fight you for her.”

“I’ll meet you at that cute pub across the street.” Esther kissed Franklin’s cheek as he turned to follow Pixie and Harry through the door.

I watched as Faux-hawk and Ed Hardy teased Man-bun about taking the best lady in the room and challenged him for Esther’s affections. She obviously loved the attention the boys were giving her.

Franklin better watch his back with those three.

“You all stay here. I’ll be right back. Iona, keep an eye on them,” Sean ordered as he followed Franklin through the door.

“Who’s Jack?” Twins asked as soon as Sean was out of the room.

I hesitated, not sure what I was allowed to tell. “What?” I asked, buying myself time.

“Who’s Jack.” Twins asked again. “After she tripped—” Twins pointed at Basketball Girl, “You asked Sean if it was Jack. Who is he?”

“Oh. Um…” I stammered, wishing Sean would hurry back. “Jack is a ghost down here that doesn’t really like women,” I drawled.

“Do they think its Jack the Ripper?” Utility-Vest blurted.

I frowned. “I thought he went to America when he left London.”

“That’s one theory, but nobody really knows what happened to him.” Utility-Vest turned back to the glowing box in her hand as she shuffled away. “He could have just as easily come to Edinburgh.”

“Why doesn’t he like women?” Basketball Girl asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“We think he’s a man who used to patrol down here when the vaults were in use,” Sean answered, walking back into the room. I sighed in relief. “This man was not a lawman of any sort, but more of a vigilante. They say he was the only law down here and the only reason anybody followed his rules was because he was big and mean and could beat anybody who crossed him. He was especially tough on women living down here, but nobody has a real reason why. The two leading theories are that he was a sexist jerk who just hated women or that he knew this was no place for women to live and was mean to them so they’d move somewhere safer.”

“Laughing after tripping me seems to suggest he hates women,” Basketball Girl pointed out.

Sean nodded. “That is true, but it might not have been Jack who tripped you. It might have been somebody else. I know there is at least one trickster living down here who likes blowing candles out and moving things. He could’ve tripped you.”

“And the laugh?” Blue Hair asked.

“Plenty of people laugh when people trip. It’s human nature.” Sean chuckled. “To the next vault!” He pointed to the door and led us from the room. He stopped us in the hall with his back to the open doorway into the last vault.

It was the one that had been sprayed with blood the last time I was down here. I couldn’t help but look into the vault directly across from it, the one with the bars keeping everybody out.

The one where a man had died.

The darkness seemed thicker in there as if the candlelight couldn’t pierce the evil held at bay by the iron in front of me. I took a hesitant step toward it. I couldn’t stop myself. Something inside me wanted to see what was in there.

What was inside that darkness?

Suddenly, cold washed over me and I felt a warm breath on my ear. It snapped me out of the darkness’s thrall and I spun, expecting to see Man-Bun or one of his cronies teasing me, but they were a few paces away listening to my uncle.

“What the hell?” I whispered and rubbed at my ear. I glanced back at the barred vault but forced myself to step away from it and back into the warm candlelight, making myself focus on my uncle’s voice.

“Now, before we go into the last room, I would like to give you a little modern history of the vaults. When my friend, Fergus, and I heard about the Old Town organization reopening the vaults, we were the first ones in their office begging to give haunted tours. It took some time, but they finally gave us their blessing. The first thing we did was research as much as we could on the vaults. The second thing we did was call all the holy men and women in Edinburgh to clear out anything dangerous that might have been hanging out for two hundred years. It took a week to air out all the incense and smoke but they finally declared it clear.”

“I won’t go into much detail, but the first few months of tours into the vaults had a lot of strange things happen. One day, when Fergus and I were on the verge of shutting down the tours, a group approached us. They wanted to investigate the vaults. Afterwards, their leader called our office and told us we had a problem. There was something big and bad down here. He felt that his group could get rid of it for us. Fergus and I agreed to let them try.” Sean pointed over his shoulder, “They said that most of the bad energy was focused on this vault and they set up their ritual in here. We weren’t allowed to watch, but we were glad when we saw the group when they came out.”

“What happened to them?” Blue Hair whispered.

Before I knew what happened, I felt myself being thrown forward into Faux-hawk and Ed Hardy.

“Hey!” Faux-hawk hollered.

“What the hell?!” I regained my balance and turned, fully expecting to see somebody behind me. I felt my mouth fall open when I saw nothing.

“Iona, are you alright, lass?” Sean called over the group.

All eyes turned to stare at me.

I grimaced. “I… Somebody shoved me.”

“Are you boys playing pranks on this poor girl?” Esther scolded her three escorts. They shook their heads and looked scared witless.

“It wasn’t them.” I hardly believed the words that came out of my mouth, but there was no other explanation. I knew that everyone had been standing in front of me when I was shoved.

“She works for the tour company. I bet they’re just faking it to make it more exciting.” Basketball Guy muttered to Basketball Girl.

She shook her head. “She couldn’t’ve grabbed my ankle earlier.”

Utility-Vest and her crew came rushing over with their equipment. “I’ve never seen numbers like this before!” She exclaimed, staring at her glowing box. Ghostbuster pulled out a video camera to record her gadget and scan the area where I had been standing while Twins scribbled furiously in her notebook and took temperature readings.

Sean wound his way through the group and put an arm around me while I furiously rubbed my arms to get warm. “You going to be okay or do you need to step out?” He asked quietly to keep from alerting the group. I could see the concern in his eyes and it wasn’t just for my well-being. He was scared of what had just happened.

And where it had happened.

I shook my head. “I want to finish this,” I whispered back.

“Alright.” He squeezed me briefly before returning to his spot in front of the last vault. He called for everybody’s attention. “I guess somebody is feeling feisty tonight! Now, back to the group who offered to cleanse the vaults. They looked like they had gone nine rounds with Alexander McKay—he was a bareknuckle boxer for those who don’t know. More than a few of the group had visible bruises and torn clothes; one had a bloody nose, and all had a haunted look. Their leader said that they’d not been able to get rid of the bad spirit, but they had been able to trap him inside a circle that was burned into the floor by one of their rituals.” Sean turned and led them into the last vault. His voice dropped to a reverent whisper and the group visibly tensed. “The ritual happened in this very vault. You can still see the circle on the floor. Enter it at your own risk.”

I reluctantly followed. After what happened in the hall, I was scared of getting close to the circle that apparently held the bad spirit, but at least it was contained. Whatever was in the closed vault across the hall could reach from behind those bars.

Sean had done a good job cleaning the blood off the walls and floor. The ceiling was too dark to see if he’d cleaned that or not. All the symbols were gone, too. I didn’t think he was down here long enough to thoroughly clean everything, but obviously he was good at his job. I watched as the tour split around the circle in the middle of the room. Sean had set up candles around the circle, marking its boundaries.

In my mind, I drew lines between the candles, forming a pentagram. The thought shook me. I was not into witchcraft or the paranormal. I couldn’t begin to figure out where the idea had come from.

I clenched a hand around the cross hanging from my neck, using the cold silver to anchor me to the real world. To the real me.

“Go in it,” Ed Hardy challenged Faux-hawk to enter the circle.

Faux-hawk was more than a little squeamish at the idea. “No! You go in!”

“Hell no!” Ed Hardy refused and planted himself against a wall, refusing to go closer.

“You boys are ridiculous.” Esther chuckled. She let go of Man-bun, straightened her jacket and strode purposefully forward.

Ghostbuster scrambled to get his camera recording and he trained it on her as she crossed the line.

Esther stopped in the center of the circle and turned slowly with her arms outstretched. “Huh, nothing.” She giggled as she hobbled out and retook Man-bun’s arm.

The ghost hunting trio almost looked disappointed. Utility-Vest was the next to try the circle and she marched into it like its resident had better do something or she was going to make it regret it. She stopped in the center and looked around like she expected something, but was disappointed when nothing happened. She looked down at her gadget. “Come record this!” She excitedly ordered Ghostbuster.

He took a deep breath and joined her in the circle with his video camera on her and his recorder switched on. He looked relieved when nothing happened. Twins was not to be outdone and rushed to join her cohorts in the circle. They were disappointed that nothing more spectacular happened than a few good readings on their gadgets, but they left the circle unscathed.

“Hopefully, we got some good EVPs,” Ghostbuster said when he got to safe ground.

“Anybody else want to try it?” Sean asked with a smile. Everybody else shook their heads.

“Holy shit!” I stumbled forward when I heard a growl coming from the darkness behind me.

“What?!” Blue Hair screamed, knocking over a candle and almost setting Bald Guy’s pants on fire.

Sean rushed over to put the candle to rights. “What happened, Iona?”

“Something just growled behind me!” I stumbled further away from where I had been standing, losing track of where I was in relation to the circle.

“Watch out!” Man-bun shouted, reaching to keep me from crossing the line. I grabbed for his hand but felt something slam into my chest, knocking me into the circle.

There was a brilliant flash of light and a deafening rushing noise, then there was nothing.

***

“IONA! IONA!”

The first thing I heard was my uncle screaming my name. Then, somebody was shaking me. I felt heavy and cold, like a dozen wet blankets were draped over me. Slowly, pain entered my mind from a dozen different places. Not serious pain, but bad enough for me to take note. I groaned when somebody shook me again.

“Iona! Thank god!”

I felt lips on my forehead and hoped it was my uncle. It’d be a little strange if anybody else in the group had kissed me.

I tried to force my eyes to open. It was harder than I expected, but when they finally opened and stayed open, I found the entire group looking down at me. Sean was uncomfortably close. Esther was holding my hand. She squeezed it when she saw me looking at her. She had something in her hand that pinched mine.

“What happened?” I managed to ask. My throat felt hoarse and my voice sounded muffled.

Sean touched my forehead and sat back on his heels with a sigh. “We don’t know, lass. You fell into the circle, there was a flash, and then you just knelt there, staring at something we couldn’t see. We couldn’t get across the line so we yelled at you, begged and pleaded for you to leave the circle. You didn’t respond to anything. You just looked terrified. Your mouth opened like you were screaming, but we couldn’t hear you. Then, we watched helplessly as something tossed you across the circle like you were a ragdoll. I don’t know how she did it, but Esther managed to grab you when you got close to the border and tugged you out of the circle. You’ve been unresponsive for about ten minutes. We were ready to carry you out of here and call an ambulance.”

My limbs were heavy, but with Sean’s help, I managed to sit up. I reached up to hold my cross, use it as an anchor, but it was gone. “My cross!” I felt around my neck, but the cord was gone too, and the skin was raw where it had been ripped away.

“What cross?”

“My necklace. It was a cross. Grandma Muireall gave it to me.” I felt inside my jacket, even pulled my shirt out thinking it might have dropped into it. Sean shined his flashlight around, looking for it.

“There!” Blue Hair pointed at a flash. Basketball Girl was closest and picked the cross up off the stone floor.

“That’s where you were when you heard the growl,” Utility-Vest whispered.

Basketball Girl dropped it into my hand and I clutched it to my chest. “I didn’t even feel it being pulled off.”

“Let’s get you out of here.” Sean helped me to my feet and half-carried me from the room. I looked down at the cross in my hand and noticed a mark on my wrist. I stumbled to a halt at the bottom of the stairs and grabbed Sean’s hand that held his flashlight. I directed it toward the mark. It was a simple cross burned into my skin.

“What the hell?” I whispered, staring at the mark, unable to fathom what had caused it.

Esther hobbled forward and put her hand into mine, palm up. A matching cross was burned into her palm. Dangling from her wrist was a rosary with a simple cross.

“It was in my hand when I grabbed you,” she said, sheepishly.

Tears pricked my eyes as I pulled her into my arms. “Thank you.”

“GET HER OUT OF HERE!”

Everybody jumped as the shout echoed down the hall.

“Jesus, Jack! I’m trying!” Sean yelled back. He unceremoniously pulled me up the stairs and out into the warm night air.

I took a deep breath, glad to be seeing the night sky again. The group poured out of the stairwell and circled Sean and me, all trying to talk but nobody made sense. Sean wrapped me in a tight hug before going back to lock the door that led to the vaults. The group crowded around me again. They were all talking, but I couldn’t hear them clearly. It was if they were shouting from a long way away.

I turned when I heard a voice, more clearly than the others, but I couldn’t find its source. I stiffened when I finally understood the words—words that weren’t coming from a person, but from inside my mind: Thanks for the way out.

"The Vaults" was originally published in horror anthology Below the Stairs: Tales from the Cellar available on Amazon.