Ghost knew from experience that was all Gideon was going to tell him for now. He nodded goodbye and headed back to the graveyard with Amber.
“Home sweet home,” he smiled as they entered. The place was freezing. Despite his best attempts at insulating it, once the cold got it, it froze the very bricks, making the place a nightmare to warm up again.
“Brrr, are we staying?” Amber shivered. She knew they could get by with heating up one room and huddling under a small mountain of blankets, but it wasn’t her favourite past-time. The tips of her ears tended to gradually get colder and colder throughout the night.
Ghost shook his head. “No you’re right it’s too cold. Is there anything you want from here?”
When Amber shook her head he nodded his agreement and they headed back out again, locking the door behind them.
“Might as well head out now then,” he suggested and they started walking towards the school.
Even though the snow had turned to a muddy slush, the roads were deserted. It was still cold enough that if you didn’t have to travel, then it was better not too. It took time, but soon they eventually made their way to outside the school gates. The sun was setting and long shadows settled over the old buildings.
They noticed that the front gates were slightly ajar this time. They looked at the slush, but although there were vague tracks melted into it, they could distinguish anything that seemed recent. The ghouls seemed to be staying within the school, unwilling to stray too far from their territory.
“So where to now?” Amber asked softly.
“There’s an old connecting tunnel. Gave me the shivers when I was here and it was perfectly safe then,” Ghost replied. He pushed gently against the gate but it didn’t move. Warily he looked around it and the realised that the hinges were covered in ice. He pushed more firmly against it, until the ice gave way and the gate swung open. He caught it before it travelled too far, careful not to let it crash open and alert anyone or anything that might be listening.
The school looked different in the half-light. It had an eerie feel. There had no real reason to be here at this time. Sure he’d come by late at night sometimes when he was younger, but it was a way off the main road. You wouldn’t come here unless you were taking a short cut through the twisting country backroads.
The trees seemed to shiver in the chill wind as they crept through the gates, careful of their footing. The shadows made it harder to see than it would have been at nighttime. Colours and edges blurred slightly. But then the same thing could work to their advantage too. Ghost knew that ghouls were cunning, but it was raw and animalistic. He wasn’t worried about complex traps, just vicious ones.
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