Hidden Secrets of the Old Victorian

By Carol Lucas

Elizabeth and her friends enter a vacant old house on a whim and soon discover that something is not quite right. What started out as a fun day to explore, became a nightmare as they get locked in a cellar. They soon discover the house is haunted, as apparitions of the past present themselves to Elizabeth to help her discover past crimes encountered in the Old Victorian. With the discovery of a hidden journal, Elizabeth and her friends set out to look for a secret tunnel that puts them in a deadly game of uncovering the truth before any of them get hurt.

This fast paced sequel will take you on an unforgettable journey of suspense as you wait for each chapter to unfold the next twist of evil and the surprising connection to the children of the cemetery.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465346445

Carol Lucas

Carol Lucas is proud to present this unique book to people with very unique issues—former foster children. It is her desire that hope for them will be found in the pages of this book.

Book preview

Chapter 1

We were out of breath by the time we reached the house from running down the hill so fast.

Patricia feeling that fear growing inside of her again, yet excited at the same time, asked if we were really going to enter.

Why not? Jack said. Not like getting scared is anything new to us.

I don’t know Jack, its private property. I said.

Come on nothing’s going to happen. It’s just an old house and a neat place to hang out. he answered back.

It really was a beautiful old Victorian mansion.

It’s a shame it had not been taken care of. Such a waste. I thought.

Jack was the first to open the rusty old iron gate. He pulled at the vines concealing the path to the steps.

I thought to myself how much I always admired this place and was always drawn to it. I wondered who used to live here and why they never sold it. A fresh coat of paint sure would bring new life to it.

The wind started to blow as we started up the creaky old wooden steps. Some of the porch was rotted away and decayed leaves were everywhere. The century old tree branches were in bad need of trimming. Some of them had grown right through the porch breaking the wooden slats of railing in some places.

Ray and Jack climbed over a tree limb and headed toward the front. Patricia and I went around to the other side of the porch.

Old houses like this used to have secret gardens. I said with so much excitement, as I loved flowers.

Oh I bet it has secrets all right. Patricia answered with a tone in her voice as she slowly walked behind me.

Probably haunted by ghosts just waiting to take possession of us.

Stop it Patricia, you’re not going to frighten me.

I wonder if the guys are inside yet? she asked.

I looked her straight in the eyes and with a stern voice said, The doors are probably locked and if they are, we are not going to break in.

Break in… are you kidding? We can go through this window if we want too. as she pointed to several broken panes.

It looked like kids in the past had thrown rocks at it.

As we made our way around to the back of the porch, we could see it. A glass atrium! It was big and gorgeous, although the windows could sure use a cleaning. You could see how beautiful it must have been in its day.

I admired the antique iron bird houses and the ponds that must have held goldfish once upon a time.

Look, Patricia shouted there’s tulips blooming over there where that statue of the lady is. A whole bed of them.

How wonderful to still be alive without any care at all I thought.

The atrium keeps the heat and moisture in. I did a class project on it last year. Don’t you remember? Patricia said to me as she looked inside the house.

I turned to see what had her attention.

We could see Ray and Jack inside the house. They were waving at us to come to them.

They better not have broken anything to get in. I thought to myself.

We climbed over the railing and ran to the atrium door.

Ray opened the unlocked door and Jack was holding up an old silver skeleton key.

I found it at the front door under an old straw mat. It opened right up. he said with a grin.

Really proud of yourself aren’t you, but this house still belongs to someone and we are trespassing. We really don’t belong here and should leave before someone finds us. I said.

I bet no one has lived here for over a hundred years. he said.

We both seemed to realize that Ray and Patricia had wondered off, when we heard a terrible scream from somewhere inside the house.

It was Patricia’s voice and we went running to try and find her when she ran right into us from another room.

What happened? . . . I said with my heart beating rapidly.

A rat ran over my foot. she said as she cried.

That’s all… a rat. Jack yelled. You scared me to death for a rat.

Where’s Ray? I asked.

I looked around and realized he never came when Patricia screamed.

Ray . . . . we all called out. No one answered.

There were so many rooms to this place.

We have got to find him. Lets all stay together and look around, I ordered.

Now I’m scared. said Patricia. He better not be playing tricks on us.

Patricia and I held hands and followed behind Jack as we headed into another room. Look… . books, lots of books.

It’s a library, Jack said.

There was no one there so we kept going. We entered the dining room and stopped at the stairway.

Ray . . . we called again. Still no answer.

Looking behind her, Patricia said these room’s seem to be getting bigger every time we leave them.

Rooms increasing in size… . come on Patricia, get a grip. It’s just your imagination, I answered.

Jack stared at the broken steps.

With a frightened look on her face, Patricia said I don’t want to go up there.

Stay here then, I’ll go check it out. Jack said as he started up… .

Be careful, some of the railing is missing, I shouted up to him.

When he reached the top, he waved to us.

What do you see? we asked.

Lots of doors he shouted back.

Again he called out to Ray… . Silence was all he heard.

He headed down the hallway and opened the first door and peeked in.

Ray, are you in there? he shouted.

He shut the door and opened the next one and ventured inside. It smelled so musty he thought. Dust covered the hardwood floor. He could see there were no footprints, so he left.

For whatever reason he skipped the rest of the rooms and went to the end of the hall and looked out the window.

He began banging on the window pane.

What’s happening? we cried up to Jack.

"I see him. He’s outside in the glass room.

He’s picking flowers."

Again Jack tried to get Ray’s attention by banging on the window to no avail. Why doesn’t he look up? he thought.

This time when he looked down he saw a huge black snake coming out of another over grown flower bed. It was heading toward Ray. He tried to pull the window open but it was stuck from years of paint and would not budge. He frantically banged harder and harder to get Rays attention. Finally Ray looked up, saw him and waved back.

The window pain was getting all steamy from Jacks breath and Ray could no longer see him clearly. It was really cold up here he thought.

Jack turned and ran down the stairway… two steps at a time.

Come on, he shouted. We have to help him.

We all ran looking for