The Forgotten Zodiac

((But that doesn't answer my question. Are the breaking in or are the knocking and Clarissa is answering the door?))

Alexander reached the front of the house and wavered, debating whether to knock on the front door and request to be allowed upstairs to investigate, ask Vi to use her unique talents to gain them entrance, or take the risk that no one was home and enter the house. "I've no idea, Virellis. I barely know how to keep Siren song from affecting me, I've yet to see a Siren attempt to control a ghost."

((I think Morgan Jr. would bite Xanders anyway, just for getting too close to Isabella.))

"No time like the present to find out then, huh?" Vi grinned. "C'mon then, no point in waiting around." She strode forward, then lifted a hand and knocked on the door.

It opened a moment later, and Clarissa greeted them. "Oh! Hello there...Vi, was it?. I see you found the house." She smiled brightly. "What brings you here? Are you that eager to see it, miss?"

"Er...no, actually. We're investigating." Vi blinked. "Is this Morgan's house?"

"Yes, it is."

"Um...we were told that it was haunted."

"Oh dear. I don't think it is," Clarissa frowned.

((Yay biting!))

Alexander shifted uncomfortably when Clarissa opened the door. Of all the people who could have lived here, Morgan was not who Alexander would have picked. "This is awkward. There've been reports of a ghost haunting your upstairs corridors, watching children play, everything. I'm afraid, just to fill out all the paperwork, I'll have to request that you let us inside."

"I'm not objecting. I don't think I've seen any sign of any ghosts, but friends of Morgan's are welcome inside." Clarissa opened the door and stepped back, smiling happily. "Come along, investigate to your heart's content."

"Thank you," Vi nodded, moving inside. "Upstairs, it was. You go first, Xander, I don't want to be in the way." She smiled a bit.

Alexander quickly moved his way through the downstairs, not entirely resisting the urge to analyze every piece of furniture in the place, and started up the stairs. He wasn't very far up when a dog, of medium size, revealed itself at the top of the stairs, growling quietly. Alexander stopped in his tracks, turning back to speak to Clarissa. "I didn't realize you had a dog. Could you call him off?"
Before Clarissa had to respond, a young woman's voice, sounding about Alexander's age, sounded from just behind the dog. "Morgan! Down! Come!" The dog stopped its growling immediately and turned back, settling itself at the girl's feet and staring up at her. She settled down next to him, praising his avidly for his defensive skills and prompt obedience, but looked expectantly down the stairs at Alexander and Virellis. "Who's here, Clarissa?" she called curiously, watching both newcomers with interest.

"This is Alexander, Morgan's employer. And Virellis, a friend of his. They're investigating the house," Clarissa answered. "Go ahead and just answer whatever questions they have, dear, I've got to finish making lunch!"

Vi made it up the stairs, blinking at the girl. She hid a grin, realizing that this was the girl Morgan had been so serious about hiding. "Aw, you have a dog? He's so obedient," She marveled, smiling away. "And you named him...Morgan? That's...adorable." She tried her very best not to laugh, but a slight giggle gave way.

The girl settled down against the wall, still where she could see them coming up the stairs. Her blue eyes were peaked with interest, but she dropped back into the corner with her arms draped around the dog for comfort. Clearly, social interaction had yet to come easily for her. "I'm Isabella. It's nice to meet you," she murmured, breaking eye contact and staring fixatedly at the wall just above their heads.
"It's my pleasure, Isabella." Alexander approached and offered his hand, holding it out toward the girl. He recoiled as the dog lunged forward and latched its teeth into his palm, snarling ferociously. Thankfully, the attack had just been a snap, barely drawing blood before Morgan released Alexander and bounced back to Isabella. "Holy-" he caught himself before he uttered something he would regret. He pulled his hand back to his side, tightly wrapping his unharmed hand around the teeth marks in his palm.
Isabella gasped and grabbed Morgan's collar, pulling him back against her. Without addressing Alexander or Vi, she began scolding the dog rigorously, showing an energy they would never have expected from her slim form.

"My goodness," Vi blinked. "Careful, Val, don't--" She started. Upon approaching the dog, the Nighthawk had flown from Alexander's hand and onto the back of a nearby chair. From there, it began pecking at things out of distress. Vi managed to calm it down with soothing tones and a gentle scolding. Val then fixed his black gaze on Isabella and the dog, staring for a good long while before looking at other things.

"Well...I don't think there's a ghost around here," Vi tutted. "Little Isabella, have you seen any ghosts or anything of the sort...?"

((Do remember, Isabella is physically only a year or less younger than Alexander. She just acts younger because of the trauma.))

Isabella looked up at Vi, eyebrows raised in shock and interest. "Ghost? What's a-" She stiffened and pressed her face against Morgan's side, breathing deeply as if to calm herself. After a few seconds, she looked back up and shook her head. "No ghosts. Nobody but me ever comes upstairs." The teen stood, still holding Morgan by the collar, and smiled shyly at both Vi and Alexander. "I can show you the whole upstairs, if you want to. Maybe I should put Morgan in his box first?"
Alexander chuckled slightly at Isabella's phrasing, mentally picturing her placing the human Morgan in a box, before he nodded. "That would be excellent. Is his kennel..." he glanced around the upstairs, just in case she kept the dog there and he needed to clear the space. The biting had convinced him that the dog deserved a wide berth.

((OH YEAH. xD It's hard to remember these things. I will give an excuse that Vi likes to give people petnames, even strangers.))

"No, that's okay. Ghosts usually leave pretty obvious signs." Vi frowned a bit. "But yeah, we may as well look around for anything you might have missed. Don't be upset with him, Alexander, he's just doing his job. Such a good guard dog. Did Morgan train him?"

"No, I did. Isabella, darling, would you like your sandwich now, or later?" Clarissa questioned, smiling.

((That'll work. Hannah calls her Isa. Vi could eventually settle on that, if she finds Little Isabella to be too wordy.))

"I'm not upset with him, Virellis. Not wishing to have your hand bitten repeatedly is not the same as hating dogs. I just happen to like my fingers." Alexander stepped past Vi and looked around the upstairs, but she was right. Paranormal creatures like that were never subtle, so the fact that they hadn't seen it yet meant they probably never would.
"I did it myself," Isabella replied. Upon hearing Clarissa's question, she stood up and leapt down the stairs, deliberately skipping two or three at a time. "I'm hungry now, please." The girl stayed quiet for a second before her eyes widened and she grinned. "Clarissa, I remembered! I remembered to say please!"
The dog trotted after her, pressing up against her side when they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Ohh, he didn't hurt you," Vi tutted. "It was a warning. He was doing his job, and a good one, too. Protecting a little girl from harm..." She paused to listen to Clarissa praise Isabella for saying please. She frowned at that and turned to the closets. "Whatever her pet choices, she certainly doesn't act her age." Vi muttered, opening a few drawers to see if any of them had pools of blood, notes from a ghost, or any other various sign. She poked her head out of the closet and looked at Val. "Can you see anything, darling?" She asked. Val just blinked at her. "I didn't think so..."

Alexander sighed and wrapped his hand in his handkerchief before shoving it into his pocket. It wasn't bleeding too badly, so he didn't have to worry about staining his pants, though it might be awkward getting the handkerchief off. "She doesn't act not her age either; its something different." His voice trailed off as he flipped through a notebook, stopping when he found repeated drawings of Morgan's arm, four dead bodies, rooms filling with blood, and other rather morbid images, interspaced with flowers, dogs, rainbows, and Morgan. Other pages were simply names over and over, filling every blank space. Hers and Morgan's especially, but occasionally Clarissa made an appearance. "Vi? What do you make of this?" He held the book out to her, not bothering to hide the images of Morgan's arm as it was always standalone, with no identifying features, and the pages around it would be blank.

Vi took the book, frowning a bit. "This is...what, is this girl insane or something?" She flicked through some more, staring at the pictures. "Hey...I used to do this when I was younger. I'd have nightmares, and I'd wake up in the middle of the night and draw what I saw. But...never anything this...horrible. Mine was always just people's backs. This is awful...do you think, maybe...something happened? Maybe she saw something when she was younger, and...?" Vi bit her lip, frowning. She threw the book back at Alexander when she heard footsteps.

It was just Clarissa. "Can I interest you two in some sandwiches?" She smiled a bit.

"No, we don't want to be any more of a bother," Vi shook her head. "Thank you, though."

Alexander caught the book with ease and returned it to its place, determining to ask Morgan about the girl later. He had already decided to tell Morgan they had visited the house, lest his guard find out elsewhere and have a conniption. He would have found out more about Isabella had Monet not interrupted them. It was entirely possible this was part of the information Morgan had been going to share. "No, thank you, Clarissa. I ate earlier." He glanced around the upstairs, just in case a specter decided to reveal itself suddenly, before turning to Clarissa. "Well, it'll be no surprise to you that I'm not seeing evidence of anything supernatural."

((Are they figuring out that it was Isabella?))

((Yes. I think we've dragged it out long enough. xD))

"Of course not." Clarissa frowned. "Why don't you tell me why it was thought to be haunted in the first place? Perhaps I can shed some light on the matter. Rumors are sure to get around in a large city like this."

"I didn't get many details on it. Xander?" Vi turned to Alexander, blinking at him expectantly. "You're the one that brought us down here in the first place. "What all's going on here, exactly?"

"Certainly." Alexander took a brief moment to arrange his thoughts before elaborating on the supposed haunting. "There've been reports of a pale figure watching people from windows, disappearing as soon as they look at it. Apparently it's especially known for watching children, but even then it leaves when seen." He shrugged, not really convinced that there was such a ghost. If it hadn't come from a credible source, he would have ignored it anyway. "Any ideas?"

Clarissa blinked, then frowned. "Isabella loves watching people from out her window. She spends most of her time doing just that. She's...not exactly fit for much social interaction. She's made a few friends with shopkeepers, but she has trouble with other people. She's very shy, but she's really a sweet girl..."

"So...the one watching people from the windows is Isabella?" Vi frowned.

"...Right." Alexander nodded, clearly uncomfortable in the situation. "Well, that seems to solve our conundrum. Sorry to have bothered you, Clarissa." He cast a sidelong glance to the journal but quickly pulled his view back to Clarissa so she wouldn't realize what he had seen. "I'm sorry to have bothered you. You might talk to her about watching people, but I can spread word that there's no ghost." He started out of the room, expecting Vi to follow. The sooner they got out of here, the better.

"Alright then. Thank you," Clarissa saw them to the door, smiling brightly as she led them out. "Have a nice day!" She waved as they left the house."

"You too!" Vi waved back as Val flew out, landing heavily on the glove Alexander was still wearing. Vi turned back to the road, heading back to the main street. "Alright, that didn't go so bad. We just have to ask Morgan about the girl, I suppose. Does he know his employee is keeping a little girl in his house?"