Unlike the manor house, and despite its apparent age, it was completely intact. Even though it was made of glass, there were few cracks.

There were rows of old tables that still filled the inside from one end to the other, but they were empty. Not one sign of a pot, plant, or anything else that had to do with gardening.

“I’m getting a slight spike in here,” Chad noted. “We need to check it out later when we do a sweep of the grounds. Maybe do an—”

A bloodcurdling scream came from the manor, causing the team to run out of the greenhouse.

“Was that Deb?” James yelled, trying to keep up with his younger team members.

“I don’t know,” Chad yelled back, “but it was loud.”

Once they made it to the back door and ran inside, expecting to find Deb or Traci, they realized nobody was there.

“Deb?” James yelled breathlessly.

“You really need to stop smoking,” Chad informed him.

“Traci?” Jenn also yelled.

Shannon looked at her team, becoming frightened for the first time. “Where did they go?”

“I don’t know,” Jenn replied, her own fear escalating.

“Deb? Traci?” Chad walked into the foyer and yelled, but still no answer.

“I know this place is pretty big, but they should hear us,” Shannon said.

“You don’t think they left, do you?” Chad asked, looking at James.

“Why would they leave and not tell us?” he questioned as he walked toward the front door and peeked out the small window at the top of it. “No, Deb’s van is still here.”

“I think we need to get out of here,” Jenn admitted. “Something doesn’t seem right about any of this.”

“I agree,” Shannon reiterated. “As interesting as all this is, it’s a little much. Between the strange things that are here—” she waved toward the strings “—to the noises, the scream, and the fact that Deb and Traci just up and… well, who knows what’s happened to them. Just one more reason I’m ready to get out of here.” Her rising panic was evident in her voice.

“Okay, if that’s what you all want to do,” James said, looking at everyone, who, in turn, all nodded. “Then let’s go upstairs and get our stuff, see if Deb and Traci are up there, and then we’ll head on out.”

Reluctantly, the team headed upstairs to get the meter and voice recorder they’d left when they’d heard the noise outside. They yelled for Deb and Traci again, but to no avail.

“Here, let me call her,” James said. “She may have gone outside, thinking it was one of us who screamed. We were in the greenhouse, so we could’ve missed them.”

After a few seconds, Jenn held up her hand. “Listen.” It sounded like a ringtone. “She must’ve left her phone downstairs.”

As they walked out of the room, the music faded, so they stopped, straining their ears.

“Is it coming from inside the room?” Shannon asked as she stopped and tilted her head toward the door so she could hear better.

Chad turned around and walked back into the room. “Sounds like it.”

“I got her voicemail,” James said. “Let me call it again. Split up and see where it’s coming from.”

Chad stayed in the room while Jenn walked toward the staircase and Shannon went down the hallway. When the phone started to ring again, Chad and Shannon both said they heard it.

“How can they both hear it?” James asked Jenn. “They’re practically on two different sides of the house.”

James walked into the room with Chad, where Jenn and Shannon soon joined them.

Chad was on his knees next to the basketball-sized hole in the wall. “It’s coming from in here.”

“Inside the wall?” Jenn asked.

He sat back on his thighs and nodded. “Her phone’s ringing… from inside the wall.”