Chapter One
Detective Maria Saunders stirred awake. The bus jostled and jolted on the dirt road leading into the swampy moors of the Scottish countryside. She had slept until four o’clock in the afternoon at her hotel in preparation for being up all night. But since the bus ride was two hours long, she thought to get in more sleep so that she was well rested… for hunting spirits.
“You know, I've heard that this place is possibly the most haunted castle in all of Scotland,” Jennifer Brentwood whispered to Maria as she sat across from her in another seat. Jennifer sat with her husband Mr. Brentwood.
Maria, sat alone, the only single person in the tour group. “Really? In all of Scotland? That must be quite a thing to say considering all the history,” she said wondering if she had made a mistake in picking this particular castle in Skye Scotland of all places. But she had been very hasty in booking the trip. Maria needed the vacation after everything she had been through, and it was definitely a reward of sorts.
“Don't worry, Jennifer, we have the American detective to protect us,” Mr. Brentwood, Jennifer’s husband teased.
They were both English, having come from London. They then looked at each other and began to tickle and tease while, Maria turned away and looked out the window. She was happy for anyone experiencing love and were able to still play together in such a way, but she didn't need it rubbed in her face, especially when she was on vacation.
Maria had a reason to go on vacation, it was a celebration for her promotion, something she had been fighting for, for a very long time. She came from a family of cops in New York City, and a lot was expected of her, including to follow in those family footsteps. So she had spent many years trying to get into the New York Police Department homicide division as a detective. She had been turned down twice, that was until five days ago when she finally made the force. She had exactly two weeks before she would start her new job and coming from a family of cops she knew just how hard working in homicide was on the mind, heart, and soul of a human. So she made it a point to give herself a vacation before starting on such a hard job that would not have time for vacation. People's lives depended on her showing up for work without breaks.
So after she got the promotion, she hastily looked up something that had to do with her favorite pastime, watching those silly reality shows about ghost hunters. She knew most of it was fake, but she found it fun and intriguing. Having the mind of a detective for solving problems and puzzles, she thought that those shows were very fun. Therefore she decided to book the first ghost tour of a castle that came up on her computer search. The one she found happened to be in Skye, Scotland.
Now, she sat in a bus full of tourist couples heading into the wild moors of Scotland and into the countryside. Growing up with four older brothers, she had always been somewhat of a tomboy, and that lent well to being a cop, allowing her to make herself distinguished in the force very early on. Being on the tall side also helped to have most of the men on the force respect her. Though they still commented on her features, from her very dark, wavy, blue-black hair to her wide brown eyes and slightly sharp features. It led some of the cops on the force to call her the “pretty one.” It was a nickname she hated. The look she would give them forced them to mumble it under their breath, until they finally stop saying it all together.
“Have you ever had any experiences, detective?” Another couple, who sat catty-corner from her, asked.
She already knew them to be Mr. and Mrs. Gianni from Rome, Italy. They also seemed to be quite in love.
“Experiences? I don't understand,” she said with a smile. She had been trying her best to be outgoing and make conversation with everyone as soon as they had set out from the hotel in Inverness. At least she would have some friends to talk to and not feel so incredibly lonely.
“Yes, ghost experiences? My wife and I have had many, but of course living in Italy, it is expected, it is very old, you see,” Mr. Gianni said.
“Oh, ghost experiences. No I have not, but I have heard some stories from some close friends in New York. It’s not as old as Italy, however, some of the buildings go back several hundred years. But I've never seen a ghost or experienced anything moving.”
“There is a first time for everything, huh? Perhaps you will see something at the castle and catch it on your phone camera, yes?” Mrs. Gianni said.
“I can only hope,” Maria said.
“Oh look, how beautiful,” Jennifer said pointing out the window.
Everyone turned to look to the left. The flat green rolling grass and swampy areas of the moor were quite beautiful to look at. But Jennifer was pointing out a family of foxes running across in the distance.
Then, a chilling screams reached all of them.
It sounded like the scream of a lady, only very high-pitched. Everyone in the bus grew quiet and looked at each other.
“Do not worry everyone. What you are hearing is not a ghost,” the tour guide said as he stood up in the front of the bus. Mr. Leslie, a Scottish man with red hair and a red beard, was quite thin and lanky, not the Scottish brute that Maria had expected to see.
“What is it?” Maria asked.
“That is the sound of the foxes that you are seeing there. That is their call, and yes it does sound like a woman screaming. It comes in all different sorts of high pitches, and in the middle of the night can seem quite frightening unless you are used to it.”
The tension in the bus was relieved as everyone took his word seriously. It was not ghost at all, merely the sound of animals. But it just went to show how much everyone had ghost on their minds, expecting one to appear in the very bus at any moment.
“How much longer to the castle?” Mr. Brentwood asked Mr. Leslie.
Mr. Leslie looked out the window, as though to gauge where they were. But to Maria it all looked the same, flat land with green rolling hills and patches of swampy moors. It was beautiful, but if there were a layer of fog she would definitely get lost. There were no trees to mark where you were going or where you had been.
“We have about another thirty minutes to go and then we should be there. These dirt roads make for slow driving, you don't want to get a flat tire out here, so we take it carefully. When we arrive at the castle ruins, we will have a light picnic dinner while watching the sun go down. There are a few tables set up outside for the occasion as well as rocks and grass to sit in. Once it’s dark, that is when we will enter the ruins and start our search.”
Those that were awake on the bus released excited commotion among them, including Maria. She watched as the couples kissed each other and realized they must be feeling very cozy to be going on such a search with each other.
She turned to look out the window, not wanting to look at the happy couples, or to be reminded that she regretted a mistake that she had made.
She had to put her relationships on hold until she got her detective’s badge. The drama of her last relationship had made her make that decision, because her ex was constantly fighting with her over the time she put toward her career, instead of toward their relationship. The demand for her attention grew too great for her and she found that she failed the first exam because she was always putting him before herself.
So after they broke up, she decided that she wouldn't date at all. But now that she had got what she wanted, being a detective, she suddenly realized just how lonely she had been in the last year. Maybe it was wrong of her to make that decision, but at the time she didn't think it was going to take as long as it did. If she could do it again, she wouldn't put relationships off, she would just look for a man that understood her need to put her time into her career.
The ocean air wafted in through the window. Maria closed her eyes and breathed in deep. She was ready to see the high cliffs of the Scottish Highland coast line. She had always romanticized those beaches and thought of herself wrapped in a blanket standing on the shore while seagulls squealed overhead. But that was not the point of this trip, however, she could bask in the feeling of salty air hitting her face as the bus moved.
Maria must have been thinking about this for a while because she was surprised when she heard the tour guide say, “We are arriving in five minutes. We’re about to cross the service bridge onto the small island that the castle is located on. Everyone, listen closely… As I said, this bridge is a service bridge and is withdrawn for the night in order to allow passing merchant ships to go down the river. It will not be in service again until the morning. The castle is very isolated, because its own bridge collapsed long ago. This is very important to know. There is no turning back now.”
It was meant to frighten the guests on the bus, but it only made them more excited and everyone erupted into cheers that there was an extra level of spookiness to the trip. Maria was also very excited, it was just a bit of silly fun and added to the magic.
Everyone pushed forward in their seats as they came upon the bridge. It was a very narrow one-way bridge with an iron trellis over it, giving it its own bit of spookiness. It was late afternoon, perhaps about one hour before sunset, giving the feeling of doom.
People pulled out cameras and phones to take photos of the bridge as they crossed. Maria did the same.
Once they were over the bridge, the bus began to climb a large hill. As they got to the top, everyone inhaled a breath of shock.
The castle ruin stood before them, beautiful and eerie. It was on a craggy cliff with the ocean below on one side of the castle. The grey stone was covered in moss and vines, but it was still quite intact in most places. Several towers looked to be only missing parts of the roof, and nothing else. One side of the castle was missing a wall, but the rest seemed to be as though time had done nothing to it at all.
“It's so beautiful,” Maria whispered to herself. She had seen a few photos of it when booking the tour, but nothing could compare to seeing it in person.
Maria knew that she was going to have a very good time, searching for ghosts overnight. She only hoped that maybe Mr. Leslie would let her tag along with him, so that she wouldn't be so alone. Maybe she could tag along with a few of the couples like the Italian couple or the English couple, they all seemed very friendly.
The bus drove down a gravel driveway to the front of the castle which had a very large circular drive in front of it. The bus came to a complete stop. Mr. Leslie looked at everyone sitting in the seats.
“Are you ready to be scared to death?” Mr. Leslie said.
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