Of course, Bennie would have preferred to not have read that out loud. But as it stands, he did read out loud, loud enough for the ghost girl to also hear it. Which is why he was now slowly but very resolutely backing away from the wall in front of him.

  Somewhat because of the noise it was making, somewhat because it had started moving, but mostly because it was sending large arcs of what he could only describe as purple lighting in every direction.

  He backed up until he was flush with the far wall, not even feeling the ghost girls hands on his shoulders, or even her entire body pressing against him as he squashed against the wall. She let out a soft ‘eep’ and he stopped moving. The wall was still sending arcs of lighting and making a now horrible sound as it moved inwards, revealing a dark room behind it.

  As they watched it eventually stopped moving, and the what he now assume is magic, stopped working. Fortunately, this time he didn’t pass out or anything. But he was still wary of just rushing in.

  But as everything calmed down, and the few, surprisingly so, dust motes that were kicked up began to settle he approached the now open wall. Some light was filtering from the room they were in, but otherwise the entire room he was looking into was almost pitch black.

  If ever there was a hidden portal room, this was definitely it.

  “So, do we just go in? Can I send you in first?” he asked, half mockingly to the ghost girl who was still clinging to his shoulders.

  In response she simply gave him a hard shove and floated slightly backwards and away from the wall. He would have to go in alone judging from the look on her face. Gulping he turned his full attention back to what was in front of him.

  First though, he went to the fireplace and grabbed one of the logs that were in there. Judging by how light it was, this fireplace was clearly never used by whoever came before, the wood was as dry as wood could get. He used his fire starter skill to get a small flame floating at the tip of his finger, but just before he lit it the ghost girl came and quickly blew it out. Which shocked him slightly, she was doing a lot of things lately that were quite unghostly.

  “Don’t do that! You’re going to burn the house down. Stay here, I’ll be right back.” She said before he could even think of replying.

  She flew out the door and he stood awkwardly alone in the office, it really was a nice office, apart from the magic circle burn marks that now not only marred the floor, but the walls as well. He was getting impatient, which to be truthful was not how he normally would be, when he saw her floating back through the main door. She held a lantern in her hand and shoved it towards him.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  He took it from her and fumbled a little bit before he finally figured out how it worked. She did look just as confused as he was about the whole thing, but he managed to lift the glass up and, using his fire starter skill, the flame inside lit up. Carefully he closed the glass again and stared in wonder.

  He had always seen oil lamps in movies but seeing one in person was a different experience, and by the way the flames were flickering in the ghost girls eyes she seemed to fully agree.

  Taking a deep breath he set out towards the open wall, armed with a lamp light and a ghost girl he hoped that nothing weird would happen inside.

  Of course, he also realised that would be an insane thing to hope for. As they entered the room, that was as long as the actualy hallway and from what he could see had solid brick walls, he noticed doorways all over it.

  In fact, there seemed to only be doorways throughout it. Which was strange, because he knew there were no doors on the other side of any of the walls. He had seen them.

  He couldn’t see all the way to the end of the room so he just went to the nearest door and tried to open it. But the handle would not budge. He tried saying the words the book had told him, and nothing else happened either.

  Stepping back, he looked at the door and noted that it looked somehow uncomfortably plain. There was no writing, no number, not even some scuff marks from regular use. It looked for all the world like a door that would be hanging in a showroom.

  Shaking his head and mumbling to himself, he continued deeper into the room. Somehow, the light from where he had entered was becoming dimmer too, almost like it was becoming impossibly far away.

  He was just about to test what would happen if he turned back when he swore he heard a soft click and then was blinded by a white blue light coming from the floor.

  “Oh not again” he moaned as his entire vision became a white field and he forced his eyes closed.

  For the second time in 9 days he had stepped onto a magic circle. For the second time in 9 days it had activated without warning.

  Except this time he felt two surprisingly strong, but still small hands clench onto his right arm. So tight that he swore she was going to rip his entire arm off if she didn’t let go.

  The last thing he noticed, before his stomach gave an almighty lurch was that notifications were popping in his view.

  Then he was gone, and so was the ghost girl.

  If someone or something were to observe the mansion from the outside they may have been confused as all the open windows quietly shut themselves, the doors locked themselves, and the most astute of viewers may have noticed that a few of the crooked roof shingles straightened themselves.

  Almost like the house itself felt a bit more chipper, a bit more alive, and that it was waiting for someone to return.

  On his 9th day in another world, Theodore “Bennie” Poundsworth discovered a hidden room, learned about portals, and then promptly didn’t watch where he was stepping.

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