Find It Inc.

Chapter 12

The old woman (aka Granny Nana) and Frankie got to talking much to Frankie’s delight. I guess that whole build up at the office was for zero since this would be quite easy. Frankie got lucky with the timing because she arrived after Peter did and because of Peter, Granny Nana is talking since they (her and the families in the mansion) have a huge problem to sort out. She says that there is too much bad blood and the “youths” are stubborn to the point of insanity. Frankie asks about the other woman that is in the house and the gardener that is in the front garden. The woman explains that the other lady that screams none stop is not going to be much help since she is Peter’s mother and has not yet gotten over the death of her son. Yes it is tragic that Peter passed on so young but the worst is that his soul is trapped in the mansion instead of moving on which seems to be worst for the mother and hence why she is having a break down. The gardener was not easy to fool as the others were so he never entered the shed in order to get trapped in it. But it did not matter, according to Granny Nana, because he usually just does what he is told and agrees anything hence why he is looking after the garden. Someone told him to before the ‘muting’ started.

Granny Nana does not remember what happened to make people stop talking to each other (the ‘muting’) but she guesses it was because so many people were joining the mansion that introducing yourself again and again became boring plus the mansion became a circus attraction with living people coming in to either poke fun at the dead or to do research about things that did not matter. But the main reason was that no one knew who put the curse on them so they blame each other. But when Peter came to the front door and she recognized him, she knew that now was the time to let the past go since the families were getting nowhere with the whole silent treatment idea. It did not matter who or how the curse was placed but how to remove it since it is getting beyond ridiculous to be trapped here. Granny Nana tried to figure out how to fix everything by herself but it could not be done. She figures that all the families need to come together in order for the spell to be broken. She also suspects that it was someone that is living that planted the spell and not anyone in the mansion. This thought only came to her recently and she is very embarrassed that she blamed everyone that did not deserve it. She saw that the curse was affecting the young of the families and that was unfair to them since they did not do anything. She wants to save them from this trapped fate.

“But who would plant this curse and why?” asked Frankie who was listening closely and trying to figure out what to do to help.

“An angry ex-lover,” began Granny Nana, “You see my family is very wealthy and quite established that if someone marries in they will have everything they will ever need and want for life and their offsprings will have after their deaths. There is a lot of status in my family so it is a worry when one is no longer a member. I have tried to connect this person but alas they do not wish to be disturbed and, more importantly, to be reminded of what they lost.”

“That does not sound like much… I mean status… I mean… no offense but I only know some of you guys because of the research that I did in order to find the treasure… and to help of course”

“I understand your point of view, and you are part of the younger generation where one can make their own status without the help of another, but my time is very different where one’s status is either born into or married into not earned”

Frankie thinks for a moment and she takes a look at the photo. She sees that the small figure cannot be Peter since the photo is way too old and he is way too young to even be in a picture such as this. After a while Frankie asks if some first had to earn a status in order for others to be born into it and Granny Nana said that, that is true and that she is correct but the one who earned the status was about four generations before her’s. Frankie accepted that answer, mostly because this was not important to her treasure hunt, even though it is very interesting and maybe could be useful information in the future.

Peter is awake and ready to play with his Grandmother so Frankie leaves them alone to have their moment. She walks around the mansion with the photo in her hands and finds a room with a desk and chair for her to sit in to study the photo in a lot more detail. She estimates that this photo was taken with one of the first cameras and it is a wonder that it has lasted for so long besides the blurry faces. The faces being blurred out have much more to do with the curse than the quality (as well as the age) of the photo. Frankie takes a pen and (even though you should never, ever write on a photo especial if it is framed but then again she is writing on the glass so I guess it is fine, forget I typed anything.) writes on photo “Granny Nana” by the figure that seems to be the same shape and size as Granny Nana that she was just speaking to. Well the photo is magic (or the frame is) because the writing faded into a face that belongs to Granny Nana. She is in the photo smiling from ear to ear with a sparkle in her eyes. Frankie has cracked the puzzle so now she just has to fill it in. The problem is she does not know anyone else names (or nicknames) so she is stuck. She can ask Granny Nana to fill in the puzzle which would be the quickest and easiest mentioned to do but it would not solve the families’ problem plus they would, probably, still be cursed.

Frankie makes her way to Peter’s room to ask Granny Nana who is who in the photo. At least Frankie can find the treasure and sort out the family problems later. She goes to the room that Peter was in but she bumps her nose into the wall outside of the room. This is odd because, before, she could just float in. She tried again and she got the same result. She actually tried a few times but nothing changed. Plus it looked quite silly seeing a floating ghost hitting her nose and face on a wall. She knocked on the door and called out to Granny Nana. There was no reply so Frankie tried to go thought another wall. She tried on the outside of the mansion but nope. She tried from the ceiling but nope. From the floor? Nope again. She tried all the walls but nothing happened. Frankie sat down in front of the door and decided to wait for Granny Nana to come out. Maybe Granny Nana and Peter did not want anyone coming in so Granny Nana put a temporary spell on the room? This would make sense but everyone was trapped inside the shed and even if the mother was not in a state she is sure that Granny Nana and Peter would want to see her so why block her out? There is a banging at the door behind Frankie which makes her jump up. The door will not open.

“Help! Help!” she hears Granny Nana’s voice coming through the door, “We cannot get out, Frankie are you there?” Help us!

“I am here, stay calm!” Frankie calls back but it seems that they cannot hear her since Granny keeps shouting and repeating herself. So Frankie can hear them but they cannot hear her. This is a rotten pickle. But Frankie has an idea: she can try to send them a note under the door? Worth a try. Frankie goes off and finds a piece of paper and a pen which with she writes that they cannot hear her but she can them. Frankie also puts down in ink if there is anyone else who can do magic like Granny Nana. Obliviously this would be a pointless question since if there was not everyone would be trapped in the shed but Frankie is not really thinking straight. Frankie goes back to the newly blocked room and hopes that this will work.

She gets on to the floor in front of the door and places the note under it. She slowly slides it and it works the note is able to go under the door. There is a glitch in the spell which is great for them and hopefully it will never be fixed. Granny Nana stops yelling and answers what was written on the note. There is someone else who can do magic in the shed, not as good as Granny Nana (or maybe the person is just super lazy and pretends to be bad at magic so he never has to do any), but better than nothing. Frankie writes another note asking Granny Nana to free the others in the shed so that they can come and help her. Granny Nana disagrees and only decides to free this one person but the one person is restricted to the shed and only this section of the corridor. Frankie decides to never get onto Granny Nana’s bad side and I am in the same ghostly boat as her.

Frankie goes to the shed and explains to everyone what just happened. This was easy since Frankie did not have to yell but it became difficult when Frankie told them that only one of them could get out to help Peter and Granny Nana and it was Doger. Doger was happy to get out and stretch his legs (kind of) while the others got into an argument about Doger being the one who trapped Granny Nana and Peter in the first places so that he could get out but a counter argument was that Doger was way too dumb to even think that far ahead let alone be able to do it. The arguments heated up as Frankie and Doger left them to be. Frankie was glad that at least they were all taking to each other.

Doger did not say a word the whole walk to the mansion and when they arrived to the room where Granny Nana and Peter were trapped in he did not seem to do too much. He knocked on the door, floated around it and knocked some more. Frankie explained that they can talk to each other by passing notes under the door and that is what Doger did. He asked Granny Nana what he is to do to free her and Peter. Granny Nana gave a whole bunch of detailed instructions that seemed to have gone over Doger’s head and Frankie decided it would be a good idea for Granny Nana to write it all down for him. Frankie went to go get some more paper while Doger stood in front of the door with his month staying open. To be fair his month never closed, it is his neutral stance.

Granny Nana had finished writing out the instructions and she even let Doger the ability to go around the whole mansion to find what he needed in order to perform the spell. However, Frankie had to be by his side to make sure he does it and does not slack off. Doger takes no notice of her and makes his way to the kitchen to begin preparations, well after they actually find where the kitchen is.