The blood moon hung low over Ramelan House like a rotting, red eye.
Inside, the air hummed—a low, deep vibration that rattled the windowpanes and made the wallpaper twitch nervously.
Tia stood in the foyer, still in yesterday's hoodie and socks, staring at the trapdoor that had mysteriously appeared in the middle of the floor.
It pulsed.Thump-thump. Thump-thump.
Like a heartbeat.
A very bad, very ancient heartbeat.
Ba'zaroth lounged on the stairs, polishing his claws.
"I did warn you," he said, voice syrupy with fake sadness.
"You're a walking lawsuit," Tia snapped.
"And you're about to be lunch," he sang.
The ghosts were in chaos mode.
Lady Eugenia floated in frantic circles, clutching Mr. Floofers like a teddy bear.
DJ Deadbeat was remixing a very loud "Panic at the Disco" track with a screaming banshee chorus.
Ellis held up a sign:"Do we run?"
Underneath, he flipped to:"Or... run faster?"
The trapdoor rumbled.
Tiny cracks spiderwebbed across it, leaking black mist that smelled like burnt sugar and regret.
Tia swallowed.
"I'm going down there," she said.
The room exploded in protest.
"Absolutely not!" Lady Eugenia shrieked.
"You'll get eaten by whatever's been marinating under the floorboards for a century!"
Mr. Floofers coughed out a tiny haunted hairball in agreement.
DJ Deadbeat scratched a sad trombone noise.
Even Ba'zaroth raised an eyebrow."Bold. Stupid. But bold."
Tia yanked on a jacket.
"It's my house," she said. "If something woke up… it's my problem."
Armed with nothing but a flashlight, a rusty crowbar, and pure stubbornness, Tia pried open the trapdoor.
The smell hit her first.
Rotting flowers. Wet iron. A whiff of cotton candy.
She gagged.
The staircase spiraled down into impossible darkness.
"Okay," Tia muttered to herself. "You've survived cursed pottery classes, exploding wedding cakes, and Grandma Leila's ghost chili. You can do this."
She descended.
One creaking step at a time.
The basement was wrong.
The walls shifted when she wasn't looking.Voices whispered just outside the beam of her flashlight.Something skittered at the edges of her vision.
Tia pressed forward, until she stumbled into a room.
Massive. Circular. Covered in ancient runes that pulsed like living veins.
And at the center—
A throne.
Built from bones.
Occupied by something massive and shadowy, wearing a crown of rusted iron.
It smelled of old graves and broken promises.
It smiled when it saw her.
"Ahhh," it rasped, voice like the cracking of a tomb door."The Ramelan girl. Blood of the Keeper."
Tia froze.
"The what now?"
The thing stood, towering over her.
"I am Kharzum," it said. "The Bound King. Once lord of this land. Betrayed. Buried."
Tia inched backward. "Uh-huh. Well. I'm just renting, technically. Sooo, if you could just go back to sleep—"
Kharzum laughed.
The walls shook.
"You have broken the Seal. The debt must be paid."
Black vines erupted from the floor, slithering toward her.
Tia screamed.
Suddenly, a blast of ectoplasmic confetti hit Kharzum in the face.
Tia spun around.
Lady Eugenia floated in, holding a haunted party cannon.
"NOT TODAY, GRANDPA!" she screeched.
Behind her stormed DJ Deadbeat, Ellis, Mr. Floofers (wearing a knight helmet), and even Bingo the parrot, dive-bombing like a tiny feathery missile.
The ghost squad was here.
Full battle mode.
Tia choked out a laugh. "You guys—"
Lady Eugenia flashed a feral grin. "Nobody messes with our rent-free landlord!"
DJ Deadbeat dropped a weaponized beat so intense the runes flickered.
Ellis wielded a glowing mop like a sword.
Mr. Floofers bit a shadow vine in half.
Even Ba'zaroth materialized with a bored sigh, adjusting his Hawaiian shirt.
"I hate team-building exercises," he muttered."But fine."
It was absolute chaos.
Ghosts shrieked battle cries.
Shadow creatures lunged from the walls.
DJ Deadbeat's bass drops exploded like grenades.
Bingo screamed "PRAISE THE SUN!" while pooping spectral pellets onto the enemy.
Tia dodged a vine and swung her crowbar.
It sang through the air, slamming into a shadow limb.
Kharzum roared in fury, lurching toward her.
"You cannot win!" he bellowed. "You are mortal!"
Tia wiped blood (or ghost slime?) from her face.
"Yeah?" she gasped. "Well, I'm stubborn!"
With a scream, she drove the crowbar into the throne.
The effect was instant.
The runes blazed white.
Kharzum howled, dissolving into mist and screaming curses.
The walls trembled.
The basement collapsed in on itself, dragging the throne into darkness.
Tia barely made it up the stairs, the trapdoor slamming shut behind her with a final, echoing BOOM.
Silence fell.
Heavy.
Tense.
And then Mr. Floofers farted.
A long, sad whimper of air.
The whole house seemed to exhale.
Tia flopped onto the floor, staring at the ceiling.
Lady Eugenia floated down beside her, singed but victorious.
DJ Deadbeat bumped her fist.
Ellis held up a sign:"WE LIVED. (AGAIN.)"
Ba'zaroth leaned in the doorway, smirking.
"Well, well," he said. "Maybe you are ready to run this place after all."
Tia flipped him off without looking.
The chandelier flickered approvingly.
Later, they celebrated with haunted donuts and ghost wine.
Tia stood on the porch, watching the blood moon sink behind the hills.
The house creaked warmly behind her.
It was still weird.
Still full of drama.
Still leaking random ectoplasm at inopportune moments.
But it was hers.
Flawed.
Chaotic.
Haunted.
Home.