This is a sequel to Shadow House. You can go read that first, if you'd like, or you can just read this - I've explained this as if people haven't read the other one with very brief mentions of what happened.

Just to warn you, though: there will be major character death, descriptions of dead bodies and violent deaths by supernatural entities. It's gonna be the kind of deaths you get in horror movies, basically. And, like, films like Scream.

The young man watched as the police officer crouched down to the girl's level. "Your name is Sen, yes?" The teenager nodded though she kept her hands covering her face, hiding her tears. "Could you tell me what happened?"

There was a brief period where the only sound was her quiet sobs and the background chatter of emergency personnel. Then, slowly, she took her hands away from her face, taking several shuddering breaths. When she was ready, she said, "We-We only did i-it for a d-dare..."

"Went into the house?" the police officer confirmed.

"Yes..." Sen seemed reluctant to continue but, when she saw the uniform, she shuddered and did so. "There were monsters. Things that came out of the shadows. They k-killed everyone. I... I was the only one..." She trailed off, trembling as she hugged herself, eyes wide as she saw the horrors no-one else had.

"I have seen the bodies," the police officer said, trying to be gentle. "I know whoever did this is much more a monster than the old tales we all know. Perhaps you can describe what they looked like?"

"No, no!" cried the girl. "You don't understand! They were actual monsters! Ghosts! Something supernatural-!" Sen broke off, clearly too upset to continue and the young man could see she seemed to be on the verge of a breakdown.

Since he had found her, he felt somewhat responsible for the girl and stepped forward. "I think she needs to rest, Officer," he said, firmly yet respectfully. "Sen-chan may be in shock."

At first, the officer seemed reluctant. Then he nodded. "Yes. I shall see if her parents are on the way."

The young man was left with the teenager who rocked back and forth, wailing quietly. Realising his comfort would be unwanted, he moved along the hedge to the opening where he could see the large house beyond. He looked up at it: for some reason, it gave him a sense of foreboding.

It was clear, even to him, that Sen was telling the truth about the monsters...

Arthur sipped at his Rose Grey tea, completely at peace with the world. He had no assignments due for another few months and had prepared sufficiently for his online test later in the week. Since he had completed much of his university work, he had decided to come to the City Centre to treat himself. A flash of guilt shot through him as he remembered the several bags lying between his chair and the wall, most of them filled with books.

His stomach grumbled before he could fall into a spiral of guilt and fear. Clicking his tongue, he set his cup down on the saucer and checked his watch. Where on Earth were they? He'd agreed to meet them here ten minutes ago. Had they gotten distracted again? Arthur hoped not. He couldn't keep the table here indefinitely.

A waitress appeared at his elbow at that point. "Are you ready to order?" she asked, smiling brightly. Arthur mused that she must enjoy her work: it must be nice to work in a café with so much choice in tea.

"I am," Arthur said. "My friends, sadly, are not. I've no idea where they've got to."

"Oliver!" cried a voice from the door.

Relieved, Arthur turned towards the voice with an unamused expression. Just entering the café were his two best friends. The pale-haired Lukas, ran his eyes over the place before spotting the small cupcakes in the counter by the door. Fixated, he stared as, beside him, the rowdier Vladimir grinned and waved at Arthur, his dark hair bobbing as he moved as energetically as possible. Arthur rolled his eyes and waited for them to come over.

"Sorry, Olly!" Vladimir declared as he sat across from Arthur. "We went to the wrong one."

"The one on Byres Road is closed," Arthur told them, amused to think of them standing outside the empty café.

"There's another one near that statue with the cone," Lukas told him. "We were sitting there for ages till we realised that you might be at this one."

"I sent you a text to tell you I was already here," Arthur said, exasperatedly.

"Sorry," Vladimir repeated. "I think my phone's broken – I didn't get that till we were halfway here..."

Sighing, Arthur shook his head. "Come on," he said, handing over his menu. "We'd better order before we get kicked out."

"You've not been here that long," Vladimir protested. Nevertheless, he bent his head over the menu, exclaiming whenever something caught his eye. Lukas made acknowledging noises every so often but otherwise kept silent, staring at one particular item.

Arthur watched them fondly, glad they were his friends. However, a sharp stab of guilt had him reaching for his teacup so he could hide his worried frown. He was lying to his two best friends every day, continuously. For one, they both thought his name was Oliver Jackson. Neither of them knew his past; neither of them knew his connection to the famous case in America dubbed the Shadow Killings.

Over a year ago, Arthur had gone on a road trip across America with his friends. When they had broke down, the group had taken refuge in an abandoned house. There, they had been tormented by unknown, supernatural assailants. Almost all of them had died but Arthur had escaped with those still alive. He had left that place with the knowledge of an earlier incident he had been involved in where exactly the same thing had occurred when he was a child.

Running from the disbelieving American police and his surviving friends, Arthur had made his way along country roads till he had found a town. Glad he had been given a change of clothes in the ambulance, Arthur had used what money he had on him to get a bus back to his university. Once there, he had contacted his parents, gotten a plane ticket, hastily packed and flew home, pulling out of the course for 'personal reasons' via e-mail. Somehow, he had never been stopped nor had he been contacted by the police – a small mercy.

He told his parents that a serial killer had killed his friends instead of the reality, knowing they wouldn't believe him and not wanting to undergo therapy or hypnosis again. They were merely relieved that he had survived and immediately welcomed him home. Up until the New Year, Arthur moped, nightmares plaguing him. Then, while his family were making New Year's resolutions, he decided that he wanted to go back to university, to work, to do something instead of wallowing in his misery.

However, his mother was scared to lose him, unwilling to let him enrol in a university in case the killer found him again. There were multiple discussions while Arthur tried to find a university in Britain, unwilling to go elsewhere in case he found another fatal house. Finally, his cousin spoke up, encouraging Arthur to come to Glasgow, citing that he would keep an eye on him. For a while, his mother was still against the idea. Then his father suggested a fake name, using his connections at the local police station to put Arthur into a sort of witness protection scheme.

They'd let Arthur choose his name: Oliver Jackson.

Glasgow University was where he had enrolled, his parents forking out more money for him to get a flat in the West End. His cousin lived in the East End but worked in a pub in the City Centre so they met up frequently. Arthur had been relieved to leave England and his fussing parents behind but had soon become nervous about making friends and interacting with people his own age.

Luke and Vlad were a godsend.

He'd met them at an event in the Queen Margaret Union. It was supposed to be mainly for foreign students to introduce themselves and make friends. Since Arthur came from England, he decided to go. While lurking at the sides, he ended up bumping into Lukas who was also shyly watching the proceedings. After introducing himself (Oliver, remember Oliver), Arthur managed to have a civil conversation. He may not have continued his friendship with him as they weren't in the same course and he was too reluctant to ask for contact details. It was lucky that Vlad spotted them and exuberantly introduced himself.

For some reason, the three of them felt drawn to each other. They had soon become the best of friends and, though he sometimes remembered the two friends he had left behind in America, he had fun. His academic career was going swimmingly. It really felt like he had left the nightmares behind.

He hoped it never happened again.

"Olly!"

Jerking from his thoughts, Arthur almost spilled his tea and set it down. "Eh?" he said, looking around. The waitress from before was standing beside their table, notebook out and pen in hand. She seemed rather amused as she watched Luke and Vlad frowning at him.

"I thought you wanted to order something?" Vlad said, pointedly, grin soon returning to his face.

Rolling his eyes, Arthur turned to the waitress and gave her his order. Then he turned to his friends. "We'd be eating by now if you hadn't made a mess of things."

"Not our fault!" sang Vlad, grin widening.

"You could have put the address," Lukas added, mildly, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, yes, I'm sorry," Arthur replied, waving his hand dismissively. "Now, let me show you what I bought today..."

After their lunch, they decided to do some more shopping. Both Lukas and Vladimir insisted on buying something Scottish to send home to their younger brothers, despite them having sent something every month since they'd reached Glasgow. Arthur hadn't bothered – Peter got enough Scottish things every birthday and Christmas as James tried to convince his cousin that Scotland was better than England.

They bought some things from Forbidden Planet and even went into a few clothes shops since Vlad insisted on buying new jeans. Apparently, his had too many holes. Their baggage increased as they ended up buying Lego as well, for Lukas's 'projects'. Arthur declared at one point that he should never go shopping with either of them ever again. Vlad promptly dragged him into Hamleys and Arthur parted with more money.

It was late afternoon when Lukas suggested returning to the West End and dropping off the bags they had before they did anything else. Arthur readily agreed. Agreeing to meet up outside of Lukas and Vladimir's student halls, Arthur went home. There, he found that he had a couple of messages on the phone. He considered listening to them but decided that he didn't have time for that: Vlad had been talking about going to the Kelvingrove Museum again so he would have to hurry if they were to get there before it closed.

Indeed, once they'd met up, they made their way to the museum, Vlad grinning all the while. "We should go to the art section this time," Lukas said as they made their way up the stairs of the large building.

Vlad grimaced. "But I was hoping to go to this temporary exhibit they've got – it's all about ghost stories in Scotland!"

Arthur couldn't repress a shudder, thankful he was behind the other two. He had a bad feeling that something would go wrong if they went there. Quickly, he said, "Luke is right; we never go to the art bits – you always drag us to the 'special exhibits'."

"You won't be complaining in a few months," said Vlad with a grin. "There's a Doctor Who one."

His worries instantly dispersed by his excitement, Arthur grinned back. "Okay, I guess these exhibits are a good thing."

"Da!"

"Urgh," said Lukas and followed them inside.

Once they had bought their tickets (Arthur and Lukas frowning at Vladimir all the while), they entered the darkened room. It had been split into several halls in a large U shape. They wandered around it and, as they did, Arthur started to relax. After all, what could possibly go wrong here? Hundreds of people must have seen this exhibit already and nothing had happened.

However, when they reached the more recent ghost stories, Arthur began to feel uneasy once again. Somehow, he thought, this was going too well. He didn't understand why he felt that way till they reached a bit called "Scottish Ghost-Hunters Around the World". There, they found something about a house in America which had been investigated after the murders of several college students and the claims of the survivors.

Arthur felt faint when he saw the pictures.

In a huge, blown-up picture, was the house he had escaped.

He froze, sure he had been transported back in time, sure he was in a nightmare once again. But, no, it was there, Vlad and Lukas moving in his peripheral vision, drawing closer to it. Taking a deep breath, Arthur turned from the picture, determined to get away from it. This would be the last time he looked at that dreaded house.

"Oh!" cried Vladimir from behind him. "That house looks familiar!"

Startled, Arthur spun to look at him, hoping he was looking at another picture. No such luck: both Vladimir and Lukas were staring at the picture, both of them frowning as if in concentration. And was that a touch of fear...? Arthur shifted closer to them, trying not to look at it. "What do you mean?" he asked, breathlessly.

"It's..." began Lukas, his frown deepening. "Like a dream of a memory of a dream... It's not quite right."

"Da. Similar but not." Vladimir shuddered. "It makes me think of the creepy clearing in the woods near my house."

Distracted from his horrid memories, Arthur tilted his head. "What creepy clearing?"

"Oh, it was this part of the woods which, 'cause of the positions of the trees and this little hill, was almost always in a state of dusk. People used to say vampires or evil ghosts or something lived there. I went there once – never again." Vladimir shuddered again and, without warning, threw his arms around Arthur with a distressed wail.

"Tsk! Get o-"

"It was trolls."

Both Vladimir and Arthur turned to blink at Lukas who was still staring at the picture. Arthur successfully suppressed a shudder as he caught sight of it; he wasn't so successful in prising Vlad from him. "Trolls?" he grunted, shoving at Vlad's chest.

"Ja. I went caving with my father all the time. When I was little, he decided to take me to a cave supposed to belong to a troll. We got separated then and I found myself in a dark cave. My torch blinked on and off so much that it made the stalagmites look like hunched trolls. I got out, though, before any could eat me." Then Lukas blinked and shook himself, a small smile gracing his face. "I don't know where that came from."

There was a short silence between them. Vlad even pulled away slowly, face scrunched up as if he was remembering something. "But it wasn't..." he murmured but stopped himself.

Arthur looked between them and then to the house. Whatever the house was, it obviously had a horrible effect on people. "Come on," he said to them. "Other people want to look and we're holding them up."

The gift shop was right outside when they left the room and both Vlad and Luke were immediately interested. Arthur could only sigh and wait outside the small area, hoping they wouldn't take too long. He watched them fuss over a gruesome keyring and pine after an expensive-looking fake skull complete with quills and ink. Arthur had to grin: though his experience with the supernatural hadn't been all that happy, his friendship with Vladimir and Lukas had rekindled an interest in the safer practices. For instance, Arthur now had a Tarot deck somewhere. Thankfully, it never seemed to give him readings which hinted at the return of those shadowy creatures.

As he waited, Arthur's thoughts turned to what was in the room just behind him. He would have never expected it to follow him here. And he had never expected to see Alfred and Francis's names on the wall. His had been omitted for some reason and he wondered why that was. Surely Alfred and Francis would have told those ghost hunters?

Remembering the image of the house, Arthur shuddered, memories rising unbidden in his mind. Suddenly, he felt something sweep past him and a whisper: "Artie..." He almost whipped towards the sound but he quickly and firmly told himself that he was imagining things. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he tried to quell his trembling before someone noticed.

Then, from across the room, he heard something he wasn't sure he was imagining. Another voice, this one much more familiar, open and warm and excited. "Look!" it was saying excitedly. "They've got it on an apron!"

Before Arthur could recover, he heard another familiar voice, this one clearly exasperated. "Why are you getting excited? It's just a house – you know that."

Heart hammering, Arthur looked around for Vlad and Luke, desperate to leave now. Was he imagining things? Was something else to blame? Thankfully, he spotted his friends at the till, both of them discussing their purchases. He didn't need to look in the direction the voices were coming from. Just in case, though, he moved towards his friends.

"If you're quick," he said, trying not to sound hasty, "we can go up to the art. For Luke's sake, I mean."

"Aw, but, Olly!" Vladimir whined, rather loudly. "I want to see the fossils!"

"Not again," groaned Lukas, rolling his eyes. He was smiling, though and, under normal circumstances, Arthur would reply in kind.

Instead, Arthur shrugged. "Whatever you want. Let's just go."

Lukas and Vladimir looked at each other, clearly puzzled by his hurry. But they grabbed their paper bags and followed Arthur as he headed for the stairs. He hadn't even reached them when a voice called out from behind them.

"Artie! I mean – Arthur!"

Stilling, Arthur debated whether he could get away with continuing onwards. However, his curiosity, his need to know, got the better of him and he glanced over his shoulder before slowly turning to stare at who had shouted. His eyes slowly widened in horror as he realised this really wasn't a nightmare and they were really standing there.

Both Alfred and Francis looked delighted and relieved to have found him.

The café they're in exists, by the way, and is called Cup. It started off in Byres Road in Glasgow then opened another one in Renfield Street and then a third one in the Merchant City. I didn't realise the one in Byres Road is closed till I was writing this and realised that I couldn't set this there since this is supposed to occur in this coming March...

The Kelvingrove Museum is described using vague memories. I haven't been for a while - I think the last time I went was for a temporary AC/DC exhibition. I've also been to a Doctor Who one there, too. No idea if there's going to be one next year but, y'know, artistic liberties. It was downstairs and, once you left, there was a wee gift shop which sold stuff related to that exhibition plus stuff about Scotland as well.

I just set this in Glasgow cause I know the place quite well. ^^"