Disclaimer: I do not own anyone or anything from Victorious.

Enjoy the new chapter, everyone! Happy reading!

Chapter Six

By the time Tori had finished her shower, the thunderstorm had grown fiercer. The winds outside howled, making the small window in the bathroom rattle violently, and the lights in the bathroom flickered on and off in sporadic bursts. Needless to say it scared Tori enough to rush through her shower and retreat hastily back into her room, where she found Jade and Cat lounging next to each other on the bed. Jade was reading a book while eyeing Cat with an aggravated scowl as the redhead arranged all of her twelve stuffed animals on the bed. With a defeated sigh, Cat glanced over the line of stuffed animals thoughtfully.

"Sorry, guys," she said in an apologetic tone. "Jade said I could only keep three of you in the bed with me tonight…"

"Wait, when did we decide who gets to sleep in the bed?" Tori asked as combed her hands through her wet hair.

"While you were taking a shower," Jade replied, her eyes never leaving the page.

"And how exactly did you decide this?"

Jade let out an exasperated sigh and put down her book.

"Well, Vega, it's simple. The bed's obviously not that big, so we figured the two smallest people should get it. And judging by the size of your granny panties–"

"I only wear them to bed 'cause they're comfortable!" Tori exclaimed as her face flushed red with embarrassment.

At length, a frustrated Cat turned to Jade and pouted.

"Jade, can I please–"

"No."

"But they're gonna be so sad if–"

"We agreed on three. And even that's pushing it."

Tori rolled her eyes at the two girls as they continued their petty squabble. After combing out the tangles in her hair, Tori laid out the sleeping bag by the foot of the bed and climbed in. This is going to be a long night, she thought as she listened to the roar of the rain outside and her friends' incessant bickering.

The sleeping arrangement in the boys' room, it seemed, was no better than the one in the girls' room. For Andre at least. After a few brisk rounds of rock-paper-scissors, Andre – much to his chagrin – justly won the extra space in the bed next to Robbie, while Beck and Cole roughed it out on the hardwood floor in their sleeping bags.

"I should warn you," Robbie said as he fluffed his pillows. "I have a tendency to kick in my sleep. I had a bad case of night terrors when I was a kid."

With a slight groan, Andre turned over on his side away from Robbie and threw the covers over his head while, down below, Beck and Cole simply exchanged glances and laughed. Robbie gave his pillow one final pat for good measure and then reached over to turn off the lamp on the nightstand.

Robbie sighed. "I hope my car gets fixed tomorrow."

"I just wanna get out of here," Andre said, peeking out from under the covers. "I feel like we drove straight into the Twilight Zone."

"Yeah, I'll admit, this place kind of gives me the creeps," Cole added as he recalled the strange conversation he overheard in the hallway.

Beck stretched his arms over his head and let out a long yawn.

"Don't worry, guys," he said. "We'll be out of here first thing tomorrow morning. Besides, if we can't survive one night in this inn, how are we going to get through all the haunted houses tomorrow night?"

Beck had a point. The Fleming Inn and its unusual inhabitants were nothing compared to the fright fest they were going to endure the following night. As the boys began to relax, their eyes grew heavy with sleep. In a matter of minutes, the only sound that could be heard in the room was the rain pattering against the window and a quiet orchestra of snores. The peace, however, was short-lived.

Not even an hour later, a loud THUD resonated in the room. Startled by the noise, Robbie's eyes snapped open. He reached for his glasses on the nightstand and sat up in bed to peer around the darkened room. THUD! Robbie jumped and pulled the covers over his head. Sensing the movement next to him, Andre stirred and tugged at the covers.

"Andre, are you awake?" whispered Robbie.

"I am now," Andre grudgingly replied.

"I thought I heard something…"

With a huff of annoyance, Andre said, "It's probably just the rain. Go back to sleep."

"It sounded like it came from downstairs though."

Soon, all the commotion roused Beck and Cole from their sleep. With his hair tousled in all directions, Beck sat up in his sleeping bag and looked over at Robbie, who was cowering under the covers.

"What's going on over there?" he asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Robbie thought he heard a noise," Andre replied.

Robbie popped his head out from under the sheet and insisted, "I did hear a noise."

Cole sighed. "Guys, it's almost eleven-thirty. Let's just try to get some–"

Suddenly the sound of shattering glass echoed through the walls of the dark room. This time, Robbie wasn't alone; all the boys had heard it. They were sitting up now, awake and alert, and looking around the room with heightened suspicion.

"What was that?" Andre asked, trying to mask the fear in his voice.

"I don't know but I don't think I wanna find out!" Robbie exclaimed, throwing himself under the covers once again.

"Alright, let's just calm down," Beck suggested. "It's an old house. That noise could've been anything."

Yet again, Cole's mind flashed back to Andy's strange phone conversation. Trying not to let his paranoia get the best of him, Cole got out of his sleeping bag and headed out the door.

"I'm going to go check on the girls and make sure they're okay."

Meanwhile, in the girls' room, the loud shattering noise had woken up Tori. She shot out of her sleeping bag, panicked by the unexpected sound. Shadows seemed to morph into eerie shapes around the darkened room as Tori felt a foreboding chill run down her spine. She looked over to the bed where Jade was sound asleep, and then craned her neck higher to check on Cat. Wait a second, Tori thought, unsure if her mind was playing tricks on her.

The space beside Jade was empty, unoccupied. Tori got up and walked around the bed. Then she got down on her knees and checked under the bed. Cat was nowhere to be seen. With a nagging doubt, Tori immediately climbed on top of the bed and shook her friend awake.

"Jade! Jade, wake up!"

"Please tell me this is a bad dream," Jade grumbled as she threw the pillow over her face.

Just then, there was a sharp knock at the door, which made Tori scream and Jade groan in frustration.

"Are you girls okay?" Cole asked as he cautiously entered the room.

Without a moment's hesitation, Tori cried, "Cat's missing!"

"She probably just went to take a wazz," Jade chimed in, silently cursing the unwelcomed disturbance.

"No, both bathrooms look empty," Cole said after looking out in the hallway.

"Is everything okay?" Beck asked as he, Robbie and Andre joined the others in the girls' room.

As soon as Beck spotted Tori's worried expression, he took a seat beside her on the bed and wrapped his arm around her for comfort.

"We don't know where Cat is," she explained.

By now, a very annoyed Jade was sitting up in bed and looking daggers at her friends. The rain had temporarily subsided to a steady drizzle and moonlight was able to break through the clouds and shine through the window, making Jade's porcelain skin look almost ghostly and iridescent.

"Did you guys try calling her on her phone?" asked Jade as she tried to control her temper.

"It's no use," replied Robbie. "The signal's still bad and I think that's her phone on the nightstand."

THUD!

"There it is again!" Robbie exclaimed, feeling his knees buckle in fright.

Tori and her friends froze as they tried to identify the mysterious sound. When it seemed like the mysterious noise wasn't going to return, Tori stood up from the bed with fixed determination.

"Okay, guys," she proposed. "I've had a weird feeling about this place since we got here and now Cat's missing. We can't just sit around and assume she's okay!"

Beck nodded his head in agreement. "Tori's right. We should all split up and try to find Cat."

With some apprehension, everyone agreed to the plan. As they were lining out of the room, Robbie turned to Cole with a grave expression.

"What about the noise we heard?" he said. "We still haven't figured out what it is yet."

"Well," Cole said as he patted Robbie's shoulder in a less-than-comforting manner. "There's only one way to find out, isn't there?"

Hopefully you guys aren't too creeped out to leave a review! Thank you!