Personal note: This story is the first in my "Cosmic Plans" series, these stories take place after the Rivera Chronicles. Now the important thing please don't sue me!!!!! This story was taken from a play called "Reunion of Gallows Hill" I loved the play and I thought it would make a good fan fic. I thank Krista (of course!) and Erin for Cassy. My drama teacher Mr. Hicks who loves the witch trials and let us in the drama crew do this play (I was Patience) I had to change the script but not much, like at the very beginning and very end, etc. And every one of the girls in the drama crew! (originally this was an all-girl play) Thanx everyone.

Kylie read the book again for the third time. "Don't you think you've read that thing enough?" Cassy asked from the seat next to her.

"We're going to Salem, Massachusetts so I thought I would read up on the witch trials!" she responded.

"You know everything about the witch trials anyway!" Eduardo said, looking out the mustang's window. It was a long weekend and the gang decided to get to Salem and see all the "witchy" sights. "After all, Kylie, you are..." Eduardo started.

"Yeah, yeah. A witch?" Garrett spoke less then enthusiastically, assuming it was that same old joke. Kylie glared at him.

"No!" Eduardo sounded annoyed, looking at Garrett. "The reason is...."

Roland listened to Eduardo explain, as Kylie chipped in other bits of info. Roland turned down an exit marked "To Salem Mass.". In a few more minutes they pulled into a motel. "And THAT is why Kylie should know so much about the Salem witch trials!"

"Oh. I never knew that..." Garrett looked at her. "Sorry."

"It's okay," she assured him.

Everyone got out of the car, Roland pulled Garrett's chair from the trunk and Garrett climbed into it. They walked (and rolled) into the motel lobby. Cassy rang the bell for service. Kylie looked at the pictures that were hanging along the back wall. "Look at this," she called. The group came and looked at the black-and-white photo. The picture was of an old barn. The manager came in and saw the five looking at the photograph. He walked up beside them.

"The barn is still standing today, miracle, it's over a century old!" he said.

"Do you own it?" Roland asked. The man laughed.

"No, No! That barn was built in the same spot the scaffold was."

"Scaffold?" Cassy looked at the man.

"Where they hung the witches!" he elaborated.

"Neat!" Kylie breathed, "And it's still up on Gallows Hill?" the man nodded. She looked at the others. "Hey guys, we brought camping gear, right?"

"Yeah, why?" Eduardo asked. Kylie smiled.

"I have an idea..."

[The barn on Gallows Hill.]

The old barn stood empty, dusty and deserted. On the left side of the barn was an old trunk that was pulled out onto the floor. To the right of the trunk was an old wooden milk stool. A backless bench sat on the right side of the small barn, like the trunk it was not against the wall, but on a slant, as if it had been pulled out. On the left of the trunk was another stool. Straw was scattered across the floor, a few ancient lanterns sat around and some hung from the support pillars. It looked like an old barn, a few barrels in the back, pieces of rope and horseshoes hung from the walls. Just enough to set a rustic mood in the dusty old barn.

It was night and the barn was empty. What light there was came from the moon overhead as it cast down shafts of illumination through the filthy windows of the forgotten building. The barn was not completely empty. Three female spirits dressed in black puritan clothing were in the barn. On the bench sat an old woman spirit. Her hair, arms, and shoulders were wrapped in a shawl and she held and old crooked cane. On the trunk sat a much younger- looking spirit, appearing to be no more then sixteen. She had her feet and legs pulled up on the flat top of the dark brown trunk and drew invisible pictures on the trunk with her finger, her long, glossy black-brown hair falling over her shoulders to her back. In the center of the small room stood the third, her back to the others, her blonde hair falling down her back. She was also young, but not AS young. She looked about twenty years old and was fairly tall. The specters of the past spoke eerily, but the undertone of bitterness and hate was clear.

"How long?" asked the old woman on the bench.

"Over three hundred years," the girl atop the trunk sighed, slumping over. The woman in the center turned around so she was looking in the same direction as the others.

"What does in matter?" she said. The old woman cocked her head towards the other two, so she could hear better.

"How long?" she asked again.

"An eternity!" The third said grimly.

"Three centuries, Rebecca!" the girl atop the trunk called loudly so the old woman could hear.

The old lady, Rebecca, rambled on as if it happened yesterday, "I didn't take long dying! The hangman put the noose around my neck, and I said, 'I'm innocent!' and old Judge Corwin shouted up from the crowd 'There is no such thing as an innocent witch in Salem Village!' That was the last I heard of any human voice." She stood up as she spoke, steadying herself with her cane.

"Judge Corwin," the tall woman spoke in a low voice, then contemptuously spoke again, "Judge Jonathan Corwin."

"So eager to believe in witchcraft," the girl on the trunk let her voice rise with each word, "so eager to believe all those who spoke against us!"

Rebecca continued her own story, "He never let me sleep. The jailers kept poking me with the handles of their whips. Judge Corwin said if I slept I could summon my familiars and they would terrify my accusers away. How long did you say Patience, a century? TWO?"

The girl atop the trunk, Patience, who by coincidence had the same name as the Avalon lady, spoke but did not answer Rebecca's question, "He had them bind me and throw me into the river. He said if I floated it was proof I was a witch, but if I drowned it was proof I was innocent." She turned her head to the faint moonlight, then added more harshly, "He hanged me because I didn't sink beneath the water!" She quickly turned her head away, as if to scorn someone who wasn't there.

The woman standing in the center of the room added to the conversation, "He found a bruise on my back and said it was there I suckled demons and imps!"

Rebecca was still lost in her own little world. "On this very spot it was," she sighed, "Beneath this barn, that's where they built the scaffold, that's where they hung us all."

"All but Giles!" Patience turned her head toward Rebecca, holding up a finger as a sign that she had herself a point. Rebecca strained to hear.

"Who?"

Patience practically yelled, "Giles Corey! Martha's husband!" she pointed to the tall woman standing in the center. Then she continued in a less harsh tone, "He had the land on the far side of Salem out towards the village of Beverly Farms!" she waved her hand toward the wall, presumably in the direction of Beverly.

"They hanged him, too." Rebecca said glumly.

"No!" Martha snapped, "They spread him on the ground and put a grist wheel over his body, then weighted him down with great rocks," her voice echoed the pain she felt inside.

"And still he would not confess to their lies!" Patience emphasized the "lies" part.

Martha looked at her. "He cheated them!" She held her head proudly, then turned back. "He died under the wheel, the precious life pressed out of him!"

Patience held up her head as if to say, 'Ha he got you!'. "Giles had the last laugh!" she spoke smartly, "Judge Corwin swore he'd see Giles dancing on Gallows Hill, dancing where there was no floor."

"Only witches dared dance," Martha pointed out for Rebecca, who had a habit of being confused. Martha thought it was best to answer the question before it was asked.

"Why are we here?!" Rebecca cried, hitting her cane once on the floor, "Why do we never rest?! Most of the others have gone!" She sat down again in total confusion.

Martha turned to her. "Because we have too much hate in our hearts," she said.

"Hate for Judge Jonathan Corwin!" Patience added harshly.

"I curse him in his grave!" Rebecca growled, as she stood up, using her cane for support.

Patience sprung up and turned towards the others, her face was full of hate and her voice just as strong. "Hate keeps us prisoners here and only revenge will release us!" Martha nodded once and answered in a harsh tone.

"Aye!" Martha looked at Patience who was suddenly quiet. Patience cocked an ear.

"Listen," she said quietly.

"To what?" Martha questioned.

"I thought I heard something, something coming this way."

"What? What?!" Rebecca raised her voice, "What are you mumbling about?! Speak up! Speak up!" Patience was about to answer the hard-of-hearing old woman, but voices stopped them. The spirits listened silently.

"Come on, this is going to be fun!" A girl's voice called.

"I hope so! I don't like coming here at night!" another girl responded in a faint Spanish accent.

"It's a steep climb up the hill." A boy noted.

"Ha! You're getting pushed up, Roller-boy!" a heavy Spanish-accented boy laughed.

The three spirits stood up and Martha motioned them towards the back of the barn. The women walked into the back of the room. The spirits faded into the dark.

Kylie walked into the barn and shone her flashlight around. She was followed by Cassy, Roland and Eduardo, who was pushing Garrett. Eduardo gave Garrett a little shove so that he rolled a few feet. Kylie lit a few of the lanterns. "Creepy sort of place all right," she said, hanging a lantern from a support pillar and walking to the center of the room. Cassy walked to the right of the bench. She lit a lantern and put it on the floor by the bench. By now the whole barn was well-lit and the spirits were no longer in sight.

Cassy walked to the right side of the bench and spread out her coat and backpack. "Should we bring in the sleeping bags?" she asked, sitting down on her jacket that lay on the floor.

"Plenty of time for that later," Garrett answered, rolling toward the bench. He parked himself on the left side of it.

"I hope there aren't any mice," Roland said as he brushed the dust off the trunk and sat on the lid.

"I'm not worried about mice..." Eduardo muttered, just loud enough for the others to hear. He pulled off his jacket and laid it on the bench. He sat down on his jacket.

"What are you worried about then?" Roland asked.

Cassy rolled her eyes, "You complained all the way up the hill!" she took out a mirror and began to touch up her make-up.

"No I didn't!" Eduardo retorted, "Only when we passed the stump of the tree. They say the tree is haunted."

Cassy looked up at him and scowled. "How can a tree be haunted? And since when have you been scared by stupid folklore?"

"They say it was from that tree they cut the wood to make the scaffold," he explained, a tinge of mystery in his voice as he took a bag of chips from his bag and began to eat.

Kylie folded her arms critically. "Who is 'they'?"

"People," he answered, short and sweet.

Kylie smiled. "It's all superstition! That's why tonight is going to be so much fun!" Kylie rolled out her sleeping bag and knelt on it.

Garrett raised an eyebrow and half smiled. "I must say, you have quite an imagination, Kylie!"

"Yeah," Cassy agreed, "you drag us to Salem and we end up in this old barn on Gallows Hill!" She smiled as she put her make-up away and pulled out a hair brush.

"I guess I like the idea, actually," Roland spoke up, "although I have heard my own grandmother say this was a cursed spot. To hear her tell it, the spirits of the witches never left."

"They weren't really witches!" Cassy said, playing with her hair.

"I don't know about that," Garrett spoke like a child telling a ghost story, "but I do know whoever owned this barn, never lasted long!"

"It's been abandoned for years!" Eduardo held a chip in his hand and popped it in his mouth as he finished.

Garrett pointed to the ceiling and still spoke in the childish voice, "According to the motel manager, they found the last owner up there hanging from a rafter!"

"And he said they found a madwoman living here once," Cassy said, copying Garrett's ghost-story-telling voice, "they took her away in a strait jacket!"

Eduardo popped another chip in his mouth before speaking, "Nothing grows on the hill!"

"Nothing but thorny bushes!" Garrett added disgustedly, pulling a small thorn from the tire of his wheelchair.

"I bet we're the only ones who have been here in a long time!" Roland mused.

Eduardo looked thoughtful for a minute. "You don't suppose it could be true?"

"What?" Garrett asked, confused.

"He means about the witches," Cassy explained, putting away her hair brush."

"There weren't any witches!" Kylie insisted, still sitting in the center of the room, "Never were! The women and girls they hung here were poor unfortunates. Victims, not witches."

"Your ancestor didn't feel that way!" Garrett laughed. He was having fun annoying her about the fact her great-great-grandfather was the prosecuting magistrate, Judge Jonathan Corwin.

"You're talking about the JUDGE, I guess." Kylie said disgustedly, rising.

"That's certainly a fierce-looking portrait the motel manager has of him!" Roland noted.

"Judge Jonathan Corwin wasn't exactly a kindly man!" Kylie responded. The spirits slowly reappeared, but they were invisible to the group of Ghostbusters. The spirits cautiously walked towards Kylie.

"Kindly?!" Cassy looked suprised, "Everything I'VE read about him said he was cruel and unfeeling!"

"He probably felt he was doing the right thing!" Kylie said defensively.

"How can you say that?!" Cassy gasped.

"I don't judge my relatives by today's standards!" Kylie explained.

"What do you mean?" Eduardo asked as he continued to eat.

"He lived during a time when people believed strongly in the powers of darkness," Kylie answered.

"You mean...him?" Roland asked, a little shake in his voice.

"Who?" Garrett looked at him.

"El diablo...the devil!" Eduardo answered for Roland. Kylie chimed in.

"People believed in witchcraft and it's powers, so why not the devil?"

Cassy stood up and walked behind Eduardo. She put a hand on his shoulder and reached down, pulling a potato chip from the bag as she talked. "Salem Village was so obsessed with the subject that all it took was one neurotic girl to point a finger at someone she didn't like," she childishly pointed at Garrett and lowered her eyes, "and mutter the word 'Witch' and hysteria took over!" Garrett laughed and Cassy popped the chip in her mouth and sat down again.

"Exactly!" Kylie exclaimed, "They arrested hundreds!"

"They were going to hang a lot more than they did!" Eduardo added, putting the potato chips away.

"Why did they stop?" Garrett asked, poking through his bag.

"People came to their senses!" Roland said, pointing to his head.

"The horror was too much," Kylie added, "They saw friends and loved ones executed on this spot and they knew in their hearts they weren't guilty."

"Besides," Eduardo chimed in, "people began accusing each other. If it didn't stop somewhere, the whole of Salem Village would have walked up this hill to the gallows!"

The spirits, invisible to the group, gathered around Kylie in a semi-circle. Martha pointed at her, and Kylie shivered. "Her blood," Martha said harshly, "is the blood of Jonathan Corwin!"

"His family line goes on. Ours is with the dust!" Patience yelled, as if arguing with a sibling.

Rebecca gave a triumphant sigh. "Our collective hate has summoned a person of Corwin blood once again to Gallows Hill!"

Naturally the gang heard none of this. Kylie sensed something was wrong and turned to Eduardo. "What did you say?"

Eduardo looked at her strangely. "I didn't say anything."

"Then it must have been you, Cassy." In response to Kylie's remark, Cassy shrugged and looked confused.

"You're hearin' things!" Cassy turned back to a magazine she was holding.

"See? The place is haunted!" Garrett said, delighted.

Cassy spoke with the ghost story voice, "Maybe we'll all be murdered in our sleep!"

Roland's head shot up and he looked at her. "Don't talk like that!"

Garrett looked at Cassy. "Maybe they'll find one of us hanging from a rafter!" he smiled, mystery and suspense in the tone of his voice growing with each word.

"Or taken away in a strait jacket!" came Cassy's eager reply.

Roland was anxious to change the subject. "Let's get the sleeping bags!" he said, getting up.

"And food!" Garrett added, rolling to the door, "Can't forget that!" Cassy followed.

"You are such a pig!" She rolled her eyes and left. Eduardo started to leave and noticed Kylie wasn't coming.

"In a minute," she answered apprehensively. Eduardo kissed her cheek and she smiled.

"Never mind, I'll get your things." He kissed her again and left.

Kylie watched him leave, then rubbed her arms like she was terribly chilled. She sat on the stool to the right of the trunk. The spirits who had watched the others leave took a good look at Kylie. "It's the blood of Jonathan Corwin, flowing in her veins, that hears the echos of our voices," Martha growled.

Rebecca steadied herself on her cane. "She senses we are near."

"But does not know who or what we are!" Patience finished.

"Is anybody in here?" Kylie called out. Rebecca laughed. "Hello?.... who's in here?"

"Only the spirits of a few dead witches!" Patience mocked sarcastically.

"And the blood of Jonathan Corwin!" Martha said accusingly.

"I'll find Sarah," Rebecca said, hobbling to the left wall and walking through it, then she was gone.

Martha let out a sigh of relief. "Our revenge draws near!" Patience pulled herself to a commanding posture.

"As merciless as he was, we shall be more so!" She threatened to Kylie, even thought the gothic girl couldn't hear her.

"Let blood beget blood!" Martha growled. Kylie stood quickly as both spirits walked to the left wall, and as Rebecca had, they disappeared through it.

Kylie spoke aloud to herself, "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Then all the others but Roland came in and dumped all their gear. Eduardo noticed his lady had gone more pale then usual and she was looking around worriedly.

"What's the matter?" he asked her, walking up beside her.

"Nothing," she shuddered. Garrett looked at her.

"It's looks you've seen a ghost for the first time!" he laughed. Kylie relaxed a bit.

"Well, that's what we're here for isn't it, ghosts?" Eduardo smiled as he sat down where Cassy was sitting when they first came in. Cassy looked up from rummaging in her pack to address her cousin.

"You've gotten brave awful suddenly!" she then sat up on the bench.

"He is just getting into the 'spirit' of things!" Garrett laughed, parking himself between the stool and trunk. Then he turned to Kylie. "Roland's getting your stuff," he said. Kylie nodded and knelt down on her sleeping bag.

"We should have a guitar," Cassy said out of the blue, "have a sing-a-long!"

Eduardo, trying to sound mysterious, spoke up, "The only music witches like is the wind in the tree branches!" Garrett looked up confused.

"But everyone says there is NO wind on Gallows Hill!" he said in a serious tone. Cassy pondered the remark.

"You're right!" she said, "There is no wind on this hill!"

Roland then entered the barn, empty handed and plainly terrified. Garrett noticed Roland was unburdened. "Didn't you bring in the other things?" he asked.

Roland sat on the trunk again. "I... I got scared out there!" Roland stammered, "I heard voices, but they weren't your voices!"

"Who then?" Cassy asked, popping a chip in her mouth.

Roland sounded disturbed. "I...I don't know. I thought they may be robbers or something. That's why I was frightened."

Cassy rolled her eyes. "You and Kylie are having your fun aren't you?" she said sarcastically, "You don't have to pretend there's anything weird going on, just to make the night more exciting!"

Eduardo nodded. "Just being in this old barn is excitement enough for me!"

"Odd when you think about it," Roland said "We're the right age to be tried as witches. I mean if we were back in old Salem Village." Garrett arched an eyebrow.

"I'll stay in the twentieth century, thank you!"

Eduardo pondered Roland's comment about age. "What about Rebecca?"

"Who?!" Kylie asked sharply.

"Rebecca Nurse, one of the Salem witches. She was seventy when they hung her!" Eduardo pointed out. Roland thought a minute.

"I guess that the age group isn't as confined as I thought!"

"You know what witch I'd like to meet?" Cassy smiled, "Martha Corey! She was such a great woman of her time. She laughed at Judge Corwin during her trial. That got her convicted on the spot. Her husband, Giles, was tortured to death. If any spirit was still here, it would be her!"

"Hey, I know a spirit that would be here!" Garrett chimed in, "Patience McAura! According to legend, she was one of the most beautiful girls in Salem. Some girl who was jealous of her called her a witch."

"A perfect revenge!" Kylie noted, "If you wanted to get someone then, you called them a witch," she paused, "Patience? Oh! She's the one they threw in the water and then hung her because she didn't drown!" Garrett nodded.

"The only witch I've heard of from then is Sarah Goode," Roland said, "Only because when she was on the scaffold she pointed at Judge Corwin and said, "I'm no more a witch than you are a wizard"!"

Eduardo looked thoughtful. "Some people believe there are witches in the twentieth century, too!" Kylie and Cassy glared at him, he waved his hand innocently, "Other than Wiccans!" he added hastily. Kylie and Cassy turned back.

"Yeah!" Garrett agreed, "Doing the devil's biding!" Cassy was lost in her own world.

"I feel sorry for them," she said.

"People of the twentieth century?" Kylie looked at her strangely. Cassy shook her head.

"Those girls...those women... those who were hanged here," she explained.

"I think we're all getting a little morbid!" Kylie said, standing up, "I'll get the rest of the supplies!" She walked out of the barn.

Cassy sighed and stared in front of her, unmoving. Strangely enough, Eduardo also looked like he was in a trance. In fact, so did Garrett and Roland! The four stared into oblivion for a minute or two, then they began to speak, their voices flat and metallic.

"I wonder why nothing grows on Gallows Hill..." Eduardo spoke first. Then Cassy,

"I wonder why the wind is still on Gallows Hill..." Then Garrett,

"I wonder why blood bubbles on Gallows Hill..." Roland,

"I wonder why the dead stay on Gallows Hill..."

The lanterns' flames suddenly went out and the room was plunged into darkness, the four remained unmoving. The spirits appeared in the back of the barn, this time another spirit was with them, Sarah Goode. The women walked towards the four.

"I can tell you why nothing grows on Gallows hill!" Rebecca growled, standing behind Eduardo.

"And the wind is still on Gallows Hill!" Martha hissed, positioning herself behind Cassy.

"And the blood bubbles on Gallows Hill!" Patience spoke angrily, standing behind Garrett.

"And the dead stay on Gallows Hill!" Sarah concluded, stopping behind Roland. The spirits locked their eyes on the backs of their victims' heads and never moved them, even as they spoke.

"Three hundred years of waiting!" Patience hissed eagerly.

"Always hoping," Sarah continued, "the blood of that righteous, terrible magistrate would find it's way to this dreaded spot!"

"We are agreed how we will do it?" Martha spoke low and contemptuously.

"We are agreed," Sarah answered.

"Aye," Patience responded coldly.

"And you, Rebecca?" Sarah asked.

"What? WHAT?!" Rebecca practically yelled. Patience sighed, exaspearated, and let her shoulders slump.

"You agree to our plan!?" she yelled to Rebecca, the four Ghostbusters remained unmoving.

"I am agreed," Rebecca said icily. Patience smiled evilly.

"So be it!" Sarah said. She stretched out her hands so that they were as close as possible to Roland's head without touching it. "Let my spirit enter your body and possess you. You will be Goodwife Goode, Sarah Goode, she who was hanged because of lies and ignorance, you will be my avenger!" Roland suddenly let out a cry and clutched his stomach, he fell from the trunk moaning and doubled over on the floor in pain.

"Me to you; you to me!" Rebecca stretched out her arms. Like Roland, Eduardo fell to the floor in pain.

Martha stretched out her hands. "Dark of moon; moon of dark!" Cassy fell to the floor, wailing in pain and holding her stomach.

Patience held out her arms "Witch's brew flows to you!" Garrett let out a cry of agony and fell from his chair. By now the four Ghostbusters were doubled over on the floor, wailing in agony.

"Me to you; you to me!" Rebecca said again, lowering her arms. Eduardo was silent and sat back up, looking like he was in a trance.

"Dark of moon; moon of dark!" Martha called, letting her arms fall. Cassy sat back up on the bench, unmoving.

"Witch's brew flows to you!" Patience spoke coldly, letting her arms go to her sides. Garrett pulled himself into his chair and sat silently.

"Gallows Hill gave us fame! Hate be the devil's name!" Sarah called, and like the others Roland sat up, but was completely lost in a trance. The lanterns suddenly relit themselves.

Kylie entered the room, dumping her gear, though the others still looked distinctly possessed. The witches looked at her and they never let their eyes move from her. Kylie moved to the center of the room. "There's still a lot of stuff outside," she said cheerfully. She looked from one of her friends to another. "Are we just going to let it stay out there?" No response. Kylie raised an eyebrow. "Anyone hungry?"

Sarah walked up to Kylie, Kylie couldn't see her and she was too busy looking at her friends and wondering what was with them. "She has his eyes," Sarah said low and menacingly, "and the color of the hair is the same!" she flicked Kylie's hair. Kylie, feeling her hair ruffle, smoothed it with her hand. Sarah walked back behind Roland.

"Hello? Isn't anyone going to say anything?" Kylie asked, getting a little annoyed. Garrett lowered his eyes. Patience's mouth moved to say words, but the words came out of Garrett's mouth.

"Let the trial begin," he said dramatically. Eduardo looked up. Like Patience, Rebecca's mouth formed the words, but they came out of Eduardo's mouth.

"Aye!"

"Trial?" Kylie looked suprised and confused. Cassy looked at her and Martha, like Rebecca with Eduardo, controlled what she said.

"You will be the accused."

"Accused?" Kylie questioned.

"The witch!" Roland growled, Sarah's mouth forming the words.

Kylie smiled. "Oh I get it! Game time! Don't you guys think we're getting too old for this?" Martha raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. Cassy copied the move. Kylie wrongly mistook this as saying, "Yeah, right!" Kylie smiled again, "Why not?" she said cheerfully, "It'll be fun! Unusual for me, too!" No reaction. "Don't you guys get it? My ancestor was the prosecuting magistrate!"

"We haven't forgotten!" Sarah scoffed.

"More's the pity for you, girl!" Patience said coldly. Sarah nodded her head and Roland got up. He walked to the stool by Garrett and carried it to where Kylie was, and set it in front of her. The others rose (except Garrett). Patience stepped onto the other stool by the bench. Martha and Rebecca stepped up onto the bench and Sarah stood on the trunk. The witches pointed at the stool and their possessed mortals did the same.

"You realy are getting into the mood," Kylie said, walking to the stool. Cassy stepped closer and pushed her to the stool.

"Down, witch!" she yelled, Martha mouthing the words.

"Hey, not so rough!" Kylie complained.

"Silence, witch!" Garrett snapped, Patience moving her mouth as she made her human host say the words.

The group of possessed teens formed a semi-circle around Kylie. And as they spoke, each witch mouthed the words. Kylie was at first ready to go along, unaware of the terror that awaited.

Kylie was into the supposed game playing. "I'm not a witch. I'm Mistress Kylie Griffin of Salem Village and I repeat, I am no witch!"

"Silence!" Garrett demeaned.

"This is gonna to be fun!" Kylie grinned. Cassy reached forward quickly and pulled Kylie's head back by her hair.

"Bite your tongue, witch!" She shoved Kylie back. Kylie spun on the stool to look at Cassy and spoke angrily.

"Look, if you're going to play that rough I'm NOT going to play at all!"

"There. You hear it, she likes to play!" Eduardo mocked. Kylie turned and went back into the "game".

"There's no harm in play!"

"There! you hear it!" Eduardo cried.

"With her own words she condemns herself," Cassy said, her voice hard.

"Nonsense," Kylie insisted.

"Why do you torment me?" Garrett said, innocently but at the same time cruelly.

Kylie looked at him, a little weary. "I do not torment you."

"You have NEVER liked me and because of this you have sent birds of night to claw me in my dreams!" he accused.

"You have made bruises on my skin," Roland growled, "You are a witch!"

"Witch!" Eduardo cried.

"Witch!" Garrett yelled.

"Witch!" Roland roared.

"Witch!" Cassy screamed.

Sarah lowered her eyes. "How does it feel to be innocent and accused falsely, blood of Jonathan Corwin?"

"We died for reasons no better then what you hear now!" Martha stamped her foot on the bench she was standing on.

Kylie was worried. She sensed sounds from behind her, she twisted around to see, of course, nothing. She was also made uncomfortable by the behavior of her friends. Their words and actions frightened her. "I must say, you certainly throw yourselves into the game," she said wearily, cautiously looking from one to another, "For a minute you had me worried."

"Worried?" Garrett mocked.

"Why should Judge Corwin worry?" Eduardo growled. Kylie looked at him, this wasn't like Eduardo. He never made fun of her like this, he loved her too much.

"Someone's confused," Kylie said evenly.

"Only witches are confused," Eduardo retorted.

"Judge Corwin said I was confused," Martha spoke, "therefore, it was a sign of guilt!"

Kylie jumped up and looked around. "Who said that!? Who's in here!?" she cried. Cassy pulled her rudely to the stool.

"She hears voices," Roland said.

"I did hear someone!" Kylie cried.

"Do you see them?" Cassy asked coldly.

"No..." said Kylie, looking about frantically.

"Aha," Eduardo said, "the judge can communicate with someone who's not there."

"A demon, presumably," Roland accused.

"The judge is a warlock, he speaks to demons! To the devil, perhaps," Garrett shot a look at Kylie. She looked at her friends.

"Why do you keep calling me 'Judge'?!" She asked, "I thought I was going to be one of the witches!" The four glared at Kylie.

"The blood of Jonathan Corwin flows in your veins!" Roland said accusingly.

"I was sixteen when I felt the rope!" Garrett yelled.

"I was seventy when I felt the rope!" Eduardo yelled. Kylie turned to Eduardo pleadingly, this definitely wasn't the one she loved.

"Come on Eduardo, snap out of it!" she pleaded. Eduardo glared at her.

"I am Rebecca Nurse, Goodwife Nurse, Goody Nurse! And you have cause to remember me!" he yelled at her. Kylie turned to Cassy.

"Is he for real?" No response. "Why won't you answer me, Cassy?!"

"I," Cassy replied, "am Martha Corey, Goodwife to Giles Corey. Do you remember the man, Judge? He went beneath the weight of a stone, proclaiming his innocence before man and god!" Kylie paused, then warily she spoke again.

"Something's very... wrong." She looked at each one of her friends. "You're not yourselves. What is it? What's wrong?" By now she was frantic. "ANSWER ME!" Kylie sprang up, only Cassy pulled her down again. The witches still mouthed the mortals' words.

Sarah pointed at Kylie and Roland copied the move. "You are guilty of cruelty. I condemn you!" he cried.

Patience pointed and Garrett copied the action. "You are guilty of beliving the worst in others and the best in yourself. I condem you!" he yelled.

Martha pointed at Kylie and so did Cassy. "You are guilty of displaying ignorance whilst praising your education. I condemn you!" she cried.

Rebecca pointed and Eduardo did also. "You used your high office to bring pain and heartbreak, and never tempered the law with mercy. I condemn you!" he roared.

By now it was clear to Kylie what was wrong. She was chilled by the revalation but knew she must defend herself. "I can't deny anything you say. But I am not my ancestor and you have no right to torment me!" she looked around, hoping the spirits that had taken her friends would appear from the shadows to explain this nightmare, little did she know the spirits were standing on the bench, second stool and trunk behind her. "Please, I know you're in here!" She pleaded. As she tried once more to stand, Cassy pushed her to the stool again. Kylie let out a small cry of pain. "Please!" she continued, "Whoever you are! I want to help you!"

"Enough of words!" Martha yelled.

"Enough of words!" Cassy yelled.

Stop it!" Kylie screeched.

"The verdict?" Sarah asked coldly.

"The verdict?" Roland asked coldly.

"Guilty!" Patience snapped.

"Guilty!" Garrett snapped.

"The sentence?" Rebecca asked harshly.

"The sentence?" Eduardo asked harshly.

"Death by the rope!" Martha said vengefully.

"Death by the rope!" Cassy said vengefully.

"NO! Kylie screamed and tried to get up, but Eduardo and Cassy held her down.

"The rope!" Martha called as she stepped off the bench and helped Rebecca down.

"Yes, the rope!" Patience yelled, jumping from the stool.

"Fetch the rope!" Sarah demanded, jumping from the trunk. Roland walked to the trunk and opened it. Garrett grabbed Kylie's arm as she struggled to get free. Eduardo walked to the trunk, he reached in and pulled something out... a hangman's noose!

The other witches turned their backs to the struggling girl. They stood perfectly still.

"What are you going to do?" Kylie asked, her voice low and controlled but racked with fright. Eduardo moved behind Kylie, who was still held in place by Cassy and Garrett.

"You heard the verdict," he growled.

"You are guilty!" Cassy hissed.

"I'm not guilty!" Kylie cried.

"Nor were we," Roland snapped.

"But we still died!" Garrett growled.

Eduardo put the noose over Kylie's head and around her neck. Her death would be at the hands of her lover. Kylie was always a clever girl, but at that point she was close to breaking. "What my ancestor did was wrong," she cried, "but what you're doing is done with clear thinking and malice. You are more guilty then Judge Jonathan Corwin!" The spirits, with their backs still turned, began to speak.

"Take the rope!" Sarah yelled. Roland closed his hands over the noose's coils.

"The rope!" Martha cried. Cassy wrapped her fingers round the noose.

"Hurry!" Patience demanded. Garrett grabbed the rope.

Eduardo pulled the noose tight and the others threw the other end of the rope over a rafter and began to pull it tight. Kylie grabbed at the rope about her neck and gasped for breath. Cassy kicked the stool out from under Kylie and she fell sharply to the floor, landing on her knee with a scream. She tossed her head and saw something. She managed to turn towards the bench despite the tightening rope. She stretched her arms towards Rebecca and Martha. "I can see you! I can see you!" she cried, "Your backs are to me! If what you're doing is good and right, turn and face ME! See with your own eyes what a victim of hate is like when the rope on Gallows Hill tightens!"

"Faster!" Martha cried out.

"Yes, faster!" Patience screamed.

"Quickly!" Rebecca cried.

Kylie screamed as the rope cut into her neck. The world started to spin, but she continued in a righteous fury, "If you are too cowardly to see the truth, let words you know so well curse you forever... I AM INNOCENT!" the rope pulled tight and Kylie gasped for breath, and then one by one, the witches turned.

"Innocent!" Rebecca cried, turning.

"Innocent!" Martha screamed, facing Kylie.

"I am innocent!" Patience wailed, turning about.

"I was innocent!" Sarah sobbed, turning.

Kylie felt the rope around her neck loosen. The spirits walked forward, sobbing, and each touched the person they had possessed. The Ghostbusters went back to where they were earlier, Garrett by the trunk, Roland on the trunk, Cassy on the bench, Eduardo by the bench on the floor. The four looked like they were in trances, staring into space. The spirits buried their faces in their hands and sobbed. They faded and disappeared.

Kylie pulled the noose from her neck, gasping. Suddenly her friends snapped awake and back to their former selves.

"Got cold all of a sudden, didn't it?" Roland asked, taking a can of Pepsi from his bag, "Funny, I thought I heard someone crying."

Eduardo rubbed his stomach. "I'm starved!" he said.

"When do we eat?" Garrett asked.

"Food!" Cassy rolled her eyes, "That's ALL you ever think about!"

Eduardo looked at his watch. "Wow! It's almost midnight!

Cassy looked at Kylie, who was kneeling on the floor, holding something. "What's that, Kylie?" she asked.

Kylie was still shaken. "It's a... rope," she gasped hoarsely.

Eduardo looked at what she was holding. "Looks more like a noose to me!" he said, "Brrrr, it did get cold!" He rubbed his arms.

It was clear to Kylie that they had no memory of what happened, and she decided to keep it that way now that her friends were back to their former plucky selves. She walked to the trunk and Roland obligingly moved for her, and she put the noose back in the trunk. She walked back to her sleeping bag and Roland sat down again. "I have an idea," she said.

"What now?" Garrett asked, annoyed.

"Well," Kylie started, "I, that is..."

Cassy spoke up, "For God's sake! Out with it!"

"I know I forced this idea on you," Kylie spoke slowly, "coming up here and all. But I don't think the sleeping bags will be too comfortable in this cold place."

Roland stood up. "And it's going to be a chore trying to cook for all of us!"

Eduardo nodded. "Aha, I told you this wasn't as much fun as it sounded, besides there's a great flick on the late night movie, some horror-thriller-drama thing with Brad Pitt." Cassy perked up at the mention of the movie, in her head the equation was: horror + thriller + drama + Brad Pitt = "Interveiw With The Vampire", her favorite movie.

"That's for me!" she said, getting up and shoving all her stuff in her pack.

"Let's pack up!" Garrett said, rolling to the pile of junk on the floor and shoving it randomly in a backpack. Kylie began rolling up her sleeping bag.

"We can be back at the motel inside of fifteen minutes!" she said, "The manager said he would be around." Happy to be out of the barn, the other Ghostbusters gathered their equipment and left, talking on the way. Kylie started to leave, but stopped and turned to the empty barn. She blew out the lanterns, except one which she held. She looked around the empty barn.

She spoke sincerely, "I...know...what you suffered... I know it was the thought of revenge that kept you here, but you couldn't harm anyone who was innocent anymore than you could have been guilty of the things you died for. It wasn't really revenge you wanted..." the four spirits appeared as Kylie spoke, she continued as she watched them, "it was understanding... you can leave the hill now..." she walked to Patience and held her hand out to the spirit as a sign of peace, "you can rest..." she held her hand towards Rebecca, "forget..." and to Martha, "be at peace." she walked to where they were when the EGBs first came, Patience on the trunk, Martha in the center, Rebecca on the bench and Sarah on the stool. Then they faded away, forever.

Eduardo came in and looked at Kylie. "Who are you talkin' to? We're waiting for you outside."

"Myself."

Eduardo walked to her and smiled. "That's what you get for coming to a place like this!" he joked. She turned to him and smiled as he brushed a few strands of jet black hair from her face. "Ky?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you have any special reason to come here tonight?" She looked up at him.

"I may have, but I didn't know it at the time." He looked suprised.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he paused, seeming to listen intently to something, "You hear that?" he asked.

"What?" Kylie asked. Eduardo pointed to the floor and a small breeze played with the straw and raised goosebumps on their skin.

"The wind, everyone says there is no wind on Gallows Hill. Guess they were wrong."

Kylie smiled. "People are wrong about a lot of things, today, yesterday and maybe tomorrow." Eduardo smiled at her.

"Come on." He turned. Kylie nodded, she blew out the lantern she had and laid it on the trunk. Again she turned to the empty barn.

"You don't have to keep yourselves prisoners here anymore. You're free." She waved and followed Eduardo.

"What was that about?" he asked as they walked out of the barn.

"I may tell you, later, when I believe it myself..."

[The mustang]

It was Monday morning, the last day of the long weekend, and the five Ghostbusters headed home. Roland drove of course. In the seat next to him Garrett was asleep. In the back Cassy was also dead to the world. Kylie and Eduardo were asleep too, Kylie had her head rested on Eduardo's shoulder and Eduardo had his head rested against hers. It made Roland think, but...would that happen? "No," he thought.

Eduardo and Kylie were the only ones who truly knew what happened on Gallows Hill that night. Eduardo because it was told to him, Kylie because she remembered, how could she forget? And the two, like their hidden love affair, decide that no one would ever know; no one would know about the trial, the rope, the would-be hanging and the lost spirits who wanted to be free...

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