After they separated for the evening, Alexa headed back up to her room, bidding her friends good night with a wink. She propped her full rucksack up by the door of her room, and then, removing her trainers, and into bed fully dressed.

She waited as the minutes ticked by, hoping her mom wouldn’t check on her as she sometimes did. Alexa didn’t always sleep well, and her mom was in the habit of poking her head in occasionally just to check in. But she heard her on the floor below going into her room, and Alexa smiled. Now just a little longer until they were most likely sleep.

When the time arrived, Alexa slipped out of bed, into her sneakers, and grabbed a sweater from the top drawer of her dresser. Pulling it on, she walked over to her satchel and threw it over her shoulder. Then she snuck down to the next landing, ready for adventure.

Alina had all her supplies too, including lemon drops and an her EZ-GLO Luminos Orb tucked inside her bag so not to accidentally glow and give them away as they sneeked out. This was a bit of a mission in itself because not only were Alexa's parents both home, but so were Joe and Annie. Still, these weren't just any Hogwarts students sneaking out, these were badgers - experienced badgers who had found a secret passageway at school the previous year.

"We've got this," Alina smiled to Alexa and then grinned even bigger over to Clifton, knowing he liked a good adventure as much as she did.

The three of them took Alexa's lead who led them downstairs in the path of least resistance - probably where they wouldn't walk on a squeaky floorboard or startle any of the border collies. Soon, they found themselves under the night sky and Alina pulled out her sweatshirt from her bag and slipped it on, feeling a little chilly already. After her head was through the hole, she looked over to the others and saw Clifton staring up at the night sky. "If kisses were stars, I would give you the sky," she whispered the cheesy line to him and bumped her hip against his to draw him out of the trance. She knew how much that boy loved his night sky.

She then looked over to Alexa and smiled, to show her that she was ready to find these castle ruins.

Alexa quietly led Alina out of the house, through the door in the kitchen. She was still surprised by the abruptness of Clifton’s departure. His parents had called when they were already well on their way over to pick him up. He had seemed surprised as well. Alexa was sure he would explain later. In the meantime, she and Alina had some ruins to explore!

Alexa cut through a pasture, vaulting over the short stone wall. It was very short, or else she would’ve gone to a gate. But this wall was ancient and crumbling, and easy to get over. Going through the pressure was a shortcut to the woods.

As they crested the hill, out before them in a small valley spread a forest, almost black in the moonlight, full of shadows. Alexa pulled her flashlight out of her bag. And a piece of chocolate. That never hurt.

She turned to her friend. “Ready?” She whispered, and then led the way down the hill to the edge of the forest, which was eerily silent. No sounds of animals, or even of limbs brushing limbs. All was still…

Everything was exciting, moving across the way, vaulting over the walls - following Alexa this way, and then that. But then they came to the forest and it was the first stop, the first hesitation. Alina watched as Alexa took out her flashlight and rightfully so as the moonlight that lit the Scottish Highlands were lost amongst the foliage of the trees. It looked dark in the forest. REALLY dark.

Alina pulled the flashlight that Alexa had given her to use out of her own bag and also turned it on then popped a lemon drop into her mouth, mimicking her friend and then smiling to her playfully. "Dark forests and old castle ruins don't have nothing on us," she said, trying to use a line like they would in the movies.

She then laughed a little because it was completely ridiculous. Who knew what was in there! She was excited to find out though, not so much nervous. Alina absolutely loved a good adventure and didn't worry about the risk it involved or the potential harm - even though she above most should think about such things. Maybe it was the whole notion that she shouldn't do certain things that drove her to only want to do them more or maybe she just had an adventuring spirit.

There seemed to be a pathway that led into the forest and she wondered if it wrapped the entire way through. Alexa had been through it during the day, but never at night. Well, there was only one way to go from here. Alina gave a smile to her friend and then began forward.

Alexa chuckled, a little nervously at Alina’s one-liner. But then she smiled. She had been in this forest countless times, albeit always in the daytime. She knew it well, and pushed away her fear and superstition. But Scots are notorious for their many superstitions… It was a hard thing to just push away.

Alina began bravely marching down the faded path into the forest, shining her light toward the trees. Alexa quickly followed. “This trail is perfect. It leads to the middle of the woods, and then forks. We take the left fork to get to the ruins,” she told her friend, who was now in the lead.

They reached the edge of the woods and paused before plunging in. Immediately the moonlight disappeared, as the densely packed pines blocked the light almost completely. The pine boughs were high overhead on these tall, ancient trees, which meant there was plenty of room for tangled undergrowth. And while there was a path, they were constantly pushing aside branches, moving strands of thorns, and stepping over deadfall. Finally they reached the fork. Alexa paused again and smiled mischievously at Alina. She was excited now, now that nothing bad had happened in the forest at night… So far!

They headed down the left-hand path, still pushing undergrowth out of their way, until suddenly the undergrowth was gone and they found themselves in a large clearing. In the center was what looked like an old castle, albeit a small one. Much of it was crumbled, and the stairs to the second floor which accessed the two towers was gone, but they could climb the rubble up to the second landing. Then they just had to find the tower doors. Simple enough, right?

She relayed all of this to Alina, and then started forward, headed toward the large pile of rubble that was mounded in front of them, the top of it just below the second floor, all of it open to the air. She began to scramble up the stones.

This place was absolutely amazing, even just by the small amount of light visible to them on that late night. Alina wondered if the door would be more easily found in the daylight and even if so, that didn't make her wish that it were. A challenge was a good thing. Challenges were fun!

They carefully maneuvered themselves along the stones so not to fall, shining their lights out in front of them, hoping to find something. Alina was careful not to move too much because 1) that might cause other things to fall; 2) because it might close up the entrance, unintended; 3) it could cause any spirits inside to get angry for messing up their home.

"I think this might be it!" she said, shining her light a little higher once she got up on a higher bit of rock. There was sort of an opening. She wasn't quite sure. "So what exactly is this place supposed to be haunted with?"

Some ghosts, like those at Hogwarts like the one of their house of Hufflepuff, the Fat Friar, were jubilant and joyful. While they might have had some reason for not going onward, they were happy to spend more time here on this Earth. Still, she knew some spirits were demonic and then there was everything in between.

Whatever the stories were though and whether or not Alexa knew a wealth of knowledge about them or just rumor, she was ready and eager to continue their exploration.

She stepped in, careful not to knock down any of the stones, glanced back behind her to her friend, and then looked back forward, shining her light for some guidance.

After some careful scrambling, Alina and Alexa made it to the second floor landing of the castle, completely open to the air. To their left was the crumbling remains of one tower, to the right, another. She tried to remember which tower was haunted.

When Alina asked about the haunting, Alexa smiled slightly. It was a story she knew well. “A long time ago, Lord Mackenzie lived here with his wife and daughter, so the story goes. His daughter was pledged to marry another clan lord, but she desperately didn’t want to. She was in love with the minstrel of her father’s court, you see, and he was in love with her.

“Her father found out about their secret love, and could think of no better way to separate them than to kill the minstrel, as he had, you know, “defiled” his daughter. So the minstrel was executed after being imprisoned in the tower on the right. The tower on the left was where the daughter lived, and she apparently threw herself out of the window in her despair at the loss of her lover. So now one ghost haunts each tower, forever in love, but forever separated by tragic circumstance.”

Alexa smiled again. “It’s a typical Scottish love story. But I wonder, now that we know we are witches, would we be able to see any ghosts? And the two ghosts, if there are any, must have had magic: only wizards and witches can become ghosts, but the story doesn’t tell about that part.” She looked past Alina into the leftmost tower, where they had seemed to have found an entrance. “Ready?” She whispered excitedly.

"That is so tragic!" Alina said. Hearing about lost love was the worst. Who wanted to go through life not being able to have what they really wanted? That sounded like such a long lonely sort of life. Not that she necessarily would do the same but she understood why the daughter of the lord would do such a thing. What a sad thing to have happened.

Alina wondered too if the area was really haunted or not and she wondered which direction they should go, the right tower where the minstrel was killed or the left where the daughter ended her own life. It was then she started to hear music, very soft, but definitely music and she paused. It was coming from their right. "...Do you hear that too?" she whispered to Alexa. Music. Minstrel.

She wasn't even sure what it was because it was so soft. Maybe a violin? It was a nice tune but a sad tune all the same. Moving the light around the space, she knew it couldn't be a radio or something because no one had been in that castle for a very long time. That had been apparent.

The music continued on as the two stood in the common area of the second floor of the castle.

When Alina stated that it was tragic, Alexa nodded in agreement. “I swear, most Scottish love stories, the old ones, are.” She took a moment to reflect. She had been told that story so often that she no longer really had a reaction to it. But Alina’s reaction made her reevaluate the story. It WAS tragic… She had not thought of it that way in a very long time. And then if they were ghosts after all, separated by the towers of this castle forever, that was equally sad.

Alexa began looking back and forth when Alina did, trying to decide which way they should go. She was about to suggest the leftmost tower, when she heard something that made the hairs rise on the back of her neck. Soft music was playing off to the right… Where the minstrel had died. Having been to many Scottish music festivals, she immediately identified the sound as that of a lute; someone was in here, playing a sad melody on a lute!

Alina asked if she could hear it, and Alexa nodded slowly. “Yeah, definitely. Sounds like a lute, it’s an old stringed instrument,” she added. “Definitely something a minstrel would play,” she whispered.

It certainly seemed that their route had been decided for them. Clutching Alina’s hand in her own, Alexa lifted her flashlight toward the stairs that disappeared up into the right tower through the door. Swallowing slightly, she headed toward the door, and then found herself slowly and quietly climbing the stairs.

Alina fixated on the staircase in front of them, what she could see from Alexa's flashlight beam anyway. It was inviting them to climb them, to keep exploring. So maybe there was a ghost up there. So what? The girls had experience with ghosts back at Hogwarts. Like the Fat Friar, for instance, who was Hufflepuff's house ghost. He welcomed first years as they walked through the Great Hall for the first time. That wasn't bad. That wasn't scary.

But then again the Fat Friar had a long time of getting to accept the fact that he was a ghost. He had the happiness that surrounded the Great Hall and all of Hogwarts with the warmth, the friendships. He had the socialization of other ghosts and all the students and staff. This was nothing like that. This was a poor lonely soul.

As she was deep in thought, Alexa had already begun to climb the stairs and so Alina quickly hurried to catch up with her. What would they find at the top of the tower? Would he be there? If so, would he be friendly towards them? Was this old castle even stable enough that it was safe to go to the top? Not that any of the bad stuff was going to stop Alina because in her mind that was all part of the adventure but it was still something to think about!

When they got to the top of the stairs there was an open round room before them of the turret. There were a few instruments placed about, one even resembling an old sort of piano along the wall. The two girls slowly shown their flashlight around the space to get a good look and then Alina wondered if they would be the ones to scare the poor minstrel and not the other way round!

"Hello, Sir," she spoke softly, "We don't mean to intrude. We come as friends."