The Ghosts of RedRise House Read online

  The Ghosts of RedRise House

  4 Book Box Set

  Caroline Clark

  CazClark.com

  Contents

  The Ghosts of RedRise House

  The Sacrifice

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  The Battle Within

  Prologue

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Epilogue

  Suffer the Children

  Prologue

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Still Evil

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Chapter 90

  Chapter 91

  Chapter 92

  Chapter 93

  Chapter 94

  Chapter 95

  Chapter 96

  Chapter 97

  Chapter 98

  The Spirit Behind You - Preview

  Chapter 99

  Chapter 100

  Chapter 101

  Chapter 102

  The Haunting of Seafield House – Preview

  Also by Caroline Clark

  ©Copyright 2018 Caroline Clark

  The Ghosts of RedRise House

  This was originally a three book series that tells the story of the spirit Old Hag. When I decided to do this box set I saw a shadow in the woods one night when I was walking my dogs. This gave rise to an idea and the fourth book in this series was conceived.

  I couldn’t wait to write it and hope that you will all enjoy it as much as I did writing it.

  The box set starts with The Sacrifice - Rosie, is running from her past. Looking for peace and a new beginning. House sitting in the luxurious and romantic RedRise House seemed like a perfect plan to rediscover herself and rebuild her life.

  It is so far away from the past that she knows she can look to the future and yet something is not quite right. She hears voices, footsteps in the night. She wakes from terrible nightmares. Strange figures stare down at her bed with hidden faces — was it all just a dream?

  Then there are the ghostly children. Are they all part of her imagination or did something terrible happen here?

  Like animals, the children fight for her blood. Will they get it or is something darker waiting and watching for its chance to escape?

  Find out if Rosie will ever leave RedRise house or if she will join the children to stay in this haunted house for all time.

  In the second Book The Battle Within the Ghosts of RedRise House have escaped. Something evil is stalking the city and only Rosie stands between it and a chain of misery and death.

  Having escaped the haunted RedRise House with her life Rosie begins to wonder if she escaped with her sanity. She is hearing voices, seeing strange things, and waking up covered in blood. What did she bring back with her?

  The voice in her head wants to kill her friend. Can Rosie survive long enough to find out what is wrong? Can she regain control and beat so ancient a spirit?

  Biding her time she must be clever. Must use her knowledge of the world and find help but will it be enough?

  The race is on and the price for losing is more than she can bear.

  Read on to find out if Rosie can survive.

  In Suffer the Children - Shelly wants to find ghosts. It has obsessed her for the last six years, ever since that day, the one she can never forget. There is something she has to tell them, something she needs to do.

  The Ghosts are only children how dangerous can they be?

  When Shelly hears about the haunting at RedRise House she knows she has to visit. To save the souls of the children trapped there and to seek out justice.

  Now she is here with her best friend Jack and the house is super creepy. It all seems so real and when she is told to leave she is so close to going. Only that is foolish. What could go wrong? She knows what she is doing. After all, she has spoken to one ghost, and only children haunt the big old manor.

  With her best friend Jack, they plan to spend a week of excitement and discovery. On the first night strange noises drag them from their room. Secrets are revealed and then they meet the children. What has she done?

  Too late she discovers The Ghosts of RedRise House want them and will never let them leave.

  Read on to find out if Shelly and Jack will escape the house or if they will join the haunted souls who reside there.

  In the brand new book Still Evil – something has returned to the house and it wants blood. Two children are missing and alone. When they are found they think they are safe, but are they? RedRise House has something more to give. Can an old friend come back to save the day once more? How much will he need to give up and is this too much to ask?

  Read on to find out in this brand new book.

  The Sacrifice

  The Ghosts of RedRise House

  Book 1

  By

  Caroline Clark

  ©Copyright 2018 Caroline Clark

  All Rights Reserved

  Do not watch the petals fall from the rose with sadness, know that, like life, things sometimes must fade, before they can bloom again.

  To receive a FREE short story The Black Eyed Children join my newsletter

  Prologue

  October 31st 1750

  RedRise House

  Yorkshire Moors

  England.

  10 pm

  Alice knew it would be tonight. She was eight now. Sometimes it seemed that she had waited for this day for more years than she could count. Every year, on this night, they came for someone and tonight it woul
d be her. She knew this wasn’t logical. There were seven girls her age and it could be any one of them. Only, she knew it would be her. She felt it, and the fear was like a beast inside. Clawing to take control and to pull her down into its pit of dark despair. None of the other girls believed her tales. They said the missing ones had simply run away. Only there was no escape.

  Alice knew, she had tried. She had been watching and one girl went missing this week every year. That had to be more than a coincidence. It had to be! Tonight, if she let them they would take her and she would never return.

  The moon shone down through the thin curtains. Its silvery rays painted shadows across the walls. They were like monsters with long creepy fingers that pointed at her. Others were like the crone from the storybooks they were sometimes allowed to read. Bent and wizened and yet as powerful as the dark. She screwed her eyes tight to shut out the dancing figures created by the wind and the moon as it shone through the trees. Only, she dare not shut them for too long. If she fell asleep, she would lose and somehow she knew this was the battle she had to win.

  Gradually the house grew silent. All the other children were asleep and she just had to wait for the hourly check and then she could make her move. In the darkness her heart beat in her throat and the blood rushed through her ears. How would she hear when they came if her head was filled with the sound of her own pulse?

  The minutes passed so slowly and she started to get tired. Was Mary already asleep? Could she leave her? How could she have such a thought? Mary was just a year younger and if they could not take Alice then maybe they would take Mary.

  Footsteps echoed down the corridor outside. They approached quickly and confidently. It would be the last check of the night. The one to make sure that they were all asleep. The lantern would shine over her and she must make sure that she did not blink, did not move and yet what if she had mistimed this? What if she had slept and the last check had already gone. What if this time the footsteps were the man in the hood? The one who would take her away.

  The thought was so frightening that she felt sick and her eyes burst open. She had to close them, had to lay still and yet she did not think she could.

  The door opened and the lamp light swung into the room. Footsteps approached the first bed. It was two away from her and she tried to close her eyes. They didn’t want to shut but eventually she managed to force them closed. Only now she couldn’t breathe. She had to breathe slowly and quietly and yet she was gasping for each breath. Almost hyperventilating in her panic. The lamp light flared which meant it was raised above the first bed. The footsteps had stopped as Matron looked down on Jennifer. She would be asleep, at only six she was always tired and often asleep just as her head hit the pillow.

  The light was moving, coming closer and she held her breath for a few seconds. The light was over Mary’s bed now and once more it was lifted. She crossed her fingers hoping that Mary would be asleep. That she wouldn’t move and risk the belt. The lamp was raised and she screwed her own eyes down tight and took another breath. In the silence it sounded like a gulp and she knew she had to calm down. If they suspected then maybe they would take her now and then it would all be over. Who would save Mary if she were already gone?

  The lamp lowered and the footsteps moved across the hard concrete floor. Each one was like a slap, slap, slap and Alice had to screw her eyes tight to not jump at every sound. Slowly she let out a breath and relaxed her eyes and face. This had to look natural. Matron was hard to fool and if she was found awake then the least of her problems would be the belt. It had happened only five times in her four years at the home. Each time had left deep welts on her buttocks and legs and as matron approached some of the scars began to itch. It was as if they could sense the belt, sense the punishment she deserved for defying her betters and staying awake.

  Breathe, slowly, calmly. The footsteps stopped at the side of her bed. Through her eyelids, she could sense the light as it rose above her. How she wanted to gasp or breathe. To pull the thin and stiff blanket over her head and hide beneath its perceived safety but she must not. Stay calm, stay still as a dormouse.

  In her mind she could see Matron. Her thin lips drawn tight over sharp pointy teeth. Her dark eyes sunken into her sallow skin. Her gray hair pulled back into a severe bun that stretched the skin across her bones making it look as if it would tear if she ever dared to smile. She didn’t of course, she was always angry, always mean and yet after each disappearance she looked younger, more alive. Did she eat the girls?

  Matron let out a breath and she almost jumped. The sound was coarse and phlegmy. Though she did not understand the consumption that was gradually killing the old woman, she sensed that her time was near. It made the old matron even more angry and prone to dish out punishment even when it wasn’t warranted. Yet, Alice knew she deserved it tonight. She had defied them and forced herself to stay awake. What would be the punishment for that, if they knew?

  Alice almost shuddered at the thought but she clenched her fists beneath the covers and kept still. Soon she would have to take a breath and then it would be over. How she wished that the matron would move away. Would go look at one of the other nine beds in this room or move on down the corridor to one of the other rooms.

  The woman seemed to hesitate too long and Alice was sure she had been caught. Any second now a hand would reach down and snatch her thin frame from the bed. Any second...

  Matron coughed causing the lamp to shake in her hand and the light from it to bounce across her eyelids. Then she heard the slap, slap, slap as the footsteps moved away.

  Slowly she let out a whistle of air and relaxed just a little. The footsteps were moving on, the lamp was fading.

  Alice gripped tightly to her covers as Matron checked each bed and then she slap, slap, slapped back to the door and was gone. The footsteps faded down the corridor and went into another room. A yawn escaped Alice and she wondered how much longer she would be able to stay awake. They had worked extra hard these last two weeks. Scrubbing the massive house from top to bottom as well as working in the gardens and on the farm. There would be visitors tonight and so they had needed to prepare laundry and extra rooms. It was exhausting work and their rations had not been increased so they went to bed hungry each night and woke up weak for the following day’s work.

  Alice heard Matron approaching the door again. It did not bother her this time, as she would simply walk past and then go up the stairs to her own quarters. Once she heard her door close she would be sure that it was almost time. Maybe she would just give it a little longer. Enough time for Matron to get into bed and fall asleep. Did she sleep? Maybe she sat there waiting for one of the girls to move. Maybe she sat at the top of the stairs looking down and just waiting?

  Alice pushed that thought away and concentrated on her plan. She intended to wake Mary and then go down the stairs into the basement. She knew where there was a lamp and a flint kept in the kitchen, she would grab it on her way out. With that she would go to the basement where she had been told there was a tunnel that led out of the house and under the wall. If she could find it then they would escape and go somewhere nice. Maybe into the woods. They could live in a tree and hide from everyone who came near. It was a lovely dream and it filled her with hope. Just her and Mary safe and cocooned at the base of a tree. They would find mushrooms to eat and maybe catch rabbits and fish from the river. She had never caught a fish but how hard could it be?

  Soon she would find out, for it was time.

  “Mary, Mary wake up please,” Alice whispered into the little blonde girl’s ear as she pulled back her lank and dirty curls.

  Mary’s eyes shot open, they were a pure blue and filled with fear. Alice placed a hand over her mouth before she could let out a squeal of terror.

  “You are safe,” she whispered. “It’s just me, like I told you. We’re leaving.”

  Mary rubbed her eyes and tried to keep them open. “I’m very tired and it will be time to get up soon.”

&
nbsp; “It’s time now and then tomorrow you can sleep until dinner.”

  Mary’s eyes opened even wider. The whites almost shone in the dark. “Really?”

  “Yes, if... once we are out of here we can do what we want.” Alice pulled back the covers and handed her a dress. “Only, hurry, we don’t want to be caught. Not tonight!”