The Haunted National Park: A Tale from the Peter Wood Multiverse
Chapter Three: The Old Ranger Station

An hour passed by and Peter and his friends were enthralled by all they saw. Ghosts and spirits of all sorts darted across the sky above the woods and in between the trees, filling the air with their howls and laughter. They followed the path that they started on when they entered the woods and kept their eyes open for the old rangers’ station the fisherman ghost mentioned. At one point they thought they had spotted it, but upon shining their flashlights on it, they realized that it was the remains of a burned-down cabin. In it were several elderly ghosts sitting around a table playing cards.

“Does anyone know where we’re actually supposed to be going?” asked Lily.

“The Fisherman Ghost just pointed towards the woods.” Said Peter.

“So no then.” Said Mindy.

“Look, just up ahead there.” Said Oliver. “I think…I think that’s the old rangers’ station.”

Thanks to the cold blueish light of the moon, the large cabin that was the old rangers’ station was in clear for them to see now. It was covered in vines that crept not only along the building’s walls but into the cracks and gaps of the wooden planks that made up its walls. The window in the station’s front door had a hole in it as if something had been thrown through it. Just a few paces from the front porch of the building was a vine-covered sign that read: Rangers’ Station #8. But what stuck out to Peter more than anything else, was the woman in the window; in the window to the right of the front door, the faint outline of a woman could be seen from where they were standing. Peter’s blood froze when he first locked eyes with hers for the first time—they were two small glowing blue dots that pierced through the dark without warning and were the only parts of her that were clearly visible.

After a moment of the children and the woman staring at each other—with nothing but the chirping of crickets and hooting of howls to fill the still air—the woman began to slowly step backwards until the darkness inside of the cabin had fully engulfed her.

“Who do you think she is?” Mindy whispered excitedly.

“Is she a banshee?” asked Lily, worriedly.

“Mindy, did you bring the stuff?” Peter asked.

Mindy took off the backpack she was wearing and ruffled around inside of it before pulling out a number of beakers that she had filled with a blue liquid.

“What’s that for?” Oliver asked Mindy.

“I’ve been whipping up different potions and other solutions for ghosts ever since they told us we were coming here.” Mindy began handing out the beakers to each of them. Alchemy was Mindy’s hobby, and inventing new potions and creating odd alchemical creations was her passion. “If you see a ghost, just throw one of these at them. And use the Nth metal chains in your packs to make a circle around yourself if you need to. Now, how do we want to enter?”

Before anyone could answer, Peter used his super speed to run around the abandoned station to see all the different entrances. “Looks like there’s another door at the back, but it’s locked and there’s no door handle on it. Our best bet might just be to walk in the front door.”

“That’s a little concerning. No telling what kind of security the rangers left for this place or what traps we might shut off if we just walk in the front door.”

“Yeah but I don’t think anyone has been around in a while, though.” Said Lily. “Why would the rangers bother to take care of alarms or traps? It almost looks like they’ve forgotten about the place…”

“Enough talking about it.” Said Oliver. “Let’s just go on in.”

“Right,” said Mindy. “Peter, can you help me with the ghost lady?”

“Sure, how do you want to do it?”

“Let’s just rush her. Throw vials at anything moving that you can see through.”

“Simple. I like it.”

The two sleuth scouts stepped onto the station’s front porch and tested the door.

“It won’t open.” Said Peter after a few good shoves at the door.

“It’s the vines.” Said Mindy. “They’re like fused with the wood or something.” Mindy turned back to Lily and began motioning for her to come to the door.

Lily wasn’t having it, though. She looked to the window where the ghost woman was once staring at them from, then looked back at them and began shaking her head at them,

“Lily, come on.” Said Peter. “You’re the only one that can get these vines to move.”

It took some prodding, but eventually, they convinced her to approach the old station to help them. Lily stretched out her palm towards the vines around the door, and Peter watched as they slowly stirred to life as they began receding from the door, freeing it from their clutches.

“Alright.” Said Peter. “On the count of three…one…two…three!”

Peter charged through the door first, and regretted it almost instantly; he used his super speed to try and get the jump on the ghost, but she was just fast. The ghost had an unnatural speed of her own, and as Peter zipped around the small main visitors’ area of the station, the ghost was always just behind him, her chilling breath just on the back of his neck, and her wailing screech bombarded his ears, inflicting his body with a combination of chills and millions of goosebumps. At the corner of his eye, Peter could see her begin to reach out towards him, and then BANG!

The frigid breath on Peter’s neck turned into a blizzard’s sub-zero gust. He slammed the brakes on his speed and slammed into the nearest wall with a loud, “OOF!” before crashing to the floor. When he looked up he saw the ghost woman in question trapped in a solid, jagged, block of ice. She wasn’t entirely frozen, though. Her image was constantly shifting in the ice, and Peter could just make out a muffled screech coming from inside the ice.

“Eh, you alright, Peter?” Mindy stepped up to him and offered her hand to help him get up.

“Yea, I’m alright.” Said Peter, taking her help to get up. “I didn’t think she’d be so fast, though!”

“Did you even take one of my vials? Or did you just charge on in here to be the distraction or something?”

“I took one of the vials,” Peter said incredulously. “I wouldn’t just charge inside someplace dangerous with no plan at all.”

“This time.” Said Lily as both she and Oliver entered the station. “He means that wouldn’t charge inside someplace dangerous with no plan at all, this time. And you didn’t even use that vial you took, that was Mindy.”

“Yeah, 'cause this is definitely not the first time that you’ve done that, Peter. Come on, be honest.”

It was true. Peter had a habit of bursting into a dangerous situation with little more than a napkin scribble’s worth of a plan. That sense of impulsiveness was said to be the root of his super-speed. That being said, it made him feel all the better that he was surrounded by friends who had more sense than him.

With the immediate threat settled, Peter and the others sought out to see what this “fun” was that the Fisherman Ghost was teasing them about.