After the first game revealed the special abilities possessed by the killers, the organizers no longer seemed interested in concealing their intentions. Through the scene now unfolding in the Nihrelet Family manor hall, they told every contestant that this game was no simple chase, and the killers were not brainless idiots who only knew how to swing chainsaws.
They possessed all manner of bizarre abilities, the intelligence to employ psychological tactics, and now, it seemed, perhaps even a place for themselves in religious scriptures.
The Gothic hall was exceptionally spacious, with a lofty vaulted ceiling. Dark green and gold interwoven carpets covered the deep gray stone floor. The elaborate, sharp candleholders mounted on the walls resembled outstretched ghost claws, echoing the olive-green silk draped from the surrounding pillars and making the place feel like a cold forest.
A group of strangely dressed oddballs stood in the hall. Some were dressed like Orthodox Christian priests from the Roman era, some wore wizard robes and carried heavy solid-wood staffs, some were dressed like Victorian detectives one might encounter on Baker Street, while others were opening bulky suitcase computers and using complex instruments to monitor nearby radio waves.
"Could this place be haunted?" Natasha asked uncertainly. She looked around, and without even examining them closely, she could roughly guess what sort of people they were, where they came from, and whether they actually had any skill.
The last part was the easiest to guess, because anyone with genuine ability would never dress as though they wanted to write their entire family tree across their face just to prove how orthodox they were.
Natasha nudged Batman beside her with her elbow and asked, "Can you handle ghosts?"
Batman remained silent. He did not answer, nor did he even appear to be thinking. He merely