A Listmom Returns
Part 1
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Nay was tired.

She'd worked too many nights straight in RL, and right now all she was thinking about was 
bed. Her nice, warm, comfy bed in DenialLand. She was so tired, she was even half hoping that 
the General was busy elsewhere tonight. She stopped and considered that thought for a moment.

Okay, so she wasn't THAT tired.

The Castlemom trudged onward, grumbling to herself about how far it actually was to her suite 
at the top of her tower. Why hadn't she thought about this when she chose that remote corner 
of the Castle? There were no magic carpets to ride, no techno-gadgets to whisk her away in the 
blink of an eye..... no, here she was exhausted from an overdose of RL and she was WALKING. 
Luckily it wasn't much farther now.

Just as Nay was about to put her foot on the bottom step of her very own tower staircase, she 
felt the cold, ethereal presence of one of the Castle ghosts settling about her shoulders like 
a blanket. The Castle was full of such phantoms, flitting hither and yon, still tending to 
their earthly cares, but though they were all friendly spirits, they rarely touched the Castle 
Residents unless they felt the need for serious communication. Nay stopped and tried to focus 
her bleary eyes on the shadowy apparition forming in front of her.

"Yes?" she asked it simply.

"Hurrrrrrrry........"it breathed in a raspy voice. "Listmom retuuuuurnssssssss."

"Listmom returns?" Nay repeated, hoping she didn't sound as tired as she felt. "Yes, I'm 
returning....." She wondered why her returning to the Castle from RL and work had sparked such 
a response as to disturb one of the ghostly tenants.

"Nooooooooooo........" the spectre corrected her. "'Notherrrrrrr list-motherrrrrrrrrrrrr. 
Lonnnnnnng gonnnne............Blood! blood! Hurrrry! Hurrrry!"

"Long gone?" That could only mean Teri, the Castlemom #2, since the newly reaffirmed listmom, 
Val, had checked in since Globelists had packed it in. It was about time Teri get her sorry 
carcass back to the Castle! But that last part about the blood and hurrying rather bothered her. 
"What's wrong? What's happened?" she asked her friendly spook, who was trying to tug at her with 
what probably used to be strong hands.

"Nothinnnnnnng wrrrrrronnnnnnnng, ssss'alllriiiiight," it intoned mournfully. "Hurrrrrry, Blood! 
Blood!"

"If nothing's wrong, then why should I hurry?" Nay started wondering if she really was that 
tired, or if this thing really wasn't making any sense. "Where is Teri? Where is she?"

The poor disembodied spirit seemed nearly distraught and began wringing its hands as it 
continued to declaim the message it so needed to relay.

"Innnn her roooooooooms...."it wailed. "Hurrrrrry, Blood! Oh the blood!"
 
Nay was really beginning to worry, despite her own weariness and found herself following the 
phantom down the hallway. She continued to question her filmy guide as she trotted down corridor 
after corridor, always getting the same ambiguous answers, that everything was alright, but 
hurry. She was more than a little winded when she passed through the open center courtyard, 
taking a shortcut across the breadth of the Castle. Suddenly there was a whoosh of air as large 
leathery wings swooped past her, the backdraft almost knocking her off her feet. With a playful 
pounce, the castle dragon blocked her path, coiling around to peek back at her over his shoulder 
with a gleaming eye.

"BOO!" he said clearly. Nay jumped in spite of herself.

"Sparky!" she scolded. "This is no time to be playing." But to her surprise, her wispy friend 
gave a gleeful moan and stopped tugging at her to go whirl around the dragon's head.

"Plaaaaaaaaaay!!!" it said, tugging at Sparky's ears and whiskers, making the dragon snort with 
delight. The two quickly bounded into the air, Sparky in the lead, with the ghost swirling after 
him, calling out, "Funnnnnnn...... plaaaaaaaaaay........hurrrrrry, ohhhhh the blood!"

Nay stopped and watched them frolic for a minute, seriously wishing she could strangle the 
ghostie who was still bemoaning the need to hurry as it danced with the dragon on the air 
currents. She rolled her eyes and shook her head, massaging her temples where the beginnings 
of a headache hovered. All the Castle ghosts were friendly, and often tried to be helpful, but 
nobody ever said they were all playing with a full deck. She shrugged to herself. Oh well, she 
was almost there now. She might as well go ahead and see if Teri had indeed returned. She turned 
left at the Coffee alcove where several coffee pots were always brewing merrily, and ducked into 
one of the Castle's secret passages which she knew from experience would dump her out in the 
Vaquera Wing not far from Teri's room. (Leave it to DP/Vaq to have a secret passage that led to 
the coffee pots!!)

Sure enough, the door to Teri's room was standing open and from her vantage point in the hallway, 
Nay could see that the second castlemom really was in her room for the first time in Forever. She 
wasn't alone though. Recognizing the dark-haired head that was bent over the Vaquera, Nay almost 
walked on past without stopping but something made her hesitate for a second look and froze her 
heart mid-beat.

Teri was sprawled on the sofa, eyes closed, and from where Nay stood she could easily see the 
splash of blood on the Vaquera's throat.

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to be continued