Skeletons in the Closet

[Fox of Spades]

Kelsey watched with wide-eyed terror as London and Ana began deliberating over Salem's eventual fate. Had she really heard that? Recognizing the Hayes as threats was one thing... but deciding they had to be dealt with - that was something else entirely. She was especially taken aback by how easily Ana had flipped-flopped. Wasn't she supposed to be Lenore's protector? Damn it, they weren't going to kill the bird... and she sure as fucking hell would not let them hurt Salem either.

Did she trust Salem. No, of course not, she wasn't that naive.

Still HURTING them was out of the question, wasn't morally acceptable - Salem was a crying boy, emphasis on boy. He was a scared kid who'd been at the wrong place at the wrong frigging time. Kindle (the one who didn't like birds) beat her to it, explaining as eloquently as ever why they couldn't stoop down to animal murder.

"Christ, Ana," Kelsey hissed. A weight vanished from her shoulders when Lenore flew out of arm's reach, but nonetheless, she wore a look of utter disbelief on her face. "Guys, really? Come on. We're not hurting a bird - we're not hurting anyone." Kelsey cut between London and Salem. She reached for London's hand and coaxed her to lower the blade. "This is messed up and crazy.... but we're not going to do anything we're going to regret, okay?"

She was as scared as everyone, but she tried her darnedest to hide the fear on her face. They had just witnessed someone transform into a bird. "We're going to..." her voice faltered but she gathered every sliver of courage she had left. "We're going to talk to Salem, learn what we can about this and go home, okay? No one's going to do anything crazy." She loved a good crazy adventure, but this was just too much. It was wearing down and tearing at all of them.

She honestly didn't know how much more of this they could all take.

Kelsey waited for her friends to answer then turned to Salem. Dark streaks ran down his face, and amidst the craziness of Henbard Chateau, she couldn't help but feel sorry for him.

Fighting For You
​

With much effort, Salem forced himself to his feet. His muscles shook due to exertion and black ooze continued pouring down his broken nose and pallid face. Each movement he made seemed to weigh heavily on his body - to hurt him. "My intentions were good." Whether or not he was talking to himself was unclear. "I only wanted to help them. We've played house for years, all part of His stupid game... but they're important, they're important to me."

Salem was growing more incoherent with each passing second.

"I don't expect you to help me. Why would you?" He was laughing, an empty listless laugh. "I admit, I lured you here under false pretenses." Salem knew exactly what He had in store for the guests, knew the perils the young adults would have to face, but did it anyway because it was the only way to try and save the last few people he cherished. "It wasn't right. It wasn't right and I can't... God forgive me - I can't fix anything."

He approached the group, swaying weakly with each step he took. The light in his eyes was fading quickly. "All the emblems are keys. You know, I always thought living like this would be better than not living at all... I guess I was wrong." He didn't have a home to return to. Fifty odd years or so meant his family had probably moved on - that, or they'd passed never knowing where he'd disappeared to. Salem reached into his coat's breast pocket and pulled out half of what appeared to be a silver pin with a bird etched into it. The bird appeared to be surrounded by what looked like a chain. "Here's mine," Salem said as he pressed his half of the pin into Jace's hands.

As Salem pulled away from Jace, he gave them a smile.

For the first time in a very long time, he felt free.

Salem took one step back then two. Only when he was standing away from the group did they notice the flecks of stone creeping up his neck to his face. His movements grew rigid as the stone coating encased flesh and bone. The light in his eyes faded, and the stone consumed and consumed and consumed until there was just a statue and nothing more.

 

[Fox of Spades]

Three Left

1.

Ding, dong, bell,
Pussy's in the well.
Who put her in?
Little Johnny Thin.
Who pulled her out?
Little Peter Stout.
What a naughty boy was that,
To try to drown poor pussy cat,
Who never did him any harm,
But killed all the mice in the farmer's barn.

2.

Mary had a pretty bird,
With feathers dark and yellow,
Slender legs - upon my word,
He was a pretty fellow.
The sweetest notes he always sang,
Which much delighted Mary;
And near the cage she'd ever sit,
To hear her trapped Canary.

3.

Tell Tale Tit,
Your tongue shall be slit;
And all the dogs in the town
Shall have a little bit.

4.

Es tanzt ein Bi-Ba-Butzemann
In unserm Haus herum, fidebum,
Es tanzt ein Bi-Ba-Butzemann
In unserm Haus herum.

Er wirft sein Säcklein her und hin,
Was ist wohl in dem Säcklein drin?
Es tanzt ein Bi-Ba-Butzemann
In unserm Haus herum.

---

Somewhere in the Library
​

Perched atop one of the many shelves and hidden behind several books, was a nondescript silk doll. The doll was a tiny thing, dressed in a bright yellow raincoat. It had strips of smooth white cloth for hair, and two shiny grey beads for eyes. Had any of the young adults noticed the doll, they might have seen the similarities between the doll and a certain person in Henbard Chateau. Unfortunately, the group was too focused on the newly transmogrified Salem to notice.

The doll watched on with its little doll eyes...

 

[Cartoonicat]

​

As she watched Ana and Kindall debate the fate of Lenore, London found herself content to stay quiet. She said nothing in defense of the bird - not necessarily because she wanted it to die, but because she couldn't bring herself to defend it. What would happen if he found a way to take control of Lenore, if he didn't know how to already? They'd have another monstrosity on their hands.

Salem started speaking and London couldn't stop herself from frowning at his words; they were so morbid, so pained, that it stirred something uncomfortable in her chest. A net of stinging bees buzzing at the upper half of her rib-cage like they were trying to make her feel everything Salem had gone through in the last sixty years.

Better him than us, she thought. A sharp sting, right by her heart. Just think of him as an NPC. Non-player characters are meant to die at some point. Salem's just an-... London couldn't finish the thought. Could not bring herself to tie Salem's, a living and breathing boy of seventeen, name to something so inanimate. So dead.

Yet dying is what he was, the missing Salem Johnson. After he placed the half of a pin in Jace's palm, London watched Salem step back and start to solidify; bit by bit, flecks of stone crept across his skin until he turned into a statue. London looked away as the last bit of light flickered from his eyes, feeling her own prick hot with tears. The bees intensified, throwing her back into the cellar where Matt's blood coated her hands.

That had been fake. This had been real.

We just watched Salem die.

London had watched a seventeen year old boy, a victim in a horrible game, turn to stone and yet all she could think was: Thank God it wasn't one of us. She stood there staring at the ground for a handful of seconds more, the bees in her chest bumbling and rumbling at a speed that made her want to vomit. In effort to calm them, she wondered if it had even been possible to save Salem, what with so much time having passed since his abduction. She needed to know - needed to justify her thought process, her cruelty. Swallowing dryly, London stole one last look at the statue of the boy who'd tried to redeem himself before looking around the room, eyes searching. She didn't remember when, but somewhere in the midst of the mayhem she'd dropped her Cryptodex.

There. Her eye caught on the familiar scrawl of "Cryptids" across the cover, the orange and yellow sticky notes as well as the stapled printouts jutting from between the covers. There. She approached it, knees feeling like jelly but carrying her farther and with more purpose than she'd ever gone before. There. Her fingers grasped the worn spine, retrieving it from beside the bookcase that had knocked Salem back during the battle, and skimmed through the pages.

There has to be something, she thought, anything. There has to be.

Yet London found nothing documented in the first few manual entries that would answer her question about Salem's mortality. And so, the bees persisted - until she flipped to the most recent entries of her precious journal. Her eyes widened, heart sticking in her throat.

"Someone wrote- who did- that little piece of...!" Her grip on the edges of the journal tightened, knuckles turning white, and she chewed on her bottom lip in a desperate attempt not to break into a sob-fest right then and there. She knew who wrote in it - nobody else had touched the Cryptodex long enough, aside from London herself, to log an entry - and it made her blood boil. Her hard work, so carefully categorized and formatted, ruined.

Ruined. Ruined. Ruined. It's all ruined. Everything is ruined, now. Ruined.

Everything from their traditional Halloween night of B-rated horror films to her ability to ever look at Matt the same way again to the person who London thought she was prior to getting tossed into literal fucking Hell. Her Cryptodex, her research, her safety blanket had been scribbled in and now London Brackett felt entirely too exposed because, apparently in Henbard Chateau, nothing was sacred.

She hadn't realized she'd started crying until a wet splotch smeared some of the ink on the page. Using her sleeve, London wiped her eyes and suppressed a hiccup, lest the others see or hear. Hoped she was far enough away for them to disregard her absence, if only for a little bit, because she'd always been an ugly crier and to cry over someone writing in her journal seemed juvenile - especially considering the circumstances. She'd promised herself she'd be strong. She promised.

In effort to distract herself, even though it only made the bees buzz so violently she truly feared she'd puke this time, London resolved herself to reading the pumpkin creature's entries. Opting to sit against the fallen bookcase, she set her katana within arms reach - just in case.

There were three entries. Three stains on her otherwise flawless Cryptodex. Three new sources of information.

Wiping her eyes for the second time, London began to read.

 

[Impudimp]

Marten had wanted to say something, damn it! She'd had a whole heroic monologue about why Salem wasn't going to die even if she had to drag him along with them, because she'd be damned if she left him behind. No one deserved to be trapped in some creepy mansion against their will, especially not some poor, teenaged boy that had never gotten to actually live his life. So what if he was part bird now. At least he could make some easy money getting stared at... Maybe he'd even find a nice bird girl and settle down? Either way there was hope; every cloud had a silver lining.

Except when it didn't, apparently. She'd barely had time to contemplate the very anime-esque way in which her heart gave a single hard 'thump' at Kindall's touch when Salem delivered the saddened auto-obituary she'd ever heard and proceeded to turn into stone like in some bad fantasy film. What the heck was this Hellsing?! Castlevania?! Nonsense! That's what this was! Utter nonsense!

Just like the itchy, burning water in her eyes and the painful feeling that blossomed right in her trachea that made it hard to cry and breathe at the same time. So maybe she hadn't known him all his life, but she easily attached herself to others, a polarizing type of empathy that made her latch like the world's friendliest facehugger. Salem was supposed to come with them, and they were going to teach him how to adult like a caveman that had been brought to the future by accident.

"It's not fair... We were going to teach him to drive, and how to eat burritos without all the meat falling out the other end, and how to swim..." She found herself barely audible, lamenting the lost child. And now she was blubbering like an idiot, because... Just because. A boy had just died in front of her, she was taxed, tired, and hungry again. And it was really hard to be happy when you were secretly wondering if you were going to live through the night. It's not fair!

Poor beaten up Kindall was just going to have to deal with her feels, since he was her closest friend at the moment, and she just wanted someone to hold. At least the grunette tried to be gentle with him in his predicament of pain. After just a bit of maneuvering, she'd eventually settle with her head against his breastbone, hugging his torso while she quieted in little sobs.

 

[IceQueen]

Ana couldn't watch, not as someone died in front of her. She just, she couldn't. She could hear Salem talking to himself behind her, driving himself to the edge. Even as Lenore fled Ana crouched herself down in the opposite corner with her hands covering her ears. She'd been through too much, she'd watched Matt die, she couldn't do it again.

Ana started to cry before she knew it. She could hear Marten talking about how it was too soon, all the things they were going to do. Ana couldn't take it. Where as Marten stayed quiet Ana couldn't keep to herself. She let her body shake and sob freely, her mind going completely blank. She didn't want to think about it. She didn't want to think at all. She just wanted to stop everything. Anything and everything.

 

[Fox of Hearts]

The room mourned Salem's passing. Kindall could see that Marten and Ana weeping unabashedly for the fallen Salem. It was so them! So emotional, so accepting and so very human. It would be a experience he'd never have. Milton always had a very limited range of emotions, so he never suffered the whirlwind of emotions people often did in their teens. Knowing that made him feel a little alien at times, cold, unfeeling and goddamn rational. Even now, he couldn't muster enough grief to shed a tear.

Kindle allowed his lady love to remain as she was as he wrapped his arms around her in a soothing embrace. He hadn't seen her cry like this before but based on the data he gathered he figured she'd calm down eventually. The why wasn't so important. All he cared about was that she felt better and that she was mentally prepared for the next challenge.

"Pssst Jace," he hissed to his friend.

After catching the guy's attention, he cocked his head towards Ana and mouthed "go to her". It was no secret that Ana seemed unusually fond of Jace. He had seen how the girl gravitated to his friend so frequently it seemed that no one else existed. As far as he could tell, the feelings were one-sided. He hadn't seen Jace showing any signs of returning the affection. Not that it mattered at this very moment. What was more important was the fact that Jace was the best person to comfort Ana. Kelsey being the alternative.

His thoughts drifted to the rest of the group. First London, then Kelsey and finally Ethan. Kindle's eyes lingered longest on the Milk Man. He wasn't sure how the big guy wasn't take this and that made him concerned. Honestly, he cared for his childhood friend even though Ethan didn't feel it at times. They were different in that regard. He showed his concern by trying to fix Ethan's problems while Ethan used words, gestures and physical contact.

"Eth! Hey Ethan! You alright?"

Milton left his question hanging. He wasn't sure if this was one of those moments where Ethan needed some space. Joseff on the other hand had no qualms about invading that bubble. Failing to get enough attention from Jace, the shibe bounded over to Ethan instead. Jo bumped his furry head against Ethan's shin repeatedly.

"Uuuuuu," the dog whined. Love me, human, he seemed to demand. "Uuuuuu." Switching tactics, Joseff started nuzzling. Why you no love me? A kinder (non-Kindle) interpretation would be assuming Jo felt some level of empathy.

Kindle being Kindle doubted Jo's capacity for empathy. He simply shook his head. Crafty mutt, he muttered with a tired smile. Jo proved to be more useful tonight than the inu ever was. Dumb, loving yet so perfect for a therapy animal. Returning his attention to Marten, he began rubbing her back. "You feeling better?"

*****​

Lenore remained perched on the top of the shelf for a very long time. Her beady eyes glimmered. Whether it was emotion or lighting, no one knew for sure. Her eyes continued shining in the dim corner as she stared at her master. His colour was different somehow. Paler than normal. It was very clear that she hadn't understood a single word he spoke, thus she wasn't aware of his fate.

She waited patiently for the group to be distracted. Finally, when Ana and London's attention was off her, the bird flew down and perched on Salem's shoulder. Her clawed feet hit stone, startling her.

"Caw! Caw caw!"

There was no response. No words of platitude nor the usual head pats. Thinking that her owner was trying to trick her, the bird pecked his head. Her beak met unyielding stone, causing her to erupt in protests of pain. She stopped, realizing something wasn't right.

Hunched over with her head tucked down, the bird brooded. Her Salem was gone! Left in his place was this doll of stone. An uneasiness filled her, causing her to puff up her feathers defensively. Anger filled every fibre of her body.

"Ca-caw! Caw ca-caw!"

The family never came. No Mistress, no little girl and more importantly no young master. Silence save for the soft weeping and hushed words from the remaining humans. Lenore raised her head, glaring at them. Her eyes looking straight at Kelsey for some reason.

Then the hardness Lenore's eyes soften. Realisation. Memory. A picture and moving vines. Images of young master and little girl drawing together. Butzy, they had repeated over and over. Butzy! That was the one they feared. He feared!

Determination sparked in her intelligent eyes. Inky black wings stretched as if Lenore wanted to take flight. She almost did but she heard a faint sound. Immediately, she fell silent. Her eyes suddenly watchful again. She seemed to be pre-empting something.

*****​

The taunting squeaks behind the library's solid doors had stopped. Despite its absence, things remained status quo. The doors were barricaded. Thick, green vines poked inwards from the gaps. They gripped the peeling lacquered surface tighter than a kraken hugging a sinking ship. Small fissures started appearing. The process was so subtle and slow that none of the humans heard the wood giving way.

 

[Ashi]

​

"Would all of you just stop?" Jace barked in a particularly harsh tone, even for one angry. He didn't turn his head to look at his friends; his eyes never left the boy in front of him. Salem was in poor condition, with a broken nose and black ooze running down his face. Every move he made seemed to tax him of what little energy he must have had left, only resulting in pain. Jace couldn't even imagine how much pain Salem was suffering; not just physically, but emotionally, too. He had been a pawn in this crooked game for fifty-odd years; he likely had no one to go home to even if he had managed to escape Henbard. All he had was his pretend family, the people he had come to care for - the people Jace had been so angry at. Even as Salem admitted that he had lured them all there, Jace couldn't find it in his heart to feel contempt towards him. That did not; however, mean that Jace trusted him at all.

"Salem.." Jace murmured, eyes glistening with sympathy. He could see the light in his eyes diminishing as he placed half of a silver pin in his palm. It was an artistically crafted and simple design rendered in great detail. "All the emblems are keys" echoed in the young man's mind as he looked it. Emblems? Keys? Jace looked up again to see Salem's meek smile and the stone that gradually envelope him as the black ooze had done. The light was gone; Salem was gone. All that remained was a statue.

Poor Joseff went unnoticed by Jace, for he was too enthralled by what he just witnessed to pay him any mind. Slowly Jace reached out to touch him, the stone cold against his fingertips. It was surreal, too surreal, and yet it was. He'd watched it happen; they all had. A sickening sadness crept in. Ana's sobs could be heard from amid the maze; Marten cried into Kindall's chest. The sounds of their cries only made it feel worse somehow.

"I hope.. your next life is a happier one." Jace pulled his hand away as Kindall gestured for him to go comfort Ana. In spite of his feeling that he wouldn't be much help, he trudged to stand in front of her. "Hey.." He said softly, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "It's gonna be okay. Look, no one is going to kill anyone or anything, got it? I don't want to hear anymore of that ridiculous talk, okay?" He pulled her close to his chest, rubbing her back. "Why don't you hold on to Lenore? She seems to like you. Maybe you could take her home with you? She's going to need someone to care for her, like Salem did." Jace was trying to get Ana's mind away from the grief by offering happier thoughts. Only Salem's words kept replaying in his.

"All the emblems are keys. All the emblems are keys? Emblems? Keys? Emblems?" He squinted with the effort it was taking to solve the linguistic puzzle. What were emblems? Distinguishing images, symbols, or marks. Marks? "Like, oh what did Ana call them? Cutie marks?" A light bulb clicked on in the attic.

"The marks! The toys! Guys, 'all the emblems are keys!' The ponies from Ella's room! The cutie marks!" Jace blurted out. He recalled distinctly the girls talking about how the cutie marks were strange on those pony dolls. He made his way back towards the others, bringing Ana along with him. "Wasn't there one with a crow?"

Speaking of crows, Lenore was acting strangely. She was perched on Salem's shoulder, her feathers ruffled. There was a strange look in her eyes, as if she knew something they didn't.

"Yo, Ana, what's up with Lenore?" He asked in a low voice, as if mentioning the bird's name might incite her wrath. She was the bird keeper, especially now that Salem was gone.

 

[Haru Nyan]

Empty. The library had fallen into a mournful silence after Salem ceased to move. Ethan didn't know what to think of it all, it made him question all of their actions up until this point, were any of them justifiable? Animals who only attack in self-defense can't really be blamed for their aggression, could they? Likewise, he and everyone else in the group were only doing trying to look out for themselves...Yet, he felt so...melancholic. This kid he barely knew, transformed into a vicious bird monster, and also tried to kill all of them was gone. Stone right in front of all of them and yet the pangs of sadness tug at his heart. He never even got the chance to get his strawberry milk back.

It was like watching the asshole in a series or a video game suffer an unfair fate. He sighed heavily, trying not to get the situation get the best of him...The same couldn't be said for his other friends however, with Marten, London, and Ana already crying their eyes out. Right now though, all Ethan wanted to say was sorry. He felt terrible in general right now, still fixated on the surreal sight of Salem's frozen, stone body.

His focus however was broken, and his senses snapped back into reality when he felt a familiar something nuzzle his shins. Huh? He looked around, his head turning below to Jo. Slowly, he crouched down to his level and started petting the lil' fella, trying to set his mind at ease. He stood up, turning to Kindall and gave him a beaming smile, "I'm fine!" He said, with an enthusiastic tone. Giving a thumbs up before boasting that he was "tough as nails!"

Caw! Caw!

Immediately, the silence of the library was broken when the cry of Lenore broke out. Aloud, he wondered what the bird's problem was now. As if on cue, Jace was quick to relay the information...Ella's room? Cutie marks? He gave the tall man a confused look, his head lopping to the side like a dog. He remembers Ana putting them in the bed and he even made an off-hand remark about it too, but couldn't quite remember if one of them was a crow. Did it have something to do with Lenore's behavior right now?

 

[Fox of Spades]

"I hope.. your next life is a happier one."

As the words left Jace's lips, Kelsey felt herself sinking. Salem had solidified before their very eyes - flesh and blood turned cold and unfeeling stone. The cogs and gears in her head whirred loudly and a sickening sense of dread tied her insides into knots and left her feeling sick with fear. She wanted to tear her eyes away from what had become of the boy, but all she could see were the intricate details of stone - his crisp suit and the upturned curve of his lips.

She was finally able to tear her eyes away when Lenore landed on his shoulder. The bird's caws were heartbreaking, and had she stared on any longer, she probably would have started crying too. Kelsey turned away from Salem's stony face and forced her lead-like legs to move... one step then two. She ran several shaky finger's through her hair, not quite sure what any of them ought to do next. Her friends, it seemed, were all coping in their own little ways: Marten was crying into a stoic Kindle's chest, Jace was trying to calm a sobbing Ana, Ethan was staring emptily ahead, and London was sitting on the ground with her cryptodex in her hands - she seemed to be crying as she read. Kelsey made her way over to London and leaned against the same shelf, sliding wearily to the ground until she was crouched down beside the younger girl.

Do you want a hug?

Usually, Kelsey had the words to turn terrible situations around. She was good at talking and goofing her way out of trouble... but they'd never been in situations like these before. She didn't know what to say, so she slung an arm around London's shoulders and stared emptily at the many bookshelves before them.

Kelsey stayed this way for a few moments before finally peering into London's notebook.

"Did you?" Kelsey's voice was hoarse. "Did you write that?"

As far as she could tell, it wasn't London's handwriting. Her eyes skimmed across a few disturbing entries, until her head snapped up at the sound of Jace's declaration. Considering how fucked up their entire night had been, having a bunch of cutie marks be the key to their salvation sounded almost believable - a little too good to be true, but they didn't have any other option at the moment. "We could try, we don't have anything else right now," she answered. Slowly, Kelsey pulled away from London and got back to her feet. Her entire body felt heavy with exhaustion and shock, but she tried so very hard to not let it show. They were all shaky and they could not afford another mental breakdown. "Here," she stuck out her hand and offered to help London off the floor. "We'll... we'll try to figure something out."

Once London was up, she looked to the library door - there were vines.

She frowned deeply. "It looks like whoever Salem was talking about doesn't want us to leave so easily." The library had windows but after the pocket dimension fiasco at the front entrance, she wasn't willing to put any of her friends at risk. "Is there another way out of here?" She kept her thoughts running to blot out all memories of Salem, his transformation, and his eventually stony end. "There has to be something."

***

​

As the group searched through the library, something began to stir.

It started as a soft rumbling sound but escalated into a tremor. Soon, the ground beneath their feet seemed to vibrate as books started tumbling down shelves in groups of twos and threes. This strange occurrence continued for half a minute before a small voice filled the empty library. "H-Hullo?" The voice sounded timid, wary. "Is anyone here? Grandpa told me to come get you." Michael appeared from behind one of the many shelves, he froze in place when he noticed the statue that had once been the young master, but he didn't seem too surprised by the turn of events.

"He knows," the boy finally managed to choke out. "He knows the young master lost."

Michael stared at his shoes before he motioned for the rest to follow. One of the bookshelves had moved to the side to reveal a secret passage into a dark and winding corridor. "Please hurry."

New Place Added to Map

 

[Fox of Hearts]

Milton nodded approvingly. "Not bad, Jace! I really think you are onto something there. Don't know if anyone thought of packing the toys earlier."

He glanced at each member of their friends' group that had inspected the ponies. Their expressions made him a little exasperated. Hadn't any of them learned anything from his Murder Mystery dinners? Collect anything odd. Treat it as potential clues to breaking the puzzle! Goddamn the free food! Was that really the only takeaway they got? Jace had gotten more out of it apparently despite being his most infrequent guest. Kindle slapped his forehead. "Aye! Really guys? No one packed potential clues? Seriously! Treat this like those point and click survival games. Pack everything that looks remotely useful…. Can we promise to do that?"

Kindle was a few seconds short of launching into full lecture mode when he got interrupted. More books tumbled onto the ground. Lenore hopped frantically from foot to foot. She knew danger lurked behind the door. Those vines were things to be feared; they were his and he was here. Everyone living and breathing needed to scramble out of here quickly. She cawed loudly, hoping to instill a sense of urgency in them. Hide humans, hide! She tried telling them. She knew there were places here that Master and Little Miss used. Places that even Paul and Adelaide didn't know existed.

"Caw caw caw!" Lenore screeched, taking off into the air. She spied the wood of the doors caving under the pressure and allowing more vines to snake in. She flapped pass anyone tarrying, hitting the backs of their heads with her wings. Trying her best to shake them out of their stupor. Hurry, hurry, she urged. The two she left well alone were Ana and London. Even Joseff, the dumb mutt, got some of her attention. "Caw caw!"

Kindall's love for animals extended solely to Kenai. However, his time with Jace taught him to trust an animal's instincts. The wilder the creature the sharper the survival instincts his friend once said. Neither Lenore nor Joseff were wild but he knew whose instincts he'd trust. Lenore struck him as unusually intelligent for a bird. A trait he admired a lot in Kenai. This didn't change his overall opinion of her in anyway, unfortunately. He wouldn't hesitate to turn on her. Someone needed to look out for the group until Jace was ready to take up the mantle again.

"Marten, we got to go," Kindall nudged.

He scrambled to his feet then hauled her up. His pulling caused her to stumble a little and they ended up a very blush-worthy embrace. Milton pretended he didn't notice it. He kinda didn't since their main preoccupation was escaping whatever was coming for them. He watched Lenore zip around the room as if she is looking for something. She kept scattering books onto the floor or pecking at crevices between the wood panels.

"Wh – guys! Look for a switch!" he cried as he started putting two and two together. The next question crossing his mind, though, was how. He imagined it took Salem awhile to teach the pet bird this trick. Milton secretly admired the dedication. It made him wished he had the chance to discuss it with Salem. Sadly, the guy was gone. "I'll search here. Guys, try searching the nearest shelf!"

His instructions came almost at the same time as Kelseys'. There was some confusion but not too much. Everyone got to work soon enough. Lenore was in the process of removing Dan Brown's Digital Fortress from the shelf when Michael slid open the entrance to the very passage she was searching for. The raven didn't need to be invited inside. She simply swooped in the moment he revealed it to her. She landed on his head immediately before cawing to the rest. Humans, come. You too chubby dog!

Milton started ushering the girls in. Marten, he personally led to the passage by hand. He was a lot less gentle with London, Kelsey and Ana. He pushed them forward, shouting for them to run. As the last girl disappeared inside, he waved to Ethan. "Get Jo," he called. He was worried about the Inu's ability to run quickly. Those stumpy legs didn't look like they were made to carry Jo's fat rolls. He turned to Jace last of all, waving frantically to the guy. "Jace, Jace! Go now! The rest are in."

"CAW CAW!" Lenore warned.

*****

Darkness enveloped them. They could guess where everyone was based purely on memory. Walking would prove to be a chore. "Shhhhhhh," Michael shushed as soon as the door close. The reason for it became very apparent.

A loud crash came from the other side, indicating that the doors have fallen. Slithering and hissing filled the air. Occasionally, they could hear a low rumble similar to wind blowing through a hollow wooden. The sounds sounded really close. Sniffing? Something seemed to be sucking in a lot of air. Then silence. The same sounds became fainter as if the presence had moved away. Milton let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He had just begun unwinding when ---

CRASH!

SMASH!

The destruction in the library shook the very walls. Dust fell down in thick sheets onto the friends. Kindle quickly covered his mouth as he thrust his hand into someone else's face in an attempt to stop them from sneezing. Cobwebs followed the dust. Muffled sneezing came from here and there, making Michael nervous.

"Please keep very quiet," Michael begged. "Very, very quiet. He suspects. He doesn't know we're here but he suspects."

 

[Cartoonicat]

As Kelsey sat down beside London, the dark-haired girl wiped stray moisture from her eyes. Told herself that she could cry, for if her friends saw, she would appear empathetic rather than downright cruel. She just wouldn't tell them why she was crying. London always had secrets, after all. Instinctively, she leaned into Kelsey's side when her friend tossed an arm over her shoulder. Responded in a quiet, hoarse voice:

"No." It was not her chicken-scratch scribble of handwriting; instead, beautiful, smooth strokes of surprisingly legible cursive that simply did not belong there. The only redeeming quality of the violation to her Cryptodex was the information.

A drawing and letter from Michael - the young Henbard boy they met at dinner, perhaps - to Santa, asking for a big Christmas tree. London wondered what that had to do with their hell of a Hallows Eve. Again, her mind rolled back to the research she'd done on Pagan rituals and basic religions. Don't trees mean a lot of things? London frowned. I know life and death. Temporal worlds of time, space... consciousness? She hoped a nightmare is all it was; that, come morning, they would all wake up in their beds perfectly fine and with no memory of Henbard at all.

Then the entry on hell hounds. Honestly, when London read it, she thought it all a mistake: A quote from Harry Potter, of all things, had made its way into Henbard. Still, she supposed it fit, what with Salem's riddle about tongues getting slit and dogs eating the bits. There was a Grim in Henbard. Either they were all destined to die, or her time pocket theory just got a lot more complicated. London tried not to think about what that meant for Jo. Hopefully the picture taped into the Cryptodex of a red-eyed Doberman would, eventually, prove the Shiba Inu's innocence. She wanted Jo to be on their side; she needed him to be.

Finally, One Man Hide-and-Seek. A haunted game she and Kelsey tried playing a few months ago. Whatever they'd done wrong had bummed them out at first - the doll never sought them out - but, after scouring online forums about the game, London found herself glad they'd botched it. Who knew what would have happened? One of them, if not both, would have gotten hurt. Slashed, stabbed, or downright murdered by a doll they themselves had cursed. Stupid, she thought. We were so stupid.

Content to sit there with Kelsey, comfortable and safe, London only looked over when Jace's voice caught her attention. "I totally forgot about those..." She murmured, a pinch forming between her brows. If she remembered correctly, one of the ponies had a crow cutie mark. They'd have to go back to Ella's room to make sure, though - London didn't think anyone took a picture of the toys before they left. As annoying as Kindall could be, she did not blame him for his exasperation; they did need to take better care of the clues they were finding.

And then Kelsey moved away to stand. Cold air seeped in where her arm had been, and London suppressed a shiver. Taking Kelsey's offered hand, she rose to her feet and soon spotted the vines creeping through the door. London groaned. "Puta de... pumpkin."

Only, with the way the bookcases rattled and threw their contents to the floor, London began to doubt it the pumpkin creature's involvement. Her breath hitched: Who else could it be, but him? The asshole who brought them here; the sicko who put them through "Matt's" death; the downright devil her abuelita warned her about whenever London refused to go to church as a child. She glared at the door, transferring her katana to her dominant hand, and gripped tight. As much as London wanted to wait him out and beat the big bad right and there, Ethan was wounded. Everyone knew not to initiate a boss battle until everyone was at full health - especially the tank.

So, with a vigor she preferred to use in battle, London set to work searching the shelves for that cinematic hidden switch. And then Michael appeared. Behind him, a dark and dusty corridor that stopped London in her tracks.

"Oh no," she said. Weren't these hidden passageways supposed to be lavish and beautiful, simply concealed? "No, I am not- Kindall, stop- I'm not going in- No!" Kindall, however, did not seem to be having it. With a strong push, London stumbled inside despite her protests. Darkness washed over them and she whimpered. Nothing touched her, yet London imagined the sensation of creepy crawlies brushing against her skin. She couldn't see what was and was not on the floor. Lizards? Frogs? Spiders? Roaches? London was only vaguely aware of Michael shushing the group, her own thoughts more focused on the constriction of her chest and tightening of her throat. Instinctively, she reached out to the closest person with an iron vice of a grip. Felt the ridged yet soft texture of Kelsey's sweater sleeve and shuffled close. Tucked her face against her friend's back, breaths coming in quick and shallow. She felt light-headed.

If he didn't kill them, London just knew the crawlies would.

 

[Ashi]

​

Of course! In their haste to get out of Ella's creepy room and find Salem, no one had thought to pack the toy ponies they found or even to take a picture of them. Jace frowned a little and scrunched up his face as he tried to remember who even had Ethan's phone. Last he was aware, Marten had it when they were still downstairs. He made a point to put the pin Salem gave him in the front pocket of his jeans, where it couldn't possibly fall out or get misplaced.

Jace anxiously eyed Lenore as she danced and flapped her wings. The sound of books falling pulled his gaze in the same direction as hers, in the direction of the doors. Vines were squeezing in from around the doors, coming through the gaps in the bookcase barricade and the surrounding pile of books. The wood was bowing, splintering in their grasp. It was just like Jumanji, minus the poisonous plant darts and rampaging herds of animals. He stood still, watching in a mix of awe and shock as the door started to give way. Only did he snap out of it when Lenore's wings smacked the back of his head.

"Time to go!" He abruptly followed Kelsey's and Milton's lead, sweeping the still-standing shelves for anything that might be a switch or a door handle. There had to be something, anything! As if by some miracle, a door did open; however, not by any button or lever they might have come across. It was Michael, the boy who Jace, Milton, and Ethan met in Paul's and Adelaide's room. He had been shining Paul's shoes. Jace blinked, astonished. Since waking up in the cellar, he never imagined he would be so glad to see anyone who lived in Henbard; but he was sure glad to see Michael.

"He knows the young master lost," the boy said. The words sent a shiver up Jace's spine.

"I'll get him!" Jace raced to pick up the tubby Inu. With Ethan's injuries, he didn't need to carry a heavy dog, if he could even pick him up in the first place. He made it to the door and put Jo down when he realized that the backpack had been left behind. Using the full length and strength of his legs, Jace sprinted back to where it sat on the floor. He threw is med bag back in, threw the bag onto his shoulders, and grabbed the rolling pin before making the mad dash back. As he neared, Jace dropped his body to the ground and slid along the last few feet like a base runner going for a home run. The door closed behind him; the crash resounded as the vines broke through.

Dust and cobwebs fell from the ceiling, sprinkling the young man with a thick gray coat. He sat up, swiped his sleeve across his face to wipe away the dust, and grinned. That had been strangely exhilarating. He'd only narrowly missed knocking his friends over, too. Carefully Jace stood and reached out, feeling the wall until he found someone's shoulder.

"Everyone grab a shoulder, to make sure we stay together." He whispered.

 

[IceQueen]

Ana did not take the falling of a friend lightly, and thankfully Milton had the heart to tell Jace to comfort her. His strong arms were a welcome comfort amongst all the chaos that had been going on, but it was only bound to get worse. Jace broke from the embrace to exclaim about the marks on the ponies. Ana sniffled a bit, wiping at her eyes. She knew that one of them was an axe, that much she did remember.

"There was an axe-" She managed before chaos broke out. There was a voice, and then Lenore was cawing and batting at them. Ana was roughly shoved into the bookshelf where they spotted Michael, the sweet boy that belonged to the manor. Ana searched around for the shoulder in front of her, grasping one.

"Jace." She called into the darkness. "One of them was really dark and another one had the mark of an axe." She whispered, trying to keep quiet and close to whoever was in front of her. "I don't remember the others but I think the largest and darkest one was him." She mumbled softly, looking around the small cavern. She could feel some dust falling onto her head as they shuffled in the dark corridor. "I really just want to go home." she mumbled softly.

 

[Impudimp]

"Yea? Um... okay.." Her words matched the speed at which her brain was processing at the moment. She was just starting to get comfortable. With all the crying and mortal peril, she was really starting to wind down. All the pummeling had thoroughly tenderized Kindall into some semblance of firm, memory foam. And her brain had been finally figuring out how to sleep in a semi-upright position when Milton was up-and-at'em pulling her along with him. Stupid Henbard and stupid cursed exits and stupid poison food is so STUPID! Her eyes would flash mildly with her anger when she made the mistake of accidentally slipping on a fallen tome, but only briefly since she was much too disgruntled to hold on to the emotion. She felt like what the last clown in the clown car must have felt like when he finally stumbled his way out of the door, bruised and sorely lacking in humor. I just want a damn catnap!

Being whisked away into a previously solid wall would have been disorienting without something to hold to on top of every other off-putting thing in this dumb house. Marten, therefore, held to Kindall's hand if only to minimize the risk of being caught up in the whirlwind of happenings. Even through her waning tears she could make out the tense speed with which all her friends filed themselves away into the secret passage, especially Jace. He was being so athletic she felt more tired just watching him slide home. The heck is going on now...

The dark, stillness cleared up her bewilderment like exhaust fans cleared out smoke. The crashing and banging of a none-to-happy something broke all the quiet, shushing rules of every library ever in a swoop of CRASH-BANG-RAWR-FWUMP! What the heck made a "fwump" sound, you ask? The grunette was alright not knowing, especially when her brain supplied images of impossibly thick, yet prehensile vines wrecking up the sacred book chamber like a deranged water wiggle!

She was with Ana. Home would have been really nice right now. There would have been awful Halloween movies, equally awful-for-you food, and the most wonderful amounts of alcohol to make everything Candyland-colored. But she wasn't allowed to focus on such lovely things. No, because Butzy decided to show his ass, and they had the misfortune of being effectively trapped in an enclosed space with what she was praying deep down didn't turn out to be one of the Children of the Corn! FML!

 

[Fox of Spades]

Kelsey held her breath as shelves toppled over. It felt like the world itself was crashing inward, and the tiny passageway they occupied shook each time a loud sound resonated through the library. The noises raged on, dust rained down on them from above, and she became increasingly aware of London's quick and shallow breaths against her back.

It was deathly dark, and twice as quiet - even Lenore and Joseff didn't dare make a sound. There was only their hushed voices against a backdrop crashing shelves and splintering wood.

Judging by the sounds of destruction, they'd be done for if He realized where they were hiding - crashing through the flimsy bookshelf would be a piece of cake, and in the dark tightness of the hallway, they would be sitting ducks. He would probably pick them off one by one and it would be that easy.

Kelsey realized her own breaths were coming faster and she steeled herself and wrapped her finger's around London's cold hand. "Deep breaths," she said as quietly as she possibly could. "Just take deep breaths, London. I'll count for you, inhale, exhale." She repeated the words quietly like a prayer, and the reallness of London's hand in her own helped keep her grounded. It was so dark, and Jace was saying something about grabbing shoulders while Ana spoke of home.

Blindly, she stuck out her free hand. Kelsey found Ethan's shoulder, recoiled when he let out a pained hiss at the contact. "Ah fuck, sorry." She reached for his forearm instead. They were all here. Jace had saved Joseff in the nick of time, and they were all safe - every last one of them. She managed to find some comfort in the thought.

The loud stomping and crashing eventually died down, before a gurgling noise - it sounded like something was melting - echoed faintly down the hall. It transitioned from a gurgle to hissing sound before fading away completely.

"I think he's left, we should be safe for now."

There was a faint rustling sound. Michael reached into his coat and pulled out what appeared to be a small oil lantern. In the darkness, the group could hear the young boy fumbling with the contraption of glass and metal. He moved swiftly and with purpose. There was a brief moment of silence before the lantern lit up and bathed the dark hallway in a soft orange glow. It wasn't too bright, but it was enough to ensure no one tripped on their own feet.

"I'll take you someplace safe," Michael explained. "I think He'll be going back to the garden for now."

The uncertainty in the boy's voice was palpable, and Michael was cleary stiff with fear. However, despite his hesitations, the young boy steeled himself and walked on with the lantern held slightly above his chest. It looked like a small glow-in-the-dark ball in the darkness. The hallway went on and on before eventually branching to the left. They reached what appeared to be a dead end, at least, until Michael approached the wall and began to run his palm against the surface.

"The young master really liked books. He'd use this passageway sometimes." Michael's fingers found the familiar panel, he pulled it open and pressed a button. The floor beneath their feet seemed to shake as Salem's shelf moved aside.

Michael stepped into the warmth of the young master's room. "Please come inside."

He motioned for the rest to follow him, and once they had, he pulled out on Salem's many books and watched as the shelf moved back into place. As Michael eyed Salem's belongings, he wore a tired look on his face. The expression, made him look much older than a boy of eleven - for a moment, his face was that of a world-weary traveler.

"The young master wanted to help us escape." Michael stared on as if in daze before his head snapped up. "S-Sorry! I'm sure you're all very tired. Please rest a bit! I'll go get my grandparents, they'll get you tea and some of your things! Please don't go anywhere, we want to help you." Michael knew there was a chance they would leave, but neither he nor his grandparents had wanted things to end this way. Similar to the young master, they were merely pawns in His grand scheme.

"I'll be back!"

With that, Michael made his way for the door. He stuck his head out into the hall and looked both ways before silently exiting. The door creaked shut as Michael's soft footsteps padded down the hallway.

They were alone again, just the seven of them in Salem's messy room.

They had watched him turn to stone, and now they sitting among his things as if everything in the world were normal. Kelsey felt sick to her stomach and Michael's words drifted in one ear and out the other. He was telling to stay put... something about his grandparents and bringing them tea and things they would need.

Leading London by the hand, Kelsey stopped in front of Salem's bad and sat her shaky friend down. Without thinking, she ruffled the younger girl's hair like she usually did when she was teasing or trying to cheer London up. It was only then that she realized they were all caked in dust, even Joseff had a thin layer of it on his brown fur.

She dusted herself off mechanically then crouched down so she could do the same for the Shiba Inu. The dog butted his head against her knee and licked at her fingers, but Kelsey was too lost in thought to give the dog the attention he craved. She remained quiet for a few more moments before she stood up and eyed her friends.

"Ethan, you should sit... you lost some blood."

There was a wild look in her eyes, one that suggested she was talking to keep the bad feelings at bay. "There were new entries in London's cryptodex. We saw them back in the library." She pointed to the notebook. "A picture of a hell hound and something about One Man Hide and Seek," a stressed laugh. "A fucking Creepypasta entry, the best part is, London didn't write any of it." She eyed the group who had gone down into the cellar. "Did something happen?"

Whether they answered her or not, she was quick to follow up with the library group's own experience. "We saw Salem turn. He just started screaming and crying black ooze." Her voice was quiet and low, and she spoke as if she were someone caught in a waking dream. "He told us He likes to play games." Kelsey was back to pacing. "Should we even stay here and wait for his grandparents like he says? Mrs. Putts and Alfonse were the fucked up people in the basement."

 

[Cartoonicat]

Grip tightening, chest pounding, throat closing, London felt certain she was going to pass out. It'd happened once or twice before, like the time she'd unwittingly stepped on a roach with only her sock as a barrier or when a toad came out of nowhere and jumped on her face, mid-TV session. Now, she'd have opted to lie down - minimize the risk of crashing to the floor if she did drop like a rock - but London felt certain the dusty ground held creepy crawlies, just waiting for her to lower her guard.

Her own name cut through the haze like a knife through butter. Desperate, London clung to the surreal sound of Kelsey's voice, so distant despite their close proximity. She forced herself to follow Kelsey's breathing instructions: Inhale... exhale... inhale... exhale...

After a while the ache in her chest and temples stopped, replaced by the necessary amount of oxygen and uncontrollable chills. London did not let go of her friend, however, even when He seemed to disappear and Michael began talking. Internally, London thanked the small boy; even if the lantern was small, she could at least see those in her immediate vicinity. One, two, three... six friends, Jo, Michael, and no bugs. Everyone had made it through. Good. With that nugget of information, London focused on the floor. Made sure she stepped on nothing, and that nothing crept up on them. She didn't want to think of the possibilities hanging from the ceiling that she couldn't see; the more she thought, the more her imagination conjured up Salem-sized crawlies, lurking in the dark.

The panic returned just in time for them to step into Salem's messy room. The hyperventilation ceased before it began, however, for London figured Salem's strategic disorganization to be like her own at home - clean. She squinted against the brightness of the room. Before she knew it, Kelsey had guided her to Salem's bed and sat her down. Ruffled her hair, which untied part of her knot in her chest. Dust particles floated down in front of her and London spared a glance at her hands; like the others, she sported a layer of grey dust. With heavy arms, London slowly brushed the dust away.

Absently, London listened to Kelsey's recap of the Cryptodex. Only when Kelsey mentioned the cellar did London give a reaction; her shoulders tensed, mind flashing back to blood and organs and a charming face she'd never see the same way again. Her heart seized, no longer angry. Just... tired. Sad. The walk through the corridor reminded London that she wasn't invincible. She could be as strong as Super Girl, but her phobias would always play kryptonite.

He is evil, London wanted to say. He is evil and sick and twisted and knows more about us than we realize. But she didn't, because then London would have to explain herself. She didn't want to relive the cellar scene ever again, much less share how strongly Not-Matt's final words had hit her.

Sliding down to the floor beside Jo, London tentatively reached out a closed hand to him, fingers curled in protectively. Somehow, she doubted he would bite her - even after slapping him in the cellar he came to her rescue - but London had to be careful, just in case the Shiba Inu was their Grim in disguise. She said nothing, not wanting to get roped into the cellar conversation, but her eyes conveyed sorrow and she tried to exude a grateful air.

I'm sorry for hurting you, she thought. Thank you for saving me.

 

[Haru Nyan]

​

Ethan raised his eyebrows at Kelsey's statement, "Huh? I am?". Quickly, he took a cursory glance at his shoulders, red staining his costume once more, even as Kelsey and Marten had done their best efforts to patch him up back to safety. Ethan grumbled and mumbled, "Oh, I guess I am..." He let out a small laugh, rubbing the back of his head as he did so. The bandaged boy let out a sigh and slumped, sitting down on the floor and hoping he didn't lose too much. Heavy eyes took notice of Salem's room, and Ethan lazily listened to Kelsey's words, trying to think up of any reason why London's cryptodex was acting wonky as fuck.

It was as if she wasn't even in control of it, like there was some sort of being manipulating them through the text. "My best bet is that whoever HE is, he must be the same fucker trying to mess with the cryptodex.". Clearly the figure had some sort of power over the chateau and its inhabitants, he wouldn't put it past him to try and govern what was being written as well .

Then there she was again, Kelsey, the little bugger, pacing around like she was some hard-boiled detective back in the days before color TV was invented. So youse see, there's this wise guy who'sa thinkin' he'sa badass. The thought was definitely funnier now that he was envisioning her in a trench coat and a fedora, hurriedly writing down notes in her pocketbook. "Heeeellllll noooooo!". Ethan voiced his opinion easily enough, a look of discontent was marked on Ethan's face. Whatever circle of Hell Henbard Chateau came crawling out of, he was not going to consider the estate a home by any means of the word. "I'm not sure if you've noticed, Kelsey. But the Chateau ain't exactly the best place to live in right now.". He looked at everyone in the room, gauging there reactions to Kelsey's absurd statement.

They were going to get out of here by any means necessary, how the hell could Kelsey even consider that?! "Don't tell me you guys are actually thinking about it!".

 

[Fox of Hearts]

"I don't know if that's a touchdown or a home run," Milton teased. "Jo looks a football when you hold him like that. Anyway, good job, getting Jo over. Totally forgot that Ethan's not in good shape."

The realization surprised Kindle. Jace was as close to him as anyone could ever get. Second to Ethan, actually, but that guy had the childhood friends thing going for him. Yet for some unfathomable reason, he would subconsciously pick Ethan over Jace. It was a very odd choice indeed, considering that Jace tended to be a lot more level-headed. Was it habit or sentiment? Milton wasn't sure. He guessed he'd try to call on Jace more tonight. The last thing they needed was to have Ethan collapsed from blood loss or worse. Medical help wasn't a speed dial away anymore, because there was no signal here. Wherever "here" was. Milton had a sneaking feeling that it wasn't the Whittle Grove they entered this morning.

An alien feeling began knotting Milton's insides. Mild (almost unnoticeable) panic. He felt so queasy and weird that the guy wondered if he ingested something other than the narcotic earlier. A tapeworm? Live octopuses? He doubted any of those would cause him to feel this way. The only logical conclusion was that he was experiencing something completely irrational. Feeling a little disappointed in himself, Kindall shoved his stray emotions into a metaphoric box and kicked it into the abyss. His usual confidence filled the void, allowing his usual stoic demeanor to remain intact.

*****​

Milton peeled off his capelet and handed it over to Marten to clean herself. He stepped away after that so as that he was able to dust himself without getting more dust on her. The end result was him ditching the hat that came with his costume and vest. Those needed a good wash before they were usable again. Once Marten was done, he took his capelet, shook off the dust and handed it to Ana. "Use this. It's probably more thorough than what you're doing right now."

With nothing left to do, Kindall wandered off towards Salem's desk chair and sank into it. He knew he should be offering it to the girls but he needed to sit and think. Make sense of this mess so to speak. Salem's clues were all over the place and that annoyed him greatly! How on earth were they supposed to know how to link emblems, poems and cryptid entries together? The whole thing was as frustrating as trying to play Dark Souls with London staring over your shoulder.

Usually he'd demand absolute silence while he pondered over things. However, he felt bad shushing his friends. Everyone assimilated things differently. He figured he could always try organizing his thoughts once the group quietened down, so he waited for Ethan to finish talking before he added his own thoughts.

"I'm as suspicious as you are but I'd rather face them than that thing in the library. Think about it! That thing possessed Salem and turned him into a monster! Don't know about you but I'd prefer to stay away from it. Last thing I want is to fight one of you." He turned the chair around so that he could study his friends' reactions in greater detail. Hunching forward, he rested his elbows against his knees and cradled his chin using his interlocked fingers. "If we want to get out of this alive, we need to rely on our wits more than ever now. Ethan's already hurt badly. We can't afford to have anyone else get hurt too! Remember the 911 hotline doesn't work here. Who knows how long it'll be before we can get proper medical attention."

He hated being the one to deliver bad news but he must. Not clarifying their current position meant there was a possibility that more people could get hurt in the long run. God knows that was the only conclusion he ever gotten from Kelsey's horror movie marathons. People panicked when they were scared, they did stupid things and then they died. Rinse and repeat. He hoped that this was enough to make them less gung-ho in the future. People like Ana, Ethan, Kelsey and Marten.

Milton decided to move on to Kelsey's previous topic before Ethan butted in. He remembered something important he had to share with the rest. Something that had been sitting at the back of his mind all this while. "Speaking of being cautious, I have a feeling this Peter or whatever he is has been planning this for awhile. We saw this pumpkin thing in the cellar that reminded me of the dolls sold in Bellwoods. You know, those souvenir dolls that tourists like a lot. It made me wonder if that was how he knew so much about us."

He wasn't trying to be dramatic when he paused. He just needed to find the appropriate words to describe the fake Matt they interacted with. "When we chased the doll, it tried to trick us by making us think Matt was there. He tumbled out of one of the cupboards and appeared to be hurt. Dying even. The illusion mind was pure mind fuck! Afterwards, it made me wonder how they knew so much. They must have spied some on us somehow. I'll let London, Ana and Ethan tell you more."

 

[Ashi]

​

A precarious feeling of relief washed over Jace as the sounds on the other side of the door faded into the distance. If only for now, they were safe and out of immediate danger by whoever he was. Michael affirmed this, albeit uncertainly, allowing the group to breathe freely. It offered enough confidence for Jace to give Ana a reassuring pat on the shoulder. With the help of the boy's lantern, dim as it was, they safely navigated the dusty narrow corridor without so much as walking into a dangling cobweb. Not surprisingly, the corridor led to Salem's room. As much as the boy apparently loved books, it seemed only fitting that he would have a direct path to the library hidden behind his bookcase.

"Huh.." Jace pondered this as he stepped out of the passage, looking around the bedroom with a resigned nod. "Back at square one...er, two." He murmured, moving to peek into the wardrobe as if there might be more of their belongings for them to pick up. It felt just a little strange, being in there and knowing that Salem was gone. It was almost like they were walking on his grave. He uttered a soft word of thanks to Michael before the boy exited; although, he didn't quite like the idea of seeing Alfonse and Mrs. Putts. They had been the ones who tormented them in the cellar, not to mention their faces were drooping. The thought made Jace's skin crawl.

Jace let the backpack slide off his shoulders and plop on the floor by the bed. He kept the rolling pin in his hand, swinging it lightly as he paced the room and listened to the conversation. He was with Kindall on this; he would personally rather deal with Alfonse and Mrs. Putts than the vines or even the possessed bird monster that Salem had become. There was a catch to that, though.

"Well, think about it, guys: If Salem was possessed by whoever he is, then couldn't Alfonse and Mrs. Putts be, too? Isn't it equally possible for them to start spewing black ooze and become some sort of monster?" Jace asked. He didn't want to throw that out into the universe, but if he didn't, surely one of the others would. "Then again, what choice do we have? While I don't recommend eating the food, we have an opportunity to get more of our stuff back - things that could help us. If Alfonse and Mrs. Putts try anything, we've got London's katana, this rolling pin, and a shelf of books to pummel them with." There was a hint of grim humor to this statement, coupled with a wry smirk. He raised a brow at Milton.

"You mean that pumpkin doll? Why would he need a doll to spy on us? We live in a town surrounded by forest and he lurks in the trees. Why bother with voodoo shit when there are easier ways?" Jace shook his head at the idea. While it was as equally plausible as a time pocket or virtual reality at that point, it didn't make sense. Not everyone had one of those dolls. Jace didn't. How would he even use them to spy on them? Were the dolls possessed too? After a moment of consideration, he turned to London and Kelsey.

"One Man Hide and Seek. That's that game with.. the doll?" His eyes widened. Suddenly the pumpkin doll spy theory made a lot of sense. With that said, the entry about hell hounds Kelsey mentioned greatly concerned him. "What all do the new entries say, London?"

 

[Impudimp]

She was getting a headache, either from dehydration, insomnia, or fear, but most likely some combination of the three. There was sluggishness in her limbs and her mind was beginning to fold in on itself. The garden? Peter in the garden? Peter Rabbit... Cottontail? Easter? Eggs... Easter eggs! Mind numb and functioning slowly, Marten followed her group listening to the inputs of everyone and mentally scoffing at her lack of surprise when yet another bookshelf moved and they re-entered Salem's room.

Was this a second chance? Easter eggs... Clues? "Thanks.." She accepted Kindall's cape with a smile mulling over the quick departure of the little boy for his grandparents no less. Corn child goes in search of scarecrows? Just lovely. "I don't think Peter wants to kill us..." Expecting incredulous stares, she took an ungraceful seat next to London on the bed and made cozy with a pile of ancient texts that felt like heaven at that moment but were probably going to make her need a chiropractor later. The thought passed that there wasn't a lump in her side where she expected on to be. Had she left her water in the library? Ah, damn. Wasn't that just frosting atop the fermenting pile of pig innards that was this night? "I know it's crazy, but hear me out. If Peter's a bigger bad, then... he could of killed us a long time ago. I think instead of running we out to beat him at a game. You know old riddler, horror style. We play something we can win and he let's us go right?"

So what if it was cliche and cockamamie? It worked in the movies, so it could possibly work in real life. The problem was that you only won those hypothetical games after you found something enlightening and incriminating about the baddie... Like they were allergic to water or sunlight or the power of true love. They had nothing on Peter except he had evil, mystic black sludge transmogrification powers, was probably the child of some mutant Tangela and Pumpkinhead, and had a fucked sense of humor.

"We're missing something though... Something important. You can't fight the boss without either fuck tons of health potions or a convenient kryptonite-forged weapon... So we either have to level up or find some real information besides... You know, keys..." She'd cut a curious stare over to Jace. What the heck were keys gonna get them without a lock? It's not like the front door was locked; it was just a portal to hell. Whoop-dee-doo... Ugh I'm being a sarcastic asshole. Snorting, she shut her eyes. Just for moment. A moment was all she needed and she'd be perfectly capable of barfing rainbows and shitting positivity again.