---

---

---

@FantasyChic@Infamous Auror@Morose When Declan opened the door it was locked part of the hinges of the door broke off which allowed them to enter through the back door of the town hall. Inside of the room that they were in was more of a small room with filing cabinets as well as a bunch of bookshelves with a lot of old dusty books. This was the records room of Red Lake, every book and file in it had people's names and birthdates in the books and files of everyone who was born in town. However it looked like the room was pretty old and dusty and no one has really been in the room that much.

When Jenna crawled through the opening in the wall, it was covered in dust and cobwebs, there was a bunch of old and rusty nails that were sticking out through the walls. The room smelled very old, she could also hear Declan and Finley through the other end of the wall they were in the records room. Jenna saw Anthony once more turning down a small cramped wall, when she got there she would see an air vent on the other side of the records room.

@BlackPanther Olivia's mother Amelia gave Clifford a friendly smile when he let her in. "Thanks hun." She said as she walked carrying some groceries in and started to carry them over towards the kitchen, looking over towards Clifford for a moment seeing him carrying a duffle bag. She started to make her way back towards her car out side was her van filled with a lot of food.

"Hey before you go could you help me bring these in?" She asked as she grabbed three bags and started to make her way back into the house once more, the Johnsons were running out of food that day, and she had been buying more groceries then she used to due to Olivia eating more then she used to nowadays. Amelia was carrying them in and started to unload on bag opening the fridge up and putting them in before going back out to the car once more.

@BlueSky44@Peridot The kitten was still a little bit unease with the dog right there letting out a few low growls at the dog while still glaring at it. There really wasn't much going on outside of café there was still one of the stoners coming around to grab a bite to eat from the café. They would see both Olivia and Amanda both leaving the café as they were getting ready for their own little expedition towards the lake. Andrew had made his way into the closest clothing store and started to do his own little shopping spree for a new set of clothes.

@Dragoknighte Once he had left the police station and made it to his car, the B&B wasn't that far from the police station either it was about five minutes and a few blocks from town square. Once he got inside of the Red Lake Bed and Breakfast there were a few customers there getting some food. Riley's mother was leaning against a kitchen counter looking at the news for a moment as she watched the news conference that was on just moments ago.

She sighed ever so slightly as she went to grab an empty plate and made her way back over towards the sink and started to wash the dish while the guests in the room finished up eating their meal and started to pay before leaving through the front door. It looked like that they were getting ready to check out now walking past Harry after they paid and returned their room keys.

---

---

As Abraham started up the car he looked over towards Kosara at her suggestion of ward proof his car, giving her a slightly weird look at her, aside from his grandniece he cared a lot about his car as well. "So long as you don't scratch up the paint or nothin like that i'm fine with it." Abe said as he started to pull out of the driveway and started to drive up the road and made his way out of the center of town.

As they were just on the outskirts of town Leo could hear one of the tires suddenly pop and then the car swerving over to the side of the road. They were close to the road that would lead up to the lake and the main road that led out of town as well, when Leo got out of the car he would see that the back rear tire had been shredded and bits of the tire were strewn across the road. A few minutes later Leo would see Abraham's car coming up the road, and started to come to a stop just a few feet behind the other car.

Abraham climbed out his car looking over at Kosara for a moment and sighed slightly the kid was a tad bit annoying at least to him as he looked around and started to approach Leo. "So got car trouble?" Abe asked leaning up against his cane.

---

---

---

---

Olivia looked towards Josh for a moment as he asked her, she finished up eating the rest of her food and leaned back in the booth that she was sitting in. "Riley and I have known each other since we were in diapers so shes pretty much like a sister to me, and i'd do anything to see her again and make sure that she is alright. Hell i'd take a bullet for her, and anyone of my friends as well." Olivia said as she finished up drinking her soda and stretched slightly.

Olivia then started to put her plates on top of Taylor's as well looking between the three of them. "Shall we go out to the lake and investigate now?" She offered as she started to get out of the booth along with Amanda giving her friend a smile as she looked at Jo and Taylor, she started to pay for everyone's meal. "We will meet you guys there, you two can hang out a bit or get whatever it is you guys need." Olivia said smirking once more towards Taylor and quickly started to leave the café behind. As Olivia left the café behind she looked over to see Lydia tending to a bloodied leg, as she wondered how that happened. But then again Olivia didn't really care much for Lydia even though she is friends with Jenna she didn't really get along with her cousin.

Olivia took out her phone once more seeing a text from Clifford and smirked slightly at the text, other then him dating Leo he really did need to learn how to socialize with others.

To Clifford:
"Yeah you really do need to socialize more lol. Anyway meet you at the lake in a few then?"

---

---

---

---

Finley playfully punched Declan in the arm, "You would leave me to deal with a murderer? Gee, thanks. Wait til I tll Taylor." She followed as Declan made his way to the door. Despite it being locked, the hinges gave way and the door came off easily. "Well, look at you Mr. Muscles. Who'd a thought you had The Hulk buried underneath that squishy exterior?" She stuck her tongue out and quickly darted in before he could do anything.

It was dusty. She coughed a bit as she entered. Glancing around the room, it seemed like the records room. This was a snoops paradise! "I wonder if they have records of anyone recent. Wouldn't mind looking at my own if they have it here. Also, we should see if they have records of Riley and the Mayor too. Couldn't hurt." She began searching for those very records: Her own, Riley's and the Mayor's

"No problem." He replied with a smile, still attempting to calm Allie down in the presence of the kitten. After several attempts, Allie finally sat down at his command, and he stood in front of her, hoping that putting himself between her and the cat would make things a bit easier. Allie nipped his hand lightly as she did when wanting his attention, and her eyes remained trained on something in the nearby alleyway.

James frowned slightly as his sharp eyes caught the name on the envelope. It sounded vaguely familiar to him. A celebrity? No, that wasn't it. Taking in the girl's somewhat disturbed expression as she looked at it in her hand, he suddenly made the connection.

"Hey... isn't that that bloke who died? The mayor?" He questioned, looking at it properly now. An envelope dropped by a feral cat bearing the name of the brutally murdered mayor of Red Lake. While undoubtedly strange and creepy, James' curiosity piqued. This alone just made him all the more interested in this strange little town. It was bound to have a few secrets in it. And especially at that address on there.

"I think you should deliver that." He said suddenly, still gazing curiously at the envelope. "He might have family that want it or something. Then, if it's anything important, they can hand it in to the police." The girl still looked quite uncertain as to what to do in regards to the letter, so he gave off another easy-going smile. "How about I come with you? Got nothing else better to do, and I'd be lying if I said this wasn't interesting to me." Shifting the leash from one hand to the other, he held out his free one for her to shake. "I'm James. A tourist, if you couldn't already tell by my accent."

---

---

---

---

Josh masked his observant gaze with a sip of his juice. He caught Taylor's hesitation in her use of past tense verbiage. He could readily assume that she herself was either confident in the fact that Riley was indeed dead, and her going to the lake was to pursue some other agenda, or maybe she truly had mad a mistake, likely Riley's death had indeed hit close to home for her and thinking upon her as alive helped her to cope with the situation.

It wasn't out of place for the people of the local community to go searching for one of it's own in a supposed kidnapping situation such as this, so he couldn't rule that out as a possibility in their motives.

Why am I trying to figure out their motives anyway? Maybe they just wanna find a friend. What other possibility could their be?

It was likely the case, but something about the Red Lake's recent happenings felt off; the supposed kidnapping of Riley at the lake; the Mayors ruthless assassination and foreboding manifesto, and now this brash group of teenagers deadset on finding a friend.

Maybe it was the city kid in him talking. Being brought up in a rather uncaring society where the missing where presumed dead until proven otherwise must have jaded his thinking. They were never proven otherwise anyway. But this was different, something told Josh that Red Lake was in for some shit if everyone didn't watch their assess.

Josh thanked Olivia for the meal and leaned back in his seat for a moment. He was acutely aware of he fact that he and Taylor were now alone together, but when wasn't that the case? He and Taylor often smoked in such a setting. Maybe he lost his inhibitions when he was high. Thoughts for another day.

"Taylor..." Joey began, raking stray dreads out of his eyes before he spoke on. He hated to doubt Taylor, but he wasn't on to pass on a gut feeling. "Ima be straight with you. This whole 'investigate the lake' is giving me a bad feeling. Ain't the danger. That's another thing entirely. But it's you guys. Could be just my imagination, but is finding Riley the only reason your going up to the lake?" He deadpanned. A twinge of apprehension hit his gut, something told him that was dangerous question.

---

---

---

---

Jenna did her best to brush off the cobwebs. She wasn't scared of spiders, but she didn't really appreciate being covered in webs either. She avoided the nails as well, not wanting to get an infection in the process. She didn't look forward to the idea of having to get a tetnus shot, since it would require her coming up with a plausible explanation for the injury. If she wasn't telling her friends she was chasing a ghost through Town Hall, then she wasn't going to tell anyone else. The room itself smelled disgusting, but that wasn't what caused the color to drain from Jenna's face.

Declan and Finley were just on the other side of the wall.

She stopped herself from groaning, knowing that she should've expected this. Thinking on her feet, Jenna pulled out her phone and checked that it was on complete silence--no vibrations, no noise, nothing. Hopefully her lack of reply to the last text had given them a healthy dose of paranoia, enough that what she was about to send would cause them to leap for joy. She felt a little bad that she was about to lie to her friends, but it was a preferable lie to the truth.

To Finn and Dec:

Meet me at the Silver Mine ASAP. Just get here! -J

She hit send on the text and waited, hoping to hear Finley and Declan rush out of Town Hall and head off towards the mine. It'd give her enough time to meet with the ghost, figure out what Mayor Ryder wanted to tell her, and then hurry off to the mine as well. She'd just need to tell Fin and Dec that she had gone to check something else out quickly when she sent off the text, and that was why she arrived there after them.

Or maybe she'd get lucky and she'd still beat them. Somehow.

---

---

---

The Bed and Breakfast was a cozy little thing, as small town Bed and Breakfasts had the tendency to be, so it was no wonder that there would still be guests there. The investigator decided he would wait for them to clear out before approaching his client. Harry was comfortable in Bed and Breakfasts; he had spent more than his fair share of nights mornings in them, to the point of developing a private rating systems for them. He gave the hotels two linked ratings from one to five based on the quality of the rooms and the food. A rating for bed, and a rating for breakfast if you will, notated in an X/Y format, Bed always before Breakfast. His ratings didn't use decimals, in fact he quite detested their inclusion in rating systems. They were entirely pointless and only served to take up space. If one wished to have a high degree of precision in their subjective rating system, simply use a large enough scale to accommodate it, for instance a 100 point scale rather than 10.

His Bed and Breakfast scale worked with 3 as the baseline average. If there was nothing particularly noteworthy (positive or negative) about a hotel's Bed or Breakfast it would receive 3/3 by default. A score of 4 would mean that an aspect of the experience was beyond expectations: pillow mints, electric blanket, etc or that most parts of the Bed/Breakfast were executed solidly above the average. Scores of 5 were reserved for those rare hotels that managed to excel far beyond expectations in almost every way. Likewise, scores of 2 meant that either one aspect of the Bed and/or Breakfast was abysmal, or that it fell below standard in most tasks. A score of 1 demanded that in addition to falling below average across many categories (cleanliness, food taste, provided goods, aesthetics, etc) one particular aspect was bad enough for Harry to never utilize that entire service of the Bed and Breakfast ever again. Red Lake so far had managed to make him consider a score of 3/4, but it was a rating he wasn't entirely confident in yet.

---

---

---

---

“Well wards are best put on the underside.” She smiled widely.” A number of selected sigils across the inner side of the trunk should do the trick, the paint should be all fine.” Kosara added innocently as she played was playing with a lock of her hair since she just felt like keeping her hands occupied at the moment.

When they found Leo with a blown tire out on the road Kosara almost thought how weirdly coincidental it was. She threw a raised eyebrow at Abe when he displayed some of his trademark expressions of grumpiness for a moment and couldn't help but smile afterwards.

“Of course's he's got a car trouble... or more like blown tire trouble.” She casually remarked, pointing at the tattered rubber.” You've got a spare tire? Otherwise we can call someone to pull you to the nearest carrepair.” She asked Leo as she left Abe's car.

---

Clifford nodded at olivia's mom and was about to take off when she asked for help. He paused before dropping his duffel and heading over to the car where he proceeded to grab bags and carry them inside. He carried what would be considered a lot but not too much to where it was down right concerning. This made the who chore go by a lot faster, but a few minutes had still passed before they were completely done lugging bags into the home.

Cliff then pulled out his phone and gave an eye roll at the text he received. He paused before typing back.


To: Olivia
Yeah yeah whatever. And yes. Ill start heading that way now

Then with another eye roll he bent down and grabbed his stuff before deciding how he wanted to get to the lake exactly. Picking a route he walked to the lake and found a spot he liked. Seeing it as perfect he dropped his stuff and sat down waiting for the others to show up so he could grab them and take them to the same spot. Not that he would be saying much, but he was good at body language for a reason.

---

"Yeah, that is thuh mayor," she said as she looked at the envelope in her hand. The kitten clearly was not too happy of a camper, so she adjusted him so that he was a little more comfortable. She had never met this guy, and had no idea whether she should trust him. The fact that he recognized the mayor's name was interesting though. Then again, it wasn't all too surprising since the guy had died fairly recently. It was difficult for her to figure out what to do, but this guy didn't seem too bad, maybe she could trust him.

"My name's Lydia, I'm not from aroun' here either. I'm stayin' with some family here," she said, her accent starting to peep out. It had after a while started to fade, but she still had a slight southern twang to her voice. "I was actually thinkin' about goin' ta thuh address, you can come along too if ya want," she said with a smile to him. She still wasn't too sure about this guy, but he seemed like someone that she could trust.

When Finley made fun of his 'squishy exterior', he laughed and reached out to playfully shove her but missed when she quickly ducked out of his way. He shook his head and followed right in after her, pulling the door closed as much as possible so it didn't look like it had been broken in. It was dark. Real dark. Breathing for Declan proved to be a bit difficult, having suffered from asthma growing up.. but he didn't let it show. He kept a normal appearance as best as he could, wandering around the dusty old room as he scanned labels on the front of the many file boxes in the room with the help of the dim light from his phone screen.

"You think if I find my records and burn them, would I just... cease to exist?" he laughed lightly to himself, shrugging off the thought. Part of Declan couldn't really care too much to find his own file. He knew what was inside. Minor in Consumption. Drunk and disorderly conduct. Public intoxication. Everyone's favorite, friendly neighborhood juvenile delinquent. A sudden notification sounded off from both his and Finley's phones that brought him back from his thoughts, furrowing his eyebrows first down at his pocket, then over at Finley as he pulled his phone out to check the text. It was Jenna. Well, Gwen, anyway. Not his girlfriend, Jenna. Although there was a lingering text from her in his messages as well, but... it could wait. She knew he was busy with everything going on, today. He was supposed to be practicing for his high school's lacrosse game that would be happening this upcoming Thursday night.. maybe she figured he was doing just that.

"Is it just me, or is this girl always getting herself into trouble?" Declan kept his tone light and joking to try to keep at least Finley's nerves calm, but in all truth, he was worried for Jenna/Gwen. He sent out a quick text to his friend in response to her urgent message.

ѕтay ѕaғe. we're on oυr way -d

He turned his attention back to Finley and held out his hand, willing her to grab it and make a run for their friend-in-need.

"Gotta get outta here, Darlin'. Gotta go see what's up with Jenna."



Taylor nodded in equal agreement to Olivia's comment about taking a bullet for any of her friends. She felt the same way about her own friends. As Olivia got began dismissing herself, she glared playfully at her when she insisted on 'alone time' for Josh and herself once she was gone. Taylor shook her head but said goodbye and thanks for paying her breakfast. Once Olivia was gone and out of sight, Josh had turned on her and spoke his mind. It wasn't hard for them to do, it seemed, at least when they were by themselves. Almost as if the shyness was due to being together in front of others. Well, side-by-side. Not together. The thought of "together" would have Taylor turning as red as the blistering sunburn she'd gotten the summer before last when she'd first moved out to Red Lake.

His words caught her off-guard, almost sucking the air right from her lungs. She didn't really want to answer her whole, honest truth... but at the same time, she did. She wished desperately to be honest with him but knew she couldn't. There were just things that didn't need to be known in... his world. The world of mere humans. Whether he could understand it or not, and be okay with it... it was best to just leave him out of it all. Instead of answering the question outright, she decided to appeal to the 'we-shouldn't-go-investigating-the-lake' part of it.

"We don't have to go, if you don't want to. We could always just go back to my place, or yours and just... chill? I wouldn't mind too much. Olivia might be mad at me later, but she'll get over it." She twiddled her thumbs around, picking at her fingernails absentmindedly. "As I said previously, I'd already been out there this morning.. so, it's not that big of a deal to me." Taylor looked back over at Josh, staring into his eyes with a half-smile.

---

---

---

---

Josh held Taylor's gaze and matched her smile with a welcoming grin of his own. His expression wasn't a sign of acquiescence; no, in fact, it was the very opposite. It was one of defiance and victory. Victory in the sense that her response answered his question. And defiance in the sense that he wouldn't simply back off this topic as she seemed set on doing; as she had rather stave off his advances instead of reveal to him what the actual fuck was going on. Maybe he wouldn't press the matter now, but he sure as hell would put in motion a sequence of events that would.

Joey nonchalantly rubbed his jaw and shrugged off the imaginary tension his striking question had seemed to create in him. "Wouldn't mind too much? Naw, can't have that kind of weight on my conscience." he jibbed. "Let's go, wouldn't hurt to check again wouldn't it?"

He reached for his wallet in his back pocket and in one motion slid a five out and tucked it under an empty cup of orange juice. Money was tight, but he had respect for the workers of this establishment. With that Joey got to his feet and stretched the kinks out of his body.

He paused and looked down at Taylor. ”You don’t mind if I drive us do you?”

---

---

---

---

Leo had frowned when he heard the tire blow out, though at the same time he considered it a sign that he was just meant to stay right here in town. He shot a quick message to Cliff, his frown suddenly now a huge smile. 'Hey, my tire blew out on the main road. Guess it's a sign, where are you?' He looked up from his phone to see another car coming up behind him and he opened the door, to greet his would be Samaritans. If he was surprised to see Abraham he hid it well and as the older man's question Leo nodded politely. "Yes sir. something got my tire good, thanks for stopping."

He then shot a dimpled smile to Kosara who was riding with Abraham. "No, no spare actually. I blame my dad, he used it when we were coming down from Boston originally. If you guys could just give me a ride, I'm sure my dad will just take care of the car. He's pretty particular when it comes to it, plus he'll want to see if I did anything else to his 'baby'." He chuckled as he made air quotes around the word.

---

---

---

@FantasyChic@Infamous Auror@Morose While Jenna was still inside of the wall, there was a little bit more dust that started to fall from above, this would cause Jenna's nose to tickle some nearly making her sneeze, and what looked like a giant cockroach suddenly fell and landed on Jenna's arm. The dust inside of the archive room would make Declan's asthma to get worse. He should get out of there pretty soon before an asthma attack happens, but while Finley was in there she would find a filing cabinet with the Letter 'W' on it. Everything in the room was in alphabetical order. If she chose to open it and after a little bit of searching she would find a dusty old file of the Walker family who was born in the town dating back to the towns early days.

@BlueSky44@Peridot After a little bit the kitten seemed to calm down a bit as the two talked along the sidewalk a family of four came walking up the sidewalk. There was a little boy and girl around the ages of five and six were walking with their mother heading into the café, the youngest boy instantly noticed the dog and ran up and smiled. "Puppy!" He yelled, then he noticed the kitten in Lydia's arms he perked up even more seeing how small and cute the kitten was. "C'mon Johnathan, you want to have lunch now don't you?" His mother asked, she looked up at the two and gave them a smile. The boy just groaned before moving over to gently pet the kitten and Allie before turning off to meet up in the restaurant.

@LokiLeo789@Infamous Auror After awhile being in the back Kayla came back out from the kitchen she seemed to have calmed down now somewhat after what had happened with the biker just a few minutes ago. She moved over towards Josh and Taylor's table and gave them both a slight smile as she took their glasses, along with their plates before turning around and heading back towards the kitchen to drop off the dishes. Luckily for her it was the end of her shift as Kayla took off her apron and draped it over her shoulder, making her way towards the register and started to clock herself out for the day. "Have a nice day." Kayla said towards both Taylor and Josh as she left the café as she held the door to the family to enter the café. The kids were being pretty loud and roudy the boy was yanking at his sister's hair. She would turn around and hit him their mother quickly went in to break up the fight before taking their seat.

@Dragoknighte Mrs. Walker was cleaning away at the counter when she heard Harry coming in, for his services for looking into their daughter's disappearance they gave him a free room and free meals which they normally wouldn't do. But the family wanted to make sure that he was treated right. She tied her hair into a quick pony tail and gave him a slight smile as she headed over and started to fill up a coffee mug with a fresh batch of coffee and handed it over towards him. "Is there anything else I can get you Mr. Kingsfield?" Mrs. Walker asked giving him a slight smile as she moved over and sat down at the table the other guests were gone for now and it was just the two of them now.

@BlackPanther "Thank you Clifford." Olivia's mom smiled after he had helped her out with the groceries, she turned on the tv that was in the kitchen as she started to clean up and put the rest of it away into either the pantry or the fridge or freezer where they were going to be at. Once Clifford was finished and he ran off to the lake where the others were going to be at while in the woods he would pick up a weird rotting egg smell. He would also hear a few twigs snapping around behind him if he turned around he would notice a trail of black smoke, which quickly disappeared just as quickly as he would see it.

---

---

Abraham walked over and kneeled down while groaning slightly to himself and grumbling at how old his bones were as he went to investigate what it was exactly that was there that had caused the tire to blow out. He looked around as he couldn't see what was the cause of it and stood up. Abe looked over towards his niece for a moment. "Theres a spare tire in the trunk and a car jack mind helping him out?" Abraham asked looking at Leo. "So where were you going? We were heading out to the lake." Abe asked, if he wanted to go with them then they would have to deal with their hunting for now. He knew that the parties were taking a break now so that it was just going to be a small number of them now.

He looked back towards Kosara again. "Also if you'd like might as well put them wards up in case something happens while we are up there." Abraham said as he moved over and grabbed the car jack and moved it under the car looking towards Leo. "If your fine then you can come up to the lake with us." It was ultimately his choice to go up to the lake, he would also keep a very close eye on the kid as well since the lake seemed to be the dangerous part of town. He would look over his shoulder as he noticed Amanda and Olivia driving up the road that led up to the lake raising an eyebrow at them as the car drove past them/

---

---

---

---

"We can take my car, my brother wont mind that if we take it." Amanda said with a smile Olivia smiled and nodded as she went to text Andrew as well to let him know that they will be taking their car up to the lake. Olivia climbed up to the passenger side as Amanda started to pull out and started to drive up the road. She looked over her shoulder seeing the family entering the café and smiled ever so slightly. It was a pretty short drive as Olivia spotted Abe, Kosara and Leo by a broken down car as they drove past them taking the dirt road that would lead them up to the lake.

Once they were at the lake Olivia climbed out and looked over at the lake taking in a deep breathe as she looked around it was really a peaceful sight. And you wouldn't suspect that there was any kind of murder going on over at the lake, Olivia leaned up against the car and took out her phone sending out a mass text to Taylor, Jo, and Clifford where they were at now and that she was going to be waiting for them before she started the search party.

---

---

---

Harry accepted the cup of coffee with a respectful nod. He probably could have done without another cup of joe, but what was he going to do? Not take free coffee? Sure his bloodstream was saturated with caffeine, and his bladder was soon to suffer the consequences of his folly, but to not accept such a gracious offer would be in poor taste. She was technically his employer, and it would be best to avoid making her feel offput in any way. That's what he told himself at least.

"I know this might feel like breaching the privacy of your daughter, and by extension yours, but I have a request." Harry took a sip of coffee before continuing further with his explanation. [color=slategray]"Would you allow me access to your daughter's room? I have reason to believe there might be evidence related to her disappearance located there."

"...I'll try to put everything back afterwards."[/color.] Harry wasn't sure how she would react to his request, but it would be a real bother if he was denied access to her room. He might have to try sneaking in at some point if that were the case. Not something he'd enjoy, but desperate times. Not that he was desperate. At least not yet.

---

---

---

---

Finley felt the buzz on her phone, but she wanted to search. She also felt bad for Declan, not having a good time in here. She mentally sighed. She checked her phone and saw the message. It was obviously important, but so was this!

She searched quickly and when she did she stumbled on the file labeled "Walker". She grabbed it quickly, "Fine, let's go, but I'm taking this with me. I'm coming back here later though. There's more here, but you don't have to come with. I don't want your asthma acting up again." She grabbed his hand and pulled him outside with her.

As she exited, she turned to him, "Ok, I don't have my motorcycle with me at the moment, so do you have a ride? Or are we hoofing it?" She wanted to get there soon. She wondered what Jenna wanted exactly. Surely there was nothing to be found there at the mine. Right? Either way, she wanted to talk to Jenna. She needed to get this vision off her chest and she wanted her close friends there with her.

---

Clifford blinked as a weird smell hit his nose. He twitched it not once, but twice as he attempted to understand what was making that rotting egg smell. He gave a look around before inhaling once more and wondering why he was being hit by that smell. He slowly moved his head around to see if he could spot whatever died to make that smell and twitched his nose once more. It did not smell like a skunk, but was it a skunk?

Finally, clifford turned around to see the trail going away and liked his eyes. That was most certainly not normal. At least not on an everyday basis. He shook his head and filed both the smell and what the trail of smoke looked like in the back of his mind. He was not about to follow a black ghost trail in a forest. That was how bad things happened.

Cliff paused when he felt his phone buzz and blinked at the words. So a search party then? He thought they were just going to go swimming. Some misunderstanding he guess and now he had a duffel of clothes on him. That would certainly be different, but at least he hadn't shown up in what he swims in. With a grumble and a sigh cliff made his way to where Olivia was. He gave her a nod and the softest volume of his voice. "Hey"

---

---

---

---

"Gramps, you sure?" Kosara asked with a raised eyebrow when Abe suggested for Leo to come with them to the lake. Not that she expected anything to happen out in the middle of the day, but still. Never the less she shrugged and quickly hopped ot the trunk where she pulled a chalk, quickly scratching a few circles of sigils on the inside of the trunk, making sure any spiritual entity would never be able to reach inside. Wouldn't work on werewolves, but it was better than nothing. Then she noticed another car passing them.

"What the..." She whispered." Well..." Kosara added, throwing a knowling look at Abe." Seems someone's having some ideas already. Plan's the same now though, right? Even more so than before. Can't leave them alone who knows what might happen if we do."

This was really not a good position if the younger ones all planned to get spread in the forest presumably to search or anything, they were like announcing themselves as targets for whatever was lurking about and was responsible for Riley's disappearance and the murder.

---

---

---

---

Jenna didn't feel too bad when she saw the reply from Declan. It had been the right decision in order to solve this mystery and get some answers. She'd need to think up a similar excuse that evening in order to go search the woods for Riley's ghost on her own, likely involving telling her friends and family she was staying at Abe's house with a friend. Or maybe she'd lie and say she was connecting with her birth mother's wife. It was probably the easier excuse of the two to make and Jenna decided to settle on it.

Dust fell down and caused a nearly unbearable urge to sneeze, with Jenna holding her breath tightly. Declan and Finley seemed to be on their way out and she didn't want to give them any reason to stick around longer than was needed. It was fortunate that Jenna wasn't afraid of bugs as the massive cockroach fell on her arm. She bit down on her lip hard in order to keep herself quiet as possible, before carefully maneuvering her other arm in an attempt to catch the cockroach and pluck it off of her. She needed to find Mayor Ryder.

---

Lydia smiled as she leaned over to let the little boy pet the kitten. She herself had been taken in by its cuteness, which is why she was carrying it around. She loved seeing people treat animals kindly, even if she wasn't too fond of little kids. Lydia figured that she could survive this interaction. The kid's face as he was told to join his family saddened her slightly, but she smiled at James as she started down the sidewalk.

"So, thuh address ain't too far away from here. We could go straight there, or ya could wait until after I get my leg checked out, which personally I'm kind of leanin' towards considerin' thuh fact that it is still bleedin'," she said to James as she glanced down at her leg again. The letter could probably wait, her leg on the other hand might not be able to since there could be problems with infection and such.

James kept a tight hold on Allie's leash as the young boy came running over - offering a friendly smile to the kid and getting Allie to sit by him. A smile was given to the mother as well, but he couldn't help thinking she should have kept a closer eye on her son. Strange dogs weren't always safe, especially when with a strange person. Still, no-one was hurt, so he didn't complain.

"Oh! Of course, you should definitely get that looked at." He agreed immediately to Lydia's request, not admitting that he'd momentarily forgotten about her injury. It was a minor one, but she made a good point about infection - feral cats weren't exactly the cleanest of creatures to be scratched by. "It's a shame I didn't bring my car, as it has a first-aid kit in it. I've been travelling and camping a lot, so I'm prepared for most injuries." He paused with a light laugh. "Although not a mauling from a wolf. I got caught by one a few weeks back - that cat from earlier looked just as mean-spirited though." After having visited it a few times, James knew the clinic wasn't too far from where they were. It was probably best to have it checked out by professionals rather than just whacking some iodine and a band-aid on the wound anyhow.

As the pair turned towards the direction of the clinic, James looked to the kitten in Lydia's arms. It seemed to have calmed down, but was still glaring (If cats could glare) at Allie. "Where did you find the wee thing, anyway? Running away from your attacker?" He asked with a teasing grin.