---

_{@Surtr Inc @Mike73 @Atrophy @Majoras End}
Outside Sucre Cafe

---

Paige hadn't even made it to the car when the new one showed up. She'd been limping as fast as she could, knowing full well that her slowness would probably get both herself and the others killed, muttering a litany of swear words as she went. She'd been practically falling into the seat when the others got out, not really caring at this point who they were or what they were doing here. Those questions could have been asked later, when she was safe, and besides, they seemed to have some idea of what was going, like Kimberly and Jordan and the blonde girl, and apparently everyone except Paige. They could handle it without her.

Except that apparently, they didn't need to. The monster, Reese, was flying through the air in some ridiculous kind of leap, and on its way out. So it seemed that they were no longer in danger. Paige sighed and leant back for a moment, glad that she was safe, then opened the door of the car and climbed out, as close to storming out as she could get with her gait.

Paige was angry. She had nothing to do with this, yet her life had still been put in danger even though she was essentially helpless, while these voodoo magicians or whatever they were had been off doing whatever it is they enjoyed while they weren't hunting half-human serial killers. This was their business, but she had been made a victim all the same. The only who seemed to be in even a remotely similar situation was Jasmine. Maybe Paige was being a little unfair, but this was her reaction to fearing for her life. Last time she'd been around while someone else's fight was going on, she'd been shot, and this time had been too similar to that for her.

"Will somebody please explain what the fuck just happened?" she said to nobody in particular. "What was that?" Paige asked while pointing to the last place Reese had been visible, "What was that?", pointing to the cigarette that the Voodoo Blonde repulsed, "And what is this?". Paige turned around partially and tugged down the back of her shirt so that about a quarter of her Sigil was visible underneath.

On the plus side, at least now she might get some answers.

Martin was glad that Grant didn't question him because the scenario was bordering on hectic, and time was kind of short. 

He was also grateful that he was willing to join him on this impossible mission. He may have been determined but he wasn't prepared. If Grant hadn't been outside the room then he might have took off on his own instead of bringing support. It was important to have back up on these things, especially with the infamous Scott Reese. He had faced off once with that creature on his own, and once had been more than enough for him. The anxiety of facing down that path again was very overwhelming.

It was haunting, he was stuck in this endless loop of remembering how that thing had laughed when it thought it had sunk it's axe into him. It wasn't ever going to sit well with him and talking about it, even briefly was going to upset him a little. He knew that it was important though that Grant knew exactly what they were up against. He drew in a breath, nodding and leading the boy quickly out the door, he kept his phone open in preparation of Grant's responses, keeping the screen from going black.

He wasn't walking and he wasn't jogging, it was just a very brisk and determined pace. "This isn't my car, mind you," said the boy, grimacing. "It's my mom's secondary car, I try not to use it too much because spite is stronger than common sense but I think we need it now."

The boy quickly unlocked the door of a dingy silver Prius, hopping into the driver side and unlocking Grant's door for him. "Your sister went to Café Sucre, she was.. She was being followed by Scott Reese." he adjusted the mirror, starting the car up. "Scott Reese is the guy that committed the camp massacre, I was there that night. I.. I.. It's not easy to talk about but he nearly uh- he nearly hacked me in half."

A laugh that sounded slightly bitter somehow, "I provided a distraction and I nearly paid for it because stupid people die the easiest."

Grant kept up the pace as he followed Martin to his car, or rather, his mom's car. Despite his mind racing he still recognized the tone in his friend's voice as he gave his concise summary of it. He had gotten the feeling that Martin's relationship with his mother wasn't the best through past conversations, so he understood what he meant when he explained why he usually didn't drive it.

Nonetheless he quickly got in on the passenger side once the door was unlocked, and as Martin prepared to drive off he explained the situation with Jasmine. Grant was glad that his friend was telling him everything aloud, since that was definitely much faster at the moment, yet he couldn't help but feel his heart rise up into his throat as he realized just what was going on.

To: Martin

We were supposed to meet up at the Cafe later...

He had no idea why Jasmine was followed and attacked, she didn't even have anything to do with what was happening in this hell hole town. But now more than ever he was beginning to feel like it was his fault. He came back to this town when he knew something ominous was hidden deep within it, he knew it was likely going to be dangerous but he came back anyway, thinking that he'd only be putting himself in harm's way. But now his sister was in danger, pursued by the killer they'd discussed just earlier that day. And judging by Martin's description of Scott Reese, this wasn't any ordinary serial killer.

But he also got a sense of self-deprecation from Martin, who seemed to having a hard time talking about what happened at all. A look of concern fell onto Grant's face; he could understand what it felt like to have his life threatened by dumb decisions and then having to look back on it later.

To: Martin

You're still alive. Can't really be that stupid.

"It was pretty stupid, brave but stupid." he responded, adjusting his phone so it was propped up on the dashboard. "I ran like hell afterwards."

The likelihood of his phone falling to its doom was increasingly high as he pulled the car out of the parking lot. He wasn't really in the place to worry about possibly losing sight of the road. He was pretty much driving a bit carelessly as it was, kicking the car into high gear with reckless abandon. "Anyway, there's a lot of bad shit in this town, but I'm sure you know that. It doesn't take so long to start seeing all that's really wrong here."

He kind of got the feeling that Grant had more than enough interest in what was wrong in Farmerhill. The guy had always struck him as intuitive, asking the right questions at the right time. He was sharp, that was one of the reasons that Martin liked him so much. He liked a person that was willing to dig a little deeper, that was willing to go the extra mile. He was honestly glad that Grant was his friend, he couldn't have ended up with better backup.

The car took a sharp turn as Martin blew through a stop sign, mostly lucky that another car didn't clip him. "After the camping thing, me and a few other kiddos started developing these powers, I guess. Kind of like magic."

Then, as if realizing how absurd that statement sounded, he laughed. "Sorry, I'm not sure if you'll believe that or not. I can't really display it while I'm driving but I promise that I'll show you soon."

Grant could feel himself holding on tightly to his seat as Martin took a particularly sharp turn after speeding past a stop sign. While he was afraid that they could get into a wreck at any moment, he was still glad that Martin seemed to be in as much of a hurry as he personally felt in reaching the Cafe. And besides that, they hadn't wrecked yet, so Martin had to know what he was doing. Grants trusted that he would get them both safely to the Cafe, he was sure of it.

Speaking of trust, Martin soon revealed to him something that Lynette had, understandably, been hesitant to outright state. So then, Martin was another one of these students from the camping trip to develop super powers, huh? That would explain the neck tattoo then, he'd never asked about it since no one else seemed to comment on it anyway, but Lynette had mentioned something about a mark earlier and it was possible she was talking about something like that.

Grant wondered if he should tell him what he already knew, but figured now might not be the best time. He did want to tell him, but it would be a long story and he didn't want Martin to have to read a small essay while also trying to drive. Keeping his eyes off the road like that would be too dangerous, but he could get into detail later once the dust had settled and they had more time to talk. Still, a response was in order.

To: Martin

I believe you. You're not the kind of person to make shit up. Plus...I think I might like you.

There was a pause, before Grant's eyes nearly bugged out of his skull as he quickly typed up another text.

To: Martin

*I might be like you

Holy fuck, now was not the time for awkward typos.

"Why Grant," the boy joked, despite the anxiety that he was feeling. "If you wanted to go on a date, all you had to do was ask-"

A choked noise of fear as the Prius bumped the curb but he quickly steered it back onto the right path. There was a wide-eyed fear that was settling over the boy, but he was maintaining a very tight grin. "I can make shadows and darkness, I'm uh, it's a useless power. It's good for shutting up classrooms though."

After a moment of consideration, he offered. "Though, if you do ever want to go on a date, I'm free pretty much any time after we check up on this hellscape."

He was shaking down to his bones but he wasn't stopping the car and that was what mattered. He couldn't help the growing fear inside of him and the revelation that Grant had gained abilities as well was one mark through his theory that it was just the camp kids that had gone screwy. He was madly curious though, he wanted to know what Grant was capable of and he was definitely going to ask when he wasn't operating a motor vehicle.

He jerked the car into the parking lot of Sucre a bit haphazardly, throwing open his door and leaping out. He opened Grant's for him as well, mostly on habit. 

For once, Grant was glad he couldn't speak, because he was sure he would've been babbling out a response that would be desperately trying to backtrack on what he'd meant to say. But alas, he couldn't say a single word, and Martin had replied quicker than he could even attempt to type. Thankfully he was at least giving him an out by playing it off as a joke...right? It could be interpreted as a joke, but at the same time it was entirely possible that it was actually a serious offer. Well, Martin was pretty cute-

A sudden bump on the road broke Grant from his thoughts. Damn it, why was he even thinking about that? This wasn't the time or the place; Martin was his friend, and Jasmine was in trouble! He knew his mind could wander but this was serious! Yes, maybe he did like- wait, no, he had to focus.

Instead he paid attention when Martin described his power, nodding in acknowledgment. Shadow manipulation...interesting. His friend didn't seem to think too highly of his power, but Grant found it fascinating. If he could control shadows, then did that extend to being able to make images and illusions with them? Could he steal other people's shadows? Cause distractions and mind games? And when he controlled darkness, did that essentially allow him to blind people? Could he even remove darkness from an area? He wanted to ask him about all the possibilities, though he supposed they didn't really have time to get into those details right now.

They made it to the Cafe right about then. As they parked and Martin hurriedly got out of the car, Grant quickly typed up a message for him, showing it on his own phone's screen once his friend opened up his door for him.

To: Martin

I can remove sounds

He got out of the car after that. He nodded in thanks to Martin for taking him there, then looked over at the Cafe building. He was about to run inside, but then he saw...something, a monster of sorts, leap through the roof and away from the area. He stood there, too stunned to move after seeing that and only barely realizing that they weren't the first to show up.

'Oh God. Please, let Jasmine be ok.'



Aliana Agüero was not happy.
She was pretty much muddling through the growing negative feelings that this group had brought up for her, and the fact that it was quickly disbanding was even worse. When Lynette returned to her and asked her for a rundown of the situation, she couldn't help the passionate anger that flashed across her face. She held up one hand, adorned in gaudy rings and well manicured.

She began to tick off on her fingers, the ways in which this went horribly wrong. "First off, this was some kind of fucking set up because it obviously wasn't a support group."

She hated this and everything that happened was more than enough to make her wish that she had never left Florida. Obviously something was real fucking screwy in Farmerhill and she wasn't built to deal with this kind of stuff. Something about watching her world crumble around her was enough to set her into that very rare aggressive state. She stood, gesturing around the mostly empty room.

"All of us, that were here a moment ago, all of us have some kind of messed up power," she said this with an overly dramatic flair, "Shadows, fire, and drawings coming to life, oh my!"

With a punctuating point to the door, "And then we all shared a vision with some kind ass backwards fledgling God saying that we should all work in harmony through the power of friendship! Like we're all going to hold hands and start singing together. It's ludicrous. Scott was on the move, we got to see that, so Penny and Count Dorkula and the whole super squad rushed out the door to get him. I'm stuck here because I can barely process this!"

---

@Surtr Inc @Prosaic @Ciaran @Atrophy
Farmer Hill - Downtown, Sucre Café

---

Jasmine felt...strange. At the moment she somehow stopped Reese, she herself felt like she could barely move, and attempting to do so proved that her movements seemed to slow down massively, at least until the killer before her began to move again, then she was able to as well. But more than that, she felt something within her now, something different than the power she'd just used. She couldn't explain the feeling, but she felt that if she wanted to, she could expel it through something. As if that made any sense.

It was crazy. This whole damn situation was crazy. Just a moment ago she could hardly believe her eyes when Penny had shown up and started showing off superpowers, but now Jasmine had gained a power as well? What the actual hell! None of this made sense! She didn't even know why she'd tried to stop Reese or how she'd done it, for a second there she'd just been running on instinct and now she was freezing monolithic monstrosities in their tracks with sheer willpower! But, it had worked. She wasn't about to complain that she and Penny were still alive, so for now she was just rolling with the punches no matter how insane they became. Next plan of action was to permanently stop Reese, if that was even possible, but Jasmine had no idea what her power even was since she didn't feel like she could freeze him again. Though it didn't seem to matter, as Reese decided to run away now, or rather leap away. Penny chased after him almost immediately, with Jasmine staying behind for a moment to process what just happened and let out a long-held bated breath before giving pursuit as well. Not to hunt him down, but to be ready to help for whatever came next.

Once out in the streets, however, it was clear there wasn't a pursuit to be had. Reese was too fast, even Penny appeared to begrudgingly accept it as she didn't try running further after him once they all made it outside. She didn't take it well, semi-collapsing onto the ground and angrily slamming her hand against the ground when she was approached by...Justin? And there were others there as well from school, all newcomers. What the hell, why were they all there? Did these people get the memo that a killer was terrorizing the downtown area and figure it'd be worth a look? Even the three girls who'd escaped were there, or perhaps, they just hadn't left yet. How much time had passed anyway? The encounter with Reese felt like it had lasted a lifetime to Jasmine, but in reality it couldn't have been more than a minute or two.

The silver-haired girl began to vent her frustrations with the entire situation, and honestly Jasmine couldn't agree more. But she was also too goddamn exhausted and numb from her encounter with death to scream anymore. All at once she felt the aches in her body from pushing herself so hard too quickly, and the adrenaline still running its course through her body left her shaking. She felt like she wanted to throw up and cry, due to a distorted fusion of relief and terror caused by the entire scenario she'd just been through, but in the end she could do neither and just stood there with a shell-shocked expression on her face as she continued to process everything.

So when Penny approached her, she soaked in everything the girl had to say. A short hollow chuckle escaped Jasmine's lips when Penny let her know just how hard it was for her to say was she was saying; of course she knew that, it's what the situation feel even more surreal. They could hardly hold a conversation without their mutual friends getting involved before today, but now they were facing off against giant murderous psychopaths together and showing each other some genuine empathy. Today was turning out to be one hell of a day.

"Honestly? At this point I'm wondering if that thing actually killed me back there, and that this is all just some weird dying dream. Like some Jacob's Ladder type shit. But I'm here, I'm alive." Saying that made her feel a little more alive. "Look, if you can make me feel a little less crazy, I'll listen to whatever you guys have to say. I'm just...I'm gonna need a moment to take it all in."

With that all said and done, she began to follow Penny to join the others. But as she did, she noticed one of the cars that had very recently arrived, probably just as Reese had leaped away. And standing by the passenger door was-

"Grant!?" Jasmine exclaimed in surprise. Her brother snapped his head in her direction, the look of dread on his face changing to relief and then worry before he then ran over to her. Jasmine, still in a state of shock, was confused by his sudden appearance, and was even more so when he threw himself into a hug against her. She hadn't expected that at all, sure they were close but they never really "hugged", but it was a consolation she'd desperately needed nonetheless.

"Why are you here?" Jasmine asked him as she pulled out of the hug, "How'd you find me? Why's everyone here?"

Grant took a moment to respond, but he signed so frantically that Jasmine was barely able to understand what he said.

"Ok...?" Jasmine repeated, "Yeah, yeah I'm ok, I'm fine. A little scraped but I'm fine. Can you please answer me? Everything keeps happening and I don't know what the fuck's going on!" She didn't mean to yell but she was starting to reach her limit now that her own brother was now getting involved.

"...Martin told me," Grant eventually managed to sign once he calmed down and was sure that Jasmine actually was fine, then motioned to the others as he continued, "They all knew you were here. They knew you were being chased by Scott Reese, the guy who went on a killing spree last month at the camp. They were there too, and ever since then weird things have been happening. Lynette knows stuff too, they were all going to explain everything before they found out you got attacked."

Now Jasmine was even more confused. Even with more information things still sounded like crazy nonsense. How did Grant get involved in all this anyway? But that could wait, for now.

"Penny told me they'd explain everything too," Jasmine responded after a moment, eyeing the group that had arrived, "I'm alive, and you're here, and we're both fine but now we're involved in something crazy. Ok. Let's just...get some answers."

Grant nodded in agreement. He'd already learned a few things but there was still more to this. And now that he knew that Jasmine was safe, he was ready to get to the bottom of it all, whatever it took. This town took his voice and tried to hurt his sister, and he was going to make sure it paid for it.

---

---

Well, Justin could understand why Penny was a bit pissed off. Hell, he deals with the same frustrations every day. The kind of trying your best, and yet still failing all the same. Still, there was always next time - they just had to make sure that they stopped Scott Reese then and there. No more playing around.

"We'll get him next time," Justin said. Going after him seemed... difficult at the moment. Since he was jumping roof to roof like it was absolutely nothing. "I promise you that."

At this point, two things happened. A girl walked up that Justin kind of recognized, and that girl that they "saved" decided to ask what in the hell was even going on. That was when Claire decided to take the stage, she took a step forward, and addressed her friend Maddie first.

"Well, where the hell do I even begin?" Claire trailed, "Long, long, story but, I think I'll explain it another time - this gal right here is confused out of her mind and deserves a bit of an explanation." Claire threw a thumb at Paige, before she turned towards the girl with the slight limp and put a hand on her hip. Wish Brit was here... our magnanimous leader would be jumping at this opportunity. But, since she ain't here, I guess... Claire thought to herself, before she sighed.

"If you're dead, then we're all in hell." Justin said to Jazmine with his arms crossed. Before Claire rolled her eyes and began her explanation.

"I hate that you got pulled into all of this, sweetheart," Claire started off, seeming somewhat somber. "But, that thing was Scott Reese, all around asshole who got turned into a monster or something." Oh God, even trying to explain this mess was giving her a headache. In the middle of the conversation she quickly took out a cigarette, and lit it, before she finished the conversation.

"He's been going out killing people like us - which brings me to the next point," Claire pointed at Paige's sigil, "Us in this case being Awakened, people who have some kind of unlocked potential within them that gives them access to a magic power or something..." She took a drag, before she blew the smoke out and finished by saying. "And you wanna know what marks us Awakened...?" She pointed at it.

"So wait. I got one, too," Jordan touched her back, and was tempted to lift up her shirt, but she didn't think that'd be super appropriate.

"Me too..."

"Then congratulations! You're an Awakened," Justin said, trying to make light of the situation, but falling on deaf ears ultimately. "But... lemme cut to the chase and say that there's a lot more like us out there. Plenty more, and Scott's going after the stragglers. Those who are alone."

"So... if you were smart, I think you should group up with us," Claire said, "We're just trying to get to the bottom of this so we can go on with our lives."

"I'll do it," Kimberly said with a nod of her head. This was... fascinating to her. Magic come to life was more than what she'd ever get from her webshow.

"Where ever Kim goes, I go," Jordan said without hesitation. "... and I'd like not to get murdered."

"Good, let's tell our team leader..." Claire trailed off as she whipped out her phone, but to her surprise; Britney was already calling her. She quickly answered and placed the phone on speaker, "Before you ask, yes, everyone's okay, Scott was scared off."

"Thank God!" Britney loudly said, "I was worried there for a moment."

"We also made some friends... heh..." Claire chuckled in between cigarette puffs.

"Even better, we'll need them," Britney started off, "But, we came to a decision here in the meeting room - and we decided that we're going to head to John Reid's house to look for clues. I'll text you his address, get there before six o'clock." Britney explained.

Hmph. Maybe with Penny gone, they can finally agree on something. Claire held the phone in hand, as she looked to the group. "Affirmative." Claire nearly sarcastically said, "We'll get ready now."

"Good, I'll see you soon." Britney hung up the phone and the group looked among each other.

"I dunno about you all," Claire said, "But I get the feeling that she's hiding a few things from us."

"Oh, definitely." Justin said. "I know she's a friend, but I find it a liiiiitttle hard to trust her blindly."

"But," Claire started off, "I'm going to see this through... you all don't have to if you don't want to."

"I'll go." Kimberly said. "But I just want to know what the hell is even going on!"

"Well... now that you ask..." Justin trailed off as he explained the situation to Kimberly and the others. From the support group, to John Reid's diary, to that vision... Claire just slid up against the wall and enjoyed the cigarette as she injected at various points. But, she didn't know how they were going to do this, and fight the "Glutton" but they were sure as hell gonna try.

Who else was there?

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Mason Square.

---

It was amazing how well the logistics behind Britney's plan played out so well! By six; everyone was at the Reid household, and was suited up. Perhaps they didn't need such a large group, but hey, every hand helps. All they had to do was find a clue, and then they could, as Claire said, get to the bottom of this. So, John Reid's house was on the outskirts of Farmer Hill, literally in a corner that was a stone's throw away from the big scary fenceline that surrounded the mountain. It was also far away from the other properties - out here in Mason Square there were nothing but farms, and very few anything else.

Britney approached the gate in front of John's farm, and realized they weren't even locked. So she merely pushed them open. She looked behind her, and saw the various vehicles parked, and everyone getting out and ready to roll. Britney was the that lead the group, and she remembered the farmhouse to every detail. It may have been stereotypical, but there was a giant red barn that was the largest building. Then there was his white garage which was large enough to fit three vehicles, then of course, John Reid's house. A three-story picturequese building that was made out of white planks, and had grey tiling. It was beautiful, and kept up to date.

There wasn't time to marvel in the scenery, they had a job to do. Britney stood in the empty square space between all these buildings and leaned up against a tractor trailer.

"Looks like Mr. Reid wasn't much of a Farmer." Justin dryly looked around with his arms crossed, taking note of all the huge barns... but no animals. No crops, nothing. Probably didn't have any time - or interest - between all of this guardian nonsense.

"Farmin's borin' anyway," Claire said, "But, let's get out of here fast as possible..." She looked up at the mountain, before she sighed, "... Got a baaaaaad feeling 'bout this place."

"I got a bad feeling about this town, yet I still came here," Jordan added on with Kimberly at her side. She wasn't too thrilled to be here herself. Jordan was quick to look up at Britney, asking. "What are we even looking for here?"

"Well..." Britney said as she looked off to the side. She pulled out John Reid's diary, and said, "First and foremost, I'd like to find the rest of the pages... if they're here. But, otherwise, there has to be some kind of information here. That being or whatever didn't direct us here for no reason."

She shook her head.

"So, let's break up into four groups and cover the most ground; one for each building..." Britney trailed off, "... and one to keep a lookout in case Scott shows up."

"I'll stay out here," Claire said as she put a hand on her hip. "I need a smoke."

"Me too." Justin said. "Nothing's gonna get past us."

"Good to hear... let's hurry up, I'm going to check the main building," Britney took some steps towards it. "I'll need some help."

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Mason Square

---

Billy had fully intended to chew out his sister when he saw what she had done to his car—his baby—until he had noticed how beat up she looked. He felt a rare anger stir inside of him. He had already dealt with the grief of losing one sibling. He was ready to go through all of that again. Of course, he couldn’t talk to Penny about that; any conversation they had would inevitably turn into an argument, but a talk about their brother Henry would’ve instantly ratchet tensions up to ten. So instead they rode to John Reid’s house in utter silence outside of the hum of the motor and the burning inhale and exhale of Penny’s chain smoking, rows of trees blocking off stretches of farmland passing them by.

He turned down the drive of John Reid’s farm, thankful that his vehicle was not one of the first and that nobody seemed to be getting their brains bashed in by the monster that was, apparently, hunting them all. The sun was low, they had maybe an hour or two of daylight left, and it made the shadow of the mountain stretch over the barren farmland. Billy should’ve figured that their town would be the sight of some insane, doomsday, world-eater type of shit; what other small town has an entire mountain blocked off and forbidden entrance to with decades of myths and mysteries surrounding it? Besides most of Appalachia. Okay, all of Appalachia.

Billy killed his engine upon seeing Britney approach the gate and exited his car. His sister lingered behind for a moment but eventually followed, staying just far enough behind him to show that while she had come there with him, she was not with him. He was used to it by now. He had been surprised that she had even walked with him to the support group earlier that day.

“Man, I’d hate to mow this yard,” said Billy in response to Justin’s quip about Reid’s farming skills as he lazily looked around the area. It all seemed rather standard. Nothing about it screamed “secret sanctuary of the town guardian against unspeakable horrors” but then again it wouldn’t have been such a secret sanctuary if it did scream that. He paced around the grounds, not wandering to far from the group so that he could hear their brave leader come up with a plan to cover the buildings quickly.

“Ah, really dude? You had the perfect opportunity to say ‘Let’s split up, gang’ and you wasted it? Man,” said Billy with a wink. He looked over at his sister. She was already making herself comfortable outside. He knew he shouldn’t let her stay there, between the threat of Reese showing up again and the even more catastrophic scenario of Penny and Claire going at it again, but there was no way he could possibly make her budge. With a sigh of acceptance he shuffled over towards Kimberly and Jordan.

“Wanna hit up the garage, buddy?” he asked, mostly towards Kimberly. “We could find a sheet to make your friend into a ghost for a bit of b-roll. Personally, I’d love to witness the process of live movie magic. Plus it’s the smallest building, so, you know, easy mode.”

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Mason Square

---

While Billy was joking around with Kimberly, Rita had moved over to Britney. It was clear that she knew more than she was letting on, and if her Abstraction had struck a nerve earlier then certainly she was on the right path. In all fairness, this shouldn’t have been Rita’s fight. It wasn’t even her town. Still, she felt like she couldn’t run from this. Not that she didn’t want to run, oh, she absolutely wanted to run, but she doubted she would be faster than whatever the thing called the Glutton was or what it was capable of doing. And so, she wanted information. To learn what she could to escape it.

And the only one who seemed to have a modicum of knowledge on what the hell was happening was Britney.

“Would you mind if I came along with you?” asked Rita, making sure that her hand was fully obscured by her pocket as the sigil glowed. She was testing the waters, trying to see how uncomfortable the taller girl felt when questioned by her Abstraction. If there was no obvious tell, she would relentless pursue a line of questions once they were alone. If it was clear that Britney rather not have Rita around, she would be more careful in her interrogation.

Assuming, of course, that they got a minute alone.

l

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Atrophy}
The Reid Farmhouse – Mason Square

---

Tuyen had turned up with Min, who both had a car and a stubborn mindset that meant he was getting the time with his cousin he’d had planned before the shitstorm of a meeting. Though, for once she was thankful when he’d filled her in on what had happened in the room. Otherwise she would’ve just been more confused.

The shadow had been surprisingly quiet but that didn’t make her relax at all. She was just waiting for it to make a move. It always did and it had been messing things up for her recently.

“Are you sure you want to join,” Min stopped Tuyen as they got out of his car, earning a somewhat confused look. “You seem tired and had to leave before.”

Tuyen was surprised that Min had even noticed. For all his brains he wasn’t the best at reading people. Maybe it was her who wasn’t hiding it well.

“I’ll be fine, I want to find out what’s happening,” she gave what she hoped was a genuine looking smile. He didn’t argue with her and they both headed towards the group. She was glad, though she was one of the few people Min didn’t tend to argue with.

Min looked around the farm, taking it all in, already thinking. Splitting into groups was efficient. Which building did he think would be most beneficial for him to go into? The main building probably contained the most information, but if the man had wanted to hide something it probably wouldn’t be in there.

“I’ll stay outside,” Tuyen spoke quietly, mostly for Min’s benefit. She wouldn’t be much use if something did turn up but for some reason the thought of going into a dead man’s home freaked her out a bit. And she knew that if it freaked her out now, then her mind would almost definitely play tricks when she was in there. And she knew at least one person staying outside which helped.

“I’ll help with the main building,” Min offered, stepping towards Britney. Unlike the short girl, who’d asked if she could come along, Min just assumed that he could. Although the question seemed to hold some kind of meaning to it that he didn’t entirely understand.

While it surprised Tuyen that her cousin didn’t stick to her like he normally would, Min was here to get information. He’d figured that Britney knew the most of them all so being in her group seemed logical. He was sure the main building would hold of information that they might need.

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Atrophy}
The Reid Farmhouse – Mason Square

---

There was so much to think about after the meeting. Rien had thought that the whole power thing was cool until they’d realised it had come with responsibility. They didn’t go well with responsibility. It was a pain and something they didn’t care much for.

The idea of everyone dying wasn’t really appealing, though. Rien wasn’t particularly attached to anyone but that didn’t mean they wanted their adoptive parents to die. Nor their friends. That would still hurt.

They weren’t really sure how exploring the house of a dead guy would help but whatever, it wasn’t like they had anything else to do.

“I like the sound of easy mode,” Rien piped up, pretty quickly deciding to join searching the garage. “The lazier I can be the better, you know.”

So Billy had been a bit of a dick earlier, but Rien had absolutely no problem joining the same group as him. They didn’t hold a grudge. Ever. Well, maybe once or twice, but rarely anymore. They just didn’t have the energy to care that much. It wasn’t like the guy had even wronged them that much. Not to mention the fact he got a bat in his face, so Rien was pretty sure they were even.

“Though I have to say, it’s not the smallest garage around.”

---

The Reid Farmhouse – Mason Square

---

Caelea had turned up with everyone else, though she largely ignored them all. She’d been thinking about what the godlike kid had said when she asked about those without powers. Something to do with controlling air while looking at her, or something. She hadn’t had time to try it and had no idea how to start. How did she even do something like that?

She was glad that Britney had suggested splitting up – better chance for everything to not descend into one big fight. And it meant she didn’t have to spend anymore time listening to her talk. Better for them all.

“I’ll go to the barn,” Caelea spoke up, deciding to actually take an active roll for once. No one else had offered to go there, and the only other group she’d consider being with was those keeping watch. But she was here for some answers and wouldn’t be able to just sit around. “Will probably need a few people to go with me.”

She wasn’t a big fan of working in a group, but she wasn’t stupid enough to think she could cover the barn herself.
 

---

_{@Atrophy @FernStone}
The Reid Farmhouse - Mason Square

---

One hell of a freak show, this was. Here Paige was, invesigating an abandoned farm with a truckload of people, most of whom she barely knew, in order to learn more about a psychotic killer who was apparently specifically targeting the group of them because they had weird tattoos and magic powers. This was too detailed to be a dream and shared among too many people to be a hallucination, leaving only the conclusion which seemed the most unlikely: that all of this was real.

One notably frustrating element of this whole business was that Paige herself still had nothing. In conversations she'd had since the incident at the cafe, she had mostly caught up on what had happened so far. She had also learned that almost everyone present was aware of some kind of magical talent, an "abstraction", that they were able to use. Meanwhile, Paige had nothing yet, but she still had to deal with the threat of being killed by Scott Reese. She was more vulnerable than even a normal human being, and while she wasn't about to have another outburst, she was not happy with the situation she was in. She supposed the most helpful thing to do right now would be to help out as much as possible; the more they all knew, the more likely it was that each individual among them would survive.

As the group of them gathered in the farm, it occured to Paige she had mostly just been interacting with Jordan and Kimberly, who she knew somewhat better than the rest of the group. If the concept of her relying on these people to save her life was a reasonably likely possibility, she needed to be able to trust them, and they her. Isolating herself from them would not achieve either of those things, and besides, she had something she needed to do before proceding.

Paige approached the blonde girl who'd come to the rescue at the Sucre - Penny, Paige thought she'd heard someone call her - and began speaking. "Hey, um, Penny, right? I just wanted to say-" without that flame of anger inside her like before, Paige's awkwardness in conversation was become much clearer. "-um, to say that I really appreciate what you did back at the cafe. I get that weren't really thinking of me when you came over, but you risked your life for the rest of us, and I might have died without you. Just, well, thanks."

Paige realised, of course, that she would have to get to work soon, but she had no intention to be impolite towards the person who'd saved her life. With that in mind, she glanced over her shoulder at the girl who'd said she was going to the barn, and said "I''ll help, just a moment."

Not intending to be rude, Paige would stay for Penny's reply, but then try to dismiss herself as politely as possible and get to work searching the barn for... something useful, apparently.

---

Things had happened fast when they'd hit the Cafe, almost a blur. Nate had come along for the ride in Claire's truck, ostensibly to help out the others... somehow? It wasn't like going Casper the not-so-dead-but-not-particularly-friendly ghost on Reese would have really done much good, would it? He didn't know - he was still figuring this out, one step at a time.

One little piece of action he had seen was Reese going full-hulkmode, practically leaping into the air like he was only halfway tethered to the laws of gravity and landing on an adjacent rooftop. Claire, of all people, had responded to this retreat by shouting at the mass-murderer for being a coward, all-too-comfortable with that crimson hue that surrounded her frame. If Reese had thought 'fuck it', turned around and gone straight for her? He figured she'd have had less of a hard time dealing with it than the other, but still... dumb idea.

Nate, for one had not complained. When he'd climbed out of that truck cab, he'd found their group had grown just a little with a few faces he didn't quite recognise. And, having took off straight after the God-Kid had showed up, Penny now looked like she'd run a mile on a train track and was nursing a cigarette. She too seemed pissed off about the situation, but at least in her case she had gone up against Reese with her tampon-shooting abstraction and maybe part of that was the reason why the guy bugged out.

Figured this was a fight he couldn't win?

It didn't matter - they were, more or less, alive - particularly himself. Claire began to explain the situation to the new faces, a circumstance where if Nate hadn't seen for himself with his own eyes would've called it out as bullshit. Soon enough, more of them turned out to be the 'Awakened' that the God-Kid and the dream had spoken about, complete with the wierd brands. It reminded Nate of his own awkward situation and how Viv and Quent had yet to find it and, now that he knew this, never would.

Britney had quickly takenthe reigns again, steering their group down towards a lead she'd mentioned before - this John Reid guy, the one who'd written a diary about the whole situation which, somehow, conveniently explained most of it for them. Bullshit in any other situation, but witnessing the day's events alone had eaten away at his skepticism on such a matter. This time, they'd be going to the guy's farmhouse - wasn't that criminal tresspass? Not to mention a whole slew of other things that could potentially get them into shit - breaking and entering, possession of a deadly weapon (what else would you call something that could shoot out tampons at a deadly speed) and so forth. Quent would've really loved him for that.

Yet all the same, Nate went along with it. First, he dropped by his home, grabbed a quick change of clothes and picked up a few other things that would probably come in handy (his multi-tool included) and set off for the Farmhouse on-foot, having no car, bike or easy pickup option to hitchhike around on.

Getting onto the property was easy enough - their already-assembled group had found that the gate hadn't been locked and, stepping onto the property, found the place to be almost a cliche in its own right, down to the enormous red barn or the pristine-white coat of paint across the planks that formed the exterior of the house. All this space... Justin had made a pretty good point - there were no crops, no animals - not even that lingering smell of shit you'd sometimes get out in the open driving past cattle farms.

To the topic at hand... Nate was more than content to go with the flow and walk alongside whoever needed him. And, at least Britney hadn't outright said 'let's split up and look for clues' - that would have been inviting trouble, one way or another. No, it was Billy's movie-making suggestion that finally elicited a brief chuckle from him and prompted him to break the silence.

"I mean hey, if you're looking for a ghost..." Nate took a step forward, the tip of his shoe sinking into the softened mud. He subtly gestured to himself with a tilted nod at that same shoe.

---

@Surtr Inc @Prosaic @He Who Walks Behind
The Reid Farmhouse - Mason Square.

---

Jasmine's reaction to the explanations she'd been given was about what one would expect. Disbelief mixed with anger and confusion, it was a cocktail of emotions that no one could blame her for feeling. Why was she involved with all of this? She was just a normal person damn it, what did she have to do with god children, monsters, superpowers, and the impending apocalypse? It just, it didn't make any sense. And what about Grant? Why was he involved as well? The last thing she wanted was for him to have his life put in danger, but it didn't seem like she had a choice. Splitting away from the group was apparently a quick way to get yourself killed after all, but beyond that he already seemed to dead set on following through on solving the mysteries that were being presented to them. She didn't like it, but nonetheless she was going to be there by his side for this. If they were both stuck in a dangerous situation together then at least they could watch each other's backs, and with this new power of hers she was going to do whatever she could to make sure he survived this ordeal.

Once at the farm, the two of them examined the area with the rest of the group. It looked like there would be a lot of ground to cover, so even though it could potentially end badly, splitting up and searching each area as multiple smaller groups was probably the best course of action. The only issue now was where they were going to go snoop around. Not only did location matter, but the rest of the members of the group had to be taken into account as well. It was for the best that they teamed up with people they could trust and who could put up a fight if it came down to having to protect themselves from more supernatural beasts. Though, most of the people who could fight seemed to had decided to stand guard outside, which made sense but would make things a little more difficult for the exploring groups. So...who could Jasmine trust then?

"There's a lot of ground to cover here..." Jasmine noted aloud, "Grant, where do you wanna look around? I've kind of got my eye on the house, honestly."

Grant looked over at the house before glancing over at the group members that had volunteered to enter. He didn't know Min all that much and only caught his name during explanations, but Martin was going, as well as his close friend Rita. That alone would've been enough for Grant to decide on the house, he was very comfortable around Martin and, to be honest, he felt a little more secure sticking by him. But the nail in the coffin for him, was Britney. Some of the others had said what he and Lynette had also been thinking: Britney was suspicious, and almost definitely hiding something. He needed to keep an eye on her and see if he could learn anything, while also making sure she didn't do anything funny while the group was split up.

"That's a solid pick," Grant agreed as he signed at his sister, "It's not the biggest building, but it's going to have a lot of rooms to explore. Makes sense to send a bigger group down that way."

"Sounds good to me," Jasmine nodded, "House it is."

It was at this time that another newcomer had shown up, someone who hadn't been mentioned at all so far. In fact, it seemed like she had no idea what was even going on as she just casually brought up she was there to check up on a haunted house, or so she figured. Grant wasn't sure what to make of her sudden appearance, but Jasmine took a more proactive approach and greeted her.

"Uh, hey there. Do you...know, what's going on here?" She looked over at Britney, as if to get some sort of confirmation from the taller girl as she added, "Britney, does she know? No one mentioned her name earlier."

---

_{@Atrophy@He Who Walks Behind@Prosaic@FernStone@Mike73}

---

"Remember, not to make too much of a mess. Try to make like we were never here."

As cliche as it sounded, splitting actually had some merits behind it. First, they're not all jamming themselves into a small building. Secondly (and honestly the most importantly to Britney) she could maybe delay the ticking powder keg that was about to blow between certain members of the group. Keeping them apart until she could maybe come up with some way to maybe get each other off each others throats. And finally... this was a personal thing, but Britney honestly had little clue about a few members of the group (and vice versa). That was something that she should change.

Speaking of which, there was that mousy girl that she heard that Claire didn't like... Rita her name was? Or something. She was probably the most enigmatic to Britney out of the whole group. During the whole support group she was completely quiet, other than one question that kind of annoyed Britney. That put her high on her list of people to watch. So, when she asked a question, Britney was surprised. Though, she was oddly compelled to speak her mind a bit more than she normally would.

"I was actually hoping that you'd join me," Britney said with a smile. "You're too quiet and I get the feeling I need to keep my eye on you." She said, before her eyes went wide. She looked to the left and right then quickly decided to casually play off what she said with laughter.

At this point, Isabella made her approach and Britney was filled with joy (because she was finally able to play off what she just said to Rita). "Isabella, I'm glad you made it," Britney started off, but she was prepared to ask that question when Jazmine walked up and asked if Isabella was in on it. This was another question that got under her skin a little bit because... why wouldn't she be? At this point, why would Britney get normal people involved?

"Yup, I told her everything," Britney said with a smile, "Not just that..." Britney raised her hand a little bit to reveal the sigil on the palm of her hands. "... She's one of us."

She shook her head, and looked up at the sky. It was going to get dark soon, really soon, and the last thing that Britney wanted to be was near the mountain at night. Getting caught by Scott when it was dead at night was also not a great idea either. So the faster she got things moving the better.

"I'll stay out here," Andrea said in a Polish accent, and Britney nodded.

"Alright, let's hurry up and get a move on, we don't have any time to waste." Britney said as she flagged everyone along to come with her. She made it to the porch of the house, and decided there were two possible methods of entry: the front door, or the window. There wasn't any way for her to get in through the door without destroying it, so she had another idea. She mouseyed over to the window that was just to the left and put her hand on it. A light-yellow, near brown, colored light appeared over her hand. A wooden root came out of her hand and traveled through the small gap in the window until it appeared on the other side.

Eventually, with a bit of focus, Britney made the root unhook the lock, and then she grabbed the window and pulled it open. She stepped to the side and looked at the group and said,

"... Can one of you slip through here and open the door?" She pointed at the window, "I'm going to be blunt here and say I'm too big to fit through here."

---

---

While everyone was talking, Kimberly was indulging herself in a hobby that she hadn't partaken in in a long time; photography. It was stupid to leave evidence that they were even here, but she wasn't missing the opportunity to take such great shots against the sunset. Merely because she was having a bit of fun here. It was almost as if her little web series came to life. Britney explained everything to her and she couldn't hardly believe it. Magic, Gods, and... eldritch abominations? The last thing took some believing to wrap her head around, but everything else added up. But that left the question as she flicked through the photos and went to one that she had taken of herself with that sigil on her forehead...

... Was she an Awakened?

"Let's split up, gang," Jordan sarcastically said to herself as she crossed her arms. Out of everyone here, she felt she was the least thrilled to be here. Jordan was a crippled girl, and had no agency in this whole nonsense, and felt like she was pulled into it. Still, if she fled, who's to say that whatever was going on here would follow her... especially that Hound. She was reluctant to bring it up, only because out of all the things that was brought up, the Hound wasn't one of them. Maybe it was just... in her head. Or maybe it was targeting her specifically. The thoughts made her anxious. Was she really supposed to die? Then how is she standing here? This was all too confusing.

Billy came up and interrupted both Kimberly and Jordan's train of thought. He urged them to hit up the garage... and while, personally, she would love to hit up the house or the barn, the garage wasn't too bad of an idea. Even if it turns out to have no leads, she could always go to the house herself to investigate. Kimberly nodded her head as she said, "That's a great idea, let's go." Both Nathan and Rien tagged along to zero complaints from Kimberly.

"Ha-ha," Jordan said as she rolled her eyes at the joker. She went along with Kimberly as she went along to the garage. The first thing that she noticed was that one of the garage doors were open. If she was in her home city of Philadelphia she'd note that'd be a great way to get all of your tools stolen by crackheads. But here... in a backwards ass town where everyone knew each other, maybe they had a different idea of what was safe 'round these parts. Still, there were some signs that it was left open in a rush due to the skid marks and dirt trail all the way to the gate.

Kimberly was the first to poke her head into the garage... it was dark as hell, so Kimberly went through her camera and turned on night vision as she looked around. She noticed that there were two other vehicles in there, an old ass pick up truck, and a muscle car that was clearly being worked on. It had no wheels, and it was obvious that there wasn't an engine in there. Kimberly noted all the tools that were around the place. There had to be at least twelve toolboxes lying around. Really dated tools, though. Probably a good fifth were useless. But if they're looking for a lead on John Reid, and his past as a Guardian.

"Yeah," Jordan crossed her arms as she smirked at all the stuff they have to look through. "Easy mode."

"How about we go check the cars first?" Kimberly said, "If there's something hidden, maybe it'd be in there."

---

---

"Hey Mr. Cullen!" Martin heard the voice call out to him before he could even go into the barn, and once he turned, he saw the massive frame of Hagan Rosefey. Whom had resisted the urge to call him a faggot. He was wearing a tank top, and a pair of jeans... and had a baseball bat slung over his shoulder. "Dunno if you got my text; but stop sending me fuckin' paragraphs like a weirdo! Jesus!" He shook his head.

Okay, he hardly understood what was going on. He meant to attend the support group... but he sleep through it. Which sucked, because according to fagboy he missed a lot. Gods, magic, Guardians, oh my. And so once fagboy sent him a text explaining everything... he had to scratch his head. First he sent him a text to never send him a paragraph (who fuckin' does that?), then he had to ask for some clarification. After he got clarification... he decided he was going to come along. At least in some vain attempt to understand what the fuck is going on.

That said, he turned away from Martin, then walked over to Caela. "Hey, squirt," Hagan playfully said to her with a playful smirk. Normally he'd just stay out here, but with his friend here, he decided to tag along with her. "Just comin' along just in case you get spooked by a ghost in there."

He tapped the bat onto his shoulder as he said, "I wonder if ghosts have a weakness to baseball bats... well they'll find out won't they?"

Though, Lynette had her attention on Britney and the mousy girl. Right when the short girl asked that question, her aura began to glow and that caught Lynette's interest. It didn't take a genius to figure out that her abstraction had something to do with her voice, or talking. Because that was just no way that was a simple Freudian Slip. She smiled a bit, but kept her mouth shut. To be honest here, she didn't trust too many of her compatriots here, powers or not. Penny had a point, and while Lynette was far less.. cynical than her, she still kept her guard up until she got a feel for them.

Now, she would normally see to it that she investigates the house with Britney's group. However, there was a fifty-fifty chance of finding information in the farm. A fifty-fifty chance of something being in the garage, and a fifty-fifty chance of finding something in the house. Lynette wasn't really in it for the group, her own journey brought her here so of course this must be apart of it. She was hoping to find something herself, stash it in her purse, and be out of here without anyone being none the wiser until it was too late. Maybe share it with the group after she got what she wanted, but with less people going there it'd be more likely of finding something herself. If it turns out to be a dead end then she'd slip into the house and figure something out.

Still, she wanted to do something first, she went to Aliana and graced a hand on her shoulder, as she spoke in Spanish, "Aliana... I'm here for my own reasons, but can I ask you a favor?" She spoke quickly, as she wanted to get to the barn, "If you find something like Mr. Reid's notes, could you show it to me first before Britney?" She walked off towards the barn with the others, she wasn't sure if Aliana was coming.

The front doors to the barn were kept closed with the usage of a wooden plank, but Hagan walked up and lifted it straight up. Immediately the doors parted, but Hagan reached in and parted the doors... and immediately, they were bombarded with a stench like no other! The place was desolate. There had obviously not been a activity in this barn for ages. The floor was spackled with cowpies that had to have been there for years. It was incredibly dusty, and the main source of light was from the cracks in the ceiling. There were also old piles of hay, and old farming equipment lying around.

Lynette had pinched her nose, "This smells awful!" She nearly said in spanish because the upscale New Yorker couldn't bare the smell.

"What? Can't take a little stink?" Hagan teasingly said, completely nonplussed by the smell.

However, she came up with an idea because she was reminded of some experimentation she did with her abstraction. It was risky, but this place could use some cleaning. "Somebody grab me a stick or something, I need to air this place out."

---

---

With the group going their separate ways, Justin felt like he finally had some breathing room to talk. He had a cigarette in between his fingers, and was taking puffs of it while he watched the sunset. Claire wasn't too far away, but she wasn't what was on his mind. Tuyen had elected to stay outside and that was a good thing. They needed to have a word. "Hey Tuyen!" He said as he called Tuyen over as put out his cigarette - it was at the end anyway. When she approached he crossed his arms as he leaned up against a tree, "I don't think you've been introduced to my smoking buddy, Claire."

"Hey." Claire said as she weakly waved at Tuyen. She was keeping her eye on Penny and the crippled girl...

"So, I was curious..." Justin trailed off, "What do you think of our group so far...? And be honest here, I won't bite, and neither will Claire."

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Outside

---

Penny felt sick. She wanted to be alone. She had overdone it earlier in her fight with Reese, and instead of sitting on a couch with a bowl of ice cream and watching crummy reality TV until her brain melted she had gone out to the farm. She had to go out to the farm. There was a chance they would discover something important; maybe the next page in Reid’s diary so they could get a grasp on what their “job” actually was. Also, there was a chance that Reese would show up. That was the real reason she wanted to be here. She wanted a chance to take him down again and, as much as it sucked to say, she knew it was next to impossible for her to do it by herself.

She also couldn’t shake the thought that if she had followed through with her more basic instinct to jump into some pjs and veg out by herself that Scott Reese would’ve known, just as he had known that the calvary was arriving, and take that moment to scratch one more camper off of his list. She didn’t like the idea of playing the victim. It was much better to play the opposing role, even if it made you into a bully. Besides, even if she was surrounded by people, she still knew how to not be bothered—cross the arms, lower the shades, freeze a frown on her face, and don’t speak. Easy. Just her, her migraine, and an unending chain of nicotine and carcinogens. What more could a girl ask for, except for a muzzle to be slapped on to the new kid who was too goddamn happy to be here?

“Technically we’re doing crimes by breaking and entering,” said Billy to Isabella. “But yeah, let’s call it ghost hunting so we can take an insanity plea if we get caught.”

Penny muttered a quiet dumbass underneath her breath, and then visibly bristled when one of the girls from Sucre (Paige right? She thought she had heard someone call her Paige) approached her on a crutch. As the silver haired girl spoke, Penny’s features softened and the corners of her lips rose for a brief moment into a mildly embarrassed smile that she quickly masked by shoving a cigarette back into her face. For a second she even forgot that her head felt like a constant blast beat was being played upon it.

“Don’t mention it. It was the right thing to do,” she said. To Penny, it was the only thing she could’ve done. No alternatives had even crossed her mind. She looked past the girl as one of the groups headed into the barn. She cocked her head their way. “They’re leaving you behind.”

Penny didn’t fail to notice the “Claire Bear Stare” being cast her way. At the same time she felt her headache come back. Fitting. Behind her glasses, she stared back. It’d be idiotic to start shit up again, but Penny would push back if forced.

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Main House

---

"I was actually hoping that you'd join me. You're too quiet and I get the feeling I need to keep my eye on you."

Rita felt her face scrunch up as Britney tried to play the truth off as a joke. So Britney was going to be scrutinizing her then, huh? It was an alarming thought, even though Rita wasn’t sure why she felt a sense of unease around Britney (aside from how Rita felt a general unease around any person, obviously). After all, the other girl seemed to mainly be interested in helping out the other members of the support group, even if she seemingly knew a suspicious amount of information regarding their bizarre situation. Whatever it was, Rita felt relief when others signed up to be apart of their investigation team—she even mouthed a “thank God” to Martin as he volunteered himself. Otherwise, she was worried that Britney would do more interrogating than Rita would.

With the groups squared away they proceeded up on to the porch of the three-story house. There was something surreal about seeing the house from the old newspaper up close in person, and with the sun beginning to set Rita felt the pressure to burn through the house as quickly as possible before there was no more daylight. The front door was locked, but Britney used her abstraction to unlatch a window.

“I’ll do it,” said Rita when Britney asked for someone to squeeze through the window. For starters, she was now determined to be as helpful as possible to hopefully diminish whatever suspicions it was that Britney had about her. Plus, she was the smallest. It only made sense.

What didn’t make sense, and Rita hadn’t realized this until she set both of her feet on the hardwood floor of the inside of John Reid’s farmhouse, was volunteering to go in alone into a house where a murder had apparently happened according to some mysterious, randomly appearing newspaper article. The newspaper seemed incredibly old, so it was likely that it had been a long time ago and she wouldn’t be wandering blindly into any freshly bloated corpses, but it hadn’t appeared until after the God-Child had shown them the future. Who’s to say that it wasn’t another premonition? Regardless, Rita moved swiftly through what appeared to be a completely normal dining room and into the hall, taking no time to find the front door and open it for the others.

“Um, come on in?” she said, feeling more nervous by the second.

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Garage

---

“Hey, you’re welcome to join as long as you keep your drawings to yourself, bro,” said Billy to Rien before clapping them on the shoulder. “Sorry about earlier, by the way. Us lazy people gotta stick together.”

"I mean hey, if you're looking for a ghost..."

Billy looked down as indicated by Nate, his jaw dropping ever so slightly as the man’s shoe momentarily disappeared into the dirt. Even after witnessing Rien’s ability to draw things to life and his sister’s power of somehow becoming even more of a super bitch (which, having not witnessed her abstraction, was what he assumed her power was, all things considered), seeing an abstraction being used was still mind blowing. It also made him a little jealous, since he still had no clue if he had been forgotten or had just drawn some dud abstraction in the power lottery they had seemingly all joined in on.

“I dunno dude, it looks a little fake. We should probably just stick with the sheet,” said Billy, giving Nate a smile that said he was also now accepted into the fellowship of the garage. Not that their group had any real restrictions as to who joined it. Really, he was kind of hoping for four to five other people so he could just dick about while the rest of them searched, but regretfully it seemed like the others had already settled into their other squads. Team Garage moved forward, dipping through one of the doors and stepping into the sunless garage. Billy pulled out his phone and switched on the flashlight, shining it over all of the junk. Apparently, John Reid had been a hoarder. As Jordan poked fun at his comment about it being easy mode, Billy groaned out a soft, “Ah, shit.” But it wasn’t all too bad. After all, there was a sick muscle car that—Sweet Jesus what had Reid done to it?

"How about we go check the cars first?" Kimberly said, "If there's something hidden, maybe it'd be in there."

“I’m on it,” said Billy. He blew past the truck—driving a truck was just asking for someone to beg you to help them move—and began to fidget around with the muscle car. He looked inside the hood, under the frame, and then got into the driver’s seat. He fumbled around inside for a minute, poking at this, pulling at that, before he shouted loud enough to get the attention of the garage gang. “Oh man!” he said, his voice ringing. “This thing is a total piece of shit! It’s completely gutted!”

During his screwing around, the ker-chunk of the trunk unlocking could be heard throughout the garage.

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Atrophy@Prosaic@Mike73@He Who Walks Behind}
The Reid Farmhouse – Main House

---

Min stayed silent as the group for the main house formed, observing the people around him. Britney’s response to the more mousey girl’s question confirmed that it was more than just a normal question. There was no way that was what she’d wanted to answer. What is something to do with the girl’s abstraction? Min wanted to know but didn’t know how to figure it out.

Their group ended up the largest, which wasn’t really a surprise. The main house would probably hold the most secrets – and even if it didn’t, Britney did. He followed everyone else to the house, narrowing his eyes thoughtfully as Britney managed to get the window open. Plant powers, perhaps? He made a mental note of that.

The more he knew about everyone’s abstractions the better.

Thankfully the questioning girl went in through the window and got the door open for them in no time. He was quick to move past everyone and into the house, brushing his hand along with door and nodding to Rita.

The images that came into his mind as he touched the door weren’t useful at all. He knew that John Reid had used it the most and when it had been made. Not information he really needed. He looked around the hall with a slight frown. Where would they even start?

“Does anyone know the layout of the house?” he turned to the group that he asked, but his gaze was on Britney. She was most likely to have an answer, after all.

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Atrophy@Zombiedude101}
The Reid Farmhouse – Garage

---

“I can’t promise anything about the drawings,” Rien grinned, though it was obvious she was joking rather than serious in response to Billy. “And it’s fine, no hard feelings.”

Then some other guy stuck his foot into the ground and damn. Rien was not prepared for that at all. They were beginning to think they had gotten the short end of the stick here. “That’s so cool, can you walk through walls like ghosts do in the movies? Wow.”

When they reached the garage, they couldn’t help but let out an exasperated sigh. “Of course this guy has a garage full of junk. Couldn’t just make our lives a little bit easier by leaving the important information lying around, could he?”

At Kimberley’s suggestion that they searched the cars first, Rien switched on the flashlight of their phone and headed towards the truck. Billy seemed to have the other car pretty well covered. They went around to the open back, since they had no idea how to get into a locked car, and started looking through the stuff there.

“I don’t think it matters if the car is in a shit state, a dead guy doesn’t need to drive!” Rien couldn’t help but call back, loud enough for the guy to here.

And then there was the sound of the trunk unlocking. Wow, efficient. There might be some stuff in there – though who would keep things in the back of the car they were working? The others could probably get that so Rien kept looking through the pickup truck.

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Ciaran}
The Reid Farmhouse –Barn

---

Caelea gave a nod of acknowledgment to the silver haired girl who said that she’d join (it seemed better to be polite, even if she didn’t know her). She then turned to Hagan with a roll of her eyes.

“Hey, asshole,” she retorted, though her tone was light and it was obvious she didn’t mean it. Unlike most of the people in this town she actually got on with Hagan. “Pretty sure that won’t be happening, I ain’t going to go weak at the knees just cause some ghost appears.”

Still, she was glad to have him along. It made her feel a bit more comfortable. Caelea could handle herself pretty well but sometimes you just needed a big guy with a baseball bat. She didn’t really believe in ghosts but she knew that Scott Reese was real and would rather not take him on.

“Even if it doesn’t affect the ghosts, I’m sure they’ll be scared by you’re attempts to hit them,” Caelea teased with a slight smile as she headed to the barn. They had quite a small group, but hey a group was better than none. And she kind of preferred it that way anyway. Less people to irritate her.

The inside of the barn wasn’t exactly pristine, but Caelea couldn’t say she expected any less when Hagan pulled open the doors. It had been left for however long.

“Can’t say I like the idea of having to avoid shit while looking around,” she frowned, though the smell didn’t really bother her at all. It was just a bit of a pain.

Then the other girl that had tagged along asked for a stick to air out the place. Caelea didn’t quite know how that would worked since it was a big barn but whatever. It didn’t seem like anyone else was going to get something so she moved into the barn, avoiding most of the mess to grab a rake she’d spotted before coming back out. It was stick like enough.

“Will this do?”

---

_{@Surtr Inc}
The Reid Farmhouse – Outside

---

Tuyen couldn't help but feel a bit relieved as the other groups went towards their destinations, leaving just a few of them to watch. She was relieved that Min hasn't stuck around. It had been difficult enough spending the time immediately after the support group group without letting slip how difficult she was finding everything at the moment. Though he'd seemed happy enough just to fill her in and then talk about what he thought about it. Didn't really give her much room to talk which was fine by her.

She only caught her name from what Justin said, but was pretty sure it was just a greeting anyway. She shook away the distracting thoughts and headed over to him with a slight smile. "No you haven't. Hey, nice to meet you, I’m Tuyen.” Tuyen gave Claire a wave even as she realised it was kind of redundant to say her name when Justin had already said it. The taller girl was kind of scary looking, but in a kinda attractive way. That thought totally didn’t make her uncomfortable. Disgusting. She wasn't so sure about the smoking buddy thing too, but hey she wasn't one to tell people what to do.

The question was something that she had to give thought to. What did she think of the group so far?

Weird. Mixed. Intimidating. Judgemental. Difficult. Argumentative. A pain. She didn't know which thoughts were hers, and which were not.

"That's not exactly an easy question, Justin," Tuyen ran a hand through her hair. She wasn't really worried about what the two would think about what she said (aside from her constant self doubt) but it didn't mean she was sure of what to say. "There's a lot of people which goes without saying. I can't say that I like all the arguing and clashing personalities. I don't think I stuck around long enough earlier to really get a good read on the whole group. Some people some nice enough, others... I don't know. But I don't think that working together is going to happen. It's not a well formed group."

For once she let her more negative thoughts seep through into what she said, rather than just staying positive. It was hard to stay positive about a situation where a ragtag group was expected to save an entire time from some unknown creature.

"I'm glad that I know some people in the group, at least, but I also know that some of them don’t work well with people." Min came to mind, but Tuyen didn’t say that out loud. Last thing she wanted to do was add more fuel to the fighting between those two. She gave a light shrug. "It’s hard to have much of an opinion on people I just met a few hours ago.”

 

---

_{@Atrophy@He Who Walks Behind@Prosaic@FernStone@Mike73}

---

"Thank you," Britney said to Rita as she opened the door. She took a few steps and looked around. It was just as she remembered it. Britney turned to Min, as she said, "We don't have a layout, but this house isn't terribly complex." The first thing the group laid eyes upon was a flight of stairs that lead to the bedroom, and to the side was a hallway that went to a kitchen. To their left, and the room that Rita entered, was the living room with two sofas, a bookcase, and a TV. To their right was a room with a computer and several more bookcases, and was the study.

"Okay, let's hurry up and get to work. I'd look into the study," Britney said, "But, I'm going to look into the upper floors? Who wants to come with?"

---

---

"He does have a daughter, y'know." Kimberly added to Rien's rather... insensitive comment. She only vaguely knew Sharon, but word on the street (from one of her "clients") was that she was out of town. She only personally wondered what role did the girl played in all this madness. Or what she'd think of her father being "dead." Kimberly looked around as Billy dug through the gutted muscle car. "I... get the feeling we should get out of here sooner rather than later." She didn't know, but she felt like Sharon was going to come back at the literal worst time and they'd get in a lot of shit.

And Kimberly would rather not.

"He was probably one of those dads who couldn't just wait to get their hands on a muscle car," Jordan dryly said to Billy as she crossed her arms. "Even if they're buying one big work in progress that they can never finish... oh." Jordan realized just what she said, but she then turned to Kimberly and said, "... you're just realizing that now?" She snickered.

"I don't think anyone realizes that John wasn't the only person that lived here." Kimberly said as she went to the truck, and dropped down underneath it to look at the underside. Maybe they'd have something there. Jordan on the other hand just shrugged as she went to John's musclecar, and began searching it. Okay. She had to harkon back to her highschool days of hiding things in her own car. If she was going to hide something (like a lot of time; weed) then... She opened the door, before she glanced at the door panel, and walked over to the pile of tools and grabbed a crowbar.

Jordan wanted to get out of here fast as possible, so she wasn't playing around out there. She jammed the crowbar in the door panel, and pried it open. If somebody bitches about it, then that was the least of her concerns right now. The panel hit the ground, and it revealed an old envelope. What was conspicious was that it had NEVER FORGET written on it. "Guys, I got something!" She raised in the air as Kimberly immediately ran over to her.

"Well, open it so we'd know that it's useful," Kimberly said, and Jordan opened it up to reveal a collection of photographs. The first was one of a man that looked like John Reid, another woman, and both of them were holding two children. The photograph was old and worn out, so it was hard to make out all the details. But, she was certain that Reid only had one child. She wondered for a moment, before she continued going through the envelop to reveal a key. It wasn't a key to like a car, but it seemed to be a doorkey?

Could it be for his house? It doesn't make sense to leave a key for your house out here. Then she continued going through the photographs to reveal a bunch of highschool photographs, a lot of them with that woman. These photographs were clearly set in the 80's, as many of them were of football games, kids in the gym, swimming, and so on. Hillview High School was a name that appeared a lot in the background.

What was conspicuous was the fact that many of the kids had their faces crossed off for some reason. That was what caught Kimberly's attention, and the last photograph was of a graduation.... where everyone had their faces crossed off with a red mark opposed to the black one that was used, and the words that were written...

THE PAST IS DEAD, AND SO ARE THEY

Kimberly showed everyone the rather disconcerting images, and asked, "... What is this?"

---

---

"It's perfect!"

Lynette said to Caela as she took the stick. She walked over to a support beam and held the end with both hands so she could use all of her strength to break the end of it against a support beam. Enough so that it would be pointy enough to make this a lot easier. Though, she turned towards the group with worried eyes. "... You all might want to get out the way. " She softly warned the group as she walked to the center of the floor and drew a symbol - the symbol of air. A massive one in all of the dust and cowpies.

"Well," Hagan said as he took a few steps back and crossed his arms. "I kinda want to see what you're doing." He smirked as he stood in the doors of the farm.

Lynette smirked as she finished the glyph and deviously said, "... Well, can't say I didn't warn you." Suddenly, the massive glyph started glowing a blue color, and Lynette wasted no time in hauling ass out the doors past Hagan. Massive violent winds were summoned that sucked up all the dust and cowpies into a funnel, and assembled it into the center of the room... before sending it flying right out the door. Right at Hagan.

"Shit!" Hagan said as he threw his arms up in the way to shield his face as he prepared for the inevitable... however, not a thing hit him. He opened his eyes, and saw a transparently, vaguely orange, wall in front of him him that took the blunt of the literal shitstorm that was heading his way. It just remained against the wall, as it slowly faded away and Hagan took a few steps back. He raised an eyebrow as he looked around, and wondered what in the tits just happened. "What the fuck was that?"

Oh, Lynette just found this a little bit more interesting. Even though what she did goes against the whole "leave no traces" order by Britney... Lynette wasn't going to search through a pile of thousand year old shit. "Told you to get out the way." She playfully teased Hagan as she sauntered past him and looked inside. It seemed as if her cleaning did the trick because now she could see the floorboards. Which was perfect! Because now she could clearly see a giant hatch in the middle of the floor and she got excited. Though, when she was about to run over to the door, Hagan grabbed onto her shoulder to stop her.

"Slow your roll," Hagan casually said. "If we go down there, we go as a group." He said to... Lynette's extreme displeasure. He walked over to the hatch, and pulled it open to reveal... complete darkness.

"... Who wants to jump in?!" He asked with a toothy grin as Lynette shook her head, and then pulled out her phone and turned on it's flashlight. It revealed... a ladder, and a tunnel. Both Hagan and Lynette looked in confused, but Lynette was the first to take action. She grabbed a shovel that was lying around, and a marker, before she wrote the symbol of fire on it, and climbed down. Aiming the shovel down the tunnel like a staff, the symbol glowed brightly, before a fireball went down the tunnel...

... and kept going.

"Ain't too sure about this one, pals," Hagan said, "Should we even travel down a weird ass, dark-ass, tunnel under some dead guy's barn?"

---

Reid Farmhouse - Barn
_{@Atrophy @Surtr Inc}

---

Penny had said that what she had done was nothing, that it had just been basic morality, but Paige couldn't accept that. She'd feel guilty if she didn't repay that somehow. "Penny, you saved my life," she said. "And you could have died doing it. That's not nothing. Listen- if you ever need anything, anything at all that I can help with, just- just ask, alright?" And with that, Paige turned and headed towards the barn.

It seemed that the rest of the group had been delayed by something. Paige could see them leaving the barn as she approached, and then a moment later, well, something. Paige realised what was happening just in time for her to tilt her head out of the way of a stray piece of crap that came flying past. She looked at her outfit and realised how glad she was that she'd avoided that. Anyway, whatever had caused that had slowed down the rest of the group enough that Paige caught up. As they were all heading inside, she, being slower than them, was left behind momentarily, but caught up again once they all stopped and gathered around the hole in the floor.

It was then that the tall boy asked whether they should procede into the tunnel below the barn. For Paige, that was an easy question to answer. She had never wanted to be involved in this, but since she had no choice, she was determined not to be dead weight. She hadn't come out all this way only to give up when things got a little bit creepy; far worse than creepy was sure to come by the end, if there was one. "We came here for information, didn't we?" she asked him.

Paige then climbed down to the first couple of rungs of the ladder, using her good leg and her free hand. "Catch," she said to the dark-skinned girl below, before dropping her crutch down to her, and climbing down the rest of the steps in a strange manner, relying mostly on upper body strength (of which Paige had a surprisingly large amount of, given her build; contrary to popular opinion, it takes quite a lot to draw back a bow, as she had done many times now) to lower herself between steps while her prosthetic leg hung limply, not touching the ladder.

Once Paige had dropped her crutch, she carried on speaking to the tall boy above her. "I don't know about you, but a weird-ass, dark-ass tunnel seems like a great place to store something you don't want found. Evidently, it scares people away."

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Atrophy@Prosaic@Mike73@He Who Walks Behind}
The Reid Farmhouse – Main House

---

“Hmm,” Min just nodded in response to Britney. Well, it shouldn’t be too hard to efficiently get around the place anyway. There was enough of them to cover all of the place in no time. He moved off to the side, peering into the study with slightly narrowed eyes. It seemed like a logical place to keep information, but if John Reid wanted to keep it secret… well he wouldn’t put it in there, would he? That was just too obvious.

“I’ll come to the upper floors.”

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Atrophy@Zombiedude101}
The Reid Farmhouse – Garage

---

“I did not know that,” Rien gave a slight shrug to Kimberley, but at least looked like they felt a bit bad. Then again they didn’t care all that much. Okay, so it had been a bit insensitive. But it wasn’t going to hurt anyone here.

They went back to searching in the back of the truck but weren’t really coming up with anything. They guessed it was just a bit too obvious a place to put super secret information you didn’t want to get out. It was all just tools and shit like that.

Jordan found something, though, and Rien was more than happy to stop searching to head over and see what it was. The sooner they finished this shit the better. They kind of wanted to get out of here without getting caught and without too much effort. Or before something worse turned up to try and kill them.

“What the fuck?” Rien looked over the photos that Kimberley showed everyone with a slight frown. Not creepy at all. It was all a bit weird. Then a thought occurred to them.

“This is just a shot in the dark, but the weird god child said something about a previous generation of Awakened,” they pointed to the last photograph. “Do you think that’s them?”

---

_{@Surtr Inc@Ciaran}
The Reid Farmhouse –Barn

---

Caelea had no idea what the girl she handed the stick to was going to do, but she figured it was better to move out of the way. Though in her case her way of doing that was to just step behind Hagan - he could take the brunt of whatever happened. She was so small that he basically acted like a wall that she could hide behind. She kind of wanted to see what was going to happen anyway so she could still peer around him.

Well that was quite an abstraction that blew away all of the shit. A bit handy really. And there was that nifty wall that she'd just about seen appear in front of Hagan. Was that his? He looked just a little confused about it.

"Didn't know you had some kind of magical protection from literal shit," she said, mostly joking, before heading over to the hatch that they'd found in the middle of the barn. Of course this guy had a creepy tunnel under his barn. Why wouldn't he? She only hoped it didn't lead to some freaky place that had nothing to do with all the stuff happening to them. She had to say that the tunnel wasn't the most appealing thing, she wasn't a fan of fan of cramped spaces. But it was the place with the biggest chance of actually containing something.

And damn it was long.

"You scared of the ghosts down there, huh, Hagan?" Caelea teased, though her tone was slightly cautious. She did hold some of his hesitations about it. What happened if they for stuck down there. "I kinda have to agree that it's the place we're most likely to find something. I'm sure it's safe enough, what’s the worst that can happen in a dark tunnel?"

Okay a lot of things, but she wasn't the kind of person to let that get to her. The tight space bothered her more. It would be constraining.

"We should probably go into it but stick together while doing it." A bit quieter, she added. "I can't believe I'm advocating teamwork."

Shaking her head, she went over to the opening and easily climbed down the ladder. She shuffled to the side to give Hagan room to come down and pulled out her phone to turn on it’s (shitty) flashlight. The tunnel creeped her out a bit but she wasn’t going to let it get to it.

She just hoped they actually found something down here.
 

---

"That’s so cool, can you walk through walls like ghosts do in the movies? Wow.” For the first time, Nate was surprised to find someone at least somewhat impressed by his new trick, his 'abstraction' as it was supposed to be called. To what extent it lay, he wasn't too sure. "Probably," he gave a shrug towards RIen, "Though I'm not too sure on if I can float around and stick goo everywhere. Not sure people would take too kindly to that-"

"Ha ha," someone else remarked - Jordan, the dark-skinned girl who walked with a bit of a limp - maybe that was why she'd taken such a dull tone to his remark, with her own footing and all? "“I dunno dude, it looks a little fake. We should probably just stick with the sheet," at least Billy hadn't been such a killjoy about it - the guy even seemed a little amused by the suggestion, or maybe it was the fact he'd stuck his foot in the ground. "A sheet?" Nate shot back, laying the faux-incredulity thick, "Nah, c'mon - you gotta be really edgy these days, just throw on a clown mask or a bag with a GoPro stuck on top and you're good."

One of the others, Kimberly - dark-haired girl with glasses, took the initiative and went up ahead with her phone - prompting him to whip out his own device and use the flashlight app to get a better view as he followed suit with the others. A pickup that had seen better days... a muscle-wagon that had definitely seen better days, with both wheels and engine absent and about a dozen or more sets of rusty old tools left lying around that gave him the vibe of one of his old man's garage haunts from when he used to get dragged along on a business trip - Mister Ward was, after all, a fan of what he thought of as 'good cars', this kind counted among them. So was Quent, for that matter.

At any rate, Nate wasn't sure if this guy was going for a rustic backwoods vibe or was actually a genuine grease-monkey who'd left this stuff to rot. This whole 'guardian' thing by itself was a clusterfuck to make sense of. Kimberly made a fair suggestion on checking out the cars - maybe there was something in the glove compartment? Billy had quickly dove headfirst into the muscle car, in the process complaining about what a piece of shit it was and that the whole thing was stripped bare, finally catching what he could only assume was the release lever for the trunk. Huh. Guess these old cars don't need electronics to unlock.

Kimberly not-so-subtly urged them to get a move on - Nate idly wandered around with the torch, peering into the occasional nook or cranny here and there, trying to spy anything of use to no avail. They got into a conversation about this John Reid guy being one of those dads who liked to get their hands on cars - so he had a daughter? That would've sucked for her, coming back home to find out her old man was dead. Nate knew that feeling from the opposite side of the coin, near enough - nobody deserved it, not like that. Even if it was the other way around, Nate still wouldn't have wanted it, for all the problems he had with his dad...

"Guys, I got something!" He spun around, catching Kim and Jordan with a colletion of photographs in hand. Stepping in close, with his phone's light at the ready to help illuminate the scene, he leaned in to get a glimpse of his own.

A key, bundled with some old photographs - the kind that looked to date at least thirty years or more, all the way back to the 80s. A lot of them were of highschoolers by the looks of it - many of their faces had been crossed off with a red marker. Definitely a backwoods killer vibe.

THE PAST IS DEAD, AND SO ARE THEY

"What is this?

It was a line which they were all probably reading out in their heads.

“This is just a shot in the dark, but the weird god child said something about a previous generation of Awakened,” Rien pointed to the last photograph. “Do you think that’s them?”

"I guess, it could be," Nate nodded, inclined to agree with them, "But what's with the creepy serial killer vibe? If these guys - they were all like us, powers and shit, what happened to them? Why are they dead?" Truthfully, it made his gut sink just a little. "It looks too old for Cousin Reese's murder-spree to have happened, and that isn't the guy's style, right? He's all smash-smash stab-stab, but he stops to mark these guys off? No, this isn't right. Someone else has been doing this - maybe the same person who killed this John Reid guy?"

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Garage

---

“Right, right, right,” said Billy as Kimberly mentioned Reid’s daughter. He exited the vehicle and poked around in the trunk. Nothing out of the ordinary. “So let’s just make sure that we—” As he spoke, Jordan came out the muscle car with a crowbar and split open the door panel, finding an envelope inside as the panel clattered to the ground. His choked out the remainder of his sentence through chuckles as he rubbed his face. “—don’t break anything.”

While they geeked out about the mysterious envelope, Billy lifted the door panel off of the ground and tried to fit it back into place. Thanks to Jordan’s crowbar skills, the panel slid right back off and almost hit the ground before he caught it. Lifting it back up once more, Billy quickly slammed the door before it had a chance to fall. There. It was as if nobody had been there at all...assuming Reid’s kid never opened the door. He turned in time to catch Kimberly showing off the picture of a graduation ceremony with a group of kids lined up in the photo, their faces crossed off with red marks.

"... What is this?"

“Just some good ol’ fashion nightmare fuel,” said Billy, slipping behind Rien as they took the picture so he could study them as well. Rien was a bit more constructive with their feedback, suggesting that the photo was of the previous generation of Awakened. Nate chimed in, pointing out that if the kids in the photo had been Awakened like them then they being all dead was, to put it mildly, an ominous sign. And he was right. It couldn’t have been Reese. The kid may have always been a creep, but he hadn’t started murdering until their horrible camp out. They could conjecture all day about what had happened, but from the looks of it the pictures were taken before any of them had been alive.

“Anyone know who this chick is? Reid’s wife, maybe? Girlfriend?” he asked, grabbing the “family photo” and pointing to the woman that appeared in a majority of the pictures. “If she’s still alive maybe we could ask her what’s up with the creepy scrapbook project. You know, assuming she wasn’t the one ganking kids in the first place.”

---

The Reid Farmhouse - Main House

---

“I’ll take the study, then,” said Rita, glad to have an opportunity to breakaway from having Britney’s eyes on her. For all she knew, Britney would have the group split up yet again and leave Rita all alone with the woman who, just recently, was beginning to intimidate Rita. She gave Martin a half-hearted wave goodbye before dipping away into the study. The dwindling light from outside barely lit the room, so Rita flicked on the switch. A lamp in the corner of the room next to reading chair buzzed to life; it was better than nothing.

Her attention was immediately drawn to the set of bookcases. The reader in her wanted to do nothing more than thumb through the books on the shelves, and while a number of them looked like stodgy works about academia there were a few titles that hinted at some vaguely occult subjects that mildly piqued her interest. However, she doubted that Reid would leave something so secretive out in the open. Instead, she fired up his computer and waited as the machine clicked, whirled, and then came to life, a login screen for user JReid that prompted her for a password. Frowning, Rita tried “password” and then “admin” before groaning and turning her attention to the desk, which was locked. Screw it. She was never that much into computers anyway; bookcase it was, then.

Rita began at the middle shelf of one of the cases. Slowly she began to pull out books, flip through them, and replace them. She doubted that she’d find anything, really, even if TV had taught her that every creepy house had a rotating bookcase triggered by pulling out a certain book and every secretive guy hollowed out books and concealed confidential information inside of the pages. She figured she’d go through the shelves for the next couple of minutes and then creep upstairs to join Martin.