---

---

---

---

"Mm... I'm still almost thinking he's not quite summoned yet. A number of sacrifices at a set number of years and the like would suggest a long and powerful ritual. But yeah contingencies should be put in order just in case... Better be prepared for the city destroying demon before they actually appear." She smirked with a shrug and suddenly had a curious thought." King Solomon supposedly had sealed a lot of demons. We can try going that lead. Might discover something of use, alternatively we could persue the demon's natural enemy... the divine. Maybe there be relics we could get our hands on. Though have a feeling that would a real impossible task." She suggested and laughed.

"Well when we get to the mine, let's not bring out the body right away, okey? Better be sure there are no kiddos running around searching for Riley around there." She stated, recalling the fact how many people were still searching for her around the lake and hte forests still. A weird place to search for her, but given the area of the town, things made more sense.

"Look Abe, if something was to happen to me..." Kosara started to say and threw a glance at him." If by any chance something happens and I get possessed or captured by something, don't care about me and just do the job. If you have to kill me, do it." She said grimly.

---

---

---

Harry began to put his suit jacket back on, but then thought better of it and put it back down.Chances were he'd just need to remove it again soon, lest it be ruined. And enough of his clothes had been ruined for the day.

"I found a particular large wooden crate, nailed shut all along the edges of the lid. It was dated back 230 years ago, but looks to be in good condition. Hasn't been touched in ages as well. Too heavy for one person to lift. You wouldn't happen to know what could be inside, would you?" Chances of this being the case were unlikely, but it didn't hurt to ask. Perhaps Mr. Walker knew of an old family story about what was in the box. Or if it were to never be opened.

Something in particular about this crate. It was too conspicuous to just be sitting around sealed in an attic for over 2 centuries without reason. Hell, he'd even take an explanation as mundane as it holding onto old furniture that belonged to a friend and originally it was being saved so it could be shipped to them at their new home when they sent word that they were ready and the letter just never came in.

---

---

---

---

Finley wasn't too concerned with Jenna. As far as she was concerned, the girl made her bed and now she was laying in it. She missed her, of course, but if they could solve these mysteries, then it would prove Declan was not responsible. And that was important to her. She knew Declan was not responsible.

Olvia arrived with Miranda and Finley did her best to hide her frustration. She didn't want more involved than necessary, but the damage was done. "Well, too late now." She hoped Olivia didn't blurt out her secret. That would be a violation of trust that Finley didn't need right now. Either way, they were here. Now it was time to see what secret the lake held.

---

---

---

She was thankful the man had arrived, she could see the familial resemblance between him and Robert. It distracted from the plants that had grown under her touch, and her confession to Robin about her mother. At least Robin hadn't seemed to pick up on the plants.

"Lydia and Jenna are in there. They are looking for Riley. She was taken by someone called, uh Sigfried." She turned to Robin. "Do you still have the photo?"

"Jenna thinks Sigfried took Riley into the mines because..." Heather trailed off, she wasn't certain why Jenna thought that. Also wouldn't Sigfried be dead logically? Things were too weird.

---

Okay, now that is a bit creepy with the kid talking to us like that, she thought to herself, looking at the kid through the crevice. She had no idea what to do now, especially since Jenna was more of the leader between the two of them, since she knew more about this sort of thing than she herself did. Lydia was just sort of being a follower, not so much what she typically did, but what else could she do in this sort of situation, she literally could do nothing and would be kind of lost without Jenna right now.

"Okay, is it just me, or are things getting stranger and stranger... Not to mention creepier with that one... So what's our next move Jen? I'm following you, you know more about this than me, but something tells me we'll find answers following that kid... Or whatever the hell it was," she said, glancing over at her cousin, not sure what to do.

---

---

---

---

Jenna wasn't too surprised that the thing knew their names. As far as she was concerned, there were a few explanations. First, they had called each other by name since entering the mine, even shortening down to nicknames. And second, knowing your name without a formal introduction seemed to be the perfect kind of tactic for a demon to pull off. Because of the two possibilities, it didn't phase her too much. Yet she also had to ponder her cousin's safety.

"...I'm going on through, Lydi," she told her calmly. She then hesitated and gave her a quick hug. "If anything happens to me, don't let Finley or Declan come to the funeral." She then took a breath and looked at the small opening the demon boy had gone through, before she crouched down to the ground and tried to go through herself, hoping that she wouldn't live (or die?) to regret her choice.

---

---

---

@Dragoknighte Mrs. Walker and Mr. Walker looked at each other for a moment when Harry asked about a sealed wooden box in the very back of the attic. "Give me a second." He said as he turned around and headed into their bedroom which was completely off limits to everyone but the family since it was their private space. Harry would hear a closet door in the room being opened, and then a few minutes or so later he came out with an old looking paper which was sealed in plastic as he started to look through it for a moment. "We have a few documents dating back to when this house was made, the crate you mentioned and it's contents should be in there." Mr. Walker said as he handed Harry the sealed paper. Which had mentioned the crate and its contents were some clothes of the family that owned it, some more papers, and other things, as well as a small jewelry box as well.

@Kirah@McHaggis&@Morose@BlueSky44 Robert's father looked down at his son for a moment, and then over towards the two kids in front of them and then the silvermine in front of them. He knew that neither him nor Robert could enter, he then reached into the back of his pocket and pulled out a knife handing it over towards Heather. "We cant enter the mines, but if what you said is correct then you will need to take this and enter." He said, gently patting Robert. "Go back home." He said, as Robert looked at him reluctantly before nodding. "I'll wait here." He said towards them as a car came driving up the path to the silver mine. Jenna would be able to crawl through the crevice with no issues at all, the demon kid was gone now and there were three more paths to go down the kid cackling manically but it sounded like it was coming from every corner of the mine, and there were bones, a lot of them some full on skeletons while others were just simple bones and skulls laying around. "Pick a path, you may find your friend." The kid laughed again.

---

---

---

---

"Yeah not sure we can get the attention of the divine or anything like that." Abraham said as they continued to make their way up to the silver mine as he looked over towards his niece. "We just have to make sure whatever is sealing him doesn't continue." Abe told her as he leaned back in his car seat and took off his hat rubbing his balding head a little bit while looking out of the window. Then looking back over at Kosara as she spoke and then shook his head rather quickly.

"I wont let nothing bad happen to you." Abe said as soon as they got to the silver mine Abe stopped as he noticed three kids one of them looking like Robert as he walked off again. There was an older looking man and noticed him holding something and handing it over to one of the kids. Abe started to get out of the car looking over towards his niece for a moment and then eyed Robin and Heather as well.

---

---

---

---

When Declan turned his head to look at the car he spotted Miranda there as well and gave her a smile, he was glad to see her there now as well, but it also did make things a little bit harder now. As Olivia looked at Finley, she knew that she risked betraying Finley's trust as she rubbed the back of her neck a bit and sighed. "I didn't tell the future sight thing you have, just told her that we were trying the search again." Riley whispered to Finley, before looking back at Miranda. "This was Finley's idea searching the lake again for clues and stuff." Olivia answered her.

Declan quickly went over towards Miranda and gave her a hug and gently patted her on the head and shook his head a bit. "Your fine, glad to see your here." He said towards her. "Besides it would be a huge waste of time just to drive back, more eyes the better." Declan said reassuring his friend. Olivia shifted a little bit looking at Declan and then at Finley for a moment, wondering if they should split up or not. "So want to stick together or split off?" Olivia asked.

---

---

---

---

“Sometimes divine interventions do happen... they've been recorded in the passage of history after all.” She shrugged as she was driving.” Alternatively we could attempt something more... pagan also. A number of powerful pagan entities could potentially resolve the issue for the right price as well.” Kosara informed him.” Or alternatively alternatively we could try other demons... If there's a demon who benefits from Asmodeus not appearing in our world, they would be willing to help. You'd be probably surprised how much of backstabbers demons supposedly are. Well they are demons so I cannot say it's a surprise really.”

She didn't reply anything, but smiled at Abe's promise that he won't let anything happen to her. It was nice to hear, but they didn't have the luxury to do that... If one of them had to die to stop this evil, one of them was going to die. It all just settled down to who it will require to do it. She was still happy though. Maybe she would do well to send that manuscript of her book to her publisher to have if proofread and set to printing now. After all she wasn't sure how much she'd live at the end of the day.

She then noticed the people at the mine.” What's going on here, you think?” She asked with narrowing eyes at the sight of the number of people and who they actually were.” I'm getting a bad feeling about this.” Kosara mumbled. Of course so many people being at the body disposal place meant something was going on of course, otherwise why would they be all here?

---

---

---

Heather took the knife nodding. She didn't understand why the man couldn't enter the mines, but to each their own she guessed. Maybe it was some religious thing. She understood that.

Abe pulled up and she felt a weight lift off her shoulders. She resisted crying. "Abe!" She shouted. "Jenna and Lydia are in there, looking for Riley and I don't really understand what is going on, but we saw the ghost of the mayor." She did not want to tempt fate anymore by asking if the day could get weirder.

"Oh, and this is Robert's dad. I'm sorry I don't know your name sir." She introduced Abe and Kosara to Robert's father. "We should go back in. I know which path they started down." She did not sound excited about going back in, but they had been out here so much longer than she had anticipated and she had no idea what the two girls were doing now. She was worried about them, even if she only barely knew them. If there were more paths she hoped they didn't end up lost.

---

---

---

That reaction wasn't a good sign. He was expecting ignorance or ambivalence. This, this was something of a double edged sword. It showed that he was probably on the right track. That he was hitting a vein so to speak. But given what he knew, there was also a great measure of risk here. There was a part of him that wondered if perhaps he should stop. Just say that he wasn't able to figure it out, apologize and potentially refund the parents. This case wasn't worth the trouble. He could just pick up the next case that came to him and forget this all ever happened.

But that didn't sit right with him. As tempting as the prospect of quitting while he still could was, he was too far in to quit now. A few more strong clues and he could likely piece it together. So many parts, he just needed to figure out how they all fit. Not to say that he also wasn't imagining what the discussion behind those closed doors consisted of. Matter of fact, perhaps he needed to perform a cover investigation of the Bed and Breakfast at some point in the future. There might be more to the building that he was yet unaware of.

"If that's all it contains," Harry responded after reading the paper, "do you know why it might have been sealed the way it is? A simple lock would work just as well, in a less permanent manner might I add."

---

---

---

---

Finley was at roughly breaking point already. After all, she had been steadily getting close to figuring out the mysteries plaguing the town. She lost Jenna and Declan was put on the spot to her grandparents. Olivia knew her secret and didn't blab about it, but it was still a breach of trust that came close. So Miranda coming at her was the straw that met the camel and broke its legs.

"Congratulations Miranda. You don't care what I think of you." She began mock applauding. "Big fucking whoop, cuz I'm gonna tell you anyway. I don't like you and Olivia inviting you here for something I planned was a big slap across my face, so pardon me if I'm a bit ticked off. But I said it's too late, meaning you can stay and participate, but for the love of all that is good left in this fucking world, if you continue to irritate me I will personally ensure the next body they find in this godforsaken town is your own! Now, are we going to solve this mystery and find Riley or are we going to continue to fucking argue like teenage girls?"

---

"W-W-What? Jenna what the hell are you doing?" Lydia asked, looking at her as she went through the opening. Having her cousin sitting there talking about her funeral as if it was going to happen in the very near future. Sure, this whole thing was freaky, and the fact that there was a lot of death surrounding this town was a little bit freaky, that didn't mean anything. Why the hell would Jenna instantly go head first into danger, by herself, without a care in the world.

She let out a bit of a sigh, before she went to make her way through the crevice as well. "Sorry there Jen, but I'm not going to let you go by yourself no matter what the hell you say. I'm coming with you whether you want me to or not, got it?" she said, following after her through the opening, not really caring at all if she got hurt.

---

---

---

---

Jenna came out on the other side, scrambling to her feet as she brushed a bit of dust/dirt/powdery substance off of her knees. She glanced around, noticing that the demonic child was gone and there were three paths presented to her. She didn't like a small demonic child laughing and telling her to pick a path. That was playing by the demon's rules and she was confident that was about the opposite of what she was supposed to do. She then smiled slightly as Lydia came with her.

"Well...We could pick a path, but that's just playing by this thing's rules. And I am certain that if we want to find Riley, we're not going to want to play along too much," Jenna reasoned. "I've also watched enough horror movies to know....that if you're coming with me, we should stay together. And most people will choose the right or the center when presented with options so...."

Jenna then picked the left path, heading down it.

---

---

---

@Dragoknighte Mr. Walker gave a little bit of a shrug at Harry's question, they usually kept records of their family's history or things like that. But he wasn't sure why it exactly it was sealed off the way it was, he leaned up against the wall a little bit and shrugged. "I really wish I knew honestly. If there is something that would lead to our daughters whereabouts I would try and see what is in there, you are certainly welcome to open it up." Mr. Walker said towards Harry letting out a little bit of a sigh, he wanted to make sure his daughter was still alive in someway.

---

---

---

---

As Abe got out of the car he looked over towards Kosara and gave a little bit of a shrug. "I'm not really sure." Abraham said as he closed the car door behind him and started to make his way over towards the group. When Heather said that Jenna and Lydia both went inside of the mine itself in search for Riley. He looked over at his niece for a moment and then eyed the knife that Heather was given, looking over as he watched Robert and his father quickly turned and left behind the trees. It seemed that they didn't want to stay that much longer, but he had a feeling why it was a silver mine after all.

"Quickly you need to lead us to where they went." Abe said looking at the knife once more he hadn't seen a knife like that in a very long time. "Keep that knife close to you, you are going to need it while we are inside." Abe said, as much as he didn't like the idea of having to go in with a bunch of teens and babysit them. But they needed to have strength in numbers as well, looking at Kosara and then started to make his way into the mine itself waiting for Heather to take the lead.

Further inside of the mine Jenna would start to see more ghosts as they walked aimlessly down the mineshaft that they had walked in, the creepy laughing had stopped at least for now. Then there was a slope that would lead them even further down the path that they had chosen, there was also an old looking mine cart as well on a set of tracks nearby it looked like it had seen some better days.

---

---

---

---

"Missed ya to." Declan said, as he then looked over at both Finley as well as Miranda as the two of them suddenly got into an argument which made him and Olivia feel like the people stuck in the middle. Finley gave Miranda a death threat while, Miranda threatened her as well. Olivia closed her eyes for a moment letting out a slight sigh knowing that it was probably a bad idea now, and watched as Miranda started to make her way towards her car.

"Give me a second, please don't leave." Olivia said as she quickly made her way over towards Miranda with a worried look and quickly stopped Miranda from leaving. "Please don't go? I really do need you here, Riley maybe out there and if she is there then maybe we can be the first ones to find her?" Olivia asked, while Declan looked at Finley for a moment, he could tell that she was a little bit heated right now and gently laid a hand on her shoulder. "Lets give them a little bit?" Declan said as he led Finley a couple of feet away, until they were just outside of Miranda's hearing. "I think Olivia meant well, I know that she screwed up a bit. But we could use the numbers if we are searching." Declan said calmly before saying again. "Olivia didn't blab about your vision thingy so that is a bit of a plus right?" Declan said calmly.

---

---

---

---

"You god damned have to be kidding me...!" Kosara cursed as she heard what was going on here. Of all stupid things to do, those kids had to do that one! Walking right into demonic traps for crying out loud! She quickly gave a glance to the other people around." Nice to meet you all, but no time for pleasantries." She stated flatly and in a hurry pulled her sword from it's bag and attached the sheath to her belt. She was lucky she grabbed the sword from back home, otherwise she would only have had her knife on her which wasn't a good option. At least this provided some more cutting power. She did wish she had grabbed the sawed off from her stash back home though.

"Just a moment though..." She called to Abe and hurriedly crouched by the entrance of the mine and drew a devils' trap right there. Those hell douches wanting to leave that mine will have a really nice surprise next time they try." Ok I'm done here." She called and hurried to follow after her grandfather. She noted the knife they had and raised an eyebrow. Well surprises happening all around it seemed.

"Amateurs... going in alone like that." She grumbled." Alrighty, anyone of us dies here, the rest are all pulling right out. If what I think might be hiding here, it's way too dangerous." She stated flatly.