It was a dark and stormy morning, thought Sarah to herself. Perhaps calling the Saturday morning stormy was stretching things, and it wasn't exactly dark either. But the clouds were low and grey, and the wind was rolling them across town. It hadn't actually rained yet, but the promise was clear.

Sarah was sitting on the front porch, wearing her mom's old leather coat. It still shone blue and she expected it would shed any rain just fine. She could always oil it later too, if it did soak up any water. The coat had deep pockets, holding her wallet and phone in a ziplock bag on her right side, and an empty bag in the pocket on her left. That bag was for the book she was reading while she waited.

A honk made her look up, and she smiled to see Alexa’s jeep waiting at the curb. Sarah carefully put her book into the bag, and then into her pocket, and then she ran over and hopped in, and together they zoomed off.

"You've got Finn's address?" checked Sarah.

"Yeah," nodded Alexa.

"I probably should have gotten into the back seat," said Sarah.

"Why? No," said Alexa.

"He's just so much taller, he's not even going to fit back there.

"Who cares? I don't."

"I don't want to be rude, I'd fit just fine in the back."

"Nah, don't let him think you're thinking about him. And we’re already doing him the favor here, plus it's my car. He can sit in the back."

"All right then," said Sarah.

They pulled up to a house set well back behind a wide green lawn. Somehow the lawn was even thick and healthy underneath the big trees that made the space truly dark. Oaks? Elms? Sarah didn't know. They weren't maple, they didn't have those five-pointed Canada leaves. The leaves were kinda long and lacy like someone with a fret saw had gone crazy on them.

Finn opened the door pretty fast after Alexa honked. He must have been waiting just inside. Instead of ducking under the trees he went around, following a curved driveway out to where the girls were waiting. He was wearing sneakers, jeans, and a faded t-shirt.

"Gonna be cold," said Alexa as he got in.

"Nah, wet maybe, but not cold," said Finn. "Good morning, Sarah."

"Morning," she answered.

"Thanks for doing this," said Finn. "Want to talk on the way?"

"And risk you having a bright idea and setting my baby on fire?" snapped Alexa. "No, we'll wait. It's not far."

The silence stretched as they drove west, out of town.

Raindrops splattered against the windshield, obscuring the view of the rugged landscape. The atmosphere inside the car was almost tense, and the occasional flash of lightning sparkled behind the hills. Each of them was lost in their own thoughts, the silence broken only by the sound of rain hitting the car's roof.

They were headed towards a semi-deserted depot, the depot had been abandoned for years, with rusted train tracks stretching out into the distance. It used to be a waypoint where trains split up their cargo, but traffic using it had dropped off long before Sarah had been born. Every so often someone decided to reuse the place, building a new warehouse or loading station. After driving for close to an hour, they finally pulled off the highway at the depot complex.

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The newest building was still in use - a distribution center for some big box company. It was just a big white rectangle, lined with docking bays for trucks. Today, the parking lot was almost empty, with just a couple of box trucks parked near the back.

The tension inside the car had became palpable, and not just from the silence. Sarah could feel pressure closing around her mind, and she eyed the thick glowing fog with anticipation. Sarah stole a glance at Finn through the mirror in her sun visor, and she could see him rocking his knees as he waited patiently. Despite the seriousness of their errand, she also taste a flicker of excitement in the way he was watching the scenery slide by.

They pulled onto an unpaved side street, Alexa's grip tightening on the steering wheel, and she navigated a muddy track with a little smile. Sarah hadn't noticed when she’d pulled her magic in, but Alexa was glowing brightly green now, and she was smiling as they bounced over ruts and divots.

"Let's see, Bri said..." Alexa trailed off as she made another turn around some old hulk of corrugated steel. They drove around a pile of rotting timber, and then right over a chain link fence that had fallen across the road. The tires started making a crunching noise over intact asphalt, and Sarah could even see the remains of old paint lines marking parking spots. A dirty red brick building loomed over them. There were some broken windows up near the roof, and Sarah could see chains hanging over the doors. Alexa pulled to a stop parallel to the wall, totally ignoring the lines.

Looking around, Sarah could see some trees, some walls, and fences, but the working distribution center was completely hidden, as was the main road. No one was likely to see them parked here unless they were really looking for something. The air was thick and humid, and the ground was wet, but it wasn't raining either, and the rumbles of thunder all came rolling out from beyond the hills.

"So, right here?" asked Finn. “Are you going to show me now?

"We could, but come look, I think there’s somewhere better," said Alexa. She led the way to the big doors. They were probably glass once, but now they were just big pieces of plywood nailed into the steel door frames.

"Are you going to break it," asked Sarah.

"I could, but no. Look," said Alexa. Finn's eyebrows lowered as he thought about what Sarah asked, but he didn't say anything. Sarah looked at the thick chains hanging on the door, they were held together by a rusty padlock. It looked old and dirty enough that even if someone had a key, they'd probably still need to cut it. Then Sarah looked again, at where Alexa was pointing. At the end of the chain, where it was looped through steel rings driven into the red brick, the chain was just held together with a hook. "We're not the first people here. Lots of explorer types like this area, and they try to make it look like things are still shut up when they break in."

"Not that anyone would notice anything out here," said Finn.

"It probably wouldn't be quite so deserted if the weather was nice, or if it was a weekday," said Alexa.

"This'll be perfect," said Sarah, talking to Finn. "And the thunder makes it better. Don't want to break anything that matters, and no one will hear us over the storm either."

"Right," said Finn.

Alexa loosened the chain so they could open a door enough to slip in. Sarah eased through, making sure not to catch on anything sharp. Finn just bulled through, knocking crud down from the door jam. Alexa came in last. They were in a small entryway, no windows, but there was a dark doorway just ahead. In the darkness, Sarah could make out piles of mushy wood spaced evenly - probably old desks or tables. Ceiling tiles had fallen on top of everything else, giving it a curiously checkered appearance with their square shapes and sharp lines standing out against the rot.

Moving through the dark and musty rooms and hallways, She found a hallway with some light coming through from farther inside the building, and she picked her way through the debris to see what it was. It opened to a huge open space. She could see bare cement flooring here, only lightly obscured by a few tangles of rusty metal and drifts of rotten leaves. The roof had mostly fallen in, leaving the space open to the sky. All together, it looked bigger than the school's football field. Even with the mess of old steel and dead vegetation on the floor, there was still plenty of space to move around in.

"Yeah, perfect," said Sarah.