Mystery Lake

[31] Warning

"Why did you ask me?" Roxy replied.

Eugene sat up from his notes, his hands flapping like birds trying to fly away from a sudden noise. "You seem to have the most experience with this phenomena, so I thought it might be worth a try to ask. Though it's hard to say where this note fits in with the fairy folklore. Now, if the name were the Host or the Horde, as sometimes pops up, it might make more sense. Apologies again for disturbing you. My mother should have dinner ready in a short while."

Roxy still felt some general achiness from her sleeping position, but she shook it off. "Is everyone else fine?"

Eugene nodded vigorously. "Oh yes, yes, yes. They've settled into the living room. Just general conversation. Mom's been sharing a few favorite anecdotes. I had to get back to the shop for a bit, but it's been quiet, so I've been able to poke around with the resources I have. But we'll be closing up before too long. And I promise to keep looking. This company note is an interesting lead, but it's so vague that I'm not sure how to follow it up. If you think of anything, anything at all, that might help point me in the right direction for my research; feel free to volunteer it."

She hadn't mentioned the faceless fairy princess friend. This would've been an opportune time to say something. But she didn't feel like it. Not right now. Was it because her friend was holding her back? It didn't feel that way. She could say and do whatever she wanted. At the same time, how could she be sure that the feeling wasn't just an empty assurance? She would tell Eugene. But later.

In the meantime, she asked him if it would be all right to look around the shop. Eugene assured her that she was welcome to freely roam the floors that belonged to them. The only restriction was that the first floor contained a barber shop, a nail salon, a spa, and a medical testing lab, and opening the wrong door led to random rooms and closets downstairs. So she had to be careful which doors she opened. That didn't seem like a problem to Roxy. He made a few last notes in the book before leaving the room.

Roxy went over to the old bathroom and splashed her face a little more before preparing to return to the group. The area around the stairs was quiet, with just a trickle of murmurs and laughter filtering against the walls and bouncing around.

The living space looked about the size of a restaurant. All sorts of strange adornments covered the walls, from old, weathered maps of unfinished shores and fantastical places that didn't exist to detailed murals of surrealist landscapes and heavenly vistas, along with a handful of hellscapes. Scattered among these vast visions were a variety of framed plaques, preserved kimonos, and fanciful paintings. Maggie Triton elaborated on one particular piece that looked like coral.

"We went diving a long time ago in Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii. We took some underwater pictures. Even then, there was massive bleaching going on because of the rising ocean temperatures. I don't know what it's like now, but this is a recreation of a small part of that bleached reef. Nowadays, I'd easily be able to create a 3D design and print it from photographs, but it took several prototypes and scale models. My original plan was to recreate it all, like a ghostly memorial. But even that took a lot." She moved on to an ornate kimono hanging with outstretched sleeves, with a happier story attached.

The old lady was an excellent storyteller, drawing her listeners in with tantalizing hooks and hints of a great payoff when she revealed the full details. Roxy curled up in the corner of the couch against Jake, who was actually recording the audio on his phone. Layla wore a royal purple jester's hat made of furry velvet on her head. And Chiara wore a black corset over her clothes. It didn't look very comfortable, but she wasn't complaining. Ross was wrapped in a fleece blanket, while Miranda wore a long, light blue dress with all sorts of embellishments and buttons that she couldn't resist fiddling with as she sat there.

Roxy missed a lot in between, but she'd figure it out eventually. Softly, Jake used a luxurious, full brush on Roxy's long hair. It wasn't an unfamiliar touch, since they often did what Joel liked to call "the monkey thing" and brushed each other's hair to relax.

He thought it was rather silly at first, especially when Jess first suggested it, but the relaxing therapy of Jess tending to his long hair after a long day of training and cramped college desks was something he soon swiftly looked forward to. The idea still grated on him as a soft and silly pampering thing that wasn't really necessary. But it was hard to say no.

As Roxy, whatever protestations fell away. Heck, the mention of a nail and spa downstairs actually tempted her to go full pamper. Not that she was reversing her resolve about minimal care for her hair and skin and crap. But since it was so close and Jake was already brushing, it would be silly to push away from the direction that things were going. She wasn't going to make this a totally regular thing, except for the hair brushing, so her body better not get used to this level of care. This was just a special, rare occasion.

Up there felt really nice. Not as nice as down there could feel. But the fact that she even put them together in the same thought elevated this instance of hair care to lofty heights. It was really good, and it made her imagine what a proper, full-body massage could do for her senses. Not that she would go that far, but it was worth thinking about. At least a little.

These pleasant thoughts were interrupted by a sudden, sharp chime on her phone, signaling that another text message had been received. It had to be from Russell. She could've left it. Easy explanation that she didn't have access to her phone for a couple hours in the evening. And that might allow her to put off an answer until sometime tomorrow.

But Jake nudged her about it, and she gave the basic version that she had seen a text from him earlier, so this was probably a follow-up. Jake nudged her again, saying that it was just a text and she didn't have to tell him everything, but he was probably worried about all the other things that were going through her head too.

Begrudgingly, Roxy opened up her texting app, expecting the usual follow-up message from her brother, detailing his latest concerns and expressing his hope that Joel would get back to him as soon as possible, just to make sure everything was okay and he was having a decent spring break.

The text wasn't from Russell. It was from an unknown sender with a garbled number.

[HIDE. NOW.]

A sharp, jagged, icy chill rattled through Roxy's gut. On any other day, she would have thought it was an out-of-season spooky ad campaign or some kind of scam asking for crypto, but after everything else that had happened earlier, she wasn't about to just ignore it.

Then, Jake's phone went off with a similar chime. Followed by Layla's, followed by Miranda's, followed by everyone else's. Even the old lady's and her son's. And it was the same message.

Hide where? From what? How?

Eugene looked at his mother first, urgent fear in his eyes. "Storage room. Down in the basement. Used to be a bank vault. Now we use it for canning, pickling, and fermenting. You should all go down there. I don't know what's coming, but we can lock up and hope for the best."

Miranda popped up from the couch. "What about the water? We brought some in, but the rest is in the car."

Jake got to his feet and offered, "I'll help you. I should be able to carry it."

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Honestly, Roxy didn't give a flying fuck about the death place fairy sex corpse water. The way things had been going lately, she honestly suspected that whoever or whatever was after them might be after them because they had the stuff. So it was probably better to just chuck it out the door and let those forces have it. Although they had been saturated and affected by and consumed some portion of that deathly liquid. If they wanted it all back, then that would be a problem.

That was a strange idea to come to Roxy spontaneously, which made her suspect that her friend was trying to drop hints. She figured out this kind of thing... eventually. It was a big leap, though, and her companion didn't really hint whether this was explicit advice or a recommendation she should heed.

The thought of saving the water was far down the list for her, far after securing this place so that not even the most persistent rage-running zombies could get in. Before the water-obsessed duo got help from sweet Jake, Roxy posed the critical question: why not ask the texter for clarification?

Who or what were they hiding from? How long did they actually have with "NOW"? Could they go outside? Should they try to block the door? Was it supernatural or human? All very helpful questions to ask, but how to put it succinctly was a problem.

The old lady replied, "Simple. Why, when, how, who? And let's get started while we wait for an answer. Do it." They each typed those four words and began to move around with ideas of how to respond.

Layla had a plethora of exuberant ideas, many of which sounded like they had been inspired by movies. Putting an oil slick on the floor wasn't a bad idea, except for the fact that Eugene suspected they might accidentally slip on it themselves. Creating barricades and blockades of various displays was a more promising strategy, with four possible guys lifting and moving things despite the risk of breaking store items. The question and problem were how much time they would have to execute this strategy. No reply yet.

Turning down the lights sounded great, and making sure the hidden door was as obscured as possible was a no-brainer. Roxy had a few random possibilities stirring around in her head. Eugene had some recording equipment, and there was an overhead PA system left over from the building's banking days. Lots of possibilities.

Fortunately, it didn't take long for them to get the answer they were hoping for from their unknown correspondent.

[HUNTING. SOON. DON'T BREATHE OR MOVE. WRAITHS.]

None of that instilled Roxy with hopefulness.

Eugene repeated quietly, "Wraiths. Revenants. Dead and the undead. Everything we talked about with the various protections should still apply. Turn out your clothes, carry salt or horseshoes, and hopefully that'll be enough. Unfortunately, the name is not terribly specific. All sorts of fiction, folklore, and other sources make reference to wraiths, and they can vary wildly. I would like to ask more questions, but we may not have enough time.

He set his mother to the task of pitching more questions to this unknown recipient while he made sure everyone knew about the side staircase that would take them to the basement without leaving the building. At least that seemed like a safe way. Although it was more of a distance separator from a proper human opponent. Whether the same separation was possible with whatever the hell these things were was a big mystery that Roxy wasn't sure she wanted an answer to.

They started to set up some provisional barricades around the shop, with the hopeful ambition that these creatures would follow the longest intended route and eventually get bored and turn around and leave. A faint, frail hope, but something. Roxy was reminded of a certain kind of game that Barry had shown her a few times. Tower defense—that was it. They couldn't quite reach that level.

The implication of hiding at least suggested that physical distance did something for protection, assuming they could trust the random words of whoever it was that sent this warning message. One of Layla's ideas had potential when she stumbled upon and delighted in an old but curious puppet with carefully positioned strings. It resembled an antiquated Punch and Judy set but was primarily manipulated as a marionette. An option to place Layla under a cloaked display booth seemed far too dangerous, but the girl wanted to do it to provide a helpful distraction. Roxy didn't know if she could throw her voice far enough to be safe.

They strung together what they could in the front area of the store without creating a monumental mess that might ruin any of the most valuable trinkets. The PA, however, was mostly a no-go due to a short circuit that would take too long to fix. Only one of them worked. Old building. If only the awkwardly cut steps up seemed at all like they would be a hindrance to whatever was after them.

Covering cloaks and whatever else they could get their hands on at least made them breathe a little easier.

Out the door was another matter. It wasn't late. It was fast approaching evening, but a massive cloud lingered over this section of downtown Neverwink as if a personal, ridiculous storm cloud had come to rain on them alone. No one was about, not even by car, which Roxy recognized as a familiar ploy by these fairy fuckers. Still, this felt like a completely different presence than anything they had encountered before.

Shadows were smothered by deeper darkness, with little hints at the edge of Roxy's vision that something was lurking, creeping, and yes, truly hunting in her direction. Jake and Eugene hustled nervously to the trunk of the car and heaved the container of the remaining water, Jake practically hauling the entire mass on his own while Eugene struggled to keep up.

With that outside task completed, everyone rushed back inside, as if alarmingly caught out in the middle of a sudden, invisible blizzard threatening to freeze them to the bone. The frigid blast pervaded Roxy's spirit, as if no amount of coats or blankets could possibly block whatever it was from leaching the warmth from her body. Eugene swiftly sealed and covered every possible aspect of the entrance with whatever he had nearby. Whoever showed up at this point and wasn't a malicious entity would have a great deal on whatever the heck they wanted to buy, Eugene admitted through chattering teeth.

With that first but likely flimsy line of defense settled, they stumbled and retreated, with the elevator completely shut down. Eugene made sure that the CCTV cameras hidden in and around each segment had an unobstructed view.

They could retreat all the way back to the living area and even further to the vault, but Roxy remained with Eugene behind the main counter. Layla set up an awkward section of the puppet display with a bug-out escape route at the rear. Jake steadied himself with a tense posture, hoping his muscles might be able to do something against whatever this was, but Roxy made sure he was behind her. Miranda helped coordinate and take back the main jug of water with the amount that Eugene requested to use as a kind of trap without a trap, an offering that likely wouldn't appease. Ross and Chiara retreated as far back as possible with the old lady.

Of course, all this would be moot if these creatures could just sneak around the distant wall and into the basement without any effort. It would have been so much better if they had time and an actual plan to stymie these Wraith things, plural. But this felt like as much as they could do, so they holed up where they were and awaited the inevitable.