What’s New, Scooby-Doo?|| Agatha, Grace, Julie and Remmy
TIMING: Current PARTIES: @detective-keen, @silveraccent, @purelikeviolence, and @whatsin-yourhead SUMMARY: An old treasure map, four meddling (not) teens, and a dog. What could go wrong?
Remmy couldn’t help but feel a tad anxious as the bus pulled up to the Commons drop-off. The map was stuffed in their bag, as well as a bunch of different things people might need on a trek through the woods. Water bottles, snacks, a blanket, a flashlight, flares, extra shoes, a jacket, and, stuffed way at the bottom, a handgun. They shuffled off the bus inside a crowd of people, before breaking away and heading towards the fountain, where they’d all agreed to meet up. Moose by their side helped quell some of the fear, but it was still there. It was sort of always there, now. The distinct thought that maybe gathering up a bunch of people they didn’t know to go on a wild goose chase was a bad idea came up, but Remmy pocketed it, remembering that Julie was going to be there, too. And even though they hadn’t hung out much lately, Julie had defended them without even really knowing them the first time they’d hung out together, and the thought of her being there made their relief almost palpable. They sat down on the ledge of the fountain and dug through their bag for the map, unfolding it to reveal the contents. It looked like whatever it was was around the cliffs near some sort of peak or drop-off, but Remmy was no genius at reading maps, or having a sense of direction. When they looked up, they saw a figure heading towards them, and though their stomach clenched at first, they grit through the anxious feeling and put up a smile. This was going to be a good day, they’d make sure of it.
Grace hadn’t been too sure what she was doing when she had agreed to go on a literal treasure hunt, especially with people who she didn’t know. It was odd, the amount of times that she had broken down her own barriers for the sake of letting other people in-- even if it was held at surface value. Grace checked her backpack 3 times before heading out the door, and even then, she wasn’t quite sure if she had everything. Still, it wouldn’t do her any good to keep checking, and so she forced herself out of the entrance of the apartment building, her legs having felt like jelly the entire walk to her car. The drive was short, and Grace was thankful-- Portland wasn’t large, not by usual city standards, but White Crest felt smaller and smaller every time she ventured out. After finding a place to park in the area that she had agreed to meet Remmy and the rest of the individuals who had wanted to go on the trip, she surveyed the area, hand held over her eyes. Once she spotted somebody who looked familiar, attached to a dog she had been made aware of, Grace held up her hand to wave, heading over to them. “Hey,” Grace said, trying to keep her gaze from going back to the dog every five seconds. “I’m Grace-- I agreed to go on on this thing with you, I mean the treasure hunt--” she laughed, moving her hand to push the hair out of her eyes. It was strange, as Grace had come across individuals in White Crest so far that were either normal in terms of emotions, or dulled. Now, she felt nothing. Maybe Remmy was good at hiding whatever it was they felt. “It’s nice to formally meet you--” Grace cringed at her words, but before she could finish her sentence, somebody else had walked up.
Well, this wasn’t milkshakes but Julie supposed going on a treasure hunt with Remmy would at the very least be entertaining. It’d been too long since she saw her buddy so she jumped at the first chance she got. It’s not like she had anything better to do with her time anyway. Although she was curious as to what other people had agreed on this hunt - maybe some more of Remmy’s friends? Julie was sure Remmy had plenty of other friends, they were just that kind of person. Nonetheless, they headed toward the meet point shortly after waking up. It was a little earlier than Julie would have preferred to be woken up but it was fine. Better to wake up and have something to do then to wake up and have nothing to do. Julie was doubtful that the treasure map would lead to anything truly… treasurable but she was interested in finding out what it led to, even if it might be a dead end. There was little thought of the safety of the whole situation (going out to explore unknown parts of the town) because Julie rarely felt her safety in danger. If there was one thing she was good at, it was being able to get out of tricky situations with herself intact. As she came closer she easily spotted Remmy with their mutt - her eyes narrowed at the sight that Remmy had brought Moose. A dog. But she knew he was trained and so he was considerably more tolerable than most dogs. “Sup, fuckers.” She greeted as she hopped closer to them. She smiled at Remmy before turning to the stranger, her smile dropping as she inspected them. “Is this everyone?”
Agatha, while she was convinced that there were no such things as treasure maps, had decided that she would tag along, and traded her brogues for a pair of trekking shoes. She had packed a backpack with snacks, water, a first aid kit, a flashlight, a survival blanket, a map of the town and a compass. She left her bicycle tied to a lamppost with her bike lock and approached a group of three who seemed to be waiting for her. Well, arriving last was not really what she had planned. Waving cheerfully at the group, she smiled at the trio, then glanced down at the service dog with an even bigger smile. Focus. “Hey, I’m Agatha,” she introduced herself, still radiating with positive energy. “Were we waiting for more people?” She had a look at her watch, and figured that she was probably the last. She sat down on the ledge to have a look at the map Remmy was holding. “Okay, I was a bit suspicious, not gonna lie, but this does look like a treasure map.” And it looked old too. She wondered if they knew when it dated back to. “Where did you get it?!”
The first person to arrive introduced herself as Grace, and Remmy was in the middle of saying hi when a familiar face caught their eye. “Hey! Hi!” they said, a bit excitedly. “It’s nice to meet you, Grace! Um-- like, formally. Or uh-- for real? Yeah! Hi.” Nerves buzzing just beneath their skin, they waved at Julie, giving a low chuckle at her. “Hey, Julie. Um-- I think we’re waiting for one more, the only person who said she can actually uh...read maps. So, we should probably wait for her.” They gave a sheepish grin, looking between the two. “Oh, uh-- Grace, Julie,” they said, pointing from the new comer to Julie, “Julie, Grace.” No that they knew Grace all too well, but from their conversation online, Remmy felt like they could be friends. They hoped nothing strange would happen here and scare Grace away. They just wanted a nice, normal trek through town. Using a treasure map. From a pie contest. Hmm.
The last person to approach looked a bit older than the others, but her smile was all the same and the friendly greeting helped calm Remmy’s nerves. Moose watched all three of the newcomers arrive with practiced patience, his tongue hanging out as he panted quietly. “Welcome! Uh-- I think this is about it, huh?” They held the map out to Agatha. “I’m Remmy. The map bearer. I’m...not really good at this, but I think it says we have to head towards Dark Score Lake and uhh...a cemetery near there? There’s something marked there, right?”
Grace looked at the new arrival, quick to be named as Julie. She didn’t miss the way that the woman looked at her with reproach, but instead of pointing it out, Grace smiled as Remmy introduced her. “I’m Grace.” Hadn’t Remmy just said that? She couldn’t get a read on Julie, but didn’t have time to sit on it too much, because another figure was bounding towards them. Grace was glad for the interruption. She despised small talk. Grace had gotten into the habit of not bothering to look at somebody’s body language, mostly because she almost always knew what emotions they were cycling through, but as she looked at Remmy, she picked up the telltale signs of nervousness-- not that she could feel any. It was replaced quickly by Agatha’s bouncing and bubbly manner. The difference was astounding and left Grace to reach up and press her index finger against her temple. “A cemetery?” Grace asked, an eyebrow raised. “Sounds like this is going to take us on quite the ride.” She grinned at Remmy, already feeling Agatha’s mood beginning to rub off on her. Better to be elated than to be down, she guessed. “So.. which way should we go?” She asked, tongue in cheek. She didn’t want to step on any toes, so from the get go, Grace decided to take the backseat and follow, rather than to try and lead. Though leading hadn’t ever been her thing anyways.
Julie curled her lip at the positivity from one of them, wondering who the fuck would have the energy to act like that. She stepped aside, moving closer to Remmy (unfortunately that meant closer to Moose). She looked down, mindful to not touch him. Her eyes darted from speaker to speaker, suspicious of the two strangers, naturally. She trusted Remmy but not these two, especially not the peppy one. “We can cut behind some of the businesses to get to the lake faster, if you want.” Julie wasn’t the most familiar with the area but she knew where the lake was in relation to where they were. Although, she wasn’t looking forward to going to a cemetery where they would run into lonely emo ghosts who are dying (hah) to talk to someone. As long as you didn’t acknowledge their presence though, they should be fine. Hopefully. Ghosts will do anything to get the attention they want. Needy fuckers. “What cemetery is it?” Julie asked, leaning over to look over Remmy’s shoulder, setting her chin on it. Depending on the one, they might either have to cross the lake or head into vampire territory. She wasn’t sure which she preferred.
Agatha smiled back at Grace, with all the warmth she could muster before she turned her attention back on Remmy. “That is correct, and that is also correct. Not so bad with maps, are we?!” She clasped her hands together enthusiastically. “I brought a compass and a town map, just in case but I think your map is good enough for now,” still she took the compass from her backpack and put it around her neck. “That sounds like a great idea,” she replied with enthusiasm as Julie suggested cutting behind some shops to get to the lake faster. This was going to be a lot more fun that she would have thought. “Could be Jericho Hill,” she mused, thinking out loud. She went on, inspecting the map a bit closer: “Could be Gallow’s grove, honestly.” Her brows furrowed. No, that could not be right. Her nose wrinkled. She paused, took out the map she had in her backpack and fell silent for a good minute before she looked up and declared, with undying glee : “We are going to Gallow’s Grove. I hope everyone likes completely gloomy cemeteries.”
“Well…” Remmy started, “at least it’s daytime, right? No uh--” glanced at Julie, her head on their shoulder, before looking back at Agatha, “--no weird things around during the day, right?” A grin, before they picked up their bag and slid it back on, nudging Moose along, falling in stride with Julie. The sounds of the bustling town faded as they cut across the fields behind the building, and Remmy glanced around at the other three with them, feeling a quiet sense of peace. Even though they didn’t know the other two, it felt almost comforting to have them around. Both Grace and Agatha seemed like good, normal people, and maybe that was all Remmy really needed right now-- something good and normal. “Thanks for coming,” they said to Julie after a moment, “I know it’s not milkshakes, but I’ll defs buy you one after this.” They turned back to Agatha, leading the way. “Once we get to the cemetery, what does it say we do? Or uh-- go? Can you tell? I couldn’t really figure it out. It looks kinda like it’s pointing to a house type thing...but there’s not like, uh, houses in cemeteries, right?”
Grace listened to the group as they spoke, only able to pick out pieces of the locations that they mentioned. She had taken a look at a town map, maybe when she first arrived. Most of Grace’s time had been spent looking up where to get the best chowder from her desk at work, however. Not knowing the people in front of her, Grace didn’t want to make them uncomfortable, but the way that Agatha was getting excited, Grace couldn’t help but exert the same energy, “I don’t think I’ve ever used a compass,” she admitted with a sheepish grin. Grace tightened the straps on her backpack after the blonde confirmed where it was they would be heading to. “Cemeteries are usually quiet, and the only reason people find them gloomy is because they probably have somebody buried there, otherwise it’s just a bunch of stones.” Grace shrugged and looked at Remmy as they began to speak. “There might be a tomb? Maybe the groundskeeper’s shack or something.” Grace knew little to nothing about White Crest’s cemeteries, but if they were anything like Portland’s, then maybe she was right. “We could just look for bigger structures when we get there?” Grace suggested, her voice sounding a little too high and peppy for her usual disposition.
Gallow’s. Julie’s brows raised at the mention as she glanced over at Remmy but gave nothing more than a telling smirk. She definitely knew how to get to Gallow’s, having been there before but they were in luck that it was daytime, otherwise she’s sure as hell wouldn’t do much to stop hungry vampires from attacking anyone other than Remmy… and Moose (although they would stay away from both of them). Turning as Remmy spoke to her, she gave a small nod, genuinely in good spirits to be hanging out with Remmy. Even if there were two weirdos being taken along with them. “Yeah for sure, don’t sweat it.” Although, she would prefer milkshakes on their next outing. Come to think of it, she hadn’t eaten since she fell asleep. As Remmy mentioned the map, Julie recalled what she had seen. It was probably a mausoleum. Great. The vampires will love their resting places to be opened to sunlight. This was going to be lots of fun. As she looked over at Grace, she found it weird how upbeat you sounded. “You okay? You sound very happy to be going to a cemetery.” She looked over back to Remmy. “Jesus, Remmy, where did you find them?” She muttered, trying not to be too vocal about her thoughts concerning Grace and Agatha. It was too weird for Julie - she’d expect some ambivalence, potentially fear from either of them at the thought of going to a cemetery. Especially Gallow’s. Did they not know what they were getting into? All she knew was she wasn’t going to be pulling either dumb ass from harm’s way if they walked into it. She might push them towards it if they kept up this cheery routine. It was getting annoying.
"Nice observation," Agatha looked up at the sun, wrinkling her nose. "We have about 10 hours at least before the sun goes down, and the vampires come out," she said the last part with the most ominous tone to her voice. A diabolic laugh probably would have been too much and so, she refrained herself. Apparently those stories probably had gotten to Remmy's ears and they had stuck. Oh well, she was not here to argue about how stupid it would be for vampires to live in cemeteries when basements are a thing. Realistically speaking. Or at least as realistic as you could get when talking about myths. Grace then said something about never using a compass and Agatha was more than happy to get it off her neck to hand it to Grace and explain the basics to her. "Simple, right?!" She listened, stayed quiet and waited for their suggestions on where it was they were heading. "Could be, although I'd bet on a mausoleum. Lots of families have those in the area, although I'm not sure there's still a lot of these standing. That's a pretty old cemetery, and pretty big too," she paused. "But since mausoleums stand out it cannot be that hard," looking over her shoulder at Remmy and Julie, she grinned with genuine kindness.
Oh, good. Agatha knew about the supernatural. That was a relief. Remmy looked back over at Julie and shrugged. “Internet,” they answered simply, before observing the interaction between Grace and Agatha. They all seemed genuinely excited to be here and Remmy’s anxiety was dissipating more and more. Even as they approached the cemetery and pushed the gate open, they couldn’t help but feel that excitement rubbing off on them. Moose must’ve too, because he gave a small bark as they headed inside, sniffing the air. “Come on, whatever happens, it’ll be fun,” they said to Julie, before giving her a little nudge. “Better than sitting around doing nothing, right?” They scanned the area, trying to pick out any sort of larger building. “Anyone see anything?” they asked, coming to stand near Grace. “I don’t think I mind cemeteries, either. They are always kinda quiet, huh?” Before shrugging and heading up the path. “What’s the map say? I think it looks like it’s a little farther in.”
Grace wasn’t sure what to say in response to Julie. She knew she sounded far too upbeat, but all in all, for whatever reason, Grace hadn’t had any issues with cemeteries to begin with. In Portland, she and Renee would grab breakfast burritos and sit on the hill overlooking the largest one in the city. She didn’t suppose it brought back great memories for everyone, based on the way that Remmy was reacting. At Agatha’s words, Grace blinked, but was unable to ask for clarification on the point made about vampires before she was being shown the compass, instructions pulled from Agatha’s lips. Grace thought back to her conversation with Blanche about the lighthouse. People surely believed in anything around here. “Oh, a mausoleum! Maybe.” Grace hadn’t ever seen any in the cemeteries in Portland, so she had forgotten they existed. “If anything, we could always split up and look.” The gate didn’t look half as ominous as Grace had expected it to, and as she stepped through with the remaining members of the little tour group, Grace looked to Remmy as they spoke. “They’re quiet, which is great for me.” She hummed absentmindedly as she took a step further, gaze flitting from plot to plot. “I can’t see anything just yet,” Grace said over her shoulder as she crouched down next to a dirt and vine infested headstone. “Nobody’s seen you in awhile, huh?” Grace muttered to herself as she got to her feet. She wondered how long it’d be before she’d go to visit either her Grandmother or Renee.
Julie snorted as they mentioned they enjoyed the quietness of cemeteries. She wanted to know which ones they went through. Anytime she crossed through one she kept her head down and walked through as fast as possible before a ghost could try and make itself known. God forbid she ever makes eye contact with one. Even just giving one the time of day would attract a bunch more and Julie would never have enough time to listen to a ghost bitch and moan. At Grace treating a headstone with kindness and cleaning it, Julie couldn’t help but side eye the whole thing. Girl… “It’s probably for a good reason.” Julie muttered knowing not everyone who was buried was a good person and deserving of being visited. As if to voice her thoughts she set her sights on a fallen pinecone and punted it into a headstone. Dead whiny fucks. She didn’t dare lift her gaze as they continued to walk, knowing well enough that they were drawn to her just as she was to them and if they were to make eye contact, she’d have to ignore them the whole fucking trip. Julie threw her hoodie over her head for good measures, blocking out her peripheral vision. Impatient as she was though, she picked her head up. “Are we almost fucking there?”
Agatha had been walking ahead of the rest of the group, stepping on a bench to see things from a pedestal. “Guys…” One mausoleum stood taller than the rest of them, and while it was in a poor state, like the rest of the tombs here, it stood out. If they had been in a video game, this would have meant that this was their goal. What could go wrong with trusting video games logic? “You okay Julie?” Jumping off the bench, she joined the rest of the group, her cheerful demeanor replaced with worry as she looked at the woman. She then glanced at Remmy, who seemed like they knew her best. “But to answer your question, I think we should head over there. This is where shit happens for sure,” she had literally no proof of that, but considering the instructions on the maps and their lack of clarity, it would do. Leading the way once again, she made her way to the mausoleum. “Mmmh, looks like that door hasn’t been opened in a while,” she observed, as she started to pull on the handle, with no luck.
Remmy paused to wait for Grace when she knelt to brush off the dirty grave. Julie’s comment could’ve been true, but Remmy knew Julie was more prone to looking at the darker side of things rather than the brighter. They didn’t really blame her for that, though. Everyone was different. When Agatha led them up to the mausoleum, Remmy came up behind her, examining the door. “Here uh, lemme try,” they said, before shuffling around, looking over their shoulder at Julie, then tugging on the door. It was definitely stuck, but all they needed to do was put a little of that getting hungry zombie strength into it and, boom. The door opened with a loud, forceful crack and Remmy stumbled back a little. “Must’ve uh-- just been stuck,” they said with a grin, before peering in. It was empty and smelled musty, spider webs and dirt lining every inch of it. “Uh, so….now what’s the map say?”
Grace followed after the group after brushing dirt from her knees. The words that came from Julie weren’t necessarily wrong, and Grace knew that, but they still didn’t sit right with her. She didn’t know this woman, however, so she kept her mouth shut. It was easier to let Agatha’s curiosity get the better of her than start an argument over something that was… technically true. Grace looked at the door with eyebrows raised. Just before she could open her mouth to ask how they’d get it open, Remmy was trying the door with a force that she hadn’t thought could come from them. Surprised, Grace took a step back and looked over them with astonishment before wiping it clean from her features. “You’re strong,” Grace said as she took a step around Remmy, into the doorway. There were spiderwebs scaling the ceiling, at least, as much as Grace could see. Before going in much farther, Grace turned her attention back to the group and looked from face to face, trying to gauge their reactions from Remmy’s strength.
“Oh, you’re sooo strong.” Julie mocked under her breath as she passed by Remmy, shooting them a knowing look. As she took the place in, she realized it was different than most mausoleums she’s been in. It was darker the further down and Julie wasn’t one to fear the darkness so she continued walking ahead, having lost sight on the map and more interested in exploring the area. However, she remembered that Remmy was here - along with the dog so she turned, only to see what they were doing. The whole feeling would have been unsettling to any normal person but Julie had seen worse than this. It was far too ridden with cobwebs to be a place where vampires stayed during the day. Then again who knows if they were trying to create an aesthetic of sorts. Vampires were just those kinds of people. She brought out her phone to scroll through it as she waited on the others only half listening to them.
Grabbing the flashlight in her backpack, Agatha then turned it on and started having a look around, inspecting the place as if it were a crime scene. Quite frankly, the place might as well have been one. It was one hell of a mess in here. The scent of dust, spiderwebs was everywhere, as well as a musty smell. You would have expected the place to be silent but the wind could be heard inside, whistling through stone. Strange, she thought. There was no sun coming through. She looked over at Grace and raised an eyebrow. Apparently she and Agatha were the only one surprised with Remmy’s strength. “You’re going to tell us where you go to the gym or…?” Kneeling down, she had a look at the name on the tombstones, to see if she recognized the family name. After all, with her mom being the former sheriff, they used to know a lot of the White Crest families. However, the name on these did not ring any bells. “Honestly, I don’t know where we are supposed to go next. There seems to be a path leading from this place to… I don’t know. Maybe it’s a tunnel but…” There nothing here, she left that part out. Standing up, she aimed her flashlight toward the walls, which would be when she noticed an engraving in the stone. A similar one could be found on the map. “Remmy, that was on your map…” The sound of wind grew bigger when you got closer to the symbol, and while she didn’t see how, she could guess that whatever path there were searching for was somewhere, close.
Remmy gave a sheepish grin to Julie and shrugged. “Uh, I mean-- I used to be a soldier. That uh-- that must be it.” They followed Julie inside and squinted against the darkness, before Agatha’s flashlight illuminated the inside. It was relatively small, just large enough to fit the lot of them. Lining the walls were plaques where bodies were stored, and there was one large tomb in the middle of the place. Agatha went over to the far wall, pointing her flashlight at it, where there was something on the wall. “Huh...weird…” they muttered, coming over and examining it. They looked at the map, then to the engraving. “It’s the same thing. What do you think it means?” They glanced back at Grace and Julie, as if they would be able to present the answer.
Well of course that explained it, Grace thought. Remmy had been a soldier, of course they were strong. Still, she was impressed, and she made no move to hide it. Grace crossed her arms over her chest as she watched them look around. Agatha seemed like she knew what she was doing, so she sidled up next to her. “It looks pretty narrow,” Grace said as she looked over her shoulder at the other two. This was quite the treasure hunt, she had to admit. Though, wasn’t it better than holing up in her apartment with the same book she had read over a dozen times? The contradiction of her actions for moving to White Crest in the first place were not lost on her. Grace followed Agatha’s gaze to the engraving on the stone and looked at it. “I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like that.” Grace reached out and padded her index finger against the wall and traced the pattern. “It looks like whoever did it, it took them a long fucking time.” Grace straightened up and looked between the three.
Julie sighed, kept in place because they were all busy looking at some symbol on the stone. “It means keep going,” Julie bluffed, still on her phone with her arms crossed. “So are we going to keep going or stop here and look at the wall until it gets dark?” Maybe they were scared - it seemed reasonably so, going into further darkness with people you don’t know and seemingly only one way out. Still, wasn’t that part of the whole excitement? Julie glanced up at them, wondering if she had anything to fear from Agatha and Grace. She knew better than to assume they were “normal” if there was anything she learned from this town was that the people here were more often unnormal than normal. However, Julie felt confident in her ability to evade trouble no matter how unexpected it may come for her so she had no reason not to continue on this treasure hunt.
Agatha looked over her shoulder to watch Julie, who was looking like a teenager who got dragged on a family trip. “Are you sure, Nancy Drew?” Yes Agatha still had her collection of Nancy Drew books, including the secret code activity book, and no she was not ashamed of it. She was pretty sure Julie would hate this, but that was kinda a compliment in Agatha’s mouth. “Alright, well the wall seems a bit…” She approached her palm from the nearest stone, and started pushing it. She expected some sort of struggle but the stone looked heavier than it actually was, and instead of bothering with the rest of them, she gave one kick in the whole, and hoped (way too late) that the others weren’t granite, and that this meant going to the hospital for being a stupid bitch. “Ta-dah, a doorway. Good job Julie,” she nodded in appreciation. Pretty and clever? “Let’s go?” She offered with a shrug, leading the way with her lamp.
The wall crumbled in front of them, and Remmy felt that little rush of excitement again. “Wow! Neat! Who woulda thunk, huh?” they asked, looking back at the other two. Grace looked a little nervous and Julie looked bored, but Remmy wasn’t going to let that get any of them down. Remmy paused to dig through their backpack and pull out a few flashlights, passing them around. “Ready?” they asked, before heading into the tunnel and shining the light ahead. After a moment, they looked over for Agatha and the map. “Well...what uh, which way do we go now? It looks like there’s more than one tunnel to follow.” And although Remmy and Julie didn’t have too much to fear, they weren’t sure the others could say the same. Getting lost wasn’t going to be a good idea down here, and Moose wasn’t exactly a tracker dog.
Grace jumped in surprise as the wall crumbled before them. She glanced between the group. Agatha’s energy continued to rub off on Grace, but her own uncertainty about the situation as getting the best of her. “Ready for what, more cobwebs?” She joked and took the flashlight from Remmy. Grace shone her flashlight at the map, careful not to hit anybody in the eye as she did so. “I think we go that way?” She said as she looked up from the map, then to their surroundings. “See that object there on the map? It’s on that wall--” She pointed to the wall with her flashlight, then back to the map. “They’re almost identical.” Okay, so maybe Grace wasn’t entirely horrible with directions. Or maybe she just knew how to look for context clues. Grace took a step forward after she directed the flashlight at the floor, checking to make sure there were no traps. Didn’t treasure hunts usually run into those? “It looks like there’s another door,” Grace said as she approached the end of the walkway.
Now things were getting interesting. Julie was first to step through the door, eager to see where it would take them. Lo and behold it took them to a fork in the path. Julie had not a clue what was the right path and turned back to see if those who had read the map would be able to figure it out. “Yeah, the map should tell us where to go next.” Ideally since it was a map it wouldn’t get them lost but who knows. Julie looked behind the group to where they had entered and chose not to think about that. Leave it to Julie and she would have taken any path as long as it kept them moving but unfortunately she had to wait once more.
“We could always split, but I’ve seen enough movies to see it not end well,” Agatha wrinkled her nose. The map was not exactly professionally drawn, and it was hard to get a good idea of where they were meant to go. Grace was however a lot more adventurous than them. Agatha directed her flashlight toward the door Grace claimed to be seeing, and followed behind her. “I swear to God, if that door is locked,” and expecting it to be so, she almost fell over. Stumbling into a new tunnel, she heard something crack under the heel of her shoe and grimaced. What exactly could make such a crunchy sound here?
Remmy was beginning to feel nervous. Could the other hear those noises, too? The low groaning up ahead? They glanced over at Julie as they stepped into the new tunnel, and then Agatha was opening the door. Remmy tried to hurry forward, to suggest they open it first, but the loud crunching of bone made them stop. The quiet groaning stopped, too. “Uh...must be real old,” they said, ushering everyone inside. Could the others see the red eyes watching them, too? They gave another glance to Julie. “Maybe we should just keep moving?” They suggested, putting themself at the front of the group, Moose trotting beside them, glancing at the map. “We’re almost there!”
The door opened and Grace followed Agatha through it, arms coming to wrap around herself. The sound of the bone that crunched underneath Agatha's foot made her wince, but she wonders if anybody else knew what it was. Grace nodded at Remmy’s words as she followed them further down the hallway. There were bones littered everywhere, and the air was growing cold. “Is anybody else freezing?” She asked in passing as they walked, keeping her voice low-- why, she wasn’t sure.
Julie was ready to jump in any direction and so she entered with confidence not even paying any mind to the sound. She knew what it was but was more interested in what laid ahead of them. Her hand reached out to touch the nearest wall, curious about these tunnels. It wasn’t like Julie to get scared but something about this was giving her just the slightest sense of unease. She wasn’t sure what it was though and glanced back at Grace whose tone seemed to be not as excited as it was back then. Was she scared? Probably. Underground tunnels would do that to you. Dark, ominous. One way in and probably only one way out - if that. For now though it seemed the best thing to do was to follow the straight path of the tunnel. As she kept ahead, Julie felt it was safe enough to ease her discomfort. She allowed herself to feel the dark in her hands not strong enough to turn it physical nor to create any darker shadow than there was but just enough to give Julie the peace of mind that if anything did happen that might threaten her or Remmy’s lives - she was still in control. “Maybe you should have brought a warmer jacket,” Julie threw over her shoulder as she dropped her hand back to her side. “You guys don’t have anything in those bags of yours? Like… food or something?” Julie has to admit this was working up her appetite.
Working as a homicide detective, Agatha had gotten used to a lot of things, but that did not mean that she found stepping on bones a pleasant Sunday activity. Cringing, she wiped her shoe against the floor. Even if she found it stupid to be scared of cemetaries or morgues, this place looked like a horror film set. Still, she managed to tell herself that the tunnel would have been not scary at all with proper lighting, and so she followed behind the others. Another silver lining of this would be telling the medical examiner about this place. Agatha wondered who those bones belonged to, and what else they would find here. Holding her flashlight tight, she went by Grace’s side, figuring that her company might reassure the other woman. “It will be fine,” she assured her. Other than perhaps rats and insects, she doubted they would cross anything’s path in here, and much like Julie, she was starting to get hungry. “You want something sweet or something salty?” She asked, her backpack now against her stomach. Searching through her things, she pulled out a lunch bag and handed it over to Julie.
Snacks were being handed out now, and Remmy glanced around the rag tag group. This was gonna be fine, right? There wasn’t anything down here that would, like, hurt them, right? Their skin crawled a moment as the moaning increased. Moose’s body stiffened and his ears went back, but Remmy kept him reigned in. The red eyes were still behind them. “Umm, maybe we should pick up the pace? We probably uhh...wanna be outta here before nightfall, yeah?” They stopped and went around to the back of the crew, waving their arms, trying to usher them all along faster, glancing back over their shoulder. Forms began to show in the shadows, crawling slowly after the group. Their noises getting louder. How could the others not hear? Did Julie hear them? “Uh, yeah, hey, so-- maybe we should um-- run.” They said, shoving against Grace and Agatha, hoping Julie got the idea as well, as they took off down the hall.
Grace looked to Julie, confused why anybody could be hungry when they were in the dark trenches of the unknown, but her own stomach growling made her look to Agatha’s backpack with vague interest. “I didn’t think I would need a jacket, I don’t know,” Grace finally responded to Julie, casting her a sideways glance. She looked to Remmy, then back to Julie, and finally to Agatha when she heard the deep groan. Grace turned around and peered into the darkness, trying to gauge where the noise had come from. There weren’t any pipes that she could see, but it didn’t mean that there weren’t any. Why did it suddenly smell like a morgue? Grace opened her mouth to speak, but focused on Remmy as they began to usher them forward. “What--” Grace asked, reaching up to cover her nose with the back of her hand, “what is that smell?” It smelled like a decomposing body, and she wondered if they had walked upon a horror house. Before she could investigate it any further, she was being pushed forward, Remmy’s hands at her shoulders. She followed the directions, despite being confused. She took off alongside Remmy with an urgency that matched the other two, the nerves suddenly draining the color from her face as she ran. “Why are we running!” Grace called out, breathing heavy, focusing on not tripping over the clutter of leaves, vines, and bones at her feet.
Julie just grabbed whatever she felt first in the bag before tossing it back to Agatha. Unwrapping it she started walking again but noticed Remmy coming close as if trying to rush them through it. It was fine with Julie to hurry through things but Remmy seemed the type to enjoy the moment. Then again given the current environment, most people would want to get out there as fast as possible. “Dude, what gives -” Julie shrugged it off, still eating before catching the slightest movement out of the corner of her eyes. Julie knew what could lurk in the dark and while she wasn’t terrified, she knew better than to put herself in a position to reveal herself as anything more than human in front of anyone. Remmy already saw part of what she could do. She didn’t really want them to figure out what else came with it. Not that she didn’t trust Remmy but - okay maybe she didn’t trust Remmy. Trust was hard, okay! Either way Julie wasn’t quick to get the memo until she caught one coming out of the shadows. She had no idea what the fuck it was and offered a menacing look before jogging behind the others. Julie knew better than to try and scare the others by saying she saw a humanoid figure with missing limbs and red eyes so she went for… “I think I saw a big rat. Maybe the food attracted it. My bad.”
Agatha covered her nose. She knew that smell. She knew that smell too damn well. Okay, as soon as they got out of here, she’d have the WCPD back in here. Clearly there was a corpse, somewhere, or maybe several corpses. And according to Julie, there were rats in here too. Fucking perfect. Sure those two things sometimes went hand in hand, but that did not make it more okay. “I’m pretty sure that’s not the food they came here for,” she commented, following behind the rest of the group without asking any questions. No way she was staying alone in the dark with a bunch of rats having maccabe snacks. No way. “Remmy, do you know where we are going right now?” She tried not to talk too loud as she called them out, and she hoped that they had heard her. Whatever they were searching for better be worth all of this because she really did not like that she was fleeing a possible crime scene right now.
“Yes!” Remmy exclaimed, “rats! I saw uh-- giant rats! And those are like-- not things we wanna mess with!” They hurried everyone along until they couldn’t see the red eyes following them anymore, down a hallway and around a corner, before realizing that they didn’t know where they were going anymore. “Uhhh, yeah, totally!” they lied nervously, pausing to glance around then back at the map. “It’s um-- here!” they splintered off to head towards what looked like a door, sliding it open-- only to find pale, fanged faces staring back at them. Remmy cried out and slammed the door shut, turning to look back at the others. “Uh-- not that way, actually. Um-- this way,” they pointed, walking back through the group and grabbing their hands to usher them away from the door with the scary monsters behind it. And as they came upon another hallway, a chill creeped in-- one that even Remmy felt-- and their breaths began to billow in front of them. A loud clattering up ahead could be heard. Remmy paused. “Do-- does anyone else hear that?”
“Rats?” Grace yelled out, “we’re running from rats?” She had lost it at the sight of a mouse in her apartment, so much so that a neighbor had knocked down her door at the screams, and now she was getting logical about rodents? Grace huffed as she followed Remmy, trying to ignore the burning in her calves, as well as her ankles. “You don’t sound like you know where we’re going!” Grace yelled out after them. She didn’t need to feel Remmy’s emotions to tell that much, despite not being able to feel it at all-- the nerves from the other two was enough, however, to know that there was confusion around them, and outright fear. Grace nearly rammed into a wall, but managed to push off of it in enough time to follow Remmy in their new direction, before coming to a stop just behind them. The door slammed before she could reach it, which made Grace wonder what Remmy saw, because she saw nothing, but smelled death. “Hear what?” she asked as she reached out towards the grimy wall, her hand coming into contact with something sticky and sopping wet. She quickly rubbed her hands against her jeans. “What is that smell?” Grace knew what it was, but she didn’t want to be right, didn’t want to come across decomposing bodies, didn’t want to see death etched in the ground at her feet. Grace swallowed thickly, the smell of death filtering into her nose.
Julie just hoped they didn’t catch up to them and by the time turned back, there was nothing in sight. She wondered for a moment if they were lost and then remembered there was a map. She didn’t really understand how they could be lost but nonetheless followed the group into a hallway. “Are we going the right way?” Julie supposed they were but had her doubts. “Can’t you guys check the map?” She was about to say something sassy but heard a noise up ahead and took note of how she could see her breathe. “Where the hell are we going?” She muttered as she stepped forward, wanting to see what was up ahead and not really afraid to confront it. It might be those red-eyed fuckers but so what if it was? If this was the way out, then there was no choice but to go straight to the source of noise.
Can’t you guys check the map? Agatha’s eyebrows raised, and she had to prevent herself from being unpleasant with her reply. “Weird smell, weird noises, this is great,” she said instead, blocking the flashlight between her cheek and shoulder to examine the map. Truth was, with them having run around like that, she had no damn clue as to where they were, but if she were to take a wild guess, from what she was observing, and what her compass was telling her, she would have said that they were… “Here.” Totally winging it, she thought to herself, cringing internally. But hey, if she was right, this would be great. All she knew was that she needed to be out of here. The atmosphere of the tunnels alone was certainly eerie, but she couldn’t stop thinking of the graveyard of the sort they had stumbled upon. And unlike others, it took her more than an old creaky house or a swampy basement to get scared. Proving that ignorance was truly bliss. “We need to head this way,” she sounded pretty damn sure of herself, but she rarely didn’t.
When Agatha finally set them on what seemed like the right path, Remmy felt a little wave of relief. It was, however, staunched when they saw a shimmering form up ahead. It wavered, disappeared. Remmy turned to look to see if anyone else had noticed, before leaning over to murmur to Julie. “Did you see that, too?” they asked under their breath. It shimmered back into life, in the same spot, and Remmy stopped, prodding Julie. “There!” Oops, too loud. They looked at the others. “Uh-- a doorway! Look!” And there one was. And it looks different from all the other doorways, with a large arch above it and those same engravings they’d found upstairs in the mausoleum around the threshold. That was promising, right? Remmy went to head in when a voice stopped them. “None shall enter!” rang the small voice-- a very distinct child’s voice. Remmy paused, looking around, but no one else had reacted yet. “This is my castle! And my stone treasure! On guard, ye trespassers!” Something swung by Remmy’s face, but when right through. They spun on their heel-- only to find themself face to face with a child. Except, they could see right through them. And the kid was floating about three feet in the air. “Ah, some sort of ghostly fiend, I see!” the kid spat, swinging around what was once probably a wooden bat in life. Remmy blinked, dumbfounded. The ghost-child frowned deeply, then pointed his sword at Julie. “I know you can see me, too, shadow monster!” he said in his attempt at an intimidating voice. It was more like a puppy trying to bark. Remmy looked back at Julie and shrugged.
Just inside the room, they could see the chest. It was covered in dust and grime and cobwebs, untouched for decades. Maybe even centuries. Remmy wondered what could possibly be inside. The ghost-child phased through them to stand in the doorway again, hands on his hips. “I will guard this treasure with my life!” he shouted, pointing the sword at all of them. Remmy didn’t know what to say-- if they spoke, they risked looking crazy. If they didn’t, would the ghost get mad? “Let’s um-- let’s just take it easy and all go inside real slow, yeah?” they said, putting their hands up. Hoped that wasn’t as weird as it sounded, to either party.
“I think the map is only useful if you’re following it to begin with…” Grace muttered under her breath, loud enough so anybody could hear. It wasn’t that she cared-- she didn’t know what was happening. Her heart rate was abnormal and there was sweat beading at the back of her neck, dripping down the back of her shirt, leaving her shivering. Despite their situation, it seemed as though Agatha had found where it was they needed to go, and so she followed blindly. Did she really have a choice? She was stuck now, and the only way she was going to get out of here was if she followed them. Grace’s eyebrows furrowed at Remmy’s sudden burse, and she looked towards where Remmy had motioned. The doorway lay before them, and Grace felt her heart sink. It looked like both Remmy and Julie were focused on something, but Grace couldn’t tell what. She decided to ignore it, because as long as they weren’t running, there was no threat… right? She swallowed thickly, trying to get rid of the taste of death at the back of her throat. The room looked as though it hadn’t seen the light in what could’ve been eons, and she was careful with her steps as she looked at the chest. It was just like on the map. She couldn’t believe they actually found something, especially with all of their running. Grace looked to Remmy, “but it’s right there?” She hesitated before taking a step forward, closer to the chest. It looked like any old chest. “There’s no lock on it,” she observed as she knelt down close to it, interest piqued. “I can’t believe we actually found something,” Grace said as she turned back to look at the group. She reached for the lid and heaved it upwards, revealing an assortment of rocks. “It’s not… gold, what are these?” She asked, eyebrows furrowed.
Oh hell no, Julie was not going to have to deal with a child much less a ghost one. Rolling her eyes she fought the urge to argue back with it. However she couldn’t help but feign a move toward the ghost, trying to get the kid to flinch. However as they entered the room her attention went to the chest and… of course it was disappointing. A bunch of rocks. “Looks like some kids lame ass rock collection.” Julie scoffed as she crossed her arms. As if on cue she heard the child’s annoying voice. It was easy to tune out but then she saw him shut the lid and lay down on it. “Oh come on…” she muttered as she rolled her eyes, looking over at Remmy seeing what they would do. Julie had no patience for children and even less for ghosts. It seemed though that he wasn’t willing to get off the chest now, using his own energy to keep weight on it. Julie tried to tip over the chest with her foot. “Get off,” she mumbled as his weight was more than she was expecting.
Agatha didn’t interject with what Grace had to say because negativity was really not needed right now. Instead she put the light of her lamp below her chin and gave Grace a force smile, nose scrunched up and all, as if to say Don’t. “See, I told you it was the way to go.” Oh Agatha please, she told herself. She had absolutely no clue of what she was doing, but this proved one thing, sometimes, you could just be lucky. She approached the rest of the group, although as she looked over Julie’s shoulder, she watched the chest’s lid close shut, and she couldn’t help but be startled, jump a little and cover her mouth to muffle a scream. Would rats be drawn by screams ? Probably not. Who knew? Not her. "Are we really going to fight this chest for a bunch of old rocks?" Her brows furrowed. She hadn't even gotten to see what was inside and she was curious. Sighing, she tried to assist Julie, with no goddamn idea of what was truly going on here.
Agatha and Grace didn’t seem to see the child, but Remmy knew Julie did. She was even talking directly to him. Remmy gave an innocent smile when he slammed the lid shut. They looked between everyone. “Uh, well-- maybe they’re special rocks!” they said, eyeing the ghost. “Rocks that...mean a lot to someone. And they’ve been here...where it’s safe so that the wrong people don’t get their hands on them.” When the ghost perked up as they spoke, they took that as a good sign to continue. “But we’re, you know-- good people, right? Whatever this treasure is, we won’t misuse it, will we? We’ll cherish, and um, well--” they looked at the boy with a big smile, hoping this worked-- “treasure it, pun intended.” He chuckled at first, then laughed a little harder. Then he burst out laughing, rolling around so much he toppled from the chest-- allowing Agatha and Julie to finally open it again-- before floating up and away. “Okay,” he said in his sing-song voice, “but if you’re mean or not nice to my treasure, I’ll come haunt you all forever!” Remmy grabbed the map from Agatha as they all dug into the box, and turned to the boy, hushing their voice a little. “Here, I think this is yours,” they said, before reaching in and taking one of the rocks and holding it out to him as well. “We’ll guard your treasure now, and make sure everyone knows how great it is. Okay?” he seemed forlorn, at first, as if he were about to cry-- but then his hands took the objects Remmy was holding out to him, and he smiled, big and bright. “Thank you,” he said, “that’s all I wanted. And also! I made a special, hidden door. It’s behind the chest. You all can get out faster that way. I would use it when my mom would call me home.” Remmy grinned. “Thank you,” they muttered. “Okay. Bye funny people! Remember what I said!” And when his outline disappeared, Remmy couldn’t help but feel a little sad.
They turned to look back at everyone, before grabbing a few of the rocks. They looked relatively normal, though they were smoother and had funny patterns inside the stones themselves. And, somehow, Remmy knew they were special. When they looked up again, they pointed to something on the map.
Grace yelped as the lid to the chest shut. She wasn’t sure what had happened, maybe one of the hinges was loose? She folded her hands in her lap as she rocked back on her heels. She twisted around to look at Remmy as they spoke, and it seemed far too encouraging to be for any of them. She wondered if Remmy just really liked rocks. Grace stood up and dusted her hands against the backs of her jeans. She looked down as Agatha and Julie were successful in re-opening the chest. She looked on at the rocks with a tilt of her head. She still wasn’t sure what was special about them. Grace wasn’t blind to the fact that Remmy was suddenly speaking to the air, their hands outstretched with a rock in their palm to nothing. She bit her tongue, not sure what was going on-- she couldn’t discount that there was something going on, especially with what she had already been through. She looked at the rocks in Remmy’s hand, interest baited her, “what are those?” She wasn’t sure what was going on, or why Remmy had spoken to the air, but she wanted to know what was so special about the rocks that they’d go on a treasure hunt to find them. Grace was curious, to say the least. “Should we get out of here? Look at them where we’re not being threatened by killer rats?” She asked, half-jokingly.
A way out? That was good to know. This trip had run its course. Julie reached for a rock, turning it over in her hand before putting in her pocket. She wasn’t really one to carry things like that but eh, it would be nice to have something to remember this trip. Moving to the chest, Julie pushed it away, surprised the ghost runt was telling the truth. “Hey, seems like this is the way to go.” She pointed at and glanced over at Remmy who was well aware. She gave them a knowing smile before looking at everyone else. This was definitely a lot weirder than she had anticipated but hey, at least they got some lame rocks at the end? She winced at her own thoughts. It was definitely time to go home before she started to feel touched by some stupid ghost’s rocks.
“We could have arrived through here the whole time?!” Agatha exclaimed. All this had been a lot of fun, and she had grabbed a rock as a souvenir of their adventure. Had they arrived through the exit door, it might have not been as enjoyable. She wondered if the rest of them had had as much fun as herself, or if they would admit to enjoying their little trip. The memory of those bones was however feeling like an itch in her head, and she wouldn’t take too long to report it, starting with animal control. She doubted anyone would be thrilled by the idea of working among rats after all. “Well, this was fun. We should do it again sometime soon!”
As everyone dispersed, Remmy couldn’t help but smile. They climbed up the back stairs and found themselves almost on the complete opposite end of town that they started in. Not only had they had a good time, no one had gotten hurt, and they’d made a few new friends-- at least, they hoped. Agatha was nice and not afraid to take control, and Grace was sweet and seemed new to all this. Both of them seemed like great people Remmy wanted to get to know more of. And Julie, of course, was her usual self. Not that Remmy minded. Her casual demeanor and grumpy attitude was kinda cute, after all. She reminded them of Luce a little. And, even after all of that, they’d been able to help a ghost move on, even if just a little. All in all, it had been a good day. Maybe things really were looking up.
“C’mon Moose,” they said, patting him on the head, “let’s head home. Figure out what’s so special about these rocks, huh?”
