Town Trip

We drove into town yesterday. The Rake hissed at the car as we left, but didn’t make any move to stop us.

The place the map led us to is a house. While Eternity was deciding whether to break into the house or announce our presence, I decided to walk up to the front door and knock. I figured that if the owner of the house was hostile, I could just demand information at gunpoint. Or pretend to be a government official. I’m relatively certain I could get away with that…

Handgun hidden behind my back, I knocked. Guess who answered the door? A proxy. The proxy we held hostage in my basement. I smiled and said, “Hi! Do you mind if we come in and talk to you for a sec?”

And talk we did. I don’t feel like retelling the entire conversation right now….Eternity can if she feels like it…she did most of the talking anyway. But no blood was shed, so our chat was pleasant enough. I guess the reason for that is the proxy is grateful that we didn’t kill him while we were holding him hostage, even though he attacked us. Or something. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t paying attention to the whole conversation. Got distracted...

I did however pay attention when he mentioned that Hypnos had kept Hawk in his basement. I asked if he would let us look around his basement, and he was kind enough to oblige us. It was more of a bunker, really. Eternity snooped around while I made sure that the proxy wasn’t going to lock us in. He didn’t offer to, but I really don’t trust people.

He also told us about the next place they had taken Hawk. A shack in Indiana…the location of the shack was already marked on the map, but it’s nice to know exactly what we’re looking for. The place could’ve been a freaking cave for all I knew.

We left the proxy’s home, and I remembered that I needed to do some shopping.

I was about halfway done with my shopping. As we were walking to the next store....well….it went like this:

“Got the Super Soakers… Hey, let’s stop at this hardware store for a sec. I need some more PVC pipe and a few feet of hose. Oh, heheh, just had a idea. We need to get some balloons too. Or do I already have some? Better buy some just in case. Let’s go to Wal-Mart after this. That okay with you? …Eternity?”

All the blood had drained from her face. She was staring at something, openmouthed. I drew my handgun and looked around, but didn’t see anything. I cocked my head and stared at her, then waved my hand in front of her face. Nothing. Suddenly feeling cold despite my warm clothes, I gave her a shove, and she finally snapped out of it. She glared at Him (still didn’t see anything, but I figured it was Him), and chucked one of her knives at Him. Then we ran back to the car and went straight home.

So…...that was……..yeah.

I can’t see Him, I guess…

Is that a good thing?

Our little trip into the woods was nerve-racking, to say the least, but at least we found Hypnos’ former camp. The camp is well defended with tree stands, trenches, and wards...my wards. They copied my wards. As soon as I stepped into camp, it felt like my bones itched. I smiled when I realized what was causing the feeling... How ironic. Luckily, the sensation wasn’t strong. Eternity didn’t seem to notice it at all, actually.

I toyed with the notion of sabotaging the wards, but decided against it. It’s a nice camp. It’s a really nice camp. In fact, I hereby declare that camp as mine. I’ll re-ward it and put a semi-permanent deer blind there later.

After we found the area where they had been keeping Hawk, the Rake herded us back to the house.

Herded us.

And what the fuck is wrong with the Rake now? It’s lost Its mind. Ripping the woods apart, testing my wards constantly...and that fucking screeching. God, that screeching. Words cannot describe it. Oh yeah, and the staring. That’s fun too. As a general rule, I do not, under any circumstances, look the Rake in Its black, soulless eyes. Do you know how hard it is to avoid looking something in the eye when all it does for hours is stare directly at you? The Rake acts like It wants to kill Eternity too...but is it my imagination or does It look at me with slightly more loathing than It does her?

So what’s changed? I haven’t antagonized It any more than usual lately. Well, so long as the wards hold It off, there’s no cause for alarm. Creepy fucker. I never did figure out what It wanted.

Anyways, the second place the beetle stopped on the map was a nearby town, so we’re heading there sometime tomorrow.

Also, Eternity said something about a “destructive anti-Rake water gun apparatus.” Which reminds me. I need to buy a dozen Super Soakers while we’re in town tomorrow. And the materials to build a couple of those backpack water gun things.

Valete