CHAPTER 2

After everything that had just happened, I was really in no mood to be exploring, but it seemed I had no choice. If I wanted a chance at understanding what's going on, this was probably my only option. From the central square, there were a few roads snaking off, all but one of them blocked off by fluorescent orange construction blocks. Which were complete lies, because I could see the buildings down the street were completed. Regardless, I decided not to try and jump one, considering what had happened to Logan. It was best not to make whatever that hell creature was mad.

The street was wide, and cobblestoned just like the plaza. Grass lined the road between buildings, with the occasional tree or bed of flowers sprinkled in. It felt just a little too cheerful for the situation, but I could appreciate the beauty. I found Vanessa face down in a patch of tulips. I jogged over, my stomach flipping in worry. Was she hurt? Or… dead, even? It hadn't been long at all, but I didn't trust anything at the moment. "Vanessa? Are you alright?" Her head popped up, and she shushed me, holding a finger to her face.

"Jocelyn," she hissed, her eyes wide with excitement, "Be quiet! They're going to get scared!"

"What are?"

"The fairies, silly! The fairies!" She turned back around and dug through the flower beds some more. Of course. She was talking about fairies. I didn't have much patience to humor her at the moment.

"But won't disturbing the flowers like that scare them worse than talking?" Vanessa shook her head, sending the bells in her hair off.

"No, no, no! They already know I'm here, I just have to be fast! If you're going to just stand there, you should help me!" I spent a little time digging through a flower bed looking for fairies with Vanessa. I felt awfully silly, but I think we grew a little closer. After a while, Vanessa sat back with a pout. "Aw, snickerdoodles, I think they're gone."

"Oh, I'm sorry." I had no idea how to respond to this. How was someone supposed to respond to someone who took fairies so seriously?

"Oh, it's not your fault, Jocelyn. I appreciate your help." She smiled at me and patted my hand. "But I think you could stand to improve your technique just a teeny tiny bit! I'll be sure to help you out later."

"Alright. Um, sounds… good?" Vanessa started picking a few flowers, humming to herself. "So, by the way. How did you get into fairy hunting? I'm pretty curious, to be honest."

Vanessa stopped and cocked her head. "Oh! That's a good question, Jocelyn. Let's see… I think it was when I was a real little girl! All those stories like Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, those were my favorites! But I never really liked the princesses, you know? It was all the fairies' magic that made everything possible! And since then, I've never stopped looking."

"That sounds like you've never found one before."

Vanessa paused, looking a little sad for a moment before returning to her usual self. "Nope! I haven't actually seen one yet, but I know someday I will! I can't wait for that day!"

"And what are you going to do when you finally see one?"

"I'm going to study it, of course! There isn't a lot people know about fairies. If I could catch one, that would be a huge step for the community!" I shook my head. She seemed beyond help.

"Alright, I'm going to keep looking around. Er… Good luck, Vanessa." She nodded and turned back to the flowers, humming to herself. I picked myself up and headed off to explore somewhere else.

The next place I came to was a cute little bed & breakfast. The bottom floor had tables strewn about and a buffet table set out with food off to the side. It looked like we could access the kitchen through a wooden door that stood next to it. There was a small sitting area, with plush armchairs surrounding a cozy hearth. Upstairs were the rooms - each of which had a nameplate on them with our names on it. Boys on the left, girls on the right. I found my room between Vanessa's and Cheryl's. The room looked surprisingly comfortable, with a queen sized bed with a patchwork quilt. There was a wardrobe with fresh changes of clothes, a nightstand with a lamp, and a small table with two chairs. A bathroom connected to the main room, complete with toiletries and such amenities. At least if I had to spend my time here, I would be somewhat comfortable. As I left, I passed Logan's room, a fresh wave of fear twisting in my stomach.

Continuing my search, I found the next open building. It was a library, full of any book one could ever want or need. It was two entire stories, fiction on the first floor and nonfiction and periodicals on the second. Among the shelves were tables, presumably for study. There was also a more comfortable looking reading corner with beanbags and a couple couches. It was upstairs that I found Avery, looking excitedly from magazine to magazine. He didn't seem to notice me. I went over to look for something I might want to read. And he quite literally bumped into me. "Oh! Jocey!" Avery's enthusiastic smile grew, his eyes sparkling. "It's good to see you!" He took one of my hands - only one this time. His other hand was occupied by a magazine. "Do you want to come read with me? I found some good ones!"

There was no way I could say no to that face. I didn't even protest the nickname. It seemed to be growing on me quickly. "Sure. I haven't found anything yet, though."

"That's okay, we can read mine together!" Before I could protest, Avery dragged me back downstairs to the reading corner and flopped down in a beanbag, scooting over a bit so I had room, too. We spent some time reading a few magazines he had picked out, doing little personality quizzes and making fun of some of the articles. I think we grew a little closer!

"So, Avery, how did you get into party planning?"

He leaned back and thought for a moment, a content smile gracing his face. "It was birthday parties, at first. I'd always come up with really elaborate plans for my birthdays, and I always somehow managed to pull it off. People would tell my mom that she always did really well, and they didn't believe her when she said it was actually me."

I felt a pang of sympathy. "Wasn't that frustrating? Not being recognized for your work?"

"I mean, I was just a kid," he said with a shrug. "I don't really blame them for not believing her. But after a while, a bunch of the other kids asked me to help out with theirs, and it just went from there. Birthday parties, Halloween parties, barbecues, you name it!"

"Wasn't that a lot of work?"

"Well, yeah, but I didn't really mind. Everyone was always so happy, they always had so much fun. So I didn't mind. And I was usually invited, too." He grinned mischievously.

I smiled back. "I guess that would be a pretty good incentive."

He nodded. "I just like to make people happy. Seeing a smile is one of my favorite things. Thanks for smiling for me, Jocey. Aw, don't be embarrassed, I didn't mean to make you feel weird!"

I realized that I must have been blushing. "Oh, it's fine. I just didn't really expect you to say that." I stood up. "I'm going to get going. I've still got some places to look, I think."

He looked a little sad as he gave a wave. "Okay. I'll see you around, Jocey."

I headed off to the last building at the end of the street. I entered a gym to be greeted by an empty front desk. After passing through a changing room, I found the main floor. Aerobic machines, strength training, a small mirrored room with bars and mats rolled up in the corner, what looked like gymnastics equipment, and even a rock wall. It was there that I found Cliff. I wasn't surprised in the slightest. He surveyed it with an expert's eye before glancing over at me and nodding in greeting. "Jocelyn."

I approached, a bit surprised he had even talked to me. "Cliff." We stood in silence for a moment. I think we were both waiting for each other to make the first move. "So… what do you think?" I gestured at the climbing wall in front of us.

He hummed and stared at if for a while. "It's not much of a challenge for me. But it would be a good start for a beginner." He looked at me with a raised eyebrow. "You want to give it a go?"

I looked up at the wall, then down at my skirt. "I'm not exactly in appropriate climbing clothes."

"You didn't answer my question. I asked if you were interested, not if you were wearing the right clothes."

"Oh. Uh, yeah, it would probably be pretty cool to try some climbing." Without another word, Cliff launched into an in depth description of how to put on a harness and other safety tips. We spent some time going over the very basics of rock climbing. I think we grew a little closer.

"Geeze… I'll try to remember all that. How did you start rock climbing, by the way?"

He messed with a clip on his harness. "Eh. Grew up around a lot of mountains. Got pretty antsy as a kid, went running around all over the place, getting myself hurt. Eventually my mom got me climbing lessons because she was scared I was going to get killed one of those days. All it really accomplished was getting me access to even more places."

"Oh. But you like climbing, right? Otherwise you wouldn't have stuck with it."

For the first time, I saw the corners of his mouth point up into a smile. Just slightly, but it was there. "Yeah. I like climbing. It's a good skill to have. I've gotten to the point where I don't need to have safety ropes, so I can go almost anywhere, if there are footholds." He looked at me sternly. "But that's only because I'm very experienced. A beginner like you should always take every safety precaution they can."

"I know, I know. I'm not stupid enough to try something like that."

"Good." He went back into silence for a moment. "Later, Jocelyn." Without another word, he turned around and walked off. I looked up at the climbing wall, trying to imagine climbing all the way up. I didn't think I would be able to manage that for a while. I turned around and headed off as well.

It was starting to get dark, so I headed back to the inn. I had no idea how I was going to sleep that night, but I decided not to worry about it. It looked like some of the others had congregated by the hearth, which was now lit. I walked over to join them. Lucile and Roxanne were seated in a couple chairs, and Chester stood nearby. I took a seat on the floor near the fire, taking comfort in the warmth. They certainly didn't seem to be the most welcoming bunch, but they didn't seem to mind my presence.

"Honestly, what the fuck are we supposed to do?" Lucile protested. "This is so fucked up."

Roxanne sighed softly. "Yes. I agree. But I believe that we have nothing to fear. I fail to think of any good reason one of us would find to murder another. We are bound to find a way out eventually."

"Ah," Chester countered, looking smug. "But we saw what happened to our dear friend Logan. Who are we to think that the bear won't resort to such dirty tricks again? And if all else fails, there's the chance he gets bored and just kills us all."

Roxanne looked annoyed, but Lucile looked triumphant. "See? History nerd agrees. We're totally fucked. We're all gonna die just like lucky boy."

Roxanne cleared her throat. "If I may. We have very little information. It is much too early to be saying such things. I believe we should stay calm. We must be patient. We should not rush to conclusions like this."

"It is the most logical conclusion to jump to, Roxanne." Chester fixed her with a hard stare before turning to me. "And what do you, think, Jocelyn?"

I'd hardly thought they'd seen me, but suddenly all three pairs of eyes were fixed on me. "Oh, me?" I didn't want to have to pick a side. I didn't want to be involved in this. I stood up, brushing nonexistent dust off my skirt. "I agree somewhat with Roxanne," I decided. "I want to think the best of the situation." Victory flashed in Roxanne's eyes as she turned back to the others.

"Do you see? There are others who-" I didn't hear the rest of it. I fled from the argument while they were distracted. I returned to my room and sat down on the bed, finding myself suddenly exhausted. I laid back, and passed out almost immediately into a dreamless sleep.