CHAPTER 20: THE ROAD AHEAD
It was looking to be a very busy day over at Paris's main city airport since a plane from Minnesota had just arrived and all of the passengers had already made their way to the merry go round to retrieve their luggage,and Tyrone just so happened to be one of them as he picked up a single black suitcase and headed towards the car area with the purpose of renting one. Tyrone once again wore a mainly calm and emotionless look on his face as he thought to himself while he looked at the parking lot outside through a window "Alright bud you've made it France,if you're gonna catch these guys quick then you're gonna need a car. A simple one too." before a woman's voice suddenly asked from the right with a French accent "Is there a rental I can interest you in sir?" to which Tyrone promptly turned his head to see just that.
"Actually you can miss." Tyrone politely answered as he took off his hat to try and appear more gentlemen like before he continued a lot more serious "I'm gonna cut to the chase,I'm a private detective from the states on a special assignment,and I need a rental that can look like the most unsuspecting car imaginable. Can you do that?" to which the woman nodded her head and happily confirmed that she could "I can do that just fine sir,may I also interest you in a map for this job if yours?" only for Tyrone to shake his head and politely decline "No thank you miss,although I will ask something else since I think you have a vast history of seeing people go in and out of here. If you were trying to track down twenty one escaped inmates that have fled into this country via stowaway on a cruise ship,where do you think they would go?"
Meanwhile back in the French countryside,the sun had long since set and the night sky was absolutely clear of any clouds and filled up to the brim with stars,all the while the gang along with Snoopy, Woodstock, Andy, Olaf, Roger, Gracie and Herman were all gathered around the lit fireplace as Pierre calmly explained to them while the fire gave off a bright orange glow onto him and everyone else "I remember reading about the Chateau Of Harmony in history class at school,a long time ago before the first Great War,the chateau was a common gathering place for the common and rich folk of the country. It was used by many people for parties,weddings,banquets and auctions,and everyone was allowed there no matter how rich or poor they were. However when the first Great War eventually came,it was not only starting to be briefly used as a hospital for the sick and injured soilders,but eventually it became a full on fort that got so damaged by the war,that it was ultimately left abandoned and untouched after all this time,a true scar and reminder of war."
All of the kids were left completely baffled after hearing Pierre's story as Peppermint Patty blinked a few times before she meekly stammered "Well this sure took a drastic turn for the worst,last time the chateau was just surrounded in mystery due to a wonderful romance." only for Marcie to suddenly interrupt and finish her remark for her "But this time it's just a reminder of the damage of war." to which Freida nodded her head and somberly added in agreement "I know,it sounded like such a great place before the war hit it."
"If you ask me,I think they should have just fixed it up. It's not like they would have used it again when World War 2 came around." Lucy shrugged her arms and offered her own point of view on the story before Claudia meekly wondered out of a sense of nervousness "S-So you mean this is the place where Ed's m-mom wants to meet him? Isn't it all m-messed up from the war s-still?" to which Pierre nodded his head and regretfully confirmed "I'm afraid so Claudia,this place has a very rough history behind it because of the war,I don't get why anyone would want to meet there unless they want to finally fix it up." which prompted Charlie Brown to calmly add in agreement "I know,whatever wasn't blasted to bits is probably covered with enough dust to make PigPen blush."
"Ed I don't think this is such a good idea,that place sounds really sketchy." Sally pointed over at Ed and firmly stated in response before Linus and Eudora couldn't help but nod their heads in agreement while the former cautiously remarked "I think Sally may have a point there Ed,and there's probably a bunch of skeletons there from the war too. I don't mean to jump to unnecessarily bold conclusions just yet,but what if there's a slight chance that this whole thing could just be someone trying to trap you? In that kind of place,it wouldn't be too far fetched." to which Ed rolled his eyes and frankly disagreed with the whole notion "Oh come on Linus,I think that's definitely going too far. I mean who has enough of a grudge against me that they would go through the trouble of setting all this up? Arin and Mrs Hampton are likely still in jail at this point and couldn't possible set all this up behind bars,and I haven't even met Tarantula or any of those Lizard Ladies yet,thank god."
"Well I still don't know about this now,you didn't come all this way to get mugged or worse,maybe we should think this through." Charlie Brown slowly shook his head and politely insisted that Ed be more careful before Freida nodded her head and nervously added in agreement "Yeah I mean,I know you really want to see your mother again but,we also don't want to see you get hurt,we're your friends and we just to look out for you while you're here." to which Rebecca patted Ed's left shoulder and firmly added with a shaky voice "Especially me babe." However despite all of this,Ed still couldn't bring himself to agree with them as he sighed and politely offered his own point of view "Look guys,as someone who thinks you and the others back home mean the entire world to him,I understand your concerns,and honestly I'm kind of getting a little uneasy about this too,but I can't just walk away from this,not now,and quite frankly I've gone through a lot of dangerous stuff mind you. I survived getting my eye cut out and all them ghosts and monsters at that sleepover,and I think I can handle some potential nobody who I probably don't even know that could attempt to mug me." and it seemed that was just enough for the others to somewhat get behind his logic as they all smiled a little afterwards while Charlie Brown reluctantly decided to go along with the whole thing "I guess there's no stopping you Ed,and you are kinda right about going through all that stuff."
"You bet your bald head that I'm right." Ed chuckled and jokingly retorted in response which caused everyone in the room to start laughing at the joke,even Charlie Brown couldn't help but find it a little funny before Pierre cautiously stated while he began writing some stuff on a map "Charles was right,there is no stopping you Ed,here are some directions from here to the chateau. It ain't too far away and should take y'all about a few hours at the very least,and since it's way past dark I have rooms available in the house if y'all would like to stay the night."
"I was just thinking about getting some sleep on this chair believe it or not. I'll take the offer." Franco lightly chuckled and happily took the offer with a yawn which was followed up by everyone talking amongst themselves about it while Pierre handed Ed the map,and it was then and there that the road and route to the chateau was now in the palm of his hand. Danger or no danger,nothing was going to stop him as he looked at the marked route that appeared to lead straight into a large forest.
A few hours later into the night and almost everyone in the house was now fast asleep thanks to Pierre's generous hospitality,the boys were all sharing a bedroom as were all the girls,even Snoopy, Woodstock, Andy, Olaf, Gracie, Roger and Herman had flopped down into a literal dogpile and were snoozing in the boy's room. However the key sentence was that ALMOST everyone was asleep since Lucy had instead snuck outside into the backyard and appeared to be making a late night call on her phone as she quietly spoke "Hey Cobra,it's Lucy,I'm really sorry to be waking you up this late at night but it's urgent,I think tomorrow you and Rattler should try and contact the Spiders,cause there's a big chance that something BAD could be going on over here."
NEXT CHAPTER: FAMILY'S CALL