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Sheriff McKinsey was a heavyset man just entering middle age, his close cropped black hair starting to show a few strands of grey. The man's weathered skin had the tanish tone from being outdoors a lot, but at the moment the lot of us were sitting in his office at Willowbrook's police station. It wasn't particularly big, the town only had a little over a dozen active police officers, though I was sure they had some more deputies in reserve if needed. The sheriff's office gave us some privacy as we tried to explain the situation he had found us in, and the entire time he listened to us with his arms folded and his squarish face set into a frown.

Eventually, after we finished, he said "So… you stumbled into a magical labyrinth, which you had to knock over several filing cabinets to escape, which then disappeared the moment you left the room. Did you see a minotaur down there too?"

I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes. "No, we thankfully did not see a minotaur." When one of the newer clerks had wandered down to see what the commotion was about, we were forced to explain the mess. Naturally, the explanation of 'magical trap labyrinth' was hard to swallow, made all the worse by how no one had seen us even enter the building. I tried to bring up the clerk who had given me the key… except no one could find her.

So that left me and Donna holding the proverbial bag when the police showed up. We had a very quick and quiet conversation where we decided to play ball and tell the police what happened (mostly). Something as dangerous as a magical trap labyrinth in a publicly accessible place was something the authorities should know about. And with the mystery we were suddenly looking at, we wanted to stay incognito in case whoever made that trap came looking around.

But that did mean we didn't have our usual clout when it came to extra-normal activities. "Is this really so unbelievable? You do remember the sky getting all stary and weird a few weeks ago, right?"

"Oh, I do believe this world has all kinds of strange and unholy things hiding in its shadows." The sheriff said evenly. "I just don't think it happens to be in the county clerk's basement."

"But, why would we lie about this?" Donna asked. "If we were trying to come up with an excuse, don't you think we'd come up with something better?"

The man laughed. "Trust me, in my line of work you get a real good idea of how dumb people can get with their excuses."

Donna and I looked at each other in exasperation. "So what, you think we just trashed the basement? What possible reason could we have for that?"

"Don't know. You two seem pretty since about this… which makes me think I should be asking you to take a drug test." That would be awkward, particularly for me. Before I had to contemplate stealing another man's urine, McKinsey continued "Though since neither of you are showing the usual signs, I might be convinced you don't have to. Normally I'd be asking Clerk Fowler about your behavior and just what you were doing down there, but well, she's still being a mite elusive. Know anything about that?" We shook our heads, and he grunted. "So, for now how about you tell me why you were at the county clerk's office in the first place."

Donna spoke up. "We were trying to find information on Willowbrook orphanage. I think I may have come from there."

"You… think?"

"16 years ago a building burned down in town, and I was pulled out of that building. No one could identify me, but I recently learned I may be-"

"That was you?" The sheriff interrupted, his eyebrows shooting up. "I remember that day, but I didn't get there until the fire had completely burned out. I had heard that a baby survived, but I never actually saw anyone myself. In fact, I could find any officers who had seen the baby. We got it all second hand from the firefighters."

Donna blinked. "Really? I know I went into the foster care system almost immediately, but I would have thought at least one of the police was responsible for putting me there."

McKinsey frowned. "Well, the people I talked to said that there happened to be a social worker from out of town that took you. I wanted to look into that, but I was just a rookie at the time and… well, let's say those days were hectic."

"I've never heard about a social worker," Donna said, trailing off in thought.

"Huh." The sheriff grunted. "I may have to look into that again. But hey, welcome back to Willowbrook!" He said cheerfully.

Donna and I both blinked at his sudden change in demeanor, and that seemed to remind him of our current situation. "Ah, right. Well, I'm afraid you're in a bit of a bind. There's no proof that anything like you said is down in that basement. And even if you were telling the truth, who the hell would I call about it? I sure as hell can't deal with that sort of thing, and we don't exactly have a town witch."

"The FBI." I said. "The government does have a few specialized agencies for specific problems, but in the general case of extra-normal weirdness, the FBI are the ones to contact." Though according to League files, the actual handling of magical phenomena is done by Federal Marshals. Which is strange for a number of reasons. There was likely a story there.

The sheriff arched an eyebrow. "How do you know that?"

I scowled and pointed up. "I only need the sky to get all freaky once before I decided to read up on the subject."

He hesitated before he nodded in concession. "Fair enough, but we still have a missing clerk to account for. What does that mean I should do with you?"

"I think the only thing you can do is let us go." Donna said. "We don't have anything to do with Mrs. Fowler, and I'm pretty sure there isn't any evidence to say otherwise."

"No, but I do have enough probable cause to arrest both of you for destruction of state property." McKinsey pointed out. After a long pause though he let out a breath and relaxed his shoulders. "But this situation is weird enough that I want to make sure first. So yes, I'm going to let you go. I am going to ask that you don't leave town until the investigation is done, however."

I arched an eyebrow. "I'm not sure you can tell us to do that without arresting us."

McKinsey shrugged. "Strictly speaking I can't force you to stay here, but right now we have a missing person and you two are people of interest. And if you two decide to run, I'll take that as an admission of guilt. Are we clear?" We weren't happy about it, but the both of us nodded. "Good. Now, is there anything else you'd like to tell me?"

"Well… there is one thing I would like to ask." Donna said slowly. "We found the records for Willowbrook Orphanage, but all the pages in the folder were blank."

The Sheriff arched an eyebrow. "Well that ain't right, but what do you want me to do about it?"

"I was hoping you might know some people who were from there." She said. "The clerk said that a few people in town were adopted from the orphanage, but if there is anyone who worked there I'd like to meet them too."

McKinsey hummed. "I don't remember any staff other than Elmira, but the headmistress moved down to Florida after she retired. For the kids themselves..." He trailed off for a moment. Then his face split in a grin. "Tell you what, we're having the harvest festival in town tomorrow, everyone will be there. It'll be the perfect time to run into them."

"Err, great, but couldn't you just give me some names?"

He waved her off. "People around here don't like strangers knocking on their front door. Trust me, you'll have much better luck at a public event. Now, I'll be in touch."

With that, the sheriff shepherded us out of station and onto the street, leaving us to ourselves. "Well, that was interesting, if unhelpful." I said as we walked down the steps. "What do you think, stay or go? I'm pretty sure I can clear up any legal issues this might cause."

Donna shook her head. "No, I don't want to go. The answers are here, and I'm not going to give up now."

I hummed. "I'll find us a hotel then. What's our next move?"

She sighed. "Well, we've got a town with secrets protected by magic traps, a missing person, no idea who's behind either of them, and each new bit of information just makes things even stranger. So, sure, maybe a town festival is a nice change of pace."

I'll give it to Willowbrook. They know how to throw a harvest festival.

"This is positively homey." I remarked, me and Donna walking between the stalls that lined the main thoroughfare of the town. They were selling things ranging from fresh food, to homemade crafts, to one enterprising man selling wooden furniture. That combined with the crisp autumn air made me feel nostalgic. "Brings me back to my childhood."

"You grew up in a town like this?" Donna asked, inspecting a row of pumpkins. The woman tending them gave Donna a warm smile, which she returned.

"Not quite like this, but I did grow up in a village suburb with some history to it. Was around since the colonial era. It was a bit more 'sleepy' than Willowbrook, but this place certainly has a strong sense of community."

We walked past a small group of people that had taken over part of the street to play some nine pins. The crowd cheered as a small boy got a strike, and a man I presume was his father lifted him up on to his shoulder. A few of them noticed us watching, and actually gestured for us to join them, but we politely declined and moved on.

"...I just realized I've never actually been to a harvest festival." Donna remarked, furrowing her brow. "I never lived in a place that threw one."

I spied a particular table through the crowd of people, and I steered us towards it. "Well, I think I spy just the thing to get you started." I walked to the table and said to the man manning it "2 of each please." The man handed me a pair of large cup, one of which I held out to Donna

"Apple cider?" She asked, taking the cup from me.

"And apple cider donuts." I said, taking one off the table wrapped in a napkin and handing it to her. "No harvest festival is complete without them. It's why the early American colonists invented them. Probably. I think."

She gave an amused hum before she bit into her pastry, which then turned into one of satisfaction. "Well, considering how delicious this donut is, I will bow to their wisdom." Her face fell a little bit. "Now if only their basements weren't full of witchcraft," She said in a lower tone.

"If you're thinking of yesterday, that wasn't witchcraft. Or at least not the good old American kind. I did some research last night after you turned in." I had gotten the two of us a room at a local motel, but only Donna used it to sleep. I had spent the night on the roof keeping an eye out while looking things up online. "I ran the pattern on that folder through the database. It's not a perfect match, but there's some Minoan script in there."

Her brow furrowed. "Minoan… they were a civilization that lived around the same time and place as the ancient Greeks, right?"

"The Mycenaean Greeks, yeah. Supposedly, their worship of bull iconography led to influencing the creation of the Minotaur myth."

"And the labyrinth it inhabited." Donna concluded. "Maybe there actually was a minotaur down there…"

"If so, it hopefully disappeared with that pocket dimension."

She grunted, draining the rest of her cider and tossing the cup in a nearby trash can. "Well, I suppose that might be something to look into, though I have no idea where we would start. Whoever created that spell may not even live in this town. Honestly, I want to look back into just who was there the day the building burned down. See if we can find that social worker, or just track down the firefighters."

"There's a problem with the latter, as I had the same thought. That trap gave me the impression that someone wanted to keep whatever happened at that orphanage a secret. And it may have been related to the fire. So I tried to find them online."

"Did something happen to them?"

"More like, after they left town, they ceased to exist entirely." I explained. "The records of their home sales are there, but after that they have no presence online whatsoever. No loans, no credit cards, no bills, nothing. I could see maybe one of them going off the grid… but all five of them?"

Donna groaned. "I'm starting to feel we're years too late to solve this… Fine, let's focus on what we can do right now. I guess I'll try finding anyone who came from the orphanage here."

"Shouldn't take too long to point us in the right direction." I said as we walked toward the town square. "Everyone seems to be so friendly here it can't be that hard to find someone who at least knows someone from the orphanage."

We slipped past a car-blocking barrier and walked into the square, which itself was lined with more stalls. The people here had spread out over the grassy section in the middle, laid out in a sort of impromptu picnic. A small band was playing on a stand not too far away, and the general feel in the air was a sort of laid back festiveness.

Looking at the space, I felt nostalgia flow over me again. For a moment I forgot about the basement, Donna's mystery, the whole superhero thing in general. I remembered when my life used to be simpler, without all the villains, god like beings, and me nearly dying quite so much. My old life felt so far away, and I wondered… if it wouldn't be so bad if-

I flinched, and I blinked in confusion. I haven't spaced out that hard since I was a normal human, I thought. It looked like Gaia's blessing still had a few surprises for me. Still, wasn't sure why my chest felt so warm. And... wait, which way did I come from? I must have gotten turned around at some point-

"Hey!" I turned to see a familiar person walking towards me with a grin on her face: the waitress from the diner. "Glad to see you stuck around." Dressed in casual jeans and a green jacket, she did a sort of half-skip up to me, her golden curls bouncing with the motion. She only came up to my collar, but she didn't seem intimidated. "Even if you didn't call."

A little nonplussed, I turned to her. "Well, we got a little busy yesterday." A beat. "Also, while Donna and I aren't a couple, I do have a girlfriend."

She gave a small pout, but also held out a hand. "I'm Wendy."

Of course you are, I thought as I took her hand in kind. "Jacob. And this is-" I turned to introduce Donna, only to find that she wasn't there. "What the… where the bloody hell did she go?" I asked, looking around for my companion.

"Probably got distracted, there's a lot going on today. Tell you what, let me help you find her, and I can show you around."

I hesitated for a moment before I nodded and gave her a small smile. "Alright, sure." I said, hiding my unease. Normally I would track Donna by her comm, but one of the main features of the new comms was that they couldn't be tracked. I knew I should have fabricated a tracker and placed it on her. As Wendy and I started to walk around the square, I subvocalized over comms "Donna, where'd you go?"

A few seconds later I heard back "Where did you go? We were walking into the square and then suddenly you weren't there anymore."

"I'm right where you left me, although I have been found by the waitress from the diner of all people."

"Her? You- never mind. I got someone to point me in the right direction of a former orphan. I'm going to follow that up. You find out what you can. Maybe your sultry waitress knows something."

I had to hold in a laugh so I didn't startle Wendy. I turned to her, but before I could ask anything she said "I know you haven't been here long, but what do you think of our little town so far?"

I paused before replying "It's nice, kinda reminds me of my old hometown. It feels like the sort of quiet place you retire to."

"Well, if you like it, there's plenty of room for a new resident." I arched an eyebrow, and she held out a hand. "I know, I know. That's a bit much for a first conversation. But this town can get so… static sometime. Some new blood would really do us some good."

"That's very, uh, earnest of you." I settled on. "But I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now."

"Which is?"

"New York. I'm a grad student at NYU," I said, going into the details of my civilian persona. "Going for a Master's in Computer Science."

"Ooo, brains to go with the brawn." She remarked as the two of us wandered out of the square. I didn't respond because, well, I didn't know how to respond. I just sort of politely nodded at her and we fell into a lull. I then tried to ask her a question again, but again she preempted me. "So, what exactly did you come down to Willowbrook for? That isn't trashing the county clerk's office."

I frowned. "How'd you hear about that?"

"It's a small town, and I like to keep my ear to the ground. Also I'm friends with the sheriff."

I grunted. "It's not what it sounds like."

"Really? Because it sounds like you think you ran into some weird, supernatural stuff down there."

"Oh. Well, maybe it is what it sounds like. Look, I-"

"I believe you."

I stopped, my eyebrows shooting up. "You do?"

"Yeah," She stopped as well. "Most people would make up a more believable lie, or if it actually did happen, just think they were imagining it and try to 're not doing either of those. You believe you saw something supernatural and are trying to deal with it rationally. And that is very interesting."

"That's nice of you to say, but how do you know I'm not just lying to get attention? Or just crazy?"

She shrugged, her coy grin returning. "Call it a hunch. Or maybe the fact that you're cute is clouding my judgment."

This woman may be shameless, I thought. I took in breath before I said "Look, Wendy, I appreciate that you're being so friendly, but-"

"Oh! I'm sorry!" She said, covering her hand with her mouth. "I'm being too forward again, aren't I? I don't really mean anything by it, it's just who I am. Ask anyone around here, it has gotten me into a bit of trouble more than once."

"Ah. Well, I guess it's fine." I said helpless. "But maybe I should go look for Donna on my own."

"No, let me make it up to you first." She insisted, and led me to one of the closest stalls that had food on it. "I think I have something here, special just for you," she said, picking something off the table and turning back to me.

"Actually I'm- is that sfingi?" I said in surprise. I carefully plucked the piece of powdered sugar covered fried dough from the napkin she was holding. "I wasn't expecting an Italian pastry here."

"Well, most of the oldest families in town are Greek, but have a few with Italian blood. Are you…?"

"On my mother's side. She learned how to cook from her mother, which included these." I smiled as I lifted the foodstuff up. "Every Christmas she would make a batch for the whole family. Right after Christmas dinner she would wrangle us all up back to the living so that we could 'reminisce', as she liked to put it." I took a bite-

I froze in place. It tasted... perfect. Just like I remembered. The flavor triggered a memory, so strong that I could see it with vivid clarity. I remembered sitting on the couch in my parents living room, blanket over my lap and sfingi in my hand. My brothers were on the floor, doting on our cat who was taking it with her traditional magnanimity. My parents sat closer to the fireplace, watching on with loving amusement.

And at that moment I realized that I wasn't making it home for Christmas.

My expression fell, and an overwhelming sense of melancholy came over me. "God I miss home," I found myself muttering. This place, this town just reminded me of it so much I couldn't stop thinking about it.

"Hey, it's alright." Wendy said, stepping in close. "Home's where the heart is. And no place has more heart than Willowbrook."

Maybe… maybe I could-

Core-Loop Reinforcement Protocol flared to life in my chest.

I flinched, pulling back from Wendy. I looked around wildly before looking down at the foodstuff in my hand. It… it wasn't sfingi. It was just a piece of fried dough, nothing special. Looking past Wendy, I saw there wasn't even anyone meaning the table."Jacob?" Wendy asked, looking at me in confusion. "Jacob? What's wrong?"

"I'm..." I wasn't sure. Something just tried to alter my mind, but I had no idea what. It didn't feel anything like the Calculator's attempts, or any technological connection at all. But… psychics don't work on me, and judging by my encounter with the Psycho Pirate, mind magic didn't either. So, what the hell was that? Did Gaia's blessing make me more vulnerable somehow?

I felt a shiver of uncertainty run through me, and I saw a few of the townsfolk looking at me. Was it because I was freaking out, or did they know something I didn't? Was Wendy responsible? I didn't know, and I wasn't sure what to do. I had to get out of there. "I'm sorry, it seems on top of everything, I'm not feeling well." I pulled back from her. "I should... go. Thanks for showing me around." Without waiting for her to respond, I turned and walked away. I ignored her calling after me and dove into the crowd, losing her in the process.

I tossed the food in my hand in the trash and called Donna. "Donna, we have to go. Where are you?"

A pause, before a short whisper. "Hardware store. Talking."

A few directions later and I was on my way to her, and all the while I kept alert. All of the nostalgia and friendliness I had felt earlier was gone, and now the festival felt much more uneasy. The smiles I was getting now seemed more forced, and I noticed people giving me a wide berth. It didn't take too long before I arrived in front of the hardware store, and I saw Donna talking to a young man about her age. He was sturdy and had a mop of dark hair, but an oddly rigid smile. I walked up next to her and loudly said "Donna! We're running late for our appointment."

She looked at her phone to get the time before looking back up at the young man. "Oh, he's right, we have to go. So sorry, but it was nice meeting you." The young man muttered something I couldn't quite understand as we walked away, the smile never leaving his face. In short order the two of us ducked into a blind alley and out of sight of everyone else.

Once I was sure no one was watching, I told her about what happened. The wave of nostalgia, the sudden memory, and how I had snapped out of it. Her face twisted in concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… mostly. I'm getting real sick of being jerked around like this." I sighed. "Seems like I can't go more than a month without someone trying to mess with my head. Lucky me I'm getting so resistant to it."

She frowned and placed a hand on my shoulder. "You'll be alright. I know you've dealt with worse, so no creepy little town is going to get the better of you. Ok?"

After a moment I gave her a little smile and nod. "Ok. Well, I guess this confirms that whoever made the basement labyrinth is still in town. And call it a hunch, but I think this may run deeper than one person."

"You may be right," Donna said, putting her hands on her hips.

"Oh? Did you find out something useful from the kid?"

She shook her head. "Not exactly. That guy you saw me talking to, Michel, he was from the orphanage too. He said he didn't remember much about it, but..." She hesitated. "I've had a few foster siblings. I know what it looks like when someone doesn't want to talk about what's happened to them. He was showing all the signs of it."

"Really?" I asked. "Because he was giving you a stepford smile when I pulled you away."

"Yeah, something was off. It was like his face didn't match his body language. I'm worried he might be repressing." Her face set. "Something was wrong at that orphanage, but there's just nothing to go on. And judging by what you told me, the longer we're out in the open the more likely we're going to be targets for whoever's behind this."

I thought about it for a second. "We could try investigating the house of the clerk who disappeared. She might have a connection to all this. The cops are probably watching the place, but I'm sure I can get in without being noticed."

"...That's a good idea, but we should wait till dark." She said. "Besides, there's one more person I want to try talking to first."

The sun was starting to wane by the time we arrived at our destination, a somewhat shoddy house in the more suburban part of the town. "Do you really think he's going to be anymore receptive this time?" I asked as the two of us walked up the stoop. "You got nothing from him twice before."

"Maybe, but that's before I knew about there were shady cover ups and magic involved." Donna pointed out. "He may have just owned the building that burned down and that's all, but I have to be sure. And I'm willing to get a little… persuasive if I have to." She patted the handbag at her side, which I knew held her silver lasso.

"Fair enough," I said, turning to the front door. "Mr. Channing?" I called out as I knocked-

It swung inward at the first touch, showing the lock to be shattered. Donna and I looked at each other warily before we carefully stepped inside.

At first glance, all you would see is a shabby house, stairway going up to a second floor and a living room off to the side. The carpet that covered the floor was frayed and dirty, the furniture was cheap, and I could spy a few stains on the walls. But a second look showed things that weren't just poor maintenance: a dent in the wall, a broken lamp, and a dark red stain on the carpet that looked an awful lot like blood.

The two of us walked in and I pointed out the stain. We quietly split and searched the place, though it didn't take long to find that no one was there. We convened back in the living room, and I said "I'm really starting to dislike people disappearing on us."

Donna leaned down to look closer at the stain. "This isn't completely dry, this happened recently. I'd guess a couple of hours ago."

I walked around her. "Doesn't look like that much, probably not a lethal amount. Somehow I don't think it's a coincidence that one of our leads gets abducted just after we spring a trap in the records room."

"But, why now?" Donna asked as she stood straight. "If we assume that the firefighters' disappearing is also part of this, they were taken care of years ago. This isn't even the first time I came here to ask about all of this."

"...When you came here, how many people did you actually talk to about the fire?"

"Not many. Just the fire chief at the time and Channing. Why?"

I had an idea rolling around in my head, but there just wasn't enough evidence to support it. "It's possible Channing was more involved in this than he seems. Let's see if we can find anything else here."

The two of us began to search more thoroughly, and it became clear that the place hadn't just been wrecked by a struggle, it had also been ransacked. Drawers and cabinets had been tossed open, and even the mattress had been cut into. Whoever did this was looking for something, but without knowing what I couldn't say if they found it.

"Well, at least there aren't any magical traps this time," I said, walking out the pantry. "Though whatever's making that smell in the pantry might qualify."

From up in the bedroom I heard Donna call down. "I think there's something here."

I moved to join her, and I found her standing in the doorway to the bedroom closet. Strangely, she wasn't looking in the closet itself, but the door frame. "Do you see something?"

"No," She frowned. "And yet..." She reached out and grasped part of the frame before pulling. There was a groan before the section pulled free with a crack, a few splinters coming out with it. Looking at the piece from the back I could see that there was a latch that would have allowed it to be popped open. If, you know, Donna hadn't ripped the whole thing out.

Reaching into the gap, Donna pulled out a pair of thin books, ledgers by the look of it. "How did you know those were there?" I asked. She didn't reply, instead reaching back into the space to pull out a small box, the sort that you would find a ring in. She set the books down on the nearby dresser and popped the box open.

Inside was a small stone, if you could call it that. It was deep black and speckled with shining lights. Just like Donna's outfit. She reached out and touched it with her finger, and suddenly drew in a sharp breath. Her hair flowed out behind her as a starfield, and the lights in the rock flowed into her finger before it crumbled to dust.

It only lasted a second or so before Donna's hair returned to normal, and she let out the breath she had been holding. "It was like the effigy." She said, turning to me. "Much, much smaller, and not carrying that taint… but it's the same power."

"Something from that night, maybe?" I suggested.

With nothing else, we laid the ledgers out on the dresser and started pouring over them. They weren't exactly the most neatly organized books, as they were written in a mix of shorthand and brief notes, but it was easy to get the general idea of what we were looking at. "It seems like Mr. Channing was involved in some under-the-table dealings with Willowbrook orphanage. If I'm reading this right... He was helping to traffic kids."

Donna made a noise of disgust. "Figures that would be it, but I guess I shouldn't be surprised. There's a number of different ways to profit from selling kids. "

"Yeah… except it looks like the orphanage was paying Channing for delivering the kids to them."

"Wait, they were taking in more kids rather than selling them? But, why?"

"Don't know. Channing didn't either." I remarked, looking at a note in the margin that read 'What do they need these kids for?'

We continued to flip through ledgers, the first one continuing to detail finances and payments over the years between Channing and the orphanage, along with a few more general expenses for himself. The second one on the other hand read more like forensic accounting, and detailed expenses of the orphanage and the local government as well. "He was trying to figure out what was happening. And he found out that the Mayor's office was in on it too."

"Look at what they were buying." Donna pointed out. "Gold, copper, a whole list of items from Greece. Artifacts, maybe? But what are these chemicals?"

"...I can't find anyone else using it, but it's close to the formula of LSD." I said after a quick online search. "I can only guess what it does to a person, but I'm starting to think we're dealing with some kind of cult."

"Oh gods, is this really where I came from?" She muttered, and the two of us continued to look through the entries. They went back a considerable ways, and eventually we stumbled on a particular date. 'Building at 53rd burned down. Only one left was a baby girl. Not one of mine.'

" 'Not one of mine?' " I muttered. Donna was still for a moment before she started flipping through pages, looking both before and after the entry. "Looking for something?"

"Something Michel told me… I was trying to learn more about the orphanage so I didn't really think about it, but the one time he remembered anything bad during his time there happened shortly after the fire. A woman came in to talk with the headmistress, she was very distressed. He remembered that she left in tears. What if… she was a relative of mine, who came looking for me after the fire?" She let out a frustrated growl and put the book down. "Nothing. I was hoping that Channing would have run into her."

"He might have and just not written anything down." I pointed out. "Maybe there's something in his normal expenses around that time." I moved over to the other ledger and flipped to the date the building burned down. There was a lot of shuffling money around and insurance stuff, but one charge caught my eye.

'Social credentials rush job. Got the girl out.'

I took a moment to process that. "He's the one who got you out of town. I think... Channing was trying to protect you." I said.

"He sold children." Donna said incredulously. "Why the hell would he care about me?"

"I couldn't tell you. He did slow down his operation after that, to the point where he stopped completely a few years ago." I flipped forward in the ledger to the last entry. "But we're definitely not getting the full story from this."

Donna walked away from me, moving to the window while she rubbed her forehead. "When I said I wanted answers, I mean that I wanted answers that made sense."

"Hey, we're getting somewhere." I assured her. "If nothing else we have confirmation that something, and some people, are very rotten in this town. Even if we still don't know just who the hell they are."

"Well," Donna said after a long pause. "Your cult theory is pretty spot on. That or robes and torches are fashionable down here."

I blinked in confusion. "How could you know-" I cut myself off as I turned my head to see her standing in front of the window overlooking the street. "...Oh, please tell me they didn't."

She didn't have to respond, as I saw the first wave of thrown torches hurling at us through the window.

=====A=====