Max felt herself shrink as Steph looked at her. "What do you mean, the kind that might have caused the storm?" The edge in her voice was back.

There was a squirming in Max's stomach as she dredged up the memory. It felt like another life completely, before everything had fallen completely to shit. "The day I got my powers, I watched Nathan Prescott shoot Chloe. I had a vision of the storm while I was in class and headed to the bathroom to calm down. Chloe and Nathan came in and didn't notice me. She was trying to blackmail Nathan for drugging her at a bar, he pulled a gun, and it went off." Max still could feel the concussion of the gunshot in the enclosed space, see the bright, arterial blood blossoming across Chloe's shirt. "It all happened so fast. The next thing I knew, I was back in my classroom ten minutes earlier."

Steph's entire tone changed as she turned to Chloe. "Nathan tried to drug you, and shot you!?"

Chloe wrapped her arms around herself protectively. "He didn't just try. But he got the dose wrong and I woke up before he was able to do much besides snap a couple pics. Luckily Max was able to save me from that fucker's bullet on her second try."

In shock, Steph said, "I knew he was bad news, but shit, I didn't know it was that bad."

"It gets even worse," Chloe warned. "I wasn't the only one he drugged."

Max tried to keep the memories of the dark room at bay, but couldn't help remembering the duct tape clung tight around her wrists, the slowly swirling terror as the needle plunged into her neck and Jefferson's drugs sent her fading into the void, the incessant click-click-click of his camera shutter… She decided instead to skip over that part of the story. "Every time I rewound to fix something or help someone, it just seemed like things got worse. The visions got worse. They were showing me the future. Weird phenomena kept happening as the changes I made got bigger – snow in eighty degree weather, a solar eclipse, a double moon. I think the damage I did to the timeline led to the storm."

"How, though?" Ryan asked. "It's not like you had powers that controlled the weather."

"We still don't know that it did," Chloe was quick to correct.

"Not technically, no," Max agreed. "But there isn't a better explanation we've found. A storm like that… it wasn't natural."

Holding up her hand, Steph asked, "Wait. You said there were more people that Nathan drugged?"

You knew it would come up eventually. "He was working with Mark Jefferson, one of my teachers, luring girls away and drugging them to bring them to the bunker so he could take pictures of them tied up. Kate Marsh, Victoria Chase…" She saw Victoria, lying barely conscious next to her, dilated pupils lolling from side to side as she tried to understand where she was or how she'd gotten there through the sedative. Eyeliner smudged by her tears, whimpering to Max over and over that she just wanted to go home… "He had binders full of pictures for each. There were at least twenty."

Apparently, Alex had been able to read her thoughts. She looked like she was going to be sick. "You were one of them."

Swallowing the growing lump in her throat, Max nodded. "Not in this timeline, but yes. After he drugged me and killed Chloe. After he found out we knew about Rachel."

Steph's eyes grew wide and she began breathing faster. "Knew what about Rachel?"

Chloe struggled to keep her voice from breaking. "Steph, Rachel she, she… we found her body in the junkyard. Jefferson and Nathan killed her."

Steph seemed to deflate. It took her a while to say anything as she processed what Chloe had just told her. "I knew she was dead. Mikey and I both did. It's just different when you actually know, you know?"

Chloe nodded. "I know."

"Was it… painful? Did she suffer?"

"I'm not really sure."

"Fuck." Steph turned away. Max couldn't hear her crying but saw the telltale way her shoulders shook as Alex wrapped her in an embrace.

Ryan's jaw clenched and unclenched, his eyes narrowing. "I just don't understand how someone could do that to another person. How long were you trapped there?"

"In this timeline? Never. If you combine all the others?" She didn't want to think hard enough about the experience to determine even a rough estimate. "Hours? Days? It felt like a lifetime. Like Groundhog's Day from hell."

"I can't even imagine." Ryan shook his head.

Steph stood. "I need to go for a walk." She didn't wait for anyone to follow her as she headed downstairs.

Chloe looked at Max and sadly said, "I think maybe I should talk to her."

Max nodded. "Go. It's okay."

Chloe forced a weak smile and let go of Max's hand before getting up to follow Steph.


Steph stood on the dock and looked out over the lake, arms still crossed, trying not to feel anything but the chilly air through her sweater. It wasn't working. Dull pangs of regret, of guilt, and of plain old grief stabbed into her chest as she thought about Rachel.

"Hey," Chloe said, low and soft from behind her. "Mind if I join you?"

"Go for it. You followed me all the way out here?"

"Yeah."

Chloe lit up a cigarette, and they stood together staring at the water. There was just enough reflection off the dark surface to see ripples as a fish jumped to catch an unlucky insect. A cloud of Chloe's smoke drifted past Steph.

"I should've told you sooner."

Steph sighed. "Yeah, you should have. I haven't been able to truly find closure for six years, Chloe." She wiped away a tear with the sleeve of her sweater.

"This is a shitty excuse, but I hadn't heard from you in months. I should've known better, but I wasn't sure you still cared."

"You didn't exactly try to reach out either. Even before Rachel disappeared, we just stopped hearing from you. Either of you. The only way I've known you're even alive the past few years has been Max occasionally tagging you in pictures." Steph sighed, trying to keep the negative emotions from bubbling up as anger. "You were one of my only friends."

Stammering, Chloe tried to figure out how to express what she wanted to say. "Steph, I really am sorry. Of all people, I should've known how much it hurts to feel left behind."

Steph stopped her. "But tonight, finding out about everything you and Max went through… That sounds like hell."

"Yeah, it… sucked pretty hard." Chloe let out a single, restrained laugh. "But it's not, like, a competition y'know. We've all had a pretty shitty go at things."

"I know." She kicked a pebble into the water with a tiny plunk. "I don't think I'd be the same after having to actually witness the storm or what happened to Rachel though."

Chloe didn't immediately respond, buying herself a little more time by taking a drag from her cigarette. "It's gotten easier, I guess. Max is a far better companion than I deserve – she's kind, and goofy, and she always sees and tries to bring out the best in me. She's my guardian angel."

With a sniffle, Steph said, "I can tell she loves you."

"I love her too. And I wouldn't trade what Max and I have for the world. But there's not a day that goes by that I'm not reminded of how much I also miss Rachel." Her voice fell to a hoarse whisper as she tried to keep herself together. "I loved her so much, Steph. I still do."

Steph hugged her friend. "Me too." She wiped a tear from her cheek with the sleeve of her sweater. "I wasted so much time being jealous of you and Rachel, when I should have been enjoying what we all had together. Now we can't ever get that time back. Fuck, I've gotta figure out how to tell Mikey."

They pulled back apart.

"We'll tell him together," Chloe suggested. "In person."

"We should still call him tomorrow, though. I'm sure he'd love to see you. Plus I'm willing to bet he'd want a part in our investigation."

"Deal. C'mon, let's get Max and head to bed."


Thick haze obscured all but the closest trees. Ash fell like fat, gray snowflakes, sticking in Chloe's hair and on her clothes as acrid smoke burned at her nostrils.

"Hello?"

Chloe could make out a dirt path disappearing into the smoky forest ahead, and she followed it. It felt like she was swimming through molasses. Her legs moved in slow motion, silently trudging forward. A raven crowed in the distance.

Ahead of her, a glimpse of blue flannel, of blonde hair and a turquoise feather earring. The figure clarified as Chloe got closer.

"Rachel?"

There was no response as Rachel disappeared into the smoke. Chloe tried to run after her, but her muscles wouldn't respond any faster. The dirt path continued in the direction Rachel had gone.

Again the raven cried out, louder. Closer. Again Rachel came into view.

"Rachel, wait!"

But Rachel started to run again, this time her distant laughter echoing into Chloe's ears from every direction. Why won't you just wait for me?

Railroad tracks crossed the path. Rachel ran past a massive raven perched on the closest rail as it ruffled its feathers, turning to follow the tracks. She faded from view again.

The raven looked up at Chloe and squawked before extending its wings, lofting into the air after Rachel. Chloe followed them both. The raven, at least, never got so far ahead that she couldn't make it out through the smoke.

Broken shapes loomed out from the haze. It took Chloe a moment to make out the silhouettes of rusted cars, a dented washing machine, and piles of other junk cast aside long ago by their previous owners. American Rust. The junkyard Rachel and Chloe had made their hideaway. Where Chloe's dad's crumpled car had come to rest, and where Rachel's body lay rotting in a garbage bag, not even buried deep enough to keep the animals from taking their pound of flesh.

Chloe's dad stood at the entrance waiting, still wearing the clothes he'd died in. The raven landed on his shoulder. He held up a hand and warned, "Chloe, sweetie, remember what I told you."

She looked at her dad, not sure if the tears in her eyes were from the burn of the smoke or not. "What did you tell me?"

He stepped out of the way. "Don't let the fire blind you."

Chloe nervously looked between him and the path further into the junkyard, knowing Rachel was in there – feeling the pull like a rope wrapped around her heart. "I have to follow her, dad."

He wordlessly gestured further into the junkyard, worry wrinkling his forehead. Chloe proceeded. The path wound first right then left before orange flames glared through the haze. It was her father's car, tongues of fire licking out from beneath the warped hood, crackling as they devoured paint and oil. Rachel watched Chloe's approach from where she stood on the car's roof.

Chloe stopped a few feet in front of the bumper. "Rachel, what're you doing here?"

Her friend didn't say a word, only staring with soulless eyes that reflected the flames beneath her. She cocked her head slightly, like the curious raven.

This isn't right. Something's wrong with her.

"Rachel, come on. I just want to talk. I miss you," Chloe pleaded.

Nothing.

Chloe took a step toward the car.

Suddenly Rachel threw up her arms toward the sky. The fire under the hood erupted, sending Chloe staggering back, holding up a hand to protect her face from the heat. The flames began to distort and whirl, coalescing into a burning funnel that surrounded Rachel. Chloe tried to take a step closer. The wind battered her, whipping into a frenzy at the behest of Rachel's piercing shriek. She could do nothing but watch as the fire devoured Rachel, flesh blackening, crumbling away to bone until her bones began to fall and clatter as the tornado grew larger and larger—

Chloe sat bolt upright with a gasp in Steph's living room, staring into the darkness as she tried not to hyperventilate. Max shifted beside her on the air mattress.

"Hey, what's going on?" Max croaked, her voice not quite awake yet.

Running a hand over her eyes tiredly, Chloe replied, "Just a bad dream. It's okay." Been a minute since I've had one like that.

Max pulled herself into a sitting position next to her, wrapping her arms around Chloe. "You're shaking."

Rachel's scream still rang in her ears. "I… I know. It was pretty intense. I think today just got to me more than I expected."

"Would it help to talk about it?" Chloe could barely make out Max's doe eyes in the dark. She knew Max would do anything she could to help but couldn't put this particular burden on her. Not at one in the morning, at least.

Chloe hugged Max back. "I think that'll just make me remember it more in the morning, which to be honest, I'd rather not."

"Promise you're okay?"

Not really. "Yeah. Let's get back to bed – tomorrow's gonna be a long day."

Max lay back down, patting the mattress for Chloe to join her. Soon Chloe fell back asleep in Max's arms.


Max, Steph, and Alex shared the worn but comfy couch. They stared intently at the screens of their laptops, not talking, the only sounds that of an occasional mouse click or chattering of keys.

Alex's apartment had a similar vibe to the Black Lantern one floor below, albeit homier. Judging by the openness of the space and other clues, like the presence of a wobbly foosball table and a coin-operated arcade game, Max wondered if it had also been part of the bar at some earlier point in time. There were a few additions that were clearly Alex's doing, though. The plushy mouse perched on her desk was stained and missing an ear, barely holding together, fraying at the seams. It reminded Max a little of the stuffed bear she'd had since childhood, lost in the gutted hulk of her dorm back in Arcadia. She wondered how long Alex had carried the little guy around. On the mantle, she had spied a picture of who she guessed was Alex's brother next to a candle, incense, and a bottle marked "Foosball Champion." He looked like quite the character, throwing up finger guns next to a sign that warned of cougars in the area. Max wondered how close he and Alex had been, and where he was now.

Focus, Max.

They weren't even sure what to look for. Max scrolled another forum on time travel theory, finding little of use. She'd seen most of the same things six years ago while trying to figure out her powers. Most people agreed that messing with time could have disastrous effects, but those effects never seemed to be expanded on. The only mention of weather was from the original analogy of a butterfly in Brazil causing a tornado in Texas. That, she had found out, wasn't even a reference to time travel – it was hyperbole for the unpredictability of meteorology. Only a little ironic, considering I'm getting literal visions predicting a storm.

Chloe stomped down the stairs from the rooftop garden, having finished her smoke break. She plopped down in a wooden chair they'd pulled over from the kitchen and got back to work. Max and Chloe had previously been forced to share a computer. But, thanks to a surprise late birthday present from David, Chloe now had her own. Naturally it was one of the boxy, military-style laptops that was designed to survive all manner of adverse conditions and abuse. That was perfect for Chloe. David had gotten Max an expensive new lens for her work camera and a fat stack of polaroid film.

Frowning at her screen, Chloe asked, "Find anything interesting, nerds?"

"Nerds?" scoffed Steph. "I'm not the one who's lesbian awakening was Daryl Hannah in Blade Runner."

Alex cackled. "What!?"

"So that's why your VHS tape wore out so quick," said Max, making Chloe blush even more.

Still, even with her reddening cheeks, Chloe confidently fired back, "I'll own that. At least she isn't as dorky as yours."

Alex and Max turned to Steph, who buried her face in her hands. "Oh shit. I didn't think you'd remember that…"

"Who is it, Steph?" Alex goaded with a wicked grin.

Chloe threw her elbow over the back of her chair and reclined, smirking smugly, knowing she'd already won. "You started this. Are you telling them, or am I?"

Steph mumbled something incomprehensible.

Suddenly Alex gasped. "Oh my god – Ms. Frizzle!?"

"Okay fine, it was Ms. Frizzle!" Steph looked at Alex and threw up her hands. "Not fair!" They all started laughing. At that moment, the door leading downstairs opened.

Ryan stuck his head in through the door and looked at them with a mixture of excitement and confusion as they quieted down. "What was that about Ms. Frizzle? I love the book where they go to the robin's nest and…" He held up a hand to stop himself, rethinking his question as the women began to giggle. "You know, never mind. I don't think I want to know. Lunch is ready."

"Thanks, Ryan!" Alex called as he disappeared back into the stairwell. The four women grabbed their laptops and followed him down to the Black Lantern. The lunch crowd had just emptied out for the afternoon and, as such, they had the whole place to themselves. Ryan and Steph's two coworkers, Mac and Jesse if memory served, worked to catch up on bussing tables.

"Please tell me you watched The Magic School Bus, too, and didn't just read the books," Steph said as they took over a table in the back of the bar.

Alex helped Ryan bring over the plates. "Nope, just the books." He set Max's burger in front of her and sat, scooting his chair in closer to the table. "Didn't really watch much TV when I was a kid – I spent a lot more time making forts in the woods, reading, and trying not to get killed by raccoons while birdwatching near the dumpster."

"Wait, wait," Chloe said. "Did you really get attacked by raccoons while birdwatching?"

"Raccoons are feisty. It's not their fault I was standing between them and their food source."

Steph covered her mouth, a wheezing sound coming from behind her hand as she finished chewing and swallowed a bite of fries. "Ryan?"

"Yeah?"

"Please never change."

He gave her a little shove and picked up his burger. "If you insist."

Max took a bite of hers. Oh my gosh. This might be the best burger I've ever had. Not being a big fan of hunting, she felt a little odd about eating elk but had to admit she understood why people liked it so much. "Ryan, this is delicious. Thank you."

Ryan smiled, seeming a little uncomfortable at the praise. "No problem. Friends of Steph's are friends of mine. Plus, you can't do good detective work on an empty stomach."

"Speaking of detective work, this seemed interesting." Alex ate with one hand, using the other to turn her computer so they all could see.

Max scanned the page. It was an older website with text over a plain, tan background, lacking any of the polish or graphics that would be expected on one made more recently or professionally. The headline read "Accidental Fire Destroys Salish Village in Tillamook County." Reading further, Max found a date for the event – October 11, 1873.

"October eleven…" Max thought out loud, processing. "That's the same date as the storm."

"There's more." Alex scrolled down, past a picture of burned-out longhouses.

Max read, "Local entrepreneur Martin Lewis Prescott—"

Chloe slammed her fist on the table. "Fucking Prescotts!"

Ryan and Alex looked confused. Steph quickly explained, "The rich family that owned most of the town we grew up in. Nathan's family."

Picking up where Chloe's outburst had left off, Max continued. "—Who's negotiations with the leaders of the village to build a new sawmill and small port on the site were stalled nearly a year before the inferno, hired a team to clear the debris so they could begin work before the winter set in. The settlement that sprung up around the new mill would go on to become Arcadia Bay, Oregon."

"That seems like an odd coincidence," Ryan mused.

"Scroll back up to the picture," Steph said, miming the action with her finger. Alex obliged. "That totem pole right there – wasn't that the one near the dorms at Blackwell?"

Chloe and Max looked closer. "I'll be damned, Steph. That's definitely it. Good catch!" Chloe gave her a high-five.

Alex stopped right before taking another bite. "Hold up, I think I see where this is going. Are we really going the 'Native American burial ground' route? That's easily the most overused trope in the book."

"I'm not saying the shoe fits yet, but if it turns out it does…" Chloe shrugged. "There was always hella weird shit going on in that town. Would definitely explain some things."

"That also looks like a thunderbird at the top of the pole," Ryan chimed in. "They're common legendary creatures in a lot of North American indigenous cultures, though I'm not sure the specific nuance to its significance in that region."

Max tried to recall the conversations she'd had with Samuel, the groundskeeper at their former school. He had talked to her a few times about the totem poles around Arcadia. She was sure he must have mentioned the thunderbird at some point.

Incredulous, Steph asked, "We grew up there – how did we never learn about this?"

"The bastards probably covered it up," suggested Chloe. "It wouldn't be the first time they used their deep pockets to keep their bullshit hush-hush."

Steph took off her beanie and rubbed her temples. "Yeah, but… why would they cover it up if it was an accident?"

"Why not?" suggested Ryan. "Look at the lengths Typhon and my dad went to so they could cover up that accident in the mines."

"Yeah, but that was their fault that the accident happened." Steph's eyes grew wide. "Oh. I see what you're saying."

Max took it a step further. "Maybe the fire wasn't an accident at all. Even when we lived there, the Prescotts were into some seriously shady business." That's putting it lightly. She fought back a shiver. "What if they intentionally caused it?"

"What do you mean, shady business?" Alex asked.

"Besides owning almost the entire town?" growled Chloe. "Nathan's piece-of-shit dad provided him and Jefferson with the bunker, the best camera equipment money could buy, printers, burner phones – everything they needed for their little fucked-up photoshoots. There's no way he didn't have at least some idea what was going on."

Max added, "Jefferson's plan if anything went wrong was to kill Nathan and hide his body, then pin the whole thing on him. He even had fake evidence that would've made it look like Nathan had fled to California. But he didn't frame Nathan after killing him. The only explanation I can come up with is Nathan's dad paid him off to stay silent… or threatened him."

"Then maybe Jefferson knows more – we just have to figure out how to get the information out of him," said Steph.

Looking back and forth between Max and Chloe, Alex said, "I have an idea, but I don't think you're going to like it. Where's Jefferson now?"

Chloe squinted back suspiciously. "Locked up in a federal prison east of San Fran – why?"

"I can read minds, remember?" said Alex, tapping the side of her head with one finger. "If we can visit him, goad him into getting scared or irritated and thinking about what happened, he might give something away."

Max figured she already knew the answer as Chloe asked, "What's the catch?"

"Max has to be the one to rile him up."

Alex was right – Max didn't like that idea. "How sure are you that you'll be able to read something useful off of him?"

"I'm not," Alex admitted. "But it might be worth the try."

"No. Absolutely not!" objected Chloe, moving so that she was positioned defensively between Max and Alex. "You're not sticking Max in there with that monster."

Alex withdrew. "We don't have to do it – it was only an idea."

Trying to keep the peace, Max placed a hand on Chloe's shoulder and said, "It's a good idea Alex. But let's see what else we can come up with first. I'd… rather not relive some of those memories more than I already have to."

Alex seemed relieved to no longer be the potential target of Chloe's wrath. "I totally understand."

Cautiously, the wait staff Max thought was named Mac approached their table with a rag. "Sorry if I'm interrupting. You guys need anything else to drink, or want me to take any empty plates?"

Ryan leaned back in his chair. "Thanks Mac, but we'll take care of it. You and Jesse make sure to get your break."

"You don't have to tell me twice."

Max's phone began to buzz. She peeked at the screen and, seeing it was Kate, stepped away from the table. "Sorry, I've gotta take this."


"I thought we were our own bosses," Chloe grumbled, carrying a tripod in one hand and her water bottle in the other.

Max clutched her camera to her chest. "Right? Sure doesn't feel like it sometimes. But at least we're getting a break from staring at the computer."

"True that." Chloe tucked her water bottle under her armpit so she had a hand free to help Max over a log. "Plus, we gotta get that bread somehow. The bills don't pay themselves, especially Kate's cut for running the online store."

"Is this the part of the hike where we rant about the social ills of capitalism?" Max joked.

Chloe smiled. "Nah, not today." As much as she liked Steph, Alex, and Ryan, she was just happy they had some alone time.

Max let out a yelp as she tripped coming over the log. Chloe managed to catch her, and they both began laughing.

"You're still a klutz, Maximus."

"Wait, me a klutz?" Max said, feigning offense. "You were always the awkward, gangly one."

"Awkward I'll give you, but gangly!? That's just—"

Max grasped the unbuttoned edges of Chloe's flannel and pulled her in close. Chloe could feel the warmth of Max's soft lips on her own, silencing her objection. She melted into the kiss. The tripod and water bottle clanged as they hit the ground.

"Oh, don't think you're getting away with that 'gangly' comment that easily," Chloe said after a moment as they came up for air.

Max smirked. "You can't tell me it didn't work at least a little."

"God, you are such an ass sometimes."

"It's the company I keep."

Chloe wrapped her arms around Max's waist, and they kept going. She turned her head slightly for a better angle, and Max cupped the side of her face with one hand. The other caressed the curves of Chloe's back, sending warm tingles up her spine. She wished they could just forget everything else and stay as they were forever. Chloe gave Max's forehead a final peck and rest her chin on Max's shoulder. "Let's go take those pictures before Steph sends out a search party."

Chloe picked up the tripod and Max retrieved the water bottle from the bush it had rolled under. Max took Chloe's hand as they resumed hiking toward the overlook Ryan had told them about.


Steph was waiting for them at Rocky Mountain Record Traders when they returned. "Welcome back! Is the view as good as Ryan says?" She flipped through a row of vinyls, trying to find the right spot for the one in her other hand.

"It was amazing!" Max said. "If anything, he might have undersold it."

Chloe leaned to one side to get a better view into the radio booth. "Who's on the air? I thought it was just you running the show."

"It was. But if we're going on a road trip, I need someone who can cover for me. So far I think Hector's gonna make the cut." She turned to face Max and Chloe before adding, "I just hope everyone doesn't like him so much that he takes my place."

"They couldn't replace you if they tried," Chloe assured.

Steph smiled. "Thanks." She looked at the boxes of merchandise still needed to put away before leaving Hector to his own devices. "Want to give me a hand with these CDs? The sooner they're put away, the sooner we can meet back up with Steph and Ryan. Mikey is going to join us, too. I filled him in while you were gone, and it sounds like he might've struck gold."

Between the three of them, it didn't take long. Chloe and Max followed Steph to the back room with their empty boxes, sidestepping between old decorations and dusty but well-organized shelves. Gesturing at one of few bare spots on the floor, Steph said, "Go ahead and stack those there."

The remnants of her and Mikey's last Kingdoms & Caverns adventure sprawled out on the table. Chloe hesitantly approached before picking up the miniature figurine of a white-haired elf barbarian. "Huh. Never thought I'd see you again, Callamastia. I'm surprised you kept her after all this time."

Steph watched as Chloe set Callamastia down and picked up another gingerly. "I actually gave all of my GM stuff to Mikey when I moved out of Arcadia. He tracked me down last year and mailed it back. We've been playing together every few weeks since."

Chloe turned the second figurine gently in her fingertips.

"I don't think you ever told me you used to play Kingdoms and Caverns," said Max.

"When you came back to Arcadia Bay, I hadn't in months." Chloe wore a wistful smile, carefully wrapping her hand around the figurine before placing it exactly as it had been on the table.

Max looked at Chloe sadly and squeezed her hand. "That was Rachel's character, wasn't it?"

"Good guess." Rachel's half-orc bard Rahkezur, as much a walking contradiction as Chloe's elf barbarian, similarly fit the player Steph had designed her for. Rahkezur was the brains and charisma, and Callamastia the unflinchingly loyal executor of her schemes. "She'd never played before Steph roped us into joining her and Mikey, but it wasn't long before she was leading the party."

"Yeah. Leading you headlong into my traps," Steph added, fondly remembering how rowdy their games at the picnic bench could get. "But somehow the three of you always escaped."

Chloe laughed. "No, they always escaped. I usually sacrificed… my… self." Her words trailed off as she realized what she was saying, seeing the nauseated look on Max's face.

A fresh wave of guilt washed over Steph about how upset she'd been with Chloe, and how quickly she'd turned on her the night before. The storm may have been rough on Mikey and I. But I don't have the slightest idea the depths of hell those two went through together. She led them back out through the labyrinth of boxes, checking in on Hector one final time before they left the store.

As they walked the few blocks to the Black Lantern, Chloe asked, "Do you think Mikey even wants to see me?"

"Are you kidding?" Steph exclaimed. "When he found out you were here, he looked like a kid at Christmas. If he could've dropped everything to hop in his car and drive here, he would have. You were kind of his hero back in the day."

Chloe looked surprised. "Really? I… I never knew."

"A badass chick who didn't give a fuck what anyone else thought, and paid attention to us geeks? Of course he thought you were awesome! He wasn't the only one."

"I guess I never thought about it like that," Chloe said.

Steph pushed open the door to the bar, holding it for Chloe and Max. She called out to Alex that they were going upstairs.

"Ryan and I will be there soon – don't get into too much trouble without us," Alex called back, winking at Steph as she poured a beer.

Once in Alex's apartment, Steph set her laptop on the coffee table and opened the lid. Chloe watched her log in before asking, "So, you and Alex… is that a thing?"

Shit. "Hah! Uh, what gave you that impression?"

"Well…" Chloe said, scratching the back of her head, "I see an awful lot of winking. Plus you're cute, she's cute, you both seem really close…"

"Oh is that all it takes?" Max asked lightheartedly.

Chloe stammered, trying to backpedal. "No! I mean, you're cute, and we're close, but it's not just – hey, don't help her avoid the question!"

Max just giggled, her mission to fluster Chloe accomplished.

"I, well, ah…" Wonderfully coherent, Steph. "It's not that I'm not interested. Pretty much the exact opposite. We just haven't exactly talked about it I guess. I mean, she probably knows I like her already, seeing as even without mindreading powers I'm not exactly subtle."

"True," said Chloe. "Even Max picked up on it."

"Hey now!" objected Max.

"Max, I had to dare you to get you to kiss me the first time, after dropping hints for literal days. You're not exactly the queen of romantic subtext."

"Yeah, and I was expecting you to kiss me at any moment in the pool the night before." Then, in response to Steph, "Maybe she just wants to hear you say it – to know it's not just an idle thought."

"I dunno, maybe." Steph opened a video chat and called Mikey. "Let's just… not talk about it right now, okay? She might be here any minute."

Chloe held up her hands in surrender. "Alright, I'll shut my yap… for now."

Mikey's face appeared on the screen. "Hey Steph, give me a sec. I just need to—Chloe!"

"Hey nerd," Chloe said, her grin stretching from ear to ear.

"Holy shit! It's good to see you. What's it been, six years?"

"Too long." Chloe's grin faltered. "Let's not wait that long next time."

"Word."

"You look good. What happened to your scrawny arms? Is that actual muscle I see?"

He tried to flex for the camera but immediately started laughing. "Let's just pretend I didn't do that."

Chloe chuckled. "Hella cringe. Good to see you're still the same Mikey I know."

"Who's your friend?" he said, nodding toward Max.

Mikey, meet my girlfriend Max. Max, meet Mikey."

Max waved and smiled. "Hi!"

"Damn, an actual girlfriend?" he said. Chloe flipped him off and stuck out her tongue. "It's nice to meet you, Max."

"It's good to finally meet you too. Chloe's told me stories."

He laughed again. "That doesn't bode well."

"Only the embarrassing shit, I promise."

The door to the apartment opened. Alex and Ryan joined them around the coffee table.

"Now that everyone's here," Steph interjected, "let's get started. You said you found something, Mikey?"

"I dug further into the thunderbird – everything else went cold pretty quick." Mikey's bespectacled face was suddenly replaced on the screen by yet another webpage, his mouse cursor slowly circling a specific passage. "'It is believed their return can bring an extraordinary celebration of life. Migrating animals and birds reappear,' blah blah blah…" He scrolled down. "Ah. 'But these powerful beings also bring turbulent, destructive storms to the land.'"

"Fuckin' eerie," Chloe agreed.

"The most famous myth," Mikey went on to explain, "is from the Tillamook area."

Steph nodded slowly. "So home, basically."

"Right. It's a tale of good versus evil, the thunderbird fighting a giant whale who was starving the people by eating all the fish. Their struggle was so fierce that it created an earthquake. See, the thunderbird was seen as a protector of the people, and in at least a few places specifically described as wrathful."

"Weren't the Prescotts destroying the fishing industry?" asked Steph.

"Yeah," said Mikey. "That's how my dad lost his job, remember? That's how, like, half the town ended up unemployed."

Max contemplated for a second. "The bunkers – I can't believe I didn't think of this before! How common are underground tornado shelters in the Pacific Northwest?"

Everyone looked at her, not connecting the same dots she had.

"Not common at all," Mikey's disembodied voice said hesitantly from Steph's laptop.

"They had to have known something was coming," Max concluded.

Leaning forward to rest her chin on her palm, Alex said, "So if the Prescotts really were responsible for the fire, then assuming for a moment that this thunderbird is real, it probably would have wanted revenge on them for killing the people it was supposed to protect." She grimaced. "Fine, I'll admit the Native American curse angle is looking more and more viable."

"To be fair, you and Max have superpowers," reminded Ryan. "I think at this point anything is possible. So far it's the only thing that fits."

"Why would it wait exactly a hundred and forty years to act, though?" Steph asked. "And why again now?"

Mikey offered a partial answer. "The Prescott Foundation is planning a grand reopening of Arcadia Bay for the six-year anniversary of the storm. They just finished inspections for the last buildings on the beachfront."

"Talk about tasteless," Chloe said angrily. "They were about finished building their bougie-ass new neighborhood when Arcadia was wiped out the first time. Pan Estates, I think."

"We need more information. Information I don't think we can get on the internet." Max took a deep breath and let it out. "We aren't going to get any information out of Sean Prescott I doubt, even if he does know something. I think you're right, Alex. We need to pay Jefferson a visit."