After about five minutes of searching, Slade's fingers caught on a ridge. Out of some half-formed instinct, Slade pulled backwards on it. It gave way easily enough, surprisingly, and behind it was a space just slightly bigger than the key it held. Slade held the key for a few seconds, before slipping it into the lock and opening the door.

Once he was inside, Slade remembered that Cassie, Jake and that new guy Tobias were waiting on him.

I'm inside. Are you guys coming with me?

Actually, I think a pair of wolves would be a bit suspicious if they were wandering around in someone's house. I think it would be better if we both were to stay outside, Jake said.

That sounds reasonable.

Slipping the key into his pants pocket, Slade headed for the stairs. The feelings of familiarity that had been plaguing him ever since he had reached the cabin had increased by a factor of ten, now that he was actually inside.

The place was nice, Slade had to admit. He really wouldn't have minded living here himself. Slade took a moment or two to really appreciate his surroundings, before going up the stairs and focusing on retrieving the blue box. The second room on the right. How do I know that? I haven't the slightest idea.

Slade chuckled softly; this habit he was developing of talking to himself was a nice distraction from the strange and kind of unnerving familiarity of this place. The door opened almost silently, which Slade was grateful for. He got the feeling that there was someone else in the house, and Slade knew that it wouldn't be good to have them find out that they weren't alone anymore.

The desk. That was the first place it occurred to Slade that he should search. More instinct, Slade smiled. This was starting to get interesting. Sure enough, the first thing he saw sitting on the light-colored wood, almost as if it was just waiting for Slade to come and take it, was the blue box.

All this for a paperweight, huh? Slade thought ruefully, fighting a rather strong urge to laugh. Picking it up, Slade found that it was heavier than it looked. That was interesting. Since Slade didn't sense anyone in the immediate vicinity, and since he was really getting curious about why this place seemed so familiar to him, he decided to explore.

Putting the blue box in one of his oversized pockets, the same one that held the house key in fact, Slade took a closer look at the desk. The first thing that caught his attention was a picture. There were three people in the picture, smiling up at him. Two boys and a girl, or three girls, but Slade was pretty sure that the two black-haired figures were male.

They look good together. Happy. Slade felt a strange sense of sadness when he had that thought. He frowned, why should he care about some kids in a picture? Although… they do seem kinda familiar. Damn, there's that word again. That does it, from now on, that word is banned from my vocabulary. Slade grinned; he wondered just how long he'd be ably to keep that up.

Black hair. Two of them have black hair. The third, I think she's a girl, is blonde. Pale blonde at that. Why do they seem so fami-arrrgghh! Why do I think I might know them from somewhere? Slade ran a hand through his own hair, unconsciously brushing some of it over his left shoulder. More black hair. Hey, wait a minute… I have black hair.

About the same length, too, as the guys in the picture. Coincidence. It has to be. I mean, a lot of people have black hair. Slade turned away from the desk then, that picture was starting to unnerve him.

Slade headed for the closet, hoping that there weren't going to be any pictures in there. It wasn't that he didn't like seeing those pictures, they were kind of nice in fact, they just made him feel so weird. Sliding open the closet door, Slade found that it was a very nicely sized walk-in closet.

"Nice," Slade breathed.

It looked like it was clearly divided between two styles of clothes. On the right, which he couldn't see very well even with his enhanced night-vision, there seemed to be a lot of dark colored clothes. A thin chain, glinting in the light seeping in from the open door, caught Slade's eye just then. Walking up, Slade pulled on it, and suddenly the entire closet was flooded with bright light.

Slade quickly eased the door shut behind him, then began to explore the closet in earnest. Sure enough, the right side was hung with all sorts of dark colors. Black and navy-blue looked like the predominant colors. Sure, there was the occasional black shirt on the left side, where Slade had come in and was still standing, but there was nowhere near the amount that the right side had.

Slade got the impression that two people with very different tastes shared this closet. Slade brushed the row of tee shirts with his fingertips, suddenly pulling one off the rack on a whim. It was one of the few black shirts, and it had a cool looking blue dragon painted across the front. The dragon was backed by a huge burst of flames. After Slade decided to take the shirt, he also took a pair of dark blue jeans for good measure.

Why do I suddenly feel like Kyle Reece? Slade asked himself. Then stopped, just as he was starting to pull on the jeans. Huh? Kyle Reece? Who's that? Slade shook his head, that wasn't important right now. Slade pulled on the chain again, shutting off the light. He didn't need it anymore, and didn't want to give anyone who might be looking for him an advantage.