Chapter 4

Signs

Luna was able to earn her family's trust for the two former-enemies, but all that work was quickly undone as soon as they reached the dining room. Doug asked them all to keep themselves still, hoping that his own composure would survive the whole ordeal they were about to be put through. Naturally, even having a slight hint of hesitance made the least trusting of the Louds rather peeved.

Folding his hands behind his back, Doug studied all their faces. If it wasn't anger, it was a clear case of restlessness that filled their emotions. Couldn't blame them in the slightest; six months of constantly being monitored by either them or random soldiers who were probably too intimidating for young girls would have that effect. They had every right to hate them, should they choose.

Which is why he feared revealing the data he received. He looked to Michelle, looking down at the papers she held within her grasp. Even she looked ready to keel over from fear. Even still, this had to be done, both for their safety, and the family's.

With a cough into a fist, Doug stood tall. "Everyone, I apologize for interrupting your evening, but we have... unfortunate news to share."

Luan shook her head. "Well, ain't that unfortunate!" She tried to raise the mood with a classic zing, but even she didn't feel it. Instead, she gripped Luna's arm, something that made the rocker look shocked. "But seriously, what is it? Are you taking Luna again? How long this time?"

Leni folded her arms against her chest, managing to pull off quite the annoyed look. "Yeah, we don't like that! It's, like, not good and stuff. You already get her three times a week! That's a lot of days!"

Even little Lola jumped in for her sister, help that the rocker had no idea why she was receiving so much of. A fist was ready to be thrown. "You better not be taking her even more! I need my contemporary adult for tea-time, and she's my ally!" Michelle yelped and hid behind Doug, an action that seemingly calmed the blonde down. A downtrodden look soon took over her face. "Just... we want her here, not doing weird mili... mila... mill-dairy stuff, yeah!"

It was clear they all felt like that. Doug looked over to Luna and Lincoln, both seemingly getting a makeshift shield around them. All the rocker could do was shake her head, but her raised eyebrow told them something clear: get the message across now. It wasn't getting any easier. With a sigh, the former manager walked back from them, staring off towards the wall, investigating every bit of paint he could. Each one seemed to be mocking him in its own unique way. Get this over with.

"Understand this... I don't like taking her away as much as you do."

"Then why do it?" Lynn shouted, stopped only by her father from throwing a spare fork. "I don't even get what happened to them, but ever since they came home, Stink's a nut and Luna doesn't even jam anymore! Whatever it is you're doing to her, it ain't working!"

"I agree with Lynn," Lori spoke, shooting them a dirty stare towards Michelle. Poor girl wasn't standing a chance. "Heck, I keep telling them both to stay home from school for a little bit. Mom, Dad, you agree with me?" She was honestly shocked they did nod. "See? They need rest, not... well, she's good with a gun now, so I guess you're training her, but like, literally, stop!"

A small argument was about to break out, and while Luna was already growing impatient (and annoyed her own voice seemed to be lost), she grew more concerned with the hand she was holding that began shaking. Lincoln liked holding her hand these days, just in case another terror attack decided to strike unexpectedly. Right now, it was already starting. Sibling squabbles were still rather common, but after the Mountain incident, a raised voice was enough to startle him to no end.

Which is why she finally stomped her boot down. "Enough!" her words cut through them all, and suddenly all attention fell on her. Luna wasn't exactly somebody that ever got truly mad. Violent at points, sure, but her emotions were rather subdued. Hearing her get loud without music was a sight to behold. All her siblings sat idly by while she rose her hand to the two people she claimed saved her life. "Doug, what's going on? Just lay it to us straight."

Even as a soldier for some time, the man still had a lot of learning to do when it came to controlling the floor. He nodded to Luna, and got Michelle literally off his back/ "Thank you. I promise to make this quick, but this is really serious and needs to be addressed now." He asked Michelle for the papers, and looking over them again with a saddened expression, he quickly ushered the parents over. "I'm sorry to trouble you both, but as the heads of this household, you guys probably need to see this first."

Rita, being the writer of the family, expected it to be something rather terrifying. Perhaps notes of a monster that was ready to terrorize her family, or maybe even plans for a zombie invasion that wanted to claim them for their undead army. Remembering the alarms from six months ago, potent enough to throw them all in Lisa's shelter, made her hands sweat as she took the documents. Putting her glasses on, she looked it all over...

... and felt slightly humiliated when she read her phone transcripts. In fact, every member of the house had their calls from the past six months transcribed like some sort of deranged movie script. Most of it was innocent enough, but other stuff, especially from some of her older daughters were... well, not exactly family-friendly. Immediately her face turned red, and she glared at Doug.

"Have you been spying on our calls?"

Everyone turned pale as the two soldiers sighed. "Look, we really didn't want to!" Michelle tried to defend, "but we got a tip from an anonymous source telling us to study them." She gave a small wink to "Brainiac," the young genius of the Louds who kept her mouth shut. Unlike the others, she understood, even if she was still a little angry herself. "We didn't have a choice! Please understand!"

Lynn Senior, rarely a man to anger, stood up with his own face ready to pop off. "This is an invasion of privacy! Y-You can't just do this!" He looked over his own call history. "T-That recipe is top secret! No one's allowed to know about it!"

"Enough!" Luna shouted again. Even her parents had no power against her own impatience. "Maybe it's weird, but if they caught something, shouldn't we know what it is?"

Everyone looked at each other, before silently accepting in defeat. Once again, Doug thanked the young teen. "What you guys were talking about is not our concern. Trust me, we aren't interested in what Lana was on about when it came to mud..," he immediately stopped, seeing the child ready to become a murderer. Coughing again, he got straight to the point. "... Look at your history, Rita. You notice two numbers talking right, one being you?"

Rita looked it over. "Y-Yeah... what about it?"

"Look at it closely. Then look at the others. Something similar happens to all of your calls."

Rita looked. Sure enough, she grew panicked. Two numbers... and then suddenly, a third one appears, usually after a few lines. No number was truly attached to it: just a bunch of endless zeroes, not even trying to look like a standard signal. "W-What?" she spoke shocked. Everyone looked at her suspiciously, to which she replied by handing out everyone's respected transcript. Sure enough, the same thing: the mysterious third person; saying nothing, just observing.

Luna looked at hers and Lincoln's. The others had it, but for them, it was extremely frequent. For the poor boy, it often overshadowed his conversation with Clyde. He began to shake again. Gulping, the third eldest Loud looked over at Doug. "Okay... we're being spied on?"

Doug lowered his head. "... That appears to be the case. We noticed the trend, and it seems to have gotten worse as the days gone on." He took a deep breath, rubbing a hand over his face. "We haven't been able to trace where it came from, but we don't like the fact that something like this is happening."

Another round of fear went through everyone. "It... could be a glitch, right?" Lynn tried to rationalize. "Uh, L-Lisa? That can happen, right? Right?"

Lisa pushed her glasses against her face. "Well, technically speaking, anything can happen when it comes to technology. Yet... this seems a little too consistent and planned to just be a computer error." She looked at them all with deception. "We truly may have an interloper overlooking what we've been saying."

Before hearing the inevitable shriek of terror, Luna stood up. "What do you need me to do?"

Everyone grew silent, even Doug and Michelle. The rocker looked resolute in her stance, enough to make everyone quiver in their seats. Lincoln, still holding her hand, looked down in shame. "W-What do you mean? Why would you have to do anything?"

"Because I been through this before!" She didn't mean to sound angry towards him, and quickly dialed it back down. "Someone's spying on us, and it's clear Lincoln got it the worst. Someone's after him again... aren't they, Dougie?"

Rita stomped her own foot down. "Oh, they better not be, but even if they were, you stay put, young lady! You aren't gonna do anything, you hear me? I already don't like you leaving the house so much with them!"

Luna closed her eyes in frustration. "Doug, you said it yourself, right? You didn't think this is over, and let's face it: I have experience against creeps, whether I wanted it or not. So, what do you need from me?"

Rita was about to protest again, when Doug stepped forward. "I understand how you both feel. Luna, we don't want you or Lincoln to do anything that'll cause harm..."

Michelle took the baton. "... But, we might need to relocate you both for some time. Someplace they can't reach."

This time, Lori stood proudly to her feet. "What? That's insane! Both of them? We can't let that happen, can we?"

"No!" They all shouted in unison.

Doug shook his head. "Listen to me, you all might be in danger. We don't know! We can protect you guys, but for those two, they... have history with this stuff, like Luna said. Meaning, if somebody is after you all, they're targets, and it won't be wise to keep them here. I hate to say it, but we have to do whatever it takes to protect you all, no matter the cost!"

As everyone was arguing, it was Lucy of all people who stood amongst the rest. "Then we need to ask the two specifically." She looked at Lincoln and Luna. "Sigh. I don't want this either, but what do you guys think? Insane? Deadly? Diabolical? What?"

All those words definitely applied. In the end, though, Luna sadly agreed with Doug. She just wanted to rest and forget about that damn Mountain, but that wasn't happening for a long time, huh? The last thing she needed was both Lincoln and her family in danger. With a sigh of her own, she looked at them all before turning to Lincoln. "What about you? What do you think, champ?"

Lincoln looked like he was ready to cry. "I... whatever keeps you safe too..."

She nodded. "I'll go, then."

Doug and Michelle were honestly surprised at her willingness. Her family, naturally, wasn't so enthused. "You can't be serious!" Leni screamed. "Where are you even going? What if we never see you again?"

"Yeah!"

"Don't go!"

"Don't let the man hold you down!"

All the shouts made Lincoln shake again. Luna's nerves were being broken. Once more, she stomped violently. "Shut up!" She shouted, freaking even her parents out. "I'm gonna do whatever it takes to protect you all."

Luan tried to speak. "B-But..."

"Nothing. But nothing." She nodded to Lincoln, before she walked over to Doug. "When do we go?"

He swallowed his breath. "Um, it'll be first thing in the morning, if you truly want to go, of course. Again, this is all mere speculation-"

"So was Abraham, right?" She asked. The cutting question made the man flinch, and he recoiled back. She looked once more at her family. "We'll be fine. I know we will."

She didn't wait for their protests. All she knew was that she was heading up to Lincoln's room, knowing full-well her brother will be following quickly along. She played a tough game, but as soon as she crashed down on his mattress, she found herself crying deeply into his pillow.

Somewhere, she heard Abraham laugh. Somewhere, her sanity was leaving her behind.

FROM: A local legend from Scotland, detailing further about the three brothers with White Hair

"The three wandered their way through forest after forest, perhaps looking for a home to truly claim as their own. They arrived once at a local settlement, but upon seeing their hair, they were chased out, believed to be devilish imps ready to cause mischief. It was a truly traumatizing event, and yet it did not stop their pursuit for love and help. At least, for one of them it did not. For the other two, resentment quickly began to form. A feeling of superiority was forming..."