Arriving somewhere nearby, the TARDIS hid behind a large pine tree, the door opening, and Theodore poked his head out first, glancing around.
He sees they've arrived at a gated community, everything finely manicured and tooled, not a blade of grass out of place, looked like something straight from a magazine page.
Going by the description, Theodore honed in on the house that Nina lived, and where Mr. Whiskers lived.
They're a little far from them, but Theodore can see them from where he's standing, just a walk through the trimmed park.
Turning around, Theodore called to Lila, and she joined him as they stepped out of the TARDIS with Lila closing the door behind her.
"Y'know, I seem to recall I read this story to the kids one day," Lila noted the similarities to this adventure with a book she read to the children in the library one day.
Nothing like a Goosebumps book to set the mood, something palatable to the parental taste, but wasn't boring.
Gave nostalgia to some, the more Lila thought about it.
Nodding, Theodore says he knows what she's talking about, as he overheard Lila reading the story while working at the counter.
"But I swear, if I see a damn dummy, I'm lighting it on fire," Lila vowed that if she came across a ventriloquist dummy, she's getting a can of gas and setting it on fire, no questions asked.
Maybe Goosebumps wasn't scary to someone who witnessed real and dangerous things, but there's still things that Lila held close to her chest, and dummies' one of them.
"Ditto," Theodore agreed with Lila.
Never liked dummies himself, his father used to talk about his old adventures before meeting his mum and how one adventure had him dealing with a sentient dummy that was controlling the whole conspiracy.
No, Theodore's father wasn't making it up, he swore by his two hearts that it was what happened, and he burnt that dummy into the ground after it gave enough trouble for the lot of them.
Don't even ask how or why the dummy became sentient, Theodore's father destroyed everything attached as to avoid it happening again, because it freaked him out.
If something such as that freaks out his late father, well, that should say a lot, and that's saying something considering what all his father encountered during his wild adventures.
Theodore and his siblings didn't like dummies as it was, but hearing those stories became enough that it validated their dislike towards dummies.
Hammond, yes, that Hammond, hated them that he made damn sure they were never anywhere near the vicinity of the library. The only things they can use to entertain children during theatre were sock puppets, paper bags, plushies, and anything that wasn't a dummy.
Normally, Theodore would've poked fun at him, but he couldn't stand the sight of dummies, the way they looked, their fixated eyes, their gaping smiles, if not for those wooden sticks and the strings, God knows where those dummies could've gone if given the chance.
Having to read that Goosebumps to the children was the most horrible feeling in his existence for that reason, he didn't want to read it, but he couldn't say no to the children who frequented the library.
Perhaps they liked seeing their librarian squirm at the sight of the infamous Slappy on the cover while trying to flip through pages as he's reading them from the book.
God, one child had the audacity to come up to him with a version where they held a button on the cover and the eyes illuminated red.
If not, them being a child, Theodore would've given them choice words for that, but they got off by being a child.
It wasn't funny, nobody sane or insane likes the image of the damn dummy.
Hopefully, during this adventure, they won't encounter dummies, and should they do, Theodore's willing to bend rules for the sake of eliminating them for the sake of his and Lila's safety and mental well-being.
"Okay, neighbor's a monster, missing shepherd, head in the can, I missing anything?" Lila went over the conversation Theodore had with a girl on the phone.
Harkening back to their conversation, Theodore says that the girl mentioned that Mr. Whiskers doesn't like one of the neighbours for being a doctor and Lila says that lots of people don't.
"Seems petrified of him and they haven't even fully met," Theodore noted that Mr. Whiskers showed fear towards someone he didn't even know, only his profession.
Shrugging her dark raspberry sleeved shoulders, Lila says that it's possible that Mr. Whiskers has a phobia of doctors.
Well, if it's true that he's a monster, once he gets a sight of Theodore, he's packing his bags, and ducking out.
"Now, the question's, how're we approaching this, you can't exactly accuse someone of murder without evidence, and even if that's possible, I don't think they'd appreciate a monster in their gated community, bad form," Lila asks Theodore what he's thinking as they're carefully walking, avoiding any instances of people, trying to blend into the background. They didn't want anyone bumping into them and getting curious as to why they're in the gated community without having a home or reason that's acceptable, Theodore went over the outline of the plan.
Infiltrate Nina's house as servants that her parents summoned, play the part, use the psychic paper, have Al play with the telephone.
"Easy enough, what about the monster?" Lila continued as they went over the plan while avoiding anyone from spotting them as they're a short walk from Nina's home.
Considering it's strong enough taking down a shepherd, while avoiding detection, Theodore theorizes that he'll need time.
He couldn't corner the monster without crossing the 'X' and dotting the 'I.'
The monster's familiar with the area that it killed the shepherd without anyone catching it or tracking it, that meant they'll have to have finesse trying to lure it somewhere they have an edge and no one sees it, as suspected that this universe didn't have alien contact or other.
Theodore doubted he'll show mercy to the monster if and when they come across it, it went out of its way hunting and killing the shepherd, it's accustomed to hunting humans.
It's dangerous, especially when it's in an unassuming form.
That said, once it realizes that Theodore wasn't going to let it off easily, it'll fight tooth and nail when it gets to that point.
"Our usual, Lee," Theodore tells Lila their plan dealing with the monster.
Tread carefully, figure out how to subdue the monster, if it gets too violent, send it away somewhere it won't come back and hurt someone else, kill it if they must.
With that said, Theodore made sure they went over the plan one more time, making sure Al's on point, that way the people working for the parents can't contact them until needed.
Couldn't go for the conventional roles since they're already filled and Theodore didn't want conflict if someone's particularly fond of their job and thinks they're trying to mussel them out, but Theodore found them roles they'll have chances snooping on Mr. Whiskers, something that's easily overlooked, gardeners.
Always needed them, tending topiary and what have you takes it out of people after long hours under the sun, especially when dealing with stubborn prickly fauna giving thorny insults, they'll easily come in without any problems from the other gardeners, in fact, they'll probably welcome extra hands.
Acknowledging her role as a gardener, Lila followed him up to the front door, their psychic papers in hand, and Theodore knocked on the door.
The maid answered first and she looked at them quizzically before they put on their smiles, showing their psychic papers, telling her that they're the extra gardeners asked for by the maid's employers.
Looking at the psychic papers showing her what they wanted her to see, it caused the maid to allow them inside, and she walked them through the house towards the back, telling them what they needed to know while working in the Ortega household.
She gave the schedule and when they'll have to pause their work for Nina's classes outside. Only continuing their duties once she gone inside after the conclusion of her classes.
Going through the expectations as she's walking, Anna explains to them their jobs.
It's as one expected as gardeners, but they played along with it as Anna led them through the glass doors into the backyard, filled with plants of different types, trees, and rosemary.
Lots of rosemary.
"So, uh, what's with the rosemary?" Lila spoke up, asking why there's an overly abundance of rosemary.
Thank god, she stocked up on allergy medicine and took a 24hr pill for this occassion.
Anna replied as she ran a hand through her brunette hair tied in a bun, "Oh, family tradition. Mr. Ortega's great-great grandfather started it. They've planted rosemary since. It's one of the few things that Mr. Ortega follows. All the places he lived; he always had the gardeners plant rosemary. It helps the cooks when they're running out, but, um, don't mention that."
She showed them the sheds where they'll retrieve their needed equipment and safety gear, telling them that when they're done for the day, turn over the dirty gear for cleaning. Warn if they're using fertilizers, the usual.
Once everything's said and done, Theodore and Lila start their duties as gardeners, working in the Ortega Garden, ensuring all plants happy, and their needs tended.
Al worked his magic, making sure they're not found out, they have enough time figuring out the movements of the household workers and Mr. Whiskers.
Peeking over the side of the hedges, Theodore didn't see him out, his home empty from looking in the windows, but the mention of office clothes means that he'd gone to work.
Guess even monsters have bills to pay.