Sponge: Welcome back, folks! Last week's chapter was a song from the musical Hamilton. I know, two Hamilton references in one fic? I can't be stopped. Anyway, congrats to and IrishLassWithSass23 for guessing correctly! This chapter is another long one, so here we go! Warnings: language and peril. Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, and Hanna Barbera. Since I've never been to Stanford University, nor driven across the continental United States, I took some creative liberties with various layouts. The credit for all correct geographic information goes to Google Earth.
Chapter 14: Danger Zone
They made it all the way to the western edge of Utah before they realized they had lost cellphone service.
"Dammit," Fred swore from the back of the Mystery Machine. "When did that happen?"
It was nearly eight in the morning. Fred, Shaggy, Daphne, and Velma had each had a few turns driving through the rest of Wyoming, which had taken most of the night. Shaggy, who was back at the wheel now, had done remarkably well, Scooby thought, especially given the circumstances. Nobody had slept more than a couple hours at a time, but at least they had all gotten some rest. Scooby had woken up to keep Shaggy company every time he took the wheel, and together, they'd watched the sun rise two hours ago as they'd crossed the border into Utah. It was less nerve-wracking, driving in daylight, but Shaggy was still unbelievably tired. Thankfully, Fred was awake again, and he had offered to switch at the next gas station – the Mystery Machine was due for a fuel up soon anyway – and drive them the rest of the way to Stanford.
That was when he'd checked his phone and discovered he didn't have reception. He'd been worrying aloud from the backseat ever since.
"What if something happened to Brad and Judy? What if they've been trying to reach us and we can't get their messages?" Fred stared intensely at his phone's screen, as though he could will the bars to appear.
"I'm sure that Brad and Judy are all right, Freddie," Daphne soothed. The others had woken now too, and Daphne was gently rubbing Fred's shoulder. Velma had been dozing in the seat beside Shaggy, using Scooby for a pillow, but she was awake now, just in time for Fred's freak out.
"We don't know that for sure," Fred exclaimed. "What if they called us?"
"Then they will have left a voicemail," said Nova, her voice calm. "And we'll listen to it when we have reception again."
"Rit'll be rokay, Reddie," Scooby added.
"Did they get on a flight?" Fred muttered, apparently not hearing either of the dogs. "Did they make it safely? Did they find Leon and Pericles? Or did Ricky and Cassidy betray them?"
"Dude like, stop panicking," Shaggy told him, although he felt pretty panicky himself. He also felt achy and exhausted. But Fred appeared to be on the brink of mental collapse, and Shaggy didn't want to make it worse. So he glanced into the rearview mirror and made eye contact with his friend. "There's like, nothing we can do right now," he said, keeping his voice as steady as possible. "Hopefully we'll be able to contact them soon. But worrying's not going to do any of us any good. So let's just…chill out, okay? And like, breathe."
Shaggy wasn't sure if his words were helpful, but Fred appeared to be listening. Shaggy heard him inhaling deeply through his nose, and then letting the breath out in a slow exhale.
Daphne rubbed his back and his shoulders as he did so. "Listen to Shaggy, babe," she murmured. "He's right."
Fred turned and pulled her close. The two had barely let go of each other since last night. Having her near gave Fred a sense of clarity and composure that he certainly wouldn't have otherwise. "I'm just worried about Ricky and Cassidy," he admitted. "We're not positive we can trust them."
"You're only saying that because you haven't forgiven them for accidentally running me over," Daphne said, a bit teasingly.
"How do we know that was an accident?" Fred pointed out. "Ricky Owens could still be working for Professor Pericles. He double-crossed Brad and Judy once before – how do we know he's not doing it again?"
"To be fair," Velma spoke up, her voice a bit hoarse from lack of sleep. "We only have Brad and Judy's word about that."
"Are you suggesting that they're lying?" asked Fred.
"I don't know," Velma sighed. "All I know is that a week ago, we didn't know that any of these adults even existed. And now we're blindly trusting them without anything more than their word that they're on our side."
"Are you sure you're not just untrustworthy of Brad and Judy because of the whole ley line thing?" Daphne asked matter-of-factly.
"That's not it!" Velma insisted. Though, it sort of was. How was she supposed to trust people who put their faith in magic?
"Like let's not fight about it," Shaggy spoke up. None of them had gotten much sleep, and so they were all cranky. But Shaggy was desperate to keep the peace. "We still have a while before we get to Stanford, and we're like, going to have to work together to get to the serum."
"Raggy's right," Scooby proclaimed. He turned to Nova. "So, where ris the rerum?"
Nova seemed rather wary. "I'd like to wait until we're closer," she explained. "Ever since we learned that Pericles had followed us from Navy Pier and eavesdropped on our conversation, I'm…hesitant to say anything more about the serum's location aloud."
"He can't hear us now," Velma pointed out. "He's already in California."
Nova just looked at her. "Is he?" she replied.
Everyone glanced nervously out the windows, as though expecting to see Professor Pericles gliding silently alongside them. But the skies were clear.
Still, they didn't talk about the serum again.
It wasn't long before Fred tapped Shaggy on the shoulder. "Gas station coming up in the next mile. You ready to switch?" he offered.
Shaggy was. He'd been hunched over the steering wheel for so long he felt as though his back was permanently curved, and his arm and shoulder muscles were tighter than piano wire. He pulled over at the gas station so Fred could fill up and stretched for several long moments before heading for the shop. "I'll like, get us some snacks."
"Re too," Scooby volunteered, eagerly following Shaggy into the building.
"Don't go overboard!" Fred warned them as he took out the gas pump.
Daphne turned to Velma. "I'll trade you places," she said with a tired grin.
Velma nodded. "Sure. I have to use the restroom anyway."
"Oh, good idea," Daphne said. "I'll go, too." She turned to Nova. "You want to come?"
Nova nodded, and they all left the van. Nova headed for a private patch of grass while the girls moved towards the restroom. They emerged just as Shaggy and Scooby came out of the gas station's store, arms laden with snacks.
"I admire your restraint," Velma said as she followed him and Scooby back to the Mystery Machine. "We might actually have space to sit down in the back." There was a teasing glint in her eye.
Shaggy chuckled and hip-checked her gently. "Want anything?"
Back at the van, Fred had finished pumping gas, but the crease in his brow alerted them to his distress.
"Still no service, huh?" asked Shaggy.
Fred shook his head. "No. I don't understand – I should have full bars."
Daphne put a comforting hand on his arm. "I'm sure we'll get service back soon," she soothed. "I'll keep checking while you drive, and I'll let you know the minute we have reception again, okay?"
"I guess," Fred sighed. He took Daphne's hand in his own and brought it to his lips for a kiss. "Thanks, babe."
Everyone clambered back into the van. Nova sat on Daphne's lap in the passenger seat while Shaggy, Scooby, and Velma squeezed into the back.
"Do you want to get some rest, Shag?" asked Velma. "I haven't even driven that much, and I feel exhausted."
While Shaggy felt tired from all the driving, he didn't feel particularly sleepy. In fact, he felt surprisingly alert. Perhaps it was adrenaline.
"I don't know why I'm so awake," Fred spoke up from the driver's seat as he adjusted the mirrors. "I'm feeling pretty keyed up for how little sleep I got last night."
Shaggy chuckled. "I was like, just thinking the same thing, man," he replied.
"Well I'm going to try to take a nap," Velma mumbled, shimmying into her sleeping bag and removing her glasses.
Shaggy was glad to hear this, considering Velma hadn't been sleeping much this entire trip.
"Re roo," Scooby agreed, stretching out as much as he could.
Fred started the van.
Shaggy shook out his own sleeping bag and lay down between Scooby and Velma, intending to just enjoy the relaxing act of stretching his legs out. But he must have been sleepier than he realized, because before he knew it, his eyes had closed, and he was deep in slumber.
x.X.x
He awoke a few hours later to the bright sun shining through the windows. Groggily he sat up and looked around. Daphne, Velma, and Scooby were all asleep – Scooby's leg was twitching, and Velma was breathing softly, lying on her side facing Shaggy. Daphne had pulled a small, soft duffel bag up to the front seat and was using it as a pillow. Nova was still in her lap, though she wasn't sleeping.
"Good morning," she said when she noticed Shaggy stirring.
Fred grinned. "What was that you said about feeling so awake?"
Shaggy stretched and ignored him. "Where are we now?" he asked, his voice scratchy.
"Just outside of Reno," Fred replied. "Though we should be crossing into California soon."
Shaggy gave a gigantic yawn. "I missed Vegas, huh?" he joked.
Fred chuckled. "Other end of the state, buddy."
"Like how long till we get to Stanford?" Shaggy asked, serious this time.
Fred checked the GPS. "Our ETA is 2:30-ish, Pacific time. So about four hours."
Still a long time. And yet also…not.
For the next few hours, they drove along in comfortable silence, save for the quiet noises that Scooby and the girls made in their sleep. Shaggy had no desire to wake them. For all he knew, this was the last moments' peace they would all have until they collected the serum. Why interrupt that? Who knew how long it would be before any of them felt this tranquil again?
Unfortunately for Shaggy, the feeling was gone sooner than he would have preferred. As Fred weaved in and out of traffic (Shaggy had forgotten just how insane traffic could be in California), they saw a sign for Vista Heights, the town where Shaggy had lived before his family moved to Coolsville. The town where he'd gotten Scooby. The town where his sister had died and was buried.
"Wow," said Fred, when he noticed the sign. "I didn't realize just how close Vista Heights was to Stanford."
Shaggy nodded slowly. "Yeah. We're maybe like, a thirty-minute drive away now."
"Crazy to think that you used to live all the way out here," Fred continued. "And that Velma's going to live all the way out here in just a few months."
The words hit Shaggy like a punch to the gut.
Obviously, he'd known that Velma was going to college at Stanford. Obviously, it pained him to know how far away they'd be from each other. But everything they'd faced during this road trip had distracted him from the fact that in just a couple short months, he'd really be saying goodbye to her. And they would truly be apart. He'd known the distance between Stanford and Chicago was a long one, but only conceptually. Now, after being in a car and driving practically nonstop for nearly two full days, that distance seemed more real than ever before.
He glanced down at her sleeping form, feeling dazed. He hated himself for how much time he'd wasted this past year. He and Velma had spent the majority of their relationship in secret, pretending they were nothing more than close friends. Pretending that they didn't love each other.
Why had he ever pretended that he didn't love her?
A hurricane of regret engulfed Shaggy. If only he could go back in time, relive those moments. Tell her how he felt about her, how much she meant to him. They'd spent two entire months this past spring not talking at all. What kind of stupid idiot was he? Those were two months he'd never get back with her.
If he was being honest with himself, it was an entire year that he'd never get back with her.
He didn't have time to wallow for long though because Fred, who'd been oblivious to Shaggy's internal struggle, cleared his throat.
"If we're less than half an hour away," he said. "We might want to wake up the others. Let them know we'll be there soon."
Shaggy did so, gently shaking first Scooby and then Velma awake.
"Morning," he said softly. "We're like, almost there."
Velma rubbed her eyes and reached for her glasses. Shaggy was one step ahead of her, already holding them out.
She smiled at him gratefully. "Thanks," she murmured.
Their fingers brushed each other as she took her glasses from him, and Shaggy felt a sudden, fierce ache in his chest.
Fred had woken Daphne as well, and thirty minutes later, they drove through Stanford University's main entrance.
"Okay, Nova," said Fred. "Which way?"
Stanford's campus was huge. Fred wasn't sure how close they were to the serum, or how long it would take for them to find it once they got to Brad and Judy's secret hiding place, wherever it was.
Velma glanced out the window at the vast enormity of her future home, and suddenly felt extremely overwhelmed. She hadn't been here since their junior year of high school, when she'd gone on a prospective student tour during spring break. How was the place so much bigger than she remembered?
Nova looked anxious as well. "Wait," she said quietly. "We should make sure we aren't being followed."
"I don't see Pericles anywhere," Daphne replied, glancing out the window.
"Or Reon," Scooby added.
"That doesn't necessarily mean they aren't here," Velma pointed out. "Pericles has apparently been watching us for years. He even followed us out of state – more than once! And we never noticed."
"That was before," Fred told her. "Things are different now."
"How are things different now?" asked Daphne.
Fred set his jaw determinedly. "Now, we're the ones watching for him."
Nova nodded. "All right," she said, her voice soft. "There's a warehouse near the hospital at Stanford's School of Medicine. It's where the science and medical departments keep surplus materials and equipment. The serum is hidden in there."
Fred nodded. "How do we get there?" he asked.
"First, let's park the van at the medical school," Nova suggested. "It won't be far to walk. The Mystery Machine is easily recognizable, and we don't want to stick out any more than we do."
"Good point," Fred agreed.
It wasn't a long journey to the med school, and parking there was simple. Everyone disembarked from the Mystery Machine and followed Nova to the main road, Campus Drive, where she turned in a circle as though orienteering herself.
"This way," she said finally, beginning to walk west.
The others followed her, all keeping sharp eyes out for certain bespectacled young men, or certain devious gray parrots. But they didn't see anyone who looked suspicious.
In time, they made a right onto Stock Farm Road, and then turned left onto an unnamed street before coming to a stop in front of several low, grayish-white storage units. At the end of the gravel drive was a large warehouse.
"Is it in there?" asked Daphne, gesturing towards the warehouse.
Nova nodded. "It's just as Brad and Judy described it." Hesitantly, she glanced upwards.
Scooby knew she was searching for Pericles. He put a comforting paw on top of hers. "Ret's go," he said.
Nova nodded, and the six of them walked on.
When they reached the warehouse, they found that it was locked. A huge black chain was wrapped around the door handles, with a heavy padlock attached.
Fred sighed, exasperated. "I have bolt cutters in the Mystery Machine," he muttered. "But I don't want to go all the way back to the parking garage – we're already pressed for time as it is."
"Rye can runlock it," Scooby offered, extending a sharp nail. He set to work.
"I'm relieved, honestly," Daphne admitted. "That it's locked."
Velma looked at her, perplexed. "Why are you relieved?"
"It means we got here first," Daphne explained. "It means that Pericles probably isn't waiting inside for us, already in possession of the serum."
"I suppose," Velma agreed hesitantly. "But that doesn't mean –"
But no one ever found out what it didn't mean, because at that moment, her cellphone chirped loudly in her pocket. Frowning, she pulled it out.
"Do you have service?" asked Fred, reaching for his own phone.
Each of them pulled out their phones and gazed horrorstruck the screens. Notification after notification popped up: dozens of missed texts, calls, and even a few voicemails from their friends and family back in Coolsville.
Velma's heart thundered. What was going on?
"I didn't see any of these when we parked the Mystery Machine," Daphne said. "They all must have just come through." She stared at the others, stricken. They'd all been in such a haze of exhaustion, that they hadn't even realized that none of them had had cellphone reception during these last eighteen hours.
Shaggy scrolled through his notifications, wide-eyed.
Julie St. James (3 missed calls)
Marcie Fleach (7 missed calls)
Tony Moretti (12 missed calls)
Dad (14 missed calls)
Mom (21 missed calls)
And all the texts were of the same urgent caliber.
Mom: Norville, please call me.
Dad: Shaggy, your mother and I need to speak to you. Call one of us as soon as you can.
Tony Moretti: Rogers, we're all trying to reach you guys. Give me a call back ASAP.
Marcie Fleach: Shaggy, please check your voicemail, it's absolutely urgent. Call us the instant you see this message.
Tony Moretti: Hey, still trying to get in touch. Call me back.
Julie St. James: Shaggy, it's Julie! Something happened, but it's going to take too long to explain in a text. Call me back. Or call Tony or Marcie.
Marcie Fleach: Shaggy?
Marcie Fleach: Hello?
Mom: Norville Rogers, call me immediately.
Julie St. James: Shaggy check your messages and CALL US!
Tony Moretti: Rogers are you there?
Tony Moretti: It's about Velma.
Tony Moretti: GODDAMN IT SHAGGY, ANSWER YOUR PHONE!
These last two messages made Shaggy's heart stop. Tony rarely ever called anyone in the gang by their first names, usually opting to call them by nicknames ("Jonesy" or "Dinks" for Fred and Velma), or by their surnames ("Blake" and "Rogers" for Daphne and Shaggy). The fact that he'd done so here – and used all caps to symbolize shouting, which Shaggy had never heard him do in real life – alerted him to the seriousness of this situation.
The others all had similar notifications from Tony, Marcie, their parents, and various members of Heavy Meddle. Velma also had a single voicemail from her older sister, Dottie.
She listened to that one first. As she did, all the blood drained out of her face, and she brought a hand to her mouth in horror.
Scooby, who was nearest, noticed. "Rut's wrong?" he asked, abandoning the padlock to come stand next to her.
She turned to look at him, eyes wide as saucers behind her glasses. "I think Leon kidnapped my niece," she murmured.
Everyone turned to gaze at her. "What?!" Daphne exclaimed.
Wordlessly, Velma played the voicemail for the others.
"Velma!" Dottie's voice sounded panicked, frightened. "Lorelei's gone! I put her down for a nap an hour ago, and then I came back and found a note in her crib. It told me to call you if I ever wanted to see her again. I don't know what's going on or if this is some weird mystery thing that you and your friends are caught up in, but this isn't a game – this is my daughter! Please call me back and tell me what's going on and where she is!"
When it was finished, the whole gang had the same shocked expressions on their faces.
"Zoinks," breathed Shaggy. Now he understood why everyone had been so desperate to reach them.
RIIIING!
Daphne's phone rang shrilly in her hand, surprising her so badly she nearly dropped it.
"It's Tony," she said, quickly answering the call.
"Daphne!" Tony exclaimed through the phone. "Thank God one of you answered. We thought something happened to you guys! We were really worried!"
"None of us had reception until just now," Daphne explained, hastily putting him on speaker. "We just got all the notifications and listened to Dottie's message. Did Leon kidnap Lorelei?"
"That's our theory," Tony replied. "Dottie's at City Hall now, waitin' for news. Your parents are all there too."
"Including mine?" asked Daphne, flabbergasted.
There was a slight pause. "Most of your parents," he corrected himself, sounding apologetic. "Your mom is there."
But not her dad. She knew it wasn't the right time, but a stab of pain went through Daphne anyhow.
Fred put an arm around her.
"We're so glad you picked up," Tony said again. "The two of us have been sittin' here takin' turns dialing each of your numbers, hoping one you would answer."
"Like who's 'the two' of you?'" Shaggy wanted to know.
"Hi everyone," came Marcie's voice – evidently, Tony had the gang on speakerphone as well.
"Walk us through the timeline," Fred said. "What happened after we hung up last night?"
"Brad, Judy, Ricky, and Cassidy all left for the airport," Tony answered. "They had to leave out of Columbus though, cuz there weren't any direct flights through PKB. Their plane left at like, eight this morning, and Brad texted the mayor right before takeoff. Everything was quiet for a few hours until Marcie reminded me that we promised we'd keep an eye on Velma's family. So we went to the Dinkley's place and Dottie let us in. She told us she was about to go get Lorelei up from her nap – that was when we realized the baby was gone. We were with her with she found the note in the crib."
"We weren't sure whether it was Leon's handwriting," Marcie went on. "You know he's a skilled forger. But we went to see Heavy Meddle, and they confirmed it was his. Then we all went to the mayor's and told him we believed that Leon had taken Lorelei."
"Are you still at City Hall?" asked Nova.
"Not anymore," Tony replied. "I think we were gettin' underfoot there, so we've just been hangin' out in a private study room at the library. They close in like, fifteen minutes though, so we might go back to City Hall."
"Wait," Fred spoke up, suddenly confused. "How could Leon have kidnapped Lorelei? I thought he came to California with Pericles."
"Apparently not," Marcie retorted.
"Did you call the sheriff?" asked Velma.
"Of course we did," Tony replied. "He gathered all your parents and Velma's sister at the mayor's office, took our statements, and left. He's out combing the town. Called in reinforcements and everything. But he can't find Leon. His parents don't know where he is either."
"And there's definitely no way he could have left the state?" Daphne asked. "Even before the APB?"
"Nope," Tony said. "Before we left City Hall, the sheriff told us that he got warrants for all the flight manifests out of the nearest airports for the last few days. Leon's name isn't on any of 'em."
"Unless he gave a false ID somehow," Velma murmured.
"He couldn't forge a driver's license, V," Marcie reminded her from the other end of the phone. "That's not the kind of forging he does."
Velma's phone chirped again, and she picked it up warily.
"Who's calling, Velm?" asked Daphne, still holding her own phone aloft.
Velma's face blanched. "It's a Facetime…but I don't recognize the number," she said softly.
"Rit's Reon!" Scooby yelped. "Rit has to be!"
There was unintelligible noise from Daphne's phone as Tony and Marcie both began shouting incoherently.
"Shh!" Fred shushed. "Everyone in Ohio, be quiet!"
Velma's phone was still ringing, but Fred beckoned her towards them and gestured for Daphne to hide her phone.
Daphne did so, holding her arm behind her back. Swallowing, Velma held her own phone up so that she and the gang were visible, but Daphne's phone was out of sight.
When she answered the call, Leon's sneering face greeted her.
"Hello Velma," he said with a smile so menacing that it curdled her blood. "And the rest of you."
"Where's Lorelei?" Velma demanded, trying to keep her voice steady.
"Calm down, she's right here." Leon shifted the camera so that Lorelei was visible. She was sitting on the floor of a dusty-looking room, playing with stacking cups. She didn't seem hurt, or even afraid, but Velma's heartbeat quickened, nonetheless. Where had he taken her?
"Sorry it took me so long to give you a call," Leon said, moving the camera back to his face. "I wasn't sure when you'd be far enough away from your van. Calls wouldn't go through as long as you were near it."
"What are you talking about?" asked Fred.
Leon chuckled. "A cellphone jammer," he explained, as though to a group of young children. "Pericles installed one under the Mystery Machine when he found you in Chicago. I accessed it remotely after your conversation with your friends last night." He shook his head. "Didn't you find it odd that you couldn't use your phones again after that?"
Everyone exchanged stricken glances. That was why they hadn't had reception – the cellphone jammer had been blocking their signal. They'd needed to get a far enough distance away from the Mystery Machine before they could use their phones.
"How did you know we spoke to Brad and Judy?" Daphne asked.
"Pericles knew that Ricky and Cassidy would contact them as soon as they arrived in Coolsville," Leon explained, his tone awfully casual. "After he realized they were still alive, he figured that to try to put a stop to him, they would team up with Brad and Judy. Of course, it helps that none of them actually trust each other – I guess Brad and Judy never forgave Ricky for 'teaming up' with Pericles all those years ago."
So, Ricky was innocent after all. Guilt jabbed Fred – he shouldn't have been so quick to mistrust him.
Scooby, meanwhile, was squinting at the dark background behind Leon. There was something awfully familiar about it…like a cave he'd been in once.
"What do you want?" asked Velma.
"It's simple really," Leon said. "Tell Pericles where the serum is, and I'll let Lorelei go."
"Are you kidding me?" Velma exclaimed before she could stop herself.
Leon glowered at her. "Do I look like I'm kidding?"
Suddenly, realization hit Scooby like a bolt of lightning. He realized why he recognized the place where Leon was hiding. But he couldn't say it out loud – Leon might hear him, and then they'd lose this advantage.
He tugged on the hem of Shaggy's jeans and once he'd gotten his attention, Scooby moved casually out of the camera's line of view. Silently, he pantomimed a large monster.
Shaggy got it immediately. Scooby was imitating the Wendigo, the monster that had hidden in the oak tree two years ago. The same oak tree where the mineral for the serum had been discovered. The place where all of this had begun.
Stealthily, Shaggy took out his phone and typed out a message in his notes app. Then he gently elbowed Daphne to get her attention. She glanced at him, and he moved his phone just slightly so that she could see it, but Leon could not:
They're under the oak tree in the Willow Springs Woods
Daphne's eyes widened in understanding, and she squeezed Fred's arm so he could read the message too.
"If they're not there already, I believe Brad, Judy, Ricky, and Cassidy should be arriving at your location soon," Leon said now. "Pericles followed them onto their plane, you know. They'll lead him right to you."
Cold fear pierced the hearts of the gang, Shaggy's message forgotten for a moment. Pericles hadn't followed the gang to Stanford at all – he'd waited in Coolsville until the adults had left!
"And once they arrive," Leon continued. "You'll show Pericles where the serum is. And then I'll let Lorelei go. I'm sure her poor mother is worried sick." He grinned evilly. "Good thing I'll be there to comfort her."
And with that, he abruptly hung up.
"Wait!" Velma shrieked, but Daphne stopped her.
"It's okay," Daphne said, though it wasn't, not really. But at least they knew where Leon was. She brought her phone out from behind her back. "Tony, are you there? Did you hear any of that?"
"Yeah," he muttered, sounding stricken. "I can't believe neither of them left Coolsville. I bet that damn parrot was right outside last night, listening to our whole conversation like he did with you guys in Chicago."
"Tony listen," Daphne went on. "We figured out where Leon is hiding Lorelei."
"How?" asked Marcie.
"Scooby Doo recognized it from the background of the Facetime," Shaggy explained. "It's like, underneath the oak tree in the Willow Springs Woods."
"The one you showed us after graduation?" asked Marcie.
"I thought you said they filled it in," Tony exclaimed.
"Just the tunnels," Fred clarified. "I guess the area directly beneath the tree is still accessible. Pericles must have told Leon how to get inside."
"You need to call Sheriff Stone," Daphne said to Tony now. "He was there when we caught the Wendigo, he'll know where the tree is. Tell him he needs to pull upward on the root in order to get in, got it?"
"Can do," Tony replied. "You guys gonna be okay?"
"If we can get into this warehouse and take the serum before Pericles gets here, then we will be," Velma replied. Now that she knew rescue was on the way for her niece, she seemed to be in better spirits.
"Be safe," Tony said before hanging up.
Everyone looked at each other with newfound determination.
"Hurry Scooby," Nova said, urgency coloring her tone. "We have to get into the warehouse."
Scooby returned to the padlock and quickly worked to pick the lock. At last, the tumbler clicked and everyone worked together to remove the chain.
"Let's go! Quickly!" Nova cried, leading the charge into the warehouse.
And she stopped short.
They found themselves in the large, high-ceilinged, concrete space of the warehouse. Wooden crates were stacked on top of each other, teetering precariously on the shelves which ran through the warehouse in maze-like rows. The serum could be in any one of those boxes. But that wasn't why they all stopped short in the mouth of the doorway.
They stopped because, in the center of the large room, were four people slumped groggily on the floor.
"Jeepers…" Daphne breathed. It was Brad, Judy, Ricky, and Cassidy.
A soft laugh came from above, and everyone jerked their gazes upwards. Fluttering just above them was a tiny gray parrot, with a large head and a wicked gleam in his eyes.
"Hello, Mystery Incorporated," Professor Pericles chuckled. "It's so good to meet you in person at last."
Sponge: Thanks for reading! Review if you please, and don't forget to guess where the chapter title comes from!