"I wonder if this counts as ghost-hunting or yokai-hunting," Renet commented, ducking underneath a sharp-looking branch.
This was… a really good question.
They'd started walking on the path that led into the woods six minutes ago, and had diverged off the path in the past two. If Baxter - the kid who had disappeared and whose family had forgotten he ever existed - had gone to seek out Lady Love, Mikey's best guess was that he'd gone to that one group of wide trees that grew a little deeper in the woods. Those trees were a lot easier to carve initials into, apparently.
Also, there was literally nowhere else to go in the little stretch of the woods behind the school.
"I wonder if a ghost can be considered a type of yokai," Mikey said as they passed a stretch of green mossy tree roots. "Or would it be the other way around?"
"Would it? Does that mean that Klunk came from… a cat who died?" Renet asked, eyes wide. Then she lowered her voice. "Does this mean we're being haunted?"
They looked at their yokai friend who was actively running around ahead of them, chasing a butterfly through some weeds. As if knowing that they were talking about him, Klunk stuck all his tails up with pride and turned his rear towards them before walking off.
"Aw," Mikey and Renet cooed at the same time.
"He's adorable," Renet whispered.
Well, there would be no way to know from Klunk, that much was certain.
After discovering the existence of yokai, Donnie had come up with an entire list of questions about yokai - most of which they didn't have solid answers to. Mikey made a mental note to add to Donnie's list when he got home.
"Donnie says that there's got to be an expert on them existing somewhere," Mikey told Renet as they followed after Klunk. "It's too bad we don't know any."
Renet nodded, humming in thought. "Oh my gosh, you know what? We can just ask Lady Love if she knows anything about yokai if we find her!"
The idea made Mikey pause.
"Oh wow, you're right," he said with a gush of renewed excitement. That was new! Yokai or ghost or whatever, Mikey had never talked with any supernatural entity. What if he got answers to all of Donnie's questions?
"Unless," Renet whispered, for dramatic effect, "Lady Love switches it up on us and we're the ones being hunted by the end of this? Whoa."
Mikey laughed nervously. "Right. There's a good chance that she's the reason Baxter disappeared. We should probably be careful. It's a good thing we've got Klunk, huh?"
"He can be our tracker and mascot and bodyguard," Renet agreed.
"Mascot?" Mikey echoed.
Renet blushed. "Oh… it's just something I made up in my head. Cuz, you know, you and I… and Casey, for that matter, we can all see yokai. It's silly, but I feel like we have a little club."
"No, you're so right," Mikey said encouragingly. "Klunk is definitely our mascot."
When Renet smiled, it was so adorable it was precious.
They both watched as Klunk licked his butt and yawned, flopping on his side in a patch of dead leaves and foliage.
Arriving at the patch of trees, Mikey and Renet stopped to view the scene. The foliage around them was thicker here, the green leaves darkening from the thickness that shielded this part of the woods from the daylight. Birds sang from their nests, and crickets chirped. In the distance, cars could be heard driving down the road. The trees that took up space here were old and thick. Something about them was just huggable, and Mikey heard Renet's shout of laughter as he threw his arms around one. Nice!
Mikey extracted himself, and winced. A spider had landed on his arm. He flicked it off.
Renet whistled.
"Look at all these messages carved in the trunks!" she exclaimed, walking around and reading one aloud. "'BJ and BU forever', aw that's so cute..."
Mikey checked his watch. Okay, his brothers thought he was at the dance, so he had about an hour until he had to head back.
I'll just tell them the grass marks on my pants and the twigs in my hair were an intentional fashion choice, Mikey thought decisively.
Renet cupped her hands around her mouth and called out. "Lady Love, you hanging around here?"
Mikey looked at the tree trunks. Moss grew in some of the carvings. It was sort of amazing, how far back the tradition went. Some carvings were hard to read because the tree had grown so much. If a yokai could fester simply on feelings and emotions alone - which was a theory Donnie had proposed one time - then this spot was perfect for it.
"Excuse us, Lady Love," Mikey called, joining in with Renet. "My name's Mikey and this is Renet! We just want to talk!"
"Sorry we couldn't, like, schedule an appointment in advance!" Renet called. "We couldn't contact your secretary!"
Mikey giggled.
"DUDE!" a voice exploded from somewhere behind them.
That was definitely not Lady Love. Mikey whirled around to see Bradford charging out of the bushes, his head and wrists decorated in foil bands as he pointed aggressively at him, then at Renet.
"What are you doing out here with her?" Bradford yelled.
Mikey backed away from Bradford's finger. Whoa, there! This was an unexpected turn of events. Behind Bradford emerged Xever and Fong, both in foil and holding different equipment up. They were all, Mikey noticed just then, wearing dress clothes. For the dance.
"Hey, Renet," Fong greeted casually. "Hey, Mikey."
"Don't 'hey Mikey' him, Fong!" Bradford said, his face turning red. Spinning on Mikey, he glared sharply at him, which confused the heck out of Mikey. "So you thought it would be a fine idea to just walk out of school with my date?"
"Your date?" Renet repeated absently, looking confused.
"Your - oh," Mikey said, realizing that Bradford had wanted to ask Renet to the dance. "No, I wasn't -"
"Dude, I'm going to pummel you!"
"Whoa!" Mikey yelped as Bradford pushed him. Mikey yelped, the backs of his elbows hitting harsh roots underneath him to catch his fall. Over his own shout of surprise, he heard Renet, Xever, and Fong's shouts of concern and alarm as well.
"Hey, dude, stop!" Xever shouted, grabbing Bradford's arms from behind.
"Mikey, you good?" Fong asked, helping Mikey up.
"Yeah," Mikey said, even though his elbows stung. "Bradford, look, I'm sorry! Renet and I are just friends, we were just hanging out and trying to look for Lady Love -"
"OH SO that's how it's gonna be?" Bradford yelled, huffing and puffing. "WAR, YOU CURLY HAIRED GIRL THIEF! BLOOD WILL BE DRAWN!"
"Stop it, please!" Renet shouted over the chaos, sounding annoyed.
"Bradford, chill out!" Xever snapped. "You're being stupid, man."
"I'LL SHOW YOU STUPID! Okay, I just heard myself, you're right, I'm sorry," Bradford said, immediately switching back to himself and breathing carefully. He tilted his head back to the sky and squeezed his eyes shut once before opening them and looking at Mikey. "I'm sorry, Mikey. I broke my code. I allowed my conflicted heart to take over my actions. Forgive my unforgivable sins."
Just like that, Bradford seemed to be back to… well, what was normal for him. Mikey exhaled, allowing his heart rate to return to its usual pace.
"It's okay, Bradford," he said, brushing himself off. "No harm, no foul, right?"
Bradford's face scrunched up like he was trying to solve a complicated math equation. "But I… I did harm you."
Oh, right. He had. "Oh, right," Mikey said, before laughing. "What's a little attacking between friends, right?"
"I'm so ashamed of myself," Bradford whispered in a tormented voice. "My code."
"I-it's really alright. Water under the bridge, seriously," Mikey said, looking at Xever and Fong for help.
They both shook their heads at Mikey and rolled their eyes in a way that said 'Bradford's an idiot, we can't do anything about it'.
"I will repair our bridge of friendship and trust in due time, Mikey," Bradford was going on. "I can do a blood oath?"
"No," everyone said at once.
Mikey laughed awkwardly. "So what brings you guys out here?"
"The dance was lame," Fong said with a shrug. "So we decided to come out and start on our ghost hunt early."
"For Baxter, right? We're trying to call out to Lady Love," Mikey told them. "No luck, though."
"Baxter?" Bradford echoed.
"Who's that?" Fong asked.
Mikey blinked at them. Were they pulling his leg?
"The sixth grader who disappeared two days ago," Mikey said. "Baxter Stockman. Won a Quiz Bowl trophy for the school. Xever's neighbor?"
Xever snapped his fingers. "The Stockmans. They are my neighbors, yes." He looked proud of himself for remembering. Then he tilted his head. "I don't think they have a kid, though."
Huh what?
"You mean… there's no Baxter?" Renet asked carefully.
"No, there is," Mikey insisted, looking at the trio. "You told me earlier today, remember? During homeroom? Xever, you said that his family didn't remember him."
Bradford, Xever, and Fong looked confused, which was weird.
Really weird.
Wouldn't this have sparked recognition in their eyes? And then an eager rant about finding Lady Love? They'd been fanboying about this earlier!
"No… ?" Xever said. "I'm pretty sure that never happened, man. We just talked about finding the ghost of Lady Love."
Mikey just gaped at them as Fong went over to inspect one of the trees better. His thoughts ran around like an energetic hamster in its wheel.
This is crazy, right? They're not pretending to have forgotten about the missing boy, right? And I didn't imagine the whole thing, did I?
"Really? Ghost hunting, just out of the blue?" Renet asked, and Mikey felt a rush of relief that she was here. "Why Lady Love?"
"Well, I'm sure it came up because…" Xever seemed to not know the answer. He frowned. "You know, I don't remember how it came up, but it's appropriate, isn't it? Being Valentine's Day and all."
Mikey and Renet looked at each other again. Renet shrugged. She didn't seem as freaked out as Mikey felt - probably because she hadn't been there when the guys had discussed Baxter Stockman's mysterious disappearance and how they were going to figure out what happened. How could they have suddenly forgotten?
"Have you guys summoned her, then?" Fong asked, using an index finger to poke the tree.
"Summoned her?" Mikey and Renet said at the same time.
"Yeah, guys. Lady Love doesn't show you your soulmate until you write your name in the bark and say her name three times," Fong said. "Or so they say. There's a high chance she just eats you."
Mikey and Renet exchanged glances. So that's how it was supposed to be done.
"I volunteer as tribute," Bradford said. "I deserve to be eaten."
"Awesome," Xever said, adjusting his foil band and holding up his equipment. "I'll take readings."
Mikey and Renet watched as Bradford pulled out an X-acto knife and started carving out his full name in the bark. The world was silent as Bradford stepped back, closing his eyes and extending out his arms.
"Lady Love," he called out. "Lady Love."
Mikey swallowed, the air getting sharp and thick. Why was he getting nervous?
"Lady Love."
The wind rustled the bushes and trees around them. Renet stepped closer to Mikey, and Klunk purred, unheard by the other three boys.
All five kids stood still as the wind gushed around, holding their breaths.
"Huh," Fong said, looking around. "I guess… nothing?"
"I feel the same," Bradford said, shrugging. "Guess the ghost story is bogus."
Xever looked disappointed. "Let's keep waiting," he said, his eyes sharpening as he looked at his equipment. "Believe in the hunt, comrades."
Renet nudged Mikey. "There's no yokai here," she whispered.
Mikey sighed, nodding. There probably wasn't a Lady Love yokai. Which was fine, to be expected, really. But it didn't explain why the Bradford and his friends couldn't remember Baxter. Or why Baxter had gone missing in the first place. Or how his family had forgotten about him as well.
"Maybe," Renet said, as if reading his mind, "They were just kidding about the Baxter thing? Maybe it really wasn't a big deal to them and they forgot..."
As Renet spoke, Mikey made the mistake of looking up.
Up, up, up the tall vertical trees, instead of green leaves that fluttered above and revealed a piece of the sky, there was a monster-sized shape.
It was a spider.
A giant spider, as in as-big-as-a-rhino.
Eight legs, stretching far and wide.
And worst of all, a face - two glossy softball-sized eyes, and a horrifyingly gleeful smile as it peered down on all of them.
Mikey couldn't make words leave his mouth fast enough. He couldn't scream or shout. His hand just shot out and clutched Renet's hand in alarm.
Renet saw his face and looked up with him. Then she gasped and let out a squeak, stumbling backwards in sheer terror, pulling Mikey down with her.
"What?" Bradford said, looking at the two of them suspiciously. Then he looked up blankly. "What's wrong?"
Renet screamed when the spider yokai's eyes shifted squishily to her and Mikey. Its smile widened maliciously, looking psychotic.
"One, two, three, four, five," The spider yokai whispered, looking down on all of them. Its voice sounded like multiple voices at once. It sent shivers down Mikey's back as it spoke. "Five lovely snacks to fill Lady Love's belly."
Mikey's heart leapt in terror, and felt his blood rush down to his feet. Pulling Renet along with him, he headed back towards the trees, away from the creepy spider, but something sticky stopped him. It was like there an invisible fence in front of him. Klunk yowled from somewhere, and Mikey saw the cat yokai in the distance, his wings pressed against the air in an awkward way.
"Ah! I'm stuck!" Xever cried out.
Mikey tried to turn around, but found that his hand that wasn't holding Renet's was stuck on the wall.
"Me, too!" Bradford yelled. He looked as if he were trying to run forward, but his legs were pinned together. "What is this?"
"Mikey," Renet gasped, "It's trapping us!"
Mikey couldn't breathe as the spider yokai began to descend, climbing through the air down towards them. It had, Mikey realized after a moment, created a spiderweb that spanned all around them. The web glinted in the sun, thin enough to not be seen.
"What's going on here?" Fong asked, looking confused as he tried to cut through the air with his arms. His right arm didn't swing like his left, instead getting trapped halfway above his head.
"Shush, noisy food," the spider yokai said, and suddenly she was right on top of Bradford.
"Get away from him!" Mikey shouted.
Renet had, at some point, gotten stuck, her pigtails curling up against an unseen web. "We have to get away from her!"
In horror, Mikey and Renet watched as the spider yokai wrapped Bradford in a silvery white cocoon at the speed of light.
"One down, four to go," the spider yokai said. Then she seemed to notice Klunk. "Six? How lovely."
Soon, Xever and Fong were wrapped up, too.
"What's going on?" Fong yelled through his cocoon. "Why can't we move?"
"It's the ghost, dude!" Xever said, voice muffled, trying to break free of his cocoon. "It's Lady Love!"
They probably can't even see that they're webbed up, Mikey realized, trying not to scream as the spider yokai moved towards him and Renet.
"That's not Lady Love," Renet said, her voice high and frightful. "Lady Love isn't a spider, she's a girl."
Mikey had to give Renet kudos for being able to come up with a logical point in the midst of being wrapped up. Now that the spider yokai was up close, Mikey could see that she had something of a human torso coming out of where the spider's face would have been, and human arms that hung uselessly down as her eight legs did all the work. Her face had been gleeful, but then she paused midway in wrapping a struggling Renet in her cocoon.
"You can see me," the spider yokai realized, her smile growing wider.
"Leave her alone!" Mikey shouted.
The spider yokai looked at him now. "You can hear me. Interesting. Lovely."
"Why are you doing this?" Renet asked, struggling against her bonds. "Are you going to eat us?"
"Eat you? No. Drink you? Yes," the spider yokai said.
Mikey felt faint. Drink? As in his blood?
"Are you seriously Lady Love?" he asked.
The spider yokai looked at him, grinning as she finished wrapping Renet. Renet yelled, but went ignored. Mikey needed to save her. It was his fault she was here in the first place.
Keep talking. Stall her!
"Lady Love was a girl who went here," Mikey started hastily, as the spider yokai made her way over to him. "She died and haunts these woods, and she'll show you your soul mate."
"Foolhardy humans," the spider yokai said. "I do no such thing. I drink out the love from those who I capture."
"Dr-drink out the love?" Mikey asked. Then he gasped, realizing. "You did that to Baxter!"
Lady Love began to wrap Mikey up, spinning him slowly. "What is a 'Baxter', you talkative human?"
"Baxter Stockman," Mikey said, finding it harder to breathe as the webs tightened around him. "You made his family forget about him! And just now, with Bradford and Xever and Fong, they forgot about him, too. They were talking about him just hours ago."
Lady Love nodded suddenly, like she remembered. "You mean the small boy with the glasses. Yes, I took him on Wednesday. Took another sip a few minutes ago. Soon no one will remember him."
"Did you - ," Mikey swallowed. "Is he dead?"
"No, he's not dead yet, silly human. No. I don't eat all my food at once. He's in my fridge," Lady Love said. She paused. "I like this. Talking is so lovely. It's been a while."
"That's horrible!" Mikey exclaimed. "Not the - not the talking part. I like talking too. But about Baxter! He has people who are worried about him!"
"I'm fairly certain he doesn't, not anymore," Lady Love said. "You see, when I drink out the love of my lovely snacks, the ones who love them the most forget about them first."
Mikey stared at her. That's how Baxter's family didn't remember him anymore. He had his answer. It was too bad he was trapped with no way out. He couldn't feel his toes from how tight the bindings were.
He couldn't think of anything to say except, "You can't drink snacks."
Lady Love ignored this comment. "With each sip I take, more and more will forget. Even strangers they only met once. It's quite merciful, isn't it? That way, no one is hurt."
Mikey stared at her. That… thoroughly sucked. He didn't like anything about that at all! It wasn't merciful! It was still killing someone slowly and horribly!
"We don't want to be your food, though," he argued. "We're people."
"Here we go again, with the whole 'humans don't deserve to not be on top of the food chain', and all that," Lady Love drawled, rolling her eyes.
She looked at Mikey, nearly done wrapping him up. While they'd been talking, her human features had started to become more pronounced, and less scary. She looked more like a girl now, a teenager who could pass for a high school student from collarbone up. Everything else was still spidery. Very scary.
Lady Love reached out with her human hands and cradled Mikey's face. "Don't look so lost and confused, love," she said, and now she even sounded like a human. "Everyone dies one day. I just make it painless for their loved ones. You don't have to be scared, sweet."
That was a thought that hadn't really sunk in. Mikey wasn't… he wasn't going to make it out of this alive. Why had he been so complacent?
Mikey turned his head, panic building as he thought of Leo, Raph, and Donnie. This wasn't the way he wanted to go! He hadn't wanted to die like this!
But… would it be so bad? He'd see his father again, wouldn't he? Tears pricked Mikey's eyes. He noticed that Bradford, Xever, Fong, and Renet had fallen silent. Had they fallen asleep or something? He was starting to feel a little woozy himself.
Lady Love looked sad for him. "You're a sweet thing," she murmured. "I can smell how much you're loved. It's so strong… I can tell you're held deeply precious to… three others."
It was too much. It was too sad.
"Leave me alone," Mikey sobbed.
Lady Love shushed him, caressing his hair like a mother would. Mikey didn't want her to touch him. "My webs make you sleep, but my bites are more potent. Let me ease some of your pain, lovely one. Maybe we can even be friends, hm? I'll nurse you back to health after I'm done drinking. It's been a while since I had companionship."
Mikey didn't want her friendship if it meant feeling so hopeless.
"At least… let my friends go," he said.
Lady Love didn't respond.
"Let Renet go," he tried, his heart rate rising as Lady Love pushed his hoodie away from his neck and leaned in. "Let her go, she wasn't supposed to be here."
Lady Love's teeth sunk into the crevice of his shoulder and neck, like a vampire. Mikey whimpered and screamed from the pain that hit him all at once. She didn't just have two fangs, like those vampires did in the movies. Her mouth was all razor-sharp teeth and they felt like fire.
And then, immediate drowsiness came over him. He felt like he was sinking into a cloud, a horrible, melancholic cloud, into a land where dreams always turned into nightmares. The feeling of something taking a blade and grating against something important tied to him filled his heart as Lady Love drank, taking and taking and taking.
Maybe if he slept, this horrible feeling would go away.
Something yowled, waking Mikey up with a jolt. A flash of feathers, fur, paws, and horns appeared somewhere above Lady Love, before landing on her. Lady Love pulled back from Mikey, screeching as Klunk bit into her neck.
Yeah, how do you like it? Mikey thought in vengeance as Klunk clawed at Lady Love's face.
"Monster!" Lady Love shouted, reverting back to her fearsome spidery self, trying to defend against Klunk's attacks. "Mangy feline! I'll kill you!"
Suddenly something was ripping through Mikey's tight bonds, the cocoon falling around him like it was made of paper mache. Mikey landed on the ground with a weak grunt as a tall, large guy came into his bleary view, wearing a leather vest and holding up a machete. He wasn't an adult, despite the streak of independence in his face. He looked like he could be in high school.
"You! Grotesque hunter," Lady Love shouted as the man freed the others from their cocoons.
Mikey slowly sat up, blinking the weariness out of his eyes.
"Get out," the man said to all of them. "Run away. I'll deal with this dangerous spirit."
Mikey blinked. This strange man could see Lady Love and the webs.
The others were slowly waking up, but didn't need prompting. They all rose up and ran out. Mikey followed Renet on weak legs, hardly believing that they were escaping.
Mikey, Renet, Bradford, Xever, and Fong tore through the trees until they were back on the path. They didn't stop there, running out and down the path until they were back on proper school grounds. Mikey didn't even want to know what time it was. He was definitely late. He grabbed his cell phone out of his pocket, to find no messages.
That was odd. Surely Leo, Raph, or Donnie would have been texting him about his whereabouts by now, right?
"That was… insane," Xever said, catching his breath. "What happened back there?"
"Definitely a weird wind storm," Fong said, shaking his head and squinting at the woods.
"I think this means the ghost of Lady Love is definitely for real," Bradford said. "Who wants to go rub that in the GHC's faces?"
Renet was staring at them, then down at her feet. Her body was shaking.
Mikey felt horrible that he'd put her in harms way.
"Are you alright?" he asked her, stepping towards her.
Renet looked at him, and instead of replying, continued to stare. Mikey looked back at her. Was she okay? Had she been hurt badly? Was there something on his face?
"Yeah," she said finally, blinking. "Um, thanks for asking. Who are you?"
Rocks sunk to the bottom of Mikey's stomach.
No.
Fong looked at him, his brows furrowing. "Were you out ghost hunting, too?"
Mikey froze. His blood temperature started to sink. They couldn't remember him. His friends couldn't remember him.
"Yeah, wait, I remember you," Bradford said, snapping his fingers.
Mikey looked at Bradford hopefully. Please.
"You're the kid whose dad died back in sixth grade!"
Mikey's mind sort of frizzed out. Short-circuited. Stopped working. He took a shaky step backwards from Bradford, Xever, Fong, and Renet.
"Dude, shut up," Xever said. "That was really rude."
Renet looked confused. She looked from the guys to Mikey, seemingly confused about how she'd talked herself into going into the woods today when she'd clearly wanted to go to the dance.
Still, despite her confusion, she looked at Mikey. "Hi. I'm Renet," she said timidly.
I know, Mikey wanted to cry. You're my best friend.
Klunk soared over their heads and landed next to her, stretching. Renet didn't say anything, but let out a small sigh of relief.
Something terrible kicked Mikey in the guts. What had Lady Love said about loved ones forgetting? If his friends had forgotten about him, then that meant…
Mikey murmured an apology to his confused friends and ran home. It was late, but he hadn't received any messages or calls from his brothers. If Lady Love's bite meant she took from the ones who loved him the most - and his friends had already forgotten about him - then that meant - !
Mikey burst into their apartment and found Leo in the kitchen, chopping carrots to add into a large pot he was making vegetable soup in.
Leo's head swiveled on instinct to see who it was. Mikey didn't even have to make eye contact. He already knew.
Their dining table was set for three.
Instead of feeling happy to be with his brothers at the end of a hard day like he usually was, Mikey just stared at the tiled floor of the kitchen and tried not to cry.
"Hey there," Leo said, sounding surprised. "I think you found the wrong apartment, buddy."
Mikey finally looked up into Leo's deep blue eyes, which always held a place for him, only to find cool wariness at a strange kid barging in.
Mikey's brothers had forgotten him.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Thoughts?