"Anybody got any bus fare?" Daphne asked as they hurried along to the Greyhound station.
"I've got my credit card." Freddy replied.
"Freaking boyscout." Velma muttered, albeit fondly.
"Sorry, Velma, I didn't hear that...?"
"Oh, I was just remarking that you're always prepared." Velma's terrible attempt at playing it cool was, amazingly, successful, and was rewarded with a smile. Of course, she checked her own pocketbook for credit and debit cards. After all, Freddy hadn't always pulled through.
After rushing to their shared home and packing (The complex was previously used as military housing for families, then when the base was shut down, the city used the duplexes, complexes, and apartments as inexpensive civilian housing. Go figure.), they agreed that land travel would be best. After an incident involving a gourmet dinner for a first class passenger and an ignorant Scooby, air travel was only used for oversea travel. Shaggy easily became seasick.
A few hours later, they departed the large bus and caught a cab to the police station, where the chief of police and the mayor agreed to welcome them back to Oakhaven.
Upon arrival, the mayor did indeed welcome them most warmly. "Thank you so much for coming, it's wonderful to see you all again. I only wish it were under more pleasant circumstances. You did see the pictures?"
"Yes, thank you for alerting us." Velma said, as the mayor shook her hand and gave her a one-armed-patting hug, and repeated the action with the rest of the group, excepting Scooby, whom he scratched behind the ears.
"Are the teenagers coming in later?" Velma asked as he returned to the front of the group, so as better to address them.
"Yeah, their parents cooperated well with us when they got the call in the middle of the night saying that their kids had trespassed on privately owned property." The chief said.
"Oh, about that, we'll need to go onto the reenactment grounds later. Will that be an issue?" Velma continued.
"Nope, not at all, we got you permission as soon as you sent the text saying you accepted the job offer. We will pay you, of course." The mayor said, pulling out signed permission forms.
"Excellent. For now, we'll need to find some place to stay. Can you point us in the direction of a hotel?
"We've got reservations for you at the local hotel, the catering there is excellent."
"Like, we could go for that, huh, Scoob?" Shaggy said, nudging his beloved great dane.
"Uh huh, Uh huh!" Scooby grunted, nodding his head most enthusiastically.
"Oh, you didn't need to do that-" Freddy started, but he was quickly interrupted.
"Please, son. You're saving us city wide panic, we'd rather you be well accommodated than deprived of decent sleep, not to mention money. I assure you, the seedier hotels and motels in town are very questionable."
After a short walk following the directions given to them by the chief of police, they checked into the hotel and stored their bags in the two rooms provided. Velma and Daphne made the decisions as to the beds quickly. Daphne insisted on being close to the window, and that suited Velma just fine. Shaggy and Freddy however, nearly came to blows.
"No, I need to be on the side by the window, I need to be able to adjust the temperatures according to my unusual bodily cycle of heating and cooling!" Freddy shouted, gesturing wildly
"But, like, I can't have a wall next to AND behind me, it makes me feel claustrophobic!" Shaggy retorted, nervously glancing over at the corner where one of the beds lay.
Scooby sat in the plush chair and watched the two as they exchanged verbal blows, leading to insults, then shouting, and finally with Freddy grabbing the front of Shaggy's shirt as Shaggy held up a fist, until a knock was heard at the door that connected their room to the girl's.
"Shaggy, Freddy? Are you two alright in there?" Velma's muffled voice came through the door, "We heard shouting."
They dropped their hands and stepped away from each other. "We're fine, Velma!" Freddy called.
"Yup. There's no problem here!" Shaggy added.
Glancing at each other Freddy said, "I'll deal. You get the window side this time."
With that worked out, the four humans met back down in the lobby.
"Okay, let's go check out the grounds. We can talk to the teens tomorrow, it's kind of late." Freddy said, taking control. He was met with no argument.
"I've got the camera!" Daphne said cheerfully, holding up the purple device.
On the way, Shaggy said, "So, like whaddya think the old spook's after?"
"Huh?" came the reply.
Whipping out a horror comic, Shaggy exclaimed, "Ghosts come back for a purpose, everybody knows that. Ravenwhatever must be back for something."
"If everybody knows it, why don't we" Velma said, then added, "I'm not certain, but I think he's after revenge."
"I think he wants to finish what he started." Freddy put in.
"I think he's after a girl." Daphne piped up.
"What?" Everybody shouted.
"Kidding! Totally kidding, guys."
Upon reaching the puritan village, Daphne wasted no time in running about, taking photos.
Scooby and Shaggy wandered around, hoping to find something. Freddy went to find the ashes of the book, also hoping to find something. And Velma, ever the scientist, started looking for footprints. She found some.
"Based on the depth of the indentations, patterns left by the rubber sole, direction leading to the town and sizes, these," She gestured at a number of footprints, "Were left by the teens as they ran. This set, however," She gestured to a different set of prints, "Were left by a grown man. He walked into the forest. Lucky for us that it rained a few days ago, or these prints may not have been here."
Daphne took a few pictures from various angles of the footprints identified as a man's as Velma added, "We can only assume these were left by Ravencroft. Or whomever is impersonating him."