Chapter 4- Dinner With Lost Souls

"You knew, didn't you? Are you the one doing this?"

Cole barged forward, his steps rough, and his attitude brash. He jumped on the offensive in an instant, needing to catch Jay off-guard.

And off-guard he was. Jay had been leisurely strolling through the grounds, and at the sight of a huffing Cole, he trotted backward, lifting his hands up in surrender. "Whoa, whoa, buddy, roll it back a bit."

With a grunt, Cole stopped. "The house. The weird stuff that happens in it. You're the one behind it."

"Er- no? I didn't do anything."

"So you admit that weird things do happen."

"No!" Jay crossed his arms. "Stop putting words in my mouth or I'm not talking anymore."

Cole rolled his eyes. Nya stepped up, clutching a vanilla folder she'd retrieved from the truck. "Sorry about him. We're just wondering if. . . have any of these people come by here before?"

Jay looked as Nya began to flip through the papers. They held pictures and scribbled facts on the people that had gone missing. Before Nya reached the final page, Jay's eyes widened, and he waved her down. "Ah! Ah! Yeah. Yes. I've seen some of those people."

"I knew it!" Cole shouted. "And you knew they went missing in there! And you didn't say anything!"

"I didn't know they went missing!" Jay countered. "I saw them, and I just figured they'd left when I wasn't around, you know?"

"Right. And you didn't see the news? Newspapers? Anything?"

"Don't know if you've noticed." Jay took another step back, opening his arms to signal the area around him. "But we're pretty in the middle of nowhere. I don't really get much outside world info."

"Who do you remember then?" Nya asked, voice much kinder in contrast to Cole's.

Jay smirked. "Is this a good cop, bad cop thing going on? You guys are good. It's pretty good. I like it. Good team. But yes. I remember the Garmadon family. They came. . . maybe two, three years ago? Time, huh. It's hard to keep up with it."

"How long have you been working here?" Cole asked, to which Jay shrugged.

"What do you remember about the family, then?"

"They stayed overnight. They got here pretty late, because of. . . something or other. I don't remember. But they argued. A lot. The dad would say something, which the mom would counter right back, and they both had good points! I do remember that. Then the poor kid was just kind of, in between, looking like a lost puppy.

"After they went inside to talk to the owner, I just. . . went back to doing my thing. And then I just figured they'd left while I was sleeping, or something."

"Hmm." Nya frowned. "Do you know what they wanted to talk to the owner about?"

"Buying the place. Maybe. I don't know. Maybe they were relatives! I don't know. I didn't ask. I didn't talk to them."

"Why not?" Cole probed. "You talked to us."

"Well, you two seemed friendly." Jay shrugged. "Might not look it, since I'm pretty charming, but I've got a major case of social anxiety going on. I don't talk to intimidating people."

Nya thought for a second. "Thank you for sharing. Just. . . One last thing. I know you said you didn't really interact with them, but do you know where in the house they spent the night?"

"One of the guest rooms probably." Jay shrugged. "You wouldn't. . . want me to show you to them, would you?"

"I would, actually," Nya responded, and both Jay and Cole expelled a shaky breath.

"Here comes the worst part, ha-ha," Jay muttered.

"What?" Nya asked

"Because uh- I hate in there. But I'll show you in! Just. . . stick close. The house is pretty big."

"And pretty haunted," Cole added, squinting his eyes at Jay's somewhat shifty movements.

Before opening the front door, Jay stopped, swiveling around to face them. "You didn't find something to eat at the gas station, did you?"

As if on cue, both Cole and Nya's stomach grumbled in protest. When was the last time they'd eaten?

"Crap." Cole hissed. "No. I mean not that anything was appetizing. But we should have gotten something."

"Yeah. I hadn't thought about eating. Not with all this weird stuff going on."

Jay nodded, more to himself than to them, once again muttering. This time, however, it was too soft to catch. Before either Cole or Nya could question the inaudible words, Jay opened the door and stepped inside. The two followed, moving hesitantly, eyeing the house with distrust.

Then an appetizing smell reached them and they paused, eyes glazing over with desperate hunger. Cole was the first to speak. "Is the. . . owner here? What is that?"

Instead of waiting for an answer, he moved forward through the hall. Jay frowned, then waved Nya forward. "C'mon, we have to stay together."

She nodded slowly, feeling unfocused. She was really hungry. It was beginning to make her head spin. And the smell! All of the things she ever remembered enjoying were mingled together, making an irresistible aroma. She followed Jay through the hall, more concerned about the food than about staying together.

Jay tried to keep both of them in sight, head swiveling back and forth constantly. He was glad to stop when they reached the source of the smell. A closed-door Jay knew led into the dining room.

With shaky hands, Cole pushed the door open. Nya moved past Jay, eager to get a glimpse.

Anything they had the will to imagine sat atop the table. The mouths of the two journalists would have watered ceaselessly, but something kept them from losing their minds.

They weren't the only ones in the room.

The sight of the Garmadon family snapped Nya and Cole into reality forcefully, giving them both a dizzying whiplash.

The small family seemed oblivious to their presence. Even when all three of them moved closer, they continued to dine, sharing small talk, without ever looking up at all.

Cole shivered, uncomfortable. Nya kept calm, mentally switching to analytical thoughts. "I guess you were right. The people missing must be stuck here, somehow. Maybe there's something we can do to help?"

"Maybe," Cole said, then his stomach growled loudly, making the rumble almost painful. "Maybe we can help them by finishing all the food. Ha. . ."

Nya knew Cole's suggestion wasn't a serious one, but she felt inclined to agree. If only to eat something. "Well, it can't hurt to eat a couple of things, right?"

Instinctively, they both turned back to look at Jay, eyes questioning. The young man shrugged and waved them forward. "Can't hurt, no. But we shouldn't stay long. Just in case."

Nya and Cole nodded, then proceeded to eat. As they did so, they picked up on the conversation, realizing it wasn't a conversation at all, but a frozen loop of sentences.

"So, Lloyd, how do you like the house?" The father's gruff voice was the one to start it all.

"It's big." The child would reply. "But it's far from school. What about my friends?"

"Imagine the cool sleepovers you could all have!" The mother would then suggest, trying to use a cheery voice.

The child was not be convinced. "I like home better. I want to go home."

"Home." To this, the father would shake his head. Then with a blink, he would begin all over again. "So, Lloyd, how do you like the house?"

At first, Cole and Nya found the whole thing unsettling. But then they clicked into the rhythm of it all, and found it soothing. There was a certain comfort in knowing exactly what was coming next.

What could be better than this, really? A warm room, with exquisite food, and the peaceful knowledge that nothing would ever go wrong?

Jay cleared his throat. He purposely made the sound as loud as he could manage.

Cole and Nya looked up at him, looking like groggy children forcefully awakened from a nap. "You two ready to go see the guest rooms?"

"Guest rooms?" Cole asked, rubbing his eyes. Then he stood quickly, stepping back away from the table. "The guest rooms. Yes. Yeah."

Nya was a bit slower in the uptake, but she fumbled back as well, as she realized how close she'd come to falling into the loop. She looked at Jay with gratitude. "Thank you. For snapping us out of that."

Jay smiled, but Cole frowned.

"How come you didn't fall into it too?" Cole asked, still untrusting.

"I probably think too many things at once to really fall into anything." Jay forced a laugh, to try and wave off his weak excuse. "So ready then? It's just upstairs. Stay close. The house-"

"-Is big and we could get lost. Yeah, yeah." Cole walked past Jay, footsteps heavy.