Chapter 7: Paranoia

Claire stood staring at Cliff in shocked silence for a moment, before she finally regained the ability to speak. "Cliff... who-?"

The young man in front of her sighed heavily. "…You have to promise not to talk about this to anyone, all right? Promise me. Ann... she doesn't like to be reminded of it."

"Ann...?"

Cliff nodded sadly. "Ann's mother... years ago, she lived at the Inn with Doug and Ann. I... I talk to Ann a lot. She understands me. But one time, I accidentally brought up her mother in conversation... I asked about her, and Ann ran out of the room with tears in her eyes. After apologizing, I asked Doug about it, and he said... he said that his wife went missing... maybe eight years ago? She... she went out to the Hot Springs one evening, just a little into the woods, and never came back. She was never seen or heard from again... She- We think she was killed."

"By... By the monster?"

"Well... we don't know for sure, as there wasn't any evidence, but there's reason to suspect it... I mean, she loved her family very much, so her leaving on her own without a word is out of the question. And, um... do you know Gotz, the carpenter? He lives in a cabin out in the woods, just beyond your farm?"

Claire nodded- she recalled seeing Gotz, a large, burly man with a bushy brown beard, at the church during her welcoming party.

"Gotz... he had a wife and daughter who were killed up on the mountain... Mother's Hill. This was years ago, even before Ann's mother went missing… The mayor has tried to keep it all hushed up since then; it would create too much bad publicity for the town if the word really got out. But it makes sense that these two events would be connected, somehow."

The blonde girl opened her mouth to ask a question, but Cliff interrupted her. "Claire... maybe it would be best to go ask Gotz about it yourself… He knows a lot more about it than I do."

Cliff moved to turn away, but Claire stopped him. "Wait a second – if there have been attacks in this town, and people have even been killed, why don't you just, I don't know, move somewhere else?"

The young man shook his head sadly. "It's not that simple, Claire... It doesn't work like that. Mineral Town is home to us. It's not easy to just pack up and leave everything you know... And the attacks are very few and far in between, overall. I guess most of us have decided to just stick it out."

Claire spoke up determinedly. "I... I'm going to figure out this mystery, Cliff, if it's the last thing I do."

Cliff refused to meet her resolute gaze. "Well... good luck."

"Don't you... Aren't you going to come see Gotz with me?"

He shook his head. "No... No, I think I've done enough." He turned to continue his work, harvesting grapes, and Claire interrupted him again.

"Cliff... have you seen the creature?"

He glanced up to meet Claire's eyes, and gave a single brusque nod before returning to his work. The blonde, satisfied for now, gave up pressing him for information and left the vineyards – through the gate, this time.

Claire now knew the next step in solving the mystery.

Well... I guess it's time to go meet Gotz.

Claire couldn't help but feel wary as she approached the cabin where Gotz lived. The forest gave her chills, especially after her unnerving experiences thus far, and what Cliff had just told her didn't really help matters. She stepped up to the front door, holding her breath, and knocked on it once, a single sound that echoed throughout the surrounding trees.

After a few seconds, the door burst open, and she found herself face to face with a large, bearded man. Claire flinched involuntarily, but the man smiled at her warmly and promptly welcomed her inside with a wave of his hand. "Ah... you're the new farmer, aren't you? Well, come in, come in! ...The woods aren't always safe, you know."

Claire bobbed her head in greeting and stepped inside. To her faint surprise, the cabin was warm and nicely furnished, and had a very cozy feel to it. Gotz turned toward her.

"So... Claire, is it?"

She nodded, and Gotz urged her to take a seat. "I don't get all that many visitors, except the few people who want carpentry work done... What is it that you wanted?"

The blonde farmer bit her lip nervously, knowing the man might not act so kindly toward her once he realized she was trying to snoop into his personal life. "I... I wanted to ask you something... it's very important."

Gotz took a seat in the chair next to her and leaned in closer, interested. "Why... what is it?"

"Well..." Claire prayed to the Goddess that Gotz wouldn't condemn her for prying, her voice hitching in her throat, "I need to know about... how your – your wife and daughter died."

A painfully sad look entered Gotz's eyes, and Claire immediately regretted coming. His eyes looked fairly misty as he began to speak as though in a trance.

"My love... my little girl... why exactly do you want to know?"

"I... I need information on attacks that have occurred in Mineral Town. It's important... it-it has to do with the attack on the Poultry Farm..."

Gotz nodded in understanding, eyes slightly narrowed as he scrutinized her. "Well... you seem to be a trustworthy girl...all right."

He began to tell his story, and Claire listened intently, not daring to interrupt. "My wife was such a wonderful woman. Smart, funny, caring, just lovely had the most beautiful laugh… like birds singing. And our daughter was just like her, a tiny copy, if you will." He sighed, now surrounded in memories.

"One evening, nearly ten years ago, my wife took our daughter out to pick flowers up on the mountain, Mother's Hill. Our little girl was five years old at the time. She said they would only be around an hour, and so I waited, and waited, but after nearly three hours, it was getting very late, and they still hadn't returned home. A storm had rolled in, and all the while, the wind and rain were making it dangerous to stay outside. So I... I went up to the mountain, on my own through the pouring rain, and I..." his voice faltered, "I called their names, but there was no response, none at all. I searched for hours, but it was getting so late, and the weather was awful... I finally gave up looking and went to Officer Harris for help, and we decided to wait until morning, when it would be brighter and the storm had passed."

A tear rolled down his cheek. "The next morning, we went back up to the mountain, and up near the summit of Mother's Hill, we found them. Their bodies... they had been horrifically m-mauled to death, it... it was terrible. B-blood everywhere. And we never... we never found out who, or why."

Claire, unnerved by the sight of such a large and gruff-looking man crying openly, didn't quite know what to do. She patted his arm in what she hoped was a comforting manner. "I'm sorry..."

His gaze hardened. "I-I need to go now. Sorry, but you're going to have to leave."

Gotz abruptly turned away, and the young blonde hesitated before making her way out the door. "...Goodbye."

"Bye."

Claire paused outside the door, deep in thought. Is it just me, or was that an odd reaction? He was... awfully abrupt.

Shrugging off her uneasy feelings, she made her way back down the path toward Sunshine Farm. There were seeds that needed planting, after all.

Hours later, as the sun began to set below the horizon, Claire sat at the dining table with her puppy in her lap, starving and exhausted. Farming was definitely hard work.

She had managed to figure out how to use the milker, though about half of the milk was spilled in the process. And she had also planted all the seeds she bought at the supermarket – first tilling the soil with a huge rusted hoe that she could barely hold up, then organizing the seeds into neat rows based on the type of vegetable, and finally watering each row with a small blue plastic watering can she had found on a stable shelf.

Yawning, Claire decided to stop over at the Inn again for another meal. She was too tired to make dinner for herself today, and perhaps the other customers at the Inn would be able to wake her up with an interesting conversation or two.

With a prickle of apprehension, Claire remembered what had happened the last time she ate dinner at the Inn, but she shrugged off these feelings as her stomach let loose another growl. If she ate quickly, she should have time enough to make it back home safely before the night set in.

Without a second thought, Claire headed out down the road toward the Inn. And glancing up at the leafy treetops and blue sky dotted with fluffy clouds, she couldn't help the feeling of serenity and contentment that now washed over her. Despite what had happened in the past few days, Mineral Town really was a beautiful place. And tomorrow would be the first day of summer, Claire's favorite season. Surely nothing more could go wrong...

If only that were true.

The Inn was already bustling by the time Claire stepped inside. Many of the tables were occupied by now – Manna's husband Duke sat drinking in the corner with the same unfamiliar bearded man as last time, and Gray sat at a table by himself again, staring down at his slice of apple pie.

Karen was also at the Inn, with her parents Sasha and Jeff this time, so she hadn't dared to order her usual bottles of wine. And the librarian Mary, whom Claire hadn't seen since the party at the church, sat at another table with her own parents, Anna and Basil.

Claire approached the long counter at the back of the dining room. To her surprise, it wasn't Ann who sat behind the counter, but the brunette girl's father Doug, looking uncharacteristically grumpy. He shook his head and mumbled to himself as he handed Claire a menu.

"Goddess damn it, that girl! Our busiest night yet, and she goes off to the Hot Springs, leaving me to deal with this crowd on my own!" He turned to Claire, who wore an expression of mixed worry and uneasiness at the outburst. "I'm sorry, but it gets awfully frustrating! I'm sure she's fine, probably just wanted to get out of working such a busy shift tonight. Well, she'll be working every night of summer if she doesn't get back over here soon! Ahem... so, what did you want to order?"

"Oh, um... I'll just have the harvest salad, I guess, with a plate of curry bread and a glass of... apple juice?"

Doug nodded as he turned back to the kitchen. "It'll be right out, just go ahead and sit down wherever there's space and I'll bring it over to you."

"All right, thanks!"

Claire shook off her uneasy feelings about Ann's unusual absence and looked around the dining room, wondering where to sit. For a moment, she considered sitting beside Karen, or going over to start a conversation with Mary, but decided against interrupting their time with family. With a moment's hesitation, she stepped over to take a seat beside Gray again. He heaved a small sigh as soon as he saw Claire approach, and narrowed his eyes at her.

"You again... what do you want?"

Claire snorted with indignation, her usually mild temper rising. "I only wanted to sit next to you, and see if you cared to have an intelligent conversation, but if you're going to have this attitude all the time, then forget it! I'll leave you alone, if that's what you really want."

Gray's eyes widened incredulously, and he leaned back in his chair. "Fine... Sorry, all right?"

The blonde girl simply shook her head, as she was interrupted by Doug with a tray full of food.

"Here's the curry bread you ordered, and your salad, and a glass of juice." He set the meal down on the table in front of her. "Please enjoy. That will be... 700G."

Claire nodded and pulled out her wallet to pay Doug, who thanked her as she handed him the money before hurrying back to the kitchen. She turned back to Gray, who was eyeing her curry bread.

"Go ahead... have some if you like."

Gray paused for a moment before giving in, and lifted a warm roll from the plate, smirking slightly as he bit in. He noticed Claire smiling back at him, however, and his grin faded back to seriousness.

Claire pondered reprimanding him again, but decided it wasn't worth it, and only rolled her eyes as she lifted her fork to bite into the leafy salad. She glanced around the room, and her eyes landed on the old man sitting beside Duke, the only villager in the Inn that she didn't recognize.

"Hey, Gray... who is that old man over there, next to Duke? The one with the long white beard?"

Gray responded without a glance, his eyes on his food. "That's my grandfather, Saibara. He's the blacksmith, and my mentor."

Claire nodded, noting the look on the young man's face as she brought up his grandfather. "Do you guys... get along?"

Gray stopped chewing and stared at her, and she bit her lip. "Sorry..."

He continued eating. "Nah, it… it's all right. He's fine… sometimes." His voice hardened. "But he pushes me too hard, wants too much out of me."

"…I understand. But... he probably just wants you to do well, right? I mean, you are his grandson, and his apprentice..."

"Yeah, but-"

Suddenly, Manna burst into the Inn's dining room with a loud slam of the heavy wooden doors, and Gray's retort was cut short.

The woman's ebony hair was tangled, her breath was raspy as if she had just run a mile, and the shawl over her shoulders lay disheveled. Her eyes were frantic with shock and worry as she stopped to catch her breath and scanned the room. The Inn went quiet as diners turned to stare.

Duke stumbled from his seat to approach his wife. "Manna, honey... what happened? What is it?"

Manna's face was flushed, and she took another large breath before pushing her husband to the side. A sob caught in her throat as she stepped up dramatically to address the entire room.

"There's been another attack! It-it's Ann!"

A/N: I love cliffhangers. Also, just wanted to mention that I honestly don't remember very much in the game about what happened to Gotz's family, or about Ann's mother for that matter (I haven't played FoMT/MFoMT in so long!), so some details here might not fit exactly right. Forgive me if things aren't completely true to the game itself. This is just a fanfiction, after all.

Hope you enjoy the mystery so far! Reviews are always appreciated!

-CCM