The trip back was nothing like the trip away, and with every mile Vivi wished Arthur were sitting next to her, cracking jokes and shoving some gastronomically offensive snack at her face. She hurtled down the highway at ten to fifteen miles over the speed limit, checking her phone every couple of minutes for reported speed traps. "Mystery, inventory time. Salt?"

"Plenty," Mystery answered.

"Sage? Lighter?"

"Enough to clear a couple of rooms… and I think there's a lighter back here somewhere. Hard to smell a tiny fuel well over all the van fumes."

"Ofuda."

"A few strips… two blessing for personal protection and one blessing on a weapon."

"Yorishiro."

"… yes," he drew the word out slowly. "Vivi, why do you want to trap him in a spirit vessel?"

Vivi ignored him. "And my bat's here. And I've memorized at least five different exorcism prayers. And we have his name already, so I don't even need to wrangle it from him. We've got this covered from more than one angle."

"Vivi—"

"Don't start with me, Mystery. You heard the kid. Lewis has gone rogue. If there's a shred of the Lewis-Pepper-that-was left in there, he'd beg us to end him before he hurt someone. At least, that's if everyone was telling me the truth about the sort of person he used to be. Best case scenario is I exorcise him with a quick chant and cleanse the place with sage and salt. If that doesn't work, directing him into the yorishiro will bind him to a form that can be destroyed. Either that, or we seal it and bury it ten feet deep in some random spot in the desert. I'm not picky about that part."

The van's engine roared as the wheels ate up the distance. The last time it had gone this fast, Arthur had been hightailing it down a highway like a bat out of hell, trying to get away from Lewis and some killer plant lady. Vivi was no expert, but the little rattle she heard sounded suspiciously like a mechanical protest against her driving decisions. She opted to ignore that.

What she couldn't ignore was the quiver in Mystery's voice when he finally responded. "Vivi, please. Banishing him will not fix this. If you don't take every other available option first, there will be nothing left of this team to salvage."

Vivi's foot slackened on the gas pedal.

Mystery continued. "If you do this, Lewis will be destroyed, and Arthur may… will. Arthur will never forgive you for jumping straight to exorcism."

"And you?" her voice came out higher than she wanted. "Whose side are you on, these days?"

His hurt whimper cut deeper than his plea. She reapplied her foot to the gas. "Fine. Let's say I'm being irrational, here. Let's say my plan is bogus. How, exactly, would you handle the situation?"

"I wouldn't even speculate on a plan before inspecting the grounds myself."

Her every syllable dripped scorn. "Good thinking! And in the meantime, Lewis cottons on real quick that we're here. Specifically, that Arthur Kingsmen is here. Then he comes barreling out and finishes the job he started while you're still making a circuit of the property. But that's okay, 'cause this is a videogame and Arthur can blow a life, he's still got two more. Oh, wait!"

She hated the words coming out of her mouth but made no effort to stop them. Arthur might be mad that she didn't listen to him, but that ran both ways. Seemed like nobody tried to listen to her since that little kumbaya mediation circle Mystery forced them all into earlier that year. It already felt like a lifetime ago, and what exactly had been resolved that day? Not nearly enough was the clear answer.

Sure, everyone had pooled information. The group internally cleared Arthur of intent-to-murder. Mystery explained his role in Arthur's amputation. Lewis recounted his actions after death to fill in the missing pieces for them. Vivi was re-introduced to her dead boyf—

She came out of the blackout as the van swayed hard left and a horn bellowed dead ahead. She yanked the steering wheel to the right as hard as she could, barely missing the oncoming truck. She screamed as they passed so close she could have reached out her window and high-fived the other horrified driver.

The van skidded off the edge of the road, its frame bucking on the shock absorbers as pavement gave way to hardened chunks of dirt and brush. A few hellish seconds later, momentum surrendered and the van ground to a blessed halt.

Vivi kept the brake pedal pressed flat to the floor. She wasn't sure if anything short of a crowbar would get her hands off the wheel. She stared ahead, taking short, shallow breaths, her instant-replay stuck on the near-miss and what easily could have been.

As the adrenaline began to bleed off, her first thought was a calm, dry, Suspension's got to be shot. Arthur will throw a fit.

There was no sound behind her. Woodenly, she cranked her head around to peer over her shoulder.

Mystery had his haunches and forelegs braced against the sides of the van. He watched her with ears flat and nostrils flaring. Beneath him, Arthur hadn't so much as budged.

Slowly, she turned her head until she was faced forward again. "I don't know what you want from me, Mystery. Seems to me our objective is to keep Lewis in check so he doesn't hurt anyone. Think you can wrangle him all by yourself without damaging him?"

"I'm… unsure."

Vivi nodded. As a Kitsune, Mystery was a yokai, and yokai tended to have predatory natures. He was better suited to consuming spirits than restraining them. He was the Mystery Skulls' ace in the hole if situations went irreparably sideways. "Figured. Meanwhile, Arthur's down for the count. Seems like this Dib kid lost control early, so I can't count on him. That means it's me and you dealing with Lewis, and I don't see me talking Lewis down and getting him under control unless he decides that's what he wants."

"You don't seem to believe he'd submit that control to you."

"Yeah, gee. At every opportunity I've let him know how ready I am to blow his skull off. I wonder why I think he'll fight me now." She forced one hand to unclamp from the wheel and twisted the key in the ignition. She breathed quiet thanks as the engine gunned right up. "Lewis is our responsibility as a group. If he hurts anyone, that's on us. Arthur can…" her voice failed for a moment.

She swallowed, then started working the van forward, carefully guiding it back toward the road. It took several abrupt jerks and jolts for her to get back to the asphalt. Once she did, she dug deep for the grit to finish her sentence. "Arthur can hate me if he wants. But I'm the leader of this group and I'm going to make sure nobody else dies."

The van wobbled into a parking lot at the address Vivi had been given. It continued fighting Vivi's efforts to keep it pointed straight with every rotation of the tires. As she entered the lot, one of the tires exploded with an angry BLAM and the van listed to the left even more. Throwing her hands up, Vivi put the crippled vehicle in park and peered over the steering wheel.

"Holy… flapping…"

Her colorful word bank failed her. Dead ahead was a waist-high barrier of interwoven brambles that filled half the lot. The expanse of brambles reached all the way back to a decrepit three-story building. She squinted. "They're growing in through the first story windows. Or out? Did they grow out of the windows?"

BAM BAM BAM.

Vivi jolted in her seat so hard the seatbelt choked her. There was a fist hammering at the driver's side window. Fumbling at her seatbelt, she unhooked herself and rolled down the window. "Dib?"

"Yeah, you're Vivi?" The short kid by her door looked terrible. His black hair was slick with sweat and frazzled out in all directions. There were dark patches under his wide eyes. His skin was pale and his fingers twitched as he gestured from her to the building. "It wasn't like that before—just an abandoned toy factory. Like I told you, the ghost barely got me out in time! I didn't see what happened once he chucked me through the door, but real soon after, all this started filling up the parking lot. It keeps growing out and up. Looks like you ran over some on your way in."

Vivi hopped out and crouched, inspecting the front driver's side. Sure enough, a bramble runner studded with hand-sized thorns lay under her shredded tire. "Fermented furmongers. Okay, thanks for the tip about the ghost, but you'd better clear out now."

"What? Are you kidding? I made this mess, I'll be here to help clean it up!"

"Yeah, that would be no. This is an in-group issue that we need to deal with and we really need you to not be underfoot while we do."

His jaw tightened, but she turned away before he could respond. "Sorry to be harsh, Dib, but I can't guarantee your safety."

"What, you think I'm some layman phoning in crackpot tips?" Dib spluttered. "This is my field! I mean, it's not exactly, I'm more into aliens and cryptids, but I'm practically you colleague! Ever heard of the Swollen Eyeball?"

Vivi paused. If you weren't an independent like the Mystery Skulls, the Swollen Eyeball was a solid organization for paranormal investigators to hook into. "Yeah. I know them. I also know they don't make children field agents."

Dib's expression went flinty. "Yeah, they don't, but I've got a mentor in it. Besides that, I've seen more action than half their field agents! I just have the worst luck bringing back proof."

Vivi considered it for a moment, then shook her head. "Maybe that's the case, but you said it yourself: this isn't even your specialty. If we were up against Bigfoot, maybe. Now, please get out of here so we can get started."

With a stubborn set to his jaw, Dib dug into his pocket and raised a fistful of pale, glowing sticks. "So, as the expert, you're telling me you have everything you need to get in there, including runechalk?"

She whipped around, gawping. "How does a kid like you afford runechalk?" She reached for it, but Dib yanked his hand back.

"I have connections. Same connections gave me a few patterns. I could draw them on your van, something that could make it ghost-proof. You could drive us all right into the building and nothing could even touch us."

Vivi's fingers itched to grab the chalk, but she bit her lip. "You don't know what you're asking. You don't even understand this situation. We…" she glanced helplessly at the van's sliding side door, as if she could see Mystery and Arthur through it.

"You're dealing with a real live ghost, here! What exactly do you think you can't tell me?" Dib demanded. "If you level with me, then I'll be able to help you cleanly and we don't have to dance around anything. That ghost was acting dodgy too, trying not to say some things. I know I'm twelve, but I'm not just some kid!"

Vivi's teeth dug into her lip. Telling him meant exposing Arthur's involvement with the mysterious disappearance of Lewis Pepper. This kid was clearly rich enough to buy runechalk and had ties to a respectable paranormal investigation group. He could spill information to important family members who might alert the authorities, or else the Mystery Skulls might get the Swollen Eyeball on their backs looking to cage a rogue Kitsune.

It wasn't worth the risk. But before she could tell him and his precious runechalk off, the side door slid open and Mystery spilled out of the car, stretching languidly and shaking all his tails out. Dib's jaw went slack and he gave an excited squeak. Vivi, on the other hand, snatched a handful of fur on Mystery's thick neck and gave a yank. "And who said you got to decide on outing us, furball? I'm the team lead!" she shouted in his ear.

Wincing, he growled. "Two members of the team are unable to speak for themselves at the moment, and it's worth pointing out that Runechalk protection on the van is a perfect solution. We want a chance of negotiating with Lewis, so we protect ourselves with a tank, yes? That will at least let us try to talk him down. If Arthur were awake, you know he would vote for negotiating with Lewis first and leaving drastic measures to be used only in the event that we cannot break through to him. That is my vote as well. You are outnumbered."

With that, he turned his head, baring a toothy grin at Dib, who alternated between flailing his arms and pointing fingers. "Yes. Hello, curious human child. My name is Mystery. I have your scent now, and you should know that if you bring any unwanted attention to my team, I will have no compunction about devouring you in your sleep."

Despite her irritation, Vivi had to choke back a laugh. Mystery would do no such thing, but Dib's expression was still comical. But to his credit he merely gulped and nodded. "Un-understood. D-does that mean…?"

Vivi sighed, gesturing at the van. "Welcome to the team. Temporarily. While you're drawing up our protection, I'll fill you in on what you've stumbled into. We're going to have to start with what happened between Arthur and Lewis. If I black out while trying to tell you, Mystery will keep the explanation going."

"Wait, what?!"

Note: I credit the anime Natsume's Book of Friends for teaching me the word "yorishiro". It didn't explain much, but a quick google search turned up good info and I realized that's probably something that someone of Vivi's background and current profession would have on hand. In other news, I am up to 45k+ words into The Remara Phenomenon. The 40k word original fiction curse is broken!