Sponge: I'm back! For now. More info at the end. In the meantime, enjoy! Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Scooby Doo characters. They belong to Warner Brothers, Cartoon Network, and Hanna Barbera
Chapter 16: I Wrote Them All
The sallow, ashen face of Ben Ravencroft stared back at them from the step below.
Velma still clutched the mask in her hand, breathing raggedly. She'd been expecting this. She'd known it had to be Ben. But strangely, a part of her was still…surprised. Unsettled. Maybe it was just the shock of seeing him again, so soon after he'd assaulted her in his kitchen. She found that she was frozen – she couldn't move. She just stood there on the step, with the pale lady mask in one hand and her heart pounding against her ribcage, like it was trying to escape.
Ben abruptly lunged upwards, causing Velma to jump back with a shriek. But his broken ankle hindered him, and he immediately collapsed with a shout of pain.
Daphne reacted fastest – she lurched forward, gripping Ben's upper arm before he fully fell down the stairs, but kept a tight vice-grip on him. She turned back to Fred. "Where are the things you bought at the hardware store?"
Fred glanced into the hall. He'd left the shopping bags in the foyer when they'd first arrived at the house.
"We'll get them," Nova volunteered, gesturing to Scooby with a side-nod of her head. "You keep him immobilized."
"Believe me, I'm not going anywhere." Ben spoke for the first time through gritted teeth, clearly still in pain. He shifted his eyes towards Daphne. "You're stronger than you look."
"I've had a lot of practice," Daphne retorted. "You're not the first man in a mask we've had to incapacitate."
"Yes, you've made that very clear." Ben looked back at Velma, who found herself unable to meet his gaze. She felt so disillusioned. She'd admired this writer for years, and had to admit that she'd been physically attracted to him. But all that came crashing down in a day.
I guess that saying 'don't meet your heroes' is on to something, she thought to herself. A gentle touch on her shoulder caused her to glance up. Shaggy was looking down from the step behind her, his face kind.
"Come on," he murmured. "Let's like, get out of this basement."
He sounded so gentle, so compassionate. Had he forgiven her, then? Velma didn't care – it just mattered that he was looking at her like she was a human, and not an evil succubus. She exhaled a shuddery breath and realized she was still clutching the pale woman mask. She dropped it and followed Shaggy out of the basement.
The dogs returned then with the merchandise from the hardware store. Fred and Daphne tied Ben's hands together in front of him using duct tape, and very unceremoniously dragged him out of the basement. Ben had to lean on Fred because of his bad ankle, and neither of them looked very happy about it.
"Sit down," Fred commanded when they arrived in the foyer. He plopped Ben down on the first step of the main staircase. Ben winced as he landed, but Fred didn't seem to notice or care. "Explain yourself."
Daphne glanced at Fred, a bit astonished. It had been a while since she'd heard him use such a stern tone. It spoke to the situation, she supposed, that Fred was so serious and upset.
Ben remained quiet at first, looking back and forth at each of them. Then, seemingly defeated, he sighed.
"Do you know how long it's been since I published anything?"
None of the gang did. When they stayed silent, Ben went on.
"I've been struggling with writer's block for nigh on a decade," he told them. "It's been debilitating. You have no idea. My publisher had dropped me, my agent was threatening to do the same. I was desperate." He shrugged. "And then I came here. To Crystal Cove. The most haunted place on earth."
"I thought you said you came to Crystal Cove to write about Sarah Ravencroft," Daphne interrupted.
"I did," Ben replied. "I knew my family had roots here, which was the thing that had brought me out here in the first place. Everything I told you about the first Sarah Ravencroft fleeing Massachusetts after being accused of witchcraft was true. The Ravencrofts really did move south and then west to escape persecution. I decided I would follow in their footsteps, retracing their pilgrimage to California. It was only after I arrived in Crystal Cove that I learned of the town's claim to be the most haunted place on earth. I was sure that I would be inspired to write something, but I was disappointed to discover that there'd been nothing as much as a ghost sighting in years. Mayor Nettles and I commiserated over it often. She said it was ruining the town's reputation, and their tourism had dropped drastically." He glanced up at the gang. "And that was when I got an idea."
"What do you mean?" Fred asked, intrigued despite himself.
Ben smirked. "The Book of the Dead," he explained. "It never really existed. At least not in the sense that I led you to believe. Sarah Ravencroft the First did have a book –"
"But it was just a medical log," Daphne interrupted.
Ben stared at her, clearly nonplussed. "How did you know that?" he asked, sounding perplexed.
"We found it," Daphne replied. "In your beach house, while we were waiting for you to arrive this afternoon."
Ben frowned. "You really do live up to your reputations," he muttered, annoyance tinging his voice.
Daphne said nothing, just glared at him.
Ben went on. "Well, her medical log gave me an idea. As far as I can tell, Sarah Ravencroft the Second never knew about her ancestor's book. In fact, the original journal never left Oakhaven until recently. I discovered it under the stump of an old oak tree before I left for Crystal Cove, and took it with me. But when I arrived here and started learning more about the second Sarah Ravencroft, that was when inspiration truly struck. Since the rumors had persisted about the Ravencroft women being witches, I could write a novel – a horror story – about a curse laid upon the town by the second Sarah Ravencroft. I just needed a legend of the curse to spread…and for that, I needed help.
"I brought my plan to Mayor Nettles, and she agreed that if this hoax brought in tourism to Crystal Cove, I could write about it. She brought in some other townspeople to help, since all of their businesses were suffering, and we came up with a plan."
"Wait a minute," Fred interrupted, holding up a hand. "Are you saying that the whole town was in on this lie?"
Ben shrugged. "More or less," he admitted. "Certainly many business owners, such as Skipper Shelton and the Mitchells. The Clam Cabin and the winery were hurting, so they were especially eager to help. And then of course, there was the Crystal Cove PD."
Fred and Daphne shared a look. Rung Ladderton had been right – the police department was dirty.
Nova spoke up. "So what was your plan?" she asked, obsidian eyes glinting with suspicion.
Ben grinned wickedly. "It was quite simple," he explained. "Mayor Nettles let it slip to the press that I was in town doing research for my next horror story. She told them that I was searching for a book that had belonged to my ancestor, Sarah Ravencroft. Of course, I already had the real book – the medical log – and I came up with the Book of the Dead idea on my own. All we needed was for an outsider – or several outsiders – to discover it."
Realization dawned on Fred. "And that's where we came in."
Ben nodded. "Ricky and Cassidy were relatively new transplants as well – they'd only settled in Crystal Cove a few months before I came to town. I got to know them pretty well…and through them, I got to know you." He shifted his eyes over to Velma, who recoiled slightly under his gaze. "They told me all about your little detective agency, all the things you'd been through, all the supernatural hoaxes you'd uncovered. I thought you would be the perfect fools for this ruse. It was my idea for them to invite you out here – I knew you wouldn't be able to resist solving this mystery. So when we met at the Clam Cabin, I told you about the Book of the Dead, and that it was hidden in a secret compartment in the wall that I'd discovered in blueprints for the house."
"But the blueprints don't show any secret compartments," Daphne jumped in.
Shaggy looked at her, confused. "Like how do you know that?"
"We realized it in the attic," Fred explained, holding out his hand for Daphne to hand him the floor plans. She rummaged in her purse until she found them, and Fred unrolled the one for the basement. "We found the book in a wall in the basement, on the eastern side of the house." He pointed at the area he meant while Daphne shone a flashlight on the blueprints. Fred went on. "But there isn't anything that indicates there's actually a compartment there…" He glanced up at Ben. "Which means it was added by someone after the house was built."
Ben looked irritated again, either at the interruption or at Fred's insinuation. It was hard to tell.
"You're right," he admitted begrudgingly. "I built the secret compartments myself after I arrived in town. Then I bought a blank book and hid it in the basement for you to find." He looked at Velma again, but Daphne stepped away from Fred to put a comforting arm around her.
"And the stories?" she asked, shining her flashlight at Ben. "The ones that appeared in the book?"
Ben shrugged. "I wrote them all."
"How?" Daphne pressed. "The book was never out of our sight."
"Yes it was," Nova realized. "The first story, the one about the scarecrow –"
"Rarold," Scooby added helpfully.
Nova continued. "That one appeared overnight, didn't it? While you were asleep?" She looked at Velma.
Velma nodded slowly. "Yeah," she croaked, speaking for the first time. "And then you 'found' The Big Toe." She flashed her eyes at Ben, finally making eye contact with him, and putting finger quotations around the word "found."
Ben cocked his head in an act of false modesty.
Velma was on a roll now that she'd found her voice. "You snuck into my room while I was in the shower to write The Red Spot," she accused him. "And then last night while I was asleep in the kitchen, you wrote The Dream."
Ben raised his hands and clapped them together in applause, as much as the duct tape would allow. "Very good, Velma," he said patronizingly.
White-hot anger blazed in the corners of her vision. "How did you know about my dreams?" she snarled. "I didn't tell anyone except Shaggy."
"I'd been hiding beneath your window outside last night," Ben confessed. "So I heard when you woke up, and when you left for the kitchen with him." He jerked his head in Shaggy's direction. "I climbed in through the window and hid in your bedroom. The sound carried from the kitchen, so I heard every word you said. Which was good – I had no idea what they would make you see, so it was lucky you shared the specifics with Shaggy. It came in handy for the story."
Velma's stomach churned in agony and embarrassment as she realized that Ben had overheard everything that had happened in the kitchen last night. It put their conversation at his house this afternoon into a new perspective. But then her attention caught on something else that Ben had said.
She furrowed her brow. "What do you mean 'what they would make me see?'"
Ben remained silent, simply looking at her, and fearful understanding gripped Velma.
"You…drugged me," she whispered, aghast.
"Wait, what?!" Shaggy exclaimed.
Fred, Daphne, and the dogs looked horrified as Ben nodded in agreement.
"The Laddertons weren't involved in the plan, per se," he told them. "But I did use their company's hallucinogens for this part."
It hit Velma like a punch to the gut. "How…?" she breathed.
Ben smirked. "That first night in the Clam Cabin," he told her. "When I moved your water glass as I sat next to you."
Velma remembered the moment clearly. How had she not realized he'd slipped something into her drink? She gaped at him.
"You monster," Daphne exclaimed, disgusted.
Ben ignored this. "Ladderton hallucinogens are extremely potent," he continued. "And the slow-release means their effects are long-lasting. I was actually going to drug you again this afternoon when you came to my house for lunch, but…" he trailed off and looked askance at Velma. "...we didn't get that far."
Velma exhaled a shaky breath, remembering what had happened in Ben's kitchen that afternoon.
Daphne took her hand and held it firmly. "What happened to the people in the stories?" she asked Ben, fire blazing in her periwinkle eyes. "Ethan and Gary and Mai Le?"
Scooby and Nova suddenly looked at each other. They actually knew the answer to this question. But before they could speak up, Ben shrugged nonchalantly.
"They're fine," he told them. "Like I said, Ethan and his family were in on the plan since their winery was in trouble. He convinced Gary to go along with it. They were never in any danger. Ethan dressed that scarecrow in his clothes, and Gary made those marks under his bed and planted the stew pot. The plan was that after their 'disappearances'" – he held his bound wrists forward to make quotation marks around the word, " – they would lay low at my beach house. It was all going so well." He narrowed his eyes at the gang. "Until they actually met you."
"What do you mean?" asked Fred.
Ben scoffed. "They liked you." He said it as though the idea was unfathomable. "After I wrote Ethan's story in the book, they begged me to call it off. Thought you didn't deserve what was coming to you. I told them they needed to get back on board with the plan or else. They still refused, so I caught Mai Le before her date with you –" he jerked his head in Shaggy's direction "– and persuaded her to be part of the ruse."
"Let me guess," Fred said sarcastically. "You threatened her."
Ben smirked. "Well, it worked. It kept Gary and Ethan in line, anyway." He shrugged. "So Mai Le clawed her face off to get rid of the spiders – I told her she had to make it look good and realistic – and she ended up in the hospital, so I didn't have to worry about what to do with her." He raised a rakish eyebrow. "Though I did stop by her recovery room to ensure she understood she couldn't breathe a word of the truth to anyone."
"What did you do to her?" Shaggy asked.
Ben rolled his eyes. "Relax, lover boy. I just talked to her. She's fine. Still at the hospital, cross my heart."
"What about Ethan and Gary?" Daphne jumped in. "If they were laying low at your beach house, why didn't we see them there this afternoon?"
"I moved them," Ben explained, as if it were obvious. "I couldn't have you discovering them accidentally while you waited for me, so I…stashed them somewhere else."
"Where?" Daphne snarled through clenched teeth.
"Rum, ractually…" Scooby began, but Fred cut him off.
"Speaking of things we discovered accidentally at your house," he said, moving over to Velma and holding out his hand for her messenger bag. She handed it to him, perplexed. "Or should I say, un-accidentally." He rummaged through Velma's bag until he found what he was looking for. With a flourish, he ripped a thick book from within the bag and waved it under Ben's nose.
It was the grimoire – the spellbook they'd found on Ben's nightstand with the earmarked page for resurrecting Sarah Ravencroft.
Everyone expected Ben to flash them that self-satisfied smirk of his, or at least to glare at them in frustration again. But instead, his eyes widened in fury. "Where did you find that?" His voice was a low growl.
"Don't pretend like you didn't plant it there for us to find," Fred taunted. "This was the real reason you wanted us to come to your house this afternoon, wasn't it? So we would find this and figure out that you were going to be at the Ravencroft House."
"Give that book to me!" Ben thundered, shooting to his feet. He buckled slightly on his hurt ankle, but rage burned in his eyes like fire as he bared his teeth in a menacing grimace.
The gang stared at him, shocked.
Ben folded his bound hands in front of him, as if he were praying. Then he brought them as high above his head as they would go. In a sudden rush, he yanked his arms downward, separating his hands as he thrust them backward past his hips.
He was free.
"Oh, shit!" Shaggy cried as Ben lunged for Fred. With a strangled cry, both men went down.
"Freddie!" Daphne shouted.
But just at that moment, the front door burst open, letting a gush of wind and rain inside. Everyone shouted in alarm as a huge group of people rushed inside, surrounding Ben and Fred.
"Hands in the air!" shouted one of the people. In the vague light now pouring in from outside, Daphne could see the glocks they held. They were cops.
Fred slowly rose to his knees, lifting his hands. Ben followed, looking confused.
"Ben Ravencroft," said the cop. "You're under arrest."
Fred scooted away from the cops towards Daphne, who helped him fully to his feet and clung to him. "Are you hurt?" she asked him, cupping his cheek with her hand.
Fred shook his head. "No, I'm okay." He kissed the top of her head, then looked wondrously at the cops who had burst into the house. "How did they get here?"
"We called them."
The gang turned back towards the front door, where Brad, Judy, Ricky and Cassidy stood on the threshold, terror and relief intermingled on their faces.
Everyone rushed toward each other and embraced.
"What happened?" asked Judy, who had been the one to speak earlier. She smoothed Fred's hair, and the gesture was so motherly, he felt a lump rise in his throat.
He looked toward the gang. Where to begin? These past few days had been a whirlwind – he wasn't even sure where to start the story. Instead, he put his arm around Daphne's waist and clutched Velma's shoulder with his other hand. "How did you know where we were?" he asked his mother.
"We told them."
Again, heads swiveled toward the front door, where Ethan and Gary now stood. They looked sheepish, but unhurt.
"You're okay!" Shaggy exclaimed, relief blooming in his chest.
"Where have you been?" asked Daphne, stepping towards them. "And how did you know where we were?"
Ethan and Gary glanced at the dogs.
Shaggy scratched his head, confused.
Nova looked at him apologetically. "I guess we have some explaining to do," she said.
"Well," said one of the cops. "You can do it at the station. We'll have to take your statements there."
Another cop shouldered past them, frog-marching Ben out the door. He glared behind him at the gang, eyes glinting. Velma shuddered.
But wait. No. He wasn't glaring at the gang.
She turned and followed his gaze. He was glaring at the book. The grimoire, which still lay on the ground where Ben and Fred had wrestled over it.
Velma exhaled, thinking. The police may have questions for her and her friends, but it turned out she had some more questions for Ben, too.
She took the book with her.
Sponge: Okay! So there are two more updates left - one regular chapter and the epilogue. Under normal circumstances I would wait until the rest of the chapters were done before I published, but I recently made a poll on my Tumblr account (you can find me there at SpongeAddict!) and people voted that they would rather I update whenever chapters were finished, so here it is! Next chapters will be...upcoming. Sometime. Thank you for your patience. Reviews in the meantime are most appreciated!
