Paranelope, a ghost hunter who's been cancelled for faking evidence, must discover the truth behind a local cryptid in order to clear her name.
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Penelope, better known as the ghost hunter PARANELOPE to her millions of followers, has only ever want...
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Liam brought Penelope back to the beach, somewhere where no one could overhear them. Penelope went quietly along, knowing that Liam would explain it all to her soon enough. At least he was finally going to tell her the full extent of what he knew.
Penelope went to sit on one of the logs by the firepit, but Liam went to the lake's edge, staring out across the water with his hands in his pockets.
In the distance, far out on the other side of the small lake, Penelope could see a boat with two tiny figures. Penelope realized it must be her dad and Liam's step-mom, Lyla, in the boat while Liam's mom was the small figure a few metres away, standing in the water.
Liam kept standing there, watching them. Despite being the one to lead out them here, he wasn't talking. It was like he still didn't want to talk about it, after everything.
Penelope pulled herself up from the log and walked across the rocky beach to go stand by Liam.
"So, your uncle, huh?" Penelope prodded.
Liam sighed like he knew he could no longer avoid it. He didn't look at her. "Yeah."
Penelope waited for another moment. When Liam didn't speak, she bent down to select a flat rock from the selection at their feet. Once she found a good one, she stood up again and rolled it along her finger. "He's your 'reputable source' then, I guess?"
"Kinda." Liam kept his stare on the lake.
Penelope didn't mind. She leaned and threw the flat stone at a wide-angle, allowing it to spin out of her hand and skip across the surface of the water. Five good skips before it cut beneath. "Why didn't tell me?"
Liam seemed to think skipping stones was a good idea. He bent down to select a rock of his own. "He doesn't like to talk about it," he said, making a face as he picked one up and tossed it at the lake. It skipped once before dropping with a plunk. "I didn't want to upset him, or for you to..."
"What? Go after him with my camera for clicks and views?" Penelope raised an eyebrow in his direction. "You know I'm not like that."
"I do now," Liam said with a shrug. He picked up another rock and threw it. This one got two skips before disappearing into the deep. "But I... I needed to be sure. He's been burned before, and more than once, so I didn't want to..." His eyes finally met hers, dark and intense. "He doesn't trust strangers. And I didn't want to open him up to more scrutiny, make him more of an outsider."
