Hold me closer Shadowmancer [On Hold]

Chapter 6: A forest of Shadows and Woe

Weathervane; One short, silent walk later.

After making their escape from Pilgrim World, Wednesday ditched her temporary uniform. Walking back took about as long as walking there, and when they entered the Weathervane, instead of this Tyler fellow, they found none other than Xavier Thorpe tending the counter.

As Yen and Wednesday entered the Weathervane, Yen greeted Xavier with his usual amount of disdain as Wednesday went to look at the bulletin board. "Thorpe." he said. "Yen." Xavier responded in kind. "I thought you were supposed to be at Pilgrim World." he asked, turning to Wednesday. "I deserted it while my sanity was still intact." She said "And I followed." Yen added. "Oh yeah?" Xavier said, leaning onto the counter, ignoring Yen. "You want a coffee? It's one of the many perks of this wonderful assignment." He said, another vain attempt at getting closer to Wednesday. "I'm actually here for Tyler." Wednesday said. "I told you he was bad news." Xavier said, looking put out. "Twice. But who I speak to is my business." Wednesday said before ringing the counter bell. Tyler came from behind the counter not a moment later. "You rang?" he said. Xavier scoffed, and proceeded to sulk away, but before Wednesday or Tyler could get a word in edgewise, Yen interceded. "So, you're Tyler." he said, stepping up to the young man. Tyler turned to look at the dark brown haired lad whom he hadn't met before. "I am. Who are you?" Yen smiled wolfishly. "Well." He said, taking a breath. "Wednesday has told me absolutely nothing about you. My name's Yenneric, but most people call me Yen." he said, extending his hand for Tyler to shake. After Tyler shook Yen's hand, he turned to Wednesday and asked: "Want the usual?" "And some help." she added. "You know the original pilgrim meeting house, the one from the 1600s?" she asked him, to which he nodded his head in confirmation. "You know if it's still around?" "What's left is out in Cobham Woods, but it's pretty much a ruin." he answered. "Show me." she said quite demandingly.

All the while, Yen has been assessing Tyler. Tall, but not as tall as me. He's pretty skinny, seems nice enough, no obvious signs of hazard. Hmm, we'll see, but I don't like him. He thought, scowling lightly. "Uh... There" Tyler said, pointing to a place on the map "but, look, it's kind of sketchy. Squatters and meth heads use that place as a crash pad. My dad has it cleared out every couple weeks." he said, as he pointed out the location whilst trying to dissuade her from going there. "Don't worry, Wednesday is perfectly capable of handling herself, and if she needs me to lend a hand, I'll be there too." Yen said, causing Tyler to frown slightly, before asking: "What's this about?" "Nothing." Wednesday said quickly. Apparently Tyler knew about the monster too, as he then said: "You're becoming obsessed with this monster in the woods thing." "Would you rather I develop an obsession with horses and boy bands?" she said, sarcastically. "Wednesday Addams? Horses and boy bands? Now that'll be the day." Yen said, smirking, as Wednesday turned around and scowled at him. more so than usual anyways. "Thank you for the help." she said, turning back to Tyler. "Hey, listen, the ruins are kind of tricky to find. I could take you this afternoon. My shift ends at 2:00." Tyler said, in an attempt to accompany Wednesday. "Principal Weems would hang, draw and quarter me if I miss the big statue dedication. And as enticing as that sounds, I'd prefer to keep a low profile. Besides, I know my way around the great outdoors." she said, shutting down his proposition "Don't tell me you were a Girl Scout." Tyler asked foolishly. "I could eat Girl Scouts for breakfast." Wednesday said confidently "I have an uncle who went to prison for that." She said, getting a raised eyebrow from Yen, before She turned and they were on their way.

Cobham woods; Another, longer, silent walk later.

As Yen and Wednesday were walking through the woods, Yen was silently processing all of the information he had about the dots, all of the connected ones that is. As they rounded a particularly skeletal tree, they found what was left of the meeting house in a small clearing.

As they approached it, Yen started talking to Wednesday. "This doesn't seem like the right climate for something that's 400 years old and made of wood to be still standing." he said, examining the subtly foreboding structure. "Not much is there though." He added. Wednesday stayed quiet as she entered what was left of the building, setting her bag on the ground, which Thing then promptly crawled out of. Wednesday turned around and looked at Thing and Yen, sounding disappointed. "I was expecting more too." She said. Just then, an older man in a large green coat came out from under a makeshift tent. "Who you talking to, little girl?" He said, before spotting Yen over her shoulder, who's body language and face had shifted to one of threatening Readiness should he need to assist Wednesday. "Use "little" and "girl" to address me again and I can't guarantee your safety." Wednesday said, obviously not afraid of the unfortunate man. "This is my place. Get out!" He said, raising his tone of voice, to which Yen took a stride forward before Wednesday said: "Thing, a hand here?" the single hand skittered forward and up the homeless man's leg, before latching onto his bearded chin. The ensuing struggle saw the homeless man lose and run out of the old Meeting house to get away from the intelligent and helpful severed hand. As Yen watched this all unfurl, Wednesday was looking around for anything that could grant insight into the topic of Joseph Crackstone. After the man had run off and Thing returned, Wednesday spoke up. "There's nothing here." After she said this, Yen started looking around now too. Though in truth, this was all just a pretense as he already knew what he was gonna have to do to find any answers, and even then, it would probably only result in more questions.

Thing must have signed or tapped something out, because Wednesday started talking and Yen had been silent this whole time. "No, I can't just touch something. My visions seem to happen spontaneously." She said as Yen thought to himself. She has visions?. Again Thing signed something out, though this time Yen could see him do it because he had turned back around to face Wednesday. "I would rather dye my hair pink than ask my mother for advice." "Oh really?" Yen spoke up for the first time with an amused and skeptical look on his face, calling her bluff, to which Wednesday merely scowled, before Thing provided another suggestion. "Oh, you want me to prove it to you?" She said, before placing her palm on one of the remaining posts. "No." She moved over to the mantle piece, dramatically placing both hands on it and looked back. At this point, Yen had walked over to behind Thing, so when Wednesday turned her head to look at Thing, her eyes flicked up to Yens for a moment and she made eye contact with him. Their eyes were locked together for a moment, and in that moment, the intensity and sarcasm behind Wednesdays were clear to Yen. Wednesday looked away, "Nothing." she said, before removing her hands and walking over to the homeless man's previous tent. "Ah, I bet this will give us some real insight." She said, grabbing a paper grocery bag, before holding it up in both hands and dramatically imitating one of her visions. "Feel better?" Yen asked, unamused. Wednesday rolled her eyes at him, before walking over to the door. "My visions are about as predictable as shark attacks." she said, before placing her hand on the old meeting house door and promptly falling into another one of her visions. 

But before she could actually fall to the floor, Yen was there to catch her. "Of course." he said, before looking at Thing "best get comfortable Thing, no telling how long we'll be here." Just as he finished saying that, he heard the unmistakable rumble of a rain cloud, feeling the first droplets fall onto his head and shoulders. "Well Fuck." he said with a sigh, gently setting Wednesday down on the floor, before reaching through a freshly conjured portal and pulling out a ridiculously large black Rain umbrella, and sitting down cross-legged by Wednesdays side.

As he opened the umbrella, he also extended the 8 inch steel stake that resided in the handle of it, so as to make it stand on its own. After the temporary rain shelter was erected, however ineffective it may have been, Yen pulled himself together, mind and body, folding his legs into a meditative position, before bringing his hands together in front of the middle of his torso, so that they were parallel with the ground beneath him, closing his eyes and allowing his breathing to relax. "Here we go." Yen said, before snapping his now solid black eyes open to a world of shadows once past.