Venturing Graces

Chapter Eleven: Fox House

(Fox House Arc)

"Do we need to stop here?" Rose asked. Once again she was speeding down the road when she spotted a rest stop. The path headed towards Valance City.

"Yeah, I want to get all this trash out of the car," Ren answered. They grimaced as they looked down at the floor behind them. Tissues, wrappers, and other miscellaneous garbage lay strewn around. It almost made Ren gag. 

"Yeah sure, plus I need to use the bathroom," Rose said. She pulled into the parking lot. 

"I'm going to throw away the trash," Ren said. They tried to grab Hex, only to fall through him. 

"How dare you!" Hex yelled. 

"Well you are a trashy ghost," Ren said. 

"You're a trash human," Hex stated. He floated through the door. The demon on the roof snarled at him. Hex floated over to a large black trash bin. "I'm not trash," he thought. 

"Ren, I have weird dreams sometimes. Like dreams where I'm sitting on a big chair and I have human hands," Baguette barked. She ran around outside with Ratto while Grim watched from under a tree. 

"Uh....." Ren imagined Baguette with human hands. 

"Eww," Orochi commented. "Anyways, I'm not the only magic animal companion you have. If you were a girl you'd be a princess for sure."

"What's your point?" Ren asked. They dropped a handful of wrappers in the trash can. "Oh Arc that one felt off," They felt the bitter tasting vomit rise in their throat. Ren started to hum as they forced it down. "Who the hell let the trash pile up that high?" 

"Maybe the living humans who run the place," Hex answered. He spotted a flier crudely tapped onto the wall of the bathrooms. "Hey Ren, come look at this." Ren walked over with Baguette. Ratto was now running in a circle barking at nothing. 

"Come down to the Fox's Trick House and win a grand prize," Ren read. The flier was a faded pink color with some writing in cursive. On it were directions and details. "You'll be in a team of three to reach the final room."

"Sounds like a scam," Orochi commented. 

"Yeah, sounds like a scam," Ren said. 

"But a grand prize! I've never won a grand prize before in my life," Hex said. 

"What if it seriously is a legit prize?" Ren wondered. Their heart raced, "No way it's a scam." 

"Ren, do you hear yourself?" Orochi hissed. 

"Hey, ready to go?" Rose asked. She pulled Ren close, "I think there were cockroaches in there......Also some random woman started singing."

"Oh gosh, more Auntie quotes!" Ren whipped out their phone. "My followers will love this." By followers they meant their two alternate accounts and some kids from school. 

"We must enter this!" Hex floated the flier over. "A grand prize!"

"That's a scam," Rose said. "Come on, let's go." Hex crumpled it up and threw it at Rose. 

"You always tell Ren that we can do whatever they want because it's their travel too. So why can't I do what I want on this trip?" Hex asked. 

"Well because you're dead. The dead isn't supposed to talk," Ren answered. "Now let's go."

"Yeah, you're dead," Baguette added. 

"Okay, then I'm not going!" Hex yelled. He lifted the paper up again with telekinesis. "But don't come crying to me when you don't have a grand prize."