sonderling || mystery incorporated

024 PAWN OF SHADOWS

Lydia sat outside K. Ghoul, drawing in her sketchbook as she tuned out Daphne and Fred talking. Shaggy and Scooby were in Angel and Glory's RV making food, along with Velma who was previously finding it extremely annoying to try using a microscope to try and look at the Planispheric disk when sitting out in the sunlight. Glory was also in the RV, mostly making sure Shaggy and Scooby wouldn't make some horrible concoction in their kitchen.

"Come and get it!" She looked up from her sketchbook in surprise as Scooby-Doo spoke. He, Shaggy, Velma, Glory and Angel leaving the RV. Shaggy was carrying a plate of... something, setting it down on the picnic table Lydia was sat at. "Might be a bit heavy on the caramel, but Scoob found some hot sauce that should cut that." Shaggy smiled as his dog set down the small container of hot sauce on the table.

Fred and Daphne moved to join them as Velma picked it back up, reading the label, "'Cabeza Fuego'?" She asked. "It means 'fire head'." Scooby nodded. For a brief second, Velma looked at him annoyed, "I know what it- Jinkies! That's it!" She gasped, tossing the hot sauce away before running back into the RV.

"Like, did she get sick of the food already?" Shaggy asked, "She didn't even taste it!" He added, everyone watching as Velma came running back out, holding up the piece of the Planispheric disk to the rearview mirror of the Mystery Machine, "I couldn't figure out the writing on the disk because it was backward... and in Spanish!" The gang moved to gather around her, seeing 'Fuego' carved into the disk piece.

"Wait, that trunk I was sitting on..." Daphne started, moving towards the trunk they had picked up from Darrow University, "Check it out, aren't there Spanish books in there?" She asked, Fred walking past her to open the trunk, "That's the trunk we found at Darrow University with the stuff about the town!" He hummed, opening it only to jump back, everyone gasping.

"Mr. E!" As Daphne set a calming hand on Fred's shoulder, Lydia moved forward to pick it up, looking over the envelope first before opening it and taking out a blank card.

With opening it, a recording started, "Greetings, Mystery Incorporated. In order to truly decipher what lies within, you will need to begin where this mystery ended." Everyone stared at the card confused before Fred gasped, "Of course! Gang, get that trunk in the van! We're going back to school, and I know just who can help us."

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"No. Sorry. Can't help." H.P. Hatecraft frowned, hunched over a table full of books in the Darrow University Library. The very same library Lydia found possibly the only untouched yearbook that didn't redact the original Mystery Incorporated anytime the group was mentioned. "Now is... just not a good time." He continued before a librarian nearby shushed him.

Lydia then paid attention to the books on the table, realizing they were all five installments to the Dusk book series. She picked one up, flipping it open to read a few lines while the rest of the gang tried to convince Hatecraft to help. "You're, like, the only teacher we know here besides Harlan Ellison." Shaggy mumbled, Scooby-Doo nodding, "That guy scares me."

"Besides, Harlan's away on sabbatical at a Misanthrope's convention." Velma added, Lydia looking up at her clearly confused at the word. "Which is precisely my problem, with Harlan away, Dean Fank has replaced him with a new professor- Regina Wentworth."

That got Daphne to gasp excitedly, "The author of the Dusk teen vampire romance series? Oh, my gosh! I've read them all!! Dusk... Dusk: Early Evening, Dusk: Just Before Bedtime... Forbidden Love, Hidden Desire!" Then she turned to Fred, smiling, oblivious to Hatecraft's annoyed expression at each novel she named, "Fred, those books are so us! Just... with less bloodletting."