Nex turned sharply and pointed the ray of her flashlight up into a tree, the light settling on a sleeping owl who was not at all pleased that she had interrupted his nap and gave a loud hoot before quickly flying off, making Nex grumble.
"Dammit Jeff, where is this carnival? We have been searching for hours!" she groaned, stopping to rest on a stump.
"I told you I don't know." Jeff said as he pointed his own light around the shadows to his left. "See, it's not really ever...in the same place...all the time. It...moves. You can only find it if you just happen to come across it, it's harder to find if you're actually looking for it."
Claudia came trotting up a few seconds later a bit out of breath and stopped beside Nex, leaning on her shoulder.
"Slendy...and I....searched the right side of the forest ...for an hour....we couldn't find anything." she panted as the Slenderman appeared next to them, making Nex jump and almost fall off the stump.
"Dammit don't do that! Ya scare the hell outta me!" she said.
"I apologize, it's instinct." Slenderman echoed in her mind. "As for your friend, we seen no trace of her or Jack's carnival where we searched." he told her.
Claudia sat down on the ground next to her friend and looked down at her flashlight in thought. Jeff eventually came over and shined his light on them with a smile.
"I'm telling you, it's because you're looking too hard." he said as he stood behind Nex. They seen Slenderman give a nod.
"Jeffrey has a point. If you want to find it, you won't. Same goes for the mansion, unless I allow it of course. But if you are looking for something else...perhaps you're lost and want to get out of the woods...you'll likely come across it eventually." he said to them.
"So...we shouldn't look for the carnival...but look for something else?" Claudia questioned, looking up at Slenderman. He gave a half nod.
"It's worth a try." Nex said and stood. "If we are looking for the carnival, then we won't find it...but if we are looking for say.....the exit or even Valene....maybe it will come to us."
Jeff chuckled a bit. "You two are getting pretty smart." he teased, resulting in a playful punch to the arm from Nex.
"Hey, we are very intelligent." she said as she helped Claudia to her feet and dusted her off.
"Alright, if we are going to try this odd method, then where should we start walking? Does it matter which way we go?" Claudia asked.
"I suppose it doesn't matter the direction we start, but this time we should all stick together. If we were apart and one of us found the carnival, there's a likely chance the rest of us couldn't find it and we would just have another person lost." Slenderman said. "So if you wish to get your friend back...unharmed...then we stay together."
"Fine with me!" Jeff said as he looped his arm through Nex's and pulled her forward into the woods behind them. "Follow the yellow brick road!"
"Jeff, wait!" Claudia called after him as she trotted behind the couple, the Slenderman remaining by her side as he slender-walked with them.
Valene tensed as another ball smacked the glass of the tank. Man these people had crappy aim. But lucky for her, as she didn't want to be dunked in that gross, leech infested water. Jack had put her through a few tedious tasks and performances, making her fear for her safety and very life a few times. From being tied to a knife wheel and having blades thrown at her by a certain blindfolded clown to being a beast tamer to a wicked looking lion who, even though was on a chained leash tied to a post, Valene was sure it could break off at any second and eat her. Luckily it hadn't and if it weren't for Jack being able to control her body, she probably would have gotten seriously injured. Now she was locked in a dunk tank, hovering over a huge pool of filthy lake water with leeches, pirannahs and god knows what else swimming around in it. The people who were throwing the baseballs at the target didn't seem to notice her condition and the fact they were putting her life in danger with each throw and they blissfully continued to pelt at the target when they had a turn. Valene was sure Jack had something to do with that, probably keeping them shrouded from the darkness of the carnival with rose colored glasses until their inevitable death and entrapment within its iron bar fence. Those poor souls that wandered across this place with no idea they had sealed their fate. However, Jack wasn't kiling anyone yet, oh no...he had said that would wait until the final show in the big top. One could only imagine the horrors that would ensue there...and it made Valene shiver.
