They were all backed up and ready to go practically first thing in the morning, heading deeper into the woods nearly as soon as there was enough light to do so. Clover still found herself sticking close to Nik, but that was to be expected, she figured; this place had a lot more rumors attached to it than any of the other places they went to, and the creepy forest definitely didn’t help matters.

  “Doesn’t seem to be much here,” Nik remarked. “There has to be a cabin or something somewhere, right? If that old lady was right and there was a guy living here at some point, then he needed to have somewhere to sleep.”

  Clover more hesitantly pointed out, “But no one mentioned something like that around here. It looked like someone had mapped out the interior of the place, but there’s nothing suggesting a building there, either. And it’s not like it’s big enough that something like that could be missed by someone who isn’t thorough enough…”

  “Well, we already determined at least some of them were just going for the legends. If they expected something bad to happen—which it won’t, because those rumors aren’t true—then they probably didn’t stay too long, or looked too hard. People like them wouldn’t realize the stuff that’s right in front of them if they were too busy looking around for threats.”

  “That seems just as far-fetched as all of the rumors…”

  He pushed aside some shrubbery and looked pretty surprised at whatever he saw. She was almost too afraid to ask until he turned to her, smirked, and said, “Well, I think we just found the answer to that question. And it’s definitely more than just a cabin. Maybe we’ll figure out why no one’s mentioned it once we go inside, too. You are up for heading inside, right?”

  By the time he’d asked her that, though, she’d already frozen in place by the estate in front of her. Aside from the general condition one might expect of a home rarely taken care of in the middle of the woods, it seemed to be structurally sound and perfectly preserved. It wouldn’t be too odd to say that it may have even been taken care of sometime in the past decade which, according to the other timelines they’d gathered, should’ve been when no one was here.

  So, it was with a mix of curiosity and nervousness that she nodded and answered, “I think it’s worth getting a closer look at it, at least.”

  “That’s exactly what I wanted to hear! I’ve got a good feeling about it, so let’s get a move on!”

  Together, they traveled through the almost-clear pathway leading up to the front door of the estate. They passed what once might have been a garden, though now weeds had moved in and made the area its home; there was even a statue, though what it was supposed to depict was unclear. She made a mental note to go back and sketch it once she had the opportunity to. Maybe she’d learn more about its secrets that way, or she could show it to someone in town and see if anyone there knew…

  Nik was the first at the door, naturally, and didn’t seem to hesitate when he opened the door. In fact, he also gave a casual shout when he poked his head inside: “Hey, is there anyone in here? Don’t mind us, mysterious guys or ghosts or whatever! We’re just here for your stuff. You know, generic explorer stuff.”

  Clover gave him a pointed glare.

  “What? It’s not like anyone’s really in here. This place has definitely been abandoned for a while, I bet we were the only two who heard it.” He gestured her inside. “Do you want to look around or not? This place hasn’t been neglected long enough to have any real risks aside from a giant spider or snake or something, so there’s no reason not to see what’s in it.”

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  “But that doesn’t mean we want to draw attention to ourselves. And if there was someone here…”

  “Yeah, and there isn’t someone here. Your hypothetical doesn’t really matter.” Nik stepped further inside, and Clover followed. “But take a look at this place! I’m sure we’re going to find some interesting stuff in here. At least some answers to a couple of questions, don’t you think?”

  “It feels… knowledgeable, somehow.” She tried to scan the area, but it was hard to see much in the dimly lit room. “It would probably be even more impressive if I could see anything, though. Do you think there’s a candle or something around there..? It’s got to be one of the few things we didn’t pack…”

  “What, do you don’t just want to use a torch?”

  “I think you know the pretty obvious answer to that question.”

  He looked around himself, though she didn’t know how well he could actually do it given the lighting situation. Maybe his eyes just adjusted better than hers did, or he was listening completely to his intuition. “We should check out that room to the right first. It looks like it could’ve been the dining room or kitchen. If there’s a candle we could carry anywhere, it would probably be there.”

  They walked over there slowly, considering everything else around them as they went. Something didn’t feel right but, with this lighting, she couldn’t really tell if there was a reason for the apprehension. Not like knowing would really make it any better.

  After pushing the door open, they each took a different side of the room, trying to see or feel anything that could help them. Clover, honestly, wasn’t too excited to be doing it; she might’ve been all for an adventure every now and again, but she certainly didn’t want to end up angering a snake or brushing against a big spider. Nik was pretty quiet, too, though she knew it was for a different reason—he didn’t want to disrupt anything that he hasn’t had yet to look over.

  “Oh, I think I found something!” she said, carefully picking up a candleholder. “There’s a candle on this, and it doesn’t seem to be too worn. It’ll at least let us see if there’s any more around here.”

  “Let me get over there to light it for you.”

  She heard his footsteps get louder, and then a thump when he sat his backpack on the ground to search through it. Finally, he gestured for her to hand him the candleholder, and he lit it.

  Closer was very, very happy that it turned out that they’d been in a completely normal dining room this whole time.

  Less so that it seemed so normal, in fact, that nearly everything was still in the same place as if it had just been set out for a meal. Only a couple of worn or moth-eaten spots told a different story—a more accurate representation of how long it had been abandoned. There were no comically large spiders or snakes, no rotting body in one of the chairs. Pretty silly of her to ever be afraid of it in the first place, huh?

  Nik smirked. “This’ll be perfect. Looks like one of the longer-lasting ones, too, so it’ll probably be good for a while. But let’s get a better look at all of this. For a place this obvious, and no one’s seemed to have mentioned, there’s an awfully lot of interesting stuff in here…”

  “Just put it back if you start to feel a chill down your spine,” Clover responded as a half-joke. “We don’t want to upset any ghosts, if there happen to be any here.”

  He playfully put a hand up to his ear, and he was ultimately able to get a small smile out of her. “Oh, what’s that, Mr. Mysterious Ghost? You’re alright with me and my friend taking whatever we want from you? Why, that’s very generous of you! Don’t mind if we do…” He trailed off as he started to observe some of the decorations on the wall.

  Clover pulled out her sketchbook again, trying to look for the best place to capture the atmosphere of the room. It was while she was doing it, though, that she noticed something on the table. Slowly, she walked up to it.

  “It looks like there’s a journal here,” she said as she cautiously picked it up. She started to flip through the pages, though was both grateful and disappointed at what she found in it. “There doesn’t seem to be anything in it. There’s a couple of lines here and there, but they don’t make any sense…”

  “Let me have a look at them.” Nik shone some light on it, and read it from over her shoulder. “Looks like a log. Can’t really tell for what from what’s here, though.”

  “Do you think the answer is deeper inside of the estate?”

  “Probably. Does that mean you want to keep looking?”

  Clover nodded. “We said we weren’t going to leave a single question unanswered, didn’t we?”