Nothing To Fear ....

Rallying The Troops

      As he picked himself up off of the cold tile floor, and began dusting himself off, Ichabod Crane turned his head and said, "It seems that you might be on the right track, Miss Alex, but perhaps you should try for a bit less ..." His voice trailed off as he searched for the word he wanted.

      "I think 'oomph' might be the word you're looking for, dude!" Jake Wells called from across the room, where he had splayed himself across a shelf full of curios, in an only partly successful attempt to keep them from tumbling to the floor.

     "Yes, that will do nicely, Master Wells. A bit less of that."

      "I think it might need some adjustments to the power cell, and maybe the settings should be adjustable," Alex Norwood muttered, almost to herself. She lifted one hand to shove her auburn hair away from her face, as she prodded at the device on the table in front of her with the other.

      At that moment the door opened, and Jenny Mills entered the room, followed by Agent Diana Thomas, and her eleven-year-old daughter, Molly.

      "Did we miss an earthquake here or something?" Diana inquired, surveying the crooked pictures, toppled knick-knacks, and books scattered across the floor.

      "Nope, just Alex testing out that sonic whatchamacallit she's been working on," Jake responded, gesturing toward his girlfriend, who still had her face nearly buried in the contraption.

      Diana and Molly began picking the books up from the floor, and as Jenny moved to help Jake pick up the items that had eluded his grasp, her phone rang.

      "Mills. Who's this?" she said. After listening briefly, she smiled and sat down.

      " Todd! How's it going, man? I haven't heard from you in forever!"

       After listening for several seconds, the smile dropped off of her face, and she motioned to the others, while saying, "I'm gonna put you on speaker. I'm working with a new team now, and I think they should hear this, too."

       As everyone crowded around her, Jenny laid her phone on the table next to her, and said,     "This is an old buddy of mine, Todd Scanlon. He used to help me out sometimes, finding stuff for Corbin, until he lost part of his leg about eight years ago. He's also one of the few people outside of this room whose instincts I'd trust almost as much as my own. Apparently, he has a situation he's pretty concerned about, so I'd like for you guys to hear him out."

      Everyone nodded their agreement, so she hit the speaker switch and said, "Okay, Todd, you're on."

      "Before I get into this, I have a question for you. You do remember my kid sister, don't you, Jen?" he inquired.

      "Faith? Hell, how would I not remember her? If she hadn't stowed away in the back of the truck that night, I might not be here! Why do you ask?"

      "Because she's actually the one with the problem, and what I know about it scares the crap out of me!" Todd replied.

      "I thought that she moved away somewhere a few years back," Jenny said.

      "Yeah, she lives in California, but right now she's in some little town called Tuttlesburg, Virginia, for her job, which makes you the closest person to that area. You're also the one I'd trust the most to deal with what I think they may have stirred up."

      He then proceeded to relate the details of the seance, the mutilated animals, and the dead hunter, plus the writings at both scenes, stopping occasionally to answer questions asked by members of the group.