Hold On || Jughead Jones

The Dark Secret of Harvest House // Part Three

Jughead's jacket was wrapped around my shoulders thanks to the freezing air in FP's office. Ethel was sitting in the chair before the desk while Jughead and I stood behind her. The last twenty minutes had been FP asking questions and Ethel answering to the best of her ability.

"Excuse me, Mr. Jones, but where are the lost boys?" She asked once they came into a pause in the conversation.

"We've assigned a deputy to them. They'll be under our care until the Gargoyle King and the Black Hood are caught." A knock on the door interrupting his statement before he was excusing himself to leave the room.

Jughead nudged Ethel's shoulder gently. "See? We're safe. It's okay, Ethel. And we're going to find Ricky too, I promise."

"Thank you," She said tearfully as she pulled us into a hug. "Thank you both. You deserve a reward for your bravery. I can tell you who he is. The King."

"Who?" Ethel leaned forward to whisper an all-too-familiar name in our ears. When she pulled away, we were utterly confused. "But that's impossible," Jughead mumbled.

Ethel only shook her head before taking a seat again until FP came back to wrap up the case. Jughead grabbed my elbow and pulled me out of the room.

"This is insane," I breathed out as I collapsed onto the bench outside the door. "This is actually insane. There's no way Jason Blossom's the Gargoyle King. We have to call Betty. Maybe she has an idea? At the same time, this completely lines up with Cheryl being able to see her brother again and-"

"Sh, babe." Jughead kneeled in front of me as he stopped my overthinking. "Let's just call Betty and tell her what we found and we'll go from there. Maybe she has something that could help."

I nodded and quickly called the blonde in question who answered without a beat. "Betty, are you ready to hear the craziest thing ever?"

She laughed, "I think I have you beat on that one."

"According to Ethel, Jason Blossom is the Gargoyle King. That's not possible, is it?"

"Normally, I would say no, but there's only one way to find out definitely. A way that would make Dr. Curdle Jr. proud."

Jughead groaned, "I'm going to have to dig up Jason's body, aren't I?"

"Call me afterwards. Good luck, guys."

I literally laughed after hanging up the phone, my head hitting the wall behind me. "This whole thing has to be one big joke. I'm being serious."

"Hey, Savanna. Your sister's getting ready to leave if you wanted to see her," FP interrupted my sulking of disbelief.

"My sister?" I asked. He nodded before heading back into his office. Giving Jughead a puzzled look, the two of us went outside to where his bike had been parked. To my surprise, the white Audi was situated right next to it in the dark of the night.

"Van?"

I turned around at my sister's voice to see her standing on the steps of the sheriff's office. I gave her a confused look. "What are you doing here?"

"Could ask you the same thing," She retaliated. "You won't believe it. Remember how I told you Daddy still owned Pop's and La Bonne Nuit?" I nodded, motioning for her to continue. "Well, Archie and I spoke with his mom and managed to scheme enough to get him caught by the FBI. He's in jail, Vanna. For who knows how long."

"What?" I gasped in shock. I had zero ideas about what had been going on since my conversation with them this morning, but clearly she had been busy on her own. "Ronnie, are you serious?"

She nodded. "100%. Where have you two been?"

"Chasing a serial killer and almost getting murdered in the woods," I responded without a beat.

Her eyes got wide. "Excuse me?"

I shrugged. "Honestly, this is normal by now. But, if you'll excuse us, we have a dead body to dig up."

The look on her face couldn't have been better as Jughead and I climbed on his bike and sped off towards the cemetery. With Cheryl and Toni off campus, it left harmless Nana Blossom to possibly be at the gravesite but I highly doubted she would be here in the dark of night.

"If we take a ghost home, I'm killing you," I hissed to Jughead as we navigated the grounds with a flashlight. He was dragging a shovel along as he went, light flickering from gravestone to gravestone.

"Ending up on The Haunting is the least of my problems right now," He returned as his light finally found the location in question. "Gotcha. Here, hold this."

I took his flashlight into my grasp as he began to rearrange the dirt in front of us. I watched silently as he continued to dig until the metal of the shovel connected with another hard surface. He turned to look at me, grabbing the flashlight from my hands before brushing the extra rocks away.

Jughead let out a breath as his hand hovered over the latch. "Ready?"

"No."

There was a creaking noise as the casket lid was lifted to reveal the answer to our heated question.

Jason Blossom's body was gone.

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sorry she's short. the next one's a long doozy so i'm getting you all ready... also, last episode already?? geez