Delilah told me it was nice to meet me and said I was welcomed at the Three of Cups for tea whenever I wanted. Glad to have another friend in my corner, I said I would definitely visit. Then she said her goodbyes to Sean, gathered her bags and went about her way.

"Where is everyone?" I asked after Delilah left. "Rex and Anthony? Were they here when the mall shut down?"

Sean got off his stool. "Rex was. Anthony's safe. He stayed home that night."

Anthony is safe. I couldn't help but dwell on what wasn't said. Unlike the rest of us.

Sean helped me down from the barstool. "Rex is getting breakfast at the food court. C'mon. I got something for you."

More gifts? I was curious to know what Sean had for me, but at the same time, there were some serious things we needed to discuss. Still, during Delilah's visit, I got to see a more easy-going side of Sean. The same Sean that was supposed to be taking me to the movies before this crazy shutdown happened.

The fluorescent lights lodged in the grated ceiling flashed against the black and white geometric carpets as Sean led me further down the aisles of comic books and video games. We were headed towards the back of the store where all the merch hung from a giant fence anchored into the wall.

"We only have XXL left, so they might be kind of big on you, but here are some shirts if you want them." Sean used a special grasping wand to get the graphic tees down for me. Double XL or not, I wasn't going to turn down free clothes.

"You've got two options," he held up each shirt. "Mortal Kombat or Street Fighter."

I crossed my arms and assessed the choices. "What? No Hello Kitty?"

Sean took my teasing in stride. He smiled at me from behind the hair that had spilled into his eyes. "Sorry. Afraid we're fresh out."

I took the Mortal Kombat one because snakes were cool I guess.

"Can I ask you a question?" Sean said, beating me to the punch. "How did you know that turning off all the lights would save the baby orca?"

I folded the shirt against my stomach and said, "Whenever the bathroom lights flickered, the water ran faster and rose a little higher. I figured making it permanently dark would speed up the process and flood the room."

"And it worked." The slow way he said it made me wonder if he had been thinking about this all day. "The Mall gave you a puzzle and you solved it."

"The Mall..." I repeated after him. Saying it like he did. Like Hector had. Like Delilah. Like it had a name and a face and free will like the rest of us.

Saying it like that... it brought on a physical reaction. For the splittest of seconds, my nostrils would load up on a colorful mist. Flashes of orca black dashed in and out of my periphery. Visions sparked within my mind's eye, of purple tents and atrium cages.

There was no inflection or deliberate intonation in this special way of speaking. All that came with it was a feeling that couldn't be ignored. Like those deep rumblings I first felt when I touched the window of the Pacifico store. The "mall" is just a place. But the Mall is more...

"The Mall is awake." I said out loud, settling into that double awareness without any denial or disbelief.

Sean's marshy green eyes darkened to a new level of murkiness. "You're noticing the difference now."

I absently chewed on the inside of my lip. "I think I always have in a way. It's just now I hear and feel things much more clearly."

I suddenly heard the call of my orcas somewhere in the background. I couldn't see them, but they were near. I felt that if I wanted to, I could bring them out. Just like Hector had.

"Sean... what is the Mall?"

A silence so thick with something unnamable hung between us. I looked at Sean. He looked back at me.

"The ocean," Sean began, "is a place where a lot of things get dumped. It goes really deep. There's drama unfolding at every level. You go deep enough, you start to see monsters." He looked away at that last word. "I see the Mall as something close to that."

"Hector Belaire said the Mall took London as a sacrifice. Does that mean he thinks it's like some kind of deity?"

Sean snorted. "Oh yeah, the Mall-is-a-temple theory. I've heard that one before." Then he blinked. "Wait. Did you say Hector?"

"You know him?"

"Seen him around a lot. We both grew up around Ocean Park. Rex always said his parents kept him on a short leash learning the family business and whatnot."

"Did you know that he has ghosts that follow him too? Stingrays."

The look on Sean's face told me everything. He hadn't known. While we were still on the topic, I gave Sean a quick rundown of what Hector told me. Then I showed him the message on my pager.

"Hector said to keep our devices on us at all times. That it's how the Mall gives us instructions."

Sean flipped out his own device and stared grimly at the dark screen. "I haven't been getting any instructions." He closed the phone. "But I haven't been getting any headaches lately either."

Sean sighed and admitted that he was bothered by the fact that the Mall was bypassing him to give me instructions instead. And potentially to Hector as well. Sean agreed that the text I got was definitely referring to London's body.

There was one more thing that I needed to discuss with Sean. I didn't know how to gently approach it so I asked him outright.

"Hey. That day when those campers were trying to get your attention and you found me on the bench... Why did you run away after kissing me? It made everything really – uh, confusing is an understatement."

I could tell by the way Sean closed his eyes and sharply inhaled that he wasn't expecting me to ask that. With his eyes shut and his voice stiff, he answered, "You didn't deserve that. I was so embarrassed, I felt like if I said anything, it would only make it worse. I was desperate when I found you. I didn't want to answer the campers' questions and I knew you would help me–" he cut himself off, his head giving a hard jerk before he opened his eyes and faced me honestly. "I'm sorry, Aqua."

I didn't mean to make him relive the memory of running from them. His apology was the most important thing to me. I told him it was okay. He protested that it wasn't, but I didn't challenge him any further. It was time to move onto the next thing I wanted to know.

"Did you figure out what it is the campers want from you?"

"Not really, but I have a feeling it involves lots of questions. Something tells me they are fascinated with the paranormal activity here, especially the deaths. A few of them have approached me, and it made me uncomfortable enough to not like the idea of talking to more than one of them at one time."

"So, on top of the jellyfish," I started listing things off on my fingers, "and the anti-Sean group, we have the campers to avoid too?"

Sean gave me a pointed look. "Me, not you. None of those guys have to be your problem."

"Who's not our problem?"

The wire shelves rattled slightly as someone new entered the aisle. It was Rex carrying some lumps wrapped up in brown paper bags.

This was my first time seeing Sean's friend when he wasn't behind the elevated checkout counter. He was lanky and a little shorter than Sean. An angry spell of acne framed the corners of his mouth. I recognized that overcast of dark hair, making it difficult to get a read on the true color of his eyes.

"Hey, Rex," Sean greeted.

"Hey yourself. Brought you breakfast." Rex said, tossing Sean one of the bagged lumps. He caught my eye and added, "Would have brought you some too, Aqua, had I known you were going to be here."

"Don't sweat it," I said. Then, holding up the Mortal Kombat shirt, I said, "Hope it's cool that I'm borrowing some merch. I didn't exactly pack an overnight bag."

Rex waved the air. "Take as many as you want. Who knows how long we'll be here."

If Bobby was here, I could imagine him commenting on Rex's frankness in the face of all of this uncertainty. I noticed that he was not particularly emotive. But if the interaction with him from last time was any indication, Rex was very careful with Sean's feelings, on top of being a long time friend of his. These were two things I respected.

"I'm actually pretty hungry," Sean said, holding up what might have been his breakfast sub or maybe a burrito. "So I'm gonna go eat this. Catch you later, Aqua?"

"Sure. I'll probably be at Elliot's Emporium."

I knew he'd feel somewhat safe there. Elliot wasn't like the other retailers and her storefront was easy to reach without passing through too many of the open plazas.

Sean said his goodbyes to me and Rex before taking off. Then I stood alone with Sean's coworker, listening to the faint chirping of my orcas in the background. At that moment, something cut through the familiar whirs and clicks. It sounded much closer than my ghosts.

The wire shelves rattled again, as if a new presence were passing through.

"Say, Aqua. You got a minute?"

An unfamiliar ghost stretched overhead as Rex spoke to me.

I looked up and gasped.

"Oh, that? Yeah, that's new. They started coming around after that designer lady got decapitated. They're harmless. Like your orcas."

More members of this new presence crested over the other aisles. They had to be roughly twelve feet in length give or take. They swam with little effort on paddle-like fins attached to an ovoid-shaped torso. Their necks were long.

"R-Rex, what are they?"

The dark-haired boy scanned the one passing overhead like it was an oddly shaped cloud. "Plesiosaurs, I think. I feel like Anthony showed me a book with them in it once."

I blinked several times, forcing myself to relax. These ghosts weren't going to hurt me. Their prehistoric shape had taken me off guard. The plesiosaurs weren't as large as my orcas, but in the close quarters of the arcade, their presence felt ominous.

"Wait a second," I said, following my own train of thought. "My orcas? You can see my ghosts?"

Rex nodded slowly. "Kind of." He squinted past my shoulder. "They're far away right now."

I wondered if Sean knew about Rex's ghosts. Before I could ask, he said, "Look, I couldn't help but overhear some of your conversation with Sean about the campers. I know they give him the creeps and I think we could do something about it. You in?"

Rex was pleading with eyes that I could barely see. As far as I knew, he was a naturally suspicious guy. He only got heated over the people trying to make life harder for Sean. And he wanted my help. Part of me didn't want to let him down. The other part of me didn't know what to make of these new ghosts and their host.

"What do I have to do?" I asked, hugging my Mortal Kombat shirt to my stomach.

"Nothing. Just come with me to talk to Sheldon."

"Who's Sheldon?"

"The hazmat suit guy. The main one."

Rex's swarm of ghosts had been reduced to just one. With its long neck, it inspected all of the old vhs packages along the racks. I couldn't help noticing the needle sharp teeth that flashed every time it opened its mouth.

"The paranormal investigator?" I whispered. If that was true, then this was the same man who had returned Sean's cell to me.

Did he show all of those shoppers in purple the video on the phone? Is that why they're so obsessed with Sean?

I had to know.

I looked more directly at Rex. "Why do you need me to be there?"

"Because..." He gave a sheepish shrug. "You haven't chased him out of your store three times already. I'm probably on the dude's shit list. He might be a little nicer... a little more cooperative if he sees me with you."

"Rex." I sighed. "This makes no sense."

"Trust me, Aqua. Half the shoppers know who you are. They saw you walk at the fashion show. The tent people will let us in if you're with me. They'll give us an audience."

Rex wanted to carry out this mission without Sean knowing, that was clear. I had my own questions for this Sheldon character and what his people wanted with Sean. This could be my only chance to get to the answers I wanted.

Tzzzz.

My pager went off. I already knew what it was going to say – move her – the Mall reminding me that I had a job to do.

"Rex, I'll help you." I forced myself to stare into the eyes of the ghost just over his shoulder. With its needled maw flaring out from a bobbing head.

Move her.

"But only if you'll help me with something in return."