He said it with such utter annoyance that I could tell this wasn't just some other person, but I knew it wasn't Angus, either. He stepped into the room with me and drew his knife, looking around like he was addressing the air itself.

"Come on out. I know you're here, you stuck-up little..."

He'd barely finished his sentence before the lights went out, and what seemed to be a disheveled teenage boy appeared at his feet. He was facing the ground, but I had a strange feeling he could see us just as clearly. His face was dripping with blood, his clothes were in tatters, and there were dark bruises around his wrists and ankles like he had been locked in steel shackles for years. Despite all this, he smiled. A giddy, twisted smile.

"Well, well. If it isn't Mr. Hodek!"

He tilted his head just slightly in my direction.

"...and his little minion. I see you two haven't gone out of business since we last met."

"Since we last met?" I repeated, narrowing my eyes. This strange, nauseating feeling in the air and the buzzing in my ears was familiar. Too familiar. For a second, I was afraid that maybe the Elder had found us again, but something about this boy felt different.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a little more curious about what happened to you. Another one of your victims didn't work out, huh?" Hodek casually tossed the blade from hand to hand, like he was talking to this guy over lunch. He looked to me and raised an eyebrow, mouthing, "our first neighborhood" before turning back for a response. He didn't have to wait long.

"Shut it. They were more than a victim, far more. At least, that's what I thought. I suppose they did leave me..." He seemed to think. "No. It was more like they killed me a second time. Who knew water would've done the trick. Again. Hee, hee, hee!"

That crying girl, the threatening messages...it can't be—

"Laugh it up, Ben, laugh it up. Though, come to think of it, now that you're here I want to know where you got the phone number of one Alex Schröder. You know, Clockwork's little girlfriend."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

Wait. This is the dangerous entity Hodek was talking about the first night we went killing, and his name is Ben? What am I seeing right now?

"Don't you worry, Maximus Ryong. You're not going crazy. Or maybe you are? Or maybe I am! Ha, ha!"

While chills ran down my spine at the prospect that this thing had just read my mind and also knew my "name," Hodek seemed to be losing his patience. "Stop fucking around. You gave that number to a member of a dangerous cult...scratch that, you almost gave it to two of 'em. I want to know where you got it."

"And why would you want to know? I'm in no state to be remembering these things, as you can tell. I was looking forward to some company, but if all you want to do is use me like everybody else then I have no interest in your games. Just leave me to power this house alone, would you?"

The lights flickered on and off, as if he was proving something to us. Hodek scoffed.

"My reasons are none of your business. You, of all people, should know what it's like to be manipulated like that. Come on..." he turned back and dragged me by the arm to face Ben, almost desperate.

"This is Max. He used to be a part of them. Take a look, see what you find."

"Hodek, what are you..."

I stopped short when Ben finally lifted his head and looked me directly in the eyes. Except...he didn't have any. They were just empty sockets, with blood pouring out of them and onto the floor. His eerie smile faded the longer he looked at me, and I felt as if he was somehow crawling through my subconscious.

What's happening? Why am I thinking about...

"Oh?" He tilted his head like he was watching a mildly interesting television program. Eventually, two glowing orange pinpricks appeared in his eyes, and his expression shifted from confused to somber. His voice lost its echoey, surreal quality, and he sounded almost like a regular person.

"Oh...oh, no."

For the first time that day, Hodek seemed actually happy. "There he is. Now, what's the deal."

"...Jeff. You're here? Wait, and you want to save this one?"

"What—no, I'm not stupid. Listen, there's a girl out there who was almost recruited by some cult twice, and the only thing standing between its members and her is Natalie Ouellette. You know who that is, right?"

"O-of course. Uh, can you run me through what just happened in the last five minutes? Because my mind's gone all fuzzy, I can't even remember who I was last..."

"Not important. The point is that this," he said, jabbing a thumb in my direction, "is what would've happened to her if I didn't pronounce her dead. Do you remember if anybody asked you for a phone number recently? Anyone you can think of." He reached out a hand, and Ben hesitantly took it, pulling himself back up.

"I...think so. I ran into someone really strange, years ago. They didn't even tell me their name, I had to get it out of them. They just acted like their life depended on getting the location of...someone."

"What was the person's name?"

"...Schröder, you said? Yeah, definitely something like that. But the first name they gave me was so weird, I thought they were playing a joke on me or something. Had to fish it out of them."

Jeff's glance snapped to me for a split second, and then back to Ben. He nodded. "That's the one. See, these people, they—" he caught himself mid-sentence like he was about to curse in front of a little kid. "...nevermind. But how did you even know where to lead this guy? How did you get the number?"

"I can't exactly explain how. It's like when you search someone up on the internet—that's the best way I can describe it. I just gave them the number and went on my way..." Ben looked at me with a kind of regret that I'd never seen before.

"I'm sorry, Masquerade. I couldn't help you."

"That's not what we're here for," Hodek interrupted, grabbing him by the shoulders. "You're looking a little too far into him now. He's fine, everything is fine. They don't even know where Alex is anymore. I just need a favor."

"Ugh. It couldn't wait? I'm not exactly in the best state right now, and I really don't want to try going back to...wherever I was before."

"It's small, don't worry. I..." He looked in my direction again, then whispered something in his ear. Ben perked up.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"It'll be just in case. I'm not going straight there once I walk out the door."

"Okay. It's just that, you never really told me what happened. I thought you hated him."

"I...I don't. Not really. Things have gotten so fucked up, I want to make them right. Plus, you never know."

At that, Ben smiled softly. Then he stopped and looked around, as if only now realizing where he was.

"Wait. What am I doing here?"

Jeff raised an eyebrow.

"You said you were powering this house...?"

"Oh. I guess I must have been. Uh, hey, I'm sorry for all that before. Did he hurt you at all?"

"Nah. Well, you can be a real jackass when you're mixed with that thing. What even happened to bring him out, anyway?"

"I wish I knew. I think I'll just stick to figuring out why I'm..."

After a couple of seconds, his body seemed to flicker before my eyes, and he looked past us at nothing in what must have been horror.

"Oh, my god. Avery."

And he disappeared.

Once the room had gone completely silent, and a buzzing noise in my ears that I didn't even notice at first went away, I turned to Hodek, more confused than ever.

"What was that?"

He shrugged. "Eh, nothing much. Just an old friend. Glad to see he's finally working things out; the bastard runs from his own problems too much."

"...oh. Is...is he dead?"

"In a way. Don't worry about him, Max. We got all the information we need." He turned on his heels and started walking out when I blocked him.

"Maybe you did. What just happened, wh-what did you ask him for, anyway? What were you going to say about—"

"Woah! Chill out, I didn't mean any of what I said about your...uh, people, okay? I had to find out what I had to find out. And I got it. So we can be on our merry way."

"But what did you want? What did he give you, that you said you wanted to make things right with, or whatever?"

"It doesn't concern you! You need to stop worrying about me, it was just a little tidbit. Everything's done. Besides, we need to figure out where to go next, this neighborhood's done for us."

After a moment, I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Right. Fine. I...I do worry too much, don't I?"

"...it's okay. I just really don't like questions about things like this. Uh, okay, so we can't stay here. I'm starting to think we might have to go out of state; we've gone through lots of towns here, it'll be time to split soon."

"Lots? It's been, like, four. How are you so sure we can't just stay here for a little longer?"

"Four adds up when the police could be on your tail. We can't leave any obvious path, so this is probably it for the area." He extended a hand towards a nearby window and swirled a finger around in the air, as if to prove his point.

"I mean, you have to agree, it would be a little suspicious if you found multiple people dead in a string, just so happening to start in the Birthday neighborhood."

I started at that. "The what neighborhood?"

Hodek turned to me, confused. "What's it to you? That's just what I call that first town we were in. Saw a house that had a bunch of birthday decorations, but they crossed out that word on all of them. It was a good laugh, but you weren't—"

"No. We need to go back. Back to that town."

My mind clicked and slowly connected the dots one by one.

Of course they weren't able to find him.

He was too close by.

"What? Why? We can't go back, who knows what could find us! Cops, Clockwork...besides, there's nothing for us there."

"Yes, there is." I grabbed him by the wrists and looked him in the eyes.

"You found him. You found my brother, Hodek."