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Chapter Six
.·:*¨༺ ༻¨*:·.
tornado warnings
—by fifteyshadesofdylan
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Music had been playing from the small radio set up on the kitchen counter. Humming along to the song as she continued to look through the contents inside one of the many boxes she had discovered up in the attic. Louisa was sitting on the tiled floor with a pile of random items from the boxes that were scattered around her.

Vince had let her go home at noon because he and Dave were planning on making a trip over to the next town that was having a farmer's market. They had extended the invitation to the woman who politely declined. In her head, she really didn't want to be stuck in a car with the two men bickering. At work it was one thing, but being stuck in a small space with them for some time would lead her to insanity.

She had opted to go home and finally get to venturing up into the creepy attic. And somehow she had hit the jackpot of old belongings. Hoping she could find something nice or even something that gave her a clue of her biological family. Louisa had found some old stuffed teddy bears, porcelain plates, and a lot of junk. Nothing had really stood out to her so far in her search but she hadn't given up yet.

The sound of her ringtone began to go off. She placed the items in her hand down besides her before reaching for the cellphone. Nathan's name was displayed on the screen and Louisa pursed her lips.

"Louisa's phone," She greeted once she accepted the call, "Whatever you think I did, I didn't do and you have no proof."

"You're starting to sound like Duke," Nathan groaned. He still hadn't let the fact of the similarities the two had sink in yet. So whenever he talked to Louisa he always got smacked in the face by reality when she would say something very Duke-like.

"Hey, now. Keep that bitter attitude to yourself. What is it that you wanted, Wuornos?"

"Audrey's party is tomorrow. You said you would help me set up for it," Nathan brought up. It dawned on the woman before she hit her forehead. She knew she was forgetting something.

"Shit, yeah."

Nathan sighed out, "And you forgot."

"I didn't mean to. My head has just been in another world for a bit. I'll go change and pack my things," Louisa told him with her phone resting between her ear and shoulder while she continued to look at some of the stuff in front of her. Her eyes landed on a small antique box. She reached for the box and pried it open to come face to face with a gold ring that had a few small stones in it. It was simple yet nice. Running her finger across it, she felt this weird sensation fall upon her.

"Hey, Nathan. I gotta go," She told him, her eyes never leaving the ring.

"Louisa. Be ready for 4:30pm," Nathan instructed her.

"Yeah, Yeah," She hung up on the man. Tilting her head while she studied the jewelry. The blonde quickly slipped it onto her right hand ring finger which ended up fitting perfectly. It was almost as if it was meant for her. Shaking her thoughts from the ring, she glanced over at the clock to see the time.

"I should probably get to packing before Nathan storms in here and scolds me."

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"They're coming up to the front door now," Louisa informed the group who looked ridiculous with their party hats on and their noisemaker horns. Duke had brought Audrey all the way out to the Island so they had enough time to make sure everyone was prepared to surprise the woman.

"Alright, now are you gonna tell me why–," Audrey began before a hand grabbed out to touch her shoulder. A scream erupted from her while all of them blew their horns and Dave took a picture of the frightened woman. Louisa pulled on her confetti popper in the wrong direction as it popped directly into Nathan's face. She was quick to laugh, pressing her hand to her mouth at his less-than-pleased face before she turned towards Audrey to yell "Happy Birthday" with the rest of them.

The Parker woman smiled before turning to Duke, "You."

"Got ya," Duke said before placing a party hat on her head.

"Did you see your face? It was so–it was very effective," Garland Wuronos laughed.

"Are you crying?" Duke asked Audrey as he peered down at her.

"No."

"Good. Because crying will not be tolerated today Miss Parker," Louisa spoke up, walking over to give the woman a hug.

"Nobody's ever thrown me a birthday party before," Audrey admitted, "So it's pretty awesome."

"Well, after all you've already done for Haven. It's the least we could do," Vince told her.

Audrey smiled, "I never even expected it. I didn't even know you guys were plan– I didn't even expect it from the girl I don't even know."

The Parker woman pointed at the random girl who stood with the rest of the group.

"Hello, I'm Julia Carr. I'm Eleanor's daughter. I just got back in town," Julia introduced herself.

"She was in Ethiopia... with the peace corps," Eleanor said.

"Well, Darfur, actually, with doctors without borders," Julia corrected.

"Thank you for coming," Audrey genuinely smiled at the girl. The more the merrier.

Julia ushered over to the table, "I brought some margarita mix."

"Will you marry me, please?" Audrey asked Julia.

"As long as I'm the maid of honor because I got the tequila," Louisa smiled, raising the bottle that she definitely did not steal from Duke. He gave her a look as if he was onto her but she was quick to shrug it off.

"Julia here had the biggest crush on me when she was just a wee lass," Duke brought up to tease the younger girl.

He put his arm around Julia who scoffed, "Please, I put up with your hipster chin fuzz so you'd tell me cool traveling stories."

Louisa giggled slightly. She liked this girl. She also couldn't necessarily blame her for having a crush on Duke. She could only imagine that he still had his signature charm when he was younger too.

Nathan pushed the bellhop cart into the hall where some of the bags were hanging along with the presents on the bottom.

"Are these all for me? Which one did you get me?" Audrey wondered, looking at the man. Nathan lifted up the silver wrapped present with a blue bow.

"This box. It's shiny," Nathan awkwardly said. Louisa looked at the two with a grin.

Audrey looked up at the man, "Thank you for coming. I know you're not really in a party mood."

"I wouldn't miss it," Nathan sent her a small smile. Little did Audrey know that most of the plan was in fact Nathan's he just had a little help.

Vaughn Carpenter had made an appearance, introducing himself to some of the new people who might not have known him. Telling everyone he was glad to be hosting them for the night while trying to make a few jokes that everyone awkwardly laughed at.

He had turned to Audrey when Eleanor pulled her close to introduce the two. They shook hands while he stared at her in slight shock.

"Hi."

"Hello, you–well, you're the spitting image...," Vaughn trailed off in disbelief.

"Um, I'm sorry?" Audrey looked confused. Louisa looked around at a few of the older men in the group to see them sharing a look.

"Lucy Ripley. You look exactly like her," Vaughn told her.

Audrey was surprised herself, "Lucy Ripley? Did you know her?"

"She's an old friend," Mr. Carpenter informed her before the power seemed to go out with some thunder crackling outside. A chill went down Louisa's spin. Some timing that was.

"Oh, damn. Oh, the power is tempermental with the weather. Uh, excuse me while I check on the generator," The man excused himself from the rest of the group.

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"Okay, everybody, let's take the presents to the table," Eleanor began to instruct them.

Julia gave her mother a look, "Do you mind if we get settled in first, mom? Pick out rooms, that kind of thing, before you start, you know, cracking the whip."

"I'm not cracking the whip. I'm trying to get everybody organized," Eleanor tried to defend herself.

"I'm just saying maybe ask first. Anybody have a preference?" Julia questioned the people. Everyone agreed that they wanted to settle in first.

The group began to disperse up the stairs. Garland and Nathan shared an awkward interaction before Nathan said he was going to take a quick walk around the place before the rain really hit. Louisa, Audrey, and Duke had shared a weird look. Each mutually agreeing that the interaction was strange.

"I'm going to head up and find an open room," Louisa excused herself, grabbing her bag.

"I'll bunk with you," Duke called up to her. The woman turned in her step to look at the man before nodding, disappearing upstairs.

She looked around the hallway while she walked down it. Getting the creeps at the weird atmosphere of the house. And with some of the lights out, it didn't help. She seemed to play with the ring on her finger in a nervous manner. Louisa didn't like the feeling she was getting the longer she stayed there. She just hoped that the night would go by fast so they could get back to the mainland in no-time.

Duke had walked into the room taking it in. Nodding his head, Louisa was able to snag a decent one for them. The blonde woman was staring up at the ceiling as she laid on top of the made bed. Her hands clasped together over her stomach. She was just contemplating how the night would go. She adored Audrey but she still couldn't shake the feeling like things were destined to go wrong. The gnawing feeling in her gut was putting her in a mood.

"You sure got us a nice room," Duke spoke up, breaking the woman from her thoughts.

Although her eyes stayed on the ceiling, she responded with, "Dave and Vince were dead set on that bunk bed so I was able to get this room. It even has a bathroom."

Duke looked to the other door to see that she was indeed correct. They really did hit the jackpot on the room. He turned his attention back to the blonde who he could tell had gears turning in her head. Placing his bag down at the end of the bed, he moved over to the side she was near. His eyes caught her own as he towered over her.

"Want to tell me what you're thinking about?" Duke asked. Tapping her forehead lightly with his pointer finger. Hoping maybe she would open up a bit to him about what was going on.

She let out a slight huff before shrugging.

"Come on, Lulu. Clearly something is bugging you."

"Do you ever just get those really bad gut feelings when something is going to go wrong?" She wondered, looking at him with a defeated look.

"All the time," He told her before scanning over her face, "What? You're getting one now?"

Louisa propped herself up on her elbows. "Yeah. I don't know, Duke. Something just feels... off?"

"Well, sometimes with gut feelings like that, they end up being false alarms. So how about we go and try to enjoy the party a bit. Maybe it's nothing major," Duke began, taking in her unsure expression, "How about I make you a deal? If you start getting a bad feeling again, you let me know and we can bail back to the room. I would say bail from this place completely but with the storm it's probably out of the question. I think Audrey would understand if we called it an early night."

She sighed, "I guess."

He held his hand out for her.

"Now come on. We shouldn't leave everyone waiting. The ball should get rolling on this party," Duke grinned. Pulling Louisa up with him before he led the woman out of the room to head back downstairs.

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"Has anybody seen Audrey?" Eleanor asked as she came back into the main room holding a cake.

"Uh, just long enough to know she was looking for Mr. Carpenter," Duke answered while Nathan walked by him with a white cat mask on and a blue balloon in his grasp. Louisa choked on her margarita once she caught sight of him. Duke looked confused and was taken back by the younger Wuornos man. If that was Nathan trying to channel his inner party animal, he definitely had to work on it.

"I left my birthday present in her room. Figured she needed an outfit for the party," Dave decided to let them all know. He was rather proud of his fashion taste, "She's going to look fantastic."

"Oh, sweetheart, would you get Vaughn and get him to find some matches? I forgot to bring something to light the candles with," Eleanor asked Julia.

"Aye, aye, Captain," Julia nodded her head and got up from the chair she was sitting in.

"And Nath–Nathan. Where's–Nathan?" Eleanor turned in a circle as the man looked at her this time without the mask on his face but he was still holding onto the balloon like a little kid, "Oh, Nathan. Go find Audrey."

Nathan was about to leave the room with his balloon when the blonde in question came through the doorway.

"Sorry I'm the last one here. It took me a little bit to figure out this whole glam thing," Audrey said, wearing her blue dress that Dave had gotten her. Louisa looked at her a little skeptical before raising her cup back to her mouth. The woman didn't pay any mind to the small shimmer her ring seemed to make for a moment. Too busy looking at Audrey who seemed a little off.

"My birthday's in March," Julia informed Dave, liking the dress too. Suddenly not minding if the older man wanted to get her a gift when her birthday rolled around.

"You like the decorations?" Eleanor wondered.

"Dr. Carr, it's amazing," Audrey said in a happy tone. Louisa looked across the room at Duke who already had his eyes on her before walking around the room to make his way over to where she sat. "This is a dragony, uh–,"

"Underwater," Duke whispered to Audrey in passing.

"Underwater wonderland. What is that a seahorse?" Audrey asked, peering at one of the decorations.

A scream interrupted the little cheery moment, making everyone rush to get up. Duke grabbed onto Louisa's hand to pull her along with him. Suddenly not wanting her to be out of his sight.

"Guys! Get in here!" Julia yelled to them.

They all crowded around the girl to see what she was staring at in fright.

"What the hell is that?" Nathan asked in general.

"Oh, get back, get back! Parker, thank you," Garland directed everyone away from the scene, "Don't even touch it. Oh, boy."

Duke wrapped one of his arms around Louisa protectively while they continued to look at the nasty sight.

"It looks like... molt," Eleanor observed. Louisa couldn't help but cringe the more she stared at it. A human's full body skin looked like it had peeled off.

"Yeah, you're right," Garland looked at all the guests, "Vaughn Carpenter was a chameleon."

"What?" Audrey let out in surprise.

"Chief," Nathan gave a slight warning look to his father. Not wanting the night to go like how it was.

The older Wuornos man gave him a look, "Sorry, Nathan. A shape-shifter. A monster. For want of a better term, a chameleon. And it's now shed Vaughn Carpenter's form and found itself a new one. One of ours," He took a drag from his cigarette, "Somebody right here in this room... is a chameleon. Which means one of us is a killer. One of us is dead."

Louisa shared a look with Duke, "I told you I had a bad feeling."

Duke stood there now and couldn't help but regret not listening to her the first time. Clearly it wasn't a false alarm kind of gut-feeling after all.