Kipo walked through the town with a heavy heart. None of the roads remained, so the little group of Kipo, Mabel, Fei Fei, Luz, Coraline, Kai and Tulip had to pick their way across through shattered bits of wood and debris of the destroyed buildings and the trees.

Little bits of things Kipo remembered from before leaving were scattering around, like little moments. A dozen flowers from the garden that had been torn up... and pages of books that had been ripped from their books and were now just scattered around, ruined and completely unreadable, reminding Kipo of the state of the notebook in her pocket. Every book in the town probably had a similar look to that one.

Even though the look of the town seemed completely detached from what it was before, there were still a lot of things that link this town to the one that the little group had been living in just before. For one, scattered around, little pieces of the art they made, most of it Mabel's, but sometimes others had tried their hand at it, or just picked up a brush for fun. Beside her foot, Kipo saw another such painting, one of three frogs, one orange, one pink and one purple. She swallowed, quickly turning away.

The only thing in the town left standing was the community center, and even then, only barely. Most of it was destroyed as well, with most of its walls missing and a good chunk of the insides being torn to shreds. However, despite all of that, the short, flat building was now the tallest thing in a town that had been almost completely level to the ground.

And, thankfully, it still had food. A lot of food.

The kitchen had not gone untouched by the storm, just like everything else, but where the stove and the cooking utensils had unfortunately all been destroyed, the food in the cupboards remained plentiful and pristine. Kipo could have nearly cried at that. She had only been gone for... well, a long time, technically, and was starving. Splitting the group up into jobs was easy, everyone was too tired and hungry to complain. Luz and Kipo gathered as much food that didn't need to be cooked as they could, and brought it over to Coraline, who was making them a spot to rest since their homes were now gone. Fei Fei had gone off scavenging for seats and, if they were lucky, somewhere actually nice to sleep, as well as medical supplies for Kai and Tulip. And speaking of which, Kai and Tulip weren't doing much to help, but nobody could really blame them. They were resting near Coraline and Mabel, out of their way as they did their best to try and get out all the water in the little alcove she had found at the back of the community center.

No one was interested in waiting too long for their food, so they were all finished in record time, and soon enough sitting in Coraline's little alcove spot with logs as seats and a fire burning in the middle. They practically scarfed down all their food, and, when it had all disappeared, Luz had reluctantly went to get more. Coraline went with her, and Mabel, too, though Kipo wondered if she was just going to eat the food rather than carry it back.

In the meanwhile, Fei Fei set to work on Tulip's leg.

"Um... brace?" Fei Fei asked when Tulip had told her what the old woman had done before. Fei Fei tilted her head, clearly trying to understand what that was.

"It's like... when you put a piece of wood under the bandages to make them stay straight," Tulip told her. She went white as Fei Fei's frown only deepened. "You know what that is, right?"

Slowly, Fei Fei nodded.

"I think," she said.Tulip scowled.

"If you don't know, maybe it's better if you don't," Tulip told her nervously, but Fei Fei reached for a splint of wood anyway. Tulip stiffened, but she seemed relieved Fei Fei seemed to get what a brace was. Now the only question is if she can actually pull one off.

Fei Fei studied the wood, measuring it next to Tulip's hurt leg before she set it down. Then, she grabbed something else.

Kipo sat up. "What are those?" she asked, pointing to the clothes that, while soaking wet, clearly did not belong in this time period, whenever that was.

Kipo was so intent on the out of place clothes that she missed the odd look Tulip sent her. Fei Fei didn't look up, grabbing a light blue sweater shirt, and, after some hesitation, started ripping it up into strips, badly at first, before she got the hang of it.

"...Those are our old clothes," Tulip eventually explained, when Kipo didn't seem to get it. "Most of us kept them when we first came, just in case... do you not?"

Kipo flushed in sudden realization. As a matter of fact...

"No, I did," she admitted. She looked around. "I put them in my backpack, and then left it here when the... storm hit."

Tulip looked around at the wreckage around them. "Oh."

Kipo let out a heavy sigh, and sat back down again. The loss of her old clothes, the only connection she had to her family and friends back home, her real home, hurt more than she wanted to admit.

Kipo tried to shove it off, turning to Kai instead.

"Here, I can help you," she told him. Kai startled, and opened his mouth to say something, before closing it. He nodded.

Kipo settled beside him, and picked out a different pair of clothes. A faded t-shirt with the sleeves a light pink and a fire symbol on the front. Kipo wondered who it belonged to, before shaking her head. It didn't matter, not anymore. Just like Fei Fei, she ripped the thing up, feeling terrible as she did.

"Uh... how are you going to do this?" Kai asked her, nervously squinting with one eye.

Kipo tried to be reassuring, bundling up a small piece of cloth into a square. "Don't worry, I have an idea," she told him. "Just hold still..."

Kai looked, for lack of a better word, terrified, but he held still, at least until Kipo tried to press the wrapped up bandage against his tightly closed eye. Kai jerked away howling.

"Sorry, sorry!" Kipo cried, peering at him as he pressed his hand to his eyes, breathing heavily. "Does it still hurt?"

"YES!"

Kipo jumped from the force of his yell. Kai's face was bent down, and Kipo could see tears escaping from his good eye. Kipo suspected it wasn't only from the pain.

This wasn't as good a distraction as she hoped, and Kipo clutched at the unused bandages helplessly, staring at Kai.

"Kai, we need to bandage it up or-," Tulip let out her own wince as Fei Fei wrapped her leg. "Gah!-Or it could get infect-ow!"

Unable to say anymore, Tulip turned back to her leg, looking for all the world like she wanted to stop Fei Fei, but diligently keeping her hands away. Instead, she clutched her dress, her knuckles white as she held on for dear life and her face twisted in pain. It didn't even sound like she was breathing.

"Tulip, you have to-," Kipo gently started to remind her, but at that moment, Fei Fei took her hands away.

"Done," she said, and Tulip let out a shuddering breath of relief.

"Oh... thank... god," Tulip said. Fei Fei frowned.

"Um... try it?" she suggested. Tulip nodded.

"Give me a minute."

They all waited, and eventually, Tulip got herself under control enough to hold out a hand to Kipo, who gently lifted her up.

Tulip's face pinched as weight went on her hand leg, but everyone's attention was on the split. The bandages became loose, until they all fell down to the ground. Somewhat frustrated, Kipo helped Tulip back down again.

"They were tied too tightly," Tulip said tiredly, and Fei Fei shrugged.

"I didn't want to..." Fei Fei struggled to find the right word, before giving up. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Tulip told her flatly. "This isn't working though. We can't just... 'improv' medical things, we need to get actual medical help or... or..."

Tulip couldn't bring herself to say it, but she didn't have to. They all knew what she meant.

Suddenly, a plate of little bread buns was set down beside her, and without thinking, Kipo snatched one up. She looked at it, surprised. Was she really that hungry?

The rest of them didn't seem too worried. Kipo looked around and found the rest of the bread plate empty, with the bread having already disappeared.

Mabel, behind the plate, didn't look surprised. She smiled at them. "What are you all talking about?"

Tulip sighed, gesturing to her leg. Mabel nodded in understanding.

"I don't want to drag everyone down," Tulip said quietly. "But... I think me and Kai really need some help. And Fei Fei, too."

Fei Fei looked up in surprise, and Tulip nodded to her hands, where she was holding them in her lap.

"Don't think we didn't notice your burns there," Tulip said, and Kipo immediately felt guilty. She... hadn't noticed yet. "Those are like... second degree burns! Aren't they painful?"

Fei Fei looked at her hands, studying them while she pondered what to say. Finally she nodded, answering in a small voice. "Yes..."

"And Mabel, too," Tulip continued, turning around. Mabel's eyes widened in confusion.

"You mean the blisters?" Mabel asked her, holding up her hands to show that she did, in fact, have blisters all over them. "They're fine! I think. They don't hurt as much anymore. I think."

Tulip rolled her eyes, not even dignifying that with a response. "Whatever. We still need help, and it's help we can't find here."

"Why don't we ask Luz to help us?" Mabel wondered. She turned to Luz, who was just stepping out through the doorway that led inside the building. "Luz, can you help us with your magic?"

Luz paused, holding the bowl of strawberries in her hand. Unwilling to wait, Fei Fei went up and took a few for herself.

Luz looked regretful. "I wish I could, but I only know how to move things," she explained. Then, she suddenly brightened, looking at Six on her shoulder. "Wait, Six, you know healing magic, don't you? You said something about it... can you heal them?"

Six seemed to mull that over, but when she spoke, she spoke firmly. "No."

Luz seemed startled. "N-No?"

"No," Six repeated, before looking over to the horizon. "Stay here. I'm going for a walk."

"Right now?!"

Without answering, Six leapt off of Luz's shoulder's, landing gracefully on the ground. As if eager to get away from them, and hey, maybe she was, Six started running off, her little form bobbing in and out of the wreckage like a fish leaping in and out of water. Despite her small form, she traversed the small town easily.

"Huh?" Luz asked, sounding shocked, before her senses caught up to her. She ran after Six, strawberry bowl still in hand. "Hey, Six, wait! Wait!"

"Luz, no, don't take the-!" Luz shouted, but it was too late. Both Luz and Six were out of earshot, though the little group could still see them running through the town. Ever since their home had completely been leveled, you could see the fields for miles in every direction. It was a little creepy, to be honest.

Tulip sighed, crossing her arms as she gave up. At that moment, that last person in the kitchen had come out, and the group called her over eagerly, eyes mostly on the berries and carrots she brought out. More of a snack than anything, but soon it was gone, and then, it was Tulip and Fei Fei's turn to gather food in the kitchen again.

Not for the first time, Kipo felt grateful to whoever was giving them this. It honestly felt like a miracle.

After some time, but not as long as Kipo would have thought, Luz came back, with Six nowhere in sight. When Mabel asked, she just shook her head, sitting down on a log.

"She wanted to be alone," was all she told them, but Kipo wondered if that was the extent of it, based on the dejected and hurt expression on Luz's face.

As Luz started eating sullenly, Kipo spoke up.

"I think we need a new plan," she told the assembled group. "There are a lot of powerful things in this world and they want to kill us. If we wait too long, they're going to pick us all off, probably soon."

"But what do we do?" Coraline asked. "We're not any closer to solving that problem than the last time we talked."

"I... wouldn't say that," Kipo told her. "I was watching you all, well, most of you, anyway, and I think that altogether, you guys found a lot of clues..."

Kipo trailed off as the faces of her friends perked up, looking hopeful.

"I haven't figured out anything concrete yet," Kipo said hastily, before they could get the wrong idea. "But, I think I have a lead. Mabel, do you remember what Norman said?"

Mabel cringed, but she spoke up anyway. "Um... I thought of stuff. He could speak to ghosts, and he said that there were other people here before us, and that they were probably dead. He had a friend named Finn, who was dead."

Coraline made a face. "Norman could speak to ghosts?"

"Why did he tell us?" Tulip wondered, before answering her own question. "Probably because it sounds insane."

"T-There were ghosts around?!" Kai squeaked.

Kipo shrugged. "Apparently. And I think they have at least some of the answers we need, so..."

"What exactly are you suggesting?" Coraline asked her. "None of the rest of us can speak to ghosts, so-."

Suddenly, Coraline cut herself, looking around suspiciously. "Right? No one here can speak to ghosts?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"Right, so because no one else can speak to ghosts, how exactly are we going to get those answers?" Coraline continued.

"I'm glad you asked," Kipo told her. "And I've got an idea, and it'll be quick, so it'll only take a few minutes before we can help Tulip and Kai with their injuries. We're going to commune with the dead with a seance!"