"Wow, we were in the tree house a long time." Chris said as the boys got closer to the house.

Even from the outside Shawn could hear and feel that things were different from when they left. First, the inside of the house was teaming with silhouettes--house guests that had arrived for the Halloween party and passed through the lighted windows. Shawn couldn't distinguish their features, but the fact that they were so many indicated that the house was packed.

Second, and perhaps more surprising, was the loud music that must have been blasting from inside the house. Michael Jackson's Thriller was playing so loud inside the house, that Shawn could distinguish the lyrics and feel the muffled vibrations of the music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIx_HbmRnQY

The house seemed like a very different place from when they'd left, crowded with people and filled with music. Chris hadn't been joking when he'd said it was a big party. "Good thing we got that beer out before we left, huh."

Chris turned to Shawn, evidently taking the comment as if Shawn was being sarcastic. "Quit belittling me." Chris quipped. "So what if the beer wasn't enough for all of these people. If we didn't do it, we would have gotten in trouble" he snarled.

Shawn never liked offending people, especially by accident! He did some mental math about whether it was better to joke back or double down on sincerity, and quickly decided on the latter. "You mean you don't think there's enough beer for them? When we get in, I'll go get more!" He tried to project wide-eyed innocence, as though he didn't realize how much beer a house full of people could drink.

OOC: Shawn Rolls Manipulation + Socialize + Striking Looks + Any Bonus I forgot with the following results

0 Successes: Chris is not convinced. He's angry and he'll probably hold it against Shawn for the rest of the thread

1-4 Successes: Chris is convinced enough to let it go, but also is annoyed in general from being at the party and so his interpretation of Shawn's previous comment is enough for him to be at least annoyed for the rest of the thread

5+ Successes: Shawn's correction is enough to lighted up Chris' mood despite being at the party and Chris accepts Shawn's explanation and invitation at the beer, going so far as to guide Shawn through the party.

OOC:  08:27, Today: Shawn rolled 4 successes using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 7,9,8,4,8,8,4.  Manipulation + Socialize + Striking Looks.

"Hmmmph." Chris grunted and then paused. "Well come on, keep up." And he marched towards the house.

Shawn followed after Chris, getting the sense that he was still on thin ice, and not wanting to rock the boat any further.

Chris opened the back door and...

The sound of the music rushed outside and smacked Shawn right in the face, as he could literally feel the vibrations of the shouting, singing and the base of the music playing. There were party revelers everywhere---adults really--but it was impossible to say who they were. Every man was dressed in what seemed like a tuxedo but with a Venetian style masque. One man had a moon sign on his mask, accompanied by another man with a sun mask. There were women in dresses--some scantily clad Shawn noticed--also wearing similar style masks. One women passed Shawn wearing a red dress and a mask that had a star shape, points of the star nearly poking Shawn's eye out as she bent down to take off her high heels.

Shawn ducked out of the way of the star point that almost jabbed him, thrown thoroughly off balance by the party. It was unlike any Halloween party he'd been to, with the masques giving it an incredibly surreal air. He tried to stay close to Chris - with the noise and the chaos, he'd need help to figure out what exactly was expected of him in a place like this.

Chris moved forward, dodging in between adults in tuxedos and dresses as Shawn struggled to keep up with him, the music blaring Michael Jackon's Thriller. Just what seemed like a moment ago, the room had been a quiet, peaceful and luxurious. Now it was loud, raucous and unpredictable.

Chris ducked behind a woman holding a tray of martini glasses filled with green liquid, orange crests decorating the edges of the glasses. She arched her back and laughed through her mask which was adorned with planets, as moved to one side to get out of the way from Chris.

"Come on. Keep up." Chris said, staring back at Shawn for an instant before making his way to the kitchen.

With the party looking and sounding increasingly detached from reality, Chris was practically a bastion of normalcy by comparison, and Shawn made sure to always keep him in sight. He tailed after him, heading for the kitchen. It was hard to believe this was the same house he'd been in not long ago.

Chris moved in between the crowds en route to the kitchen, Shawn trailing behind him, hearing the laughter and drunken revelry of the guests. A tuxedo-clad man with a pig snout was laughing as a women extended her arms out to him holding a Pomeranian dog that was barking 'Yip! Yip! Yip!'

Everywhere there were waiters and waitress faces covered in Venetian-style glittering masks carrying around trays of fancy yet somehow unappetizing horderves of shrimp, meats and some dishes Shawn had never seen.

Up a step and into the kitchen where Chris stopped to catch his breath, the waiters and waitresses swarming around Shawn like a sharks around a caged diver.

"Shrimp?" One asked, bending down slightly to tilt the tray towards Shawn, golden mask with a lion emblem on it covering his face.

On some objective level, it might have been a fun party, but with everyone's expressions being obscured by masks, it was a little unnerving hearing everyone laugh and shout. Shawn just concentrated on staying near Chris.

Fortunately, while Shawn didn't want any shrimp, interacting politely with strange adults was something he had a fair bit of practice. He shook his head at the waiter. "No thank you." He gave him a polite smile.

"That one's OK." Chris said, snagging some shrimp off the silver tray. Another man walked by with a tray filled with with chicken medallions, oval shaped with red berries in the center.

"That one no. It's gross." Chris said, arching his head back in disgust away from the tray.

As the song Thriller wound down, a man with a Venetian mask of a shooting star walked towards Chris and Shawn, two women wearing their own masks, a moon and a sun both hanging on either side of him.

"Great time Chris!" Shooting star said, while Moon pulled at his tie and Sun caressed his chest with her satin, red gloves. "Where's your costume?"

"Ehh, its upstairs Mr. Hughes" Chris said, seeming to recognize the man, though Shawn couldn't say how.

"Oh! They're so cute! Like little men!" Sun said, clasping her hands together.

"What's your name?" Moon asked Shawn.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:00, Fri 04 Feb 2022.

Shawn didn't know anyone here, though he felt a little reassured that Chris at least recognized some of them. "I'm Shawn. Chris is showing me around." He gave Moon a smile as he implicitly cast Chris as a mature, benevolent kid who would help someone in need.

Moon nodded in agreement, and then she went back to caressing Shooting Star's shoulders, delicate fingers brushing the side of his cheek sticking out from under his mask.

"How long is he going to be staying with you?" Shooting Star asked Chris, a hint of knowing in his voice.

Chris turned to Shawn with an apologetic look that seemed to say "No offense, but this is just how it is."

Then he turned back to Shooting Star. "Not long, about as long as the last one. Or just about as long as Dad's interest lasts, you know?"

Shawn was still really vague on the how and why of him living in this huge house, and despite his Mom's assurances, he hadn't really believed it was forever. Chris and Shooting Star's attitudes certainly didn't contradict his opinion, but either way, there wasn't much point in questioning or complaining about it. "Well, we'll have fun while it lasts, right?" He gave Chris his best cheerful smile.

Chris shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head in agreement, smiling at the man and the two scantily clad women the way Shawn might smile at an adult he was trying to impress or at least leave a good impression.

The man wasn't even paying attention anymore. He glided away with both women on his arms as the Prince song 1999 began to play. And just like that, the house seemed to come alive with renewed, more intense energy. Everyone sitting at the kitchen table got up and one man in a mask with a rose on it shouted 'This is my song!'

"~~~~~~~" Chris said, the sound of what he was saying drowned out by the loud music and the people shouting. Chris made a gesture that indicated that Shawn should follow him.

Shawn winced a little as suddenly the volume increased, but he saw Chris gesturing at him even if he couldn't make out the words. Once again, he trailed after his host.

Down the stairs into the basement, the sound of Prince singing and the loud music fading into the background as Chris shut the door.

"There, that's better. I hate when they do this." Chris said, clearly annoyed at the party. "The adults." he clarified, walking down the stairs.

The basement was dark and had a sweet and somehow sour smell to it. Like sweat. There were lights, dimly lit and the sound whispers and grunts.

Heading down to the bottom of the stairs, Shawn could see several purple couches and a large glass coffee table. A waiter with a golden mask dressed in a tuxedo was holding a tray of white sugar while a man and a women wrestled with each other on the couch, the man pinning her down underneath his body. They were wrestling, right?

Chris sat down on the couch furthermost from the couple on the couch. "You see? Even here you can't get away."

Chris cleared his throat. "I feel weird about you. On the one hand, I really hate you because you're the next one. The one that's just going to be here for a bit and then move on. You'll play with my toys, wear my clothes and just mess everything up and then you'll be gone." Chris said, speaking frankly to Shawn in a direct, and somehow aggressive in his tone.

"On the other hand, you aren't so bad to hang out with. It's not like you've done anything." Chris reasoned. "It's not your fault your Mom is just like....what do they call it when a women just like tries to marry a man for money. I don't mean like a street women like in Pretty Women. You've seen that movie? I mean more like if the guy on the Monopoly, you know, the funny guy with the mustache? The rich guy. If a poor woman tried to be with him so she could, I dunno get Park Place or Boardwalk. Or land on the spot that gives you the money."

"Free Parking." Chris finished in disgust.

Shawn breathed a little sigh of relief as the music faded and it was quiet enough to think, and he followed Chris to the more distant seat. He did his absolute best to ignore the wrestlers on the couch. He listened to Chris' somewhat back and forth speech about himself, worried he was being blamed for doing something wrong but relieved that Chris seemed to mainly blame the circumstances.

He didn't know the phrase Chris was looking for to describe his Mom, but he understood the sentiment anyway, so he just nodded vaguely in agreement as he tried to figure out how to respond. "You seem pretty cool - I think we maybe could've been normal friends if I didn't just suddenly have to live with you? But I dunno, I worked all the time before, so I haven't made normal friends in a while. I just had to go places, and be nice to whoever's there, and maybe they'd be my friends for a while but then they'd go away and I wouldn't see them for months or ever again." He'd been intending to just say something nice to Chris, but ended up putting a little more of his true feelings into it than he'd intended.

He tried to tone it down a bit, so Chris didn't think he was whiny. "So, I guess what I mean is, it's fine if you feel weird about me, because it won't last forever, right? It's not our faults, so I don't think we should feel bad about it. Let's just be whatever we wanna be to each other, right?" He gave Chris a cheerful smile.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:09, Fri 11 Feb 2022.

"I know how it is" Chris said, the two adults now wrestling fiercely on the couch as if they were fighting for some WWF title.

"You start out all excited, in a new place and with new people. And its kind of like there's a whole bunch of new and exciting opportunities." The man pinned the woman down against one of the plush pillows, their masked faces breathing heavy gasps as Chris spoke.

"Still, who knows how long you'll be here. So we might as well make as much headway on what's going on." Chris decided, the two on the couch continuing to squirm, the room filling with hot air.

Shawn was increasingly leaning away from the couple on the couch and towards Chris, trying to block out what was going on and focus on their conversation. "Exactly! I'd never have gotten to visit the tree house or learned about the book downtown at the library if I hadn't come here. So maybe it was all for a reason."

The women let out a muffled shout, as if she didn't want to wrestle anymore. It reminded Shawn of when Randy "Macho Man" Savage defeated Eric Cooper to retain the WWF Intercontinental Championship and how Cooper looked like he didn't want to wrestle anymore. But this time it was a women, and somehow what was going on didn't seem like a WWF show or maybe just didn't feel like it.

"Well" Chris started, not paying the man's fierce grunts any attention "I'm glad to help out, even though you won't be here very long. The reason is pretty simple. We've got to act quick and fast."

The man was now moving rapidly with quick, short, wrestling motions that were seeming to reach a crescendo.

"But you can't go be friends with that Main Street club on the other side of the fence in your old neighborhood." Chris warned. "They aren't like us. And especially Edith. If you're really hanging out with them to be friends I'll be so mad. So mad, that I'll...."

The woman let out a sudden cry as the man stopped wrestling all together and slumped over to the side of the coach. Shawn could here her sobbing as he got up and tucked his shirt in, mask still on as he walked out.

"I dunno." Chris said "I'll be mad."

Shawn nodded seriously in response to Chris. "I just want to make sure no one else gets hurt. Edith and the others, I only just met them tonight." He tried to sound a little dismissive, like it hadn't even occurred to him that they could be his friends. He didn't say it out loud, but he was a little relieved the wrestling match had ended.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:57, Fri 25 Feb 2022.

No sooner than Shawn had finished, Chris got up. "Come on, this room is too hot and stuffy now." He said with a dismissive tone, walking past the women and deeper into the dim lit basement, opening a door from which a reddish light cast out.

"Come on, this is the one spot where there's the least amount of adults. What did you say the last movie you were on was?" 

Shawn was happy to get up and leave this odd place where adults had been wrestling, and he politely didn't look at the woman as he passed. He was a little surprised at the question - it felt like ages since he'd talked about movies, but it hadn't been that long ago. "Umm, I was in a Halloween commercial, but I think the last movie I was in was Kid Knight? I was the bad guy."

Chris nodded his head as if remembering the movie. No sooner had they entered the room, then a a kid with a Pacman mask and a yellow costume greeted them.



"Yo! Hey Chrahs, like, wats goahng doeswn. 'S coo', like, wow, bro. I 'asn't seen ya ahn a whahle, man, dahs ahs a great party." he said in a wild accent.

"Oh, hey Tyrone." Chris said. "Glad you're enjoying the Party. I think it will go really late into the night. I was just hoping we didn't have to clean up afterwards like usual."

"Yo! Whose da new kahd?" Tyrone looked at Shawn, the Pacman costume staring vacantly at him for a few awkward seconds.



"What a mahnute.... What it is, man, Mama! Ya'll is mad stupid! Don't I know ya? You was ahn da commercahal. Ha! Yeah dat's rahght! And ahn da flahcks, rahght? Whahch one?" 

Shawn gave Tyron a friendly wave and a smile. "Hi, I'm Shawn. It's really nice to meet you!" It was entirely expected to see someone in a costume at a Halloween party, but the blank, vacant face of Pacman in combination with the odd accent made Tyrone hard to get a read on. "Umm, yeah, I was in that commercial."

Tyrone removed the Pacman mask and gave Shawn a good look over. It was clear based on the time that he took and the look on Tyrone's face, that it might take a bit to leave a good impression.

OOC: Shawn rolls  Presence + Expression + Striking Looks +1 (Expression Specialty) with the following results.

0 Successes - Tyrone is not impressed

1-3+ Successes - Tyrone accepts Shawn as is, the scene continues

4+ Successes - Tyrone is very impressed with Shawn

OOC: 07:52, Today: Shawn failed (no successes) using 8d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 1,2,1,3,3,6,4,7.  Presence + Expression + Striking Looks +1 (Expression Specialty).

Tyrone titled his head slightly before saying anything to Shawn, as if he had made his mind up and seen through anything that Shawn might have attempted to present.

Shawn was used to putting on a show as an actor. But this Tyrone kid was something entirely different. It was clear in his eyes that Tyrone was not from this place. And not just that he wasn't from LA or from the movie studios or Hollywood.

Even in the dim light Shawn could see a hardness in Tyrone's eyes and the sharp set of his jaw and a wolfish grin. Wherever Tyrone was from, it must be a place that was rough by all account. Maybe it was like the hotel that Mom and Shawn had stayed at the night before, a neighborhood riddled with crime and garbage.

"Yo! I ca tell ya soft. Soft lahke a doesughnut. You know what though? You aahn't so doesggahn' no messahn'." Tyrone said.

"I'm ahn flahcks tao. I been ahn lahke fahve. What it is, mostly, Mama" Tyrone said, relating his experience to Shawn's own.

"I seen ya before also, man, not jus' ahn da commercahals but ahn dat Kahd Knahght flahck. I know where ya at. So, oh, baby, lahke dat, I'm kahnd of lahke ya." He said, but that was where the comparison ended as Tyrone then gave the other side of the story.

"Sheeeiit. On da odar ha', fer shure, I aahn't lahke ya at all. I'm from a place where all dahs ahs unbelahevable. What it is, Mama."     

"We'll" Chris said, raising his voice slightly as the music had begun again upstairs, the speakers so loud but muffled as the sound reached it's way to the basement. "We've got a problem with Main Street where Shawn is from. Kids are disppearing. It might be a ghost or a demon or something. There's a book about it wee need to find." Chris said. "Basically, we've got to find this book tomorrow in downtown LA."

"At the library."

Shawn cringed inwardly as he realized that Tyrone didn't think much of him. It felt really unfair, but he also knew that objecting to it would just make matters worse. All he could do was bear with it until he had a chance to turn it around. "Have you heard anything about the stuff on Main Street, Tyrone?"

"No! What? nah I aahn't never heard of aht. What's happrahsonahng?" Tyrone asked Shawn.

Shawn knew Tyrone thought he was soft, but he still wanted to be taken seriously. He avoided the urge to bluster or try to spook him - instead, he tried to seem calm and deliberate. "Kids are disappearing. A lot of them. Some of them were spotted around a house on Main Street, but they weren't acting like themselves."

"Yo! I understa'. But where? How geezery? And where day at goahng?" Tyrone said, slightly annoyed that Shawn was just providing information that everyone probably knew by now.

Shawn could tell he was annoying Tyrone, and tried desperately to come up with stuff that he didn't already know. "They go to the basement of the house. I haven't seen what's down there, but they go out and steal stuff to bring back there. We're not sure how it works, just that kids start having odd dreams about clowns and circuses, and then soon they vanish."

Chris sighed, clearly weighed down. "Well, that's pretty much how things are going." He jerked one thumb towards Shawn "He's from Main Street where the Demon is that taking the kids. The kids have disappeared from there. It's pretty bad."

"Yo! Oh! Disn! Well, I know mah cousahn has been mahssahng. I 'asn't seen hahm ahn about a month. But I'm not sure ahf dat ahs because mah Aunt taaahahght hahm away. We 'as a lot of beefs ahn mah mah peeps between pisnts a' kahds." Tyrone frowned. "Do ya thahnk he could 'as been kahdnapped by da Demon ahn Maahn Street?"

Chris shrugged his shoulders and then looked over to Shawn to see if Shawn could answer Tyrone's question

Shawn considered the idea, a little nervous about being considered the expert despite how limited his actual knowledge was. He frowned with thought. "It's hard to say - did he ever talk about having weird dreams? Where did he live on Main Street, I might know him."

"He's a little kid. About half the size of Tyrone." Chris interjected, using his hand to show the height of the missing kid in question.

Chris looked toward Tyrone and then Shawn.

"He's a black kid. Kind of like the size of Arnold Jackson from different strokes." Chris said.

Tyrone nodded as if to say 'yeah, that's about right.'

"You seen ayone lahke dat?"

Shawn thought back to any of the kids he'd met on Main Street. He didn't think he'd met anyone matching the description, unless he'd been hanging around in the background when he was meeting other kids. "I don't think I've met him...but I don't know everyone on Main Street so I dunno if it means anything either way."

"Probably not." Chris agreed. "Although in any case, its probably better if we talk about tomorrow." Chris said, wincing as the music picked up a notch, the loud sounds of the adults  upstairs dancing, the deep thumping of the base of the music.

A wry smile appeared on Tyrone's face as if he just thought of something or knew something that Shawn and Chris didn't.

"Where dahd ya say ya was goahng tamorrow? Downtawn? To da lahbrary?"

"Because ahf ya're goahng ta da lahbrary tamorrow. You isn't da only ones."   

Shawn was also momentarily distracted by the sudden surge of music, though it didn't stop him from being curious over what Tyrone meant. "Oh? Who else is going to the library?"

"I met a kahd nised Kevahn at a Halloween stare earlaher tanahght. He tald me dat a group a kahds on Rodeo Drive was planahng on goahng doeswn ta da lahbrary tamorrow. They saahd day found out about some book. Some kahnd of book dat has ahnformatahon about what ahs goahng doeswn. Some gahrl nised Edahth ahs goahng too."     

Maybe it was hypocritical, but Shawn felt a little betrayed that the Rodeo Drive kids hadn't mentioned the book to him when they'd been meeting. Sure, he had promised Chris that they weren't really friends, but it's not like he'd known that at the time! He frowned grumpily. "Well, I guess we'll just have to make sure we beat them to it. What time does the library open?"

"I knew it!" Chris said. "I knew those losers were trying to 'one up' us."

"And not the good kind of one up like Seven Up or Mario."

"You see? I told you that they weren't like us." Chris said to Shawn

Tyrone seemed nonplussed. "Dunno. Kevahn saahd he found out about da boaahahght now from a kahd nised Jimmy. They're planahng on goahng ta da lahbrary tamorrow mornahng. It oprahsons at 8is."       

Shawn calmed down a little as he realized it probably wasn't personal on their part, but he still tried to look offended for Chris' sake. "All right, we'll just have to get there before they do. Maybe even a little before it opens."

"Told you so." Chris said, still clinging to the idea that Eidth and the others were up to no good.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:14, Mon 14 Mar 2022.

"Well, I'm not tellahng ya what ta does. I doesn't know ayone ahn dat neahghborhood. If ya're goahng doeswntawn,  ca I ask ya ta does a favor for me?"

Shawn still wanted to make up for his bad first impression with Tyrone, so he gave him a nod - not too eager, he didn't want to look like he was sucking up. Which he kinda was. "Sure, what is it?"

"A friend I know lahves ahn da house rahght next ta da lahbrary. I borrowed dahs slahngshot from hahm. 'S coo', bro. Just give da back ta him"

Tyrone produced the slingshot and handed it to Shawn.

Shawn took the slingshot and tucked it away somewhere safe. "Sure thing! What's the friend's name, just so I can make sure I give it to the right guy?"

"Bobby" Tyrone said in a crisp response. He folded his arms. Then he started to tell Shawn just how close Bobby lived to the library, how long he had lived there and described him so that Shawn would know how to get him the slingshot. The physical description....seemed very much like the Bobby Shawn had known for so long.

Shawn had felt sad for a moment when Tyrone reminded him of Bobby - though of course he assumed it was just a thing where two people had the same name. But when the physical description started, it brought him up short. It sounded exactly like the actual Bobby. He tried to play it cool, though, since most of the actual questions he had would've sounded crazy. "Sounds good. Did Bobby used to live near here? He sounds familiar."

"Nahh." Tyrone said, dismissing the idea. "Yo! Bobby's from da Mahdwest. But da boys been lahvahng doeswntawn for as long as I ca remember. Ah be baaad... He's a real fly shot wahth da slahngshot. Weez used ta go busta cap pahgeons doeswntawn!" Tyrone said, and his eyes wandered up to the ceiling as if he was remembering fond times with Bobby. It was either that or Tyrone was noticing the ceiling shake from the base that was booming to the sound of some Tina Turner song the adults were blasting from upstairs where the party was still raging.

"What about ya? Where is ya from? What's ya stary?" Tyrone asked Shawn. Though he had already been informed, it was clear Tyrone wanted to know more. Chris, for his part, winced, though it was hard to tell if it was the sound of the music or just the idea of hearing about Shawn's "story" that was bothering Chris.

Shawn was torn between believing this was some sort of weird coincidence, and suspecting some deeper strangeness happening. Unfortunately, he couldn't exactly ask 'do you feel like you always remembered him living downtown a couple months ago?'. And it didn't look like Chris had a lot of patience right now, so he just shrugged his shoulders in response to Tyrone's question. "Umm, I mean, there's not much to tell. I'm from Milwaukee, and my family moved here so I could be an actor. And now I'm here." With everything that had happened since he'd arrived, he wasn't sure how much more detail he could go into without talking about the general strangeness of the neighborhood.

"It's really just a typical story." Chris chimed in, adding to what Shawn had said, but from his own jaded perspective. "His Mom is the latest girlfriend to my Dad. They're like girlfriend and boyfriend."

Chris' face wrinkled as if the idea grossed him out.

"Anyway, once he gets what he wants from her, he'll just toss her to the curb. That's what will happen, it usually does. The last one surprised me. Dad was with her for like 6 months. I don't expect this to be any different: fun times and then it goes away and they'll be fighting. And then after the fighting throwing stuff. And they'll she'll move out."

Chris jerked his finger at Shawn, all the while talking to Tyrone.

"And then....POOF! He'll be gone, you watch."

"YO! With muh beeotch! Is dat true Shawn?"

Shawn didn't like the thought that his Mom might be, well, anyone's girlfriend. He wasn't naïve, he knew that some kids' parents got divorced and sometimes they even got new parents. But that was an other kid thing, right? It was a lot to take in, and not something he wanted to do in front of two other kids he was trying to impress.

So he tried to push it aside and stop thinking too deeply about it. Instead, he shrugged and tried to seem unaffected by the whole thing, like Chris did. "I dunno. Chris is probably right, but that's all parent stuff. I can't do anything about it, so why worry?"

"True." Tyrone agreed, nodding his head and folding his arms, then leaning back against the wall, as if he himself was relaxing.

"Well, this book at the library better have some answers. We need to find a way to get at this as soon as possible. There was a rumor that some guy on Main Street is or was responsible for all the disappearing kids. Like a serial killer." Chris speculated.

Shawn nodded seriously, relieved that at least they weren't talking about his Mom anymore. Though they were talking about possible murders, which wasn't really better. "Well, there's bound to be something there. We just gotta figure out how it all fits." He kept coming back to the Bobby who lived downtown. Surely it wasn't...though maybe...

It seemed like the matter had been decided and that tomorrow there would be a big excursion to the library to get the book that might have answers or at least shed light on what was going on. Chris expressed a kind of relief to be able to finally see what had been going on with the missing kids and to be able to get the book downtown.

"Before those kids on Rodeo Drive get it." He added. "You know Edith is probably all smug hoping to get ahead in her investigation before us."

Tyrone didn't seem bothered one way or another by who got the book. He didn't seem worried about the kids or whether or not the investigation went on or didn't go on. He just shrugged and nodded, that crooked smile on his face as if he was excited, if anything, by the prospect of the two kids' clubs getting into some kind of fight over their respective investigations.

"I'm not going back upstairs!" Chris announced. "That music is so loud. I hate it. Why do people have to play loud music at parties? I don't understand. You can't even talk to someone who is right next to you."

"You know something?" Chris said to Shawn "Whenever I'm around loud music, it just gets really boring, you know? It's like being at school taking a test. You cant' talk to anyone you can't say anything. Except instead of things being quiet like during a test, its all loud."

"Well, do you guys want to watch Transformer cartoons and just fall asleep here?" Chris offered. "I think I have a few VHS tapes of my favorite episodes that I taped last year. You know, the one's with Bumble Bee. I like Megatron's voice because it sounds so evil and raspy." he commented.

Under normal circumstances, Shawn probably would've thought a lot like Tyrone did about the whole rivalry between Celebrity Boulevard and Rodeo Drive. The streets were right next to each other, who cares about who got to investigate things? But he'd been drafted onto Chris' team, which meant that he had to take it seriously - otherwise he might not get the book he needed.

Regardless, it had been a long night, and Shawn was entirely happy to go along with a plan that let them just hang out in the basement and fall asleep. He nodded agreeably. "That sounds good to me." He yawned a little, but as he tried to relax, a thought occurred. "Oh yeah! We've gotta make sure we get up early so we can get to the library. Do you have an alarm clock somewhere?"

Chris set the alarm clock and the boys settled into the coach, Tyrone popping the VHS of Transformers into the VCR. A grainy line appeared, across the screen, the audio temporarily distorted before the theme song started playing.

Soon, they were all asleep.