Nightmares Vs Magic

Chris did not let anyone come near or see the sight of the camp workers when he was done with them, his sleeves rolled up, hair was still fine, but his shoes were scuffed, as if he used them to kick something a few times. He had Bence and Ursa tell the interns to not come back to the center camp grounds, Bence made sure that he and Green took a detour back to the front entrance, avoiding the area where you could smell the smoke of burnt flesh and hair.

"Perhaps you should've been more lenient since you knew there were already-traumatized children around." Leon teased Chris gently, standing beside the suited man with his hands behind his back. 

"Or you could just let me take care of this mess and then no one has to worry about scaring any kids!" Lucia interjected, licking her lips at the sight.

"Roasted meat is delicious." She spoke gleefully, hands clasped together beside her face.

Some of the people sitting in the center of the circle, surrounded by burnt grass and such, shivered. One tried to scoot away just to escape her eyesight.

Chris stared down at the people in the now burned down cage, a blank stare. 

"I tried to be lenient." He said blankly. 

"Did you really?" Lucia asked with rolling eyes. 

"Well, I assume that you've gotten the information you wanted?" Leon quickly changed the subject. 

"Yes. I got the laptop unlocked, the owner of this place, and some other details of their operations. Seeing as the rest has nothing to do with nightmares or the paranormal, you can leave the rest of this to my team and I. It's all just shady work from here." 

Movement was heard behind them, the footsteps landing on grass gave her away. They could hear her coming closer. 

Leon's ear twitched, just a bit. He sighed. 

"Dove, you were instructed not to come back to this area. This is not a sight for anyone your age to see."

"I have something important to bring up." She said as she got closer, watching as Chris side stepped in an attempt to shield the burnt scene from her. 

Her eyes were half-lidded, lazy and tired, but she was well aware of the smell, the groans of pain, and the trembling figures behind them. 

"Savannah and Georgie agreed to give up their demon contracts. Bence is already helping them with that, but they gave me some extra info for why nearly all of them had yet to leave the camp." 

Lucia stepped forward and began to circle around Dove, having quickly given up on shielding her eyes from the scene in front of her, much to Leon's dismay. Her hands were behind her back. 

"And what extra info is that? Let me guess, not all of the campers were present, and some ran into the woods, yet to return?" 

"You must've been able to tell somehow?" 

"Wendigo senses are much different from humans. Leon could already tell as well."

Dove looked up to the tall, pale man before her. He gave her the same reassuring, comforting, gentle smile. It would almost appear serene were it not for what he was trying to help Chris cover up behind them. 

"Yeah, they gave me the names of some friends. Those friends apparently ran into the woods a couple nights before Green's powers awakened, trying to escape or get help. They hadn't returned. None of the other campers left, not just because they had no vehicles, but also because they were waiting for the others to return. It took forever to get them to tell me. But, knowing now that you and Lucia already knew kinda makes me feel a little frustrated."

"Don't feel as though your efforts were in vain." Leon let out a small chuckle as he gave a gentle wave with his hand. 

"We only sensed the presence of others, easily could've assumed they were hitchhikers or what not, your information is still useful. Did you remember all of the names they gave?"

"I wrote a list." She took out her phone and swiped to the notes app, showing it to Leon. "The others also raided the office cabin, and got some stuff that used to belong to the missing kids."

"Perfect. I'll tell Ursa to bring her demon hounds." Leon said with a warm smile, before turning to Chris. 

"It looks like we'll both still be working on this land for a bit, but for now,,," He paused turning back to Dove.

"You and the other interns are returning back to the office. Please don't try and fight with me on this, you will lose." 

"Alright." She shrugged. 

There was a moment of silence, and then a huff as Lucia grabbed both of her shoulders, standing behind the girl to shake her. 

"Oh, come one! You went out of your way to drive a couple hours here and you're just going to go back because you were told you?" She said while shaking Dove playfully. 

"What happened to all that disobedience before? Don't be so complacent now! It's getting boring and Leon is definitely going to make me help look for the missing children too!" 

"I'm not Joon or Annabelle, and I'm tired." 

Leon stepped up and waved Lucia off, having her let go of the girl. He patted her shoulder and gently tilted her head up to examine her eye bags. 

"I don't know how you, Joon, and our visitor managed to avoid the lullaby spell, but it looks like you're feeling the repercussions of it now. Bence should be done by now, negotiating with the demons. I'll have him drive you and the others back to the office."

"What about the other kids here?"

Chris waved for her attention and gave a reassuring smile. 

"I'm going to handle them. I got plenty of info from both the campers and the workers' sides of the story, I'll be setting up some rehoming plans for them, no need to worry about it. Just go home and rest kid. You did great."

Dove didn't react much, aside from a brighter little sparkle in her eyes. She nodded and waved to him, both as a thank you and goodbye gesture. Leon patted her back and guided her away from the campgrounds. 

Lucia tossed Chris a curious glance, and then a side eye to the people behind them. 

"My my, what did you do to their tongues?"

"Nothing. I burned some of their throats but not their tongues. I still need them alive and talking." He answered, rolling down his sleeves to look neater now.

It was finally time to leave, Chris had already called for some cars to start picking up the campers, while Bence and Ursa discussed who would be driving who.  

Ursa was also unable to provide the demon dogs Leon was thinking of, reminding him that most of them were currently being rented by bakers. 

"Bakers?" One of the few remaining campers whispered, eavesdropping on the Macabre House worker's conversations. 

He turned to Chris, who was helping him be at ease and was previously explaining to him and his friends about the drivers here to take them some place better.

"Bakers are typically baking at two to four in the morning. Having guard dogs helps keep them safe, since, you know, it's dark. An animal companion is good company."

The boy looked away for a moment, first inside the car he was about to enter with some friends. One of the few cars that came to pick up all the campers, and was enough for all of them, and unlike the bus rides to this place, the kids were able to interact with the drivers. They looked intimidating at first, being sleek black cars, but the inside felt friendly, atmosphere-wise, not so daunting and eerie.

He hesitantly looked up at Chris who was whispering in a hushed tone to Leon. Leon was offering him a small bottle of cologne to help hide the burnt smell on his suit and hands. Chris kept reassuring him that he didn't need it, like a child insisting to their parent that they don't need a band-aid or whatnot. 

The boy jokingly piped up. 

"Is it possible for one of my friends to get a pet?" He asked in a joking tone, hiding how he was asking seriously. Bashful.

"Like, they've been through some shit." 

Without missing a beat, Chris quickly turned to him and actually nodded, fully serious. 

"I actually have connections to some stray dog and cat shelters. I was going to bring it up as part of your therapy programs- you know what? It's too long to explain right now, you'll get to know soon. Anyway- Leon-" He turned away, taking off the coat of suit, finally caving as he took the small, fancy bottle of cologne that Leon kept pushing on him, and using it to spray all over his coat. 

The boy watched him grumble as Leon stood beside the man, smiling a satisfied expression, like he knew Chris would cave eventually. 

He smiled as he finally got inside of the car with some of his friends, trusting that he'll see the other kids in the other cars soon. 

No matter how much Bence wanted to scold the interns not permitted to come with, Ursa told him anything he said at the moment was pointless, especially with how,,, unhinged Joon was being when Vernon and Annabelle joined them soon after, and Annabelle had took some of the alcohol from the barn house.

Bence obviously prevented her from handing them out to anyone.

"You have no idea how many germs could be in those." He said.

But she wasn't disappointed, she only took his attention for enough time so that Vernon could offer Joon and Dove some of the sodas they took from the fridge in the office room. Dove didn't drink hers and Vernon was only offering out of genuine concern since everyone had literally survived and stayed awake for a full day and night.

Ursa had heard stories from Enzo during certain breaks, that Joon can be a bit unhinged with sugar. She didn't believe it.

Bence remembered hearing Adan vent to him, albeit Bence was an unwilling listener, about Joon acting sillier after having caffeine. He thought Adan was messing with him since the mortician knew he didn't know as many facts about the human body as the alchemist did.

Joon nearly began explaining in detail to the campers, the ones listening to him and the ones being gently ushered into mysterious cars with friendlier drivers, exactly how to make flamethrowers from ordinary items. He was very excited and listing off so many random facts, as if his thoughts were running a mile a minute and the only way to not make his brain explode was to let the thoughts out.

It was then that Dove became more awake after seeing Ursa pick up Joon by the scruff of his neck, like a mischievous kitten, and bring her over to one of the vans she drove. 

Ursa decided then and there that she'd be taking care of the two chaotic interns, whilst Bence handled the calmer ones, that included Green. He thanked her. She knows he's used to dealing with energetic people, but she tends to tame them better into behavior.

Dove said goodbye and good luck to Savannah and Georgie, who both gave her an awkward but sincere wave of goodbye as Bence ushered her, Vernon, and his new student over to Dove's car.

"Sorry again. Not that 'sorry' fixes anything I know, but I thought that's the least I can give you." Dove told him from the shotgun seat. 

Vernon and Green were in the backseat, both having fallen asleep soon after Bence began their drive back. Surprisingly, the wind did nothing to bother them, that's how tired they were. 

Dove thought she would try to stay awake just in case she needed to tell Bence how to navigate any of the functions of her car. So far, he didn't need much. He enjoyed learning about vintage things just like she did. Still, she couldn't fall asleep. 

"I know you and Joon were only trying to help. I'm not upset that you kids didn't follow orders but rather went into possible danger without enough hesitation." Bence sighed as he drove smoothly on the highway, now noticing all the trails of occasional glowing sunflowers on the sides of the road. 

The flowers answering his question for how Dove knew where to drive in order to find the camp despite not following them. 

"Sometimes the directions that superiors give can be wrong, and it's a good instinct to depend on your own thoughts when you feel they may be wrong. However, you and Joon were told and made aware that zombies would be at the site, although that information is wrong, imagine if it was correct. You and Joon were convinced by a new kid to just go to what even they believed was an area infested with zombies, and you went in unprepared." He explained in a calm tone. It didn't sound like a lecture, but more someone explaining a concept in simple detail to someone else of equal standing.

"Yeah, I, did not consider the danger." The girl answered back slowly, not facing him, only watching the road ahead. 

"Multiple movies and shows will tell you exactly what happens when you underestimate a rotting corpse with no morals, thoughts, inhibitions and driven only by the instinct to eat. You could've been driving into seriously painful and horrific danger. I know you only did it because Green was deeply worried about their friends, but we can't be too easily driven by our emotions like this. I didn't even give you any calls or messages about the situation, you didn't have any other information about this case aside from what Green could tell you."

"And I know firsthand how a person's story can be inaccurate." Dove quietly responded back. Although, it didn't sound like she was saying it to let Bence know she was learning, but more that she said that because she was recalling a memory of a similar situation, as if reminding herself. 

Bence took a quick glance to the side at her before looking back on the road, then another quick glance to the rear-view mirror, seeing Ursa's vehicle driving not too far behind him. He wanted to say more but sighed. 

"I could keep going about your actions, but since no one got hurt and you ended up helping the two haunted kids in my stead, I'll just stop at that. Just don't think you and Joon will be getting off scot-free when we get back to Macabre House."

"What's the punishment? If I may ask?"

"It depends. Ursa likely thought of some military-style punishments, but since it was my orders that you two disobeyed, I'll be coming up with something."

Dove hummed. "Alright then." Was all she said. She didn't sound upset or anxious or even ready to give any reasons for her actions, like she was just planning to take whatever was thrown at her. 

"You should sleep for now. You and the others can even take the day off for today, come back to work tomorrow. Fix your sleep schedules first." 

Dove shook her head. 

"I can't fall asleep unless I'm completely alone. This space is too open for me."

Bence shrugged, assuming perhaps the wind is keeping her awake. She proceeded to wake herself up more by calling Ms. Annie, filling her in on everything and that she still plans to go to work since it was daytime already. The woman gave her an earful, even Bence could hear it.

Bence assumed she'd fall asleep when she got sent home from work and back into her own bed. 

That was the case for the other three interns and Ursa, except Lucia and Leon. 

Back at Macabre House, Bence was yawning at his desk as he was figuring out Green's situation, venting about it to Laurence. Laurence was leaning against his desk and had offered him coffee earlier, the detective himself already on his third cup, and it was 10:00am.

"Their original home life is less than ideal, so we obviously can't let them go back there, but, they are still a minor and a minor living on their own is dangerous. Not to mention after Green wrote down their parents' address, I realized how far away it was, which is also not ideal if Green is going to be coming here every day. I'm thinking of asking Jalal and Malicka to let Green stay with them." 

Bence had been looking at a map on his computer, showing satellite images of the house that Green said their parents lived at. He deleted the website tab, and leaned back in his seat, arms crossed. 

"The only issue with having them live with the twins, is that I worry they'll give the kid some nasty habits, like pranking, and a mischievous behavior." He gritted his teeth as he rubbed his temple, just thinking about the chaos twins turning into a trio. 

Laurence lightly snorted with laughter beside him. 

"I still remember that one April fool's day, where they somehow managed to replace all of your tomes with picture books, and all of the lab's firearms with glitter ones." Laurence reminisced, smiling into his mug. 

Bence only groaned, his head thrown back and covering his face with both hands, trying not to let his annoyance out too loud. 

"And if they start living with a young necromancer who doesn't fully know how to control their powers yet, who knows how much more trouble they'll cause. I can already picture them causing havoc at the history museum."

"Where is Green right now?"

"Apothecary floor, sleeping in one of the cots, hidden room for security and privacy. They've been up for a lot of hours and from all the labor I can only imagine the summer camp made them do, they'll be sleeping for a few hours."

Laurence hummed as he loudly sipped his coffee, then beginning to side eye a certain someone.

"Good for them, sleep is important. Everyone their age should focus on sleep, it's healthy." He said, a little louder so that Dove, sitting at her desk, could hear him. 

She continued typing out her report, whilst also going over her new tasks, having not listened to anything Ms. Annie said on the phone to her this morning. The only intern still awake and there, and in the hopes of getting her to sleep, Bence went ahead and gave out her punishment, which was answering to and looking over calls, emails, and requests sent to Macabre House.  

In the face of the public, their building looks like it simply offers unique services, and each floor is a business of its own, save for the alchemist floor and the archives. For the detectives' floor, they are shown as a private detective agency, who is also willing to do paranormal work in the case that anyone requests it. 

It's meant to be tedious, tiring, annoying, and a matter of learning to be patient and control your emotions when going through them. This task is usually given to a friendlier worker, but it's a good punishment for a week with how utterly dumb and annoying some phone calls and emails tend to be. Little did Bence know that Dove had already worked in a similar position of customer service before. 

Laurence was also fairly disappointed when Dove just worked at it with ease and continued staying awake. After waking up from the Siren's lullaby spell, he was worried sick after finding out Dove went and drove herself and two other kids out to camp near the middle of nowhere, dealing with who knows what. Chris and Bence still hadn't finished the report so he didn't know the full details. 

And now here she is, back as if she didn't just put herself in potential danger hours ago, risking her health still.

He walked up to her desk, mug in hand and the other in his pocket. 

"Dove, you should really go to sleep. It's probably gonna be a slow day today, stop drinking the coffee."

"Only when you stop drinking yours, is that your fourth?"

"Hey. Don't pay attention to my caffeine addiction, go home and get some rest. You're literally about to have been awake for thirty hours at this rate." 

"You're one to talk. My eyebags may look bad, but you have some deep ones too."

Bence took a turn to chuckle, trying to muffle the sound with his hand. Laurence sent him a glare, even though he himself knows he's being a hypocrite. 

Bence clears his throat, gathering his papers and beginning to head down the hall, trying to bury his smile. 

"I will leave you both be." He said, still trying to not to laugh. "I have a lot to think about and barely any energy for it, so I will be taking a nap in one of the spare rooms." 

He yawned as he left.

Laurence felt tempted to yawn as well but instead took another sip of his coffee, looking over at her computer. 

There were emails about people requestion private eyes for simple services such as stalking spouses, checking for any ghosts in their houses, some sketchy emails asking someone to go check out a very random IP address that, when searched up on the map, pointed to a pretty empty and unmarked space. 

There were also papers on her desk about filed reports that may want their attention, but required being looked over, Dove had yet to touch the stack. Laurence only put it there in hopes it would look too daunting, hoping Dove would give up and go take a nap before continuing. 

The girl did not touch the papers because she knew she couldn't trust her sleepy judgement, but she did answer the phone in the most professionally convincing customer service voice Laurence had ever heard a sleep deprived eighteen-year-old put on.

Even though you could hear giggling on the other end, clearly some middle schoolers pulling a prank, she kept up that voice. It was like the girl was used to torturing herself.

"I don't know how you haven't felt like slamming the telephone yet." 

"I've worked in customer service before. Emails and annoying calls included." She replied in a clearly groggy voice. "This work is nothing, way easier actually now that my boss isn't hovering over my shoulder, his breath on my neck, hand on mine, acting like he's only grabbing the mouse."

He reacted with a sad frown, she couldn't see his face, he stood behind her watching her work but was sad to know she experienced something like that.

"I promise you, nothing bad will happen if you just take the day off and rest. You don't even have to drive back, there are some spare rooms that lock from the inside." 

"I don't want to."

He raised an eyebrow and looked at her cup, coffee halfway finished, and then the slightest reflection of her tired eyes on the computer monitor. 

The light of the computer screen kept her eyes wide open, she kept her sight glued to them. Because if she looked anywhere else, her eyes would get tired again. The detectives' floor did not mimic anything interior space of a police precinct, it was a comfortably designed space. Even the lamps had a warm light setting for when it got dark. Dove cursed the space for being so cozy when she didn't want to feel cozy. 

"I stay awake during the daytime, and I'll sleep at night, like the majority of people. I can't sleep comfortably, knowing there are a ton of people wide awake and roaming about, and I'm unconscious. It doesn't matter if I'm in a locked room, it wouldn't even matter if it was my own bedroom. I just won't feel safe." She replied, her head nearly tilting forward. 

Laurence almost leaned over to catch her head if she hadn't caught herself.

He thought about her words for what felt like minutes but was actually just a few seconds. He frowned a little, and thought of an idea, before going to the conference room, tidying up the space. 

There was another previous case he was working on, another old building that needed to be inspected for ghosts. The man had a lot of knowledge on architecture, so while he didn't go check out the house in person, they gave him blueprints of the building's floorplans, a list of all the evidence the person compiled of any potential ghosts, and written details that the detective requested for where each of those pieces of evidence were discovered. 

Working in the room without actually having gone to the house, he had pinned the blueprints and floorplans up onto the board, got some red string, and put his knowledge of architecture to use. Thanks to so many speculations and fears of haunted buildings, Laurence always, unexpectedly, was able to put his degree to use. He also became extremely good at working remotely, even though he was technically at the building where he worked, but he wasn't always allowed to go on field cases. 

Back to the present, He had put everything away, now suddenly having the energy for it, even arranging the chairs and tables. He looked at all the furniture there, shook his head, then went past Dove, to the breakroom to check that environment. 

A few minutes later, he went and tapped Dove on the shoulder, holding two laptops, and a phone that didn't belong to him or anyone. He took her to the breakroom after some convincing.

"How about at least working somewhere more comfortable? You're sitting like a shrimp and that's not good for your spine, or any coworker that might walk by, think you're a cryptid, and try to exorcise you." 

He earned a small laugh with that line. 

The breakroom was different from the coffee and snack station in the main office room, it had a very comfortable sofa, with pillows and a blanket draped, over, and the entire room smelled like buttered toast. How that calming smell was managed? Dove asked and Laurence told her she'd have to ask Leon, the vampire doctor was the one who caused the room to smell that way. 

Laurence had her sit on the sofa, pulled a tall table over to put the laptops down, and gave her the phone. 

"I disconnected the telephone on the desk, they'll call from this one, you'll still be able to answer and sift through all the emails on this laptop, and I'll work sitting next to you, sitting all the way on the other end. Just tap my shoulder if you need anything, and in the case you, might, fall asleep, I'll be here, making sure no one bothers you."

Dove eyed him carefully, but she was so tired that she simply sat down and went back to work. Would never have even noticed Laurence placing a pillow behind her back until he told her what he was doing, just to let her know. 

He would keep notifying her of any of his actions, such as asking if she wanted anything to drink. She would ask for coffee, he would tell her he brought her mug over but refilled it with chocolate milk instead of more coffee, or when he was about to put the decorative blanket over her shoulders but asked her if it was ok first. 

Her eyes became heavier as minutes passed, she no longer felt guarded or alarmed or ready to stand at any moment's notice. Even when Laurence told her that she was sitting closer to him, she only responded with a nod. 

"Do you wanna take a quick break?" He whispered. 

She nodded again. He told her everything he was doing, such as closing her laptop and that he'd be answering the calls from then on while she laid back. 

"I'm just gonna adjust the blanket over your shoulders really quick." He whispered, pulling the corners over her more. 

Her eyes closed finally, chest rising and falling at a healthy pace. Laurence let out a breath he was unconsciously holding and began typing more quietly on his laptop. 

He made sure no one bothered her, any time another employee came into the breakroom, he made them aware that Dove was sleeping and would ask them to keep quiet. Even after one hour or two passed, he made sure everything was quiet, he didn't need the entire floor to be silent, just enough to not disturb her. 

He let her sleep for as long as her body made her, even during the afternoon hours, even after Bence woke up from his nap. By that time, Laurence had also given in to his exhaustion because he forgot about drinking coffee when watching over her, and fell asleep, head resting over his arms on the table. Bence saw this by the time he woke up from his nap, and put a sign up by the door. 

Two sleeping workaholics. Do not disturb or Bence will hurt you ;)

Joon and the other interns had also returned to work, late in the afternoon and well rested. He met up with them and told them not to bother Dove.

He also decided to give Joon his punishment then and there, which was watching others get to test out new equipment while he was only allowed to write out all the results and functions. A menial and utterly boring task, save for the fact he gets to learn about every new and exciting feature, but will never be able to try any himself, along with most other experiments. He's only allowed to follow whichever alchemist calls for him and write down notes, nothing else, for a full week. 

Joon confidently replied with confidence.

"That's it? Note-taking? For a week? Okay, well, glad to know you're being nice about it." He answered as he took the clipboard from Bence. 

"It's good you see that what Dove and I did was crucial to helping with the case, so you decided to give us a very light punishment, if that's what it even qualifies as. I'm sure this will just be an easy week for me!" He said in confidence as he began getting to work on the Alchemists' floor. 

Enzo called Bence an hour later, no words, just asking him to turn on his speaker, to which the necromancer did, and proceeded to hear a whining Joon, complaining about how board he is, and how it's unfair that everyone else gets to test out alchemist runes. Along with this, he was also complaining about something else. Enzo took his alchemical runes notepad back from Joon and ended up also giving Joon a punishment of not being allowed to touch any alchemy, whether that be paperwork or alchemical inventions, also for a week, because he stole Enzo's notepad. 

Seeing as the mortician was in the middle of dissecting a corpse, preparing teaching material for his new apprentice, he quickly hung up.