Renstown wasn't the kind of town you expected to hide nightmares. Its streets were lit bright even as dusk pressed down, lanterns strung between shops and food stalls. Children darted between legs, laughing, while merchants called out their wares in singsong voices.
The Clyck Squad walked in a loose line, their black coats marking them out. Eyes followed them as they walked, yet nobody smiled or waved at them.
Kyle shifted his scythe strap higher on his shoulder. "Friendly place..." he muttered under his breath.
Liam grunted. "Keep it down."
Across the street, an old woman hunched behind a stall of vegetables. Her hands stilled when she noticed the squad and though her face wrinkled with suspicion, she didn't hide like the others. Cassie angled her steps toward her.
"Excuse me, ma'am." Cassie said gently. "We're looking for information about the Saint Owen Hospital."
The woman's head snapped up and the shadow in her eyes was sharper than any knife. "We don't talk about that place."
Liam crossed his arms. "We're not here to gossip, we're here to help."
"Help?" The woman snorted, disbelief weighing her voice. But her eyes darted to the weapons each of them carried... the twin blades strapped across Cassie's back, Liam's sheathed sword, the strange scythe head poking over Kyle's shoulder. "...Come with me."
They followed her through narrow lanes until she pushed open the heavy door of a brick building. Inside, a man in his fifties sat at a desk cluttered with papers, his spectacles low on his nose.
"Mayor Griffin." the woman said, voice clipped. "This outsiders seek information about Saint Owen."
The mayor looked up, frowning at first, then freezing when he saw the steel glint at their sides. His gaze lingered on the scythe longer than the rest.
"Who are you?" he asked, wary.
Cassie stepped forward. "We're people who deal with… things like this."
His brow creased. "Deal with... you mean fighting, whatever's in there?"
"Yeah, something like that..." Liam said, tone flat.
Kyle scratched the back of his neck. "We'd like to know what's been happening. The whole story, if you can."
The mayor's lips pressed thin. He leaned back, folding his hands. "The hospital has been closed ten years. It should have been forgotten. But last winter a mother walked past with her daughter. The child said she was hearing voices coming from the inside calling to her to come play. The mother ignored her." His voice dropped. "The next day, the girl went in there with two of her friends. And they never came back."
The mayor continued, each word heavier. "Five men from our town followed a few days later to look for the kids... but none of them came back. We got the local police involved. And the next morning a search team went in... found nothing. No trace of children nor the men."
He adjusted his glasses, eyes darting toward the floor as though the memory itself carried weight. "And then the disappearances spread, some people passing by at night. Others swore they saw a child in white, standing in the street, waving them closer to the hospital doors."
"The police sealed the area with tape though..." the mayor said finally. "No one goes near it now."
Cassie inclined her head. "Thank you for your time, sir."
He only nodded, his hands trembling faintly as he shuffled his papers.
Outside, they walked in silence for a few paces before Liam broke it.
"So?" he asked, glancing sideways at Cassie. "What do you think?"
Cassie shook her head. "I don't know any demon that could pull stunts like this."
Kyle exhaled, dragging a hand down his face. "All I can say is this thing is intelligent."
"Yeah, luring people in as a kid? Classic demon manipulation. " Liam scoffed.
"Yeah, that too..." Kyle said, "but also think about this, the kids went missing in broad daylight, right? That's what the mayor said."
Liam frowned. "So?"
"The demon still took them..." Kyle pressed, "...but when the police showed up the next morning? They found nothing. Like the demon also decided to hide."
Liam's lip curled. "Or more likely, the sun was up, you idiot. Demons get burnt during daytime."
Kyle bristled. "If the thing was hiding from light, it should've stayed hidden when the kids went in. But it didn't... it only played dead when authority showed up."
That stopped Liam. His jaw worked but no words came.
Cassie's eyes flicked between them, thoughtful. "Kyle may have a point. It didn't want the police missing because that would cause too much attention for them. So it took the type of people who wouldn't stir too many waves. And a demon clever enough to measure risks... might be too dangerous. "
"Exactly..." Kyle said, vindication in his voice.
Liam blew out a slow breath, shaking his head. "Tch. That still doesn't make you a genius."
Cassie's expression was sober. "No, it just means we need to be twice as careful when we go in. This isn't just a random demon, it knows how to cover its tracks."
The three of them walked on, Renstown's silence closing tighter around their shoulders and the outline of the hospital looming faintly against the northern horizon.