Izzy

"You sure the video's pulled?" Izzy asked as Caleb navigated the gray Camry off the highway.

He stopped at the end of the off-ramp and took a right down the hill. "Pretty sure. I mean, I wouldn't know if James had a backup somewhere, but I pulled it from the site."

"How many people saw it?"

"It only had a couple dozen views or so. From the comments, they seemed to think it was a prank. A couple of them were pissed."

Brie popped her head in between them from the backseat. "So you're, like, a hacker? I had no idea."

"I'm not a hacker," Caleb said, turning onto the river road. "I simply used my computer skills to get into his account and remove the video."

"Sounds a lot like hacking to me, bro" Brie said, leaning back. She tried to open the window, but it was locked. She clicked the button back and forth a few times. "Good thing he didn't have too many subscribers. That'll help keep it on the down low."

"I think he had a lot more than that, but the live stream was in the middle of the night and just for their Patreon. He was supposed to repost it later," Izzy said.

Brie popped between them again and began fiddling with the vents. "Does this AC go up any higher? I'm burning up back here."

"That's as high as it goes," Caleb said.

"Is that a CD player?" Brie said, turning it on. "How old is this car anyway?" The White Stripes came pounding through the speakers.

"2003," he said, batting her hand away from the dashboard and turning the music off. "Did you finish the math review?"

"Mostly," she said, rolling her eyes and slumping back. As they drove along the river, the building shifted from restaurants and art galleries to bars and industrial buildings. "I think we're almost there anyway."

"How do you know she's gonna be here?" Izzy asked as Caleb pulled into a large parking lot.

"She practically lives here."

Brie jumped out of the car and stretched her arms, checking out the sign hanging over the double glass doors. "Rock On: Adventure and Climbing Gym. The name's a bit cringe."

"I think one of the owners was in a band or something," Caleb said as he and Izzy got out. He locked the Camry and they walked toward the electric blue and green building.

"I never even realized this place existed. Like, how did I miss it?" Izzy said.

He snorted. "Unless you frequent this part of town, it'd be easy enough to miss."

"I guess." Izzy glanced at Caleb. In the bright sunlight, his bruises were more obvious. He'd told everyone he crashed his bike on the way home in the dark the night before, hitting something hidden in the road. Despite the heat, he'd worn a baggy long-sleeved shirt and jeans today, but there was no way to cover up the scratch that ran down the side of his head and the nasty bruise that formed around it.

They passed through the doors into a reception area. A college-aged guy looked up from a laptop at the front desk. He was tan, wearing a fitted t-shirt with a picture of a guitar over a mountain that showed off his buff, lean physique. His nametag read: Travis.

"Welcome to Rock On! Ready to get pumped?"

"We're just looking for a friend," Caleb said.

"Sorry, bro. We can't just share the private information of our clients."

"We're here to meet her," Brie piped up.

Izzy looked at the pricing board behind Travis helplessly. Rock climbing, personal training, "Ropes Course! We're gonna do the ropes course with her."

Travis swung a critical look at Izzy. She wore a tight pink polo shirt, short yellow skirt, and cream wedge sandals. She shifted her weight uncomfortably as she searched for something to say.

"She's got our gym clothes. That's why we're here to meet her," Brie continued.

"She's got all your clothes?" Travis asked.

"Just hers," Brie said, draping an arm around Izzy. Brie lived in athleisure, currently in a mint-colored t-shirt and black leggings with Adidas. She was good.

Travis studied Caleb's bruise. "Maybe you shouldn't chance it. Looks like you've already had a spill."

"I'm just here for moral support. My girlfriend is afraid of heights," Caleb said, gesturing to Izzy. Her eyes widened while Brie stifled a laugh.

Travis turned his attention back to Izzy. "You can't wear those shoes on the zipline."

"My friend's got my sneakers, too." Izzy said, shrugging Brie's arm off and straightening up. She looked Travis in the eye.

He shook his head. "Whatever. It's 47 bucks each, plus tax, and you gotta sign this waiver."

The girls quickly paid and scribbled their names on the form.

Travis handed over their passes. "These are good for two hours."

"Well that was unnecessarily complicated," Brie said, shoving the glass door to the main gym open with her shoulder.

Rock music blared through the speakers over the din in the room. Climbing walls of various sizes dominated one side of the building, the largest section about 50 to 60 high. The other side of the gym held a ninja training obstacle course. Along the wall's far side was an area with regular gym equipment like workout machines and weights.

"Um, sorry about the girlfriend comment. It was the first thing I thought of," Caleb said, sliding his thumb back and forth over a keychain disk with a digitized picture of a skull and crossbones.

"Wonder why?" Brie asked innocently, popping a piece of gum in her mouth.

He ignored her. "I can split the cost of the ropes course with you."

"Don't worry about it," Izzy said, playing with the ends of her hair. "It was quick thinking. Anyway, it gives me a cover story for my parents. Let's just find your friend and get out of here."

"Yeah, sure," Caleb said, scanning the room.

Brie leaned toward Izzy. "He didn't offer to pay for my pass," she whispered.

Izzy shot a glance at Caleb, but she didn't think he heard since the music kicked up.

"By the way, you still dating Burns?"

"Huh?"

"Burns? You guys still dating?"

"Oh. Uh, no." With everything going on. Izzy realized she hadn't thought about him at all over the past couple of days. Almost 18 months they'd dated, and the jerk had the nerve to break up with her by text. Burns could have called, at least, but 'texting was less messy and better for everyone." 'Everyone' meaning him. Friends warned her he'd do it as soon as he left for college, and they were right. In fact, a lot of her friends had left for college, leaving her feeling adrift this year at school. His friends were her friends... except it turned out they weren't. She didn't even get the occasional Snap from them.

Now he was partying and living it up while she'd been moping around and stuck in the house for the past couple of months. It's not like he was the love of her life or anything, but it still hurt. The ghost hunting was supposed to be a distraction from all that. Something that had nothing to do with anyone at school, and had no connection to Burns. That part worked at least. She hadn't been thinking about him at all. "We broke up a couple months ago."

"What?" Brie asked.

"We broke up a couple of months ago!" Izzy yelled as the music cut out.

Caleb turned around and stared at them.

"Girl talk. Don't worry about us!" Brie said brightly, waving him away. "Just find your friend."

"I don't see her here, so she's probably outside. Let's go!" he shouted as the music started back up.

Brie bobbed her head to the beat. "This place is actually kind of dope." They pushed through the back doors, and Izzy immediately jumped back as an elementary school kid came barreling at her on a mountain bike.

"Sorry!" he yelled as he zipped back to the dirt bike course.

Caleb touched Izzy's elbow and pointed at a girl off to the right. "There she is."

Izzy and Brie turned to see a girl in black micro shorts and a stretchy red halter-neck crop top, which showed off a tattoo of the man from The Scream on her left shoulder. Her dirty blonde hair was long and straight on one side, and sheared to a crossfade on the other. She stood at the front of a crowd of people surrounding a wooden ax-throwing area, leaning one hand on the hilt of an ax.

"That's Ren."

"You're joking," Izzy said.

"Unfortunately, no," he said.

Izzy watched as Ren abruptly spun around and walked up a lane, stopping behind the red line that crossed the mulch. Ren lifted the throwing ax and looked at the target. She aimed, brought the hilt back, and threw. The ax flew forward, hitting the target dead center. She raised her arms in victory and several people cheered as she dropped into a sweeping bow. Another girl walked around and collected money in a climbing helmet while Ren posed for a picture.

"Are they betting on her?" Izzy asked.

Caleb sighed. "Let's just see if she's interested."

As the crowd dispersed, Ren helped pass throwing axes around, one for each station. She looked up as she dropped off the last one and noticed them approaching.

"Caleb!" She ran over and launched herself at Caleb, wrapping her arms around him in a giant hug. He winced and stiffly embraced her back until she released him. "It's been a minute! What's up?" She rocked back on her heels. " Woah! What happened to your face?! Fight club?"

"Something like that." He rubbed the back of his head. "Hey, I want you to meet my friends, Izzy and Brie."

"Right. We don't talk about fight club." She turned her attention to the other girls. "Any friend of Caleb's a friend of mine," she said, putting her hand up for a high five.

"Hey," said Izzy, slapping her hand weakly.

"Nice tat!" Brie said with a hard slap.

"Thanks! I just got inked like 3 months ago."

"So it's real?"

"Course! I don't do anything halfway," Ren said. "I assume you didn't bring your crew here for a meet and greet. You guys here for bouldering or ax throwin' or something?" She trailed off as she looked at Izzy's outfit.

"Actually, we came to ask for your help with something."

"Really? Must be serious to come in person. Hold up a sec." She jogged back to the ax throwing area, stuffing the money from the climbing helmet into a nylon crossbody bag. She zipped it up, throwing it over her head and cinching it tight across her chest. Before rejoining them, she grabbed another employee wearing a Rock On t-shirt.

"Okay, I told Jenna I need a few minutes." She jerked her head at an empty picnic table area under a group of trees. "We can talk over there."

"It's going to take more than a few minutes," Caleb said.

𓄿𓄿𓄿

A half-hour later, they'd given her the full overview. Most of it, anyway. They were light on the details of exactly who was missing, and they didn't mention the live stream. Caleb had told them not to earlier, though he didn't say why. The reason didn't matter. At this point, Izzy was getting increasingly uncomfortable that they'd told Ren anything at all.

"So," Ren said, leaning forward and taking a swig of an energy drink. "What do you need from me?"

"We, uh, we could use certain skills you possess," Caleb said

"Breaking and entering, huh? I should have guessed."

"We need to get back into the building," Izzy said.

"The abandoned hospital? You're going back in?"

"Yeah," Caleb said. "We need to do it quietly because the building is under surveillance. I'm warning you this may be risky, so you should think it over carefully-"

"I'll do it."

"You will? just like that?"

"Just like that," she said, tipping the can back.

"Without any questions? You don't even want to think about it?" he asked.

"Are we trying to talk her into this or not, Caleb? I'm confused here," Brie said.

"I thought she'd at least try to extort some money out of us or something."

"Caleb!" Brie said.

"Yeah, are you trying to give her ideas?" Izzy asked.

"No need. I've already got them." Ren studied Caleb for a moment. "I owe you, and I've wanted to check that place out anyway. This one's on me."

"It's going to be dangerous," Izzy said.

"Why do you think I'm interested?" Ren replied, standing up. "Got to get back to it. When we meeting?

"Friday night at 11?" Izzy said.

"I'm in," Brie said.

Izzy looked at Caleb and he nodded. "Friday night works for me."

"Sharp. Gives me time to prep," Ren said, rubbing her palms together.

"What do you need to prep?" Brie asked.

"Don't worry about it," she said, pulling out her phone. "Here's my contact." As the girls swapped numbers, Caleb stood up and looked around.

"What?" Izzy said.

"My keys. I must have dropped them?" He began searching the grass before suddenly jolting upright. "Wait a minute! Ren!"

Ren was halfway to the ax-throwing lanes, but she turned around with a sly grin.

"Took you long enough." She dipped her fingers into the small crossbody bag and fished out the keys. Holding it by the skull keychain, she flung them at Caleb. He dodged to the side as they bounced off the table. "See y'all on Friday!" she called over her shoulder.

Izzy stared at Ren's retreating back while Caleb fetched the keys.

"She seems nice," Brie said.