The men of the ferry were working as everyone talked quietly amongst their groups. A man walked over to the end of the ferry and pressed a button and a ramp lowered. It pressed itself against the ferry and was meant for people and cars to get off the boat. The man walked over to everyone and told them they could leave.
They all started walking along the ferry until they made it to the ramp. Most got onto it without much thought, but the couple had a gripe with it. Adeline looked at the ramp with clear disdain.
She grabbed her husband's arm, "This is supposed to be our honeymoon, why couldn't we have just gone the normal way. You know, through the countryside, or we could've taken a blimp."
"I thought it'd be nicer. Come on, just give it a chance, please?" Marshall pleaded.
Adeline reluctantly nodded with a sigh as they slowly walked across the small ramp. The ramp was a large metal grate that she seemed wary of walking on, despite it being strong enough to lift large vehicles.
As they all walked across the ramp and onto the dock's road, the group of people began making their way to land. After a light walk, they finally reached Springvern Isle. On the island, there was a very subtle blanket of fog covering everything. Looking out, Leo could see lots of houses lined up with their houses lit up by some streetlights lining the sidewalks.
"Follow me." An older man said with a slight cough. Everybody looked over and found him resting on a bench. He got up and started walking away. This caused nearly everyone to look around in confusion. They just got here and now a random old man was telling them to follow them?
Leo, however, walked up to the man and asked, "Are you Bishop Miller?"
He paused for a moment and turned towards Leo. His appearance was unkempt, and he wore a large navy-blue wool overcoat. It was torn slightly around its edges, clearly showing its age. The old man had a dark grey beard that was only getting lighter in color.
"Aye, that be me. Bishop Miller, at yer service. I'm takin' you lot to the lighthouse over yonder." He lifted his arm and pointed to the large lighthouse on an elevated cliff face hovering over the rocks in the shallow water. It was the same lighthouse Leo had seen earlier and he thought it looked even more majestic up close.
"What for exactly?" Adeline questioned.
"Did yea' not even read our services? You get to stay at the lighthouse while waiting for teh ferry. It doesn't come at night, so you'll have to stay there until morning."
"Sweet gods above…" She muttered under her breath as she gripped the bridge of her nose in frustration. Marshall wrapped his arm around her shoulder and comforted her.
They began following Bishop as he walked towards the lighthouse with surprising speed for a man of his age. They all were pleasantly surprised when they made it to the lighthouse very quickly. Bishop went to unlock the door with three separate keys and held the door open for everyone to enter.
When entering, Leo looked at the door and saw three different types of locks. He looked at Bishop's keyring and saw the massive number of intricate keys. The locks themselves were also incredibly thick, making them hard to even flat-out break. Leo stayed by the door and studied the locks as everyone else entered.
"What do ye think yer doing?" Bishop asked with squinting eyes.
"Ah, sorry. I have an interest in locks. I enjoy their…" Leo paused to find the right words, "Inner workings."
Bishop's face grew suspicious, "Just get inside."
Leo smiled and obliged. Everybody walked further into the cramped lighthouse. Leo looked at all the stuff adorning the walls with interest. Bishop gave everyone a tour of the lighthouse and then they finally arrived at the sleeping quarters.
In the small room was a total of nine cots with small blankets on them and a single pillow each. Doe squad was perfectly fine with this as they began making their way over to the cots. They sat on them without much fanfare. Vera and Hugo made their way to the cots as well, Vera began inspecting at them, most likely for bedbugs. Hugo watched her with a very curious face as he had never seen a cot before.
Marshall looked over at Bishop and asked, "You don't have any normal rooms?"
"Not unless ye want to sleep with me." Bishop chuckled and gave a grin that was missing a few teeth.
Marshall's face showed disgust for just a moment before he turned away. With a sigh he asked, "Is there any lodging in the town?"
"Don't you go out there! Especially not at night!" Bishop snapped. "This island, its cursed I tell yea'. The voices, ohhh, the voices… They taunt me and taunt me with their whispers. I'll not let ye fall to lunacy for your foolish comfort! I've already made that mistake once before and I've never forgiven myself!"
"Just stop. Is there any lodging or isn't there?"
"You damnable fools, did I not just say you mustn't leave at night?!"
"I don't care! Is there or isn't there!"
"No! There isn't! All the inns close at night if there are no customers. No visitors mean they're not open. There was nobody staying since before the sun set, so they closed early!"
"You didn't even tell them we were coming? I thought you were supposed to handle all of that!" Marshall yelled.
"Everybody stop." Leo exclaimed in annoyance from his cot, he looked over at Marshall, "Just stay here tonight, we're leaving tomorrow, remember? You said it was your honeymoon, why not be a little adventurous. It's not every day you get to stay in a lighthouse." Leo convinced him with passion and vigor… so he'd shut up.
Marshall hesitated, but eventually nodded. Everybody started getting ready for bed when Leo noticed Bishop standing near a window, staring at it. He wasn't staring out of it; he was staring AT it. Leo walked over to him.
"It's getting worse." Leo heard Bishop mutter.
Leo's eyes narrowed as he asked, "What's getting worse?"
Bishop turned and looked at Leo with startled eyes. A moment later, he waved Leo over. Leo walked to him and stood next to the old man. The man inspected Leo before whispering to Leo.
"The smell. It prevails on this island, growing worse by the day. You can't trust anybody you meet; they'll snatch you right up!"
Leo heard his statement in its entirety, but his focus narrowed onto the first part, "The smell?"
"It's better you don't know. I know ye think me mad, but I'm trying my best. All you folks comin' to this island, you're just feeding them!"
"What do you mean?"
"…To be honest, I don't rightfully know. It comes to me in faint whispers. It wasn't like this when I first came to this island as a young lad. I was repenting for my sin, and this seemed a good a place as any. And it was…" There was a certain longing in his voice.
He continued, "But, not to long ago, this place changed." He looked at Leo directly in his eyes and pleaded, "Leave this place tomorrow! Leave it and don't ever come back!"
Leo's mind worked rapidly, coming up with different scenarios to explain the situation before him. Eventually, he just decided to nod to the old man. It was the least he could do, and he had to leave to do a mission anyway.
Leo separated himself from the old man and washed himself in the bathroom before heading to bed. As he sat in the cot, he couldn't help but think about the old man. He tried to decipher Bishop's muttering but found himself lacking in information to do so. With a sigh, Leo closed his eyes and went to sleep.
Hours later, he shot up in his cot and looked around the room. He was covered in a small layer of sweat and his hand went over to his bell. He clutched the cold bell and relaxed. Another nightmare.
It wasn't uncommon for Leo. But every time he had one, the bell always managed to calm him down. Leo swept his slightly damp hair back and looked around the room. Everyone else was still sleeping in their cots and the sky outside was a dull grey.
Leo swept his legs out from underneath the light blanket and stood up. He made his way out of the room and made his way to the bathroom.
Before he entered it, he noticed Bishop sitting all alone staring once more at the window and not out of it. Leo, of course, didn't know this, he thought Bishop was just looking out towards the sea.
Leo decided against entering the restroom for the moment and looked towards the man. He began studying his figure in silence. That's when Bishop turned and jumped slightly.
"Aye! What're doing creepin' up on an old man? You're going teh give me a heart attack!"
"Sorry sir, I was just about to take a shower when I saw you sitting by the window, it seemed peaceful." Leo apologized and went into the bathroom.
He came out a little while later and the interior of the lighthouse was dyed a beautiful orange as the rising sun filled the rooms with light. He looked around and saw Vera and Hugo eating. He continued looking around the lighthouse when Vera called him over.
"Ah, Mathias, excuse me!"
Leo looked at her.
"Your friends asked me to tell you they were heading out. They said they wanted to see the town before the ferry arrived. They left just a moment ago, so it'd be easy to catch up with them."
"I see, thank you." Leo sighed and began making his way to the door. He reached over to open it when he heard Bishop from behind him.
"Here I was, thinking you'd listen to reason. Look, just stay here until the ferry comes." Bishop said with a sad voice.
"Don't worry, I was just going to call my friends back."
"Good! Don't linger in that town any longer than you need to." Bishop pointed his finger sternly at Leo.
Leo opened the door and quickly made his way outside. The town without the fog looked great, the morning's orange light made it look even nicer in Leo's opinion. But he did feel something was off. He felt there was a truth to Bishop's words, and he wanted to leave as soon as possible. Bishop could of course, be insane, but Leo thought it better to err on the side of caution.
He walked down the hill that the lighthouse rested upon and quickly found Andrew, Faust, and Luke walking along the road. Leo whistled to get their attention.
They turned and stopped, waiting for him to catch up. They were confused however when Leo motioned for them to head over to him. But they did so anyway, slowly backtracking up the hill.
"What is it?" Andrew asked.
"We're staying in the lighthouse until the ferry arrives." Leo explained. Andrew and Luke didn't seem all that effected by it as they just shrugged.
"Really? I was hoping to explore a bit." Faust complained.
"Yeah, don't worry, we can explore a bit in Mixilo instead."
Faust nodded with a resigned face, and they began making their way back to the lighthouse. They all trusted Leo's judgement and even if they didn't, it didn't matter as he was still their leader.
They entered the lighthouse and Leo gave a slight nod towards Bishop who was waiting for Leo to come back. He smiled when he heard a radio on the counter start to make noise.
He went over towards it and heard a voice, "Hey Old Man Miller, you there?"
Bishop groaned slightly at the nickname but picked up the mic and spoke, "Yeah, I'm reading ya."
"There's a storm coming your way, I can't come today, it's a big one. It's gonna last a few days and it's gonna get heavy down there. You're gonna need to hunker down with everyone. It'll be there around today or tomorrow. Probably tomorrow, but I don't trust myself going over there right now."
"What? How big's this storm then?" Bishop asked into the mic with a worried expression.
"When I said big, I meant it. It's massive, I don't really see an end to it on the radar. The forecast says it'll be equivalent to a goddamn category four hurricane. So seriously, hunker down with everyone. Did Eli bring over any supplies?"
Eli was the captain of the previous ferry.
"No, not this time. I'm starting to run low, so I was going to ask you to bring some over."
"Well, shit. I know you're gonna say no, but why don't you run into town to grab some supplies."
"I ain't gonna do that!" Bishop yelled.
"You've got nine people to take care of, you better make sure they've got enough to eat or boss'll have your neck! No, scratch that, I'll have your neck because boss'll chew me out too!"
"Goddamn it! Fine!" Bishop yelled as he slammed the radio back. He looked around and saw Leo. He waved him over with an angry expression.
"Look, ye look smart and you listened to me. Could ya go into town and fetch some imported stuff? Make sure it's not from the island, it needs to be imported!" He tried to whisper but his temper made it more akin to a yell.
"Okay, I can do that." Leo nodded. He began to leave with the rest of Doe squad and when they were outside, Faust looked at him with puppy eyes.
"So can we explore the town a bit now?" He asked with a large smile.
"Fine." Leo said with a tired sigh.