As soon as your friends come back into view, Anuja rushes off again towards town. It takes some effort not to lose her in the fog. She doesn't slow down until you're on a side street with several shops, none which seem to be open yet.
"Here," you say, indicating a small art gallery with lights on inside.
Without a word, Anuja marches on inside, everyone else following behind her.
Next
The gallery is standard for Arbor Isle. It's small, two rooms, and is geared towards tourists who want to pick up a pretty little painting of the local scenery to remember the town by. Maybe they'll hang it on the wall of their hallway in their suburban home so that as they pass by they can briefly think how idyllic life must be for the people who live there and how lucky they are to be there year round.
They have no idea.
"So, what happened? What did you see?" Diego asks Anuja, who is examining her wet and possibly broken camera. She's taken a seat on a bench under a painting of the sun rising over the water as boats sit peacefully in the foreground.
One of those boats look suspiciously like the one you found Anuja in.
"It attacked the boat," Anuja says. "I can't go back out there. It shook the whole thing. It nearly knocked it over. Whatever it was, it was strong. There may have been more than one of them. It sounded like more."
"Did you see it?" Kirill asks.
Anuja shakes her head. "Not clearly. I just saw movement in the fog, following me. Like the fog was gathering together to get denser. To take shape. I thought it was a person at first, but it kept changing, so I don't know. I don't think so. I'm glad I didn't see it up close. I never want to."
"So," Addy starts, and you can practically feel the others tense in anticipation of the upcoming skepticism. "If you didn't see who it was, it could have been anyone."
Anuja keeps her head lowered, but raises her eyes to Addy. "It wasn't a person, Addy. People don't move or sound like that."
"Look. You are clearly really shaken right now, and I don't think—" Addy begins, but Anuja shuts them down right away.
"Don't. Just don't, Addy, not right now. You weren't there. You didn't experience it."
"Yeah, let her talk," Diego says.
Shooting Diego a warning look, Addy folds their arms. "You know what? This was a bad idea, I never should have allowed it."
To your left, a woman coughs. You glance over to see her sitting behind the register, watching you all disapprovingly. She may actually own this gallery.
"Allowed it?" Diego asks, his volume rising. "Are you our leader now? When did that happen?"
"Excuse me," the woman says. "If you're not here for the art, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
"No, I can't go back out there," Anuja says. "Not yet. Not when it's like that outside."