The Calder Estate (1/1 Bee and Avery)

Anxious yet eager, like a gambler waiting to see if their bet would make or break, Harvey rigidly watched as Klaus dug through his duffel. It was anticlimactic how nothing came of the letter. Harvey was almost disappointed, almost. With ease, he caught the ibuprofen and gave the bottle a perfunctory read. Nothing unexpected, nothing special. He shook a couple free and swallowed them dry. Taking a few unnecessary ibuprofen was a small price for continued dissemblance. That Klaus hadn't handed them to him, and that Harvey was now in possession of the bottle, was a bit miffing. Damn chairs all over.

Hearing Klaus emphasize his relation to Clara verified Harvey's earlier suspicion. He should have known that though. He should have got their public records. But glad just to have someone accompany him to Calder estate, Harvey hadn't bothered to investigate their backgrounds. He checked his phone. What signal he had appeared weak, a specious suggestion of outside communication. He assumed between that and Klaus's reluctance, Clara was out of contact to run small errands. A pity.

"I could have the majority set up while you shop then." Harvey suggested, knowing such would give him an ample opening to replace the letter and make up some pretense as to why it was creased to all hell. "Kill two birds with one stone that way, yeah? That is, if you can drive. My car is... superannuated, and can be rather temperamental, but I'm sure you'd get the hang of it."
 
Harvey checking his phone had Klaus pulling his own out of his pocket, pressing the power button on the side a few times but to little avail. The screen remained dark, lighting up to flash the ‘no battery’ symbol at him only when he held the button down for several seconds. He thought he had charged it before leaving that morning but it seemed that wasn’t the case. Most likely he’s just forgotten to shut it off before he’d left the store that morning. Either way it had him feeling more than a little disconnected.

“I can drive.” Klaus replied. "I guess that works. Should probably make a list of what you want me to pick up though. And look up where the nearest grocery store is, didn't see much on the way out here." There was a slight hesitation in his voice, one that somewhat came as a surprise to him.

As much as he wanted to jump at the chance to leave Calder Estate behind even if it was only for a short time, he worried about leaving Harvey alone in the mansion. If there had been anything to glean from his comment about the aspirin earlier it was that Harvey had an affinity for getting hurt, and that was after all the reason Klaus had agreed to come along. It was the reason he agreed to go along with any of the people that had contacted him or his sister. Do his best to keep them out of trouble and keep them from hurting themselves.
 
"Excellent." Harvey commented banally as he tried loading a map of the local area. It was sadistically slow, elevator music, canned orchestra, 'your call is important', 'you'll be connected soon', molasses slow. The quiet that swelled between them could fill the room and further. Tense and impatient, Harvey tired to break it, toeing thin ice.

"I imagine you eat like a horse." He sighed, still hating how perfect Klaus's hip to shoulder ratio was compared to his own. Damn genetics, and dietary habits, and smoking. Harvey imagined that developing a nicotine addiction when he was fifteen, to be edgy, had some effect. But Cat had liked it, and she- "You can pick whatever suits your fancy." he quickly talked over the memories daring to surface. "I'll just sustain on rice, or beans or whatever symbolizes human penury these days." Probably ramen noodles or cereal, but Harvey hoped Klaus would credit him with at least being able to boil water.

The page finished loading, or, more accurately, it said it couldn't. "We must be beyond range of the cell towers." he said with a vexed click of his tongue. "You'll just have to make do, google it once you see civilization again." Awkwardly, as though playing a game of operation, he gently pulled his keys out and tossed them in Klaus's general direction, followed by the ibuprofen as though part of a juggling act.
 
"Huh?" Klaus raised an eyebrow, glancing down at himself as if trying to figure out where that assumption had come from before looking back to Harvey. "Not really anymore. Used to, when I was a teen. Funnily enough running a shop doesn't burn as many calories as rugby." He joked, offering a shrug in response as he idly passed his phone from hand to hand. Though he had continued to play into his early twenties it had gotten more and more difficult to find a pickup game, most of the people he knew who played having moved on to more 'adult' things in their lives. The more he thought on it Klaus found that he really wasn't an acceptation to this, taking over the antiques shop from his grandparents had reserved most of his time, didn't mean he wasn't allowed to miss it though.

"Guess that'll have to work." Klaus replied, though his intention to say anything more was cut off as he had to quickly step to the side to catch the keys nearly tripping over a low ottoman in the process, Harvey's throw more than a little off the mark. The travel bottle of ibuprofen thankfully followed much the same arc, making it easier to catch even though he had to do it in his off hand, the right one currently holding the keys.

Klaus shoved the keys into his pocket and switched the pill bottle to his other hand, carefully stepping around the ottoman he had nearly tripped over so that he could put it back into his bag. Once that was done, both the zippers on the toiletries bag and his duffel zipped shut he stood, glancing between the main hall and Harvey before starting to make his way around the furniture. "I'll get going then, hopefully won't take too long."
 
Rugby. Harvey mulled over that word some, dredging the neglected nooks of his memory for any trivial knowledge. The was little to avail. But what he could recall were highlights of particularly brutal, athletic feats, broken noses, and men who could get away with wearing a spartan costume to a Halloween party. Arguable paragons of security and prime bodyguard candidates! Even if Klaus had only played casually and had likely softened with time, Harvey couldn't help feeling like he'd struck a bargain. Not many paranormal smoke alarms came supported with a bit of muscle. And what bit that was was still better than Harvey who never knew abs in his life and punched like a windsock.

"Nice catch." he commented casually, tone lacking any cynical affectations. He'd meant it, smiling inwardly. "Remember the driver's side door is stuck." Harvey began, listing warnings, voice ascending as Klaus walked farther from him. "Keep the receipt too, unless you intend to pay for all of it. And so help me, if you get lost..." He left his empty threat without elaboration as he quickly jerked the wadded letter from his pocket.

Furtively glancing between the hall and the paper, Harvey tried to smooth it against a coffee table into something other than abstract origami. By divine mercy, it hadn't smudged. Creases were still evident, but... maybe he could pretend dropping Klaus's bag down the stairs would cause such. Hell, he'd think of something. Getting it back in the duffel was paramount. Refolding it as best he could recall, Harvey crossed the great room to Klaus's bag. Again.
 
"I've got it!" Klaus called, the confirmation tossed over his shoulder as he passed through the entryway into the great room and back into the foyer. He slipped his phone back into his pocket as he walked, unless the battery magically came back when he got back into range for cell towers Harvey would have to be content to wait without any sort of progress updates. There was still the radio of course, currently hooked onto his belt, though the range on it was likely not far enough for it to be actually helpful in this situation.

Even before he had made his way down from the porch steps there looked as though there was something wrong with Harvey's car. The far side, the drivers side, seemed to dip downwards as though sitting on uneven ground or if the front right tire was sitting in a pothole. It was entirely possible that being higher up than the car had just given him a skewed perspective, or it would have been had the off angle not remained even after he had descended the last step onto the ground. There hadn't been any sort of noticeable dip before when they had parked, even when he had come back out to retrieve the second box, so what..?

A sinking feeling filled his gut as Klaus slowly walked around to the other side of the car. A memory came to him as he walked, a whole line of cars in a parking lot at the first high school he had went to each of them tilted to the same odd angle which had given them a comic fallen domino appearance. It had been a graduation prank, a group of grade 12 students had removed all the valve stem caps from the tires on the left side of each car in order to let the air out of them. Relatively harmless and an easy fix by the shop kids it had been a good joke. Right now though, looking at Harvey's car and the pathetically flat tire it was significantly less amusing.
 
With a quick zip, loud as rumbling thunder in the great room quiet, the letter was back where it belonged, only a little worse for wear. Harvey wished he were more relieved in knowing that, but he wasn't in the clear just yet. He needed a little extra staging to sell his story, if ever it was told. And so setting up his convoluted monitoring system would have to wait. Harvey grabbed his suitcase and Klaus's duffel, heading back to the foyer and up the stairs. By putting them in bedrooms, Harvey could choose his before Klaus had time to appraise them, and he'd have some sort of excuse for why the letter looked like crepe paper.

The light at the top of the stairs was soft as dust and just as grey, the same wood paneling of the foyer and great room could be seen covering the second floor walls. Fluid and uniform, like trees or prison bars densely packed together. Underfoot, the stairs stoically received his steps without a creak. Harvey recalled the owner saying none of the steps were flat, but subtly slanted, imperceptible to all human senses but the inner ear. He wondered if the floors were the same. Where would a marble lead if place on their surface?

At the top, Harvey cut right, away from the master and toward the matching bedrooms. The quiet of the house seemed to watch him, curious and territorial. On a whim, he chose the one to his left, the third bedroom, the blue room. A flick of the light switch revealed it worthy of such a title.

Everything was blue. The bedspread, the carpet, the wallpaper, the ceiling, the curtains. Everything resonated in intense, harmonious blue.

"Jesus." Harvey whispered. This was definitely Klaus's room. The wallpaper was a silvery, embossed damask print. Behind each floral sprig was a soft shadow of the outline, off-center and left, like a pale echo of something once there that had moved. It was tacky. And the ceiling was oppressively dark in contrast. It made the entire room feel small and growing smaller. The bed, though large, was half covered with decorative pillows. Lace trims, tassels, and needlepoint blue roses reminded Harvey of his grandmother's house. All stuffy and cute. Something fit for a porcelain doll. He tossed Klaus's bag at the foot on...

It was a palampore. The bed was covered with a palampore and it looked authentic, not some Antiques Roadshow, dimity reproduction bullshit. Harvey touched it, testing the thinness of its fabric. So delicate and faded, it depicted a flowering tree with cheerful birds and ghostly blue blooms. He wondered if Klaus could authenticate it. And also wondered if they could steal it, but first things first. He needed to set up.

That was when a door slammed. It sounded like it was the one to the blue room or across the hall, near enough that he felt a rush of wind. But when Harvey whipped around, nothing had changed.

"Klaus!" he yelled. Maybe he'd forgotten something.
 
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Though the front door had been left open the shout failed to reach him as Klaus walked around the car once. Twice. Three times. He couldn't find a single reason for the tire to be flat. The only logical way for it to have deflated this quickly was for it to have been slashed but there was still nothing. He wondered if Harvey had a spare. It hadn't looked like there was one in the trunk - unless there was a hatch on the floor that he had missed - and the car itself sat much too low to the ground for one to fit underneath. Either way, unless by some luck the Calders' had a full set of lug wrenches, a jack and a tire that would fit the car just laying around, they were going to need to call a tow-truck.

With a heavy sigh Klaus left the car and started back toward the mansion, he was going to have to tell Harvey about the flat tire. Hopefully he hadn't gotten too far setting things up just yet. Stepping through the threshold and into the foyer gave Klaus a pretty good look into the great room, which appeared to be... empty? His suspicions were confirmed as he made his way past the stairs and into the room itself. The boxes he had set on the table were still where he had left them, though both his duffel and Harvey's suitcase were gone along with the man himself.

"Hello?" Klaus raised his voice slightly, figuring that Harvey would be somewhere nearby as he walked through the great room. Maybe he'd just had to use the washroom? Or something? He walked back to the hall to look down it before heading back to the kitchen.

The moment he stepped across the invisible line that divided the great room from the kitchen the hag stone charm on his neck seemed to grow warm against his chest, vibrations starting out unnoticeable and growing in intensity the further into the kitchen that he walked. Instinctively Klaus put a hand to his chest where the charm sat under his shirt to confirm that it was actually reacting to... to something? The kitchen, while stylistically outdated, didn't appear to be anything but normal. There was no sign of the crawling black liquid he had seen in the fountain, but even still he couldn't help but feel that there was something wrong here hidden under the over encompassing normality.

Having found nothing in the kitchen Klaus started back toward the great room, opening one of the larger cupboards on a whim only to freeze in place, the hag stone vibrating fast enough it almost seemed to be humming.

The cupboard was stocked full of food.
 
No answer except palpable silence, like a lack of applause after a show, a joke that fell flat. Harvey had been expecting something despite knowing Klaus had left. He felt alone, but not for lack of company. The house had a presence, both ubiquitous and singular. It felt omniscient, lurking, and sadistically playful. Harvey couldn't describe it. He flipped off the blue room light and took his suitcase into the hall.

The door to the master bedroom was open. Its interior lay dark and beckoning. Come and see, come and see. Harvey could only stare, he didn't remember it being open when he brought the bags up. But... had he even bothered looking? He had immediately turned right, knowing he wanted to lodge Klaus into one of the other bedrooms. So it must have been. But, how could he have missed that insidious magnetism? That vacuous, perfect black beyond the door seemed to draw him. Come and see, come and see.

Harvey approach, not even bothering to look down into the foyer as he passed. He was too focused on the room, trying to make out the shapes of furniture, curtains, anything. He stopped a few feet before the door. A subtle scent of patchouli and stagnant water came from deeper in. Harvey checked the frame, hoping to find signs of warping, a reason for the door to swing free of its own accord. But he couldn't determine such. Maybe Klaus could.

That was the lie Harvey told himself as he set his luggage down and fished out his radio. Maybe Klaus could. But the truth was in his nerves, Harvey didn't want to be alone. Something felt off. If he were lucky, Klaus was still in range of the radio and could be reached. Just hearing another person's voice could rattle Harvey's bravado back into place. He clicked the radio on. Channel one was dead, as was channel two, but three was theirs. And so he tuned to it, nearly dropping the radio when music screamed across at him.

Harvey's knee-jerk reaction was to shut it off. The hall fell silent again. How the fuck could there be radio out here? They couldn't even access the cell tower! And that song... Harvey only heard it played in such a fashion once. Some late night show recording, a palpable barrier of time due to poor audio quality. It was on a mix tape-

He didn't want to think about. Harvey clicked the radio back on and it was silent. He flipped over the channels. Nothing. He glance into the room, then flipped to channel three again.

"Klaus are you still on the property?" Harvey asked, hoping Klaus's radio was on, and functioning, to hear him.
 
The cupboard was full of boxes and cans, all of the packaging stark white with black lettering describing what was supposedly inside of them. Much like a can of Coke that was reduced to a red label and the word 'cola' in order to avoid copyrights. It would have been almost comic if he'd come across it anywhere else, but finding it here was more unnerving than anything else. Not even to mention how much of it there was. The second cupboard that he opened yielded much the same, white boxes with black lettering. Though shoved to the back in this one there were several jars, their contents looking suspiciously gore-like in the shadows that clung to the back corners.

Curious, Klaus reached for one of the closest boxes. 'Dry Cereal' said the black lettering. Unassuming enough, though it brought about the thought of what 'wet cereal' might be like. Shaking the box didn't reveal much, a slight rustling, nothing out of the ordinary. Setting the box down on the counter top in front of him Klaus set to prying the box open, it didn't have any of the easy pull tabs or other normal cereal box openers which was odd, but-

Sudden static burst from the radio at his belt causing Klaus to jump, knocking over the cereal box on the counter. What sounded like heavily distorted words came through, though he had only been able to make out a few of them. His name had been one of them, or it had sounded that way at least. With the radio now silent in his hand Klaus flipped through channels, cycling them twice before settling back on three, the channel Harvey had claimed as theirs.

"Hello..?" Klaus asked, setting the box he had knocked over back upright. Not having gotten any immediate response he tried again, repeating the same hesitant 'hello?' only to have it spat back out at him. The echo had been his own voice but it had been mocking, as though whoever it was that had spoken knew something that didn't.

"Harvey was that you? This isn't funny."
 
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There was soft, hiccuping static in reply, like the crackle-pop of soap bubbles. Then it ascended, louder. Its pitch began to swell to a hurricane scream, and then it was actual screaming. Shrill like a throat constricting to the diameter of a straw. The peel of a firehouse siren. Or a child crying.

They were sixteen. Still kids.

Harvey recognized that voice as it dwindled to a hiccuping sob. "I fucking hate you." it murmured through static, spit and tears. "I hate you." And suddenly a maelstrom of sound swelled again, daring to break the radio. Static, shrieking, and the resonant thrum of a guitar riff Harvey had never wanted to hear ever again. Harsh, clawing noise grabbed him by the trachea and made it shudder like a pleading sob. Or was that just him? Was he about to cry?


With a click, the radio fell silent of its own volition. Harvey had been nonplussed, incapable of anything but letting that deleterious sound wash over him. Where had it come from? And fuck! He hadn't got a recording of it. Not that it was something that couldn't be dismissed as bullshit, but... part of him wanted to play it back, hear it until he became jaded and numb to its effects. So he could pick through it, and to know that it wasn't all in his head.

Harvey looked back into the master bedroom gloom. It was thinner now, the edges of furniture softly appeared from the shadows, as though diffident and curious now that the threat had passed. Harvey left his bag at the door and went downstairs. Whatever had been there had retreated from physical perception, perhaps lingering elsewhere in the estate. He needed to set up his supplies in case it re-manifested. And to keep his mind from replaying that night more than a decade ago.

About to turn into the great room, Harvey paused and looked out the foyer windows. His car was still there. "Klaus!" He yelled once more. Where was that psychic bastard?
 
What felt like minutes passed in silence and Klaus eventually gave upon the radio, though rather than attaching it back to his belt again he set it down on the counter giving it an extra push toward the back wall. Better to keep an eye on it.

Returning to the white box, Klaus managed to pry the cardboard open without destroying it too much in the process. 'Dry Cereal' had turned out to be an apt descriptor, little 'O' shaped pieces filled the box almost all the way to the top, sitting loose against the cardboard rather than in a sealed plastic bag. The lack of bag was confusing, but not as confusing as the cereal itself. It looked brand new, not that cereal could go bad per say, but it sure as hell could get old and this cereal didn't look stale. Slowly Klaus reached into the box, pinching a few of the O's between his fingers and applying pressure until they crumbled. Definitely not stale that was for sure. He was almost tempted to eat a few to further test it. Almost.

Rubbing his fingers to wipe the crumbs from them Klaus took a few steps back, as though to get a better look at the cereal box. All the while he had been handling the box the hag stone had been vibrating strongly, but now that he had taken a few steps back it seemed to taper off slightly though it never fell still.

"Haunted Cheerios." He commented to himself, taking another few experimental steps toward and away from the box. "Good job Klaus, I'm sure Harvey will be thrilled to know that the first 'ghost' you found was just a spooky cereal box. That's just-," a heavy sigh, "just awesome."

Something like descending footsteps caught his attention and Klaus half jogged back into the great room just in time to catch Harvey turn toward the foyer and yell his name, the open cereal box abandoned on the counter. Had Harvey been trying to get his attention this whole time? And what had he been doing upstairs, hadn't he said that he wanted to get the recording and monitoring equipment he'd brought set up as fast as possible?

"Hey- Hey! I'm over here. Did something happen?" He called, raising his voice as he maneuvered his way around furniture toward Harvey.
 
A response was possibly the last thing Harvey expected and it visibly startled him. He cursed softly to himself, reproving his nerves before moving to meet with Klaus at the edge of the great room. To be in the company of another person was relieving. Harvey never would have admitted it, but he was glad to see Klaus.

"I'd say it's obvious something happened." he said tersely in greeting. "You're still here, so something happened. Why aren't you out getting food?" Never mind that Harvey hadn't been doing what he said he would. Or how comfortably he fell back into his natural rhythm with Klaus. It was like Harvey had no confidence if there wasn't someone to prove it to. Without his facade, he was vulnerable. And the last thing he needed was to be alone with memories of Cat. That perfidious, lying bitch.

"And just to clarify." Harvey added in sudden remembrance. "I put our bags upstairs. Yours slipped, so I dropped it on the stairs. But! I didn't hear anything break. So it's good and safe in the blue room. Which is... very blue." And tacky, and stuffy, and stale. And just thinking of the lace made him itch. But at least it wasn't the master bedroom. Harvey couldn't help but form a presentiment that something was waiting in there, something that knew him.
 
"Thanks? I guess." Klaus replied, set off kilter from all of the information that had been just thrown at him to worry too much about one thing. It struck him as more than a little strange that Harvey had taken it upon himself to bring their bags upstairs, not to mention put them in rooms, when he hadn't bothered to help carry the boxes in from the car. Maybe he'd just wanted to claim the one he liked best first, not that Klaus would have disputed, stuff like deciding who got the bed closest to the window in a hotel room had never bothered him. As long as he had a bed it didn't matter where it was.

Clearing his throat Klaus threw a glance over his shoulder toward the kitchen then looked back to Harvey. "The uh, your car, it's got a flat. We're not getting anywhere with it like that." He reported, stepping around Harvey and walking into the foyer. "You can see it from here, notice the tilt." He raised a hand to point to the front of the car. It looked even more obvious from here, he could actually see how flat the tire-

Wait. That wasn't right.

He shouldn't have been able to see how flat the tire was, not when it was on the driver's side of the car, the side facing away from the estate. Klaus blinked several times as though to clear his vision but nothing changed, unless both of the front tires were deflated now the flat was on the passenger's side rather than the drivers.

Lowering his arm Klaus took a few steps back, remembering what else he had wanted to tell Harvey. "I found food in the kitchen though, lots of it. Jars and cans and boxes."
 
Following the general direction in which Klaus gestured, Harvey gave the car another perfunctory look. It appeared fine, as fine as a superannuated, rust-eaten car could be. What was Klaus talking about? Harvey scrutinized it more critically then, as though looking for a puzzle's solution or crime scene evidence. Nothing still. He had no idea what Klaus was going on about. The tires appeared functioning.

And that was because Harvey hadn't any intention of leaving, and needn't any reinforcement to stay. An illusion wasn't necessary to keep him. Especially with the discovery of food. Chalking up Klaus's claims as pretense to cover indolence, Harvey inquired about the viands mentioned.

"So, other than my car being a piece of shit, thank you for reminding me, what's this food nonsense?" he was tempted to bring up the aspirin previously mentioned, how any left around was likely stale if even extant. Food was likewise perishable. But Harvey refrained. "Jars, cans and boxes, aren't exactly edible by my standards. And if you think I'm going to sustain myself on eighty jars of 1940's pickles, you are sorely mistaken." Though he would if need be. Because Harvey wasn't about to send Klaus off property, no, not after what happened upstairs. He didn't like the idea of being alone in this house, or, more precisely, the only human in it.

Harvey began walking to the kitchen. "Show me."
 
Klaus made a face, crossing his arms over his chest as he shot another glance at the car though he didn't push the topic any further when Harvey brushed it off. He could already tell he was going to have to bite back an 'I told you so' later when Harvey decided to go out and check the car himself. Hopefully that wouldn't take too long, the sooner they called a tow truck the better, it would likely take more than a few hours for one to drive all the way out here.

Straightening his shoulders Klaus cleared his throat, glancing back toward the kitchen. "Didn't say that it was good food, just food." If that's even what it is he added to himself before continuing, "I found a box of cereal, unopened and not stale." Realizing how that sounded after he had spoken Klaus paused. What were they supposed to do with a box of cereal? Not to mention the way his hag stone had reacted to it. Silently he swore to himself that he was never going to tell Harvey about that, not until they were long done here at least and even then not unless he had to.

Following Harvey to the kitchen, Klaus lagged behind as they entered. There was a brief moment of relief when he saw the white box still there where he had left it, that faded quickly though. "See, cereal." He motioned to the open box. "I found the other boxes in the cupboards above. Didn't get the chance to check the pantry or go through anything else."
 
Ah, yes. Cereal! The ideal, minute-meal, budget-friendly food of bachelors, or those otherwise too lazy to cook. It wasn't unreasonable for a box of it to still be sitting around. The renovators could have left it. It wasn't as though it could rot, right? Harvey never had a box of cereal long enough to know if it were mold friendly. And a single box wasn't enough to compose the surfeit Klaus had claimed there to be. The estate was out of the way, in a rather bucolic place, but he doubted contractors came with a buffet of nonperishables.

Upon crossing into the kitchen, what first caught Harvey's attention wasn't the conspicuous white box of crunchy breakfast fare, but the difference in paneling. It was shiplap. Oddly modern. Or was it so old that it had come back into fashion? Never the less, the cabinetry, countertop and appliances were certainly dated. At least the stove would work even if the power went out, assuming they had a lighter between them.

Harvey took a look in the cereal box. "Where the fuck is the bag?" He immediately asked, face scrunching as though witnessing something contemptibly rude. The lack of plastic didn't make it unsanitary, but somehow it felt it. The lack of mascot, bold fonts, garish colors, or marketing blurbs was also disconcerting. Never in his life had Harvey so badly wanted to read an ingredients list as he did then.

"Suspicious-ass packaging." He mumbled to himself, opening a cupboard to have a look. There was an arguable plenitude on those shelves, more than enough to feed a family of four let alone... them. Did the owner have the place stocked in advance? Was this special order? Even Christmas gift baskets had nutritional labels.

"You mentioned a pantry." Harvey said, looking over his shoulder to Klaus. "We should see what's in there. It's across the hall, no?"
 
"It was like that when I opened it." Klaus replied with a shrug, watching as Harvey looked over the box taking note of the way his gaze paused on the side of it as though he were searching for something. "Seems kinda weird huh." He added. Whatever it was that was going on with the cereal box didn't seem to be affecting Harvey the same way it had affected him but it had enough of a presence that he was aware there was something off. Or it was just the strange packaging.

Klaus nodded in response and reached into his back pocket to pull out the floor plan map that he'd taken from Harvey's glove compartment when he had grabbed the radio. Folded in half a few times and a little crinkled he'd forgotten to give it back earlier. He smoothed it out against the leg of his jeans before taking a few steps closer and holding it out so that Harvey would be able to see it, pointing with his free hand to the small area labeled 'pantry'. "More or less across the hall. Kind of a strange spot for it but..." He held the map out for Harvey to take. There didn't seem like there was much about this house that wasn't strange, the clashing of exterior themes, the interior decoration, all forty of the overstuffed chairs in the great room. In keeping with the theme, having the pantry where it was, was perfectly normal. "Might as well."
 
And things would only get stranger with passing time.

Accepting the offered floor plan, Harvey gave it a perfunctory look, hoping to jog his memory, before identifying the pantry. There was a sort of butlers pantry before it that lead into the dining room, small and looking rather accessory in purpose. Odd. The location did feel atypical of modern home design, but Harvey couldn't say whether that was because he was nescient of mansion floor plans in general, or because Calder estate liked to collect and display its quirks, almost factitiously eccentric.

Harvey handed the paper back before closing the cupboard and leaving for the pantry. "I'm glad there's food," he began, thinking aloud as he crossed the hall and into the gloom of the butlers pantry, "But it's very forced. Like Alice coming upon the bottle that reads 'Drink Me'. It feels staged, and so I wonder," Harvey felt around for a light switch. "Is the pantry the same or barren?" He found the panel, flipped it, and yellow-muted florescence buzzed alight overhead, revealing the door to the pantry.

It had a turn-style deadbolt lock on it, and over the door was a transom window through which only black could be seen. Its sheer incongruity made it ominous. Harvey didn't move to open it. Instead he slipped out his phone. "Why don't you go in first?" He asked Klaus before elaborating in pretense, "I want to record this."
 
Klaus took the floor plan back, folding it once more and tucking it back into the same pocket. It was a useful thing to have, the floor plan, but even still he couldn't help but feel that it wasn't going to be as much help as it seemed which was disconcerting to say the least.

Following Harvey across the hall Klaus hung back outside of the room that lead toward the pantry, lingering in the threshold of the doorway. “You think someone set it up?” He asked, having to blink several times for his eyes to adjust to the sudden light. With the light turned on he could just see into the dining room, the dim light coming in from the windows casting dramatic shadows across the floor.

“What, why?” Eyebrows raised Klaus turned to look at Harvey when he spoke. He couldn't deny that he was curious to see if the pantry was as well stocked as the kitchen but that didn't mean that he thought it was a good idea to go poking around when there were bigger issues to address, the flat tire for example. Seeing few other options Klaus bit back a sigh, letting out a quiet; "sure, can do." He straightened up and took a few steps into the room to give the door a once over. It was strange how no light seemed to be able to permeate the window above it, though he supposed it wasn’t impossible for a small curtain to have been hung. The closer he got to the door the more uneasy he felt, though he couldn't sense anything specific there was a projected message of 'do not come near', seemingly without a definable source it hung heavy in the air.

"I'll open it but I'm not going to go in there." Klaus said, not leaving room for Harvey to argue as he reached for the handle, pointedly ignoring the growing sense of unease. Upon touching the handle of the door Klaus pulled his hand back as though he had been burned. His fingers tingled slightly where they had touched the door, the sudden surge of adrenaline that had resulted from the jolt having his heart beating rapid enough that he could feel it. Glancing back to Harvey he could only hope that he looked more composed than he felt. "I think it shocked me." He explained, rubbing his hand against the leg of his jeans as though that would make the feeling go away.
 
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