Chapter Text
The fog of last night had cleared up when Trinity Bales woke up that morning, the screeching of a raven in her open window her only pull to the real world out of a quiet unconsciousness. No calling from her mom, no conversation from downstairs. She tucked one beaded braid behind her ear and glanced over at her alarm clock.
It was almost 8am. Trinity jumped, throwing herself out of bed as she stumbled for her dresser. Ten minutes to get ready, leave and be at school before she would get in trouble for tardiness. Why hadn't her mom called her? Had her parents slept in? Had they needed to leave? (For what? Mom worked from home, and Dad had no job.)
"Mom?" She called as she struggled to tear off her pajama top and replace it with one of the white button-down shirts her mother insisted on ironing every weekend. "Mom, I'm late! Can you drive me to school?"
Nothing. She pulled on a plaid-print skirt and some black tights and tried again, but if Mom was going to drive her, and especially if she still had to walk, she had to be ready.
"Mom, I'm late!"
No response. Brushing out the creases in her skirt, she hurried down the stairs.
"MOM?"
The kitchen was empty. No Mom complaining about that one coworker of hers, no Dad humming to himself as he worked his way through breakfast.
Trinity frowned.
"...Mom?"
The whole house was empty, actually. As she glanced around, she couldn't find even a single sign of life on the first floor of the house, and there was certainly no noise from upstairs.
Okay. That was fine. She just needed to get her phone, and she could call her mom. Maybe there was some kind of explanation- some reason that the house had been left abandoned and Trinity sleeping in upstairs. Once she got ahold of her parents, she could ask.
She nearly tripped over herself going back up the stairs for her phone, she couldn't help it- she was completely thrown off her rhythm. At least one thing was still in place, that being her phone on her nightstand right below her open window, and...
Had she left her window open last night?
She wasn't sure, even as she shut it now. So much had happened last night, between Nicky's rescue and the crow-faced creep she'd found in her bedroom later that night, that maybe closing her window had been the last of her worries. But nothing had been stolen, and there was no way that creep who'd gotten in did so through the window, so there was no harm in it, as long as Mom didn't find out.
Which it didn't seem like she was going to.
As she hurried back down the stairs, she dialed her mom's number, once again nearly tripping over herself down the stairs- which would've been much more catastrophic- and waited.
She heard the phone ringing through her speaker, and then from down the hall.
Carefully, she stepped into the office.
"Mom, are you there?"
The room was empty, save only for the vibrating phone on Mom's standing desk, and a piece of paper beneath it with Trinity's name written on the top. Some sort of a note to her, maybe? When she was young and Mom and Dad still worked outside of home, sometimes she would come home to notes like this stuck to the fridge with magnets. Maybe Mom just forgot to remove the note from her desk and left in a hurry. Maybe...
She disconnected the call, ignoring the missed call notification on Mom's phone, and pulled the paper out.
You won't find them where you're looking, it read. Keep your nose out of this one- I'll know if you don't. You're not alone, even when you think you are.
Lose the coin, lose your life.
GAAP
Trinity's stomach sank.
Taped to the paper was a small golden coin.
She knew immediately who had sent the note- the same creepy crow-faced figure she'd seen sneaking around her house last night. She wasn't alone then, even when she thought she was. Who was even to say she was alone now?
She whipped around, as if about to confront a figure, that, of course, wasn't there.
Get it together, Trinity, she scolded herself.
Hands beginning to shake, Trinity stuck the coin in her skirt pocket, and started to dial another number into the phone.
"You've reached Raven Brooks Middle School," A familiar voice over the other end started. "This is Valeria Abanante, how can I help you?"
"Hi, Principal Abanante. This is Trinity, uh, Trinity Bales... I'll be a bit late to school today."
"You already are," Principal Abanante remarked.
"What I mean is that I've got... a bit of a family emergency right now. I don't know if I'll be able to come in."
She could practically hear Abanante frown. "A family emergency? Can I talk to your parents?"
Trinity grimaced.
"That's the thing."
A few people were staring when she stepped into the outdoor cafeteria at about noon that day, hair barely brushed, shoes barely tied, blue jacket hanging off one shoulder. Most were unbothered, some seemed suspicious- and then there was Enzo.
"Trinity!"
He gave her a red-faced smile and waved her over, but his expression turned from enthusiastic excitement to sympathetic concern when he took in her expression. She blinked and shook her head, making her way toward the table; she hadn't realized she looked that bad.
"Hey." She smiled to Enzo as she sat down.
"So, as I was saying," Ivan started, with very little acknowledgement to Trinity's presence, "If they're really considering a science fair, it should at least be extra credit if it's optional. Otherwise, what do they gain from it? It's not spreading an interest in science to anyone- no one who's not already interested will join!"
Enzo frowned. "How do you know about all this?"
"My dad's on the school board." Ivan said it rather proudly, as if it was his accomplishment and not more so his dad's.
Trinity looked around.
"Where's Nicky?" She asked.
"He stayed home today. Where were you for the past four hours?" Maritza returned.
"Home," Trinity sighed. "Something weird happened."
Weird was maybe a good way to describe the looks the others gave her.
"Man, are you really getting dragged into some new mystery?" Maritza scoffed. "We just put Nicky's whole Peterson thing to bed."
"It's not just some new mystery, okay? It-"
Trinity sighed again.
"It's nothing," she conceded in a somewhat condescending tone. "I'm just worried about my parents who have been missing for thirteen hours, that's all."
Maritza's brow furrowed. "Your parents?"
Trinity nodded. "They- or whoever took them- they left a note for me addressed from the old amusement park. They said I won't find my parents where I'm looking. I don't assume they'll be there, though, either."
Enzo nodded slowly, seemingly deep in thought. "Too obvious. If they wanted to keep you from knowing where they were, they wouldn't address a note to you from their location."
"Enzo," Maritza warned. "You're not getting involved."
"I can handle helping out a friend."
"And get yourself killed?"
"I can take care of myself, Enzo," Trinity said, accompanied with a gentle smile so it didn't sound too harsh. "Thanks."
"See?"
"Just- let me know if you change your mind!" Enzo grinned awkwardly. "I can help with anything you need help with!"
(Trinity made a mental note to maybe take Enzo up on that offer once Maritza wasn't at their throats about it.)
When Trinity's parents still hadn't returned that night, she made another call. It took a few tries before Nicky picked up, but Trinity was persistent.
"Hey." Nicky sounded almost just as tired as he had last night, and that made Trinity wince with guilt over her plan to ask him to immediately go running off with her again.
"How are you?" She asked.
Nicky mumbled something she couldn't make out. "Tired," he replied. "What's up?"
"Look... something weird is happening, and I thought you might know something about it. Well-" She stopped- that sounded too much like an accusation. "I mean, I haven't... seen my parents in a while. I think something happened to them, and I was just wondering if you remembered... those golden apple coins? In the house?"
"Yeah?" Nicky's voice rose a bit, which certainly didn't make Trinity feel any more secure about her situation.
"Someone left me one." She rotated the coin between her fingers. "From the old amusement park. Can you meet me there? I'm gonna need your help."