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Back into the woods we go! Ho Ho Ho!

Nothing more was seen of the strange man the next day, and Bea had almost gotten over her worry about him. However, it was replaced with her worry about going back into the mine. After work they met Gregg and Angus at the Party Barn as usual.

"Guys," Bea said as she stepped into the big room, "I think we need to talk."

"What's up Bea?" Angus asked while Gregg set down his guitar.

There were no seats in the abandoned store, so they all sat side-by-side on the "stage", including Germ.

"Tell them, Mae."

"Well... I had a dream. A nightmare actually. About Casey. And the mine."

"I had one too, a few months ago," Gregg confided. "I guess we all know we have to go back, right?"

"Me too?" Germ asked.

"Not if you don't want to," Bea assured him. "But... we could use your help."

"No! I want to go! I..."

Angus interrupted, "Bea, this isn't like you. You're the level-headed one here. What's happened? Why on earth would you encourage this?"

"Because we have to, Angus. The way I see it, we have only two choices. Either we tell the cops everything - including about the dynamite and the sacrifices - or we take the responsibility on ourselves. If we find them... the bodies I mean... down there, then we can just come back and report it. But I think we have to do something. Nobody's doing anything about it anymore, and the more time that passes, the less anyone will care. We've got to do something. For Casey if no one else."

"For Casey," Gregg agreed, unusually somber.

Bea continued, mostly to Angus, but also knowing she was trying to convince herself that this was a good idea. It obviously wasn't. It was a horrible idea. But the alternative...

"...or we could tell Aunt Molly everything."

"The dynamite..." Angus paused. "We... kinda killed them, didn't we?"

"Kinda," Bea agreed.

Angus began speaking then.

"We can't just leave Casey and the other sacrifices down there. Really, we can't. If the whole truth comes out, including the dynamite, I don't know where we'll stand legally speaking. And I'm sorry Mae, but I don't believe in ghosts. I don't think Casey was speaking to you from beyond the grave to find and bury his body. But I do think you and every one of us has a conscience that won't let things lie as-is. The nightmares are just a manifestation of that."

"You've had them too?" Gregg asked, looking worried.

"Yeah. Not quite the same, but it's been weighing on my mind too. But it'll be dangerous."

"And what about the Black Goat?" Germ asked, looking at Mae.

Angus continued, "I don't believe in the Black Goat either. But those cultists did..."

Mae interrupted, "The Black Goat was real. But it's gone now."

"Either way," Angus continued, "that's one less worry - real or not, it's gone. There's been no more missing people either, so the cult is either all dead, or gone quiet at the very least. So I don't think there's any danger from them either. But, it's still an abandoned, collapsed mine. And we aren't cave explorers..."

Germ coughed, but didn't elaborate. The space was quiet for a moment.

"Doesn't matter," Gregg spoke up. "We have to try."

"Yeah," Bea agreed. "We kinda do. Okay, so we're all for doing this?"

All heads nodded.

"Alright then. Tomorrow is Equinox Day, and the Pickaxe is closed anyway. So... tomorrow?"

Everyone agreed.

"But you can't go down the well," Germ added. "It's sealed completely. Nowhere to go. I've been down there. There are other entrances, but I've got no map, and you need a map down there to know where you're going. I guess we have to go back in through the main entrance, like you guys did at first. And like the cops did."

"Well, we know they got to the cultists' bodies. So there's got to be a way that far. And the Hole was right there," Gregg suggested.

"What about flashlights, ropes, gear?" Angus asked, and all eyes turned to Germ.

The bird didn't smile - beaks don't move that way - but the smile in his eyes was as obvious as any conventional smile.

"Gotcha covered."

"Thanks Germ," Bea said, sincerely. "You're the man."

He shrugged off the complement. "But we're probably going to need a lot of rope if that hole is as deep as you think it is. I have a lot, but it's pretty heavy carrying that much. And pretty obvious."

"Hey! How about if we all camp out in the woods tonight?" Gregg said, getting a bit animated again. "It'll be fun! We've got a big tent!"

"Well, it would let us get all the gear out to near the entrance without being noticed," Germ suggested.

"Okay," Bea nodded. "But it's getting late and we need to get set up before dark. Let me go tell my Dad and I'll drive us all over to Germ's house.

"And I've gotta go tell Mom and Dad," Mae said, heading towards the door. "I'll be back in like fifteen minutes."

"Me too," Bea said, and left the Party Barn. "See you all back behind the Ol' Pickaxe, by the car in just a little bit."

"ADVENTURE!!!" she heard Gregg cry as she squeezed through the Party Barn's door. That, more than anything else, worried her.

It was really a half hour later when she stepped into the alley behind the Pickaxe with a bag of hastily gathered overnight gear. Everyone was there but Mae, and Angus stood beside a rather impressively tall bag that she assumed was their tent, though the tent wouldn't fit in the trunk and had to sit across the back seat on their laps and poke out the side window. But they were all piled in and Mae came around the corner, taking shotgun beside Bea.

"This is gonna be fun!" she laughed. "Got the whole gang together!"

Bea sighed, but the good feelings were contagious.

Germ suggested, "Stop by my house and I'll get the gear together, then we can go to Old Man Wilson's farm. That's the closest we can get to the mine entrance without actually being obvious."

"Won't Old Man Wilson mind?" Mae asked.

"Dead," Bea informed her. "Been dead for 10 years. It's just an old abandoned farmhouse off a side road.

The sun had gone down by the time they'd finally unloaded and were parked at the end of a dirt path underneath some trees. Cows lowed in a pasture one one side, but the woods loomed on the other.

"Okay, this is it," Germ declared. "Let's get all the stuff unpacked."

"Where do you want to set up camp guys?" Angus called as he drew the long canvas bag out.

"Right here is fine, really," Germ suggested. "It's flat and you can't see it from the road."

"Somehow it seems wrong to pitch a tent right beside a car," Mae noted. "Like, you're supposed to have to hike or something first, aren't you?"

"Not tonight!" Bea smiled. She wasn't really the camping type. Camping right beside her car, though... That was okay!

First order of business was the tent, but Angus and Gregg had that covered since they knew how it all went together. Germ was unpacking his "gear" that he kept neatly packed in some very military-looking cases.

Bea eyed the camoflaged and hardened cases. "Jeeze Germ, were you in the army?"

"Na. Brother was in the marines. Or something. He won't talk about it much. Left a lot of stuff when he moved out though, and I checked it all out. Even got some night-vision goggles!"

"COOL!" Mae exclaimed, kneeling down beside Germ to touch the technology.

"Mae, you can look at that later. Help me get some firewood first. It's going to be dark soon and we'll want to have a fire."

It took a few trips into the woods, but each time the tent was farther along until their last trip it was fully up.

"Wow! That's a pretty big tent for just the two of you, Angus."

"We don't go camping much, but when we do, we like to do it in style!" Gregg responded. "Come in! Check it out!"

Bea brushed the bark off her arms and followed Mae in. It was big enough to stand inside of. It would be a little tight for 5, but certainly manageable. It smelled new.

They chose their spots and laid out sleeping bags, though Bea only brought a couple of thick blankets.

Mae frowned at her as they all lay down in their places. "Jeeze Bea, you run a hardware store! Don't you think you could have borrowed one of those sleeping bags?"

"Not mine," she said, mildly insulted but not feeling like making a big deal out of it. "Inventory. Doesn't belong to me."

"I guess. So, let's start that fire! Anyone think to bring marshmallows?"

Angus smiled behind his glasses and reached into a duffle bag beside him. What he brought out was impressive. A wood-handled, telescoping, two-pronged professional marshmallow-roasting stick. He extended it with a "click".

"Wow!" Both Bea and Mae said, impressed.

"Sorry, only got two. You'll have to get a regular stick. But the marshmallows are covered."