Bradford finally stopped the car near a rocky cliff overlooking the bay. Webby climbed out of the car, clutching her doll close. "Where are we?"
"A place I'd hoped I'd never return," Bradford said. He waved for her to follow and led the way.
A towering light house stood on top of the cliff. Down about half a mile away at the bottom of the cliff was a house. It was small and worn, like it hadn't been used in years. It had a familiarity to Webby. It made her breathing heavy. She'd been here before. And yet she couldn't remember when.
"Bradford?"
"Yeah?"
"Will you hold my hand?"
"Of course."
She took his hand and together they walked up to the lighthouse. The wind whipped at her legs, giving her the chills. She pulled her strewn hair out of her face. Only a moment passed, but it extended for eternity. They reached the door and Bradford knocked.
"Who's there?" a voice came back.
Bradford rolled his eyes. "You know who I am and you know why I'm here."
The door opened, revealing a tall dog. He looked down at the two and smirked. "Bradford. Didn't think you'd ever be back here."
"Me neither, but Beakley called."
Webby's eyes widened. She knew that name. Once, a long time ago.
"Step in, she's eager to see you. Or rather, the girl." The dog opened the door wider and the two stepped inside. Webby stood closer to Bradford, intimidated by how threatening everything looked in here. Upon closer inspection, she wasn't even sure this was a lighthouse. There were tables with assorted gadgets and plans. The lighting was red, adding to her fears.
Bradford led Webby up the stairs of the lighthouse. At the top was room, the door opened. Webby moved to stand behind Bradford. An older duck stood in the doorframe, dressed in purple. Webby couldn't help but feel like she was familiar. That made her more nervous, giving her hot flashes.
"Bradford, it's been a while! How are you?" The woman smiled, but not in a friendly way.
"Let's just get this over with. What do you want?" Bradford narrowed his eyes at her.
"Fine. I want..." Her eyes wandered toward Webby, and the little duckling shrunk behind the butler. "Webby! My, you're so big!" Without warning, the woman scooped Webby up.
She let out a yelp. "D-do I know you?"
The woman set Webby down, tilting her head. "You don't remember me?" She glanced at Bradford, who just rolled his eyes. She knelt down to the duckling's level. "Webby, I'm you're grandmother."
...
The party was only 30 minutes in and it was already losing its vibe. Huey couldn't let this night go bad. The red triplet noticed the guest of honor staying off to the side, not talking with anyone. It was kind weird to see the guy who often snuck into parties he wasn't even invited to for the publicity to suddenly be so anti-party. He stepped over to his cousin.
"Hey, Feathry, what's up?"
"Just wishing this party wasn't happening," he said, giving Huey a look.
He blew a raspberry. "Pft! Nonsense, this party is great!" Feathry rolled his eyes, his head resting on his fist. Huey grabbed a cup from the snack table and held it out to the older duck. "Here, maybe you just need to drink some wate-"
"NO!" Feathry smacked the cup out of his hand, making the boy flinch. Water spilt on the carpet. They exchanged a look. Feathry cleared his throat. "I mean, uh, no thank you Huey. Hehe." He avoided eye contact.
"Okay...?" Huey knew he had a few of water, but he didn't know it was so extreme. "I'll be right back."
He walked off to go find his brothers. Dewey was still struggling with the helmet and Louie was conversing with the party guests. "Staff meeting!"
...
Huey pulled his brothers off to another smaller room. Louie crossed his arms. "What's up Huey? I was in the middle of a conversation."
"Guys, I don't think Feathry is enjoying this party."
"Well, duh, I could've told you that, and I'm terrible at reading people!" Louie threw his hands up. "I say we do what Feathry said and just send everyone home!"
"No, wait, we just need to spice things up!" Huey half smiled.
"Bum bum bum!"
Huey and Louie raised an eyebrow, turning to the middle child. Dewey pressed another button on his electric keyboard, resulting in a thunder noise. The digital face on his helmet changed into embarrassed one. After going through all the keyboard functions, Dewey's digital face turned into an annoyed one.
"DJ Daft Duck," Huey said. Dewey didn't respond and kept pushing buttons. Huey sighed. "Dewey." The blue triplet looked up. "You can stop. There's no sound effect that fits with the conversation." Dewey's arms sagged, defeated.
"Come on, Huey," Louie said, drawing their attention back. "A party is supposed to be a celebration of life, letting the guest of honor know how much he's appreciated. He can't know how much he's appreciated if he's not enjoying himself."
Huey frowned. "I just wanna prove I can do something right. Just... Maybe we need some kind of entertainment. You can do magic tricks, right?"
Louie gaped. "I- Uh- Sorta?" He shrugged. "Not very well."
"Good enough!" Huey shoved his oldest brother out of the room and to the main party room.
Louie's eyes widened. "I don't approve of this."
Huey ignored him. "Who wants to see a magic trick!" He pushed Louie into the ring of people.
Feathry stepped forward, raising a curious eyebrow. He smirked in a snarky way at the green triplet. "Yes, Louie, what kind of magic trick do you have for us?"
...
As if this party wasn't bad enough, the boys were doing cheap magic tricks. Feathry rolled his eyes. Oh boy.
Feathry had once found joy in figuring out how fake magic tricks were done, but he had grown out of it. Of course, there were always real magic tricks, but he had a resentment towards those too, due to his uncle's love for them. Scrooge had almost gotten Feathry and cousins killed in situations with those ones, when they were younger. On multiple occasions.
Louie shrunk under his cousin's gaze. "Uh..." Huey handed him a pack of cards. "Card trick! Yep, a card trick. Pick a card, any card!" He forced a grin and held out the deck to one of the party guests. A dog drew a card. "Memorize it and don't tell me what it is. Then put it back in the deck." She did as told and Louie shuffled the cards. He drew the top one. "Is this your card?" He smiled confidently.
"Nope," the dog said.
Louie flushed. "Really? Well how about this one?" He drew the next one. She shook her head. He stared at the deck, then shoved it in his pocket. "Eh, card tricks are boring anyways, heh." Huey face palmed.
Feathry smirked at the green triplet. "Anything else?" he remarked. Ok, he was starting to enjoy the party just a little bit.
Huey shot his cousin a look. "You have a bad attitude." Feathry chuckled.
"I can make a coin disappear... I think." Louie held out his hand with a nervous smile. "Anyone got a coin?"
"Sure." Feathry dug into his pocket and pulled out a small copper penny. It wouldn't hurt to humor them. He handed it to Louie. "My lucky penny. Wow me Louie." He crossed his arms.
"Okay." Louie took the penny in one of his hands. "Here's the penny. And now..." He waved his hand over it. It was gone. The three party guests gasped. Louie smiled. "Hey, I actually did it!"
Huey moved his hand, about to give his brother a thumbs up when the penny fell from behind his hand. Dewey's digital face frowned.
"Oops," Louie said, staring at the coin.
"Pft, you guys are funny," Feathry said, smiling.
Suddenly, a blue ora appeared over the coin. It began to float. Louie's eyes widened.
The guests oohed and awed. "Wow, okay that's actually cool," Feathry said, slightly impressed.
Dewey pressed a keyboard button. An anime-ish "Wow!" sounded.
"Louie, that's neat! How are you doing it?" Huey stared at the rising coin.
Louie took a step back. "T-that's not me..."
The lights went out. The sound of someone rattling a door. A camera flash. An ominous voice spoke into the dark, "The party's just begun."
5 years ago...
Webby walked up to the light house, sea water spraying her. Maybe she could use the light to figure out how to get into town. Clutching her small doll close, she opened the door, stepping into the dark tower. A chill went up her spine as the door closed shut behind her. The only light came from a few candles, though it didn't help much.
She stepped through the building, up the stairs to the top. After the first few steps, she heard voices. It sounded like crying. And shouting.
"TELL ME WHERE THE GAUNTLET IS!"
Her heart pounded in her chest. Who could be up there? At the top of the stairs, there stood a door to a room. Beyond that door were the shouts and cries. She ventured to open it.
WARNING: This part gets a little dark!
The young girl's eyes widened and she gasped. There, tied to a chair was a female duck. She had tears in her eyes and a gag in her mouth. Blood dripped down her beak in red ribbons. She had a back eye and greasy ragged hair. Terror written on her face. Her wrists and ankles bled too, ropes tightly binding her appendages behind her back. Bruises dotted her and her feathers ruffled.
Webby screamed, shutting the door. She's began to hyperventilate, unable to get the image out of her head. She shut her eyes tight, but all she could picture was the blood. The scars. And the five-year old started to cry.
Her beak quivered, her heart racing. Surely that wasn't real. Whatever she saw wasn't real. Someone couldn't be so cruel to do that to someone. Surely.
The door opened, startling Webby. She jumped back with a yelp. Her hands shook, pulling her Quacky Patch doll close to her chest. A figure moved to stand in the doorway, but Webby couldn't make out any features in the dark. She just knew that whoever this person was was the person torturing that poor girl.
The large figure approached her. Webby took steps backwards, her mouth gaping. She should've stayed at the house. She should've gone back to bed. She should've never left.
The figure reached out for her, making the girl scream. Taking another step, her foot fell on air; the top of the stair case. She lost her grounding and fell back, hitting her head hard against the stair corner. And she blacked out.
...
"My..." Webby forced herself to meet eyes with this woman. "My grandmother?"
The woman nodded. "Oh, my sweet Webby, I've missed you!"
Webby looked to Bradford for answers, but he kept a straight face. A million questions ran through the girl's mind. "But how? If you're my granny, how come you've never come for me? You and Bradford clearly know each other."
"That's a question for another time. Come along, dear, I want to talk to you."
"You're not going to answer her, Bentina?" Bradford narrowed his eyes at the woman.
Bentina, as she had been called, ignored him. "Webby and I have much to discuss, so you can be going now."
Webby spun around to see if Bradford would really leave her. Terror filled her.
"No, I think I'll be staying." He crossed his arms.
"Don't make me use force. Not in front of her."
"Why do you need her?"
"Bradford-"
"Answer me Beakly!"
Beakly sighed and pulled a radio out of her pocket. "Send someone up here to collect Mr. Buzzard."
In a matter of moments, two men dressed in yellow uniforms and helmets came up the stairs and grasped Bradford firmly by the arms.
Webby stiffened. "Wait, what are you doing?"
"I gave him a chance to cooperate," Beakly said, putting her hands on her hips.
"Bradford!" Webby took a step towards the vulture.
Bradford yanked his arms away from the men and put his hands up. "Alright. I'm going."
"You're leaving?" Webby frowned. She was still unsure about the woman who claimed to be her grandmother.
"It'll be okay, Webby. I'll see you in a bit." He glared one last time at Beakly, as if warning. Then he turned and went down the stairs.
Webby turned to Beakly. The older woman held out her hand for Webby to take. But she didn't.
Beakly put her hand down and led the way to a room. Webby followed, hands tucked close to her body. They made their way through a door. Webby took a step, entering the room. She looked around at the wooden interior. Flashes of memory pasted her vision. Blood, screaming, darkness.
Webby shuddered, her heart rate accelerated. She'd been here too. Did all this have something to do with those years before the mansion? The ones she couldn't quite remember?
"Why am I here?" she asked aloud, without looking at Beakly.
"It's been quite a while, Webby." Beakly sat down on a bed against the wall. It creaked loudly, adding to the dirty feel of the place. She pat a spot next to her.
Webby glanced back at the door, then took a seat next to her grandmother. "I have so many questions."
"I'm sure you do."
"How come we haven't met until now?" Webby tilted her head, frowning.
"Oh, we have dear. A long time ago." Beakly stared off, as if she was reminiscing. "You and I used to live down the hill in a little house."
"What happened then? H-how did I end up at the mansion? Did you know I was there?"
Beakly smirked. "You're too curious for your own good. Have you ever heard about the organization FOWL?"
Webby bit her lip, putting her hands in her lap. "No... is that like SHUSH?"
"Ah, so that old buzzard told you about one and not the other?" Beakly rolled her eyes. "FOWL is the Fiendish Organization for World Larceny. We're an organization that's set on saving the world from the supernatural."
"We're? You're part of it?" From what Webby had heard about SHUSH from Bradford, there always seemed to be some part of the story missing. And now she knew. SHUSH had a counterpart: FOWL.
Beakly nodded. "Yes, I am. And with that in mind, the only way we can save the world from the supernatural is to find the supernatural."
The girl tilted her head. "Like magic and stuff?"
"Yes, surely a girl like yourself would know all about that sort of thing?" It was a question. Webby found it odd that she would ask that. Webby had never seen any kind of magic or such. There was the temple of Atlantis, but that was more traps and architectural wonder than magic.
"No. I'm just a normal average girl."
The older duck clicked her tongue. "Webby dear, you are anything but average. You're special." Then she leaned in. "That's why I know you're lying to me."
"What?"
"Bradford must've told you something in your years there! Are you sure you know nothing about the supernatural? Perhaps where any mystical objects are located?"
Webby scooted a few inches to the edge of the bed. "N-no, he never told me anything about that. Just that SHUSH was a secret agency."
Beakly stood up to her full height. Webby tucked in her tail, intimidated by this woman's size. "Webby, why would you lie to your grandmother? All you have to do is tell me what you know. It's that simple." It was kind of creepy how calm she sounded.
Webby glanced from Beakly to the door. "I- I-" She took in a deep breath.
"Webby..."
And the duckling took off out the door.
A/N hope y'all are enjoying this story! Today the DT finale came out, and I'm curious what you guys thought! I liked it... M o s t l y. I didn't like it. Idk I can't make up my mind. Help.