Kipo sucked in a breath, and both she and Wirt slowed to a stop. They gave each other a wide-eyed look, and Kipo knelt down, stopping Regal in his tracks.

The House was in front of them, just a couple steps away, and painted red and orange from the setting sun. If Kipo was only looking at it, she might say that it looked peaceful and serene.

But all Kipo could feel was anticipation. There was something in The House, she was sure of it. And apparently Wirt heard it as well. With a motion to Wirt, they were both kneeling down, hiding in the long grass that surrounded The House.

"What is that?" Wirt hissed, quietly.

"I don't know," Kipo looked in the direction of the house, but while whatever was in The House couldn't see them, they couldn't see The House either. "Could be a deer-rabbit..."

"Aren't those jackalopes?" Wirt asked.

Kipo stared at him. "Is that what they're called?"

Wirt shrugged. "Jackrabbits, jackalopes, I'm not sure."

"Both of those sound better than deer-rabbit," Kipo admitted, giggling. "Let's called them jackalopes."

"Yeah, okay," Wirt agreed quickly. "So, there are jackalopes in there?"

"I don't know."

"I-."

"It could be a human, too," Kipo suddenly pointed out. "The last time someone was in The House, it was you, so maybe this could be another human!"

Wirt didn't look convinced in the slightest, but Kipo was too excited to notice.

"Maybe it's your brother, Wirt," her voice was getting louder now. Wirt looked alarmed. "And that's why I didn't see him in the tree! It's because he was here all along!"

"Kipo!" Wirt whispered frantically. "I don't think-!"

It was too late for Wirt to make any complaints, Kipo was already standing up. But just as she reached her full height, her eyes met something else's through the living room window.

Kipo immediately knelt down again.

"It's not human," she whispered frantically to Wirt.

"What?!"

"I'm sorry," Kipo whispered quickly. "It... I don't know what it was. I only saw a little bit of it."

"W-What'd it look like?" Wirt asked.

"Uh... well," Kipo thought for a minute. "I don't think I got a very good look, but... it was completely white, all over, except for it eyes, which were... black?"

Wirt frowned. "Weren't you the one who saw it?"

"Well, I didn't see that MUCH of-," Kipo's eyes suddenly widened. "Oh. Oh no."

"What?" Wirt asked quickly. "What is it?"

"I... I think it saw me, too."

"What?!"

"It was staring right at me," Kipo told him. "How could it have missed me?!"

Wirt looked nervously over in the direction of the house, as if something was about to jump out at any moment.

"Is it coming for us?!" Wirt asked her, nervously.

Kipo thought about that, frowning. "I don't know..." she answered truthfully. "But if it is, why isn't it coming for us yet?"

Wirt shrugged. "Does it matter? At least it's not-Kipo?"

"Just hide there," Kipo told him. "I don't think it knows you're here."

"Kipo-."

Kipo quickly stood up, staring at the window into the living room. The couch, torn up from Kipo's and Wirt's costume changes, was there, the cans of food...but the creature was gone."

Wirt stared at her. "Then... where did it go?!"

Wirt and Kipo tensed, but nothing disturbed the grass around them. In fact, nothing seemed to happen at all. Eventually, Wirt and Kipo exchanged a confused look.

"Are you... sure it saw you?" Wirt asked.

"I'll check again," Kipo told him, and started to stand up.

"Wait, no!" Wirt hissed, standing up as well. "Why do you keep doing that?!"

BANG!!

Kipo and Wirt both jumped, quickly turning to The House.

BANG!!

They flinched. The door was shaking with whatever was pounding into it from inside The House.

BANG!!

Wirt and Kipo tensed. How long could this door hold?

BANG!!

Regal suddenly barked, and Wirt and Kipo froze, now more in confusion than in terror. Kipo looked down, and found that Regal was not by her feet like he had been moments before. She sighed, then laughed.

"Regal, I really got to keep an eye on you, don't I?" Kipo laughed. Regal zoomed over to her foot, barked, and then hurried back to the door.

BANG!!

Wirt winced. "Does he always do that?"

Kipo rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Uh... yeah."

Kipo stepped forward, reaching towards the doorknob.

"Huh? Kipo, wait!" Wirt called. Kipo paused.

Wirt gave her a worried look. "Should you really open the door? The thing that was in there is still inside!"

"Huh?" Kipo thought for a minute. "Well, I guess."

"...Then what should we do then?" Wirt asked, when Kipo didn't say anything else.

"Well, we're going to go inside, right?" Kipo asked.

"What?!" Wirt cried. "Didn't we agree that would be a bad thing to do?"

"Oh, don't worry, Wirt," Kipo said. She held up Regal triumphantly. "We got this guy protecting us!"

Wirt blinked at Regal, who yipped excitedly. Wirt frowned. "Oh... but- Kipo!"

The door swung open, and Kipo paused, caught right in the act.

They stare at each other for a couple seconds, but as nothing happened, they slowly turned towards The House. Regal rushed ahead, barking excitedly, and Kipo and Wirt winced. And yet, nothing happened.

"Uh... you-you did see that thing, right?" Wirt asked. Kipo shrugged, and stepped into The House. She tensed, but nothing came out of the shadows to attack her.

Kipo took a deep sigh of relief, and looked around. It didn't seem that anything had changed in The House, the only thing that was different was-

"Hey, my bag!" Kipo cried. She ran into the house, kneeling by her backpack that looked like it had been torn into, with all the contents scattered around the floor. Kipo picked up the interesting leaf she'd found, and the cool piece of grass. "It looks like it was ransacked."

"What?!" Wirt cried. "It... so that thing really does exist?!"

Kipo grabbed her backpack, standing up and backing up. "I... guess?" Kipo didn't know what to say. "I don't know, I've never seen anything like that before..."

Wirt sucked in a worried breath. "It's hiding and waiting to ambush us."

"Maybe," Kipo agreed. "But we don't really know anything. Maybe that thing was friendly.

"Your description didn't sound very friendly," Wirt shuddered, and Kipo's eyes widened.

"Did it sound like..." Kipo's voice dropped in volume. "...The Beast?"

"Well... no," Wirt admitted. "But it could be a new kind of beast!"

"I guess," Kipo suddenly frowned. "Hm... it's missing,"

"Something's missing?!"

"Just that rock I found... sometime ago," Kipo shuffled through her things one more time, just to make sure. "Why would it steal a rock."

"Maybe it's a weapon?"

Kipo gave Wirt a confused look. "Um... I don't think so, Wirt."

Wirt looked a little embarrassed. "Oh... okay."

Kipo pushed all her things into her backpack, and stood up. Maybe she should keep her backpack with her from now on...

"Actually, on the subject of weapons, maybe we should grab some," Kipo though out loud. But then she added quickly: "But not to attack them, just as defense!"

"Um... sure."

Kipo looked around, and then shrugged her backpack off. As a weapon, it was pretty lackluster, but as a shield...

Wirt, on the other hand, picked up a rock, and then nearly dropped it. He quickly caught it, however, and Kipo gave him a thumbs up. Wirt went red.

"Alright," Kipo said. "I'll look in the bathroom and the bedroom, and you check out the living room and the kitchen."

"We're splitting up?!" Wirt cried. "But that's also a bad idea in horror movies!"

"You've seen movies?" Kipo asked, gasping. "Wow, that's-Er, we'll talk about that later! Let's go!"

Kipo started towards the bedroom, and Wirt, after looking like he was panicking, started towards the kitchen. Kipo felt a little bad for making him go to the kitchen, but she quickly shook that thought away, continuing to the bedroom.

Kipo reached the door, and then after thinking to herself for second, knocked on the door. It was louder than Kipo would have thought, and she winced as it echoed throughout The House.

Wirt gave her a questioning look as he poked his head around the corner, and Kipo shot him a sheepish look.

Kipo pushed opened the door, and stepped through. Based on the fact that it was so minimal, there were very limited places to check.

Holding up the backpack in front of her, Kipo held her breath as she checked under the bed. Nothing.

Doing the same thing, Kipo checked behind the door. Nothing.

Kipo looked around the space. "Seems like that's everywhere here," she said to herself. Now, to the-."

A scuttling sound suddenly echoed behind her, and Kipo jumped, spinning around and raising her shield. Regal barked and cocked his head.

Kipo laughed, and knelt down, giving Regal the pats he wanted.

"How'd you sneak up on me, Regal?" Kipo asked, giggling. "I should probably be more careful, if you can get by me that easily."

Regal only barked in response, and Kipo stood up, starting towards the bathroom. Regal followed closely behind. If Kipo couldn't see his eager expression, she'd almost assume he was afraid as well.

Kipo paused in front of the door to the bathroom. It was closed, of course, but right before she opened it, a thought occurred to her.

"Hey, Wirt?" she called. Once again, Wirt poked his head out from the corner, concern apparent on his face.

"Yeah?" he asked. His voice was shaking. "Did you find something?"

"No, the bedroom was empty," Kipo told him. "Did you find anything?"

"I, uh..." Wirt winced sheepishly. "I haven't finished the kitchen yet..."

Kipo frowned sympathetically. "Yeah, I know the kitchen is kind of... awful to be in. As soon as I check out the bathroom, I'll help you."

"Oh," Wirt looked surprised. "Thanks."

Kipo nodded to him, and then, after gathering all of her courage, pushed open the door.

And, just like the bedroom, nothing happened.

Kipo took a step in. Nothing. Regal blinked at her. He probably was thinking she was playing some sort of game. Kipo gave him a tight-lipped smile. If anything happened here, she had no doubt that he could get out quickly, but for Kipo? Not so much.

There were more places to check than the bedroom, with cabinets and drawers and the like, and while Kipo didn't think that the thing she saw would hide in a drawer, it was better to check everything.

Kipo started with the drawers nearer to her, pulling them open, seeing them empty, and then closing them again. Then she checked the cabinets, which were also empty.

Kipo was jarringly reminded of her first days in The House, when she was desperately routing around for any kind of supplies, or a sort of answer to whatever happened when The House was occupied. Just like right now, Kipo hadn't found much.

After checking behind the door, there was only one more place. Kipo had tried the bathtub when she fist got here, and unsurprisingly, it didn't work. All Kipo got was a couple drops of sludge, and then she had closed the curtain to the bathtub and didn't use it again (she wished she could have gotten a sample from the sludge, but she could never find anything to put it in).

Kipo stepped up to the bathroom, nervously, and grasped the curtain. She held onto it tightly... could that thing she saw really be right in front of her? Kipo held up her backpack.

Suddenly, a loud bark echoed through the bathroom, bouncing off the walls and making Kipo jump. Kipo looked over to Regal, who looked like he was waiting for her to get on with it.

Kipo gave him an apologetic smile, and turned back towards the curtain again. She couldn't let her thoughts pile up again, so with a yell, she ripped open the curtain, holding up her backpack in preparation and tensing her entire body.

The bathtub was empty.

Kipo took a step back. And then another one. And then she spun around, running out of the room full speed with Regal hot on her heels.

After all, if she hadn't found anything then...

"Wirt!" Kipo cried, worry gnawing at her stomach. "Wirt, did you-?!"

"Kipo!" Wirt cried, and Kipo had to grab onto the hallway walls to keep herself from sprinting into him at full speed. Wirt stopped, too, and they stood in front of each other, panting.

"Did you find it?" Kipo asked quickly, after she'd gotten her breath back. Wirt gave her an alarmed look.

"No," he said. "So I thought you did!"

Kipo stared at him. "I didn't find anything," Kipo looked around them quickly. "Did it leave? Where else could it be?"

"Um... Kipo?"

Kipo barely even heard Wirt. "There aren't many places to hide... unless there's a secret place, but I'm not quite sure about that..."

"Kipo."

"I guess we could have missed a place, but I'm pretty sure that's not right, besides, we-."

"Kipo!" Wirt interrupted, loudly and with a slightly embarrassing voice crack. He coughed self consciously while Kipo stared at him. "Uh... isn't there a place we haven't checked yet?"

Kipo stared at him, and then turned to the side, staring at the door in front of her. "Oh..." Kipo gulped. "Yeah, that's true."

Wirt looked from Kipo, to the door, and then back to Kipo, an apprehensive look on his face. "W-What's in there?"

"That thing I saw, probably," Kipo told him. "And a desk."

"Huh?"

"A desk," Kipo repeated. "It looked like an office, from what I saw."

"Oh," Wirt looked confused. "And that's it?"

"No," Kipo bit her lip nervously. "There's also... a corpse?"

Wirt's eyes widened as he jumped back. "A what?"

"A body," Kipo said. Her hand reached towards the door. "You don't have to come in, you know. I can probably-."

"N-No, it's... fine," Wirt gulped. He looked considerably paler than he did a couple minutes ago. "I can do it. But, uh, is-is it old? The corpse."

"Is it decomposing?" Kipo asked. "Well, yeah. It looks reasonably old."

"O-Oh."

"You don't have to-."

"No, I c-can do it," Wirt's voice cracked on nearly every word. "Just, uh, open the door."

Kipo gave Wirt a worried look, and then raised her backpack, grasping the doorknob firmly. She nodded at Wirt, and then pushed open the door-

"Wait, Kipo!" Wirt suddenly cried. "What-What if that thing you say in the window is that corpse in there?!"

Kipo's eyes suddenly widened in alarm, but it was far too late to do anything. The door was swinging wide open.