As the days ticked by the air began to chill, much to Grace's delight. She lived for the feeling of harsh winter breezes and zipping down hills on sleds. Which is why when the first snowfall came and Sue sent a text to the group chat asking if they wanted to go sledding in the drop zone, Grace readily accepted.

On the day they planned, Sue, Grace, Florence, Tessa and Gavin met up at one of the safer areas of the Drop Zone which nearby residents usually walled off every winter for sledding. Trinity couldn't come because she was on vacation, and Lucy was sick, but they'd both said to have fun anyways.

"Are you guys ready?" Gavin asked with pure excitement as the croup stood at the top of the hill. "Am I?" Florence muttered uncertainly.

"Oh uh, I brought hot chocolate by the way!" Sue exclaimed as she pulled a large thermos and some cups out of  a bag.

"Uh, yeah...might wanna leave that up here for now Sue." Grace muttered looking down at the steep slope beneath them. It was fast and slippery, ending not too far from the drop down to the frozen river. There were barricades but it still added a danger aspect. While Sue went to safely tuck away her hot chocolate, Tessa wrote something down for them.

'So do you guys wanna do the baby hill or the steep hill?'

"Steep hill." Grace and Gavin said in unison. Florence gulped, looking nervous. "You know what?" She said. "Why don't I just uh, guard the hot chocolate? I'm sure a lot people have got to be cold right nOOOOWWWWW!" 

Gavin suddenly pushed Florence from behind, causing her to start tumbling down the hill. She screamed and managed to get safely on top of her sled for a brief moment before wildly spinning out of control.

Grace had no idea what came over her, but next thing she knew she was sliding down the hill after Florence.

"GRACE WHAT THE HELL?" Sue shouted after her. 

Grace zipped down the hill, much faster than Florence, who was still spinning. Grace ended up getting to the bottom first, and was waiting for Florence when she awkwardly slid to a stop in front of Grace.

"So, Gavin seems like a pretty cool kid huh?" Grace asked Florence, who was still splayed out on the ground.

"S-shut up."

--------

The snow was coming down hard, but Grace still managed to make to trek to Tessa's house to discuss a new development. The snow was coming down too hard to properly see the address, but Grace was pretty sure she had the right house, so she knocked.

Grace could hear a ton of noise coming from inside the house while she waited, and eventually a tall, blonde girl answered the door, looking tired. "Can I help you?" She asked.

"Oh! Um, I was just looking for Tessa?" Grace asked nervously. The blonde girl sighed. "Tessa! Your weird friend is wearing a windbreaker in the middle of winter and she wants to see you!" She shouted back into the house. Grace sighed.

"Oh hey Grace!" Gavin appeared in the doorway, shoving the blonde girl out of the way, who scowled at him. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, I'm here to talk to Tessa about something? I uh, texted her about it." She explained. 

"Well come in, come in!" Gavin ushered her inside. Grace was suddenly standing in the very loud (but very warm) main room of the large house.

Gavin confidently led her upstairs into a hall which was much quieter and with much less light. "I guess now I see why you're so loud all the time." Grace muttered as Gavin led her to the end of the hall. "Yep! This place is never quiet!" Gavin joked. 

"How many people even live in this house?"

"Let's see," Gavin answered. "Nine! I think." 

"Sounds fun." Grace breathed through gritted teeth. Gavin opened the door for her and Grace noticed Tessa sitting on a bed that took up one corner. Tessa waved and gave Grace a little smile, before Gavin charged into the room and tried to tackle Tessa, who moved aside, causing Gavin to just belly flop on the bed. Grace giggled as Tessa waved her in. 

"Soooooo what are you guys talking about in here anyways?" 

'None of your business.' Tessa gave him a stern glare. Gavin pouted. "But I'm a part of this too!" 

"We uh, we can include you later!" Grace suggested, which was apparently good enough for Gavin, who left shortly after. 

Grace looked around Tessa's room. It wasn't huge, but it wasn't super small either. It was actually pretty cozy. There was a dresser that backed the wall next to the door which had some fairy lights strung along the upper edge. There were even some pictures hung up on the wall with sticky tack that Tessa had seemingly drew, based on the small desk and art setup in another corner. 

"So, you said you remembered an address?" Grace asked Tessa, who nodded. She got up and grabbed a sheaf of paper from her desk along with pen. She wrote something down and gave it to Grace.

'This is the address I remembered. It was on a police file my mom brought home once. I think it might be a U.P. hideout or drop location.' 

"423 Walsh?" Grace asked. "Walsh what? Crescent? Avenue? Do you know?" Tessa shook her head sadly. 

"I think there's a series of streets downtown with that name." Grace muttered. She pulled out her phone and looked up the address. 

"Got it!" Grace exclaimed. "423 Walsh Crescent!" Tessa's face lit up as she looked over Grace's shoulder. 

"It's, a house?" Grace exclaimed, looking at the picture. "Like, an  old house, are you sure you're right?"

Tessa shook her head in dismay, staring at the picture, as though willing it to change. She wrote something down on the back of the paper. 

'I thought it would help...'

"But you did help Tessa!" Grace exclaimed. "Now we know that it's a false lead! And hey, maybe that's not the address you remember, but it could be close! My point is, this helped! We're going to solve this!"

Grace put a hand on Tessa's shoulder, who smiled. 'Maybe we can work on other leads for now' She wrote. Grace opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by Gavin bursting in.

"Ok, it's been forever, what are you guys up to?" He asked.

"Gavin it's been five minutes!" Grace exclaimed. "And nothing much. Tessa remembered an address that turned out to be a false lead, but we think that-"

"What's the address?"

"What?" Grace asked. "It's just an old house why do you want to know?"

"It could be a secret hideout!" Gavin exclaimed. Tessa sighed and showed him the picture they'd found, and his eyes lit up.

"Are you guys kidding? This house? Perfect secret hideout material." The two girls looked at him skeptically, and he pouted. "Oh come on! Let me have this!"

'We can't even really confirm anything until we go there right?' Tessa added. Gavin nodded. "True, but what would we even ask whoever answers? 'Hey, you aren't by any chance part of a criminal organization who killed my sister parents, would you?'" Grace laughed unexpectedly, and Tessa smiled. 

"I don't know Gavin." Grace sighed. "I mean, maybe we could check out the address when it thaws, huh?" Gavin agreed, and Tessa gave a thumbs up. 

"Let's do it then."

A/N: Sry abt the short chapter, I just got back from a trip to B.C. and was rushed to get a chapter out. I'll make a Chirstmas chapter soon, but not yet bc canonically it's only like, early November. 

Stay safe, eat something, don't die, stay tuned!

-Brooke