Stacey gives you a hurtful glare. "I hated it. I ran way. My mother's boyfriend is an abusive man." She walks over to the photos. She points to the man Jo referred to. "This is my uncle, Donald Dixon. I used to visit him here when I was younger. Nobody knows i'm here, and Donald doesn't come by the house anymore." she changes the subject. "What were you going on that island?"

"We were investigating the birds. We ran into birds that had some device that let them talk and they flew northeast towards the island. On the island there was metal near the nest with the designation IEX-4Z32."

Jason visibly softens yet frowns at hearing about the abusive boyfriend. He crosses his arms and sighs, "We're looking at birds......hey if this house thing doesn't work well for yah, we can help yah." He recalls that she might know some more about the birds, "Do you know where your Uncle might be?" He tries to akwardly make himself more reassuring, patting Ham's head.

"I've been paying attention to the Killer Birds since I was attacked recently by a group of gulls." Stacey admits. She takes you to a table in another room. She has killed a pigeon that she's been examining with a knife, a pair of pliers, and some scissors. "I believe my uncle is responsible for all this, but..i'm not entirely sure, and I don't know where he is. I've been spying on the pigeon nest and I've seem them behaving strangely, like they're smart - for a bird - and working together. I found things on my uncles desk in his old room. Come. I'll show you."

She takes you to a dirty study room. Among Donald's things are drawings of birds and microchips. On his bed is a diary. He writes about his work at the Loop facility. In many places in Donald's notes, he writes about his love for a woman named Diane, who also works there. He writes about the colleagues who don't understand Diane, and work against her and treat her badly. Donald describes his monumental sadness when she was forces to quit her job. Then, he writes about his happiness as Lena Diane has asked him to work with him on a new experiment in a place called IEX-4X32.

"Diane? As in Diane Petersen?" 

Stacey looks at you. "Why..yes!"

"I overheard her promising that she would get revenge on the town when she got fired from The Loop. These killer birds must have something to do with it. I'm certain."

"Well, then, we have a serious problem, if that's the case. Even more bad new is, I have no idea what or where IEX-4Z32 is. There's got to be some information on it in the library, though." Stacey admits.

"Well the library's closed right now, so we'll have to do that tomorrow."

Jason groans and facepalms, "It's summer, do we have to do homework?"

"Adventures can't all be climbing up mountains and breaking into strange houses. Sometimes you have to go to the library and read books."

Jason has lost hope in arguing against Joan's sensible logic and gives up, "Damn it. Fine!" He makes a pouting face before then looking to Casey, "....so what are you gonna do then? You gonna help us?"

"It'll be beneficial for all of us if you come with," Bell says with a nod of her head, hoping to egg Stacey on. "Five heads are better than four, after all! But if you don't want to, that's okay. Do... you want us to come back here to let you know if we find anything out about the location of IEX-4X32?"

"No." she said. "If people see me around here, they're going to call the cops. I ran away from home, remember? I can't be seen in public. I won't go back to Vegas. I just won't." And that was that. "I've shared everything I know. I hope the library can help you guys. If you ever figure out what's going on, let me know."

Jason gives a long look at Stacey, but then sighs. Reaching into his bag, he pulls out a few sticks of jerky and writes down his address on a piece of paper, "Look, it's not much but it's what I got...and if this place becomes to dangerous to stay in, or you need anything, don't worry about askin' for help."

"I'll keep that in mind." she smiled. "Good luck with your research. I have the feeling that unless someone does something soon, this is going to get a lot worse than getting better."

At this particular point, you all can role-play going back to the tree house and sleeping off your night of adventure so far. Then, the library should be open tomorrow.

"Bye Stacey, it was nice to meet you. Thanks for all your help!" Joan heads out and rides back to Bell's treehouse, not getting into any races with anyone.

Meanwhile, back at the treehouse.

The gang rides back to Bell's treehouse at a more leisurely pace, partially because they don't want to make the sleeping adults angry and partially because it's late and they're tired. When they get back to the treehouse, Joan splits what's left of the snacks evenly before going to bed. While they've learned some serious information, Joan is excited about going to the library tomorrow and getting to see Miss Headley, the nice librarian.

Jason arrives at the treehouse with everyone, but decides to spend some time in on of the large branches strumming his guitar. A habit he had gained after long nights of practicing, though now it simply helped him relax. The tune was simple, light, and relaxed, he didn't even need to look as he had his eyes closed, playing the same basic notes over and over.

As his body played the tunes, he thought back to the birds, then to Stacey. He sympathized with her, but he knew that there wasn't really anything he could do....then there was the library....tomorrow was gonna be painful.