Arwood came slowly out of the kitchen his face drawn and lips pressed tightly together into a thin line. Never had he been kissed by anyone other than Thilah and never by another male, he felt himself shiver as he came to a stop behind Mashka, his hands fidgeting nervously with he hilt of his sword.
Leo brushed away the curl on his face out of the way. "Do you do experiments? Cause I'm great at being the test subject.", Leo said calmly not noticing how crazy he sounded.
Austin had been lost in though trying to figure out what Mel and Em had done, and hadn't even noticed Arwood asking him about the phone.
Jarrod and Felix were equally silent, which was pretty strange. Perhaps the gravity of what was happening had hit them.
They got the room at the end of the hall and walked in. It looked like a normal bedroom. Mel and Em were nowhere to be seen.
We're here. Where are you? Austin shot the text to Mel and waited.
"Now what Austin? Where are they?" Jarrod asked.
"I don't know, okay? Just give me a second."
You see the bookshelf? Pull out the 3 book from the left on the bottom shelf. Came the reply.
Austin pulled the book, but it stopped after a few inches. The bookshelf then slid to the right, revealing a passage way. And in the passage way was Em and Mel.
Em jumped onto Austin, crying. "Austin! We were- were looking for secret- secret hallways and we got tr- trapped and it was d-dark and-"
"Woah woah woah, calm down miss. It's okay." Austin said trying to calm her down. He looked to Mel. "What happened?"
"Well, like she said, we were looking for secret passages, somehow we found one, and boom, we're trapped." She replied.
Felix walked into the passage, looking around like something would suddenly appear. "Did you guys even follow it all the way? Where does it go?"
Mel sighed. "Yes we followed it all the way. After like 10 minute of walking, you reach the end, but it's too dark to see how to get out. My phone doesn't have a flashlight."
Austin checked his phone battery. 92%. "Lets use mine. Let's see what this secret passage is all about. Maybe it's a way out."
"It's like the jail," Mashka said softly, going over to the two girls. Unsure of how to comfort them, she patted their shoulders. "I was trapped in the jail when I was little."
Leo was wandering the halls looking for a way out but couldn't seem to find any. Being the new guy he tried to stay in the shadows. He was losing hope.
Arwood walked forward and knelt to the ground feeling the ground and staring into the dark passage, his head cocked as if listening.
“It is quite cold.” He whispered, “but I do not feel or hear any wind coming from the passage.”
He glanced up at Austin and Jarrod, “do you think it wise to send all of us in there all at once? It seems like the passage can only be opened on the outside." He stood up straight, "which means, we would either have to leave someone behind or try and prop the door open with some type of large item.”
Leo saw people and headed towards them. He saw them all looking down a dark passage, "You guys need help?"
Austin and Em both jumped at the sudden arrival of Mashka and Arwood. The others didn't really react, just looked a bit worried about Mashka having been in jail as a child.
"I agree, it shouldn't be all of us that go into the passage. Mel, Em and I can wait here, Felix and Austin can go. That way both groups have phones and Austin can use the flashlight in his phone. If it is a way out, text us before you leave." Jarrod replied to Hemlock.
Austin took a deep breath and stood up straight. "Alright. Let's do this then. Em, you stay here with Mel."
And with that he marched into the passageway after Felix.
"Good luck you two." Jarrod shouted after them.
"The bookshelf stays open for a little longer if either of you want to follow them." Mel said to the others.
Arwood bit his lip debating every possible downside of following the two men, he wasn’t one to let an exploration slide past him. He turned to Jarrod, “is there any reason why you would not want me to accompany your friends?”
Mashka, who was claustrophobic, shook her head.
Jarrod thought, then shook his head. "No. You've been trustworthy so far and even if you did try anything, the two of them would probably be able to take you on easily. Go ahead."
Mel smirked at Arwood. It probably wasn't often that he was told two twinks could beat him easily.
~~
Austin had taken the lead and Felix gladly let him. He had the light after all, not Felix. Felix took in the exposed studs and drywall.
"Any guesses to where this leads?" Felix ventured.
"With any luck, it'll be your grave."
"Nice one. You're getting better at that." Felix chuckled. "Any real guesses though?"
"Probably just another bedroom to be honest, or maybe a closet. Usually these things don't lead anywhere exciting, they're just for getting around unnoticed." Austin sighed.
"Fair enough."
(I'm low-key considering adding Abie to this…)
(Do it)
Arwood gave a low chuckle, “thank you for the warning, but I have learned long ago not to judge a book by its cover.” He gave a thin smile, “If I come back, I might tell you the story.” Unsheathing his sword, he prepared his mind and body for any type of attack and started after the two figures. His eyes scanned the hall ahead and glided up and down the walls and roof looking for anything out of place or unfamiliar.
He came up behind Austin and Felix, “I thought maybe you could use a rear guard.”
Austin jumped and spun around to face the man. "Holy shit man, gives us a warning or something next time."
"Well maybe if you weren't so jumpy," replied Felix, who hadn't reacted nearly as much.
"That's not my fault." Austin muttered. He turned back down the tunnel and started. "Come on. From what Mel said it'll be another 5 minutes about until we hit the end."
Felix didn't move, opting instead to give Hemlock a once over. "You look strong. That's always good in a man." Felix winked and turned to follow Austin.
“My apologies,” he dipped his head toward Austin in apology. He frowned in confusion at Felix's words, catching the little wink he wondered what his words meant, then, decided maybe he didn’t want to know. He followed close behind the others but constantly glancing over his shoulder and listening intently for any noises. Mel said five minutes until they reached the end. The hall must be quite long.
“Why would someone create a house like this?” he asked, mumbling under his breath as he thought, “a house that never seems to end? What could have happened here that one would need secret passageways?”
"You've clearly never met rich people. First of all, they're paranoid as hell about being robbed or killed. Second of all, they have a lot of affairs. That makes secret passageways really useful." Felix stated matter-of-factly.
Austin rolled his eyes. "This place is clearly magic of some kind since we can't get out through a window or anything like that. Secret passageways are kinda standard for magic places… or something like that. It's probably some asshole god. Or maybe Joseph is fucking with us." Austin muttered that last part under his breath, but Felix caught it.
"Oh god, please don't bring Joseph into this. If he has the power to create some place like this, he would've done something a lot worse than trap us in a never ending house."
"Shut up Felix."
There was an odd scuffling, thumping noise from the tunnel ahead of them.
Arwood froze and grabbed Austin’s arm stopping him in his tracks and holding up his hand for silence. He wanted to put out the light but knew it had already been seen. Sliding past the two men, he moved silently forward, he could see a small shape just outside the torches light. “Hello?” he called taking another step forward, eyes squinting as he tried to make out the shape and grip tightening around his sword hilt.
hello? A fluffy creature bounced into the light. It was none other than Abie the shep in all of her fluffy, adorable glory. She was covered in dust. hello!
“Y’ich!” Arwood growled falling into his native tongue as the unexpected animal jumped forward. When he saw what it was he sheathed his sword and knelt down, holding out a gloved hand for the animal to sniff. “What is a little thing like you doing in a place like this?” He asked, a genuine smile spreading across his face.
Abie shook her head mournfully. fluffy shep does not know. fluffy shep was suddenly somewhere very dark and cold! poor fluffy shep!
(Did not expect Abie to be an adorable, fluffy shep, you've found Arwoods weakness XD)
(Abie is everyone's weakness. Unless you're my fiancé or Soup Nana, who both… don't particularly like sheps, to say the least.)
(Quick question, how big is Abie?)