4:4
There was a slight sliver of darkness along the door frame where the door didn’t quite meet the wall.
“Looks like it might be open,” Ben announced as he cut a path through the overgrown herbs.
“That isn’t unnerving at all,” Gwen muttered to Kim who shrugged.
“Because this whole thing has been sunshine and lollipops up to now?”
“Anyone else got the heebies?” Patti rubbed her arms and followed Kim.
“Yes,” came a chorus of voices from in front and behind.
“Good, good.” She nodded and pursed her lips. “I’d hate to be the only one.” A song slowly came to her mind and without thinking about it she started singing Melissa Etheridge’s Come to My Window.
Siobhan echoed the line about being home quietly beside her. Then stopped dead in her tracks so Dan rammed into her back.
“Hey!”
Siobhan made no effort to apologize, instead asking, “Patti? Any reason for that song?”
“Huh?”
“Song?”
“It just came to me?”
“Ben! Stop!” Siobhan cried out, pushing past Kim and Gwen to grab his shoulder before he could push the door open further. She stooped and picked up a rock then flicked it through the small opening between door and frame. A wall of heat washed over them, the air shimmering like it was burning as a sheet of fire flared in the crack.
“Shit!” Ben brushed his hand over his brows. “That was close. I think it burned my eyelashes. Are they curled?” He turned his face up to Siobhan who would have given him an assessment except she couldn’t get her eyes to open fully.
“My mascara melted.” She carefully pried at her lashes, catching the melted makeup between her fingernails and pulling it off so she could open her eyes fully. “Patti?” she called back. “Anything else.”
Patti sang her response quietly, tentatively, like she was exploring a new Magick. “I would dial the numbers just to listen to your breath.”
“So,” Siobhan muttered. “Still Come to My Window.” Turning to the house she clapped her hands together. “I think we got the message. Window it is.”
“You don’t know how far I’d go to ease this precious ache. You don’t know how much I’d give or how much I can take.” Patti sang then stopped and snapped, “We got it.”
She strode over to the nearest window and dug her hands into the sill. “We are coming to your damned window.” She turned and gave Siobhan the stink-eye. “This is mildly interesting. In a ‘hey, I think that’s my neighbor on the Top Five Most Wanted Pervs. How interesting’ way. But I still question my wisdom in saying yes to this.”
“Just wait,” Ben murmured as he slid up next to her and jimmied a knife between the window sill and the frame. It looked a little like he was jamming a knife into the House’s eye. Patti repressed a shudder. “It’s probably going to get way more interesting before we’re through. Ah, there we go,” he announced as the window slid up an inch, enough for him to slide his fingers into the gap and press up.
Once it was at it’s apex he leaped to the sill then slid in the opening. There was a short silence, then he called, “I think I see the thingy that made the fire. Ivan?”
Ivan stepped up to the window and called in, “Yeah?”
“It’s a metal thingy with weird words on it. Come look?”
No one watching was certain Ivan’s broad shoulders would make it through the window but he gave it a try by hopping up on the sill then sliding his feet in first. He got in about as far as his obliques then he got stuck.
Dan was considering he was going to have to push Ivan, ala Winnie the Pooh stuck in the window of Rabbit’s House, when Ivan wriggled and managed to squeeze himself in fully with a muffled ‘ouch’ and some choked off cursing.
Ben’s laughter could be heard clearly through the open window, then the sound of a swing and it cut off, likely when Ivan popped him in the back of the head.
“You mock my pain.”
“Every damned time.” While they couldn’t see him, Ben’s grin was in the words.
Ivan’s expected reply didn’t come. Instead Patti and Gwen who had pressed up to the window and were considering the merit’s of sticking their head in for a look, but with the memory of the sheet of fire making them reconsider the wisdom, heard Ivan say, “Hey. This is cool. In a “I’ll set the world on fire, kind of way.”
He hummed quietly under his breath, a dead giveaway he was engaged.
Prairie sidled up to the window. “What’s he doing?”
“Humming ‘Pop Goes the Weasel,” Patti muttered. “Not the best song for someone who is doing something that could literally go ‘Pop’.”
“Oh,” Prairie said, “That’s his thinking song.”
“Sure. Okay.”
“There.” Ivan had barely finished saying the word when the door swung open to reveal Ben standing in the doorway. To the side Ivan was gazing intently at two pieces of metal in his hand that resembled a dead bolt. Or might have been a dead bolt, put to deadly intent. He turned it over and over in his hands, tracing his big fingers over the tiny words engraved in the surface.
“Come on in.” Ben made a sweeping gesture and stepped back to allow entry.
Dan sidled over to look at what Ivan was holding.
“See,” Ivan said, pointing out a small disk on the side of the device. “This projects a field of Magick between the two pieces, which look like a common lock. When the field is disrupted blam, fire.”
“Cool. How do you trap fire in metal?”
“It’s surprisingly easy. Metal has a natural affinity for fire. Hence forges.”
Siobhan strode in through the door, throwing a look at Ivan and Dan. “Can we get going?”
“Sure.” Ivan shoved the pieces of metal in his pocket.
The room they entered looked like the lobby of a 1950s hotel. Cream stone square pillars sprouted from black and white tiles set in a offset checkered pattern with a key pattern border. Between the columns georgian arches sat close to the ceiling, extending the feeling of infinite walls. To the left a fire burned merrily in a gilded marble fireplace in front of which were placed two black leather club chairs, inviting the visitor to sit down. Fine paintings hung on the walls, lit by a crystal chandelier that held candles rather than electric lights. Beyond the pillars another room could be glimpsed, at the end of which a reception desk in light wood with cream panels stretched the width of the room.
Patti paused in the doorway, eyes gone wide, as she assessed the size of the room. “It’s too big,” she muttered to Prairie.
“Welcome to the Mystery House.” Prairie delicately pushed past her and went to stand beside Ben.
Gwen bumped Patti with her hip as she squeezed past her into the house. “Comin’ through.”
“Why is no one else staggered by the weird architecture?”
Kim answered Patti’s question as she squeezed past her into the room. “I’m coining the term Weird, capital W, architecture for this place. Each time we enter it’s different. Definitely hasn’t been this nice though. This is some fine Georgian Architecture.”
“So this is normal?”
“Normal as this place gets.”
“And it doesn’t want to make you run screaming?”
“Every single damned time.” Kim shrugged. “What you gonna do? Kidnapped woman. Missing kids. it’s always something more important than my discomfort. Come on. You gonna hold that door up all day?”
“Maybe?”
Another shrug. “Suit yourself.”
That said Kim joined Gwen by the fire where she was staring up at a portrait framed above the mantel.
“I never understood why someone would put an oil painting above a fireplace. First the heat from the fire can damage the paint. Second if something goes wrong that canvas is going up like a candle.”
“And here I was admiring the painting.”
“And here you were trying to figure out if there was some secret code buried in the image.”
“Like you weren’t too.”
Kim’s expression said “’eh, caught”.
Seeing everyone else seemed fairly casual about the too big room and the house they had to enter through a window, Patti finally, reluctantly stepped over the threshold, only to jump as the door slammed behind her. She spun, her fingers running along the edge. Then she grabbed the handle and viciously twisted.
“Uh, the door closed!” Her voice rose to a frantic pitch.
Prairie came up to her, standing beside her, the picture of calm and eyed the door. “That happens.”
Patti turned and gave Prairie a bug-eyed stare. “It happens?”
“Yes.”
“It happens?!” Patti’s voice rose an octave.
“Yes.”
Prairie’s smile was sweet. Patti wasn’t falling for it. Nope. Not at all. Then Prairie shrugged. “At least it’s nice in here this time. The first time it was all dusty and there were books on the floor and then Ben, Kim, Dan, and Gwen got trapped in a dining room where they were kind of tormented by a little girl while the rest of us were unable to get to them because there was a barrier and also because these things kept hitting us. It was scary. But exciting.”
That was it! The girl was nuts! Patti threw up her hands and stared at the ceiling. All that Spiritus Magick must have rotted her brain!
“We are trapped,” she gritted out.
“Yes, we are. But we’ll get out. it’s just a matter of figuring out how.”
“You. Are. Insane.” Pinching her middle fingers against her thumbs she flailed her hands to emphasize the words.
A really wicked grin, kind of unexpected from the calm woman, spread Prairie’s lips. “Some people say so.”
She snorted then grabbed one of Patti’s flailing hands and tugged her away from the door, “Come on. Let’s do this thing.”
“Yo, Prair?” Ben called from where he was poking behind the reception desk. “You seeing anything?”
“Give me a moment,” Prairie called back.
“Sure, take your time. Nothing to do here but wait.” He was sarcastic. Prairie was not when she gave him a soft smile. “Thank you.”
Prairie was stepping sideways into Spiritus, fulling the drag on her Magick that came if she overstepped, when she heard Ben draw in a harsh breath and belt out, “Mice!”
She pulled back from Spiritus as he launched himself over the reception desk and hightailed it towards the fire where Gwen and Kim stood. The columns got in his way. He juked like he had the ball and was going for the basket, come what may, and leaped for the tacit cover of the closest club chair.
And from behind him, maybe from a floor grate poured rats. Not mice. Rats. Even from across the room Prairie could tell the difference.
Kim formed a fireball in her palm and stepped in front of Ben, loosing the fire to zoom through the air where it caught several rats mid-run. They went up like torches, their squeals and the scent of their burning hair something Prairie wasn’t going to forget any time soon.
Everyone fell into battle. Ivan loosed his sword from the scabbard on his back and started carving through the sea of rats that seemed never ending. Was there a portal to the Rat Dimension somewhere in here, Prairie wondered as she yanked her daggers free and hopped forward like a kitten to start skewering rats. One. Two. Three. She killed each one and kicked it’s carcass towards the wall. Still more came.
Standing a few steps ahead of Ben and slightly to the left Kim flung fireball after fireball. “Pew pew pew!”
“Pew pew?” Ben didn’t quite laugh but his voice sounded less strained.
“Kelly inspired me. Her cute little balls of fire made me realize I could make small fireballs which I can throw faster and harder. Plus get a lot more volume before I run low. Pew pew!” She shot off several more fireballs.
Gwen came running from Kim’s back with plunger held like a field hockey player about to drive and she let loose, catching a rat and sending it flying back into the boiling mass of hair and teeth and claws. “Score!”
She then ran around the space, sweeping the plunger like a mad maid and catching rats with each swing.
Patti stood back, looking down at her little punch shield and wishing for something far bigger. She experimentally flicked her wrist, testing the weight of the club that had seemed pretty adequate when chasing chickens from the front steps of the bar. Holy Shit, what had she gotten herself into? Her gaze tracked this way and that, trying to keep up with the crew as they fought as if choreographed, a thrusting spinning whirling swinging dance troupe of death.
Ivan stood firm at the front of the group, sweeping his sword left and right and catching rats up with practiced ease. Patti squinted. There seemed to be something more to the swings. The guy’s arms were big and strong and all but it seemed like there was more oomph there? Dan stood to his right, legs braced, crossbows in each hand releasing lethal bolts. Siobhan to Ivan’s left was flinging potions with accuracy and glee, grabbing more and more from her bag strap bandolier until the loops came up empty, then she fell back to dig through the bag and Prairie slid in next to Ivan, crouched low to stab rats with her daggers.
Ben’s motions seemed a little slow, a little hesitant, and his shoulders were hunched as he threw balls of shadow that engulfed rats, wrapping around them and appearing to consume them. As the balls dissipated into something resembling wisps or smoke loose bones clattered free to the floor.
Patti gulped. That was… She shook her head. It was.
And still the rats came. Seriously?
“Oh, enough of this crap!” Patti stomped to the front of the line, her arms spread as if to push the others back. “And maybe cover your ears.”
That said she opened her mouth and released a Note. The air rippled out in a cone shape from her, the Magick suspended in it actually visible to the naked eye.
Kim’s eyes bugged. Gwen stopped, dropped her plunger to her side, and cocked her head like a confused pup. Siobhan paused, a potion pulled back to throw and just stood there looking dumbfounded as a wave of sound picked up every single one of the considerably large wave of rats; sending them flying like a cow in a tornado, like a fence post in a gale force wind, like rats caught in the sonic boom of a skilled Bard.
“Motherf-“ burst out of Ben.
“Son of a… wow!” with a whole lot of extra Ws burst out of Kim.
Pop pop pop burst out of the rats as they hit the walls. Some of them exploded. Some of them were embedded in the wainscoting.
Patti bent over, planted her hands on her knees, and panted. Ivan, standing next to her, blinked. Once. Twice. Maybe twenty-two times. “I thought you were a Siren?”
Patti stopped panting to grunt out, “Who said I was a Siren?”
Hmmm… Actually no one.
Patti stumbled. Held up a finger. Stumbled again. Then rolled up to a stand.
“Do that often?” Ivan asked.
“Never. Not much use for it at the bar.”
“Stick with us you’ll get other chances.”
Her “Whee!” was very dry.
They held their formation and waited. Thirty seconds. A minute. A minute and a half. No rats.
Ben smoothed a shaky hand over his head and stumbled back into one of the club chairs. Kim tossed the small ball of fire she cradled in her palm into the fire, dragged over the other club chair, then sat down. Propping her elbows on her knees she leaned forward and caught Ben’s lowered gaze.
“You good to go?”
He nodded. Didn’t look up.
“Okay then.” She slapped her thighs and rose. “Prairie, you got a direction?”
Prairie shook her head. “I’m a little tired. Could we have Dan do his thing instead?”
“Of course.” Siobhan walked up to Prairie’s side, refilling the slots on her bandolier by feel. “Dan?”
“On it.” Dan nodded and started walking around the perimeter of the room, his arm held low with his fingers spread. He stopped to the right of the reception desk and tapped on the wall. “There’s a draft here.”
Ivan went over and ran his gaze over the wall, then ran his finger along the wainscoting’s decorative trim. Flipping his hand over he slid his nails under the fine edge. A click sounded. He nodded as the panel separated slightly from the wall. “Thought so. Dan?”
Dan came over and helped Ivan grab the edge of the wainscoting, swinging the entire wall panel out on a hidden hinge.
“Hidden door?” Patti boggled. “Cool.”
“Mystery House.” Prairie said, walking past Patti and heading for the revealed opening.
Enter The Woods 