Chapter 34: Chapter 34

The house was quiet and any sane person had long been asleep. I climbed out of bed and quickly changed into a pair of nondescript travel clothes. The stairs creaked as I stepped softly as I could. I almost made it to the door when I heard a voice behind me.

“If you are going out, I suggest you take a cloak. It is quite chilly in Aktaio when the sun is down.” I turned to see Jacob, the butler, polishing a silver vase.

Did he not sleep? Why was he still up?

“I don’t suppose you could keep this a secret?” I asked hopefully.

“I have served your grandmother for over thirty years. I watched as your mother snuck out one night and never came back, and have regretted not stopping her every day since. So, no, I will not be keeping this a secret. If I see you step out of that door, I will wake your parents immediately.”

I frowned. If my parents woke up, they would never let me do something like this. “I promise, I am not running away. I want to protect my family more than anything, but I know they would not agree with how I do it. Please, just this once look the other way.”

Jacob paused for a moment. “I have a tendency to not look up from my work when I am alone. Perhaps, if someone were to accompany you, I might be focused enough to not see anyone stepping outside. The Donte boy might be willing.”

Getting the hint, I made my way to a small bedroom at the back of the house. The sound of knocking might wake someone in the house, so decided to slip into his room uninvited. I carefully opened his door. I winced as the hinges creaked.

The small room had no decorations and almost no personal belongings. I realized; we never went back to his house to collect anything. the only things he owned were what I bought him the day we came here. We would have to fix that when I had the chance.

Quietly as I could, I snuck to his beside. I placed my hand over his mouth so that he would not speak when he woke.

His eyes shot open the moment my hand touched his mouth. His arms and legs flailed wildly. His foot kicked my side, causing me to wince at the pain.

Noticing who was above him, Donte froze. Even in the dim light of the lantern, I could see his face turn bright red.

“What are you doing in here?” Donte asked, voice muffled by my hand.

“Be quiet. I don’t want anyone else waking up,” I whispered angrily, “Get dressed. I will tell you everything once we are outside.”

Donte nodded and quickly threw on his clothes. On our way out the front door, I did not see Jacob anywhere. The only sign that he had been there were two cloaks hanging by the door that were not there before. Hopefully, he would not change his mind and wake my family.

I pulled the cloak tight and hurried outside. Donte was close behind. Once we were far enough from the house that I thought it was safe I allowed him to speak.”

“Where are we going? Why are you sneaking out in the middle of the night?” Donte asked curiously.

“I want to investigate one of the senators that might be responsible for this drug outbreak,” I replied, “He is also antagonistic to my family so even if he is not responsible, I want to find some dirt on him.”

“We are going to break into a senator's house? Are you crazy? A senator will have at least a dozen guards patrolling his house at all times. We will not even get past the door.”

Nox hopped down from a nearby tree, trotting up to us. I reached down to pet him. “Do not worry. We will have an excellent distraction.”

Donte shook his head. “You really are crazy. Don’t you know the stories? If you get caught breaking into a senator’s home, they have free reign to punish you however they like. No laws regulate what they can do to you. A quick death would be a mercy.”

“Then we better not get caught,” I replied with a bright smile.

Donte complained for a while, but eventually relented when I brought up avenging his mother. He grew silent as we moved through the streets. I used Sylvie overhead to avoid the guards that patrolled the streets in the upper city. Many times, we had to duck behind bushes and trees to avoid their gaze.

After a few detours, we arrived at the large, three-story mansion. A tall stone wall surrounded the property. The Bydle household was one of the most prosperous families in the city, and their mansion reflected it.

The mansion was easily three times the size of my grandmother's. A massive fountain at the front poured water freely. Elaborate statues surrounded by gardens of flowers decorated their yard.

From our vantage point across the street, I could see that Donte was not lying. Nearly twenty guards patrolled just the outside of the building. There was no telling how many were inside, but I did see light pass by the windows more than once.

“This… This will never work.” Donte stuttered as he counted the guards.

“Have a little faith,” I replied while petting Nox, “This is where things get fun.”

A monstrous roar broke the silence of the night. Stone exploded in every direction a claw tore through the wall.

Donte boosted me over the wall as another roar echoed through the night. From my elevated position, I could see the guards running towards the explosion at the far side of the yard, but I knew that by the time they reached the source of the commotion, Nox would be gone.

I pulled Donte up with me, and we hopped down the other side of the wall.

“Now!” I commanded in a hushed tone.

Donte hurled a heavy rock as hard as he could. A moment before the stone hit the window, another roar rang through the night. Glass shattered, and we sprinted across the yard.

Through my mental command with Nox, I made him return to his small kitten form and hide. If all went well, nobody will know what attacked the manor tonight. Nox protested the command at first, wanting to go on a true rampage, but I could not let him do that.

The monstrous figure disappeared just in time as more than a dozen guards rounded the corner. Nox scampered into a bush, hopefully unseen.

Meanwhile, Donte and I catapulted ourselves through the broken window. I cut myself slightly on the shards of glass. Hissing softly, I resisted the urge to curse. Now that Nox’s distraction was over, we could not afford a commotion.

Glancing around the dark room, I noticed that we found ourselves in a kitchen. Tiptoeing over to the door, I heard shouting and the stomping of feet as those inside the house rushed to see what happened.

I motioned Donte to be still as rushed footsteps stomped outside the kitchen door. I sighed in relief as they passed. Everything was going according to plan so far. Now was the hard part.

I cracked the door slightly, just enough for a small bird to pass through. Sylvie hopped around excitedly and pranced out of the kitchen. She looked around carefully, little head twitching from side to side. Once I was sure the coast was clear, she took flight.

She flew through the corridors and into the large entrance hall. Through her sight, I was able to get a basic layout of the mansion, and where we were in it. Unfortunately, many doors were kept closed and she could not find the senator’s study. We would have to check each one till I found what I was looking for.

Sylvie landed on a large chandelier. It shook slightly as her feet touched down, but the people below were too preoccupied to notice.

An angry man, I assumed to be senator Bydle, was shouting at the guards furiously. None of them knew what attacked, though one of the ones closer to the broken wall said he saw a bright green light.

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Through Sylvie, I could also see Damian. He was limping down a large staircase, careful not to let his crutches slip in the dim light of the night. A woman, with a large resemblance to him, held his shoulders to support him as he winced with pain. His pitiful state made me smile.

Watching most of the figures move outside, I motioned to Donte. We slipped out of the kitchen and into the dimly lit halls.

The family came down from upstairs, the best place to start looking would be up there. I could not pass through the main entrance stairs; a few guards were still there. Luckily, massive mansions like this usually had paths built for their servants so that they would not be seen while moving through the building.

I pulled my cloak tight as I moved through the empty hallway. I rubbed away the chills on my arm as I eyed each door we passed. This was the worst part. If a single servant or guard walked into the hall now, there was nowhere we could hide. We would be caught and everything would be ruined.

Due to the distraction Nox made, or just good luck, nobody entered the hall. My guess was correct. There was a second staircase at the back of the house for servant use. The old wood creaked with every step we took.

For a moment, I thought I heard someone nearby. Donte and I froze, afraid to make even the smallest sound. One of the doors in the hallway behind us opened. A disheveled, half-dressed man hurried out of the room and down the hall we had just come from. By some miracle, he never looked up the nearby staircase. If we had been even a few moments slower, he would have caught us.

I released a long breath. Sweat dripped down the side of my face. that was too close. Donte looked up at me with fear in his eyes. I knew he wanted to turn back, I did too, but not yet.

I continued moving up the stairs. Once at the top, I saw nearly a dozen doors. A couple were thrown open, revealing lavish bedrooms. Just what I could see from outside, the decorations in the bedrooms cost enough to let a hundred normal families live an entire lifetime without worry.

I crouched as I moved past the bedrooms, careful not to let my figure be seen over the balcony. The first and second doors I opened just revealed more bedrooms. The third door was a room filled with paintings and paint supplies. The fourth door, I found what I was looking for.

An office, a desk surrounded by bookshelves. I waved Donte over as we snuck into the dark room. a small green flame ignited on my fingertip, illuminating the office. I nearly fell backwards as the shadow of a knight appeared in the corner of the room. Only after taking a second look, did I notice it was just a decorative suit of armor.

We did not have much time before the family and guards returned. Quick as I could I moved over to the desk. I did not read any of the papers right now. I simply grabbed everything I could and handed it to Donte to hold. Then, I started looking carefully.

Experience taught me, these old offices always had a hidden secret somewhere. Sometimes it was behind an old painting or cleverly named book. This one was not very well hidden. As I opened the drawers to the desk, I noticed one of them was significantly smaller inside than the others. I smiled and grabbed a small file off the desk. With a bit of effort and a little help from Donte, I was able to pry the file into a crack and revealed a false bottom to the drawer.

Inside the hidden compartment was a small, black leather-bound book and stack of loose papers. Giving them all to Donte for now, I also noticed a large ornate key under the book. It looked important so I decided to take that as well.

I heard loud the loud voice of a man echoing through the house. I could hear the sound of heavy footsteps as the senator walked up the stairs. We were out of time. Whatever we found, it would have to do. I extinguished the flame and motioned to Donte.

“Wait for now. Once some time has passed, I will create another distraction,” I whispered.

Donte nodded. we hid behind the desk in case someone peeked into the room. So long as no one actually entered the office or noticed the missing papers, we would be fine.

I closed my eyes and waited. I could hear Donte’s nervous breaths in my ear. Through Sylvie’s eyes on the chandelier, I confirmed everyone’s movements. The senator and his wife were shaken, but nobody had been hurt so they went back to their rooms to try and sleep. The servants milled about for a while, but also eventually returned to their rooms as well.

The best news of all was that almost all of the guards that had been patrolling inside the house stayed outside in case the creature returned.

The only person I could not keep track of was Damian. He passed through the main entrance but did not return to his room. Instead, he went to the back of the house. For some reason, he had gone into the servants’ quarters and never returned. This worried me a bit since we would have to pass by there on our way out of the house.

An hour passed before the coast was clear enough to risk going back through the house. I motioned to Donte and quick as mice we slipped out of the office. Once again, the creaky stairs made us worry, but we knew where we were going this time.

We turned towards the hallway that led to the kitchen and the broken window when I saw something that made me pause. A large door was tucked under the staircase. It was reinforced with iron braces and sported a large keyhole.

I remembered the key I found in the desk and grinned. A large locked basement door and a hidden key; this is where people hid the things they did not want even their servants knowing about.

Donte motioned me to hurry up so we could leave, but I shook my head and made my way to the suspicious door. The key I found fit perfectly. With a loud click of the lock, the door was opened.

The first thing that struck me was the smell. It was a smell that reminded me of the battlefield, a smell of blood and decay. This was the smell of death.

A flame ignited in my hand as I walked down into the depths of the basement. The light pushed back the darkness, revealing the horrors below.

Tools of torture lined the walls. Devises used to flay flesh and break bone littered the room. blood was everywhere, but the worst was the corpses. Over ten bodies were orderly laid out on a table. They were cut open and dissected. Expressions of pain and horror still visible on their faces. Each of the corpses were deformed in some way. Some had scales, while others had grotesque growths on their body. These were all people infected by the drug.

I heard Donte retch as he threw up after seeing the sight. He was shaking as he collapsed to the ground, eyes wide in shock.

I took a few moments looking around the room, but there were no survivors in the large cage against the far wall. Only more corpses.

I shook my head and helped Donte to his feet. We needed to get out of here. I had no doubts in my mind that if we were captured here, we would end up on the dissection table just like all the others.

Scurrying up the stairs, we rushed out of the horrible place as fast as we could. Shaken, Donte had a hard time walking quietly. We had only just entered the servants’ hall when the worst happened. One of the doors opened.

Damian hobbled out of one of the rooms with a twisted smile on his face. through the open door beyond, I could see the figure of a half-clothed servant woman.

I did not give Damian time to react as I sprinted at him as fast as I could. I barreled into him at full speed. If not for his injured foot, my tiny frame would do nothing to him. However, his injury made him easy to knock over. He fell to the ground in a pile of twisted limbs. I saw his head slam into the door as he fell.

Damian shouted and cursed as fell to the ground. I did not have any time now. The whole house would be alerted to our presence any moment now. I turned to sprint towards the kitchen, pausing for only a moment to make sure I stomped down on Damian’s injured foot.

Reaching out with my mind, I connected with Nox. He had not been found. Not that they knew to look for a tiny kitten.

Following my command, Nox moved to another side of the mansion. Another roar and another explosion of stone rang out through the night. Nox immediately fled the scene and returned to his diminutive form.

I could hear more shouts as guards hurried to the scene of the crime. Behind me, Damian was shouting, but it was lost in the commotion.

Sprinting into the kitchen, I slammed the door shut. As Donte leapt through the window, I stopped for a moment. I gathered all the flames in my body to a single point. Green flames ignited on my fingertip. With a thought, the flames grew hot, giving off a real heat. I smiled as I directed the flames towards the wood ceiling.

The single-action exhausted me completely, but I achieved the desired effect. As my green flames subsided, a real orange fire took its place. the flames spread quickly across the old wood. While most of the house was made of marble, there was enough wood to cause some serious damage.

It was unfortunate I did not have time to watch my handiwork. I crawled through the broken window, careful not to cut myself again. Unseen by the scattered guards, we hauled ourselves back over the wall, collapsing to the ground. I laughed. The cold grass under my feet gave me some relief after the hours of stress.

We had succeeded. Only Damian saw us, and in the dark of the hallway, it was unlikely he had been able to recognize us. Even if he had, there was no proof. It would be his word against mine and it was well known he had a grudge with me.

Donte and I escaped into the night. Armored soldiers and fire brigade rushed to the senator’s house, but none of them saw us. I giggled thinking about the chaos we had caused tonight. At this moment I finally felt like one of the five calamities again.

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