CHAPTER#28

Mike frowned, thinking on it. "If she breaks in, then we can't seal this passageway off anymore, not easily anyway. But then she could trigger any traps waiting for us and smash anything that is following us." He drew the dagger. "If one of us could cut the lock, then she could come up here."

"About that. The hole narrows. You should be able to fit if you stretch your arms over your head, but no way will she make it."

"Goddammit." He fought off the idea of getting stuck while being chased. "This whole expedition has been one giant fucking dead end."

"Not enough rat jam," Tink added.

"You're right." He looked at the hole in the ceiling. Up above, he could still hear some of the books fluttering around in the room above. There was something about that room that was bothering him, and he felt like he was holding a puzzle piece with nowhere to put it. Carmina, now bored, was now stacking the more active cubes, determined to see how high she could pile them before they fell apart.

"Okay, I've got it." He pulled the dagger free. "Carmina, can you fly with this?"

The fairy left her pile of blocks and inspected it. "Maybe."

"Here, try it out, but be careful. If you drop that, it will cut through everything." If not for the hilt, Mike was convinced the thing would sink to the center of the Earth.

Carmina grabbed the handle and grunted, her four wings fluttering furiously. She hovered upwards slowly and made a quick loop around the room. Her speed was very diminished, but she was able to maneuver okay. She landed, setting the blade flat side down on the floor.

"I can do it. What are you thinking?"

"You take the knife and stick it in the lock. Gravity will do the work, that will let Abella in. She can trash whatever jumps her there. Once that room is cleared out, we make a run for it down the hall. Just leave the knife there, I don't want to stumble and fall on it while running." He moved toward one of the long supports from the bed. He sliced it down until it was roughly the size of a baseball bat. "We just need to slide through the hole before we get roughed up. I doubt anything makes it through, but Abella can take care of it if it does." He let out a deep breath. "Once we get back, I think it would be best to meet with the others and discuss a better plan this time. We were all in a hurry to find Jenny, but we haven't even seen any rats. I almost think these are unused tunnels."

"If these are unused, then why all the weird enchanted stuff?" When Cecilia spoke, his jaw dropped.

Why indeed? They had seen no signs of habitation, and they definitely hadn't stumbled across any treasure. His mind was back on the sky room once more.

"We can discuss it later. Carmina?" He held out the dagger once more. "Please be careful."

"You bet." She took it from him and flew through the door once he opened it. They all watched her as she disappeared down the tunnel at the end. They waited a few minutes and then heard the sound of splintering wood. The furniture in the hallway remained motionless.

After several more minutes, Carmina appeared in the gap. She stuck a finger in her mouth and blew, inflating her entire hand like a balloon. She gave them a thumbs up.

"That's one way to do it." He knelt down and let Tink crawl on his back, her legs passing through the loops in his arms. "Ready?"

"Giddyup!" Tink slipped her goggles into place and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. Mike held out his club then opened the door and ran.

The moment he passed in between a lamp with a boxing glove on top and a coffee table, the whole room activated in a chain reaction. Furniture threw itself forward, some of the bigger pieces overlapping with each other and getting tangled up.

The lamp bent over and launched itself like a spear. The boxing glove hit Mike in the face, knocking his head to the side. Tink grabbed the lamp and tossed it to the ground as Mike stepped onto the coffee table. It tried to hop beneath him, and he jumped off of that and onto an angry mini-fridge that was spilling old cans of diet cola everytime it opened its door.

"It's like the swapmeet from hell." He jumped on top of a dresser, the drawers opening and closing beneath him. It tried to tip over, but it was too close to one of the pillars and bounced back. Mike used the shift in direction to leap down onto an ottoman. It jumped up and down, but he was too heavy for it. A coffee table turned on its side and rolled toward him. He knocked it aside with the club, causing it to crash into the mini-fridge.

A tea set leapt off of a nearby end table. The pot smashed into the wall behind him and he swung his club, smashing one of the teacups before it could hit him in the face.

"Sorry Chip." He stomped on another one and kicked over a table lamp. Most of what was in here was junk, but now he faced the strangely stitched couch.

The upper cushions curled like a giant lip, revealing the rows of knives that had been stuck into the cushions.

"No bite! No bite!" Tink squirmed, her feet kicking out. Mike shoved the club into the couch's mouth, pushing it back. The dumb thing was on felt casters, allowing him to push it easily across the concrete floor. Its gnashing teeth made metallic clinking sounds, and when the boxing glove lamp caught up to him, he fed it to the couch.

"Smash!" Tink's shifting weight threw Mike off balance. He turned around to see that she had used her hammer on a changing screen, punching a hole through the top. He grabbed that too and threw it toward the couch. It was now caught up on the cord of the lamp, rotating instead of moving forward.