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 Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 5:32 pm
He hadn't even remembered falling to sleep. It was just like that time in the ally, when he had been attacked and nearly killed by that negaverse agent. He had been there, watching as the man, in his strange clothes and with that horrible chain, had turned on Virgo and attacked her, injured her, and then it had been dark. Nothing. What felt like an eternity jammed in one second passed and he was awake again, throwing a rock to defend his near-family, only to pass out again.
For three days.
Those three days had been dreamless. It was strange, that trauma could induce the most restful, or at least quiet, sleep the man had experienced in some time. No nightmares, no strange thoughts or memories, no blurred lines between reality and dreams. When he woke, he knew he was awake. But therein the resemblance to then and now ended.
If he was awake, how had he come to be here? The last he could recall, he was in a park, being yelled at by an emotionally overwrought woman he had unintentionally caused a great deal of pain to. She had been pointing out his flaws to him in painful specificity.
"Carol?" he called softly, putting his hands under him to make sure there was still a ground beneath him and he wasn't suspended in some kind of ether. He felt it, sturdy, cold, like rocks burnished smooth. His eyes were slow to adjust to the light, but he realized, after a moment, that his eye was not swollen as it was. He could open both fully, and when he touched his hand to his face he did not feel the sting of a disturbed bruise. Reaching back, he ran his hand over what should have been shaved hair, to feel for stitches or a bandage, but neither presented themselves under his finger. Just his hair, as it had been before the attack.
Taking a shaky breath, he coughed on the acrid air, a scent unlike any he had quite smelled before hitting him hard. He felt some kind of residue on his hands from the floor, slick and unpleasant, and he once again found himself wondering just where he was. The question of how he had come to be there would just have to be addressed later. These days, he was getting more willing to accept strange things, deal with them, before asking why they were happening.
He sat up, hearing the distant drum of a water source, oozing small drips of water in a constant, slow beat. His leg was not bound by it's sharpie decorated cast, no dating service on his body at the moment. At least that was a small plus. He rubbed his head and dragged himself to his knees, setting back onto his feet and bumping into something behind him.
"Pardon me," he said on instinct, but took a beat to note that he had just bumped into someone. "Oh! A-are you okay? Do you know where we are?" he asked, in a flurry all of a sudden, his heart in his throat. He turned to grip what he thought was a shoulder, though he caught lower down on the limb, and quickly found it in his hands. Detached. Squinting in the darkness, he realized this was not a living body, but a corpse. It slumped forward toward him, with a rattle of chains to accompany it.
"Good heavens," Tony yelped, shoving the thing away from him, dragging himself backwards and scrambling to his feet, forgetting to drop the arm. The bony appendage remained in his tight grip, and he stumbled a few steps back with it, eyes searching the dim area. Was he alone in this place?
Besides the dead guy?
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 6:42 pm
She had been searching for star seeds like she'd done every night since joining the Negaverse. Lt. Zanazziite took her task very seriously, she'd find the most star seeds to bring back to General-King Charonite and Queen Beryl. She'd be the best Lieutenant she could be, as long as she could occasionally rip out the star seed of an animal abuser she was wholeheartedly dedicated to the Negaverse. The night had started off the same, walking the streets, her heels click, click, clicking on the sidewalk. Some of her peers liked to patrol from the rooftops, but Zan preferred the ground. She hadn't quite gotten the hang of jumping from rooftop to rooftop in heels yet. So, it was on the ground that she suddenly passed out. One minute she was walking, the next her legs crumpled under her and she fell to the ground, a pile of dead weight.
It felt like a blink, albeit a very long blink. She had been looking around the streets of Destiny City, but now she was dazed and looking around...well she didn't know where exactly. She just knew that she was lying on a cold slimy floor and that she was still in her uniform. With some effort she pulled herself up, reaching up to check her glasses. They had fallen off her face (no wonder everything was a complete blur) but thanks to the chain they were attached to they were hanging around her neck. Carefully she slid them on and the world came into focus. She blinked, once, twice, three times. "What the heck?" Her words echoed against the walls, but she didn't receive an answer.
Sitting up completely she swiveled taking in everything in front of her. She was in...a dungeon? There was something wrong about that. A shiver ran up her spine and she realized she needed to get off the floor. The wet cold was seeping into her bones and giving her a chill. Carefully she unfolded her legs and pushed herself up, taking a step back and putting a hand on the wall behind her to steady herself. She took one more step back so he could stand up straight and she heard something snap.
Cautiously she looked down and what she saw made her jump away from the wall, somehow managing not to fall. There was a half desiccated skeleton hanging from shackles against the wall. Zanazziite stared for a long moment before she reacted in the only way she could think of. She began screaming at the top of her lungs.
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 7:06 pm
A dead person was chained to the wall. That couldn't be a good sign, right? This was some kind of dungeon, and he thought for a moment that the negaverser who had promised to dispose of him had come back to make good on it. Had he been captured? He knew the identity of a Zodiac senshi, but how could anyone know that he knew? He shook his head, trying to clear it before he got too muddled.
No. No one knew he was aware of Virgo's identity. He had promised to protect her, and in that he needed to protect the very fact that he knew. So he could not, he was sure, be here because of that. If it was a petty, vendetta type thing Tony had no idea who might have kidnapped him, or why he hadn't just been killed instead of knocked unconscious.
Also, he didn't know anyone who could kidnap someone and heal their wounds before they woke up. Then again, as far as the whole senshi/negaverse thing went, he knew very little beyond 'good and bad' respectively.
His thoughts were abruptly interrupted when a terrible scream pierced the area, and he realized that he was not alone here. He hadn't heard her speak, however, as if he wasn't supposed to hear it or he had just been spacing out at the time and it hadn't been as jarring as the screech. Whirling around, he searched the dim area for another form, spotting something that seemed to be standing, not dead, and perhaps the source of the sound.
"Who's there?" he called, brandishing the arm he had accidentally stolen from a dead man as if it were a club. Over the screaming, though, he didn't think he was heard. Heart in his throat, hero instinct kicking in, he thought she might be in some kind of danger. Whoever she was. It didn't matter: if she was, he would help her. He moved toward the darker shadow, knowing it was a human-like form, "are you okay?! Are you hurt?" he called, putting his hand on what he hoped was her arm.
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 7:25 pm
Her mind was a blur as she screamed. She didn't even know what she was thinking about. Why was she in a dungeon? Had she done something wrong? Who would take care of Coby? What about her homework?! The Lieutenant wasn't very well holding it together. It probably would've helped to look away from the dead body, but she couldn't. It was odd how fresh dead bodies didn't bother her nearly as much as a half rotted one, but she didn't have the sense to sit and think about it.
She didn't hear the male voice calling her, but she did feel the hand on her arm. The touch snapped her out of her screaming and she whirled around, her dress swishing around her knees. In the dim light it was hard to tell who it was, but she'd find out, and if it was someone bad, well she had her antlers. Thinking of them she opened her palms and willed them into existence, just in case. Only...nothing happened. She tried again and again, but it wasn't working. It had to be something in the dungeon blocking them. This panicked her, but she swallowed that fear, she had to deal with the man in front of her first and foremost. It seemed she had to assume he wouldn't hurt her. On the bright side at least she knew he had to be alive. He touched her after all. She stepped closer to the man, violet eyes wide and watery like she was about to cry.
When she got close enough to make out his facial features she gasped. Brown hair, lightly streaked with gray, and those bright green eyes. He wasn't beat up anymore, but it was definitely the man from the hospital, the one who had liked Delilah and who she had come to have a crush on (not that she'd admit it). Forgetting that she was still in her uniform (the familiar face was quite a shock) she threw herself at him with a shout. "Mr. Darrow!" She wrapped her arms around his waist burying her face in his chest as best she could while wearing her glasses to hide the tears that started streaming down her cheeks. She had been scared before, waking up along in the dungeon, but now Mr. Darrow was here. He'd make everything okay again, he had too.
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 7:32 pm
It took several minutes of struggling on his tip-toes, but Ian managed to dislodge the torch and keep hold of it without burning himself, or any of his hair off. An amazing feat! He clutched his newfound light source in both hands, and glanced back over his shoulder into the room he had come from. ... He could have explored the room more now that he would be able to see, but since he had his glasses back, the boy decided that he could live his life just fine not knowing what the rest of the room held. He was not sure he wanted to meet the rest of the skeleton.
And so he turned so the wall was to his left, and kept walking down the dank, musty, dim hallway, trying to be more or less quiet, but not exactly sneaking. So far, he had not seen anything else alive down here, nor heard any signs of anyone or anything. He took this as a mixed blessing, and wanted to get out before anything bad found him. Thoughts of the undead made him shiver - Ian was fairly sure that such things did not really exist, but then with all the stories of monsters and terrorists and senshi on the local news, it was hard to fully doubt them. And he had no idea where he was now, so--
Suddenly, a scream came down the hallway from up ahead. Ian jumped, nearly dropping the torch as he staggered back, grasping at the wall with his free hand. Wide-eyed, he gasped for breath, trying to gather his wits. It sounded ... human? Like a girl? But then why would it be anything but human? What did undead or monsters sound like anyway?
Ian forced himself to take a deep breath, hold it (to the pounding of his heart in his ears), then let it out as slowly as he possibly could. The panic slowly faded, and he remained where he was, eyes riveted to the passageway ahead as his hands jittered.
Maybe-
Maybe- another human was a good thing. Ian could head that way, see if the person needed help even, and perhaps if he was fortunate enough, she knew more about what was going on, how they had gotten here, or even how to get out.
And he had a torch, right? For how little else he had seen on his walk thus far, it seemed like a good find. There had been other torches, but that was about it. It was a light and a weapon.
Taking another deep breath and putting some conscious effort to trying to steady his hands, Ian did his best to reassure himself that he would do better once he was no longer alone, and continued up the hall.
When he reached a junction, he paused to listen. His plan had been to go left, but he thought he heard a sound like crying coming from the right. The red-haired boy looked at his hand on he left wall, down the left passage as far as he could see (not very), straight ahead as far as the light touched (again, not far), and finally to the right.
... Finding people sounded like a safer bet than his maze-navigating algorithm plan, at least for the moment. Ian would do his best to remember his way back to this intersection and, after a moment's consideration, grubbed at the mouldy, dirty floor in the center of the crossing as well as he could, leaving an X. ... Or, sort of an X-like smudge. He was pretty sure he would recognize it, at least - recently disturbed goop was a rarity, so far as he had seen on the floors here.
Ian turned to head down the right passage way, towards the sound of crying (and were those voices?).
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 7:52 pm
Tony was at once surprised and relieved when the girl stopped screaming. He had half thought she would attack him in a blind panic, but instead she took a moment to look at him, maybe contemplating an attack, and instead threw her arms around him and buried herself into his chest. He patted her on the back soothingly.
She was scared. As he was. Clearly she had just woken up here, as well, unless she was trying to trick him. He had a bad habit of thinking that things might be a trap only after he was too far embedded to escape. He had his arms around her on instinct, hushing her quietly.
Wait.
"You know my name?" he asked, looking down at her in surprise. He wondered who she was, because even in the gloom he didn't recognize her. It might have been better for both of them that her outfit was not like the negaversers Tony had met before: he didn't recognize it as one. If he had, he might not have been so inclined to soothe her.
He opened his mouth to question if she knew where they were, or perhaps why he had been brought here, but he saw a light approaching them from the gloom. Moving to position himself between it and the girl, he kept his arm protectively around her, letting her cling to him as she had been.
"Who's there? Who's coming?" he called, trying to sound tougher than he felt, still gripping the dismembered arm in one hand.
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 8:11 pm
He was warm, and he smelled good. Those were the first two thoughts that entered Zan's brain. They were promptly followed by the fact that she was clinging to a man she had only ever met once and that was in a hospital. But she wasn't brave enough to let go. She could handle fighting and pulling star seeds out of people in a familiar city, it wasn't all that bad. But to suddenly end up in a dungeon of all places, without knowing how she got there and surrounded by shackles and skeletons? That was a bit much for her to handle. Especially knowing she couldn't access her weapons, without her antlers she felt vulnerable. They had quickly become almost an extension of her Negaself.
As he hugged her back and hushed her she started to calm down, her crying turning into sniffles and then slowly stopping. She didn't move though, instead she took deep breaths, clinging to her saviour. The quiet was interrupted by his words, which she both heard and felt, since her face was pressed against his chest. He was so much taller than she was! Even in her heels he still towered over her. She brought her mind back to what he said. Shoot She was in a pickle now, she had forgotten she was Zanazziite not Claudia when she had said his name. She couldn't explain to him that they'd met before, she had a feeling that would be a giant breach of security. Her mind scrabbled for an excuse. When they talked at the hospital he had said he was a librarian.
"I've seen you at the library before. You were wearing a name tag." She had no idea if librarians wore name tags, she couldn't remember the last time she was in a library, she bought her books she didn't borrow. Hopefully they did, or her story was going to fall apart at the seams.
She had just closed her eyes and was thinking about asking him what to do next when he shifted her. Opening them she blinked rapidly and looked around, spotting the light coming towards them. The blue haired girl stuck to his side like a burr, hoping whoever showed up wasn't hostile. For the first time since pulling her face out of his chest she looked at the rest of Mr. Darrow and her eyes widened at what she saw. He was holding an arm in his hand! The sixteen year old swallowed a scream and just clung tighter to him, he had to know what he was doing with that arm, or else he wouldn't be holding on to it.
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 8:27 pm
In spite of his best efforts to prevent it, Ian kept jittering as he drew close to the room where it sounded like there were two people. Or he could only hope that they were people. He slowed his steps and flattened himself against the near wall as he edged up to the doorway, and froze as he heard a voice from within that was definitely talking to him.
... Right, the light of the torch was wobbling, and if nothing else, the presence of another light in the dimness that were these cells was obvious. So much for being able to steal a peek before the strangers knew he was there.
How best to respond to the question, though? Ian could give up his name, or he could lie, or he could do any number of things. Fleeing was sort of stupid at this point, though, especially since they knew that he was here now. After remaining silent (except his breathing and heartbeat sounded really loud to him) for a long moment, the red-haired boy finally decided it best to just identify himself right away as not a threat to whomever was inside - unless they appeared to be a threat to him.
Ian peeked around the wall into the cell, holding the torch out in the doorway to illuminate the pair inside.
"My name's Ian," he told them, doing his best to keep his voice steady, though that admittedly became easier when he discovered the two within the room were not skeletons or anything else too scary looking. ... In fact, one of them was familiar.
"You're- the librarian?" Ian fumbled, stepping out into the doorway now that he was feeling reassured and relieved at having found two other humans. He had not expected at all to have to remember the man's name, though, and his nerves were so focused on other things that trying to pick the name from his memory was like grasping at smoke.
"Sorry, I can't remember your name, sir," he admitted quickly, then got to the more dire information. "Do you have any idea where we are? Or what's going on?" The boy's red eyes glanced between the librarian and the unfamiliar girl, hoping to indicate that the question was for both of them. But, when he squinted a little, in the low light of his torch (Ian was starting to wonder if a flame that size should be making more light than it was), he thought he saw marks of tears on her face and figured that she might not know anymore than he did.
"Oh, miss, you are alright, right?" Ian inquired. "I ah, heard you screaming a few minutes ago." he put his free hand to his chest and forced a tiny sheepish smile. "Just about gave me a heart attack."
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 8:42 pm
Tony gripped her with his one arm, keeping her close not out of any real connection or personal feelings, but because she was leaning on him, she was crying, and she was trembling. She needed him, as far as he knew, to protect her, and that was what he was going to do. He held the arm like a bat, though it occurred to him that if it had been so easily disconnected from the body that it probably wouldn't be the most effective weapon.
But it was better than nothing.
The light drew closer and he tensed, his eyes fixed on it as the pool of light, cast by a fire burning on a torch, spread across the floor. Someone stepped into his line of sight, and he looked at the young man in surprise. Yet another person who was brought here? It hardly looked like he belonged there any more than Tony or the girl he was shielding did.
At least his employment was proving some good. Both the girl and this boy knew him from the library.
"Anthony Darrow," he said, not having a free hand to shake the young man's in greeting. He offered him the dead one for a moment, but shook his head when he realized how morbidly inappropriate that was. "Ah, no, here," he sputtered, dropping the arm and offering him his hand properly. "I'm afraid I don't know who this is... or what's going on."
He looked down at the girl, finally releasing her. He offered her a smile, which they could see now that there was light in the room, "I just woke up here. I was in a park with a woman I work with. I should have been in hospital: my leg was in a cast and my head stitched up. But that's all gone now. I've no idea where we..."
He looked down at himself. He wasn't wearing what he had been, but hadn't noticed before. Instead of hospital issued clothes, though thankfully not a gown, he was wearing his usual work clothes. Brown slacks, a white shirt, a vest, the latter most of which wasn't buttoned up. He had an earring in his ear, and a leather jacket on over everything else.
Strange. He never wore these two 'looks' together.
"Are," he finished, at length.
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 9:10 pm
Zanazziite didn't really think about why Mr. Darrow was allowing her to cling to him. All that mattered was that he was. As the light came closer to them the girl squeezed her eyes shut. She was really hoping it was another person, or maybe even a youma! She liked youma and didn't understand why people called them monsters. She had a feeling it wasn't a youma though, that would be too easy.
When she heard a voice that wasn't Mr. Darrow's Zan opened her eyes slowly and they came to rest on the red headed boy. Oh good, it was another person. She relaxed just slightly, but didn't let go quite yet. She listened to the men talk, she didn't have very much to add. She didn't know where they were or how they got there. That was until she was addressed directly.
"Oh, I'm better now. I got scared when I saw the skeletons." She blushed a little and looked down. "Sorry if I scared you." It occurred to her while she was apologizing that she was being a horrible Negaverse agent, she should be trying to take their star seeds. But then again, if she couldn't summon her weapons she probably couldn't take a star seed either. Anyways, she couldn't do that to Mr. Darrow. She just couldn't!...Unless General-King Charonite told her too, then she would, but only then.
Mr. Darrow spoke next and then let her go. She was tempted to hold on for dear life, but she just let go. Being a barnacle on his side wouldn't be helpful. She was dusting off her uniform when she realized what he had said. "Ah, uhm." This was awkward, she wasn't sure if either of them knew anything about the Negaverse. She could lie and give a fake name, but she'd feel horrible doing that to Mr. Darrow. On the other hand if she could manage to get through this place without revealing who she was, maybe the General-King would reward her. She clasped her hands behind her back and looked between the two males. "I'm Abigail. I don't know where we are either, I just woke up here."
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 9:26 pm
A skittering sound came from behind Tony; moments later, a few rats scuttled over his feet, their hairless tails brushing his legs under the cuffs of his trousers, and then all ran off in the same direction into the darkness. But, peculiarly, the exact same direction.
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 9:32 pm
Ian's brow furrowed as the librarian trailed off to examine his own clothing, and he started to say something when Mister Darrow finally finished his sentence. But it prompted the boy to look down at what he wore himself, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary - his favorite jeans and his black t-shirt patterned over the left side and sleeve with a twisting Chinese dragon. Nothing horrible like prison rags or anything, but his clothes did still bear the smudges of whatever that he had wiped on them after dirtying his hands in search of his glasses.
He smiled politely and nodded to the girl, then, taking her introduction in stride. "So you haven't had a chance to look around yet, Abigail?" the red-haired boy asked her, reaching up to push his glasses up on his nose a little. Taking a step into the room, he raised the torch to try to better illuminate the floor of the chamber ... and tensed visibly when he saw the skeleton.
"How-" he began before his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat, looking up at Mister Darrow, before trying again: "How far have you gotten, sir? Or did you wake up in this room, too?"
Ian was half-tempted to ask if any of them had seen the skeletons move, though he was not sure that even a negative answer would stave off his fears on that topic. But he edged back against the wall as the rats scurried through the room, watching them with wide eyes as they passed amidst the three of them before all going on their way.
Once they were beyond the light of his torch or around a corner, out of sight, the boy ventured to inquire, "Where do we want to go from here? After them? Or, I got a little ways just turning left. If we want to go back where I left off." Ian was not too keen on rats, though they had not attacked or anything, and the animals seemed natural enough in this place that he suspected they knew their way around.
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 9:43 pm
Tony smiled apologetically as the young woman explained why she had been scared. He had to sympathize, the skeletons had scared the hell out of him, as well. Even if he had then brandished a piece of one as a weapon. He patted her shoulder to tell her she didn't really need to apologize, that no harm was done.
"Well, considering the situation, it's a pleasure to meet you, Abigail, and you, Ian," he said in his genial, warm tone he usually used at the front desk at the library. There was nothing feigned about it: an easy, natural friendliness. Superficial, in a sense that generally when he spoke to someone at the desk it was only for a few minutes, or until the problem was solved or the book checked out, but not fake.
He shook his head when Ian made to question him, "we haven't left this room. So I've made it about three feet from that gentleman over there," he pointed behind him to the slumped, one armed corpse, which he now could see a bit clearer, "to here. I was hoping you might have seen more on the wa-"
He looked down. Rats. Over his feet. Rustling his pants. Their little tails hitting him and he swore one managed to curl under the cuff of his pants. He stared at them, hard, not willing to move until they did, and then they were off, the small group of them, skittering into the darkness. He frowned.
"Now where are they going in such a hurry, like some flock?" Did rats normally travel in a little pack? He didn't know much about animal behavior. He looked back over his shoulder, at where he imagined they had come from. Why were they leaving that place? Or perhaps they were going somewhere specific.
"If rats live down here, there must be ways in and out. Sources of food," which very well could be the dead bodies that he was trying not to think about, "or water. Perhaps we should follow them?"
The three of them together would be okay, he thought, with their torch and, as he stooped to recover it, the arm. It was all he had.
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 10:13 pm
'Abigail' let Mr. Darrow talk for her, she didn't have all that much to add. She rather just stand and listen to the conversation until she did have something to add. Standing between the two she felt very, very short. Even in heels she was only 5'5, and both Ian and Mr. Darrow were taller than her.
"It's nice to meet you both," She dipped her head a bit no longer feeling bad about being nice. She was undercover, if she acted like a Negaverser they'd figure out who she was. She began to fidget with her gloves, make sure they were button, and the little pearls hadn't mysteriously disappeared during her transfer to wherever here was.
She heard a scurrying sound and immediately recognized it. Rodent feet, either rats or mice. Looking down she saw they were rats. The sight of any animal, even a pack of rats, made this place so much better. Smiled she crouched and reached out trying to pick one up or pet it, but her gloved hands barely slid over the rat's backs before they disappeared. She frowned a bit watching them go and then stood back up.
"Probably to their nest." She stared at the direction they went and then looked around. She wished she had thread, or breadcrumbs or something to leave a trail. But all they had were skeletons, and she didn't want to leave a trail of bones. That was too morbid. "If they're heading to their nest it might lead us deeper in, but then it might not." Yeah, not very helpful Zan. "I'll follow you guys where you want to go."
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Posted: Wed May 19, 2010 11:24 pm
When the librarian gestured towards the one-armed body lying slumped against the wall, Ian tensed visibly, until his high brain processed that Mister Darrow was joking. He still cast a wary glance at the other arm, too, and then again when he picked it up.
Ian was glad he had gotten hold of the torch, though he was not sure it would have crossed his mind to use part of a body as a weapon. He dearly hoped he would not have to watch the older man use it.
But he nodded at his logic and Abigail's both. "I guess, we can start by heading after them," he said, stepping through the doorway to look down the hall in the direction they had gone; this left the room considerably darker, when he moved the torch out.
"If it looks like we're definitely heading downwards or deeper in or something, though, we can always head back the way we came." Ian moved the rest of the way into the hall and gestured for the others to come, too - not quite impatiently, but the rats were ahead of them, and if they were going to follow, they should not get left too far behind.
Abigail said she was willing to follow, and also appeared to be rather dependent on Mister Darrow for the moment. Ian was, of course, always willing to submit to an authority figure like the adult among them, but if it came down to it, he would act on his own. For now, it sounded like he and the librarian would be acting jointly to lead. At the same time, though, the red-haired boy suspected Abigail would prefer to go with Mister Darrow than with Ian himself, and being alone here seemed like a bad (or at least strongly undesirable) idea, he would defer to the older man for now, unless Ian really strongly believed otherwise.
As soon as the others were out of the room, not quite wanting to ditch them in the dimness between the torches still on the walls, Ian hurried to the next corner and peered down it, looking and listening for the small pack of rats.
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