Spliced

“What was in those papers back in that office anyway?” Cat asked Zephyr as they left the room.

“Honestly I don’t know, half of them seem to be written in another language.”

Cat gave him a harder look, as if not sure whether he was joking or not. Finally realising he was serious she sighed “Well great, we might find the will and not even know it.”

“I doubt the will would be written in anything other than the previous owner’s main language,” Wolf replied matter-of-factly as the group wandered out into a long dark and dusty hallway “Just because they have papers and books in other languages doesn’t mean the will would be.”

“Did you check what their main language was?” Cat challenged.

Wolf paused a moment before replying, “No, but probably English” He kept his matter-of-fact tone. After another longer pause he added, “Somehow I don’t think the will is our biggest concern here anyway.”

Cat frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean we just went through a room that teleported from one part of the house to another. I suspect there’s a lot more in this house than just doors that move, some of it possibly dangerous, not to mention all the rumors that go with this house, and Kass’s missing coworker.” He turned to face the other three, who by now, were all gathered in the hallway.

The floor was constructed of dark wooden planks, smoothed by use, and which had warped in shape over the years, making the surface uneven.

The natural light in this area was so dim that it was hard to tell the colour of the wallpaper. The only light came from the the corner at the far north-eastern end of the hallway and a slither which shone through the only open door. That door was half way along the wall on the left and had was only slightly ajar. They were surrounded by several other closed doors, and behind them, the hallway took a sharp left turn into darkness. Zephyr turned on his torch and shone it around.

Indi swiped a finger along the wallpaper. It came away a mix of brown and grey and even green, and it left a mark on the wall. She suspected that the wallpaper may have once been some shade of white but it was hard to know for sure. She wiped her finger with her other hand and then rubbed both on her dark jeans. “You think we should be looking for Kass’s coworker?”

“I think we should have made a better plan before we just walked in here,” Wolf replied. “At least mapped the place as we went. I can’t imagine there aren’t house plans somewhere either.” He turned away from them and locked his gaze on the edge of the one slightly open door.

“I asked Kass about that,” Indi replied. “She said there’s multiple plans and that when they were last in here, none of them seemed to match. Besides you said it yourself, we just walked though a teleporting room. How do you even map that?”

“It’s not impossible,” Wolf replied as Indi strode past him, headed for the ajar door that he’d been eyeing.

Indi reached the door and pushed it properly open.

Wolf didn’t try to stop her but Cat did notice him tense up and frown. She rolled her eyes. “Oh come on, we just spent a few days in a illegal underground facility with flesh-eating mimics and a rogue necromancer, what could there possibly be in this house that’s worse than that?” Cat brushed past Wolf and followed Indi into the room.

Zephyr, afraid to be the the last one into the room, on the off chance it vanished like the last, also side-breezed around Wolf with a little help from his super speed, entering the room just before Wolf did.

The room seemed to be dedicated to painting and art. Wooden frames leaned into one another amidst various strange sculptures made from plaster and paper and steel.

Through the far window, the sun, that a moment before had been so bright, now seemed more faded and much lower in the sky.

Wolf stood just inside the entrance, assessing the room from a distance, before touching anything.

On the other side of the room, Indi was touching everything. She leaned froward over some frames, pulled posters out of the way, just so she could see what possible treasures lay buried under all the junk.

Zephyr stood back next to Wolf, shining his torch around, although it’s added light was almost unnecessary in this room. Only the corners needed it and they were buried deep enough behind frames and furniture that one might consider acquiring a spelunking kit before venturing in. He did find a ceiling high bookshelf near the door, catering to a mix of objects. On the top shelf a creepy puppet wearing a top-hat and with eyes just a little too big sat among some wooden toys, all of which looked hand-made. He suppressed a shiver at the puppet, and focused on the books and papers that lined the lower half of the book shelf.

Cat roamed a little further in, not touching anything. Suddenly a loud crash sounded from Indi’s corner and Cat felt something heavy breeze past her so closely she felt the air tremble.

Instinctively she turned toward Indi. The woman stood eyes wide, hands pulled back as if she’d just been bitten or caught touching something she shouldn’t have. A large wooden contraption, lay unveiled on a table next to her.

Cat turned the other way. A large, recently fired, harpoon was lodged in the wall.

Cat turned back to Indi and took a few instinctive steps back, out of the line of sight of what she now recognised as a harpoon gun. Even though she knew it was now empty she still didn’t like the idea of standing in front of it.

Behind her, she heard Wolf make what now felt like a redundant observation. “That’s a harpoon gun.”

“Sorry,” Indi squeaked, balling her hands into fists and holding them in front of her chest, as if to prevent them from setting any other weapons off. She took a step away from the harpoon gun. “I didn’t know it was going to go off.”

Cat gave her a stern look before eyeing up the harpoon again, fully appreciating exactly how close that had been.

Zephyr, now pressed closer to his bookshelf, said, “Maybe don’t touch anything else. At least, not anything that looks like a weapon.”

“Books can be just as dangerous if not more so,” Wolf replied, as he inspected the harpoon gun. Then he eyed Indi.

She returned a hesitant look, fully aware she’d made a mistake and unsure if she was in trouble or not.

“Keep in mind there might be other traps,” Wolf told them, taking a step back and eyeing up the rest of the room again.

“You think that was a trap?” Indi asked.

“This isn’t our house, who knows,” Wolf replied.

Cat scoffed, and after a quick check at the direction of the harpoon gun, she clambered over furniture in the direction of the harpoon itself. “More like some careless idiot leaving their harpoon loaded inside a house under a pile of junk. A trap would be more sophisticated than that.”

“You’re underestimating what people are capable of,” Wolf replied.

“You’re underestimating their stupidity.” Cat retorted.

“Well I didn’t say it was a smart trap, expecting every trap someone might set to be sophisticated would be underestimating the stupidity of some people,” Wolf countered.

Zephyr turned. “You guys want to get a room or something?”

“Been there done that,” Wolf replied with nonchalance. It prompted a half snort, half laugh, from Cat who had by now had reached the lodged harpoon and was wrapping her hands around the shaft.

“Wait, really?” Zephyr asked now feeling a little more like someone’s leftovers given his more recent history with Cat.

Indi was equally surprised. “You two dated?” she asked.

“It was years ago,” Cat replied and then added before giving a hard tug on the harpoon, “And I wouldn’t call it dating.”

Wolf didn’t object, just gave a fond smile. There was no bitterness or longing there. Just good memories.

“Is there anyone you haven’t slept with?” Zephyr asked Cat a little miffed that he hadn’t known that history until now.

Wolf’s smile deepened as he replied, “Only her brother.”

Cat paused mid-attempt at first harpoon pull, to turn and roll her eyes at him. “Bit like the kettle calling the pot black there, Wolfy.”

He returned her grin, acknowledging the truthfulness of that statement then added, “Also I don’t think she’s slept with Amanda either, although I could be wrong there. Amanda has dated girls in the past.”

Cat nearly fell off her table this time. “She what?” She gave a surprised laugh, then she shook her head. “There’s only two people I’ve slept with in this group and they’re both in this room.”

“I didn’t realise Indi was your type,” Wolf teased with a wicked grin.

Indi went a beet red and Zephyr rubbed his face with his hands and gave an exasperated sigh.

Cat didn’t look back but all could tell from the way her arms went slack and the shake in her shoulders that she was suppressing laughter. Once she got her composure back she retorted. “I’m trying to focus if you don’t mind.”

“What are you getting the harpoon for anyway?” Wolf asked with a frown.

“People who make silly comments,” Cat quipped with the barest hint of a smile on her half turned face. Then she added more seriously, “It might be useful.”

“As opposed to the gun on your hip?” Wolf pointed out.

“I don’t know, you guys weren’t doing anything, it seemed like something to do.” With that Cat gave a large tug, yanking the harpoon out of the wall. Unfortunately she overestimated the force needed causing her to overbalance and fall off the table, bringing the table over as she did. A chain reaction then caused the enormous pile of junk in the other window-side corner to come tumbling down and spill out onto the floor, revealing a hidden staircase nestled right at the edge of the room.

“Stairs!” Indi cried and then added, “Are you okay?” to Cat, who was now attempting to dislodge herself from the pile of furniture.

“I’m glad there weren’t any more harpoon guns in there,” Wolf remarked completely deadpan once they were all sure Cat was fine.

By the time Cat had brushed herself off and was standing in the middle of a pile of fallen furniture, triumphantly holding the harpoon, Indi had already scrambled over the rest of the pile and had started to climb the small spiral staircase.

Cat and the others watched as she pushed open the trapdoor in the ceiling and stuck her head through. More sunlight poured down from the room above.

“What’s up there?” Cat asked.

“More paintings and frames,” Indi replied. “It’s like a small attic.”

Cat rolled her eyes, uninterested, and holding the harpoon in her hand walked over to inspect the gun portion of the device.

Indi climbed further up into the attic.

“Don’t touch anything,” Wolf warned at her as he clambered over the furniture and ascended the stairs after Indi.

Zephyr eyed the trapdoor warily, but upon seeing that Cat was more fixated on the harpoon device and had no obvious immediate plans on leaving the room, he decided it was probably safer to stay with her. He turned back to the bookshelf.

Wolf emerged into a small room with a slanted roof. To his right a semi-circular window took up the entire wall letting in as much of the late afternoon lighting as could possibly be in this room.

He looked up at the slanted roof and then out the window. “It’s funny, I thought there were four stories in this house, three plus the attic.”

Despite the small size of this room there was enough shelving and stuff that he couldn’t actually see where Indi had gone. He could hear her moving though.

“Well, we must have been on the third floor before then,” Indi called from somewhere near the back of the room not understanding what the problem was.

“Yes, but I can see the east wing from here, it’s four stories but it looks lower...” Wolf trailed off.

“It’s probably just perspective,” Indi replied. “Come see what I’ve found.”

Wolf walked around the stacks of oversized frames, some filled in, some empty, and found Indi crouched in the back corner by a small door, just big enough for a large dog.

She pointed at it. “I found another door.”

Wolf nodded. “Probably a crawlspace.”

She nodded excitedly, reached for the door then hesitated. She glanced back at Wolf as if wanting permission, but when he said nothing, she pulled the door open.

As Indi peered in, Wolf walked around behind her and crouched down so he too could see.

“It’s a passage,” Indi remarked as she looked east. Somewhere up ahead there must have been another window, because much like the hallway below, this end was well lit. “Look, stairs,” she added after a look down the west end of the passage.

Not far along, and just before the passage got really dark, a ladder dropped down to somewhere below.

Indi pulled back a little, frowning, and looked back into their current room, as if eyeing up it’s size. “That’s weird.”

“What?”

“I though the hallway would be right below here. This room must be shorter than I think.”

Wolf nodded. It certainly felt smaller. As he continued to peer into the passage beyond Indi, he thought he saw something move down the dark end, just beyond the stairs. The hair on his skin stood on end and he peered closer, a strange feeling of dread sunk into his bones. Again he thought he saw movement but he couldn’t be sure it wasn’t a trick of the light.

Indi stuck her head in the passage again and this time Wolf was certain it wasn’t the light.

“Indi get out of the passageway.”

“Huh?” Indi didn’t move.

Wolf had the uncanny feeling that they were being stalked. He resisted the urge to physically pull Indi away, instinct telling him not to make any fast movements. He still couldn’t see what it was.

“We should get the others,” Wolf replied. “Get Zeph’s torch.” ‘And Cat’s gun,’ he added in thought wishing he’d packed his own.

“Right, right, good idea.” Indi replied as she pulled her head back out of the passage.

Wolf didn’t take his eyes off the thing at the end.

Once Indi was out he slammed the door to the crawlspace closed, much to Indi’s surprise, although she asked no questions of it. It wasn’t logical, the wall was just wood after all, but the second it was shut, he felt much better, as if they’d just dodged something very deadly.

Wolf let Indi go ahead of him where he could see that she was safe. They both returned to trapdoor and descended the staircase back into the lower room. It wasn’t until they were down fully that Indi realised the others were gone.