They stepped over abandoned cigarettes left there by generations past, gravel crunching under their feet and the mine shaft's headframe towering over the building with its exposed wood and metal. The wind's comments poked at Cecil's confidence.

Not that Cecil wanted to admit it, of course. He had pressing matters to attend to.

The doors to the mine shaft building opened, and a pair of twins slipped out. Steve and Cecil neared them, and Cecil caught snippets of their whispered bickering. The taller one ducked back inside, and the remaining twin walked over to them, tucking her thumbs into the pockets of her shorts.

"Who are you?" Steve asked her.

"More importantly," Cecil said, "are you two all right?"

"Safe and sound," the young woman replied. "But that's because we're not the ones heading underground."

The young woman's twin sister shuffled out of the building, the wooden door creaking behind her as it closed. She stood by her sister, towering over her sister with her ankle boots. She held a pair of equipment, handing it to Steve and Cecil.

Cecil glanced at his gas mask and flashlight, testing the flashlight's weight and grip in his hands. He swung the gas mask around with his finger curled on the latch. "The air's toxic?" he asked.

"The air should be purified enough for you to not need it," she said. She smiled, sheepishly shrugging. "It's just in case. When we stepped in earlier, we noticed all the dust everywhere. So we thought we should at least give you a purifyer. To combat the dust, I mean."

"Oh, that's something to look forward to," Steve grumbled. "Asphyxiation. Great."

The shorter twin stepped forward. "You'd be surprised at how many are into that," she said. She cleared her throat, hands on her hips. "Ahem. The name's Bridget, don't wear it out. Call me Bridge and you're digging your grave. With your tongue."

"She means well, I promise," her twin said with the sweet tone Bridget did not own. Having nothing to hold, she stepped back and toyed with her thigh high tights. They were a pale pink color, and stood out in the moonlit darkness.

Cecil thought Bridget's sister sounded much more friendlier. A small part of him chuckled at the peculiarity of the nickname "Bridge".

Bridget narrowed her eyes. "Watch it, eggplant eyes."

"Think she meant you," Steve said, nudging Cecil as he chuckled.

"My apologies," Cecil said.

Bridget shrugged. "Apology accepted." She snapped her head to face Steve. "And if I hear one more thought snark out of you, Carlykins, I'm gonna ram you in the throat."

The terse remark wiped the smile off Steve's face.

"She doesn't like being woken up at miscellaneous times," the taller twin said. "Oh!" she cried, holding out her hand to Cecil. "I'm Maeve, pleased to meet you. Bridget's the older twin between the two of us."

"Charmed to meet you both," Cecil said, shaking hands. Maeve repeated the gesture to Steve.

"I assume you know us already," Steve said. "Were you expecting us? Of course you were."

"Unfortunately," Bridget drawled, rolling her eyes. "We could hear you from a mile away." She tilted her head, netted her fingers together, and batted her eyelashes, a transparent smile playing at her lips. "My mini Cthulhu."

Steve lowered his gaze. "Gonna Audi 5000 out of here if they're going to repeat that," he grumbled, shoving his fingers into his jeans.

Cecil flushed. "How did you hear that?" he asked the twins.

"With my ears, numbskull," Bridget said. She folded her arms across her chest. "So. We were given the task of managing the Intern Trials for you two. We've done it the last few times. Might as well continue tradition."

"Do you know where our boss is?" Steve asked. "Disappeared from the station, you know."

"That's what happens after expelling enough energy," Bridget said. "Don't be surprised."

"She means to say your host won't be back," Maeve said. She tried to smile at them, the apology glowing in her eyes, but it faded quickly. "Sorry 'bout that. No one knows about your higher-up's location."

"So you two lucky interns have three trials," Bridget said. "Easy rules. Win 2 out of 3, congrats, you're the new voice of Night Vale."

"What if you lose?" Cecil asked.

"I don't help people who haven't even started the game," Bridget said. "Trial number one takes place right here at the mine shaft."

"Why's that?"

"Be lucky it isn't at Desert Bluffs," Bridget said. She cringed, checking her nails and flicking coal dust off her fingers.

"The task for the first trial is to go into the mine shaft and retrieve the treasure left behind," Maeve explained with her honeyed voice. "Feel free to take any equipment left behind by the miners."

"What's the treasure?" Steve asked.

Bridget stared at him. "Sweetie, it wouldn't be a test if we told you the answers," Bridget said, her smile plastic.

"You'll know when you see them," Maeve said. "Please be safe!"

"Head into the elevator," Bridget said. "Don't die. If anything tries talking to you, don't listen." She inhaled a deep breath. "And for the love of the glow cloud, don't break the seals on the floor and ceiling of the elevator. Not that you'll see the ceiling one. But you'll see the floor one when you step in."

"What seals?" Cecil asked.

"You'll see," Bridget said, glancing to Steve. "And if you're asking why, Carlykins, well. There's a reason Night Vale closed it down." She shooed them away. "Now, run along. Can't waste any time during the time shift."

"Good luck," Maeve said as Bridget walked around them and shoved Steve and Cecil towards the building.

Cecil stumbled forward, Steve reaching out and holding him steady as they walked over. Steve opened the door, gesturing for Cecil to walk in first. Cecil thanked him, fumbling with his gas mask and flashlight.

The stench of coal knocked into him, and Cecil sneezed. He rubbed his nose, and another sneeze rocketed.

"Careful there," Steve said as he stepped in behind Cecil. The door creaked shut.

Cecil flicked on his flashlight, navigating the beam in one sweep from one side to the other. "Look at all this machinery," he whispered, adjusting his collar to cover his mouth. Piles of coal remained on a conveyor belt, glass and broken bottles scattered over the floor. Parts of the roof had caved in, broken splinters fallen over the dirt flooring.

The flashlight's beam ended on a pair of glass eyes and a filter. Cecil jumped.

"That's not funny, Steve," Cecil said as he heard Steve's laughter muffled from inside the gas mask.

"It'll be easier to move around," Steve said, the filter transforming his voice with his echoic breathing.

Cecil pulled on his gas mask, the light beam scattering as his hand holding the flashlight swished this way and that. "I think it's a tad bit too large on me," he said as the gas mask dropped over his face.

"Maybe you'll grow into it while we're in the cave," Steve said. He gestured with a nod of his head over to the corner. "Elevator's that way."

"No, that's the elevator for the coal," Cecil said, heading the other way. He pointed his flashlight's beam in the direction of a smaller elevator surrounded by footprints scattered in the coal dust.

He heard running behind him, and Steve slowed down once he reached Cecil's side. Together the two stepped into the creaking elevator, Cecil glancing up and down with a wary gaze. He stared at the exposed wood, the rusted metal, and understood the overarching anxiety despite the fact that the cable wires were still taut and the wooden flooring wasn't entirely spoiled. Cecil removed his gas mask, and the aroma of rotting wood nudged him, politely, false pretenses ignored and its delicate beauty wafting into his senses.

"The air's fine, you know," Cecil said as he looked around. He ran his fingers over the yellow chain link fence, flakes of rust clinging to his fingers.

Steve fiddled with the gate. He closed it. "How do we operate this?" he asked, yanking off his gas mask to stare at the controls.

"There's a counterweight to this system," Cecil said, looking around. "Although we can't see it. Suspension forces operate to help the elevator car go down. But I believe someone has to help us."

"Bogue, man. The twins didn't even look like they'd step in after us."

Cecil's reply to Steve was cut off as the elevator car rattled. Steve clung to the chain link fence, and dust rained from the ceiling. The suspension cables moved, and lights flickered on in the elevator. The car lurched as it traveled below the surface, surrounding the pair in flickering lights, dust, and creaking metal. Cecil glanced at the ground; the available light revealed an intricate design painted onto the wooden floor with spray paint.

"Station Management wouldn't have hired just those two," Cecil said. "Someone else has to be taking care of us."

"I'm thinking you don't know all that much about mine shafts," Steve said. "It's like you and that thing about mountains. Talking all that static and the like."

"There is a fine difference," Cecil said. "Mine shafts exist and mountains do not."

Steve shrugged, toying with the controls. "If you want to lie to yourself, cherry pie, fine. No big deal." He pressed a button. "I think we should get off on separate floors. To cover more ground."

"But these were closed for a reason," Cecil said. He turned off his flashlight, glancing up at the flickering lights before staring at the seal-covered floor with their curlicues and ancient symbols. "These seals on the ground are mighty suspicious, don't you think?"

"Didn't the twins say something about keeping something in?" Steve asked. The elevator slowed to a halt. "I'm getting off on the second floor. It's better if we split up to cover more ground."

"There's no time limit, though," Cecil said. He flipped his gas mask over in his hands, running his fingers over the glass goggles and bulky filter.

Cecil stared at Steve, catching his partner's gaze. Steve's eyes were sometimes a pleasant dark color, like water rushing over obsidian. Sometimes, such as now when the elevator slowed to a halt, Steve's eyes were venomous, like the gloss of a black widow as the spider prepared a net.

"We'll be fine," Steve said with a reassuring voice, carefully, choosing his words with the strategic rise and fall of his stare. To pry his eyes away from the guilt reflected in Cecil's curious gaze. "Don't worry, Cecil, we'll meet up later. In half an hour, okay? Just come back to the elevator. We'll look around then, report what we found."

Steve pulled the gate door open and stepped out, closing it behind him. He waved farewell before stepping further into the abyss of the tunnel.

Cecil frowned, stepping over to the control panel. He closed his eyes, palm raised over the controls. Eyelids lowered, he slid his fingers over the buttons, finally pressing the one that called out to him the most. He opened his eyes as the elevator lurched.

He did not know what button he picked, to be precise, as he noticed that the buttons had shifted their numbers around, and continued to do so. The overhead lights blinked on and off, buzzing with the electrical drone. He thought he heard a melody playing somewhere in the distance, very much on the verge of his hearing. Cecil watched the dirt walls climb up and over the metal cage he stood in, the scent of the terrain mixing in with the aroma of the rotting wood. He switched to stand on the wooden part of the floor with less rotting remains, although it did not alleviate the anxiety scratching under his skin.

The elevator slowed to a halt, and Cecil pulled open one pair of the elevator cage doors. He stood face to face with a dirt hill from a collapsed mine shaft tunnel. A sigh escaping him, Cecil closed the doors, turned around, and opened the other side of the mine shaft elevator.

Seeing that the landslide had not collapsed that side of the tunnel, Cecil flicked on his flashlight, gas mask at the ready in the case noxious gases fumed. The air smelled clear, light and earth-filled, not at all toxic, but Cecil could not take chances. After all, he needed to meet Steve in half an hour. For now, however, he wanted to be able to see everything lurking in the tunnels. Cecil shone the flashlight beam into the darkness; he saw equipment abandoned, leftover lunches turned into decaying masterpieces by the idea of decomposition. He tasted the earth in the air, drifting and pervading the air like Night Vale's secrets.

"Don't worry, Cecil, we'll meet up later. In half an hour, okay? Just come back to the elevator. We'll look around then, report what we found."

Cecil ran over Steve's words in his mind, and his heart grew heavy. With the glow of the elevator's lights behind him, he checked his watch. It did not work, it had never worked during the time shift, and it never will work.

Steve's words still fresh in his mind, Cecil's shoulders slumped. With no way of determining time, Cecil stepped into the tunnel and closed the cage doors behind him. Perhaps Steve forgot. Perhaps Steve would apologize. Cecil clung to the happier possibilities in his mind, knew that Steve Carlsberg had always been forgetful in regards to Night Vale's peculiarities.

The tunnel's oblivion surrounded him, embraced him like a long lost abandoned meal.