Chapter Four
The Fallen
Elena opened a door and peered behind it. She and the others were on the fourth floor, still desperately looking for Enkeli, Xavier, Noita, and Fjer. They had split back into groups of three, promising to check out certain floors before meeting back up in the third story library. Elena was with Harmony and Ice. They were in charge of searching the second and fourth floor while Knight, Cavaliere, and Freja searched the first floor.
"No one here!" Elena called, entering the room and looking around. There was a strange lever on the wall. She decided to check that out. Next to the lever, at different levels, read, "To Heaven", "To Earth", and "To Hell".
Turning to see that Harmony and Ice had entered the room, she said, "Come look at this!"
Ice walked over, curiosity glinting in his pale blue eyes. Harmony continued searching, pausing to investigate a crate. "What does it do?" Ice asked.
"I don't know! I'm going to find out!" Elena chirped, pushing the lever to "To Hell". There was a strange rumble and a quick squeak from Harmony. When Elena and Ice turned to see what happened, Harmony was gone.
"Harmony?" Ice called, rushing over to where the girl last stood. The crate she had been investigating had shifted and there was a hole in the floorboards. Harmony looked up at them, her eyes wide.
"What the hell did you do?" Harmony said, rubbing the back of her head.
Elena wandered over, blue-gray eyes wide and innocent. "There was a lever on the wall over there and we wanted to see what it did so I pulled it to 'To Hell'."
"Elena!" Harmony yelled, "Why on earth did you move it to 'To Hell'?"
The blond shrugged, muttering, "Sorry for trying to help…"
The honey-hair girl sighed. "Well, I'm in a room with a piano. On the third floor. Please get down here and I'll unlock the door for you guys. And don't let Elena touch anything else."
Fixing her blue-gray eyes on the ground and feeling like she did something wrong, Elena headed for the door, head lowered like a beaten puppy. Ice followed close behind, sighing. They headed down the steps and to where Harmony waited in the doorway.
"I'm sorry…" Elena muttered, gaze still fixed on the ground.
"No, it's fine." Harmony said, "No harm done. I was just aggravated for a moment there. Besides, you helped up make a new breach."
Ice squeezed past Harmony, checking out the room. Elena followed closely, eyes lighting up when she saw the piano.
"Wow! A piano!" She ran up to it, pressing a few keys. "It doesn't look very old, does it?"
"Once I think about it… Nothing in this house looks very old, does it?" Ice said, running a finger along the edge of a bookshelf nestled in the corner of the room. "There isn't even any dust."
Harmony looked over from where she stood in the doorway. "The only old things are the books. I mean, there isn't anything current at all. You two need to hurry up. We still need to check out the second floor before Knight, Freja, and Cavaliere get back."
Giving the piano one last reluctant glance, Elena followed Ice to the door.
"To the second floor?" Ice said, closing the door as Elena squeezed past him. Harmony gave a small nod, heading for the steps, Ice following close behind. Elena lingered at the door for a moment, confused for a minute. She looked around the hallway, eyes slightly sad before following her two friends, hurrying to catch up.
Elena caught up to the others on the second floor. "Sorry, I was thinking for a minute."
"It's fine." Ice said, turning to look at her. "We would've waited for you."
Harmony looked around. "Should we split up and check rooms?"
"Wait. Some of these doors are locked. Knight, Freja, and I checked them out while we were looking for you guys." Ice said. "Well, most of them are locked."
Harmony and Elena looked at each other, confused. "But a lot of them were unlocked when we came up." Harmony said, head tilted to the side in confusion.
"Do you think that maybe the monster locks and unlocks them?" Ice said, eyes narrowed in thought.
The two girls shrugged. "It's a possibility!" Elena chirped. "Maybe it's like a puzzle! Or the monster is waiting inside one of the rooms! I want to see the monster! How big is it? How-"Elena broke off when Harmony put a hand over her mouth, glaring at her. When Harmony removed her hand, Elena whispered, "Sorry."
"So some of the doors that were locked before could be unlocked now?" Harmony said, glancing at Ice.
"Yes." Ice looked up, fixing his glasses.
"Then let's go check it out!" Elena squeaked, rushing down the hallway that led to the stairs leading to the first floor.
"ELENA!" Harmony yelled, following the blond, Ice hard on her heels. "Wait for us!"
The duo skidded to a halt when Elena suddenly stopped.
"Guys…?" The curly haired blond whispered, "There is blood on the floor."
Ice sighed, walking up to Elena's side. "We know. We can't find where it leads."
She looked at him. "Well it obviously leads down this way." She walked down the short hall opposite to the stairs, eyes fixed on the trail of blood. She stopped at a door. "It ends right here." Elena said, looking at Ice and Harmony who followed, worry like stars in their eyes. "If someone is in here, they know how to use a perception filter. You guys couldn't tell this door was here."
"Then how did YOU know it was here if we couldn't see it?" Harmony said, confused.
Elena turned and gave them a small smile. "You don't think I'm a normal human, do you? The spirits helped me find it." She turned her attention back to the door, muttering to herself, "Please don't be locked…" Then Elena reached out, twisting the doorknob and gasping when the door opened.
Ice blinked, surprised. "This is one of the doors that was locked before, right?"
Harmony glanced at him. "It was locked when you came through, too?"
While they were talking, Elena opened the door a bit more, looking inside. It was dark. She turned, looking at the others. "Do any of you have a flashlight or something? Or could you help me find a light switch?"
"Knight has all the flashlights." Ice said, face palming. "I told her to give me one but she insisted on holding onto them."
"Then we need to look for a light switch!" Elena said, stepping carefully into the dark room. She felt around on the wall and squeaked when someone touched her elbow.
It was Harmony, who whispered a quick "Sorry!"
"I think I found the light switch!" Ice said and moments later, the room was lit up and all three teenagers gasped.
On the ground was Enkeli, whose clothes were stained crimson with blood. There was a small pool of blood around her. Her eyes were closed and her skin was pale. One of her wings looked badly injured.
"Enkeli!" Ice and Harmony gasped at the same time, hurrying to their injured friend's side. Elena stood back, eyes wide in horror and fear as she and Harmony saw for the first time what the monster was capable of.
"I-is she a-alive?" Elena stammered, kneeling down next to Enkeli, legs shaking too much for her to stand anymore.
Ice nodded, pressing two fingers to the white haired girl's neck, checking for a pulse. "She is still alive." He said. "But she won't be for much longer if we can't get her help soon. As you both can see, she is very injured." Somehow he managed to keep a level head. "Someone needs to go wait in the hallway and catch Knight and the others on their way through. We can't move Enkeli yet. It could really hurt her."
Harmony got back to her feet. "I'll go and wait for them." She hurried out of the room, her eyes wide and tears falling down her cheeks.
Elena looked at Ice with wide, teary eyes. "Is there anything I can do to help her right now?" She was shivering, terrified. "Enkeli is one of my closest friends and I don't want to lose her."
"Get some sheets from that bed and tear them up. We need to stop this bleeding before anything." Ice bit his lip; hands shaking slightly as he gently lifted one of Enkeli's white wings. As he did so, one of the magenta tipped feathers fell to the ground.
Elena obeyed, rushing to the bed and pulling off the sheets and tearing them up, attempting to make them somewhat even. She took the strips of fabric to Ice, who was investigating the injured wing that still oozed blood. She watched as he pressed the white cloth to the wound and noted how quickly it was stained crimson. Elena looked up as a tear fell down her cheek.
"Don't let Enkeli die here like this…" Elena whispered too softly for Ice to hear. "It's not her time…"
