Mark collapsed onto a seat within the hotel's foyer, feeling useless. He and the others had been searching for over an hour, and they still hadn't found Emily. He had been feeling apprehensive before, but now he was truly worried. He couldn't remember being this upset and scared since Emily had been admitted to the hospital after the car accident that had permanently damaged her leg muscles. Now, he couldn't shake the terrible fear that something very bad had happened to her. Mimi, keeping Rodolfo balanced on her lap, reached out with her free hand to rest it on her friend's shoulder.
"Mark, I'm sure she's fine," she assured, even though her confidence didn't reach her eyes.
"What if she's not?" Mark challenged, not even looking up from his hands that were gripping his pant legs tightly. "For all we know, she's slipped and hit her head somewhere. She might have been walking down a flight of stairs and her cane slipped out of her hand. She can't walk without her cane." Breathing heavily, Mark's hands migrated up to his face, before sliding up into his hair. Roger, who had been staying silent up to now, chose that moment to try to settle his best friend's tangible fear and worry, readjusting his hold on the sleeping Zack as he did so.
"We'll find her, Mark," he insisted in determination. "Just don't give up, okay?"
"I think I remember that I told you the same thing when Mimi went missing," Mark snapped. "Do you need to be reminded about the state we found her in?" Roger's eyes narrowed, trying to block out the emotional blow that statement carried, but it was Mimi who replied to Mark's words.
"The difference between me and Emily is that I spent almost two months living on the street, fighting a heroin addiction," Mimi argued. "I don't think that applies to Emily right now." In any other situation, Mimi would have been extremely angry with Mark for bringing that up again, but she decided to overlook it this time, understanding that he was just worried about Emily. After all, she'd felt the same way last Halloween, when Roger had suddenly disappeared.
At that moment, Lorcán suddenly appeared, stepping into the room.
"Oh, whatever is the matter?" he questioned, glancing around at the four worried faces. "All of you look quite glum right now."
"It's Mom," Penny explained. "We can't find her anywhere."
"Is that right?" Lorcán replied, pretending to be surprised hearing this. "Then it's very lucky I chanced to come in here. I just left Mrs. Cohen in the old library."
"You found her?" Mark jumped to his feet, a multitude of emotions on his face. "Where was she? Is she okay? Was she hurt?"
"I assure you, Mr. Cohen, your wife is just fine," Lorcán assured, leading everyone out of the room and to the old library. "She just happened to chance across one of the secret passageways that reside within these old walls and got locked in. She was very fortunate that the room she got trapped in is one that is well known by the staff, otherwise there's no telling how long she'd be stuck in that passageway."
"I knew there were secret passageways in this place," Penny smiled to herself, happy that she'd been right. When Lorcán brought everyone into the library, the Emily Doppelganger looked up from the book she'd been reading in the chase lounge chair.
"Emily," Mark breathed in relief, crossing the room to envelop her in a hug. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, really," the Emily Doppelganger replied, returning the hug before pulling herself to her feet, using the cane to support herself. "Lorcán told you what happened, didn't he?"
"Yeah, he did," Mimi nodded. "It's a good thing everyone here knew about that secret passageway, otherwise we'd never have found you."
"I can't believe it, Mom," Penny grinned. "You really found a secret passageway. That's so cool!"
"I'd be happy to show you where it is, if you'd like," the Emily Doppelganger offered, covertly smiling over at Lorcán. Penny's eagerness to see a secret passageway was going to make this easier than they'd originally thought. None of them would suspect that they were being brought into a trap until it was too late. "I believe I still remember where the trigger is." Penny was just opening her mouth to agree to it, but Roger cut her off.
"No, I don't think so," he frowned. "We really need to get going now."
"Aw, Uncle Roger," Penny moaned, looking up at him beseechingly. "Can't we at least just go and….?"
"Penny, I said before that we'd only stay until noon, and it's already past one," Roger interrupted, putting his foot down. "I've had bad feelings about this place since we arrived, and we've already stayed longer than I'd have liked. And it's not just a bad feeling I got, either. Last night, we've had a face appearing in a mirror, and now Emily got trapped behind some hidden door somewhere, and might never have gotten out. Who knows what else might happen if we stay any longer? Next thing you know, they'll be suits of armor coming to life and chasing us with battle axes."
"I'm with Roger," Mark spoke up. "If we stay much longer, something really bad might happen. If someone gets hurt out here, who knows how soon an ambulance can get down here?"
"I think you're right," Mimi agreed. "Lorcán, we appreciate what you've done for us, but we really do need to get going."
"I'm sorry to hear you say that," Lorcán sighed. "But I understand completely. I'd be happy to fetch Dashiell to help bring your bags out to the van.
"Yeah, you do that," Roger replied, passing Zack back over to Mark and heading out of the room. "Mark, you and the girls get our stuff together. I'm going to start up the minivan." As Roger made his way down the stairs to get the minivan ready to leave, Mark led the way up to the rooms to pack up their bags. No one noticed the meaningful glance that Lorcán and the Emily Doppelganger exchanged.
After the Bohemians were out of earshot, Dashiell stepped out of the shadows, coming up to Lorcán's side.
"Have you done what I asked, Dashiell?" Lorcán smirked, not even bothering to glance at the elderly man.
"Yes, sir," Dashiell confirmed with a stiff bow. "I assure you, they won't be leaving this place at all."
Roger nearly dashed out of the hotel's front door, digging the keys out of his pocket as he went. He only slowed down when he reached the minivan that was still parked out front. Climbing into the front seat, he fit the key into the ignition, but when he turned it to start the minivan, absolutely nothing happened. He couldn't even hear the sound of the engine turning over.
"No," Roger groaned, trying again to no avail. "Aw, sh-t. Are you f-cking kidding me?" Why was the minivan not starting? The fuel gauge wasn't pointing at empty, and while it wasn't a brand-new vehicle, it wasn't that old, either, so there shouldn't have been problems with any of the parts. What was going on here?
"Great," Roger grunted, banging a fist against the dashboard. "Add this to the weird and creepy stuff going on here." Roger ran a hand over his face, sighing deeply, remaining in the driver's seat for a moment longer. Finally, after trying one more time to get the minivan started, he got out and reluctantly returned to the hotel, hoping to find a phone to call up a mechanic to come check out the problem. When he closed the front door behind him, a large crow flew by, landing on the roof of the minivan. Seconds later, the same battered black cat that had been roaming the hotel's halls after Penny saw the face in the mirror appeared next to the crow. Both animals sat alongside each other, simply eyeing the hotel, with the cat's tail twitching in agitation, and the crow's feathers ruffling.
Down in the dungeon, Emily had been resting her eyes, out of lack of anything better to do, but she looked up when the door to the dungeon opened. Ancelin was stepping into the room, carrying a serving platter containing a bowl of soup and a small loaf of bread. At first, Emily was planning to lash out verbally at the hotel's head cook for the part she played in trapping her down here, but instantly changed her mind when she noticed that Ancelin looked extremely sad.
"You must eat," Ancelin advised, placing the platter on the ground.
"Easy for you to say," Emily replied, sending her a withering look. "Your arms aren't chained to a wall." Ancelin didn't respond to Emily's comment, but spooned up some of the soup and held it out to Emily, the way a mother would spoon-feed their baby. Emily, however, refused to eat the offered soup.
"Please, eat something," Ancelin begged, her voice trembling.
"What's the point of eating now?" Emily pointed out. "Lorcán's planning on killing us all anyway, so why's he trying to prolong it?" Ancelin visibly flinched at the mention of Lorcán.
"Lorcán….doesn't know I'm here," Ancelin admitted.
"Oh, so your master doesn't pull your strings all the time, after all," Emily fired out bitterly.
"I am truly sorry, Mrs. Cohen," Ancelin apologized, sounding completely sincere. "I tried to get him to spare you and your family. I really did. But he wouldn't hear of it."
"But why?" Emily pushed. "Why does he want to kill us? What did we do?"
"It's…it's not what you've done," Ancelin explained vaguely. "It's what he's afraid you'll do."
"What?" Emily beseeched. "What's he afraid we'll do?"
"I've said too much already," Ancelin shook her head. "I…I should go before I'm missed."
"Ancelin!" Emily cried after her, stopping the woman before she hurried out. "You said before you tried to get Lorcán to spare our lives. So you really don't want to see us dead, do you?" Ancelin didn't reply, but Emily could tell by her body language that she was trying very hard not to cry. "Please, Ancelin. You've already shown me you can go against Lorcán's orders by bringing me food without his knowledge. That proves that you're braver than you think you are. If you really don't want to see us killed, then be brave again and help us get out of here. The only one who's stopping you is you."
For a tense moment, Ancelin didn't say or do anything, and just stood with her back to Emily, trembling slightly, but then she dashed out of the room, not looking back. Feeling discouraged at the obviously failed attempt at getting Ancelin's help, Emily let her head fall back to rest against the wall, but ended up doing a double take when she saw something on the floor nearby. It was an old bobby pin, which must have fallen out of Ancelin's hair while they had been talking. Emily's face lit up at her discovery. It had been a long time since she'd used a bobby pin, four years in fact. That didn't mean she'd forgotten how it was done with a bobby pit, however.
Not wasting another second, Emily went to work at kicking off her right shoe, followed by toeing her way out of the sock. Removing the sock proved to take a little while without the use of her hands, but the task was eventually completed. Once her right foot was completely bare, Emily reached out with her leg, and after much manipulation, she managed to grip the bobby pin between her toes.
"Okay, now the easy part's done with," Emily muttered to herself, getting herself ready for the next step. After a few preparatory breaths, she attempted to lift her leg upward, trying to pass the bobby pin from its place between her toes to her hand. After a huge strain to do so, however, she had to drop her leg down without reaching her goal.
"Dang it!" Emily grunted from pain and frustration. "At times like this, I wish I was as flexible as Mimi." Once the pain from overstretching herself had subsided, Emily attempted to pass the bobby pin up to her hands again, driven by her thoughts about her family, and her desire to protect them from Lorcán and her Doppelganger. She knew that it was undoubtedly going to take her a few tries, and she'd be in minor pain afterwards, but to ensure that she and her family would get out of this place safely, she was more than willing to endure that pain.
