Lucy stormed through the night, her orange hair being whipped back by the breeze. Rain started to fall in heavy torrents, drenching her from head to foot. Lucy, at first, was extremely aggravated, but this soon turned into complete sadness, as she could no longer stop the fresh tears that were streaming out of her eyes.
"Oh Prof." she sobbed uncontrollably, "What's happened to you?"
She crossed her arms over her chest and hugged herself as she walked along the road, cars rushing past her, occasionally ripping straight through a puddle which then covered her in slightly muddy water. She squeezed her eyes shut and looked up into the sky, where the rain was still falling. Drops spattered across her pale cheeks as she carried on walking. Suddenly, a car stopped right next to her.
"Lucy?" said a voice, coming from the lowered car window, "Are you alright?"
Lucy turned to see Hilda.
"By 'eck, Hilda!" said Lucy, startled, "You're out of the hospital!"
"They let me out a few hours ago." said Hilda, smiling, "I'm just using my free hours to get reacquainted with the road."
"Been that long since you drove a car?" mumbled Lucy.
"Sure has." said Hilda, a concerned look spreading across her face, "Get in, Lucy."
"You know, it's…. perfect weather for taking a walk." muttered Lucy, motioning weakly to the sky.
"Get in, Lucy." said Hilda, firmly, "We're going for a drive."
Lucy reluctantly dragged her heels to the other side of the car as she slid into the passenger seat. The sweet aroma of Hilda's perfume hit her nostrils as she sunk back into the car, the heaters blasting at full power.
"Feeling better now?" asked Hilda, a small smile appearing on her face. Lucy did not bother to respond.
"Look." she sighed, "I know what happened when you went to see Professor Layton."
"Who told you?" asked Lucy, immediately turning her head to look at Hilda.
Hilda gave her a knowing look and averted her eyes to the road.
"Of course." mumbled Lucy, "Flo and Sniffer."
"Lucy, you know they only meant the best for you." said Hilda, reassuringly, "Trust me, we all want to find Alfendi as much as you do."
"You all don't seem too worried though." said Lucy, looking back at Hilda.
"It's because Al's got a tight grip on your heart so you don't see normal sadness as normal." said Hilda, with a small smile, "Now I know I'm generally not a romantic person but- "
"No you're right." sighed Lucy, gazing out of the window as the sound of the windscreen wipers hummed back and forth on the wet glass.
They continued down the long winding road for a few more moments in silence before Lucy spoke again.
"Hilda?" she asked, "Was there any place that t' Prof used to go to if he felt like…"
"If he felt like the world was becoming a burden and he wanted to rip everyone's throats out?" finished Hilda, looking over at Lucy and smiling sadly, "Yes there was this one place."
"Where was it?" asked Lucy.
"Somewhere out in the country." said Hilda, "I never actually knew the precise location, but the only ones who knew were Justin and Al himself, of course."
"Do you know what it looked like?" asked Lucy.
"I saw a few pictures of it on files." said Hilda, placing one hand tightly on the steering wheel as she gestured to the screen fixed into the dashboard, "It was somewhere around here, I do remember that."
"What was it like?" asked Lucy, again, pressing Hilda further for more information.
"It seemed so cold." said Hilda, with a slight shudder, "Much like a prison cell. It was a normal house with a basement and several computers around."
"That's weird." said Lucy, slumping back in her chair.
"Oh look!" said Hilda, pulling over to the side of the road, "There it is."
She pointed to a small grey shack in the middle of a wheat field.
"That's it?" stammered Lucy, "Not much of a nice place, eh?"
"I agree." said Hilda, "But only Al or Justin would have the keys to this place. I haven't been inside it."
"Come on then!" said Lucy, scrambling out of the car.
"Lucy-!" shouted Hilda, but Lucy had already got out of the car and was speed-walking through the field towards the shack.
"That girl." muttered Hilda, "Always so reckless and such a daredevil."
Hilda got out of the car and ran towards Lucy. She grabbed her by the arm and pulled her back.
"Do you have any idea how dangerous it is in there?" said Hilda, panting for breath as she clutched Lucy's arm, "There's all sorts of traps and tricks to unlocking the door; besides, we'd need a key!"
"Not if there's someone already in there, we don't." said Lucy, a steely glint in her eye as she paced towards the house.
"Oh for crying out loud-" breathed Hilda, as she stumbled after Lucy, whose retreating figure had just stopped in front of the door to the grubby shack. It certainly did not look any better in front of her. The walls were grey and made out of worn out stones. The door was closed and there was a sliding puzzle on the door.
"Oh look, Hilda." said Lucy, pointing to the puzzle, "It's a puzzle."
"Hmm." said Hilda, clutching her sides and gasping for breath, "You could have slowed down a bit you know, Lucy. I was just in hospital."
"Aye." said Lucy, looking slightly abashed, "Ee sorry, Hilda."
"Solve it then." said Hilda, a small smile appearing on her face.
"Ah Luke and I used to solve these types of things whenever we got bored." said Lucy, a devious grin appearing on her face, "We'd get in there in no time!"
"Well this is Al we're talking about here." said Hilda, "Surely he wouldn't make it that easy to-"
CLICK!
"Bingo." said Lucy, triumphantly, "Come on, Hilda."
"Lucy." said Hilda, suddenly, "Shouldn't we call for backup?"
"Why would we need backup?" said Lucy as she walked in, "I'm sure there's no one in here."
"Yes but there could be all sorts of dangers down here that we don't know about." said Hilda, cautiously looking around, as she took out a small flashlight from her coat pocket.
"Is this the computer room?" asked Lucy, peering in through the open door.
"Be careful Lucy!" hissed Hilda, as she watched Lucy push open the door. There were several computers perched on several desks around the room, each with it's own different camera it seemed. There were several depicting the streets outside the house, but more oddly, Lucy noticed something off with one of the cameras as she walked closer to the screen.
"H-Hilda?" muttered Lucy, her voice rising in a panic, "I-is th-that Judge Halley?"
She pointed to the screen, her finger shaking, as Hilda walked up behind her.
"Oh my-" gasped Hilda, "But that's Scotland Yard! It's the prison cells. How on earth did that camera get there?"
Suddenly, the vision pathway of the screen changed. It seemed almost as if someone was looking around and their thoughts were being projected onto the screen.
"What is going-?" began Lucy, but a loud bang from the basement echoed through the walls of the shack.
Hilda and Lucy both let out a little shriek and quickly backed out of the room, shutting the door behind them.
"We have to see what that was." said Lucy, heading towards the stairs to the basement.
"Lucy!" hissed Hilda, completely terrified now, "We have to go! There could be anything down there!"
"Oh come on Hilda!" said Lucy, an exasperated tone lining her voice, "You saw the video of the Yard just now, this could be anything!"
She headed quietly down the stairs, as Hilda followed her, grabbing at her sleeve to try and make her turn back. It was no use, as Lucy kept advancing down the stairs, tiptoeing so that she would not be heard.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and saw a small door. There was one large TV screen fixated to the wall and this showed the exact footage of the camera they had seen showing the interior of the prison cells back at Scotland Yard.
"Hilda…" whispered Lucy, in pure terror as she pointed to someone in the room, "Who is that?"
There was a figure, seemingly tied to a chair directly in the centre of the room. Their head was bowed down in the direction of the TV screen and their hands were strapped behind their back. Their darkened hair fell in slight messy curls around their face and their legs were tied together. Their breathing seemed to be erratic and unstable, as their slender figure was visibly shaking with every breath they took. Their pale face seemed to be lined with scars and their eyes were shut tightly, as if to block out the terrors of the world around them.
"Oh my gosh, Lucy…" stammered Hilda, her breathing quickening rapidly, "Is that-?"