Riddle of the Behemoth

Daniella looked once more down at the map, making sure she knew where she was going. She was trying to get to that specimen room, and was pretty sure she was almost there, but the map had been so roughly sketched in parts that she wasn't quite sure. She'd passed through the moonlit hallway with the torture chamber, came around the courtyard that she found the last crest in, and now she stood before a large steel door she hadn't noticed before. This apparently led right into the room, but there was a small problem... if it ended up being locked, she had no idea where to find the key. Looking behind her to make sure Poppy was still there, she turned the handle an heaved a sigh of relief as it swung noisily open.

Another dark hallway lay beyond, but it was short, opening up into what appeared to be a large room. Hoping that she'd read the map right this time, and that this was the place she was supposed to go, Daniella called Poppy, who had jumped back at the sound of the rusty door hinges, and walked into the hallway. As the big room opened up before her, she noticed it was well-lit, which she was glad to see after walking through all those dark, torchlit halls. And there was something in the middle, something big, But she couldn't make it out until she was already almost in the room, and when she saw it she stopped dead.

A huge dragon stood on a raised platform in the center of the room. No, not a dragon... a dinosaur. A titanic, mean-looking dinosaur, it was obviously a carnivore judging by its teeth, and although she didn't know much on the subject, it looked similar to a Tyrannosaurus, with short arms and massive, muscular legs. It stood completely still, just a model or something. Poppy came in by her side, looking curiously up at the creature. She approached it, wondering as she had so many times before why this was here, why this house had things like this... and read the small, dust covered gold plaque there.

Carcharodontosaurus saharicus

Late Cretaceous

She looked back up at it, examining the skin on its leg and running her hand across it. It felt so real, very tough and exactly how she would've imagined a dinosaur's skin felt... and strangely, the image of Riccardo popped into her head. She actually giggled a little at the thought, remembering touching his hand, with almost the same texture as this. But... it looked so authentic, as if somebody had just caught one and sent it through a time machine. Obviously it was just a model... it had to be... but it must have cost millions to get such an authentic replica, and she wondered idly what kind of a person would spend so much money on such a strange decoration, let alone even want it in their house.

Finally taking her eyes off of the "specimen", Daniella saw that she was undoubtedly in the right room. The room was large and circular, and there were four evenly-spaced hallways coming into the room, one of which she'd just entered from. The one that was straight across from her was the largest, with two large doors standing solidly at the end. The side hallways were small and dark, and she could see doors at the ends of them as well. She stood wondering where she was going to go, and decided on the big hall across from her, as it seemed the most inviting.

She walked around the large dinosaur, still looking at it. Poppy was making circles around it, apparently unsure what to think. It was kind of scary, how real it looked. It appeared as if it could come to life at any moment and snap her in two, and it was a little unnerving, so she made haste to the short hallway. As she came up to the doors, she saw the huge padlock, and sighed in dismay. Another locked door was not what she needed right now. Instead of a keyhole, this one had an intricately-shaped depression in the center, like some sort of object was meant to be placed there. There was obviously no way around it, and she didn't have whatever opened it, so for now she was stuck here. She walked back into the room, calling Poppy to her side and looking back and forth from one hallway to another. The two looked identical, but both were probably hiding their own dark secrets or dangerous traps...

Daniella walked to the right, deciding she had to start somewhere, and entered the small hallway on that side of the room. Poppy trotted along behind her, still glancing back uncertainly at the monster in the room. She approached the wooden door cautiously, but found it unlocked, and she opened it easily. The door opened up into a big library, with tall bookshelves going all the way up to the ceiling. The image of the library in the other house flashed before her eyes, and then the image of the maid, horribly impaled by the glass... she couldn't control this, her mind was playing tricks on her... Suddenly, she saw the same image, but this time it was her that had the glass sticking through her... she felt her breath shorten, felt her knees hit the floor...

She was finally brought back to reality by a worried bark from Poppy, and found herself down on all fours, gasping for breath, her heart beating like an alarm. It wasn't fair... why did this happen to her?

"It's okay, boy," she choked out. "I'm... all right."

She stood shakily back up, giving her dog a comforting pet and now afraid to look at her surroundings. Slowly, she lifted her head and looked around again, still feeling as if something was very wrong with her. The library appeared very extensive and contained an innumerable amount of books. Shelves that rose to the ceiling were placed all around the room, and there were smaller ones in the center, filled with books of all different shapes and sizes. Everything in this house awed her in some way, and the impressive library was no exception. Her attention was suddenly drawn to a gold globe on the other side of the room. It was spinning rapidly, apparently able to do so by itself, and as it spun Daniella saw dancing colors within it, mesmerizing her...

Like a moth to a flame, she was drawn to it. It had some sort of unknown hold on her... her eyes could not leave the beautiful object. As she walked toward it, she heard Poppy bark once, but had no time to react as the floor opened up beneath her and she began to fall...