Part 36
"Along the staircase I dream to hear you, in a whisper quiet room..."

Jude shivered in the cool evening breeze as she and Chris silently walked along the wall of Furlow's estate. The heat of the day was long forgotten as a soft breeze blew frosty air against her uncovered face.

She paused. "Here it is." In front of her was a large oak tree. It's trunk was mere inches from the tall brick wall. Almost eight feet from the ground a large branch extended across the wall. It was broken a few feet from the trunk, thought still firmly attached, and bowed down toward the ground like an accidental ladder. "If I can get to that branch I could climb across the wall and drop to the ground easily enough."

Chris squinted an attempt to make out the branch in the darkness. It was sill a few hours until dawn and they were far enough from the city that there were no street lights. A half moon was the only means of light. "If I lift you up onto my shoulders you could probably reach the lowest branches on this side." He skeptically eyed the branch he spoke of, some six feet from the ground.

"Okay," Jude sounded far more certain then she felt. "Let's do it."

Chris was eying the branch still. "It's going to be tough for me to get up."

"You're not coming," Jude explained as she motioned for him to kneel down so she could climb onto his shoulders.

"You're not going in there alone."

"Look, every guard and goon in there knows you. You'll just be a liability if someone sees us."

"Jude, it could be dangerous!"

"Yeah, and it's a rescue mission for Tommy, something you couldn't care less about. It's my problem, not yours."

"Just because I don't like Quincy doesn't mean I want you getting hurt," he argued.

"Okay," she sighed and looked at the tree for a second. "How about this? I'll do a little recon and if I need you, I'll call. Okay? Nick's waiting for me on the other side after all."

Chris snorted and muttered something under his breath that sounded distinctly like 'great help he'll be.'

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Are you going to kneel or not?"

Smirking, he made a deep and dramatic bow. "To you Princess, anytime."

-=|=-

"tick tock, tick tock, tick tock..."

Jude had barely let go of the branch and gotten a firm footing when a shadowy form moved toward her in the darkness. She pressed her back up against the wall and found herself wishing she had let Chris come with her.

"Jude?" It was Nick's voice floating through the silvery garden to her.

"You scared me half to death!" she scolded as she crept over to meet him.

"Sorry." He looked like he'd seen a ghost himself and was surprisingly quiet as he took her hand and led her back to the house.

"Did you get any sleep?" She wondered if perhaps this was responsible for his strange behavior.

"Not really. I was, uh, looking through the house for something for you to use against Dad."

"Did you find anything?"

He paused. They were in the middle of a patch of lawn and she didn't like feeling so exposed. The setting was strangely reminiscent of a scene in a prison movie, like they were creeping through the courtyard and any moment the searchlight would illuminate them.

"Not exactly. I did find something though." He was looking at her closely, though she wasn't sure he could see much in the dark. Did she still have egg in her hair?

He glanced around, seeming to remember their location and mission. "I'll explain later. Come on, I'll show you where Tommy is."

Her eyes darted around her as they crept toward the ominous looking mansion. They passed a massive tree and her eyes were drawn to the small building nestled in the first layer of branches. "Nice tree house," she remarked.

"Yeah," Nick motioned toward the wall of the house as above them a room light turned on. "He's around here." He led her around the corner of the house and pointed to a gap in the bush. "There's a door to the house at the other end of this wall. I'll wait for you there. Hurry okay?"

-=|=-

"Don't you know that you're always, you're always on my mind, girl, gotta know that you're always, you're always on my mind..."

Tommy could have sworn his cell was shrinking. With every passing hour the ceiling seemed to sink toward him, the walls contract inward threateningly. It seemed far too long since Nick had left, his words cryptic, promising nothing.

Tommy was dozing on his wooden bed, his sleep plagued by dreams; strange, fleeting images, haunting and terrifying but too transparent to really grasp. He'd awake with a start, sitting bolt upright, his eyes searching out the small barred windows and the reassuring flickering of the stars in the night sky.

He awoke in the early hours of the morning, Jude's face dancing before his eyes, her lilting voice echoing in his mind. His eyes once again sought out the window and he started in surprise to see a shadowy figure crouching there.

"Tommy?" It was Jude's voice.

In seconds he was on his feet, his fingers clutching the bars as he gazed up at her. "Is it really you?"

She nodded and reached between the bars to rest the palm of her hand against his cheek. I'm so glad you're okay. I'm so sorry."

"Shh. None of that. The important thing is that you're okay and that you're here, even though I wish you weren't. It's too risky."

"Give it up," she shook her head, "You're not going to get anywhere." She sighed. "I have to meet Nick. Don't go anywhere okay?"

"Very funny."

-=|=-

"I've seen this room and I've walked these halls..."

When Jude reached the back door Nick had directed her to, she found it open and swaying in the breeze. Gazing inside was like staring into the gaping mouth of a monster, with nothing discernable inside but everything terrifying. She heard voices above her and behind her new patches of lawn were lit up as lights upstairs were turned on. Voices were approaching and, knowing the open door would attract attention, she stepped inside and closed it behind her.

Now she was inside her eyes were quickly adjusting to the lack of light. She was in a little alcove just off the main corridor. In front of her was the base of a stair well, beyond that she could see through to a kitchen and there was a mystery door to her left. To her right was an old arm chair and a small window with thick velvet drapes that reached the floor. She could hear footsteps at the top of the stairs and dove for the drapes, quickly wrapping them around her body.

Though the drapes adequately concealed her in the darkened room, they rendered her unable to see what was going on. It seemed at least two sets of feet were coming down the stairs though it was hard to tell. They paused at the bottom of the steps, a door opened and another person joined them. The footsteps then faded away down the hallway. She peeked out from behind the hallway and saw no one. The door to her left was now partially ajar but slowly drifting shut. On an impulse and unexplainable hunch she darted over to it and stepped inside. Before her was a staircase leading down into darkness.

She'd found the basement.

Jude quickly made her way down the stairs, unsure of what she'd find at the bottom. She assumed the third set of footsteps had belonged to the guard and that there would be no one but Tommy downstairs but had no idea when he would return.

A single light bulb lit the small basement. The main room was empty except for a camping cot set up by the wall, a wooden table with a box on top and and a deck chair. In the corner of the room was a square, stone walled room with a thick wooden door. The room seemed out of place in the recently updated basement space that still smelt of drying paint.

Jude quickly rushed over to the door.

"Tommy?" she whispered.

He was at the door in seconds. He seemed surprised to see her alone. "Where's Nick?"

"He disappeared."

He glanced behind her to the basement steps. "I don't like this."

"Me either. Where's the key?" she glanced at the lock for the first time. "Oh."

In place of the old fashioned keyhole she'd expected, she found a modern security lock with a numeric keypad. "Tommy, what's the pin?"

His grim expression told her everything she'd expected. She was racking her mind for an alternative plan when her cell phone beeped to inform her of an incoming text.

She was expecting an update request from Chris as she fished out the cell phone and opened the new message. Instead she found an unknown number and two words.

TREE HOUSE

She shoved the phone back into her pocket and turned her attention back to Tommy's hopeless eyes.

"I'm going to go get help okay?" she started to walk away but his voice stopped her.

"Who?" She paused, her eyes on the floor in front of her, then slowly turned back to him.

"It's a long story okay? Just trust me." He grudgingly nodded and she turned and ran for the stairs. Once she was at the top she paused to listen for approaching footsteps. The house was quiet, deathly quiet, eerily quiet, scarily quiet.

Where was Nick? He was supposed to wait for her at the door and in the all of the five minutes she'd been gone, he'd vanished completely? It didn't make sense. It wasn't like him. She had a bad feeling in her gut, something in the back of her mind that told her he was in trouble. It continued to nag at her as she texted Chris to meet her at the fence. And it was Nick's voice in her head that led her to the tree house.

Teasers for Part 37
"With the lights out, it's less dangerous..."

"Look, Charlie Brown. I get that it might be your time of the month or something like that but we really don't have time for the unexplained mood swings-"

He cut her off by raising a finger to her lips and stilling their motion. "I was just thinking," he said slowly, "that when we get Tommy back I won't getting many opportunities to do this..."