I hath finally returned! Now I know I had meant to post this chapter sooner, but better late than never, I always say!
That said, hope you all enjoy! c:
-Chapter Twelve: The Guiding Torch-
"How could this happen?" Jude cried, desolated, as he sat with his head leaning into his right hand, his eyes glued to the floor.
We had regrouped at the Hutchinson House, where originally we intended to ask the Bradys a few questions in regards to our findings. Instead, with Jude, Roy, and Coco the service dog joining us, we had to share the shocking news with Roy's family that the twins -in the midst of our absence- have both been kidnapped by the one person they would never be safe around: their mother.
"I don't understand what those nurses were thinkin', lettin' a madwoman take those kids!" Roy huffed, crossing his arms and turning his head with a scowl. "They should've known somethin' was off, what with the girl freaking out like she apparently did."
"What?" I asked, surprised.
"Aye, allegedly, she was 'throwing a fit' on her way out. Their words, not mine." Roy explained.
Hearing this left me furious, knowing she was more than likely having a panic attack, not unlike the one she had not even twenty-four hours prior.
"They're just kids. What did they do to deserve this?" Jude asked, mostly to himself, as he turned his left hand so that Basil, his granddaughter's stuffed mouse, was staring back at him with those button eyes. Somehow, Jude's expression grew even sadder.
"While I can't say for sure, our priority now is to rescue the twins." The Professor said to all of us.
"Right. And if there's any of their scents left on that mouse, Rocco's bound to pick up on it!" Officer Forrester added.
Rocco barked, apparently in agreement, according to his master.
"Worth a shot." Jude said blankly, handing Basil over to the officer, so Rocco could sniff it.
The German shepherd then sniffed and sniffed around on the floor, only to stop in front of Coco, who was sitting on the floor next to Jude. Naturally, there came more questions than answers.
"What does that mean?" Alfendi asked, despite the clear hesitation in his tone. He probably already knew.
"It means there isn't enough of either of their scent for Rocco to lead us to them." Explained the officer.
"Coco must have had it in her mouth too long." Jude remarked.
This was certainly a setback, but the Professor was hardly deterred.
"We've only been separated for about an hour, therefore they can't have gone too far." He said. "This means we will need to start a search from where we last saw Zeke and Melanie."
"Half of us can search within Keswick, while the other half can spread up to five kilometers away." Said Forrester.
"In that case, I'm coming with you." Jude said as he stood, the grief having just washed away.
Most of the people we spoke to in Keswick gave us the same response when asked if they had seen the Hopkins twins while presenting a photo provided by Jude; a variation of 'no', with many of them surprised to learn that two children were missing now. Those that didn't say no gave rather vague directions.
The staff at the hospital were also interviewed, though their story didn't seem to change much since Roy and Jude arrived the first time, with the exception of which way the mother drove off. After leaving the car park, she turned left, then seemed to continue down a road as far as the security camera could see. In a black minivan, according to the stills we were shown. It wasn't much, but it gave us something to go on.
While there were only a few of them, each similar looking vehicle (or the owner of) was stopped for a quick questioning. But each time reached the exact same conclusion: a dead end. As the three of us were walking down one road, a shout with the distinct -and now familiar- Cumbrian accent echoed from behind us a short distance away. Initially believing the source of the shout was someone among our group, we turned, only to discover it was one of the ten people none of us ever wished to see again.
"Get 'em!" Ward shouted to his colleagues, mere seconds before sprinting towards us with clear malicious intent.
"Oh no." Al cried. "They're gonna try to cut us! Just like they tried to before!"
"Get away, you two. Run!" The Professor exclaimed to us.
And he quickly picked up Al, and grabbed my hand as we raced down the street, turning to the right, and coming face to face with a huge crowd. A double edged sword, if any of us recognized it; while we could easily duck and cover amongst all the surrounding people, it also would have slowed all of us down. And who knew if we'd make it out before those three managed to get to us?
With no other choice, we took the risk of zig-zagging through the crowd. Truthfully, it was one of the very few times I had wished the Professor wasn't donning his beloved hat, solely as it was the one hurdle in trying to lose our would-be attackers. It was around the point where we were able to disperse from the crowd that I still managed to hear one of them shout 'there they go!'
My heart stopped for the briefest of moments, then raced so loudly, it rang in my ears. All I could think was to keep running; maybe just maybe we had a fair chance of out running them. So focused on running, I was, that my eyes widened when my left arm was grabbed, at the same time I heard tires screeching. I came back to reality to see a dark green lorry stopped right in front of us. The doors swung open, revealing two figures; a man at the wheel, and a woman who faced us.
"Get in if you want to live!" She said to us.
Knowing what those gardeners were capable of, we really had no other choice. We got in one by one, and drove off just seconds before they would have reached us. A second glance at the woman revealed to us that we were saved by none other than the curious maid, Bonnie!
"Are you all alright?" Was the first thing she asked us.
"Yes, quite. Thank you." The Professor answered, looking somewhat surprised.
So were Alfendi and I, fully aware that this was the same woman questioned at Mallowcrest's police station not even a few hours before. I held my brother close, though the woman before us didn't seem malicious; from personal experience, however, one could never be entirely sure.
"Good. Deacon, Custodio, and Ward only appear to be inept." Bonnie explained. "…Alright, sometimes they are. But when they're motivated, and together, they can be quite dangerous."
"And you're not?" Alfendi skeptically questioned her.
"No. Not towards any of you, at least." Said Bonnie. "Believe me, if anyone wishes to see the madame behind bars the most…"
"Easy there." The man driving called to her, while still fixing his gaze on the road. "She'll be there soon enough!"
"…Right." She muttered.
"Wait a second…" Alfendi climbed out of the seat and grabbed the back of the front seats to pull himself up.
"Alfendi, what are you doing? Sit back down." Father insisted.
"Do what your pop says, boy!" The man driving concurred.
"You're Roderick!" Al exclaimed, after getting a good look at the man. "You drive the pedicab in Mallowcrest!"
"Pedicab?" Bonnie raised an eyebrow at the man. "What's this about?"
"Alright, you got me!" Roderick confessed, looking up so that we could see his face in the reflection of the driver's mirror, most notably his green eyes. "Truth be told, the bicycle taxi thing is more a hobby."
"Then what do you really do for a living?" The Professor inquired.
"I'll elaborate later." Roderick said, focusing back on the road once more.
"Yes. Right now, we gotta go get the twins." Bonnie added.
"You mean you know where they are?!" I very nearly shouted, in both surprise and disbelief.
"And should we really be trusting you? Didn't you escape the holding cells with the other staff members?" Alfendi leaned towards Bonnie, not even trying to hide his skepticism.
"That isn't likely." The Professor told him, as he grabbed his son from under his arms to finally make him sit down. "Bonnie was still being questioned by Officer Forrester and I whenever the escape took place, remember?"
Alfendi blinked in realization of this, and muttered an 'oh right…'
"No worries, lad. My bail's been paid off." Bonnie stated.
"So where can we find Zeke and Melanie?" I asked her once I finally had full opportunity.
"'Melanie'?" She repeated, puzzled. "Oh. Uh…It may be easier to show you."
Bonnie and Roderick led us far from Keswick, to what we realized was the western edge of the Cumbria region. The town we were taken to…wasn't really a town so much as what some may call a 'tourist trap'. Most of the main street was a testament to this, with shops' wares primarily consisting of cheap trinkets. Just as quickly as we arrived, our guides turned down a road paved with gravel and stone, stopping at the end of what seemed to be a tree-lined residential street, with houses almost comparable in size to Bramble Hall, but certainly in far better shape, from what any of us could see.
"Let's go." Bonnie said to us.
"I'll hold down the fort here." Said Roderick. "No charge for the ride, by the way."
"I was about to ask." Alfendi remarked, though I'm still not sure if he was being sarcastic or sincere.
With the maid guiding us, we walked a few feet from the lorry, stopping behind a tree. She glanced around, as if checking even the slightest possibility she was being followed or watched by an undesirable. Then, she turned her attention back to us.
"Right, you see that house?" She asked us, pointing to a pale blue house with a white door.
All three of us nodded to confirm.
"That's the Briarwood's summer home." Bonnie explained. "This is the only other place the madame would go besides Bramble Hall."
"Here of all places?" Alfendi asked, tilting his head slightly. He then started pacing with a hand on his chin. A rather familiar sight. "There are so many other places in the world. If she really wanted to escape, why stay in England? Why not leave to go to another country altogether?"
"Al!" I scolded him, fully aware of what could happen in such a scenario.
"I'm not condoning it." He stopped pacing long enough to clarify. "I'm only saying it's as if she wants to be caught."
"He watches a lot of crime shows…" I tried to explain to Bonnie.
"Oh, I understand." She said. "And if you ask me, lad, your guess is as good as mine." She shook her head. "Anyway, I know of an old service entrance in the back of the house that not even the staff uses. There isn't likely to be a lock on it, so we'll be able to sneak in and out easily."
"You mean to break in to someone's house?" I questioned, hesitant on the idea.
"Our priority right now is to get the twins out of harm's way." The Professor reasoned with me.
"Hopefully nobody's home, then!" Al remarked, as he started to sprint up to the house. However, Bonnie was swift enough to grasp his hood just before he was out of reach.
"If you don't mind, I will lead the way." She said to him as he gave her a perplexed look.
With Bonnie as our guide, we came across an old cellar bulkhead. This must have been the service entrance she mentioned before, as she opened it up easily, and climbed down the steps, reaching about the halfway point when she motioned for us to follow. I was next to descend the steps, then Alfendi, and finally the Professor, who held his son's hand (as did I) as we trekked the clutter packed basement, having us walk in front of him whenever the path grew too narrow.
"You don't honestly think they're down here, do you?" Alfendi asked Bonnie while squeezing himself between me and some boxes.
"Of course not." The maid shook her head. "Do you recall how Ezekiel was locked away in the attic at Bramble Hall?"
"Yes." He answered.
"Would she truly follow the same pattern more than once?" Professor asked her.
"I'll give her this, it is a clever method; lock the kids up in the attic, where there are no windows to climb down, and no way to go downstairs without getting caught." Bonnie stated.
"Well, I have heard that Zeke isn't exactly a ninja." Said I, quoting Melanie from a previous conversation.
"That can't be helped." Bonnie remarked, sounding as though she was giving us a smirk. "He gets that from his mother."
We all fell silent after that, when we found the stairs to the ground floor. I saw the Professor slip his free hand into his jacket pocket out of the corner of my eye, though at the time, I had no idea what it was. Not that I could think on it for very long; as soon as we reached the top of the stairs, Bonnie stood at the now opened doorway, stunned.
"This is strange." She whispered. "They must have renovated since the last time I was here. I could have sworn…Oh, never mind it!"
And she entered a surprisingly quaint kitchen, with bluish-green cabinets and dark wood floors, before turning to another door right next to the basement stairs, which when opened, revealed another flight of stairs that ascended the first story. At the top, we were greeted by the landing, surrounded by doors.
"So which one leads to the attic?" I asked Bonnie.
"…I have no idea." She confessed, shamefully. "It's only my third time here in years."
"Well, we can't seriously check every door!" said Al. "That'll take too long."
"Yes, time is of the essence." The Professor quietly agreed with his son, his dark eyes fixated on the ceiling while cupping his chin.
"What are you looking at, Dad?" Alfendi asked, as he looked up at his father, then at the ceiling.
"Pay close attention to this portion of the ceiling, Alfendi." The Professor said to him, not looking away. "Does anything stand out to you at all?"
Al stared at the ceiling for no more than a minute, before coming up with a response. Which followed a wide-eyed expression from the boy.
"Are those hinges?" He asked, pointing to what certainly appeared to be door hinges.
As he pointed it out, the outline of a trap door suddenly became prominent. The landing's chandelier, which we previously thought to have a double chain, actually had only one chain used to conceal the cord that could pull the door down. However, it wasn't as simple as just reaching up and grabbing it, and not just because they were intertwined; the ceiling was about ten feet high, and while the Professor is a somewhat tall man -and the tallest of us four-, even he may have struggled to reach. It was here I had an idea.
"If you give me a boost, I'm sure I could get it untangled, Professor." Said I, hoping he would agree.
"That may very well work." He said, and with those words, he knelt down long enough for me to hop onto his shoulders.
As he slowly stood back up, I reached up to meticulously unravel the cord from the chain, which certainly took quite some time; I'm sure I wasn't the only one who feared getting caught. After what felt like an eternity, I finally managed to free the cord! It dangled left and right while the Professor knelt back down long enough for my feet to reunite with the floor.
The trap door was opened, revealing a set of ladder-like steps that unfolded as it was lowered. Bonnie was the first to ascend the stairs, and in the exact same order, myself, Al, and the Professor. The twins' potential prison was a dusty attic, similar to that of Bramble Hall's, and just as dimly lit, though significantly smaller, and with less headroom for the adults. We weren't even there for a few seconds, when we heard Melanie call out to us.
"Over here!" She shouted, rattling the dog kennel she was locked in, in a tight corner of the room.
Al and I rushed over, checking if she was alright. Across the room came the struggling cries of Zeke, who much like his sister, was also locked in a cage in the corner, on its floor in sort of a fetal position. He was obviously still sick, if his flushed cheeks and sweaty forehead were of any indication.
"Do not worry. We are going to get you out of here!" The Professor reassured them both.
"How? These cages are locked!" Melanie said, lifting the lock with her small fingers. "And they're nothing like the ones at the mansion."
She was right, sadly. The cage doors were locked with rather ordinary padlocks. Ones that none of us could even begin to imagine the combination to, or had the key for. While my first thought was to find something to cut the locks with, the Professor seemed to have taken notice to something.
"So that's why you're both in corners…" he muttered.
"Huh?" Said Melanie.
"Hold on tight." He said as he gripped onto one end of the kennel. "Bonnie, if you would?"
"Not a problem." The maid said, and grasped the end of the kennel closest to the corner.
She seemed to have the same idea, as they nearly simultaneously pulled the cage away from the wall, and as a result, revealed two other doors, each with a simple slide lock. One was unlocked, allowing Melanie to crawl out. The process was repeated with Zeke in his identical cage, though he needed some assistance from Bonnie in crawling out, and was carried by her. We promptly exited down the stepladder, one by one by one, then by three. But before we could hurry down the stairs, a figure appeared ascending before us. Professor Layton motioned for us all to get behind him as we quickly realized who had discovered us…
"Leaving so soon?" The chilling voice of Stewart the butler reverberated.
And there's chapter 12! What will Stewart do to our heroes? Will the twins be able to return to their family safely? Find out next time! Until then, reviews are always welcome. c: