Yakko and Dot continued to slide down the very long railing of this twisting staircase, going further and further into the bowels of the castle (Yakko somehow heard that and muttered "Goodnight, everybody").
To lighten the mood, Yakko tried to resume his tour guide impression.
"On your left, you can see the guards' quarters!" And as they slid further down, Yakko added, "Now you can see the royal crypt!"
Dot rolled her eyes.
At last, the kids reached the bottom of the stairs, and they went flying off the railing and landed perfectly on their feet...almost. Yakko landed alright, but he noticed that Dot looked a bit wobbly when she landed, and she swayed slightly to the left.
"You okay?" Yakko asked, ready to steady his little sister if she needed him to.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Dot said, and she managed to straighten herself.
"We'll take the elevator next time," Yakko said, and Dot laughed weakly at the joke.
"Anyway," Yakko continued casually, "this is the dungeon. Or should I say, the hall that leads to the dungeon."
"Did Mom and Dad ever throw anybody in the dungeon?" Dot asked. "Did they put us in here if we were bad?"
"Nah," Yakko said with a casual wave of his hand. "The only thing that ended up in the cells were Christmas presents. Mom and Dad figured it was a good hiding place because they thought we'd be too scared to come down here, but we weren't."
Yakko and Dot started to walk, and Yakko felt Dot grab his hand.
"Just so you know," Dot said primly, "I'm not scared. It's really dark and I don't want you to get lost, too."
"Thanks for your concern," Yakko said, his tone a mix of joking and sincerity. He put a miner's hat on his head and turned on the light so that he and Dot could see their surroundings better. "Is that better?"
"Yeah," Dot said. "I guess this place isn't so bad." All she could see were stone walls with brass torch-holders on them, nothing too gross or creepy.
"It's got a bit of an Addams Family charm to it," Yakko said, and Dot pretended to understand that reference.
"Hey, Wakko!" Yakko called, his voice echoing in the dark hallway. "Where are you?"
No answer.
To make Dot feel more at ease (and to a lesser extent, to keep himself calm) Yakko talked at length about past Christmases, but Dot was only half-listening as she called for Wakko.
"-and Dad used to dress up as Santa, but I always knew it was him, because his costume was nothing but his usual robes, a Santa hat, and a really fake-looking beard. It's like he thought we wouldn't-Dot!"
Dot had let go of Yakko's hand and gone to open a door she had noticed. She poked her head into the room and called, "Wakko, you in here?"
Again, no answer. Dot sighed and shut the door.
"Nothing in that room," Dot said. "Nothing at all."
That came as a relief to Yakko, who had worried Salazar might have used that room as a torture chamber. Mom and Dad had only used the room to store Halloween decorations and bad Christmas gifts that they only kept because they were afraid of offending the people who gave them those gifts.
Yakko looked through the door, and he frowned when he saw what might have been bullet holes in the wall of the empty room. He quickly shut the door again, not wanting to think about what had occurred in there.
Wakko happened to walk up to his siblings right then, and he stood next to them. He wore a little light on his hat.
"Hi!" Wakko said.
"Hi, Wakko," Dot replied absently. The realization set in about ten seconds later. "WAKKO!"
"Why didn't you answer when we called you?" Yakko asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"I was taking a nap in one of the cells," Wakko said brightly. "I like it down here. Reminds me of a kennel I slept in when I was working in the city."
Dot decided that she didn't want to know any more details about that, but there was something she did want to know.
"Yakko, do you think there could still be Christmas presents hidden around here?"
"Maybe," Yakko said. Mom and Dad had died in the middle of a particularly chilly November, so there was a chance that perhaps they had procured and then hidden the kids' Christmas presents right before that (Yakko knew from experience that his parents liked to prepare for Christmas early).
The Warners walked further into the dungeon until they reached the actual cells, which were at a dead end. There were only four cells here, two on the left-hand-side and another two on the right-hand side. Yakko led Wakko and Dot into the cell that was on the upper left-hand side.
"If I remember right, the Christmas presents were usually hidden in this cell. Dot, I tried to tell you earlier that we sort of had a secret passage, and it was here. The cell's wall would move around and we would be in a room full of toys and candy."
Wakko sniffed the air, and his tail wagged.
"I can smell candy, and gingerbread! It's a bit stale, but still edible."
"Wakko, for you, everything's edible," Dot retorted, though her tone was one of affection.
Yakko moved his hands around the cold stone wall at the back of the cell in an attempt to find that one stone to press and make the wall turn around. He couldn't remember exactly where it was.
Wakko found that stone by accident when he casually leaned into the wall. He must have pressed the wall a little too hard, because the wall began to spin at a rapid speed, enough to make the Warners' vision blurry and cause their stomachs to feel like they were also swirling around and around.
At last, the wall stopped spinning, but the Warners still felt dizzy and had swirly eyes.
"I'm about to toss my cookies," Yakko mumbled. It took a minute for the kids to feel steady again, and they found themselves in a small room full of old candy and wrapped-up boxes. Yakko's guess had been right.
On the subject of cookies, Wakko found a tin full of the gingerbread cookies he had smelled, and he began to eat them, even though they were stale and hard. Yakko and Dot stared at him, and he misinterpreted their expressions as them wanting the cookies too. Wakko held out the tin, but the other two shook their heads.
"No thanks," Yakko said. "I'd prefer that my teeth remained intact."
"Me too," Dot said.
Yakko and Wakko still had the lights on their heads, so Yakko was able to read which present was for which sibling.
"Okay, Wakko, that's yours. Those are for you, Dot, and these are mine."
Yakko's presents included a toy microphone from his mother. Angelina had a card to go with it, and inside the card she had written, "My darling Yakko, never let yourself be silenced. Love, Mom."
Yakko hid the card away in his hammer-space, not wanting his sibs to think he would get too sentimental over a card.
Dad's present to Yakko had been a pair of slacks and a belt that were identical to the ones Yakko already wore, except they were smaller. Yakko found it ironic because Dad's card referred to these slacks as "your first big-boy pants."
"I think I'm a bit too big for these now," Yakko remarked.
On a similar note, Dot's presents were both things she would have outgrown a long time ago: a little pink tricycle from Dad and a little plush butterfly doll from Mom. Dot still liked the way the butterfly's wings sparkled when the lights from her brothers' hats shone on it.
Wakko was alright with his presents: a drum set from Dad and a little toy train from Mom, one big enough to ride. The train even had a whistle. Yakko and Dot silently thought that if Mom and Dad had lived long enough to see Wakko use these presents, they might have regretted giving him such noisy things. It was somewhat funny to think about, if bittersweet.
There was one last present in this secret room: it was a huge box, and written on the side in huge letters was, "FOR YAKKO, WAKKO, AND DOT, LOVE MOM AND DAD."
The Warners all ripped off the wrapping paper at the same time, and the present turned out to be a merry-go-round, and the picture on the box showed a merry-go-round that had fantastic creatures on it (dragons, unicorns, griffins, the Loch Ness Monster, etc.) instead of just mundane horses.
"Cool!" Dot said. Wakko only nodded, as his mouth was almost glued shut from chewing old packs of gum that had been intended as stocking stuffers. Wakko found that the gum became soft again if he chewed it long enough.
"But some assembly is required," Yakko said quickly, squinting at the tiny writing on the box. "More like a lot of assembly is required. Don't worry guys, I think we can put it together...if we can get it back upstairs."
"And if we can get out of here," Dot added, looking at the wall.
The Warners gathered up their presents and Wakko learned against the wall again, with the Warners bracing themselves for another dizzying spin.
It proved difficult getting the enormous box up the stairs. The boys tried to carry it, with Yakko holding one end and Wakko holding the other, and Dot sat daintily on top of the box.
As Yakko struggled against the box's weight, he grunted, "This...counts...as your...birthday...present...Dot."
Dot glared at him in the most venomous way, and Yakko backtracked.
"Only joking, sister-sib!"
"What about my birthday?" Wakko asked. His birthday was only eleven days after Dot's.
"We'll think of something," Dot said, "but my birthday's first."
Finally, the Warners and the huge box reached the top of the staircase. Dot hopped down off the box, Yakko sighed in relief.
"Remind me to not become a mover," Yakko panted. He was most likely going to be king, but for now Yakko preferred not to dwell on that.
Wakko took out his old gag bag.
"You know, we could've put the box in here," Wakko observed.
"Now you tell me," Yakko groaned. It took all of Yakko's self-control not to stuff Wakko into the gag bag.