"Harper," Jesse said warily, slowing to a stop, all of them looking at the Old Builder, "I thought that's why we brought you... to convince them to give it to us. You're not gonna let us down, right?" She made sure to keep her tone light, so as to not sound accusing. Once she hadn't actually done that and the person she'd been asking had gotten super offended. She was doing her best to not repeat that little gaffe. She'd done a pretty good job of it thus far.
"I'm gonna do my best," Harper said, not sounding all that enthusiastic about their chances, "but I warn you now, there could be..." A short hesitation. "...complications."
Jesse rolled her eyes. "Oh, joy- I love complications," she grumbled sarcastically. "My entire life feels like one big thing of complications."
"True."
"Not helping, Petra."
Cassie looked at the woman warily, slowly crossing her arms as the two girls jokingly glared at each other in the background. "I think I might know, but for the sake of everyone else here... what sort of complications?" she asked, Winslow also tilting his head questioningly at the Old Builder along with everyone else.
Harper didn't answer, before responding quietly, "You'll see when you get there." With that quiet statement, they all resumed walking up the staircase.
Lukas took Jesse's sleeve, tugging her back a couple steps and making the girl slow down to avoid toppling down the stairs (yeah, Jesse did NOT want that to happen). "Jesse, c'mere- are you sure we can trust Harper?" he hissed softly, warily glancing at the Old Builder up ahead, "Look at all of our interactions with her so far. They haven't exactly been... great."
Jesse was suddenly reminded that while she'd spent a while with the Old Builder, Lukas hadn't, and therefore had no idea what to expect from the white-haired woman, while Jesse at least had an inkling. Even if that inkling was very, very small.
Jesse shrugged. "Well, she did save all our lives. And if Cassie trusts her, I trust her," she stated, calmly.
Lukas let out a little sigh, batting at his ears gently. "Well, if Cassie trusts her, Winslow trusts Cassie, and if Winslow trusts Cassie, I guess that means I trust her too," he said softly, sounding a little downcast.
"Don't worry," and Jesse ran her fingers through Lukas's hair, making him purr softly, "we're gonna get the Atlas, and we're gonna get home. Promise."
"I'm glad you feel that way, Jesse," and both of them jumped, Jesse's hand hitting the top of Lukas's head sharply and his tail bushing out so it looked like a cactus, only... yellow and fluffy, as they looked up to the Old Builder, who was smiling faintly from where she was standing at the top of the staircase. "Sorry, I couldn't resist a good eavesdrop," she apologized as Jesse babbled out a nervous apology to Lukas, who was rubbing his head with a playful little grin.
"I'm not sure whether to be disturbed by that," Jesse said with some amusement in her voice as she pulled her hand away, "or amused."
Petra snorted at that, covering her mouth with her hand. Lukas leaned over to the Blaze hybrid, his mouth twitching as he tried not to burst out laughing. "Petra, so help me, if you're laughing I will smite you." The threat was not as impressive as it would've been if he hadn't been about to giggle himself.
Ivor had a pretty impassive face, but he looked as though he was about to smirk a bit, his mouth twitching faintly. Cassie elbowed him with a smirk. "Hey, your girlfriend likes eavesdropping," she teased. Winslow sniggered.
"Oh shut up."
Harper smirked a bit as well, not having heard the last part. "I promise you both, I am trying to help," she said calmly, as the both of them trotted up to the last landing, coming to a plain set of wooden double doors. The others looked around, Petra looking over the edge as if to check for ground, which, besides the staircase, there appeared to be a grand total of none.
"You just gotta head through that door," Harper added.
Jesse blinked at that. After what felt like weeks of portal hopping (wait, how long had it actually been? They'd been in that portal hallway without a calendar or any way of actually telling time... how long had they not been in their world?), it was really weird to just see a plain old door and be told that the way home was just right behind that door. Well, not directly... oh you know what she meant. "A door? Like a regular door?"
Harper gave the spider hybrid a small grin. "Time for you to see and find out."
Jesse's middle set of arms reached out and took ahold of the metal door handles and pulled it open towards her in a smooth moment, flinching as a hot white light hit her eyeballs.
"Ah, very- very bright," Ivor winced, covering his eyes and squinting.
"Yikes," Petra agreed.
Lukas shook his head and covered his eyes, tail swishing around. "Whoa," he agreed.
"Before you go in there, I think Harper has one more piece of advice," Cassie spoke up, as Jesse's upper arms moved to shield her eyes, squinting into the white light.
If Jesse had been able to see, she would've seen Harper nodding sagely. "Yes, yes I do. Don't die!"
It took Jesse about a second to process what the Old Builder had just told her. "Wait, wh-"
Someone suddenly rammed into her, making the spider hybrid lose her balance and let out a yell of shock as she fell through the doorway, into empty space, gravity no longer existing around her as the four of them fell.
A/N: (squeals) Who else is excited?
LittleAngelbun: Lol xD
rebekahtpe: Mmm, axes are cool, but I like swords, too... hmm...
ChoyofBonk: (winks) Aww, thanks!
Toni42: Oh my gosh... yes.
x.X. A.L. X.x.
