"Barsby, Cajun Fox, Weremole, Queen, and Ma"
"Okay. Here's the deal."
Agent Barsby had lined up his four partners and was pacing back and forth in front of them like a first-time drill sergeant. His companions had their arms crossed and were looking aggravated as always. It was obvious they didn't like being talked to like this.
Fortunately, Barsby decided to keep his speech brief. "All we're gonna do is solve our riddle. That's it. Whatever you guys do next is up to you, okay?"
"You mean we have to listen to you until then?" asked Eustace's Ma.
"Yeah," said Barsby, who had authority finally returning to his voice.
"Aw," groaned Cajun Fox. "We don't have to listen to you. We can solve this riddle ourselves. We don't need some government weirdo with a British accent telling us what to do." The other villains agreed.
"Oh, and where did you get your accent? New Orleans?" snapped Barsby. He turned to all his partners. "Listen, do you all want to find this lab or don't you? You don't need to find the treasure with me if you don't want to. I'm just saying it'll be a heck of a lot easier with everyone going at the same time."
Everyone sighed and grumbled.
Barsby turned to Eustace's Ma. "You know, I could wake up that stupid boy of yours. I'm sure he'll be glad to come with us to search for the treas-…"
"Awright, awright, we'll go!" said Ma finally.
"Thank you, ma'am," said Barsby. He looked at the Weremole, who growled at him, and then at the Queen of the Black Puddle, who frowned slightly at him. Then Barsby turned to Cajun Fox and said, "Must you wear those sunglasses?"
Cajun Fox abruptly took them off and showed Barsby his hideously bulging eyeballs.
"…I guess you do," muttered Barsby as Cajun Fox put his shades back on.
"Can we go already?" asked the Queen impatiently.
"Right," said Barsby. He quickly took out the riddle and looked at it. "It says, 'in the window high above.'"
Everyone looked up at the house. Way at the very top of the house was a small, round window.
"I'll bet that's the attic!" exclaimed Barsby. "C'mon! Let's go!" Seeing nothing else to do, the villains reluctantly followed.
Agent Darkest Moon had already opened the front door. When Barsby and his group looked inside, they were greeted by a dark, dusty environment, filled with cobwebs and dust bunnies. There was very little furniture in the house. A mass of foot and pawprints could be seen on the dirty ground. D.M.'s group looked like they were heading for the basement.
A giant staircase loomed before the visitors. That's where we need to go, thought Barsby.
They ascended the stairs. The Weremole sneezed when they reached the top. Down another hall, there was another staircase. They would climb one more staircase before they came to a door. Everyone stopped to catch their breath before they turned the door.
"If it's another staircase, I'm quitting," admitted Ma.
Fortunately, they arrived in a large room that was filled with junk.
"This must be the attic," said Barsby.
"You think?" asked Cajun Fox, rolling his eyes behind his shades.
"C'mon," said Barsby. "Let's look for 'a glove that points the way to New York'."
For several minutes, everyone looked around the room. Several leads turned up nothing. The weremole found a garden glove, but it didn't point anywhere, so it became his own personal chew toy. The Queen found an empty box of Hamburger Helper. It had a glove on it, but it was no clue. Cajun Fox held up a ripped bag with the Arby's logo on it. "Don't they have a baking glove as their new spokesman?" Cajun Fox had said. Needless to say, it wasn't much of a clue.
Finally, Ma shouted, "Over here! I found it!"
"What now?" sighed Barsby.
He found Ma pointing at a pair of boxing gloves on top of a trunk. Barsby followed where the gloves were pointing and saw a poster with the New York skyline on it.
As they walked towards the poster, Barsby read more of the riddle. "Underneath, a tapestry…tear it off and once inside...be prepared to slip and slide."
Barsby looked under the poster and saw an old, medieval tapestry attached to the wall, almost as if to hide something.
"Wow, this is easier than I thought," said Barsby.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Rip it off!" said Ma.
"Yeah," agreed everybody else.
Barsby abruptly tore the tapestry away from the wall. In its place was a large hole in the wall. In the hole was a small, half-pipe slide that curved downward and sharply to the right.
"What is it?" asked Cajun Fox, as everyone leaned forward for a closer look.
"It looks like some sort of slide," said Barsby. "I think…WHOA!"
Without warning, Barsby slipped and fell on the floor. The ground in front of the hole had been covered by a slippery substance, like laundry fluid or axel grease. When Barsby slipped, he crashed into his partners. Ma had slipped into the slide, and she reached back behind her to stop herself. She grabbed onto the weremole, who grabbed onto Cajun Fox, who grabbed onto the Queen, who grabbed hold of Barsby. The five detectives all slid down the slide one after the other.
For a while, the slide kept going down and to the right, like a corkscrew. Then, eventually, it straightened out and entered another tunnel. This one had water flowing through it.
Barsby and his gang were now sliding down a water-filled tunnel with barely any light. Everyone gasped for air as they continued yelling and screaming.