For the rest of that afternoon, after the guns incident, everything remained quiet and peaceful. At times the Merovingian wondered what was going to happen next, and even cringed at the thought. But as the hours rolled around, nothing else ever came. That night proved to be one of the most peaceful nights he had ever had in awhile.
After dinner, the Mero, Persephone, and the Twins sat relaxing in one of their private living rooms. The Mero read the newspaper while the Twins occupied themselves in one corner of the room. Occasionally the Mero would glance over at the two silver bundles, who were both lying on the floor either looking at picture books or playing with whatever toys Perse had given to them when she placed them there.
"Honey." Perse suddenly said, breaking the long silence that had been in the room.
"Yes?" the Merovingian sighed and shook his paper before looking over at his wife.
"Could you come here for a minute?"
The Mero looked over at the Twins, who were actually playing quietly for once, then after placing his paper down, got up and made his way over to his wife.
"What is it, dear?"
"I accidentally dropped my wedding ring down this air vent!" She gasped, while pointing down.
"Wha!" The Mero's head jerked down. "How could you do something like that?"
"I-I don't know! It must have slipped off of my hand. All I know is I heard a 'tink' sound, and then when I looked down I saw my ring disappear down the vent."
"Don't panic, dear, we'll get it back somehow." The Mero patted his wife's hand before looking down at the vent again. "I know, I'll go get Cain and Abel. They'll help me get it."
The Mero went out into the hall for a few minutes, then came back into the room.
"They'll be here in a minute." He said, coming up to Perse's side again. "Can you see if it's here around the top or did it go all the way down?"
"No, I think it went all the way down. I heard it roll."
At that moment, Cain and Abel appeared beside them.
"What is it, Master?" said Cain.
"Persephone dropped her wedding ring down this vent." The Mero pointed down. "Can you two help me get it out?"
Both Cain and Abel looked down at the vent, Cain getting down on his knees for a closer look.
"You have a flashlight?" Cain said.
"Somewhere, I think." The Mero walked over to a table and opened up a drawer on it, soon pulling out a small flashlight from under some papers. "Here."
Cain took the light and shone it down the vent and struggled to see something gold and shiny, but there wasn't anything. He took off the vent cover to get a better look, but still there was no sign of any kind of ring.
"Might have to go down in the basement and take off the vent ducts to get at it." The Mero said under his breath.
All the time, the Twins curiously and silently watched everything from where they were sitting. Two looked over at his brother, who shrugged in return.
"Well, might as well get started." The Mero sighed. "Come on, you two can help."
The Merovingian, Cain, Abel, and Persephone all left the room. The moment they left, the Twins jumped up and ran over to the air vent.
"Mummy lost her ring down there?" Two asked, curiously.
"I guess so. That's what they were talking about." One looked down the uncovered vent.
"I wonder what else is down there." Two got down on hands and knees.
"I dunno." One stopped and smirked. This was a good opportunity to have some fun with his little brother. "But I've heard that a huge evil dragon lives down there."
Two's head jerked up.
"A-a huge dragon?"
"Yeah! A huge dragon with long fangs and sharp claws, and sometimes you can even see his spines coming up through the vent cover as he's coiling around the maze of pipes! Grrarrr!" One bore his teeth and playfully jumped at Two. Poor Two screamed, leaped back and started to whimper.
"Don't do that!" he shouted, half ready to cry.
"Do what?" One tried to keep from giggling.
"You're scaring me." Two sniffled.
"Aw, you're such a baby."
"I am NOT!" Two shouted back.
"Mummy's wittle baby." One teased. Two's face started to get a little flushed.
"I am NOT a baby!" Two started to cry. "How do you know there's a dragon living down there?" he asked through his tears.
"Just heard."
Two made a pouting face as he eyed One.
"It's the truth." One insisted.
"I don't believe it!" Two snapped. "You're just trying to scare me, is all."
"No, no! It's the truth! How do you think we have heat in the chateau in the winter?"
Two silently and innocently looked down at the air vent, then looked back up at One.
"I still say you're trying to scare me." Two pouted. "I'm gonna ask Daddy. If he says there's no dragon living down there, then you're gonna get it!"
One smiled innocently.
Persephone, Cain, Abel, and the Mero finally made their way down into the dark and dusty basement that was a level or two up from the dungeon.
"Now where is the room we were in?" The Mero glanced around at all the twisting ducts and pipes, and labyrinth of halls and sections.
"Want me to go up and pound on the floor so you can locate it?" Abel asked.
"That's a good idea."
In a flash, Abel was gone and soon a faint constant pounding was heard.
"I think it's over there." Perse pointed to an area on the far left. After they made sure it was indeed the duct going up to the living room, they hollered up to Abel that they had found it. Cain took a wrench and pounded the duct several times.
"You idiot! Why did you just do that?" The Mero shouted while yanking Cain's hand away from the pipe.
"To knock it loose."
"Knock it loose." The Mero mumbled. "You're going to knock the ring farther down into the duct is what you're going to do! Give me that thing." The Mero snatched the wrench out of Cain's hand. "I'll show you how to get this thing loose."
An hour later found a weary Merovingian, Cain, and Abel dirty, and looking through what duct pipes they had torn from the basement's ceiling.
"Found anything yet?" The Mero looked up from the pipe he was searching.
"Nope." Both Cain and Abel said at once.
"That thing's got to be here somewhere!"
Cain looked up into the duct pipe that was still attached to the vent part.
"Hey, Master, I think it's up here. But it's too high for me to reach."
The Mero and Abel made their way over to where Cain was standing and looked up, Abel shining his flashlight up.
"Yes, that's it alright." Said the Mero, looking up at a sparkling gold object wedged in part of the piping. "Looks like it's stuck in part of that piping there. We're going to have to have something to knock it down with because none of us can reach that, even with a ladder. Our arms aren't long enough."
"Someone needs to drop some kind of small object through it. That'd do it." Cain suggested.
"Good idea. But," The Mero looked up then at Cain again. "The Twins! The Twins are up there in that room aren't they?"
"They were when I went up to pound on the floor." Said Abel.
"One! Two!" the Mero shouted up the vent. A few minutes passed and the pale faces of the Twins could be seen looking down through the vent opening.
"What is it, Daddy?" they both said in unison.
"Daddy needs you to do something for him. Mommy's ring is stuck on the inside of this vent, and we need you both to find some kind of small object that you can use to drop down it to knock it loose. Got it?"
The Twins nodded and left the vent to look for something. Both of them stood in the middle of the room and looked around for something to drop down the vent.
"What do we get?" Two asked.
One shrugged.
"I dunno. Anything we can find, I guess." One looked over toward the corner they had been playing at. He took off running and grabbed up a small black toy Cadillac and lifted it up for Two to see. Two nodded and smiled, then they both took off toward the vent.
"We found something."
"Good! Now drop it down, aiming it more toward your left." The Mero said.
"Right." Abel corrected.
"I mean, your right."
They waited a few seconds, but nothing came down.
"Daddy?" Two's voice came down the metal tube.
"What?" The Mero cringed at Two calling him 'Daddy'.
"Does a huge evil dragon live down there?"
The Merovingian looked at Abel and Cain in a puzzling way, them doing the same to the Mero.
"What on earth are you talking about?" The Mero shouted back up the pipe.
"One says a huge dragon lives down there and that you can see his spines coming up through the air vent sometimes. Is it true? If it is, I'm scared!"
The Mero sighed wearily and stomped his foot.
"NO! There's no dragon down here! Now drop whatever it is you have!" The Mero shouted angrily.
Before the Mero could get out of the way, the Twins' toy Cadillac came down through the pipe and hit him in the forehead, bouncing off and into Abel's hands. But no ring came with it. The Mero groaned and held his throbbing head for a few minutes before he angrily looked up the air vent pipe and into the faces of the Twins.
"Did that work, Daddy?" said One.
The Mero gritted his teeth and struggled to hold his temper.
"No, it didn't work. You're going to have to find something else." He calmly answered back.
The Twins stood in the middle of the room again and looked around. This time Two ran and grabbed up several things, handing some of them to One. They both ran back over to the air vent and started dropping the objects, one at a time, down it. Each time the Mero failed to get out of the way as the raining objects came down on him. First there was a paperweight, then a squeaky toy cat, and a bronze flower vase.
"Confound it!" The Mero looked up when the objects had stopped.
"You told us to drop something down." Two softly said.
"Well shout 'fore' or something before you do it!" The Mero moaned
"That still didn't knock it loose." Cain interrupted.
"A ball!" said Abel. "Try and find a rounded object like a ball." Abel shouted up to the Twins. Both of the Twins looked around them for a round object. One suddenly punched Two's arm and pointed toward the fireplace where a croquet set was placed over to the side.
"There're some balls there!"
The Twins ran to the set and grabbed up two balls each and carried them over to the vent.
"We found some!" One shouted down.
"Good! Drop them through it. Try to get them over to the right side the best you can." The Mero shouted back up.
Two let go of the heavy wooden ball he held, like the Mero had told him too. What came next was a shout of angry French words and moans.
"I told you two to throw a ball down it, not a rock!" The Mero moaned more. He stopped and pulled something out of his hair.
"The ring!" he shouted. "It's Perse's," he stopped and looked the ring over. "Wait a second. This isn't Perse's wedding ring."
"It isn't?" Cain looked over the Mero's shoulder. The Mero looked up at the two twins above him. Two smiled sheepishly.
"It's mine, Daddy. I lost it just then when I dropped that ball down."
Without saying anything, the Mero told the Twins to throw another ball down, this time with him staying out of the way. At last, the ring finally came down with this one. The Mero reached and picked the ring up and shouted to everyone within listening range that the ring had been found.
