The smoke thickened, stinging their eyes and making it difficult to breath. Sonny looked around in every direction, trying to get his bearings and guess which way would hold the best chance at finding Alexis. He knew next to nothing about the layout of Wyndemere and knew that he was hopelessly lost. The frustration and the helplessness he felt only fueled his anger. "Where do we start looking?" he asked Luke.
"All of these towers are the same height." Luke said, trying to think of an answer. "And there are flowers all over this bloody estate!" he finished, almost shouting with frustration.
"Maybe we should split up?" Johnny said. "We don't have much time."
"We came in together, we go out together." Luke contradicted him. "You all don't know the layout of this place. Even if we did that and you found her, how would you get out?"
Luke started repeating Helena's mad riddle. "Tower…flower… there's something there we're not seeing. Damn Helena's mad humor and bad poetry."
"Maybe I can help." An unfamiliar voice sounded. All of them whirled around, drawing their weapons. Except for Luke. Despite the situation, he even managed to grin a twisted smile. "Well, if it isn't the spawn of Cassadine."
The others stared, surprised, as Nikolas emerged from the clouds of smoke. He was followed by one of Stan's associates from the boat. "Spare me the commentary, Luke." He looked around, coughing a little at the rising smoke. "You didn't think I couldn't figure out that something was going on back here in PC, did you? I knew it had to do with my Aunt Alexis; I was already more than halfway over the Atlantic when I spoke to Jax."
"And there the Aussie was, worrying about your sensibilities. I could have told him you had none." Luke said.
"I possess all the sensibilities you'd like to think I don't – in no small part because I am my mother's child." Nikolas told him pointedly. "But I am well able to control it when the circumstances warrant it.
"But never mind that," Nikolas said as he saw Luke bristle angrily of at the roundabout mention of Laura. "Let's shelve our mutual animosity for the moment and keep our minds on our priorities. I take it from the level of destruction currently occurring that my grandmother had something to do with this.
"After all," Nikolas said, matching Luke's sardonic gaze, "You wouldn't torch Wyndemere for no reason."
"Like I need one, boy. I'd fire up this mausoleum just to light my cigar."
Nikolas smiled grimly. "I won't argue with you. Sometimes I think you are just as obsessed and demented as my grandmother is. It's why the two of you get along so well – considering you try to kill each other almost every time you meet up. But right now, I think you were saying something about her bad poetry? So does anyone want to clue me in?"
They did that quickly. Nikolas fell silent for a moment as he took it all in.
"Well, boy?" Luke asked. The rumbling had died down but the smell of smoke and fire was getting stronger. "Get on with it; we don't have all day."
"The Tiger's Eye shines high in the sky atop the highest tower. The key you seek, the love you keep, behind the largest flower." Nikolas repeated the rhyme slowly. His frowned, racking his brain. "There's something there, I know it… something Helena said to me once…" his face cleared. "I think I might have it!" Nikolas ran up the main staircase and turned towards the southern flight of steps. "The hall of flowers… it leads to the south tower. The only flowers in bloom now are the tapestries that hang all down that hall. Some of them are large – huge tapestries. They all belong to her, they are a part of her heritage. Helena brought them back from Russia. They used to belong to her family before the Revolution in Russia. She said that the sea air in Greece was ruining them, so she had them shipped here. That's what she meant!"
"Are you sure!" Luke said.
"If you've got a better idea, I'm open to it!" Nikolas snapped at him angrily.
"Forget this! It's got to be right! " Sonny yelled at the two of them. "Nikolas, show us the way!"
The first explosion only came to Alexis and Stefan dimly. It shook the room, but it was little more than a tremble. Stefan stopped in mid-sentence.
"Was that thunder?" he asked.
Alexis had dragged an ottoman over to the door and had gotten the first hinge loose with only a bit of effort; the same went for the second "I don't know, Stefan. It didn't sound like thunder…" her voice trailed off as a second rumble echoed in the air. "No, that definitely was not thunder."
"Then what…" Stefan's voice trailed off and then he answered his own question. "I'd wager that this is more of my mother's doing."
"Why would she want to destroy Wyndemere…this is Nikolas' home, and she'd never deliberately do anything to harm him."
"Unless her plans were thwarted somehow." Stefan smiled faintly at Alexis' sudden glowing smile. "Yes, I think the cavalry, as they say in America, may be riding to the rescue."
"Well, we can't wait for the boys in the white hats to come riding up." Alexis told him. "We've got to get ourselves out of here."
Stefan laid the book aside tried to raise himself out of the chair. "This is ridiculous; you should not be doing all of the work. There has to be something I can do."
"Nonsense, Stefan. There's only one set of tools, and besides, you're still too weak. I don't want you to exert yourself more than you have to. You will probably need all the strength you've managed to hoard for our escape." Alexis smiled; a genuine one this time. "Just the idea of being able to spoil one of Helena's plans by simply surviving does have its up side, doesn't it?"
Stefan had managed to stand, but the effort was clearly etched on his face and even now, he was forced to lean heavily against the chair to keep erect. "As much as I hate to admit it, you're right. And yes, thwarting one of Helena's death threats is always a welcome side benefit in any of my endeavors." He said wryly.
Before either of them could say more, a second, more ominous rumble jolted through the walls and floor. This one was stronger. Several pieces of small objects were knocked over and fell to the floor, shattering into pieces. Both Alexis and Stefan grabbed onto the furniture nearest to them to steady their footing.
"What was that?" Stefan began to ask; but before he could finish, a sudden ripping sound erupted to his right. As Alexis could only stare in horror, the heavy oaken bookcases tore loose from its position and crash downwards.
Stefan!" Even as she screamed his name, he was moving, but not quite fast enough. The edge of one high bookcase caught him on the side, knocking him off of his feet. The other crashed against the windowed wall, snagging the draperies and dragging them down. Alexis had darted forward at the same time, not knowing what she could do, but moving on pure instinct. The impact of the falling bookcases sent Stefan slamming into Alexis' body and throwing them both, stunned to the floor.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
In the distance, more sounds came to them. Great booming noises heralded a series of explosions that continued to shake the room and sent everything flying around them. Instinctively, Stefan stirred, and wrapped his arms around Alexis to protect her.
Alexis shivered and tried her best to cover her head as debris rained down upon them; whatever destruction was going on, they had to get out of this room or it would become their mausoleum.
Now the walls themselves began to crumble and the debris from the plaster began to fill their air with a powdery dust. Coughing heavily, Stefan and Alexis clung to one another as they struggled to their feet. As Alexis grasped his left arm, he drew a sharp breath.
"Are you all right?" he asked; Stefan had to raise his voice almost to a shout to be heard above the growing tumult.
"Are you?" Alexis asked. Stefan shook his head, but she knew instantly that he was lying. She reached out and touched his arm again. Stefan tried to stifle a gasp of pain.
"You are hurt!" Alexis looked around, trying to find the tools she had dropped when the first quaking had hit. "We have to get out of here – now!" Half-supporting him, she began to climb over the fallen furniture back towards the door. When they reached it, both of them sank down to the floor, their hands searching frantically thorough the rubble.
In what seemed like an eternity but in reality must have only been a few minutes, Stefan found the tools and Alexis had unearthed the stool she'd been standing on. They both worked to clear a level space for the stool, but all the while, Alexis kept shooting nervous looks at Stefan. He was looking paler by the minute.
Alexis paused for a moment and reached out to touch his uninjured arm. "Stefan, what is it? It's more than the arm…please don't lie to me."
Stefan closed his eyes for a long moment, then opened them and Alexis could see the full measure of distress in his eyes.
"It's something inside." He admitted at last. "I think I'm bleeding internally."
"Then you've got to rest." Alexis said; she tried to move him as gently as possible, but made him as comfortable as quickly as she could; she helped Stefan lean against the nearest wall. The sight of his obvious weakness as he settled back did more than scare her. The fact that he gave her no resistance or protest only chilled her more. As she got him settled, his eyes fluttered shut. In response; Alexis whirled around and attacked the door again with renewed determination.
The last hinge had been twisted in the fallout- it was giving her more problems than the other ones had. Alexis scraped her knuckles more than once as she hammered and pried and wrenched at the hinge. But even though the tools she used caused her to scrape raw the skin on her hands, she wouldn't let the pain slow her down; the only release she allowed herself was to whimper softly to herself as she kept on working. Nothing mattered except to get them all out of this prison.
If her own fears weren't enough, the smell of fire and smoke continually grew stronger. Wyndemere was burning, and there they were, trapped somewhere within its walls.
What had Helena done? – she had told Alexis that her plan was to move them out of the country. Whatever was going on outside this door, had to mean that her plans had been thwarted. Maybe Nikolas had come back sooner than she'd expected; maybe someone had noticed her absence. Sonny – he had to know something had gone wrong.
Suddenly, she was sure of it. Sonny knew. Sonny was here. Sonny was coming for her. Hold on, Little One, she told her little one. We'll be free of this place soon enough. And back in your daddy's arms where we belong.
With this thought giving her strength and hope, Alexis wrenched again at the hinge. With a final twisted screech, it wrenched free. For a moment, Alexis looked at the long hinge in her hand, unable to believe that she had done it. 'Stefan… it's done, we're free!" she cried. She scrabbled over to him. But Stefan was unresponsive to her touch. Trying not to panic, she pressed two fingers to the pulse point in his neck. His heart still beat, but she was worried – it didn't seem as strong and steady as it ought to be. She didn't know if it were just her imagination at this point. But there was no time to think on it further. She went back to the door and carefully muscled the door to one side.
Only to see a secondary door; gunmetal grey and with a blinking computer lock that Alexis knew she would not be able to breach.
Despair poured into her, drowning the last of her hopes and along with them, the tattered remnants of her soul.
Alexis sank to her knees, not feeling the tears pouring from her eyes until they splashed on her hands. When she did, try as she might, she couldn't stop them. She sobbed helplessly as despair reached up with cold and clammy hands to catch ahold of her heart.
Even as she sobbed, a part of her reached out for unfounded hope; from somewhere beyond, she knew not where, she could hear Sonny's voice calling her name; but she knew it was only her heart's despair, desperately clutching at a hopeless hope.
