Chapter 2

At the Majestic theater the show ended with applause. As usual all the watchers have risen from their seats to applaud to the great performance. All except one. Phantalmina left her seat before anyone would notice her and went back to the restrooms. In there she did the few usual things she has been doing since a couple of years ago already. She used the restroom's mirror to transport a letter she wrote for the actors. She always gives them a "thank you" for the evening's performance and few other words. After that she takes bandaged-clogs and ties all the right side of her face before anyone comes in. She then puts her jacket and hat on and goes to do her other errands of the night.

One of them is to go to the grocery-shop to get more food. And as always "little survived girl"-act, payment, the workers help her with the packing and that part is good and done.

As Phantamina walked by the streets, mirrors and places, she ended up at Liberty State Park looking at the view of the city.

"Well, this is a nice surprise to meet you here."

She was surprised to hear that familiar voice and turned to look at her side. It was one of her good acquaintances she had pleasure to meet these few years. Mr Hamato Yoshi, a martial arts master who for some reasons got turned into a mutant rat.

"Usually you come down to the sewers to see us." he finished his greetings.

"Oh. Good evening Mr Hamato. It's great to see you too."

"Glad to hear that. Would you mind me asking, what brings you out here? You said you don't like to be alone for a long time." he reminded her from her last time they met.

"You are quite far from home and alone here. It usually means there is thought bothering you or a problem without solution. Which one, may I ask? "

Phantalmin still had low experiences with sharing things with others. So far Justin, Munkustrap and others have been good help with that. But with these secret searches there hasn't been anyone who could understand her and give comforting words of wisdom to her. But… maybe...

"Actually, there is something that is troubling me. I don't know why. But it feels so hard." she started. "I made a promise to a friend. But they keep saying it doesn't matter anymore. That I should forget it. But... I don't think I can."

He was quiet for a while. Seeing this was really serious to her.

"That does sound very important. Promises are serious things, but... troubled by someone young like you..." he thought about it out loud.

But seeing her unselfishness warmed the old rats heart, so he placed his hand gently on her head.

"Well, the important thing is you are still good and loyal to your friend. So, as long as it is still in your power, I say you will find a way to keep your promise."

Phantalmina felt a little better for that. She was able to let a little out the pressure and it was good she was with a friend.

"Annie and I are going to watch a play. Do you want to join us?" he said to invite her to join them, hoping it might cheer her up.

"That sounds great. I loved to join you." Phantalmina answered and joined him.

Meanwhile, back again in the laboratory, Dusk and Arthur were captured and locked in the separated cages. Dusk's cage was the same with the other bats. Enough place to hang but so small to fly. The most uncomfortable must have been to Arthur. Not only it brought back bad memories, but in the same cage there were nine or ten other rodents.

"Arthur?! Arthur can you hear me?! Arthur?!" Dusk tried to call him hoping his friend wasn't that far.

"Seriously, why do you bother to talk to that rat? There is nothing you can do for him." one of the bats said to him.

Dusk tried to ignore the other bat's comments and tried to call Arthur again.

"Hey Arthur!? Can you hear me? Are you close there?" he tried. "Can you get the lock?"

"I try, damn it!" came from the cages.

Arthur tried his best to pick the lock and get out, but with no luck. The lock was like in the safes, too huge and far for him to grab and turn.

"These humans are nuts! Who uses this kind of security-lock on rats?" he muttered since the lock picking felt so difficult and hard from the other cell he was in many years ago.

"What does it matter? They want us here for their strange experiments. We can't do much about it, would we like it or not." One of the other older rats tried to calm him.

"Listen up, you..! I'm not planning to stay in this place any longer that I have to,so..."

Dusk yelled at Arthur again, but this time for another reason.

"Arthur? Hey Arthur! Something is up."

"What now, Dusk?"

"The lights are up. Someone's coming."

In the matter of seconds two men stepped inside the laboratory. One of them was older than the other, at least he sounded like it.

"Right this way sir." The younger one guided the older one to the cages to show him the new animals. "This is the bat that we found near the controllers."

"Fascinating. I never thought they would fancy to come here, and this close. And the rodent?" The older man spoke while looking at the bats.

"In here." the other man showed the rat-section. "We placed it with group C-2. Unfortunately we couldn't identify the tags on these two. We don't know who they belong to."

"Really? Well, too bad. They dared to come here and now they belong to me." The older man said while passing close to the rats."But they won't stay here long. I want to see results. And the sooner it is done the better."

Dusk wondered what that man meant by that. What are they doing?

"Make the changes in the computer. Add the newcomers to the list. They will go with

the first group" The older one order and pointed to the cabinet.

These words got Arthur's and Dusk's attention. The computer with the list was here! The other man opened the cabinet and there it was. A computer got active and Dusk saw who he tapped for a few minutes before he closed it again.

"That way no one will bother us later on. If someone comes to ask about those creatures they won't find them once they are done."

"Of course, sir." the younger man said as they both left the room.

Both Arthur and Dusk didn't need to ask anything from each other. There was only one though in their mind.

'We have to get out of here!'

At Broadway, late night plays ended and people were leaving the theaters. Among the crowd Phantalmina and Mr Hamato with his feline companion Annie walked out.

"So, how did you like it? " Annie asked Phantalmina.

"It was good. I liked the songs in the play." she said happily.

"I'm glad. It was nice of you to join us."

"Thank you for inviting me. I enjoyed a good classic."

But suddenly, before anything else was said, Phantalmina started to hear voices. Familiar voices.

Where is she?

Something is wrong.

What is going on?

Is she hurt?

Where are you, Mina?

It sounded like Munkustrap, Demeter, Ashley and others. But why...

"Mina? Are you okay?" She snapped back once hearing Annie again. "You are not getting sick, are you?"

"No, no. I'm fine. I'm okay." she said smiling at them. "I actually have to go home now. It's late and I should... be on my way."

She assured them and started to go to the alleyways.

"Thanks again. And good night."

"I hope nothing bad will poor child looks like she's about to break." Annie said while she and Yoshi watched her go.

Once getting to the alley Phantalmina looked around to find herself a mirror.

"Now,... A mirror. Where I could find a mirror."

She then saw two workmen carrying a broken mirror outside. They placed it down and headed back inside, maybe to bring more. The mirror got only a few cracks but mostly it was fine.

"Fine, it could work. I just need to time it right."

Once the men were gone she moved closer and then jumped inside the reflected puddle.

In a matter of seconds she walked through the dark mirror in her theater and took her hat off.

"Finally, at home." she sighted. But she soon noticed that her animal friends were right there looking at her and waiting for

"Hi. Um... What are you doing?"

"Phantalmina, where were you?" Ashley said.

"We have been worried here for awhile now! What were you doing?" Munkustrap asked, sounded worried and maybe a little mad.

"Guys, I went to get more food and other things." she tried to calm them down.

"In five hours? Were you getting them from the other side of the city?" Tugger said as if he wasn't that amused.

"Not now, Tugger." Mistoffelees said to him.

"Oh please. Can't I have a normal night to watch a good show to the top on Broadway?" Sometimes Phantalmina didn't like it when they treated her like some helpless kid.

"That's not what we meant." Munkustrap said.

"We just don't want you to get any trouble out there." Demeter tried to calm her.

"I can handle things myself out there. There is no trouble to be worried about." Phantalmina said as she took the and adjusted her mask right before anyone took a peek. And as she was placing the pack of food to the ground… "Justin, can you, Arthur and Dusk come to office? We have a couple things to do."

"Well,... Mina, about that, they..." Justin tried to tell the news. "... are not here. They haven't returned."

The last three words made the alarms up on Phantalminas mind.

"What? They haven't? But I only asked them to look for one thing in that place. You think something might have happened to them? " she quickly asked him.

"I really don't know. I wish I could tell, but this is getting serious."

It didn't take long till Munkustrap also got worried about the theme of their conversation and tried to get himself some answers.

"Excuse me?! You let those two to do what? What is going on?"

Things weren't looking good. It was then when she remembered something and headed straight to the office.

"Hey, Mina! MINA!" Munkustrap tried to call her back but with no use.

Once at the office, Phantalmina took her father's notebook, the "Symphony of the ages" and went through the pages. Mistoffelees and Justin had followed her inside.

"I remember Munkustrap and others were able to hear me from the roof. Maybe then I could hear Arthur and Dusk from that place... "

"You mean the mind-connection? You are trying to talk with them to know where they are?" Mistoffelees asked her.

"You know how this works? How do I do it?"

"It's not that hard since many of us have blood-bands. All depends on the connection your mind and heart makes, especially to us with the band."

Phantalmina took a deep breath, closed her eyes and listened to Mistoffelees's instruction

"Now, picture them in your mind, try to see them like they are in front of you. Let your heart feel their presence and talk."

As she breathes calmly only having her two friends in her mind, hoping to find them, knowing if they were right and safe. She called their names.

Arthur? Dusk?

It didn't took long when Arthur and Dusk while resting heard her voice little afar but clear.

Guys?

"Mina? Are you here?" Arthur stood quickly up hoping he wasn't losing his mind.

Dusk also was surprised to hear her but not seeing her anywhere. It could only mean...

"Yes, and no. It is me. But I'm talking to you from the theater with the mind-connection we learned a couple years ago. Thanks to the blood-bands, I'm able to talk to you from afar and you to me."

"We have to find a way out." Arthur said, ignoring the fact that other rats didn't understand who he was talking to. "They plan to get rid of us with their work."

"What? Why? Never mind, I'll come there and help you get out."

"I think there is a good way for you to get in here without them noticing." Dusk let out.

"What do you mean?"

"There is a mirror in the wall, close to my cage. Little high but big enough."

"Then I can get in without anyone seeing me? No cameras or sensors?"

"Not from there. And the main computer is right next to it."

"Okay. Don't worry, I'll get you guys out of there." Phantalmina finished her talk with them. And it didn't take long when she started to move quickly.

"It is as I feared. I have to get them out of there!" she said while getting her coat on and to get back to the mirror.

"Wow, wait...WHAT!?" Mistoffelees let out.

"They locked them up and planned to use them in some dangerous work. I have to save them before they start."

"I'll come with you." Justin ran quickly to her and jumped on her coat.

Others were confused and worried seeing her running like that to the mirror.

"Mina?" "MINA!?" Munkustrap tried to get some answers again but with no luck either.

"We'll explain everything later." Justin managed to say to the others before they vanished to the mirror.

In a minute Phantalmina came out from the mirror that hung on the wall. Just like Dusk said, it was a little higher but enough for her to jump and land down. And before she started to look around a familiar voice was already calling for her.

"Mina! Over here."

"Dusk!" She recognized him inside the cage. "Are you okay? Where is Arthur?"

"He's inside the lockers. In the middle one. But the lock to this cage is too high. You might not reach it."

He had a point there. The lock of his cage was at the top. And she wasn't high enough for it.

"We have to hurry." Justin said as he knew their hard situation. "Mina, transform me."

"Right. Let's do this!"

Once letting Justin down, Phantalmina sang a few notes of her melodies and the lines of musical scores bind him and gave him the large form of his. As well from his last experiences he told her how they should act.

"I'll get Dusk out. You go and get Arthur."

"Right." She agreed with his plan and went to the locker-cages trying to find Arthur. "Arthur? Arthur, where are you?"

"I'M HERE! Get me out of here!" He answered yelling while banging the locker door.

It didn't take long for her to know which one he was in and opened the door. And once the door was wide open Arthur jumped quickly in a less then a second out from the right to her hand.

"Arthur? Are you okay? Are you hurt?" she asked him while carrying him to the control-table.

"Thank god, I'm out." he panted.

"Arthur? What happened? Did they hurt you?"

"No. But I don't like to stay here and find out what they are doing here."

"What do you mean? Why are they getting so many animals here?" she kept asking. "And the list? You found it, right? Dusk said it is close, close to the..."

Without knowing Phantalmina pressed a button in the control-table.

"What kind of security measure do they have here? This lock is hard to pick open." Justin tried to pick the lock on Dusk's cage. It was way different than the one he used to pick. But suddenly he got interrupted by the sound of machines. "Wait. Where is that sound coming from?"

"What is that?" Phantalmina also asked as the screen was moving down and film was starting to roll on it. "What is happening?"

It didn't took long till Justin realized what this laboratory was working on. And it was worse than what he and his other friends had experienced in the past.

"Oh no. Not this..."

On the screen two scientists were holding a bat against the table. The animal was squeaking and trying to fight back. One of the men held a weird device in his hand while the other held the bat down. As the first one cleared the furr and placed the device close to the bat, the next coming images were disturbing.

"Wait, is that...? They are putting that thing on him like that?"

"This is worse than I thought. We should get..." Justin was about to say.

It was then when he realized that Phantalmina was present in the room, the same room watching these horrible things.

"MINA?!"

Even a child from another world full of monsters, what she saw on the screen was horrible for her.

"DON'T LOOK!" Justin quickly covered her eyes. "For all that is good, don't look at it!"

She was quickly then trembling and crying in his arms.

"I know, I know... I didn't want you to see that. I'm sorry. " Justin tried to calm her down. He was expecting humans to do something horrible, but having young Phantalmina seeing something way more horrified like this was not it.

"We should leave this place quickly." Arthur said. "They planned to start a new round in the morning."

"I agree. Let's get Dusk out and leave..."

"... All of them."

"Wait, what..?"