Chapter 34:
Luckily the valve Henry had found was a perfect fit in the door and they were able to get the door opened. When they stepped through into the archives, they were greeted by lights turning on one by one and spotlighting what appeared to be another shrine, though it was a lot different than the ones they had come across before. There was a large Bendy statue with a sign with "He Will Set Us Free" painted above it. Standing around the Bendy statue in various desperate pleading positions were statues of inky people that looked uncomfortably like Emily, the searcher Marinette had tried to purify.
"Are those statues or actual ink creatures?" Alya asked as the group paused at the doorway, studying the display before them.
"At this point, I wouldn't be surprised either way," Marinette replied with a shrug. "But they haven't moved at all."
"Yet," Nino spoke up, sounding a mix of serious and teasing. "Monsters in movies always wait until after you've left the room."
"Not the time Nino," Alya scolded, giving him a shove. "Not after everything we've seen."
"Let's keep the monster movie talk to a minimum until we're out of this ink creature filled hell shall we," Henry agreed before talking a few steps closer to the shrine. "But I think we're fine. Let's keep going."
The group carefully went around the shrine into a circler library. They passed down between the two shelves of dusty books. The group looked over the books, but most of the titles were worn and unintelligible. Henry pulled one out several books and flipped through them out of curiosity. A few were financial records, a few were employ files, but a lot of them seemed to be about the supernatural. Those books were usually in different languages so he couldn't really make heads or tails of them. Henry shoved the books back into the shelves in frustration and kept moving. The group soon came to a gap on the inner shelves and they were able to enter the inner study. There was a table with a tape recorder on it and the group gathered around it.
"They told me I was perfect for the role," Susie's angry desperate voice came clearly. "Absolutely perfect. Now Joey's going around saying things behind closed doors. I can always tell. Now he wants to meet again tomorrow, says he has an "opportunity" for me. I'll hear him out. But if that smooth talker thinks he can double cross an angel and get away with it, well, oh he's got another thing coming. Alice, ooh she doesn't like liars."
"How much do you want to bet that "opportunity" was turning Susie into that ink creature," Henry noted bitterly, clenching his fist in anger. "Making her desperate enough to take apart in his twisted schemes. Let's keep going."
The teens wanted to say something to comfort Henry, but they couldn't find the words as he stormed past them. The teens followed behind as Henry came to a door. There wasn't any obvious door handle or way to open it. Nino noticed a protruding book and on a hunch, pushed it in. As soon as the book slid into place, there was a click and one of the lights over the door turned on.
"So that's how it works," Henry noted after seeing what happened. "Let's find the other books."
The group split up into two smaller groups. Marinette and Alya went down one direction while Henry and Nino went down the other direction.
"Found one!" Marinette called while Alya pushed the book in.
"Us too," Nino called back as Henry put the third book in. As soon as it clicked into place, Henry let out a shout of fear. He held his head as if it was in pain and his eyes looked around wildly. Nino tried to ask what was wrong, but Henry didn't even seem to hear him. At the same time, Marinette gripped her head in pain, though that was all she did.
The whole incident passed by in a few seconds and soon both Marinette and Henry seemed to recover, though Henry did still seem a little shaken.
"What happened just now?" Alya asked as they met up in the middle.
"I don't know, just that felt a spike of pain through my head just now," Marinette replied, rubbing her head in memory. "But it didn't last very long. It was weird."
"Did any of you see what was going on?" Henry asked, slightly worried.
"What kind of things?" Marinette asked concerned.
"Lights were flashing and everything was just moving wildly. None of you saw that?" Henry said, feeling really worried when all the teens shake their heads. "What is going on? Doesn't matter, we still need to find those books."
The teens reluctantly agreed. Nino and Henry looked in the inner study while Aya and Marinette went to check the previous room.
"Guys, the statues are gone!" Alya called as she and Marinette hurried back to the others.
"Let's get out of here then," Henry said, pushing the last book in. "The door should be open now and we should leave before those ink creatures decide to do something."
He lead the way through the archives' door and onto a platform in a huge cave. Looking over the edge, they couldn't see the bottom, only darkness. Hanging all around them from thick chains were several cages. The group shuddered at imaging what had been held within them. Henry knocked a crate over the edge of the platform, but they couldn't even hear it hit the bottom.
"How is this place so big?" Alya wondered in astonishment.
"I gave up knowing anything that's going on here," Henry replied with a sigh. "Let's just keep going. We need to get to Boris before that crazy angel can do to him what she's done with all the others."
The teens nodded in determination and the group headed up the rickety stairs farther into the darkness beyond.