© Michael Scott
The climb up the cliff face was rough. The wind had picked up and buffeted Sophie and Virginia as they climbed which slowed their process. With any luck, they would reach the top of the cliff and find themselves at the back of Nyx's mansion, where they could begin their search for Germain.
"I wonder if anyone has ever tried this approach before," Virginia called up to Sophie, grasping a handhold where Sophie's foot had just been. Sophie, who had become an avid climber in her time, was in the lead. She glanced down to Virginia.
"I doubt that anyone is crazy enough to try to sneak up on Nyx, especially by climbing up a massive cliff freestyle," she said, laughing. Virginia grinned but said no more.
There was only one scare on their way up the massive rock face. Sophie's foot slipped on an unreliable foothold and she nearly kicked Virginia in the head. Luckily, Virginia was able to react and duck in her precarious position until Sophie found a better foothold and continued on their way to the top.
When they finally reached the end, Sophie sighed in relief. After quickly scanning the area for any immediate threats, she flopped down onto her back to rest her arms and legs. Each was protesting from the rigorous exercise, but she was happy to be climbing again. Virginia did the same moments later, laughing softly.
"That just happened," she said, grinning.
Sophie sat up and looked at what they had just climbed up. "Well, we will need a new way down in a few hours, as that will be just about impossible to descend safely."
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Virginia said, quickly inspecting her flute for any scratches it might have received from the ascent. "Let's go find le Comte."
The mansion was about 200 meters to their left, but no cat síth could be seen. Sophie assumed that there would be several guarding the front doors, so they were not at the front at least. To their right, a small, sparse forest stood cold and dark. The trees, despite being full and alive, looked dead for lack of colour. The wind that pushed on Sophie and Virginia's backs was not disturbing the trees that stood so close to the cliff's edge.
Virginia, noticing this first, took a step forward and put her hand out. Her eyes widened and she withdrew her hand quickly. "Put your hand here," she said, slowly doing it again.
Sophie did so. Her immediate reaction was shock as her hand, up to her wrist, had fallen into darkness and cold, with no wind to speak of. She brought her hand close to her body, the wind whipping her hair around her face, and then she stepped forward.
The cold was immediate, and the darkness only slightly noticeable. Looking back to Virginia, who was standing on the other side of Nyx's barrier, simply looked windswept, rather than dramatically lighter or light by sunshine. Virginia looked at Sophie, who looked cold but not shaded. She stepped through to join Sophie.
"Should we go through the forest?" Virginia asked Sophie. The forest wound its way around to the back of the mansion, where they assumed they would be able to access it more easily without being seen. Sophie nodded and Virginia took the lead, moving swiftly and silently.
The drastic change in the noise level made Sophie feel like she was in a bubble. She could no longer hear the crashing waves or whistling wind that had deafened her moments earlier. The only sound came from their footsteps on the ground and their breath.
Virginia kept close to the tree line, not wanting to trust any dark forest, especially one belonging to Nyx.
They only heard one rustle other than their own on their way through the forest. Virginia pulled out her flute while Sophie drew a dagger, but after a few moments of searching they determined that the source of the noise had disappeared. Sophie let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding.
The darkness grew thicker as they drew closer to the mansion. Both Virginia and Sophie noticed that everything around them seemed to be losing colour and fading into black and white, and it grew colder with each step.
"Nyx is much more powerful than I thought," Virginia commented, gesturing to everything around them. "To maintain this shadow of night constantly would be a challenge, but she seems to do so easily."
Finally they came to the end of the forest and to the back of Nyx's mansion. A dense fog covered the ground here, but the dark building could still be seen clearly. No cat síth prowled nearby, so Sophie and Virginia quickly crouched and gathered their thoughts.
"What do you think is the best way to approach this?" Sophie asked, scanning the closest part of the mansion. The only window was a story up and there were no doors along the ground level.
Virginia pointed to the window. "We could get up there," she said, grinning.
"How?" Sophie asked, laughing lightly.
Virginia shrugged. "We'll figure it out. What do we do after we're inside is the question?"
Sophie drew out a plan in the dirt. "Germain is either in a high level of the house or in the basement, I would assume. Since we climbed up, I think that Scatty and Billy will have found a lower way to enter the house. I suggest we take a look upstairs to see what's there."
Virginia nodded her agreement and stood. "Cover me, I'm going to try to get up there."
She took a running start at the wall, then kicked off and jumped. The mansion was made of wooden slats, and Virginia's fingers found purchase about halfway to the window. She steadied herself on the wall, looking more like a spider than anything else, and she began to climb. It was hard climbing. There was enough room between the boards for her feet and fingers, but not quite enough for a relaxed climb.
When she finally made it to the window, she rested one arm on the sill, steadied both of her feet, and began to wrestle with the window to open it. Somehow, her nimble fingers found a way to pop the latch and she carefully climbed in, being as silent as possible.
Now it was Sophie's turn. She did the same as Virginia, but was less spider-like in her attachment to the wall. Her fingers slipped and she struggled to find a place for hands. She slid down a few inches before gripping a board and pulling herself up.
Steadied, Sophie began her climb. It was nothing like rock-climbing; it was ten times harder and a million times worse. It was slow going, but when she made it Virginia helped her through the window and into the darkness of the mansion.
"Well, phase one is complete," Virginia said quietly, gently closing the window.
The air was cold and the hallways dark. As they ascended stairs and walked along corridors, they each kept a hand on the wall to remember the way that they had come and to feel for any doors. Neither knew where Germain might be held, and were on the look out for any and all possibilities.
The upper floors didn't seem to have any doors. There were twists and turns, and some dead ends. After several minutes, Sophie stopped.
"This is a maze."
Virginia looked at her. "Damn it." They both thought for a moment. "Do you think there is a door in the center of this maze?"
Sophie shrugged. "Who knows? We may be in the complete wrong spot. Nyx may just keep the upper floors to confuse any intruders…" She sighed. "Like us."
Virginia grinned. "Well, shall we continue to explore? Or check out downstairs?"
"Maybe we should –" As she spoke, they heard something clicking against the floor.
"Cat!" Virginia hissed, and they both spun to face the source of the noise. Sophie's aura flared and formed her silver armor as she pulled out both knives, while Virginia drew her flute and dagger. They began to back away slowly.
The cat síth rounded a corner and its eyes narrowed. It snarled and assumed a fighting stance. Virginia brought her flute to her lips, playing a gentle tune, attempting to calm the creature and cause it to forget them.
No such luck.
The cat howled and swiped a massive paw at them, and it proceeded to strike mercilessly. Virginia continued to play one-handedly, the music becoming quick and frantic, while swinging her dagger. Sophie attacked with both knives, hoping to subdue the beast before it alerted any others to their presence.
After several attempts to get close to the cat, Sophie found her way in while Virginia had it distracted. She thrust both of her knives into its neck and, with a gurgling yowl, it fell to the ground.
Sophie wiped her knives on its fur and put one away, keeping the other in her hand. Her aura flickered as she scanned the immediate area, and then it faded. Virginia too put her flute away, but kept her dagger out and ready.
"There goes our cover," Virginia said, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. "At least we can assume that Germain isn't up here, as there would be more cat síth."
Sophie nodded and grinned slightly, and together they ran back the way they had come, hoping to leave the house before Nyx could set anything horrible on them.
A loud yowl cascaded through the doors of the hall, causing Nyx to pause. Josh could see the churning blackness of her dress increase in tempo.
"Someone is here that should not be," she said quietly.
The cat síth in the room seemed to bristle as more cries came from their companion upstairs. There were several loud thumps, and then silence fell.
"Find them."
Nyx's order was gentle, but immediately four of the six cat síth in the room exited through the door on their right. Two of the men left through the door behind them. Joan assumed they were going to retrieve something terrible from one of the rooms behind the locked doors they had passed.
The remaining man and two cat síth closed in on Josh and Joan.
Nyx's voice was quiet. "Who are they?"
"I don't know, Lady," Josh replied quietly, knowing full well that it was Sophie and Virginia upstairs. He had heard, as faint as it was, Virginia's flute through the ruckus.
Nyx chuckled lightly. "Of course."
As she spoke, there was another loud bang, this time seeming to come from the basement. Her eyes flashed angrily as a door slammed from downstairs and cat síth growled loudly.
"You'll never get out alive, you know. Liars never prosper."
A/N: I had so much fun writing this, I hope you enjoy reading! Next chapter to come soon!
~nerdy