A/N - thank you to anyone who had favourited me or this story or followed this story. I received an unbelievable amount of positive feedback for this story so thank you.
I can't reply to most reviews because it won't let me on my phone, but I really do appreciate every single one of them - they make my week, they really do =)
leahloahla: Thank you so much, no guarantees on the heads, though!;)
That Squirrel: She really does, doesn't she? shame that I don't want her to though, but I gave her a bit of a break this chapter:)
Chapter 3
Agent Prentiss began her search of the room by looking over the bookshelves at the other end of the room to where JJ and Reid were. All of the shelves were covered in a thick layer of dust and it was obvious that the contents hadn't been disturbed for years - apart from one book. The dust was all pushed to the side, so it was obvious that it had been taken off of the shelf and then replaced quite recently.
Just as Emily slid it off the shelf and was about to take a look inside she saw some movement out of the corner of her eye. A wall was currently sliding across the room. When it was fully across it was obvious that she would be on her own with no exit.
"What the fuck!" She yelled as she dropped the book and ran towards the wall, but just as she reached it, it stopped, sealing her into the little room. No matter how hard she pounded on the wall or pushed it with all of her weight it wouldn't budge.
"Emily!" JJ and Reid both rushed forwards, but met the wall just as it shuddered to a stop, connecting with the one adjacent.
"What happened..." Morgan trailed off as him and Hotch rushed into the room at Emily's yell with the others following behind.
"This huge wall came out of nowhere and Emily is the other side." JJ told them all, frustrated. Morgan walked up to the wall now dividing the room.
"Em, can you hear us?" He shouted at the wall.
"Yeah!" Came a muffled reply.
"Did you touch anything that could have set it off?" Hotch asked.
"I pulled a book off of the shelf." Hotch sighed. He'd had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach ever since he'd set foot in this room.
"What is it?" Rossi asked him.
"That means this place is booby trapped." Hotch told him.
The other side of the wall, Emily picked up the book she'd so unceremoniously discarded and opened it up. The pages were hollowed out and in their place was a little brass statuette on a necklace made of leather string.
Placing the book on the floor, she stepped up to the wall that divided her from her friends. She could hear her pounding heart in her ears and she had to take a few seconds to breathe and calm herself. Now she could think logically and rationally to find a way out. The only thing on the wall was a painting, maybe two meters by one meter in size. Since it was the only decoration she'd seen on the walls down here it must be there for a reason, so she lifted it off of the wall to reveal a metal grill, but she couldn't see through it because there was something covering it on the other side.
"Hey!" She shouted to her colleagues.
"Yeah?" She heard JJ reply.
"Is there a painting on your side of the wall?" If they took it off too they would be able to see each other.
"Yeah there is." Came a confused sounding reply to her request.
"Take it off the wall!" She shouted, getting impatient – not with the team, but with the situation. She heard a slight scuffling and saw Morgan lifting the painting off of the other side.
"There we are, princess." He chuckled slightly.
"This isn't funny, Morgan." She told him darkly.
"You're right, it's not." Hotch joined the conversation his voice stern.
"Sir, I found this in the book." She held up the necklace and the team crowded round the little window.
"It must be pretty important if he has this set up for when anyone touches the book," Rossi deduced, "What was it that made you pick that book up specifically?"
"It was the only thing on any of the shelves that had been touched recently." Emily told them and waited whilst they thought over this new information.
"Someone must have been down here." Reid told them, his brain working quicker than theirs.
"My dad?" Emily asked hopefully, but kind of nervous at the thought at the same time.
"Possibly." Reid responded. Cursing in her head in every possible language, the brunette agent paced around the small room in which she was held prisoner.
"Morgan, Garcia and Rossi keep checking out the hall. Reid and JJ keep looking through all the stuff on the desk." Everyone nodded and went their particular ways.
Emily was too busy trying to keep calm to realize that Hotch was still standing by the little window. Her heart rate was getting faster and she was breathing quicker and quicker, but she couldn't seem to catch her breath. The agent could hear someone talking to her.
"Prentiss!" Hotch's sudden outburst shook her out of it and she looked up at him, "Breathe, okay? Me and you will try to find a way to get you out." Because she couldn't speak she just nodded at him.
"Okay, what book is it that you pulled off the shelf?" Aaron Hotchner asked.
"Er… just an empty diary." Emily answered, finally able to get a handle on her words again.
"Have you tried just putting it back on the shelf?" Confused, Emily shut the book and put it back exactly where she found it. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. The agent's shoulders slumped in defeat when suddenly a slight whirring became apparent and the wall just as smoothly slid back into its original place.
"Hell yeah, Hotch!" Emily yelled triumphantly. The others returned to the room and cheered.
"How the hell did you do that?" Jennifer Jareau asked them, smiling.
"We just put the book back." Reid looked confused for a second.
"Without putting the necklace in?" He waiting for a nod of conformation, "Then maybe we were looking at it the wrong way. Maybe we were supposed to be in there to get through to the next room." Everyone thought about his suggestion for a second. It made sense. The trap wouldn't have reset itself if everything weren't back.
"Then what's the necklace for?" Rossi questioned.
"To get to the next room!" JJ exclaimed, "There must be something to do while you're in there." Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Shall we?" Hotch gestured to the other end of the room and the team all moved over there.
"Em, pull the book out." JJ instructed. Just as before the wall slid into place, with the pretense of sealing them in. Everyone was looking around as it did so, trying to see if there was anything that moved.
"Hotch," Morgan spoke, bending down by a bookcase. "There are scuff marks on the floor. This bookcase moves." Emily took a look too and saw that he was right. She gave the necklace to JJ to hold as she assisted Hotch and Morgan in moving the bookcase. Although heavy, it swung open like a door and the team stared into the dark corridor that was revealed.
"Here." Garcia handed out the flashlights that she had kept safe in her bag. They clicked them on and shone them into the dark space, while revealed a rectangular room, not much bigger than the one they were currently standing in although they could only see parts of it as their lights lit it up.
"I'll go first." Agent Prentiss volunteered, stepping up towards the looming threshold. Just as she was about to tell them that there was nothing to be worried about, something swung down from the ceiling. Emily saw it at the last minute and ducked, but not in enough time so it clipped her on the shoulder, knocking her against the wall.
"Son of a bitch!" Morgan exclaimed loudly, "Prentiss?"
"Yeah I'm good," Emily groaned, but saw Hotch about to approach her, "No one come in, it's stopped moving now, but I'm pretty sure it will start again if anyone else comes in." She crawled to back to the team so she wouldn't get hit again and they pulled her through the archway.
"Shit. You okay?" JJ asked her as she sat leaning on the wall for support.
"Yeah it just got my shoulder, just give me a minute." Emily replied holding up her hand. Rossi asked the question that had many of the profilers wondering.
"What are we going to do now?"
