I groaned as I came to. It was pitch black, so opening my eyes didn't really make a difference to anything. All I could tell was that my head was level with my body, so I guessed that I was lying down.
I started to stretch, only to find that I couldn't move, not an inch. I struggled harder to get no result either.
I started to open my mouth only to find that it wasn't going to work. I leaned my head back, the only thing I could move, and breathed out a sigh through my nose to prevent rising panic. I needed my head clear right now.
At that moment light filtered into the room from my right. Looking over I saw that a pair of dusty curtains had been pulled aside by something.
I looked down at my body and saw that I'd practically been cocooned in black sand, which explained why I couldn't move. I assumed that it was also around my mouth, since I couldn't move that either.
Out of the shadows walked the same guy who'd got me in the ally.
"Well then, I'm no fan of big villain monologues, so I'll get straight to it."
I took a moment to be glad that I wasn't going to get bored to death as he leaned over and with a wave of his hand made the sand gag disappear.
"Where's the Burgess Branch of HOG?"
"What's it to you?"
"Shut it smart mouth, where do you meet up?"
I didn't say anything.
"Well, say something!"
I adopted a mocking child's tone, "but you just told me not to."
"Ha ha very funny. Now take this seriously and answer the question. Where do you all meet?"
"I don't feel like answering that question."
Finally his frustration won over and he sent a kick to my side, causing me to gasp in pain and my body to try to curl up.
"Where do you meet?"
"You do know torture the worst way- Ooof!" There went another blast of air from my lungs.
"She never told me that you were a smart ass." He muttered to himself, but not quietly enough for me not to hear him.
"That's a newly acquired trait, better than panicking huh?"
"Will you just answer the question!?"
"I've already told you that I don't feel like it."
He sighed. "I see that you're not taking this seriously."
As if on cue the shadows around us condensed and about ten people stepped out of them.
My eyes widened and my cocky attitude began to fade as I saw Penelope step out of the shadows with them. She seemed to ignore me and focused on the man in front of me. She looked a little different from when I last saw her. Her clothing seemed to fit better, and her hair had been brushed as it hung loosely and wavy down her back.
"So how about you answer now, smart mouth."
I had lost all of my retorts and just opened and closed my mouth in panic. Another kick turned that into panicked gasps.
"Come on, now!"
I tried to get my breathing and rising fear under control as I fought for an answer.
"I-I, um."
My panicked breath had begun to frost the sand beneath my chin and seemed to seep into it, spreading on the underside of the sand. Beneath the sand my hands were being covered in frost, which also spread to the sand. These two things seemed to go ignored by the Descendants of Pitch.
"Come on, we don't have all day."
The spreading frost made the sand brittle to the touch. I flicked my fingers underneath the sand, trying to get it spread as fast as I dared on the underside of the sand as I tried to think of something to say.
"Well, you know what?" said the blonde man, becoming impatient, "You can say it now, or
we can get it painfully out of you by way of your friend."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"We left your bag behind for your friend to find, so that he would try to find you. Just
in case this wouldn't work."
On cue there was a crash downstairs.
"Derrik, go check it out." Barked the blond one. Derrik, the one to the left of Blondie, nodded and left the room.
As my ice had almost finished covering the bottom side of the sand, I let some of it trickle out and down the hall. It followed Derrik down the hall and stairs. I was so focused that I barely noticed the sand wrap around my mouth again.
The ice reached the bottom of the stairs and began to form words.
Nigel cursed under his breath as he tripped over something yet again. He wasn't usually this clumsy, but in the near pitch dark it very difficult to be stealthy.
Billy snickered as he walked skilfully around the room, his heightened sense of hearing allowing him to be able to piece together his surroundings by footsteps, and Nigel's tripping. Sally and Tina floated or fluttered high enough above the floor not to trip, so the only real help they provided from navigation was the slight glow from Sally's sand.
"Hey, there's something on the floor." Whispered Tina, catching the other's attention.
Sally floated over and read aloud what was on the floor in ice as a scuffling noise could be heard from above.
"Get out, it's a trap."