The moment we stepped through the ivy-filled arch, I heard a ping noise. Immediately I froze. Was it another blast-me-away angel bomb? "Tei?" I let out in a whisper.
"Stay right behind me," he whispered back, kneeling. I also knelt down and raised my right hand to clutch onto his shoulder. I'm not a fan, but I know he'll keep me safe. A small but bright light was suddenly launched into the air, heading down for us. It could have resembled the bomb from the basement, but this one wasn't sent down a flight of stairs first.
I gasped lightly as I prepared to feel the bomb when it landed, but something insane happened. I squinted and buried my face into Tei's shoulder, but instead his shoulder clocked me from quickly jumping up because he literally punched the bomb. I heard quite a loud sizzle as the bomb hit the ground, seemingly dissolving.
Tei helped me up with his left arm, shaking his right hand that was sizzling from touching the bomb. "Are you okay?" I felt compelled to ask. "I can't believe you just did that!"
"It gets boring using the dome as a defense constantly. I like to change it up," Tei admitted, nodding at his hand before lowering it. "Let's go."
"Just like when you ran like a feral dog at Sachiel?" I remembered, starting to follow him up the path to the marble white mansion.
Tei merely chuckled at that memory.
Now we neared a set of large double doors. "Pretty place," I commented. Without hesitation Tei grabbed the golden knobs and pushed the doors open.
"Your traps won't work, Murdock," Tei called out sarcastically. "The new barrier your Cult made didn't work either. Come out before I tear this place apart."
I glanced around the entrance hall. Everything was purely white, especially the massive staircase before us. Pretty as it all is, I'm sure this is just a regular mansion like any other.
I thought I saw a brief flash of purple from behind the staircase before a terrified face came out from around it. "I'm right here," he let out nervously. He was shaking in pure fear at the sight of us. "You, uh... woke up? Do you," he gulped. "Do you need another spell cast?"
"Not yet," Tei replied coldly. "You'll be coming with us regardless." He ushered him over to us with a half wave, but the frightened, grey-eyed boy remained still through his shaking. "Get over here before I drag you," Tei threatened.
"Knock it off!" I scolded as Murdock widened his eyes.
"L-Lynn?" he seemingly recognized. "What's going on? Why are you with him?" he asked, clearly remembering helping me try to stop Tei completely.
"It's not my choice," I answered simply. "Long story short, we-"
"We don't have time for this," Tei interrupted me. "We have to go before the Cult of Merlin notices that I destroyed their barrier again."
"Make time!" I growled. "I'm tired of angel-folk snatching people from their homes with nothing. Let him pack a bag!"
Tei blinked angrily before looking down at me. I glared at him until he said, "Fine."
"Thank you." I turned my attention back to Murdock. "I know this is incredibly sudden and confusing, but... yeah, we're here to snatch you." I half shrugged.
"Where are we going?" Murdock asked in a gulp, remembering he needed to move. He skittishly went right of us, into a large room. It looked like a massive combination of a living room with a small library in it. On the left side wall there was a pedestal with a stone bust on it. I couldn't tell you who it was.
"A castle," I said simply, watching Murdock approach the bust. He put his hand on its head and pushed. The head popped open, literally, and there was a button. He pushed the button and closed the head. I felt my green eyes go extremely wide as two bookshelves that were side by side near the bust started sliding apart.
"Really?" Murdock looked at me in surprise before he entered the dark hole the bookshelves revealed. "I keep my things down here... mostly."
He was literally gone. Was this another trap? A secret escape hatch? I turned around to see where Tei went, but he never left the entrance hall. "No traps." He read my mind.
"He's right, unfortunately," Murdock called out from the darkness. I just sighed and entered the hole to go after him. I treaded carefully, feeling a staircase going down. I didn't find a railing, so I stuck my hand to the wall and began my trek. "Okay, stop." Murdock's voice startled me suddenly.
"What's wrong?" I asked, hearing I was very close to him now.
"Ah, nothing, I... didn't want you to bump into me," he whispered, then muttering some unintelligible words. I heard a click and something opened. A door? There was dim light on the other side. I saw the top of Murdock's head move into the new room.
In that moment, something new happened to me. A random memory was brought to my mind, but not because I had thought of it. It was like an outside force flipped a switch and I had no choice but to watch.
The basement of the Germany house. I had pulled away from Tei after he went to sleep from the spell Murdock was chanting. When the Cult sent the angel bomb down the steps, I had grabbed Murdock's arm. His right one, specifically, and he was bothered by it. Why was this important? I needed a reminder that this guy doesn't like to be touched?
"I'll try not to," I reassured him as I followed him through the door into the dim light. Now we were in a real library. Bookshelves on all sides, an entire fireplace, and even a giant comfortable looking purple chair. Across from the chair and fireplace was a long dark table. Murdock went around the chair and grabbed a purple duffle bag. He must like that color.
I remained at the door, watching him put the bag on the table, and then grabbed something off the chair really fast, like he didn't want me to see. He stuffed said item into the bag, avoiding eye contact. Next, he reached for a stack of DVDs from the table and carefully set them in. I didn't see a television anywhere... I bet you it dropped down from the ceiling or came up from the floor.
"I'm assuming ignis oculi wants all of Merlin's journals," Murdock told me, walking over to one of the many bookshelves, nearly grabbing an entire row's worth of content. As he came back and put them into the bag, he said next, "I spend most of my time down here, but my clothes are in my bedroom."
"I'll make sure you get some new clothes," I offered. "But I really think we need to leave right now."
He gulped, half-nodding. "Okay." He glanced around the room, sighed, and bravely looked me in the eyes. "When we first met, and the Cult came to get me... I think I got off easy. If they were to find me again-"
"I won't let anyone hurt you," I promised, reaching to gently reassure him with a squeeze, but he instantly flinched back. That's when I noticed he was wearing long purple gloves that went up to his elbows. I retracted my hand. "I'm sorry!"
"Time to go," Tei called down from upstairs. "They have to know we've breached by now."
"We're coming," I yelled back, waving for Murdock to follow. He nodded, trying not to shake. He lugged the handle of his bag over his shoulder, looking at me intently. "Yes?" I asked.
"I don't know what's going to happen, but I know I don't want to come back here."
The memory thing from just a couple minutes ago happened again, super-fast and out of my control. We were in the Domain, going through the hole Megan and Drew made in the barrier to free us. "Come on, Brother," I spoke. "Do not look back. You will never, ever come back here. I'll make sure of it."
I was able to blink, so I did. "What was that?" Murdock asked me.
"What?"
"Never mind," he said quickly.
I kept a straight face. "Follow me back up, and he'll zap us out of here," I said, continuing to exit the secret library. "Do not look back. You will never, ever come back here. I'll make sure of it."
Call it deja vu, but Murdock's response was almost identical to my brother's. "You promise?"
I stopped again to look straight at him. "I promise."
As we reappeared in the destroyed entrance hall of the castle, I blurted out, "Tei, he's not going in one of those dungeon cells."
"What?" Murdock let out in a squeak.
"Of course not." Tei agreed. "He'll be in Merlin's old chambers." He looked around with narrowed eyes. "Rylie."
"Yeah?" the angry demon grunted. He had been sitting on the grand but broken staircase going to the second floor. "Yeesh, is that our wizard?" he squinted his eerie green eyes at Murdock. "He'd better be happy with his room, all that damn work I had to do."
"I'm sure he'll be grateful." Tei rolled his eyes. "I'm going to bring the dome back up now."
"Got it," Rylie said, stretching before he stood up. "I'll be in the kitchen!" He went right, heading through a door that wasn't far from the staircase. I looked the opposite way. The door at the other end of the staircase was the door that ultimately led to the dungeon. I was starting to learn the layout of this place.
This time I wasn't sure if it was my own doing or not, but an important thought hit me. "Tei, I want to get my kitten."
He had just started raising his arms up when I spoke, but then he lowered them. "What?" he asked, looking into my eyes. I merely stared back. I wasn't used to him not having to make physical contact anymore to read me. Murdock was going back and forth staring between us, utterly confused.
Apparently finished, Tei had smiled. "You named him Bug?"
"Can I go get him?" it came out more as a demand.
"Yes, but it must be now." Tei roughly grabbed Murdock's shoulder to zap us once again. Just like that, the three of us were not only at Alice's now, but he'd also sent us right inside the middle of the living room.
"WHOA!" Jack Walter shrieked at the sudden appearance of us, toppling backwards over the recliner he was sitting in.
"Are you okay, Uncle Jack?" I barely let out.
He didn't hear me, of course. When he scrambled himself up from the floor he was scratching his head. His ponytail came undone so you couldn't see most of his face through his long, brown blonde streaks. "Lynn?" he recognized. "Here for a midnight snack?"
"My kitten."
"Huh?" Jack narrowed his eyes at Tei. "Hey, I remember you! Beer buddy!" He reached around the fallen recliner to pick up his spilled can of beer, holding it up proudly.
"Dad? Why are you yelling?" Alice herself called out from upstairs. "Don't you know what time it is?" she asked, coming out of the hallway to the top of the stairs, widening her brown eyes upon seeing us. There was only one small lamp near the recliner lighting the room, plus a little TV, but it was enough to be recognized. "Lynn? Hey! What's going on? It's the middle of the night."
"Hand over Bug," Tei spoke darkly.
"Oh my god is that TEIVEL?" Alice uttered out in shock. "Lynn, what the hell?"
I tried to talk, but Tei cut me off. "Retrieve the animal or I'll put your father out of his absolute misery."
I heard Murdock gulp from right behind Tei, occasionally trying to jerk free of his hold on him. Alice clenched her fists while Jack obliviously returned his recliner back upright. "You bastard."
"Last chance."
I sighed. "Tei," I let out. "Stop it."
"He's behind you in the dog pen." Alice pointed her finger. "He likes to lay on pillows.
I walked around Murdock to open the gate to the dog area. There was Bug, laying on a small red pillow, swatting at some yarn. "Hey little Bug," I greeted, kneeling when I approached him. "Remember me?" I held out my hand.
The little orange tabby had gotten a bit bigger since I last saw him. He meowed lightly at me, nearly leaping off the pillow to check me out. He put his nose near my hand for a moment before he nudged me, wanting to be pet. "I guess so." I gently lifted him up.
"I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow, so I didn't get-" Alice had started, but Tei violently lunged for me, eager to fly away.
"Tell Colby I'm okay-!" I tried to tell her before Tei zapped us back to the castle. He started looking at me angrily. Probably for what I'd just tried to do.
"I feel nauseous," Murdock admitted, covering his mouth.
"You're adjusting to the flying," Tei told him, still glaring right at me. He temporarily let go of Murdock and raised his arms up, using his power to bring back up the evil dome that kept us trapped and powerless, except him. He was still giving me a stare down. "My love, I need you to accompany us upstairs. I'll explain when we get there. Or just... read me." He made it obvious he was struggling with the new adjustments too.
Holding Bug close, I silently followed Tei and Murdock forward. I was at least curious about what was upstairs. While going up the old stone steps, Tei grabbed Murdock's arm to guide him, and we had to zig zag back and forth due to bits being damaged or completely gone from damage. "A meteor did all of this?" I asked.
"For the most part," Tei answered, yanking Murdock with him over a mid-sized hole.
"Can you let go of me?" Murdock asked next, expressing obvious irritation.
"When we get to the chambers," Tei growled at him, seemingly pulling him along harder. At the top of the stairs was a massive wall with various bits missing from the meteor. What caught my attention was how the holes looked. They just didn't seem to be stone. That's when I took a step back, looked up at the wall again, and then went over to the right and looked down. The wall on that side was the wall holding the door to the dungeon.
"Are we inside the mountain?" I realized. "Other than the obvious crater the meteor made of the front door."
"Basically," Tei mumbled, going opposite of me towards a door. It was positioned directly above the one downstairs that led to the kitchen. That's the fourth door I've seen out here so far. "Only the floors and stairs are stone. The doors used to be too, but during my restoration I put in wooden ones instead for simplicity."
"Check you out," I said mockingly, pulling away from the right side and joining them on the left. "Teivel. Feared Nephilim. Neck lover. Castle renovator."
Murdock gulped at the silence before he was dragged along once again. We went through the new left door, entering a hallway that was almost instantly curving right. There was a door just on the left before the curve. "Does this hallway end at a door on the opposite side of here?"
"Just like the one downstairs," Tei confirmed. "The only difference about the downstairs one is the left side exits into the kitchen, not out into the hall. Why? Trying to learn the layout?"
"If we're going to be here for a while, why not?" I said back, stopping when they did at that door right before the curve.
"This room held Merlin's chambers," Tei announced. Finally, he released Murdock from his firm clutch. "I remodeled what I could. Rylie put in the replacements and new equipment by hand, including a shower and television."
"Didn't change the door?" I wondered, realizing it was a thick stone one.
Tei gently squeezed his fists, and I could sense uneasiness in him. "This is the only door I can't change."
"Why?" I immediately pressed, giving Bug easy pets on the head. He'd been so quiet I nearly forgot I was holding him.
"I cannot enter that room," Tei admitted with a muttered sigh. "Merlin applied special warding to it beyond any level we'd ever seen at the time. No one's powers work inside, only his magic."
"Holy bananas," Murdock let slip.
"He warded it from you?" I deduced. "Sounds like he hated you."
"You have no idea," Tei muttered. He stepped aside to encourage Murdock to open the door.
"There's no doorknob?" he noticed, anxiously looking around the door. There was a large but centuries old looking door knocker in the middle. It was currently too dark to see the design.
"It almost acts as a swinging door," Tei input. "Opens from both sides. It just does not actually 'swing'."
"When did you become a nerd?" I asked him weirdly, stepping in between him and Murdock to help push it open. It surprisingly didn't resist, and we pushed through quite easily.
Tei sighed. "How did I know you were going to zip right into there?"
"You probably read my mind," I said, checking out the decently large room. It seemed to be more of a long rectangle style than the usual square ones. Like our room, it was lit by wall sconces spread evenly on the mountain walls.
Along the right-side wall was a mini living room set up. There was a long brown couch and a matching loveseat circling around a big TV on a stand. It looked like a mini fridge was sitting on the left of the couch. That had to mean Tei had power somehow running through the castle. Just beyond that was a dining room table with a fake flower set at the center. Then, the back right corner of the room looked like a makeshift bathroom. There was the shower Tei mentioned installed perfectly into the corner. There was a toilet just right of the shower, but everything was covered by some kind of curtain built into the ceiling, allowing privacy.
Tei really put some effort into this room.
The left side of the room was very different from the right. Most of the left side held mostly empty tall bookshelves, a few cabinets stacked up together, and another table that was nearly hugging the cabinets. It was longer and larger than the dining table.
Now, the back left corner was the scary part. "Tei, what the hell? Is that what I think it is?" I demanded.
Murdock gulped very loudly. "Are those-are those for me?"
A large set of leg chains were bolted into the wall by the left corner. "They were Merlin's," Tei clarified. "They're warded. I can't touch them. Rylie would explode if he tried to touch them. Merlin had to wear those when he wouldn't cooperate."
"No wonder he hated you," I scoffed. "Poor dude." I quickly checked on Murdock, who appeared mighty relieved he wasn't about to be put in chains.
"I didn't make them," Tei remarked. "Now, can you please come out of there? Let the boy adjust to his new chambers. He starts his work tomorrow."
I merely turned around to face Tei at the stone door opening. "What if he doesn't want to work for you?"
"He does if he wants to eat," Tei said simply. "Sure, he's safe in there from me. Have you noticed there's nothing to eat? I included a shower, not a kitchen. He'll eventually come out if he doesn't want to starve. He'll work," Tei narrowed his flaming eyes at Murdock. "Won't he?"
Murdock nearly jumped. "Yes, sir! Whatever you need!" he gasped nervously.
"Asshole," I muttered to Tei, before looking at Murdock. "I'll come back in a little bit to check on you. I am not going to let you rot in this room."
Murdock nodded shakily, setting down his duffel bag. "Okay. Thanks," he said, pushing his glasses up. I wanted to just give him a hug to help him feel better, but now I knew he wouldn't like that.
Tei rolled his eyes at my thoughts as I exited the room. "Now what?"
He raised an eye and then smirked, watching the stone door close. "Now... I'm going back to our room. Come with me?"
I let out a fully defeated sigh while I said, "Sure Tei. As long as you can get me some stuff for Bug." I pet my little buddy again, dreading how the rest of this night was going to go.
