The Clean Ones

Chapter 9 / 10

"Ew," he said under his breath.

"You're insane if you think this is gross." I whispered back. The both of us followed the guard around the fountain and up to the front of the building. A massive metal door with an intricacy carved 'J' opened as soon as we approached it. The guard stood in front if the entry way, blocking our ability to proceed inside.

"Officers, you may leave." He commanded in the direction of the men. They nodded and started back down the pathways we had just come up. "Now, children, follow me. There's someone you need to meet."

The inside of the building was even more lavish than the exterior.

In the foyer hung a massive chandelier that dripped fat, blinding crystals. Underneath the chandelier was a table that held a vase full of hundreds of scarlet roses. Two grand spiral staircases sat further back, with what appeared to be an elevator in between. With great difficulty, I had to restrain myself from dashing around the place and exploring every nook and cranny.
The guard, without any acknowledgement about the place, lead us around the left corner and into another set of metal doors. This time, there was no lettering carved into them; only a lone, brass knocker embellished the exterior of the door. He stepped forward and knocked three times. The door swung open with no hesitation. Without another word the guard shoved both of us inside. The door slammed behind us immediately, followed by several clicks. An intricate series of locks had been placed on the reverse side of the door, and slid into place as soon as it shut behind us.
The room was a near pitch black. I could barely make out more than Cale's shadowy figure that stood beside me.

"Cale," I said, my voice rising to an unnaturally high octave. "What's going on?"

"Do you think I know?" He replied with the same stroke of fear in his voice.

"Sorry, it's just-" I started but came to a halt as a light flickered on. Another shadow stepped out from the darkness and approached us.

"Ah, children, I'm so delighted that you have arrived safely." They said. More lights flared on. The room, which was practically larger than my entire house, contained no more than a simple, wooden dining table table surrounded by four chairs of the same mahogany complexion. "Do take a seat; make yourself at home." I hesitated for a moment, and turned my head to look at Cale. His face remained utterly placid and unreadable. Except, however, for the slight quiver of his rosy lips that erupted as a result of his teeth gently gnawing on them. His eyes remained straight ahead, focusing on those of the man in front of us.

A light flickered on. I recognized the cold, brown eyes and grey beard of the man in front of us almost immediately.

"I don't know what the hell this sick joke is, but you better start explaining." I demanded. I lurched forward, but Cale's reflexes worked faster than mine. His strong arms were around mine almost instantly, restraining me from advancing any further.

"Perri, just sit down." Cale hissed in my ear. His arms released me and shoved me down into the chair. He didn't make eye contact with me as he neatly pulled his own chair out and took a seat. Rather, his were constantly moving and scanning the man up and down.

"My dear," my head snapped up when he spoked. "I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about." Mayor Johnson replied with a sly smile. "Please, if you would just take a seat-"

"I'm sitting, aren't I?" I said and crossed my arms over my chest.

"Well, miss, if you consider slouching the equivalent of sitting, then I'm afraid we might need a bit of a vocabulary lesson." He chuckled half-heartedly.

"This isn't funny. Just spit out whatever you need to say."

"Very well. I'll just get on with it. After the circumstances yesterday-"