The Altered.

Chapter XXIV.

Lia stayed with Percy, along with Bri's group watching on from the treehouse. Everybody else - Miles, Aaron, Eira, and Bri - moved towards the shed in the corner of the yard. That was, bar Luca, who had fearfully scrambled into the treehouse to get away from what was happening below.

The shed was so old that not a single part of it was the silver colour of metal anymore - it was thoroughly rusted. The handle was hidden behind a leafy vine that had wound its way up the wall and the door. There was ivy clinging to almost every inch of the small shed, and what was left visible was teeming with small insects.

Miles deliberately gagged. "This is disgusting. I'm not opening that door."

"Oh, you're more dramatic than Percy," Eira replied and took a few steps towards the door.

"Eira -" Aaron warned, but he didn't have time to finish. His sister lifted her leg and slammed it hard against the door. With a jarring noise, the corroded door clattered in.

Eira straightened up again, grinning with satisfaction at her work while the others stood dumbfounded by her side. "I've always wanted to do that," she breathed.

"You should be in a cop film," Bri decided.

"We're wasting time." Miles started towards the shed, course grass crunching beneath his feet. Eira's excitement seemed to deflate when he said this, so he made a last-minute decision to add, "Sick kick, though." He flashed her a sharp grin before ducking inside the shed.

Bri was the first to follow him. She had to duck to get through the door, for she was closer to Aaron's height than she was to Miles', who was realising - not for the first time - that he hated his short height. Aaron, who was the tallest, had to duck as well, and still just narrowly avoided hitting his head on the roof. Eira accompanied him without struggle.

Once they were inside, nobody had to bend over anymore for the ceiling slanted upwards. "I stand by my decision not to want to come in here," Miles grunted as he flicked a spider corpse off his shoulder.

Bri coughed. "I can hardly see anything in here."

The shed was musty and hot and had seldom enough space for four people. "What the hell are we even looking for?" Eira murmured, holding still to let her eyes adjust to the darkness. Miles was doing the same, and outlines of shapes were becoming clearer. There was no sunlight peeking through the door, for the rainclouds were completely masking it.

"I don't really know," Bri confessed, starting to rattle through a pile of old things and immediately moving away when a whole horde of insects came angrily scrambling out. "Maybe a sturdy ladder or something."

"I doubt anything in here is sturdy anymore," Miles pointed out, keeping his hands to himself for the time being as to not disturb any insects.

"This is so unhealthy," Aaron said matter-of-factly as he moved slowly about the shed's small area. "Try not to touch anything. With a place this old, I doubt we should even be breathing in the dust."

"Then let's be quick." Bri started kicking things over, but in a somehow careful manner as she searched for something they could use to get Percy up into the treehouse.

Miles started rummaging around carefully, picking his way over fallen shovels and equipment he'd never seen before. Things that probably weren't manufactured anymore. He'd hardly started searching before there was a mighty crash from nearby and just as he turned around in a panic, Eira cried, "Found it!"

There was Eira: sprawled on top of a folded metal ladder that was now on the ground, having crushed many other items on its way down. Eira was quick to struggle to her feet, and as soon as she was up, she ignored Aaron's frightened asking if she was okay, and folded her arms triumphantly. "It's one of those fold-able ladders people used, like, twenty years ago!"