In another moment down went Alice after it [the rabbit], never once considering how in the world she was to get out again. - Lewis Carroll
She drills me with questions so hard and fast that when I leave the room I'm practically dizzy. Her inquisition sweeps by me, but I catch the important things punctuated by brief snorts.
Who is this man? A friend.
Do you know him? Yes. Of course.
Are you romantically involved? *I laugh* Is that question so you know if I'm single officer? *She scowls darkly*
When we reach the end, she holds out one emaciated hand. "Amulet." is all she says. I don't move expect to push my head forward.
"Take it." I say.
It's when she reaches forward, when she puts her thieving hands on what is mine, that I know the necklace is an unmovable part of me. It's imbedded itself under my skin like a parasite, and so, with a lunging grab at her collar, I snarl and drag her, choking for air, across the table. "Don't...don't ever touch what is mine! You understand that copper?" She gasps for air and Avexx leans forward, balancing like a bird in flight as if to go to her rescue but unable. "Understand!?" I ask again, my lip curling venomously. She shakes her head rapidly, and I let go. Slumping back into her seat she stares at me with a mixture of frightened and angry eyes.
"Rookie!" she then screams shrilly. "Get in here!!" The door swings open to reveal a gangly girl with mile long legs and a ponytail of bleached-blonde hair.
"Yes Sir?"
"Take the prisoner to her cell." the lady instructs with a brief snort.
The girl nods, and I rise with all the grace I can muster. "Pleasure doing business with you copper," I say in parting. With a flick of my hand, Avexx joins me, and we follow the girl. As we round the few corners and trot down the hallways, my mind starts working. My hands start shaking. Any bravado I had in the interrogation room is gone. We turn the last corner and walk into the office room. Then, I see my salvation.
"I'm cold." The rookie looks at me contemptuously. There is a momentary pause as her mind digests my words. "Can I get my jacket?" It's a rumpled ball on an officers desk. Way to big a bump to be just the fabric, my purse has to be under it. My tone is bordering on being rude, so I lower it at the end. It almost comes out pleading. I mentally high-five myself.
She sighs reluctantly and pulls at the hem of her blazer. "Fine."
As we pass my hoodie, I scurry by and snatch it up trying to shield what I'm really doing with my torso. I clutch the lumpy sweatshirt, and walk into my cell. The door swings around, metal clanking and creeping like a rusty dragon. "Try not to annoy me every three minutes will yah?" It bangs shut. Her voice is a tad snobbish.
"Mums the word," I say, grasping my things toward me, hardly daring to breathe. I give my best artificial smile.
'She is going to see, going to...'
"Fine." With that last word, she leaves, her bleached blonde ponytail swinging.
I let out my held breath. With her departure, my minds starts a whirlwind of thought.
'How many minutes do I have until they notice my things are gone? Five or less? It can't be above ten.'
All the while, my body is moving at lightening speed, my hands shaky from adrenaline and nerves. First, I need something to open the door. Second, I need my phone. Scrambling in the bottom of my bag, I latch onto a..a bobby pin. My mind goes off in a little eddy of where I used this said bobby pin, but I throw my mental lasso and rein my unwieldy thoughts back in.
'Ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen...'
My phone! I scrabble around for that until I find it.
"What am I to do Prin...Mistress?" Since he has been so silent, I have nearly forgotten about Avexx.
"Stand look out." He grunts and turns to look down the hallway.
'Seventeen, eighteen, nineteen...'
I dial ShanLi's number. "Answer, answer, answer!!" My nails dig into my palms creating tiny, painful scores in my skin. She doesn't. I call again, frantic.
'Twenty-five, twenty-six, twenty-seven...'
She picks up, and I let out a huge gust of air that leaves my lungs feeling like a deflated balloon. It's the first sign of hyperventilating. I was ne'er made for this type of pressure!
'Thirty, thirty-one, thirty-two...'
"Waverly. What's up? What happened back at that library?! I didn't hear word one from you after you hung up! I demand..."
"ShanLi!!" My voice is a frantic, whispered shriek. "You have to come save me! I'm at the police station! They say they're gonna kill me ShanLi! It all went wrong!" My breaths are irregular, my hands shaking so hard that I'm afraid I'm going to drop the phone.
"Honey, calm down. What went wrong?" Her voice is tinged with worry. "And why are you at the police station? What did you do?"
'Thirty-seven, thirty-eight...'
"Nothing!" I hear hurried footsteps and an irritated voice coming my way down the hallway. "LiLi! you need to come and get me out of here! Now, I...I have to go!" I end the call and a wash of dizziness takes over. I grip the metal bed frame tightly in both fists. The last thing I need is to pass out now. Too much oxygen, and I'll do just that.
'Calm. Breath Waverly.'
I shove my phone into my purse double time and clutch the bobby pin. Fortunately, the only thing that stood between me and freedom was a generic lock. No keypad, no electric door. This place was so rundown it could almost compare to the police station in the Andy Griffith show. As I tip-toe across the floor, dust kicks up into the air making me sneeze.
'Great Waverly. You're trying to be quiet and there you go making a big noise! Might as well use a megaphone and announce that you're escaping!'
'Forty-two, forty-three, forty-four, forty-five...'
Shoving the pin into the lock, I jingle both ends around, probing the inside mechanics. I bite my lip hard in concentration and stare at the metal slats of the door in front of me. I'm waiting for the click. That single noise that signals my freedom. My breath catches as I hear the footsteps growing closer. Then, snick! The lock clicks open. Hurriedly, I swing open the door, sling my messenger bag handle over my head, and slip my arms into my hoodie.
I feel my adrenaline levels spike. "Come Avexx." He does, grudgingly, and I sprint into the office area. Footsteps thud behind us. I don't look back. Someone yells. I pick up the pace and start turning corners. I saw no exit, no entrance. Maybe there's a back door.
I sprint faster. My lungs screaming, my leg muscles aching, protesting in agony. Past rooms of steel, past doors of wood. Colors blur in my vision painting a chaotic fresco as I rush past. I hear their yells of anger. The incandescent lights grow dimmer as I run. It is only when I stumble that I notice that the location has changed. I reach for the wall, and my palm scrapes against rigid, timeworn wood. I'm in the Worthborn mansion. Someone shouts behind me, and my head whirls around. I haven't lost them yet. No time for an inquisitorial.
Out of the whirl-pool of my mind, I see a door and stagger toward it. The handle catches, but with some effort it opens. Avexx slips in behind me. "Help me block the door!" I screech. Avexx surveys the room double quick and hurries over to a sturdy looking chest. Gripping the side he heaves it upwards. It goes sideways barely an inch.
"A little help?" He grunts out. I rush to the other side, and we pull upwards at the same time. It doesn't budge.
Exasperated I shriek, "Just slide the damn thing." Running over to the same side of the chest as him, I begin to push, trying to ignore the daemon purposely bumping his hips against mine. With a prolonged squeal, the chest is across the room, just as someone hammers on the door.
"Let us in Miss Stanton," the infuriated pursuer yells.
"No way!" I yell back. "I think that's the idea of a locked door. I'm escaping you ninny!" A strong shoulder slams into the aged wood making it bend and creak under the strain. I swear under my breath. "Escape," I mutter and fly to the window. Pushing up the frame is impossible. It's nailed in. I look around for something to break it, but Avexx stops me with a freezing hand on my arm. He grins.
"It's a 12 foot drop Mistress."
When his hand doesn't let go from my arm, my anger sputters to life like a well-oiled engine. "I swear to Odin Avexx, if you don't get your hand off me right now, I'll detach it from you permantly." He smirks smugly but obeys. Not before I hear him murmur, "There will be a day you'll beg me to touch you." I smack his stone cold chest furiously. "Do not mess with me right now Avexx. Find a way out of here!"
"As you wish."
The assault on the door hasn't ceased during our whole skirmish, and out of nervousness, I start pacing. Up and down, up and down. The wooden door creaks ominously.
"Wearing a hole into the floor might help you out of this predicament Mistress, but I doubt it." I send him a nasty glare.
I'm ready to scream, to give it all up, when I see the light. Pouring out from under another chest of drawers is a bright, white light akin to the one I saw in the library coming out of the book. "Avexx! Come. Help me move this." With a gigantic push, the chest moves aside to reveal a wooden grating in the floor which is shining lustily.
Avexx's red eyes glow brighter. "Escape," he says simply. I kneel, sweep cobwebs off the floor, and remove the grate. Peering down into a swirl of bright light and indistinct shapes I gulp. If there is a fear more than throwing up, it is falling to my death. The landing is uncertain. There is no bottom. I look up to see Avexx studying me.
"Come." I command holding out my hand and his grips mine. I take a deep breath and jump just as the door breaks down. Light swallows us whole as we fall down the Rabbit's Hole.