"Um...Well, that can't be good."
"Thank you, Nigel. It's reassuring to know that the obvious is safe with you here to state it." I muttered sarcastically, glaring at the walls as they slowly began to flash red in time with the alarm sounds.
Nigel suddenly made a choking noise, and I looked at him in concern, only to find him pointing at me, a horrified look on his face.
"Why are you two holding hands?!"
I blinked, looking down to see that Artemis' hand was still linked in mine.
I followed the hand up to his arm and to his face. Artemis staring at nothing, his lips moving as he timed his breathing.
He wasn't handling this very well... No wonder Apollo had been reluctant to put me in the sack...
"Artemis?" I asked quietly, ignoring the little despairing noises Nigel was making.
The dark-haired boy blinked, his gaze jerking to mine at the sound of his name.
"I'm not alone?" He asked, and I felt my chest tighten at the lost look in his eyes.
Calmly holding his gaze, I held up our joint hands.
"Of course not. Can't you feel this death grip you've got on my hand?"
Recognition flittered across Artemis face, and after another moment of confusion, the older boy took a deep shuddering breath, closing his eyes.
"Sorry Love, I'll be just a minute." He murmured, loosening his grip, but still not letting go of my hand.
He was calming down, but it was obvious that he was going to need a little longer.
I watched him with a mixture of relief and dread.
What could have happened to him to make him so afraid of the dark?
"Maddison," Nigel whined, and I turned to see him holding his hand out to me like a toddler asking to be escorted across the street.
"Me too." He pleaded "I want to hold hands as well."
I was about to snap at him for being an insensitive ass when a thought suddenly occurred to me.
I looked straight into Nigel's golden eyes and smiled.
"I have a better idea."
A minute later, Nigel and Apollo held hands, and I was free.
"... This isn't really what I had in mind...." Nigel mumbled.
Despite his complaining, he held Artemis' hand patiently. As if he wasn't completely oblivious to the shorter boys distress.
Chalk it up to animal instinct.
Artemis himself seemed to be regaining his composure rapidly, looking at me with the same reproachful look that haunted Nigel's face.
"I'm going to have a look outside," I told them, heading towards the door. "You boys be good and babysit each other for a moment."
As quietly as I could, I turned the knob and swung the unresisting door open. Of course, there was no reason to lock us up in here. Not when the room was relatively over a hundred feet above the ground.
I stared out into the vast darkness that was the Isolation room, seeing that the same winking red light that filled our room was reflected out here.
Compared to the main room, Isolation was much smaller, and the walls were not made from glass. In fact, the room looks similar to a morgue, with the walls lined with small drawer like rooms, each with numbers labelled over the tiny doors.
To let us keep a small bit of independence, the only way in and out of the Isolation cells was through the small unlocked door.
Makes us feel more like humans, and a whole lot less like confiscated toys, I guess...
Finding nothing that would explain the sudden alarm, I was about to retreat.... when I heard a sharp click from the direction of the giant door.
I froze, watching as a crack of light appeared and the door slid silently open.
It was so quiet, so calm, the ease and normalcy of the act, making what stood on the other side of the door all the more disturbing.
No. Way. In. Hell.
I pinched myself, desperate for this to be a dream. The searching eyes of the intruder locked onto the tiny motion, falling upon me.
We stared at each other for a long moment, before my brain clicked and I stumbled back from the door, slamming it shut.
But not before I saw that gentle, bone-chilling smile.
"What is it, Maddison?" Nigel questioned, alarmed by my terrified movements.
Back pressed hard against the door, I stared at him silently, too stunned to immediately answer.
"Ah...From what I can tell, it can only be one of two things." I began slowly.
"... Either, I've just earned myself a Nobel Prize for discovering a door that leads to an alternate universe where the impossible happens. Or..."
I couldn't finish, my head hanging forward as my heart pounded in my chest, making my ears ring.
"...or what Love?" Artemis asked quietly, seeming to have finally recovered from his panic attack.
I opened my mouth to reply when I felt the door vibrate at my back.
Knock. Knock.
Slowly, I raised my gaze, knowing that my own fear showed clearly in my eyes.
"Or Jack's knocking on our door."