They enter the lobby and as usual were greeted with the thick smoke in the air and Cred sitting, looking aimlessly at the ceiling. There was a thin rolled up paper, between his teeth which he was smoking in deep pleasure, eyes closed. He didn't notice the five Exousia recruits in his lobby.
"Hey Cred, is Slimey on duty?"
The chubby man suddenly woke up, looking aghast. He quickly hid the weed he was smoking and turned to them, rubbing his hands together in nervousness.
"S-slimey? Who is tha?..." He replied with a confused look on his face.
Riche laughed and explained, "Well your other worker here. The thin man, with a huge scar across his face."
"Oh…Symon? No he isn't here. Uh…I think he went out to grab some cooking supplies." He said with a slow drawl.
Riche turned and grinned, "That's perfect. Thank you, Cred."
They rush up the stairs. Vinelyn opens their door and pushes the Slate's bag into the room. Then he excitedly rushes to the stairs. The girls also followed quietly, curious about what the boys had done. Climbing up to the floor, they noticed the lamp on the wall was not burning. Therefore there was a slight darkness which reduced their vision.
Mihel suddenly sniffed and then dropped to the floor, brushing his hand against the wood. He slowly walked to the end of the hallway and stared into the room of which's lock they had stolen. He turned around slowly, mouth hanging open. "There's something...uh...wrong here…look at this…" he whispered.
The others slowly crept towards the door, kept ajar. Mihel in the meanwhile, looked around. The floor smelled of a freshly bought bouquet of flowers , and it extended throughout the entire hallway. Near the stairways there was a small window. Large enough to let in just a bit of natural light. Mihel shook at its handle to open it and with a short click the glass pane flew backwards. He noticed that the smell was considerably stronger here.
'This is very intriguing…the door we busted was of a small storage…and it smelt strongly of soap inside…and again on the stairs…Warty was definitely trying to hide some evidence…' Mihel mused as he measured the size of the window.
Riche and Vinelyn were also sharing the same shocked expressions, speaking in hushed tones about what this discovery could imply. The girls were not understanding what exactly was shocking about finding this small storage closet. It seemed pretty ordinary to them. They eventually got the boys to explain.
"So…we thought this was a normal, empty room…but if it was only of this much size…and considering Symon was furious with us and also cleaned this place up, I would say there is something far more twisted happening here…I might even suspect that somebody was..." Vinelyn explained quickly.
Mihel was also silently in the same train of thought. 'Assuming there was someone inside…what was cleaned from the floor? Maybe blood? Which might have spilled while the person was escaping…and in that case it means they were badly injured...and escape?' he turned around, 'was through that small window…' Mihel was looking at the edges of the side walls, searching for any possible clues.
"Hey! Look at these spots on the walls." Riche exclaimed, pointing to an area near to the storage. Mihel crouched in front of it and Riche was right. There were some dark spots, splattered near the edge of the wall. It was barely visible, due to being tiny but it was present nonetheless.
While they were still figuring out the crimson spots, they heard a loud grinding sound tear through the building. Mihel was able to feel the slight trembling of the entire building as the sharp sound stretched for a moment. And then it became quiet again.
Shaken by this sharp noise, they quickly rushed down. There was something familiar about this, and Mihel was sure he had heard it before. Reaching their floor, they quickly went into their rooms and shut the door quietly. Mihel, who was panting, heard the sound of someone walking outside their rooms.
He quickly took the lock that was on the floor and slid it into the bathroom, closing the door.
He could hear an aggravated breath, huffing and puffing heavily in front of their entrance door. They held their breath quietly, waiting for any sudden action to take place. Suddenly they heard the jangling of keys, and one being inserted into their door's slot.
'Shit!'
They scrambled as the door was forced open. Riche, being first to react, immediately jumped at the lean figure at the door. Warty grunted as he was slammed to the floor. Riche, noticing who it was, quickly backed away and stared at the lean, repulsive man get back on his feet, cursing all the while.
"Damn kids…don't got no manners…for elders…rot in hell…" he mumbled as he dusted himself. Then he looked up and sneered at the three of them standing shocked.
"So, young masters…lemme have a quick look into this room…we lost a lock from our top floor and I suspect ya'll stole it."
Mihel stepped up to face him. "I told you, its not us. Check with the other residents, would you?"
Warty just grunted, not giving up. He pushed past Mihel and like a vulture scoured the room for any signs of the lock. He checked under the cot, opened up storage spaces. Just as he was going to check the washroom, Mihel's mind raced in the blink of an eye and he spoke up.
"Who were you keeping in the small room? And why were they bleeding?" he asked quietly. His voice felt small in the silence that followed.
There was a sudden chill in the room. The atmosphere plummeted and Mihel could feel a wet coldness clinging to the back of his neck. Warty turned slowly, with an evil glow in his eyes. He smiled an insane smile, his mouth stretching to its limit, revealing his crooked, stained teeth.
"What… Did…. You…. Say?" he said as he walked up to Mihel's face, breathing into his face. "How dare you…" he uttered, seething with rage. He turned away quickly and left the room, slamming the door behind.
They let out a sigh of relief, but they were still quite visibly shaken by the encounter.
"This is bad…Slimey has a set of keys for here…he could search our rooms while we are gone in the morning." Riche said as he returned to the cot.
"Guess we got to carry the lock with us in our pack…" Vinelyn replied.
Riche rolled his eyes, "Easy for you to say…I'm doing all the carrying."
They chuckle weakly at the joke as a silence grows heavy in the air.
"What about dinner? It's probably time for that…" Mihel asked quietly.
"Should we try one of the bakeries here? We made a bit of money didn't we?" Riche suggested as he stood up and stretched his arms.
They nod in agreement, suddenly salivating at the thought of food. Mihel turns to open the washroom door and picks up the lock. He quietly placed it in the pack in which they carried their Slates in. "Here, Riche. Does it feel heavier?" he said as he handed the bag to his friend.
Holding it, Riche weighed the bag in his hand. "Not too heavy. I can manage, light work."
"Well then lets go get the girls and head out. We need to eat up to get energy for tomorrow's morning duty."
"Oh Lady…we have the lantern refuel task yeah?" Mihel groaned.
Riche stepped in. "Forget about that. Where is everyone's Arivy?"