Return to Pale City

Chapter Seventeen

Buddy POV

  I climb up the cages carefully not wanting the thing to catch me. I finally reach the top after what feels like hours. I go over to the bars and see my friends. "Hey." I whisper. They all look at me. "Your back!" "How did you escape?!" "Where have you been?!" They all whisper questions to me. I look around but I don't see one specific person. "Where's Ash?" They all exchange looks. "Um, he got taken right after you." Says the one we call Lily. She drew a Lily on her hat which led to her name. I wanted to save Ash because he was one of my best friends. "Ok, let's just get you guys out of here." I make a mental note to look for Ash later.
  I look around for a key and see it on the shelfs above the worktable the thing has in here. I'd have to climb up onto the table to get to the key. I see Lily is playing with a pebble in the cage. "Hey Lily, can I use that pebble to distract the Singer." She nods. We call him the Singer because of his cruel song. I get handed the pebble and I test it's weight in my hand before throwing it as hard as I can into the next room. I hear it hit the floor and the Singer stops humming. "Who's running?" He sings. He goes into the next room and I jump down onto the table. I climb up to the shelf with the key.
  "Seven!" I call down. He appears under the table. "Take this and save them! I have to find someone!" I say as I toss the key over the side of the shelf. It hits the floor in front of Seven making a loud thunk. He has no choice but to trust me as he runs back to Mono and Six. The Singer is returning after hearing the key hit the ground. I jump down onto a lower cage and I see a open pocket on the Singer's coat. I jump into it and I see a piece of stale bread. Maybe for Ash. The Singer starts walking away still singing his cruel song. The gentle swaying of his pocket is trying to lul me to sleep but I have to stay awake. I have to.

Seven POV

  I saw Buddy jump into the pocket of the monster and my heart skipped a beat. I take a deep breath, I have to trust him. I wave for Six and Mono to follow me. I hand Mono the key and he puts it in the pocket of his jacket. We climb up some cages, me having trouble one handed, and soon we reach Buddy's friends. "Hey guys." I say. A nome with a lily drawn on their hat steps forward. "Who are you?" They ask. "We're friends of your friend. The one trying to rescue you." I explain. Mono takes out the key and unlocks the cage. We all have to pull open the heavy door.
  The nome with the Lily steps forward. "Will you hurt us?" I shake my head. "No. We care for nomes. Do you have a name?" "I'm Lily." She points to her hat as if it was obvious. It was. "Alright, I should've seen that. You guys ready to escape?" She looks around at her companions. "I think we all are ready." I grin. "Okay. Can you guys climb down by yourself?" They all nod. "Then let's go!"

Buddy POV

  Soon the gentle swaying of the pocket stops and I peek over the edge of the pocket. I can seethe Singer press a button. We must be in a elevator. The elevator shudders and moves down. Soon it comes to a shuddering halt and the Singer walks forward. We journey to a room with traps everywhere and a cage in the middle. Ash is a escape artist. The Singer reaches past me and grabs a piece of bread before tossing it perfectly into the cage. I crawl out of the pocket and hide behind a rock. The Singer leaves while whistling. I look across the floor with tripwires everywhere.
  I look around and see the Singer is nowhere near. "Ash?" I call. The nome in the cage looks up and waves. His arm has a bracelet and I'll bet it says Ash. I look at all the tripwires and I start playing hopscotch. At one point I almost fall onto a tripwire but I save myself. I reach the cage and look through the bars at who I assume is Ash. "Is that you Ash?" I ask. "Yeah, right after the Singer took you he took me and put me here in this room." I go over to the door and start pulling on it. Ash starts pushing from his side and the door pops open. I hear a click and realize the door was a trap. I jump into the cage with Ash as the room starts crumbling. The walls buckle and I know even if I ran I would've died.
  I look at Ash. "Well, I guess dying with you is a plus." He laughs as the floor breaks underneath us and the cage falls into darkness.

Mono POV

  We wait for the last nome to climb down and when they do we all start to journey back to the room with the tv. I look at the group of nomes. At least five all together. "Okay, we'll do groups. We-" I hear an enraged growl. "My nomes are gone! Come here you little rascals!" "NEVER MIND JUST GRAB SOMEWHERE!" I yell as I grab Seven and Six's hands. The nomes all grab someone's leg and we warp through the tv as Seven yells. "WAIT BUDDY!" We all fall out of the tv and I groan. Warping four people was bad, warping eight has left me so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. "We left Buddy!" Screams the faraway voice of Seven. I close my eyes and fall into darkness.