Child of the Moon.

~Chapter Eight~

"Where's the door?!" Adira repeated more frantically.

"It's-it's, uh, probably just hidden or something!" Lance stuttered, rushing over to feel the wall where the door was supposed to be. "We just gotta check here and here and... we're gonna die!"

His voice cracked and he started pounding and kicking the wall.

"Nobody's gonna die!" Hector said firmly, yanking Lance off the wall by his arm. "We just have to find the door or Matthews. Preferably Matthews. I'd like to have a little chat with him."

"And how exactly do you propose we find either of them, oh wise Hector?!" Eugene snapped. "This place is huge, and confusing, and.... I don't know.  What other words do you use to describe somewhere you really hate?!"

"How do you normally find things, Pompous? You look, yeah? So, whaddaya think we're gonna do?"

"All right," Rapunzel addressed everyone after a deep breath. "Let's split up. Hector, you-"

"What?" The warrior interrupted. "No. We're not splitting up; that's a terrible idea. This place is obviously full of magic. How else do you think the door moved? What about the mirror doubles, how do you think that happened? This place is probably lined with all kinds of magic crap. It's safer to stick together even if it takes longer to search this place. At least we'll find it eventually. If we get killed because of magic, we're not going anywhere ever."

"I agree," Eugene joined. "We should stick together and probably get moving before Matthews finds us or something worse happens."

The others nodded their agreement and left the entrance room. Cassandra took the lead with Adira, Lance stayed next to Rapunzel in the middle, and Eugene watched everyone's backs with Hector.

The party checked the dining room first. They ran their hands along the walls, searching for any strange lumps or indentations that might indicate a hidden door. They didn't find anything unusual, so they moved on to searching the kitchen. They checked the walls there as well as opening any particularly large cabinets to see if the door had been disguised.

Eugene found an unusual indentation in one of the walls by the corner. He tried knocking on it and peering closely at it. After several failed attempts to identify the wall's material, Hector offers to try to cast a revealing spell. However, Adira insisted that she perform the spell instead since she was more adept at magic then her brother. Hector eventually gave in but grumbled under his breath about how he could handle a simple revealing spell and didn't need Adira to do everything for him.

The spell only took a few moments. The others looked hopefully at Adira once she'd finished the incantation, but their faces dropped when she shook her head and explained that it was just an awkward-looking wall.

The group continued down the hallways of the House of Yesterday's Tomorrows, feeling every wall and looking into every wardrobe and large cabinet. Eugene took the opportunity to ask Hector about something that he'd been wanting to since the warrior had told him about how he had tricked the doubles.

"Hey, Hector?"

"Yeah?" Hector responded absently, tracing his hands along a sky-blue wall.

"How does magic work?"

"Well, that's a broad question. Care to be a bit more specific?"

"I mean, like, how do the spells and stuff work? Are there such things as potions? Can you actually curse something?"

"Pompous, I don't think I'm exactly the right person to ask these things."

"Why not?"

"Well, because-"