Sapphire Moon

Tunnels

Oliver's POV

"Emma." Jareth whispered.

My wolf had been dormant since my energy was drained, but I felt him stir. He knew we were close to finding my grandmother and grew restless, even feeling so low.

"Ok, so we are currently heading into the main house. Try and be as quiet as possible. We've got to make it to the other side of the house so we can use the servants tunnels." Riley quietly informed us. Jareth and I both nodded in understanding, but gave her a weird look when she mentioned tunnels. She must've realized we were slightly confused, because she replied, "The servants tunnels were built into the walls and go through the house, even the floor with the house cells. The entrance to them are just on the opposite side of the house."

Once Riley explained the tunnels to us, we started creeping through the house. We had just passed a few rooms when a door started to open to our left. Jareth and I looked wide eyed at the opening door. Suddenly, we were pulled to the right and a door closed in front of us. We weren't expecting that, but it didn't take too much time to know Riley had pulled us in. She raised a finger to her mouth to signal we needed to be quiet. We both nodded in response. She looked around and must've known where she was. She walked over to the closet and pulled out some black and white clothes.

"Put these on." She said as she handed them to us. We took them without a word and she turned around so she wouldn't see us change. Once we had put on the new clothes, I put a hand on her shoulder so she knew we're were done. Riley turned toward us and nodded her head, then moved toward the door. She briefly turned to us and put her finger back up to her lips to tell us to be quiet, and opened the door.

We followed closely to Riley, who was walking like she owned the place. We passed a few people, but Jareth and I kept our eyes on the floor to look submissive. Nobody gave us a second glance. In what felt like a lifetime, which was only about ten minutes, we finally made it to the other side of the house without incident. Just as we were about to start the tunnels, we were stopped by a male.

"Riley, what are you doing here? Today is your day off and you should be at home taking cover. There's been intruders in town and we are still searching for them." The man said to her, but noticed she was not alone. He looked at us with curiosity as his eyes narrowed at us. "Who might these be?"

Riley didn't give anything away and just replied with, "These are the two new recruits that Michael said I needed to train. Head maid's duty is never done. I was just about to show them around and start their new training. As for the intruders, I haven't heard anything about them. If I see anything suspicious, I'll let you know." Riley must've thrown any doubt about us out the window when she mentioned Michael. The new male didn't continue on about us.

"Alright, well, I'll let you get back to training these poor souls. Please make sure you link me if you see or hear anything." The man said with concern for Riley in his voice. Riley rolled her eyes at him but nodded to let him know she would. The unknown male then walked away.

Riley sighed, then opened the servants tunnels. We could tell something was bothering her, but we left it alone. It's none of our business, plus that would be another problem we can't take on right now. We have to focus on saving Emma.

We all entered the opening and it was a series of hallways and stairs. Very narrow, and dark. It's like they didn't want anyone to be able to see where they were going. If we wouldn't have nocturnal vision, we would probably get lost in this maze. We followed Riley closely so we wouldn't get separated. I noticed Jareth's breathing had increased, which meant we were growing closer. We climbed what seemed to be an endless supply of stairs. It felt like we weren't getting anywhere when we finally reached the top. Riley turned toward us and whispered, "We're at the floor where the house cells are. Emma's cell is the fifth one down on the right. I can't go with you. Once Emma is in your care, you must return to these tunnels and head to the bottom of the stairs. There will be a basement where the other prisoners are kept. You'll need to exit from the Clan cells. It's usually unguarded during the day, due to the fighters being in training. Just be careful."

With those parting words, Riley left us. We cracked the door and peered through to ensure there was no one in the hall. After not seeing anyone, we walked through and toward the cells. We reached Emma's cell and Jareth could hardly contain himself. We noticed the lock on the door and looked around for the keys, which we couldn't find. 'I wish I would've thought to bring the key Shawn had.' I thought to myself. We were about to start breaking the door down when we heard someone coming. Jareth grabbed a tray from on the floor and handed me the pitcher of water. No sooner did I have the pitcher in my hands, did the person round the corner of the other side of the hall. They walked right past us and didn't say anything. I did notice they had a key ring on their hip.

"Exx-cuse me." The man stopped and faced us. "Www-we were asked to bbb-rring the prr-isoner some ff-food and wwww-aa-ater." I stammered, trying to play off a heap of innocence.

"So?" He replied with an eyebrow raised.

"We ddd-don't sss-see a place ttt-o pp-put the fff-food."

The man sighed and walked over and unlocked the door for us. He turned to leave but stopped in his tracks. "Why do I smell wolf?" He spun around to look at us with a suspicious glare.

"Mmm-must be ttthh-the gg-irl."

He peered inside and saw Emma on the bed. Without another thought, he turned and continued walking to his previous destination. Jareth and I both let out a breath that neither one of us knew we were holding. We looked at each other, then looked at Emma. Jareth rushed to her side and put the tray on the table next to the bed. Now we just needed to get her out of here and into the tunnels.