The Butterfly Effect - 2012 x 2018 TMNT

Chapter Seven

"The heck..?" Casey said, looking around the room. Suddenly, the door shut right after Donnie went through. They both spun around.

"Hey- Raph!" Donnie shouted, right on the door, banging. "Raph, what the hell are you doing?!"

There was no answer, silence following them. The room was almost pitch black, a faint glow coming from the opposite corner of the room. Donnie backed away from the door and looked around.

"Is that a lantern?" Casey wondered aloud, shuffling over to the light.

"How am I supposed to know, genius?" Donnie remarked, rolling his eyes.

Casey turned around, a foot or so away from the lantern. "I was seeing if you could see any better than me! Sorry that I'm confused about where we are and what we're doing here."

Donnie sighed. "Here, just-" He moved past Casey, careful to feel around and make sure he didn't hit anything as he walked. He made it to the corner where the lantern was, and he slid his hands around the base of the lantern until he felt a knob. "I got it."

He turned the knob up and the room sparked to life. Donnie looked at the wall opposite to the door and saw a puzzle on the wall that had two squares missing. It looked like a sliding puzzle in which you move the squares around, taking advantage of a singular empty space, trying to get all the pieces in the proper places.

Casey looked at the wall that had a mural on it. The painting had a wooden beam across the top of the wall, a lantern hanging from the middle. It looked like a perfect replica of the room, only...

"Hey, Don," Casey said, elbowing Donnie lightly.

"What?" Donnie snapped, then apologized and said it calmly. "Did you find something?"

"Look, that wall... it's painted like a mirror, except there's levers on that wall and the bookshelf is on this wall." As Casey spoke, he pointed at the walls he was talking about. The wall to their right was the one that was missing levers.

"Wait, maybe that's showing us what we have to do," Donnie tried. He stepped around the table in the middle of the room and stopped in front of where the mural showed the levers, tracing his hand in a square. "It looks like there are lines in this wall, maybe this part moves and opens the levers?"

Casey followed Donnie and squinted at the wall. Donnie scooted over slightly so Casey had room to look.

"Hey, you're right," he said, doubt leaving his voice. He leaned back and surveyed the room again. "I think the lantern doesn't have anything to do with this, and is just there for light. Maybe we have to pull a certain book from the bookshelf like in the movies?"

Donnie shook his head as he stood up straight. "No, that would be too cliche. Plus, what would the puzzle do then?"

"You're right," Casey replied dejectedly. "So the puzzle opens the bookshelf?"

"Or it opens the levers," Donnie suggested.

"We'll just work on the puzzle, then," Casey shrugged and started towards the puzzle.

"Wait, Case," Donnie said, grabbing his shoulder lightly. He let go as soon as Casey turned around. "It looks like a piece is missing. Maybe you should look for that while I try to complete the puzzle?"

Casey glanced around the room before returning his gaze to the turtle. "I can do that, yeah."

Donnie grinned. "Okay, good."

As Donnie moseyed over to the puzzle, Casey looked around the room. He felt the bricks on the wall, looked under the tables for secret compartments, and slid his hand over the shelves. He pulled books out until there was a pile on the floor, then he looked through some of the books. After ruling that out, he sat back and sighed.