Reflections of Mist

The catch

Now Nick knew why the kid couldn't get the box himself.

It was the extremely large, heavily built, overly clawed and fanged thing taking up most of the second floor landing, blocking his access.

Luckily, it was asleep.

Or at least, appeared to be asleep.

It was hard to tell, as it was facing away from him so he couldn't see its face.

Assuming it had a face.

Shit, there was an image.

"Stop making it worse for yourself, Nick!" He mentally scolded.

Was his phone really worth this? Looking at the creature suddenly put a new perspective on everything.

Okay, new plan. Go back and somehow locate the lab through this maze of a mansion, grab a new bottle of acid, go let the other guys in and hope they hadn't freaked about his lack of communication.

Except he got the feeling without the kids help, navigating this place would take a long time, and he didn't know how long he'd been gone already.

Sterling his nerves and holding his breath, he tentatively stepped alongside the edge of the landing, squeezing between the bannister and the creatures hulking body.

It shifted and he froze, eyes like a deer in the headlights.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Tick.

Was it him, or was the clock on the wall suddenly really loud in the tense, fearful silence?

Suddenly, the creature let out a deep, sighing breath, shifting in it's supposed slumber.

Nick leant back against the bannister, leaning his head right out over to void of air, to avoid being crushed.

Peering out of the corner of his eye, he glanced down at the dizzying height and balked at the drop, which suddenly appeared to be deathly high.

Below him, the little faery boy gave him a cheeky double thumbs up, grinning like he was watching his favourite sports game.

Nick resisted the urge to flip the finger at the four year old.