Daydreams And Nightshade (DaN #1)

Chapter 13: Treasure hunting

When asking for a good hiding spot, Luna hadn't quite realized how much she'd asked for. As it turned out there were indeed few places to hide in a barren hall.

They had to settle for hiding in a storage room only a few doors away from where Frey was held captive. It made it harder for them to hear any signals, so they agreed on waiting a few minutes after Lord Clausson reached Frey's room.

"It's a good thing Noah's not the one on this mission," Luna whispered as they sat curled up in the empty, pitch black space.

"What do you mean?"

Luna paused. Noah hadn't wanted Vincent to know back at the tavern, so why would she let the fact that he was terrified of the dark slip now?

"Nah, it's nothing."

Vincent didn't pry further, so Luna steered her mind back to the mission.

"What if Lord Clausson's managed to change that lock into a fancier one?"

"It's only been a day, and I've handled worse locks than the one he had last time."

They sat in silence after that, listening to the occasional knock on the entrance door until they both thought they heard someone passing by their hiding place and unlocking a door further away.

"Your guards are incompetent," Frey's disdainful voice was heard, louder than usual to drown out other sounds around them.

"They're the only ones clever enough to not try to steal from me," Lord Clausson's replied, but moved on to responding only with vague grunts at Frey's inquiries about other topics, such as the peculiar, blight-infected weather they seemed to be having.

As they reached a point in the conversation where Frey commented on the lacking food supply, Vincent gently squeezed Luna's arm as a sign for them to move.

The way to the entrance hall was smooth enough, and they silently thanked the floors for not creaking. Stopping right by the staircase, they locked eyes with Nocella who was just about to lead the other guard into the corridor next to the kitchen. He averted his gaze as if he hadn't noticed them, but turned his body slightly to block the other guard's view.

"I already said I'm fine," the other guard insisted but Nocella patted his shoulder as they disappeared into the corridor.

"Better safe than sorry."

Vincent dashed up to the basement door first, exhaling in relief as he recognized the same lock from before.

Luna soon followed, but a sudden ear deafening bang on the entrance door she just passed by caught her off guard and she couldn't help but yell out in shock, quickly slapping her hands against her mouth as if that would undo it.

Vincent wasted no time and hurried up to her but it was too late. The other guard came running back in an instant, quickly followed by Nocella. He only managed to open his mouth however before Vincent was in front of him and quickly knocked him out with a jab to his neck.

"I thought you said—" Nocella started in a hushed voice as Vincent dragged the unconscious man across the floor to hide him from plain sight.

"Well it's too late for that now."

"I could have tried reasoning with him."

"We don't have time to take that risk." Vincent began working on the lock again.

"I'm sure you'll both find other jobs in case Lord Clausson fires you," Luna tried to comfort him for some reason.

"He'll kill us more likely." Nocella growled, but Vincent turned to hush him.

"Now, my Lady." He waved Luna over, and she eagerly ran up to him while readying her hairpins.

Vincent glanced her way briefly at this but pretended not to see it. Instead he immediately got to work with his own tools.

"Need any he—" Luna started with a hopeful expression but a click from the lock interrupted her.

"No need, thank you," Vincent said as he swung the door open, this time minding the usual creakiness of it.

"Lord Clausson will find out now," Nocella whispered to them just as they were about to close the door behind them. "We're dead. All of us."

"Go hide," Luna whispered back. "Or even better, find a way to get out. We'll handle it."

With a last hesitant gaze at them, Nocella turned around and made his way towards the kitchen again.

"We can only hope young Lord Clausson can stall him long enough now." Vincent grabbed a lantern off the wall and Luna nodded, more to herself than at him.

The door Luna had wrestled with earlier was still down, and they both entered the big room in awe. Luna wondered if Lord Clausson had any idea of how much all the money, jewelry and art was worth, but she soon shook the distraction away.

"Book," she reminded Vincent, who'd also stood dumbstruck by the sight in front of him.

"What do you think it looks like?" he asked.

"How should I know? Just find something that mentions blights or the occult or something on the cover."