BatIM Five Trials

Chapter Eight

Jade yanked the lever to the gate and watched to see what would happen. The room started shaking as the gate started opening, screeching in protest loudly as humming from machines sounded in the area around it. She covered her ears from the loudness of it.

And I thought the flutes were high pitched! Jade thought, thinking back to the school band.

The gate finally fully opened, and she uncovered her ears, the sudden loudness now gone. The way ahead looked terribly dark, and Jade fiddled with her bag, pulling out the flashlight she kept inside. She turned it on, and the bright beam shined ahead, revealing boards which blocked her vision from seeing forward from there.

Looks like mom recently changed the batteries, or it's much dimmer in here than I thought. Jade proceeded forward, chopping the boards which were an annoyance to her progress. Swiveling her flashlight revealed that she was now in the Music Department of the studio, directed by Sammy Lawrence. There was also a few different ways to go, two of which were out of view as to where they went, and the third was blocked off by a gate. Next to the board she saw this on, she spotted another audio recording with a label by the music director himself. Pressing play, Jade hoped it wasn't like his first recording.

"So first, Joey installs this Ink Machine over our heads. Then it begins to leak. Three times last month we couldn't even get out of our department because the stairwell had flooded."

Jade found herself relieved that it wasn't like the first recording, and he sounded more annoyed than chilling. Jade shone her flashlight around to look for the stairwell Sammy just mentioned, and soon saw the doorway for it. She picked up the still playing recording and walked toward it.

"Joey's solution? An ink pump to drain the stairwell periodically. Now I have this ugly pump switch right in my office, people in and out all day."

Just then, Jade made it to the stairwell and shined the light down. Sure enough, the stairwell was flooded. The ink was most of the way up the door, above the knob.

"Thanks, Joey, just what I needed. More distractions. These stupid cartoon songs don't write themselves, you know?" The recording clicked off after this especially annoyed remark by Sammy, and Jade just stared down at the dark liquid blocking her exit.

"Looks like I'm going to have to find that pump switch. . . thanks Sammy," she muttered, not expecting a reply. "I should probably find a way to get the lights on, so I don't waste all of the battery."

Scanning the rest of the room, it didn't take Jade much time at all to find a lever labeled POWER. She quickly grabbed hold of the lever and gave it a yank. It whined in protest from sticking in one spot for so long and was somewhat stubborn, but Jade overcame the friction. Clicking sounded behind her as the room got brighter, and she turned off the flashlight, turning to see that the lights had come on.

That's nice, now I don't only have a small area of visibility, I can see a bigger picture. She stepped out of the stairwell, and as she did so, a large puddle of ink splashed down from above, startling her a bit.

Jade stared at it for a second. Just a puddle of ink. . . man, I'm getting scared by so many pointless things. I must really be a scaredy cat.

She kept walking, now trying to ignore the fact she was startled by a liquid. . . but then. . . it started bubbling.

. . . What? Jade stepped toward the bubbling fluid curiously, yet at the same time cautiously. This is completely out of the ordinary without some kind of heat source, because last time she checked the air wasn't exactly hot, and ink didn't boil at room temperature. She got within a foot of the puddle and knelt down to examine the liquid closer. As she was about to touch it, a clawed hand snagged her wrist.