Dead End

Permanent

       Ten minutes later, Apollo and Lilly are in the entrance hall right in front of the dinning hall.

       Laughter and conversation echo down the hall from the dinning area and Apollo stays by the wall as Lilly hurries in. Nobody notices her in all the loud conversation and Lilly stoops beside her mother's ear to whisper to her. Apollo watches as her mother's face drains of color. Just then, a long line of servants come out of a side door bearing large platters of food.

       Lilly's mother quickly stands up and strides to the foremost servant, telling them something Apollo couldn't discern. But from the looks of it, the servants were confused, and all filed back out through the side door. By now, many of the people at the table were watching their dinner disappear with perplexion.

       "Juliana?" One older lady says. "What is going on."

      Lilly's mother straightens herself with effort and says, "My daughter has reason to believe that our food has been poisoned."

       The hall erupts in chaos. After atleast five minutes of shouting, one voice rises above the others. "How does your daughter know this?"

       All eyes turn to Lilly accusingly. Lilly's face turns bright red under all the attention and she finally answers, after a few stutters, "We know that we have family enemies. A classmate said that they hated our family so much that they would poison our dinner tonight. They seemed very serious, and I wouldn't take their threat lightly."

       The hall rumbles with mumbled conversation, and it was finally agreed that everyone would go to another relatives home nearby. Lilly excuses herself and joins Apollo in the entrance hall.

     "That was really clever," Apollo says.

      "Thanks," Lilly says, smiling at Apollo. 

       "So I guess you're goin' with them?" Apollo tries to say it lightly, but can't keep himself from feeling loss at having her go.

       "Not if I don't have to."

       "Well, you should."

       "Why?"

       "Because it's dangerous for you here."

       "Well it's dangerous for you too."

       "Yeah, but I can deal with it."

       Lilly folds her arms.

       "Please Lilly, I don't want you getting hurt."

       Lilly's expression softens and she looks down bashfully. "Well, I want to be here, with you. I can help you."

       Apollo reaches out to touch her shoulder but hesitates, wondering if he would be able to. He drops his hand. "No, you can't."

        Lilly looks hurt, but fold tries to hide it. "Well, what are you going to do?"

       Apollo sighs. "I don't know."

       "You have to defeat Armingham somehow."

       Apollo runs has hand through his hair, thinking. "I'm going to use these chains," Apollo said, raising his wrists, "to chain up Armingham."

       Lilly's eyes glow. "If you chain Armingham up, then he may never be able to get out again!"

       "Yeah, it might work!"

       Lilly throws her arms around Apollo and pulls back smiling. "Thank you, Apollo."

       Apollo suddenly feels very awkward and doesn't know where to put his hands. He stuffs them in his pockets. "Well, er, I guess I'll see you later." But on second thought, he wondered if he would, and felt the sudden urge to kiss her in case he never made it back. He gulped, gathering his courage, then turned on his heel and ran down the hallway.

       Stupid, stupid, stupid!

       He makes his way back toward the basement. He arrives at the large double doors leading into the east chambers. They are slightly ajar. He suddenly has a very bad feeling about this. He stops, peeking through the gap. Everything is completely silent. He carefully brushes the door open and slides through, then makes his way through the library, leaving footprints and a long trail from the chains on the dusty carpet. He makes his way to the shelves and finds a heavy duty lock, and tucks it in his pocket.

       "Well, look what got out."

       Apollo whips around to see Armingham standing in the doorway, arms folded and expression cold and amused. Time to die again, Armingham. Apollo screams and runs at Armingham, but right as he gets to him, he vanishes and Apollo topples into the hallway.

       "You think you can banish me. How foolish you are, when you are the prisoner. Like a prisoner seeking to imprison his warden." Apollo climbs to his feet and attacks Armingham, who stands in the middle of the library. He once again vanishes and Apollo crashes into the small study table in the middle of the room, sending its contents clattering to the ground. He rolls off the desk top onto the carpet, his wrists aching and his head pressured and foggy.

       "Sending Lilly away was only a temporary solution. But next time, their suffering will be much, much worse. And you can comfort yourself with the fact that it was your fault." Apollo sees him standing over him through his clouded vision, smiling like the cat in Alice in Wonderland. At this thought he grins, too. Armingham's smile evaporates into a grimace. 

       Armingham bends down to Apollo and looks into his face with a death sentence in his eyes. "I guarantee Lilly's death will be the worst."

       Apollo raises his face so that it is an inch away from Armingham's. "I will never let you hurt her."

      Then he unexpectedly swings the chains around Armingham's neck, jerking his face into the ground beside Apollo's head. He rolls over puts his knees on Armingham's back, pulling the chains taught. Armingham gurgles angrily and Apollo weaves the lock into the chain link, then snaps it closed. He rolls to his side, throwing Apollo off.

       "What have you done?!" Armingham gasps and writhes. But Apollo has the upper hand now. He drags Armingham through the library, dust billowing around him, clutching the chains at his neck. Apollo feels a sudden jerk on the chains and collapses to the ground. Armingham is on his knees, fists clenched around the chain links. He and Apollo look at each other. They both think, I'm chained to a moron for eternity.