Book 1 - Puppets

XXIV - Consultations

By the time they arrived at the hotel, Russia had confirmed that his father wanted to discuss the situation's details. New York had also called back and helped them get paid reservations at the nearby hotel.

New York reserves two hotel rooms, one with a small living area, a fold-out couch, and two beds and the other with just two beds. After arriving, they quickly settled into the larger room.

Russia washes himself off and exits the bathroom to see Canada setting up some take-out ordered to the hotel room.

After Russia finishes, he sits with the others in the room. He checks his phone and sees a text from his father saying "call me when you are ready."

"My father is waiting to help figure out what's going on. Should I call him now?" Russia proposes.

"Yeah, go ahead," Canada says with a wave, disappearing into the bathroom.

"Ooh! Put him on speaker," Texas suggests, hopping onto the arm of the couch.

Russia does just that and takes a seat on the floor with his phone lying on the ground at his feet. His father picks up after the second ring.

"Hello?" Soviet greets.

"Hello."

"Is anyone with you?"

"The states that are with me can hear you as well," Russia responds.

"Hi," Massachusetts says with a small wave.

"Heya partner," Texas exclaims happily.

"Hello," Louisiana says, giggling at her brothers' greetings and smacking Texas' shoulder.

"Russia, you must tell me everything. What happened, and what did you find?" Soviet asks.

Before Russia can speak, Texas cuts in.

"Well, Mr. Soviet -Sorry Russ- there were cameras everywhere in the cave we were looking in, and some guy was watching us the whole time and was taunting us!" Texas says, his hands flying around as if to vent frustration.

"Cameras?" Soviet repeats, sounding skeptical.

"Yeah. Me and Massy knocked most of them down. But the guy was telling us about how we were entertaining to watch."

"That is... not good."

"There was also whispering and two earthquakes, but no reports of anything," Russia reports, exasperated.

"There was also the tunnel that went from a short room into a long corridor," Canada says, exiting the bathroom, and he takes a spot on the floor.

"How do you know it was a short room?" Soviet inquires.

"I was labeling the areas we explored with some tape. The longer the piece, the bigger the area," Louisiana explains.

Soviet hums in acknowledgment.

"There was also the knocking. Sorry, this probably doesn't make much sense. Essentially, we were exploring a shady cave system here in Colorado. There was an earthquake, and our exit was blocked. I tried to move it, but I passed out," Massachusetts says before shoving more food into his mouth.

"Then Texas and Russia stared at a wall and some meaningless shadows and then told us to run, and we followed some mysterious knocking to a new exit. There was a second earthquake. Then Russia almost ran off a cliff. Then we all fell down a good 60 feet because the ledge we were standing on crumbled," Massachusetts explains after swallowing.

"What we saw was writing on the wall, Mass-hole," Texas insists, crossing his arms, "it wasn't meaningless jabber."

"Writing? What are you talking about?" Canada asks, curiously.