Chapter 170Other Eyes 7 - A New Obstacle

Valerie sighed deeply. I guess she felt, like me, a pretty deep lasting impression of Anka. She had entered and left our lives like a whirlwind through an office store, paper cuts all over our souls. At least I was fed now, we could go to where we wanted to go. The headmaster had given us very specific directions and some warnings.

He might have dogs, he might have guards.

We both walked the streets in silence though, both of us with our thoughts milling around what just happened and what was to come. We didn't feel entirely at ease, something not helped by the sight of the mansion when we arrived.

It was big.

It loomed.

It looked ominous despite the nice Venetian design that might look very pretty during daylight. The walls were painted salmon or something and balconies extracted themselves from the main house, richly decorated. The wall around it was half as high as us, but a solid fence was build on top of it, making it possible to look in but not easily walk in. The garden leading up to the house was very well kept, trees cut into spherical shapes and grass neatly cut.

Yet it looked very ominous in the dark. The lighting made it look stranger, alien almost. The path to the house was lighted with bluish lights which didn't do it justice, in fact made it look clinical instead of welcoming. And the house itself...

There was nothing to illuminate the outside of the house, so all shadows come from the lights close to the windows, like a face being lit by a flashlight. It wasn't pleasant. There were dogs near the house itself, chewing on some toy or such. I could hear the squeaking from here.

It did downplay the gloom somewhat.

It was still early enough, I supposed, most of the lights were still on and I could see two people, cleaning or something. Practically speaking it should be a nice mansion of any rich guy.

Still... it didn't look very welcoming.

"Dogs aren't a problem." Valerie whispered.

I didn't have much experience with them. "Why?"

"They... Let's just say they feel we're stronger predators, mostly dogs either want to be friends with us or look inedible." She sounded uncomfortable saying it.

It was hard, but I tried to nod seriously. "Got it. Do you see guards?"

She shook her head. "Just two servants in the house itself, one cleaning, I'm not sure about the other."

"Go in?" What more did I need to ask.

She simply nodded and jumped on top of the fence and dropped herself, causing no more than the displacement of a single blade of grass as her feet touched the ground. I followed closely, hoping to make even less sound than she did.

It was odd, rarely did Valerie look so much at ease with herself. It wasn't the breaking and entering either, it was the sneaking. She looked more in her element than ever. The smile on her face was quite cute. The only other time I'd seen her like this was when she was hunting for clothes.

Maybe it was the hunt...

As we neared the house, the dogs came over to sniff us and, just as Valerie predicted, just walked away silently. They really made a good attempt at not looking important. We snuck to the house easily after that and circled around it to get a feel for the place. The basement was accessible through a barred window that was large enough for both of us to fit through.

Not at the same time, obviously.

We took a good look at the window, trying to make sure there was no alarm on it. There wasn't, the solid iron bars in front of the window were probably thought to be enough protection against thieves.

It was.

Unfortunately for them, the old wood containing the frame for the bars wasn't. It needed the two of us, but we could slowly push the bars inside, ripping the wood around the bolts that kept it. As I was slightly smaller, Valerie let me go first, holding the metal frame up while I climbed past it. It would have been horrible to let it fall to the floor, the noise would have woken everyone in the mansion.

It was higher than I expected, a drop to the floor was needed before I could catch and put the frame away, gently. I helped Valerie drop down as well, neither of us made a noise. It was then we turned around and took a good look.

The room we were in was quite bare, just a light bulb dangling from the ceiling, bland walls and floor and a large door leading into the rest of the mansion. It was odd, the door actually had a sort of opening at eye-level that could be used to watch in or out.

Something was wrong here.

"This isn't right." Valerie's words expressed my feelings completely.

A pane of solid metal slid quietly across the opening of the window. Both of us turned and wanted to get out, but before we could reach it, it covered the gap completely. It was no use, it shut off that exit completely.

The door was locked too, no surprise there.

It hit us like a tsunami.

Trapped.