A Haunted School, Hidden Deep in the Woods

     “I guess this is it for us, I don’t know what else we can try. It seems like these stairs are just endless, even when we can see the bottom!” Bylorn sighed, covering his face with his wings.

     “Wait, Bylorn! Are we able to fly down? Maybe if we can fly and not be touching the steps for too long that would work? Jumping we could only clear a couple steps at a time, but can you carry me as we go?” Balthor seemed to get excited about this idea.

     “I mean, I’m not really the best at flying with these plushie wings of mine. We might be able to? But I don’t really know how long I can keep us actually in the air. But you’ll have to give me a minute, I’m just too tired right now.”

     The two agreed that a rest was much needed, and they could try again later.

     ***

     Meanwhile, Halton was trailing after the Mutant Kyrii. He followed him down the hallway, creeping along as best as he could. The Kyrii seemed to be mostly oblivious, but kept steadily walking. His big feet made loud stomping sounds as he went. Finally the Kyrii came upon a staircase leading down. Halton waited until he didn’t see anyone at the bottom, before silently making his way down as well. These steps seemed a bit more in disrepair than the other parts of the school, and as Halton climbed further down he realized why. These sections of the school seemed to be underground. Probably even when this school had been used the basement was hardly visited.

     He followed along the path as best he could, keeping his claws along the stone wall to help guide him. There was only one path, so he really hoped the Kyrii wasn’t going to turn around at this moment. But Halton didn’t even see him further down, so for now he hoped he was safe. Finally he reached the end of the hallway and noticed there were a few doors here. One was marked Janitor, one said Maintenance, and the other ones looked as if they were bathrooms. He could hear some activity in the Janitor one, so maybe that was where the Kyrii went. But what would he be able to do about this now? He paced back and forth, thinking to himself. Worrying that every moment he delayed, was another moment that Jorlan didn’t have. Who knew what that Kyrii could be up to.

     Finally Halton decided he needed to do something, maybe he could cause some sort of distraction to get the Kyrii out of that room. He snuck over into the Maintenance room and found what seemed to be some very old pipes and other knobs and wheels. Searching through the room he finally found a big metal pipe. The cold metal chilled his claws as he took it, and went over to the bathroom. He opened the door, and threw the pipe against the mirror as hard as he could, hearing a loud smash and then a shattering sound as the mirror crashed to the floor.

     As soon as the pipe left his hand he hopped back over and hid inside the maintenance room again. He held his breath, waiting. His eyes peeked out from the door to keep watch, and finally it paid off. He heard another door open and watched as the Kyrii left the room, and walked over to the bathroom. Opening the door and walking in as he began to investigate what had happened. Halton took his chance to hurry into the Janitor room and see what happened to Jorlan.

     What he found was a large room with a row of lockers in it, but in the middle of the room was a large wooden table, and Jorlan was lying on top of it. Thick black chains were holding him down to the table. Halton’s face went pale, what was he going to do about that now. He didn’t have time to try and free Jorlan at the moment. He quickly looked around to see if the key might be somewhere. But there was nothing else on the table, he even chanced opening up one of the lockers, but all that was in there was a shirt and trousers. Nothing seemed like it would be helpful here. It was only then that he heard stomping outside. He froze, the Kyrii was coming back. What was he going to do now?

     ***

     Mayleen, Mylith, and Ko were all discussing plans for what they could do. They still needed to find everyone and speak the new chant to be transported away from the school. But they were lost on how to come across the others. And they still needed to avoid Sachi as well. How could they avoid a ghost when they had no idea where she could even be.

     Mayleen finally decided that they should at least keep walking. They didn’t gain anything by just standing here, better to be on the move and searching while discussing plans, than sitting and waiting for something to happen. As they walked, they kept checking each door and seeing if anyone was behind it. Each seemed to have something different hidden inside the darkened rooms. One even seemed to have a child sitting in the corner of the room crying, Mayleen almost rushed in before Ko stopped her, shaking his head. He warned her it was a trap by another Wonder to try and lure her into the room. He warned her that they needed to stick together, and only find their friends. Everything else in this school could be dangerous, and to not be so blindly trusting.

     Mayleen questioned him on this last one saying she was trusting him though, to which Ko just smiled and winked and kept floating on ahead. Mylith just shrugged her shoulders at Mayleen and told her they had no other choice at the moment, and they better keep moving forward.

     It was then, that they happened back upon the large grand staircase, and they all froze. Up on the steps it looked like Bylorn and Balthor were lying down. Mylith called up to them and the two perked their heads up.

     “Hey! We can’t seem to get down the stairs, every time we move, we just end up right back where we are,” Bylorn shouted down. We’re going to try and fly down next and see if that will work.

     Ko lowered his head, as if he knew what would happen. The two Pets were well and trapped in the stairs, it wouldn’t release them that easily. He’d seen it happen to other Pets before. There just was no way out, once stuck.

     The two though, were still motivated to try. Balthor grabbed on, careful not to poke Bylorn with his spikes. Bylorn flexed his wings out, and got ready to jump, with a quick flapping they took off. To them, it seemed as if they were gliding down the stairs, but to the onlookers on the ground it appeared as if the two Pets were just hovering in midair. Until they came to a rough landing and tumbled down to the steps again. Ko mutters something under his breath.

     “Ko please!” Mayleen whispered to him, “Isn’t there anything we can do? How do we get them off the stairs? You said you can help grant a Pet's wishes, what do I need to do?”

     Ko turned to look at her, tears in his eyes. “You’ll have to pay a cost, and I don’t think you’ll like it.”

     “Please, if it will help them, then I know it will be worth it!”

     “You’ll have to give up your Usukis for this to work. Only something worth that much to you will be able to break the curse.”

     Mayleen stumbled back, give up her Usukis? She clenched her jaw, they were her favorite toys, and she had such a big collection of them. What would she do without them? But as she looked up at the stairs, she realized how she would hate to be without her friends more. Reluctantly she agreed. Tears formed in her eyes. Ko patted her on the shoulder and held her close, whispering a nice job to her.

     He suddenly stood up, taking hold of her hand. Telling her to concentrate on the Usukis, and she did. She thought about all the adventures that Summer Fun Usuki and she had last night, and of Alpine….Alpine, what was it again? She knew she had played with another one, but it seemed to be slipping away. She gasped as she realized what was happening. But it was too late, and the price had been paid. Her collection seemed to slip from her memories. But as she forgot about all the Usukis, she noticed that the stairs started to shimmer, and become more solid looking.

     Bylorn and Balthor cheered, and finally managed to run down and hug the group. Just Mayleen was left standing, a few tears rolling down her candy face, realizing now what Ko meant by the price.

     To be continued…