The Secret Seekers Society and the Beast of Bladenboro

by J. Hickey

  Chapter 3

  The First Escape

  The next few nights were uneventful-no loud noises, no growls, and thankfully no green glowing eyes lurking in the vents. In fact, the children had been outright bored for the majority of the time. There was only so much for a kid to do being stuck in a room twenty-four hours a day. However, after the incidents from their first night, Hunter and Elly were less defensive towards Ms. Ellingbee and Margot about their confinement. They also found themselves to be especially opening up to Margot. They saw her most, as she brought them their meals and randomly checked up on them throughout the day, catering to their needs.

  Last night, she had even stayed up late with them playing board games, which Elly had won despite Hunter's proclamation of her abusing certain rules. Margot's friendly demeanor wasn't just for show; she really was a sweet young woman who wanted nothing more than to make the children feel at home. Hunter had mentioned the glowing eyes he had seen to Elly and Margot during one of the games, only to have the motion dismissed as an overactive imagination.

  The children assumed Ms. Ellingbee was a busy person, as she hardly ever made her way down to their room. She only really spoke to them over the speaker when something important was announced. As for Professor Claudio Calenstine-their actual godfather-they still hadn't met him, let alone spoken to him. Margot said that the professor was a very busy man and was booked up with meetings and important matters to be addressed within the mansion. Hunter surmised that a rabid green-eyed animal running around his ventilation system was probably a big nuisance.

  The children had been at the mansion now for three nights, and all of that time, they had been stuck in their room; they weren't even allowed to wander around the hallway. Despite the fact that they were provided with pretty much anything they wanted, Hunter quickly grew bored, and his curiosity of what secrets lurked within the mansion only grew greater as the days went on. Elly, however, was quite happy spending the majority of her day reading all the wonderful books they had given her.

  Hunter seemed to have more mischievous notions set in play. After a few days of preparation, he finally had a brilliant escape planned. If all fell into place later that night, he would be sneaking about the mansion halls in no time.

  "Aren't you scared the monster will get you?" Elly asked. She wanted nothing to do with the plan.

  "I told you that you weren't coming anyway-it's too dangerous for little girls," Hunter replied quickly, sick of his sister's constant meddling. "You'd better not blow it tonight either; I'm counting on you to help me sneak out."

  The children heard the locking mechanism of the door, which meant Margot was checking up on them. Elly jumped down from her bed with excitement.

  "Hello, children." Margot smiled as she walked into the room. The bald-headed, well-dressed man stood silently behind her with his back turned to the room, as per usual not uttering a single word. However, Margot had a long leash in her hand, and she led a large dog that did more waddling than actual walking into the room. It looked and moved like a giant oversized puppy. The kid's eyes both lit up with astonishment.

  They were never allowed to own a dog at home, as their mother had been allergic to them, and no amount of begging or pleading had won their parents over. However, one of the older neighborhood boys always walked his Great Dane named Sadie down their road and would sometimes let the kids play with her. Elly loved Sadie. She was an all-black Dane with just a smidgen of white on her snout.

  Margot's furry companion was no ordinary dog, however, and made the Great Dane look small by comparison. This dog also moved more like a puppy than a mature dog. It was downright clumsy and curious over everything it saw, its tail wagging a mile a minute. Its fur was long and shaggy and was, oddly enough, a shade of dark green, a color neither Hunter nor Elly had ever seen on a dog. The massive pup stumbled over to Elly, eagerly licking her face with its bulky wet tongue. Even as a puppy, the dog was so large that when it stood on all fours it could lick the children's faces with ease.

  "I'd like you to meet Trayer. He's our newest addition to the Belmonte family, and we all thought it might be nice if you kids could help us watch over him," Margot said.

  "He's huge!" Elly laughed, giving the tremendous dog a huge bear hug. "He's a puppy?"

  "Only eight weeks old," Margot responded.

  "Is he mean?" Hunter asked, a bit more hesitant. He had always wanted a dog, but he had envisioned something a bit more lap friendly-a Chihuahua perhaps.

  "Not at all, he's just a pup, and he loves attention."

  "What kind of dog is he?" Hunter asked, now cautiously petting the large animal's head.

  "Well, it's a rare breed…" Margot paused for a minute, thinking of how to answer the question. "I'm certain you've never heard of it before. It's actually from Scotland, and sadly, the breed is almost extinct."

  "Oh no… that's so sad," Elly said, frowning.

  "Well, yes… it's quite sad actually," Margot answered. "We're fairly sure he's the last one alive in the entire world… and with no female to mate with, well…"

  "We promise to take good care of him!" Elly smiled.

  "It's much bigger than the Great Dane our neighbor had," Hunter said, a bit more worried about what taking care of such a large dog actually entailed.

  "Well, Trayer's breed is called a Cusith. It's an enormous canine breed, and when he's an adult, he'll be the size of a large calf."

  "Seriously?" Hunter's eyes widened with concern.

  "Hey, I read about the Cusith in one of those monster books." Elly's eyebrows rose. "The book said they were mean, like a dog version of a Grim Reaper…"

  "Yes. Unfortunately, many books describe them as such. I assure you they are wrong."

  "What do you mean ‘Grim Reaper'?" Hunter pulled his hand slowly away from the pup, who quickly put his head down in a whimper.

  "Well, you read the legend of the Cusith-I applaud you for reading those books by the way," Margot winked at Elly. "However, the legend and the truth are vastly different. See, people fear what they don't know, and those legends are based on fear. Even in the wild, the Cusith were very isolated and spent most of their time in hiding. It was extremely rare for anyone to ever set eyes on one, but every once in a great while, someone would. They'd stumble unknowingly into the presence of a large dog-like animal, which can look terrifying if you didn't know any better. So the legend was born out of fear and a lack of understanding. Truth be told, they are extremely smart and loyal animals. He'll make a perfect friend for you both. He just lost his mother; the litter she had was too much for her. She was quite old and just couldn't make it. He was the only pup to make it through the first week without their mother to nurse them, and the father passed away a couple of months ago from old age. We'd hoped the litter would keep his species going…"

  "He's just like us, Hunter," Elly added, now giving Trayer an even bigger hug than before.

  "What do you mean?"

  "He lost his mom and daddy too. He needs our love."

  "Yeah, I guess you're right."

  Trayer pounced playfully on Hunter and licked his face.

  "Well, I'll come up to help you feed and water him every day, and you can leave it up to me to take him out. We don't want a dog of his size to make any messes in your room, trust me. I had to housebreak him, and he's still learning a bit."

  "Eeeew!" Elly laughed.

  "Well then, I'll leave you three alone until its dinner time."

  "Okay!" said the kids in unison.

  Trayer was a playful pup, and despite his size, he was very gentle with the kids. Elly and Trayer quickly developed a strong bond. Wherever she went, Trayer quickly followed, and it wasn't long before Elly had Trayer sitting, lying, and staying on command. Not too bad for a so-called "monster" she thought.

  Hunter was also excited about their new furry companion, but his elaborate escape plan easily outweighed the excitement. Now it was just a waiting game until Margot and the guard came back to get the
m ready for bed. Hunter and Elly had been locked up in their room for long enough, and although Margot insisted the lockdown should be over by the end of the week, the children both assumed she was merely trying to ease their frustration by giving them false hope.

  The hours flew by for Elly, who spent every waking minute playing with Trayer and teaching the eager pup as much as she possibly could. She even found an interesting book about training large canine breeds and wasted no time reading it aloud to Trayer, who had stretched out peacefully alongside her, both of them cuddled up cozily on the bed. The mammoth pup rested his enormous head on her lap, snoring lightly. Elly didn't even mind the little bit of warm drool that pooled on her thigh as he slept, rather she welcomed the companionship.

  "Margot should be coming back any minute." Hunter walked over to Elly with a mischievous smile, a tad nervous about his plan falling together.

  "You're not still planning on sneaking out, are you?"

  "You bet I am." He pulled a thick, wadded piece of paper from his pocket, showing it off to Elly with pride.

  "How in the heck is a crumpled-up piece of paper going to help you break out of here?"

  "Well, at first I wasn't sure how to draw attention away from me getting to the door, but now with Trayer and your help, it will be easy," Hunter explained.

  "What do you mean?"

  "You're going to show Margot and the bald guy the new trick you taught Trayer." Hunter smiled devilishly.

  "What… to sit and lie down?"

  "No, to play fetch," Hunter corrected her.

  "But, Hunter…" Elly looked confused. "Trayer doesn't know how to play fetch, he just runs away from me with the ball in his mouth."

  "Exactly, when you throw the ball, toss it out the bedroom door into the hallway. He'll run out of the room to fetch it, and they will have to chase after him."

  "Why?" Elly still didn't see how a crumpled sheet of paper would get him out of the room.

  "Because it will cause a distraction, then I can sneak over to the door, where the deadbolt locks into the doorframe. See, I tuck this wad of paper into the notch where the latch would normally lock into it, and boom! An hour later, I'll be out of this cruddy room and into the mansion's halls exploring all its secrets!"

  "I still don't see how the paper will unlock the door." Elly was confused.

  "Well, when Margot closes the door and goes to lock it, she'll turn the key, and the dead bolt will turn and lock. Normally it would fit perfectly into the hole in the doorframe. With the paper crammed in there, it will only partially lock. Margot won't know the difference because the key will still turn, and then I can use this." Hunter took out his wallet and pulled out his plastic library card. "My library card!" Hunter waited for a response, eyes wide with excitement at his plan.

  "Your library card?" Elly didn't seem impressed.

  "Yeah, see, I use it to slide in between the door and the frame and wiggle it between the lock and the wad of paper that prevented it from locking all the way. Then I just push the lock back into the door, presto-change-o, unlocked door. Get it?"

  "Err… I don't think that's going work." Elly still seemed unconvinced of his plan.

  "Sure it will." Hunter frowned, expecting more positive reinforcement from his little sister. "I mean, I saw it on a movie once," he added.

  "Well, I'll only help because I think it will fail," Elly told him.

  "Whatever," Hunter shot back. Suddenly they heard the footsteps coming up to their room. "Get ready!" Hunter shouted.

  "Okay, fine." Elly grabbed the ball and began tossing it up and down in her hand, Trayer jumped up from his peaceful nap, his tail wagging frantically in excitement.

  "How's Trayer doing, guys?" Margot poked her head into the room. "Looks like someone's having fun."

  "We love him, he's just a big baby," Elly answered. "I've been teaching him new tricks all day. He's a quick learner."

  "Cusiths are very intelligent animals. That's why it's so rare to ever see one in the wild; they're excellent at staying hidden."

  "I've taught him to sit, stay, and roll over."

  "Didn't you teach him how to fetch too?" Hunter added, secretly nudging her with his elbow. She nodded with a dirty look. She didn't want to deal with her older brother being mad at her for the next few days, so she obliged.

  "Want to see?" Elly asked Margot, hoping she would say no.

  "Of course I do," Margot answered.

  "Let me throw it." Hunter grabbed the ball from Elly's hands. Her face grew red in anger, but she didn't interject. Hunter saw the hesitation in Elly's eyes, and he needed to get the bald-headed guard and Margot out of the room if his plan were to work out.

  "Here boy," Hunter waved the ball around.

  Trayer grew more and more anxious, playfully growling, his eyes never leaving the ball for a second. "Go get it!" Hunter tossed the ball at an angle so that it flew outside the door, hitting the far wall, which caused it to roll off down the hallway. Trayer bolted out of the room, knocking Margot back against the door, while hitting the bald-headed guard so hard he fell to one knee.

  "Hunter!" Margot yelled as she ran after Trayer. The bald-headed man didn't completely leave his post, but he did walk far enough out into the hallway for Hunter to get to the threshold.

  "Stupid, kid," the bald man cursed under his breath.

  Hunter silently slipped up to the doorframe and stuck his head out briefly.

  "Sorry! He usually catches it right away!" Hunter smiled, while behind his back he wedged the tightly wadded up paper into the notch where the bolt went. Now he just had to wait and hope the paper would prevent the bolt from completely locking the door.

  A minute or two passed by before Elly saw the ball fly from out of the hallway and back into the bedroom. A few seconds later, the giant green pup pounced back into the room, grabbing the ball in his huge mouth. Trayer ran so fast he couldn't control his momentum and crashed into the Hunter's dresser cabinet, making a loud thud. Trayer acted like he didn't feel a thing, tail still wagging. He playfully tossed the ball back up in the air, letting it drop a few feet in front of him before pouncing onto it again.

  "Very funny, Hunter." Margot was not amused, and her chest felt heavy as she attempted to catch her breath.

  "Sorry, I thought he could fetch," Hunter replied, overacting his own innocence.

  "It's time for bed. Settle Trayer down, and I'll bring your breakfast down in the morning," Margot answered. "You should apologize to Agent Roberts for knocking him over. He's a guest here and is being nice enough to help us out while we're short staffed. You should treat him with respect, not getting him knocked over by Trayer."

  Agent Roberts? Hunter thought to himself. He had never given it a thought that the bald-headed man would have a name, let alone a title like "Agent."

  "Sorry for Trayer trampling you." Hunter pulled the ball away from Trayer, who whined in return.

  "Hmmph," Agent Roberts replied with a curled lip, not amused by the attempted apology.

  "Agent…?" Margot added, with a stern, motherly look.

  "It was an accident," Agent Roberts replied factually and void of any emotion.

  "They're trained to always be professional. Don't mind him," Margot answered for the Agent. "It was an accident, and it won't happen again, correct?"

  "Yes, ma'am," Hunter answered.

  "Good." Margot nodded with a smile. She then flicked out the light and the children were once again in complete darkness with only the radiance from the waning moon shining in from the bay window.

  Margot and Agent Roberts left, and Hunter waited eagerly for his next step in his plan. He hoped the key would turn far enough to trick Margot into thinking it was completely locked. It must have worked because he heard the click, and the footsteps quickly faded off into the depths of the hallway.

  "Jackpot!" he whispered with a grin.

  "When are you sneaking out?" Elly whispered back. She secretly wished his plan had failed. Even though she too grew tire
d of being locked up in the room, she trusted that Margot and Ms. Ellingbee were just protecting the children from the wandering creature, or perhaps even something worse.

  "I'll wait a few hours until everyone is sleeping. That way I won't have to worry about running into anyone down there. I'll have the whole mansion to myself."

  Hunter lay under his blankets, anxiously staring at the large grandfather across the room. There was no worry he would fall asleep waiting for the time to pass. He literally shook with anticipation for the small hand to strike one. The eagerness was torture, every minute felt like ten, and every hour felt like a day. Hunter recognized this agony; he had experienced it every year on Christmas Eve. He would sit up and watch the clock slowly tick away until seven a.m. Then the moment seven a.m. struck, he and his sister would scurry into their parents' room and wake them up with a wild frenzy.

  "Elly?" Hunter whispered. She made no sound in return. Good, he thought, he wasn't looking forward to the inevitable argument that would erupt after demanding that his little sister stay put.

  Hunter cautiously made his way out of bed and tiptoed towards the door, being careful not to wake his sister. From his wallet, he pulled out his library card and slid it between the door and the doorframe. He slowly moved the card upward until he felt the card hit the bolt mechanism. He wiggled it forcefully, attempting to slip it between the end of the bolt and the doorframe. This is where the bolt would normally lock into place, which was now stuffed full of crumpled paper, hopefully lodged deep enough to prevent the bolt from locking. Hunter felt it slip between the bolt and the threshold, and he couldn't help but to smile. Slipping the card into place meant the paper he had wedged into the doorframe had worked and prevented the key from locking the door completely. Hunter slowly added force to the card by bending it against the lock mechanism, generating enough force to push the bolt back into the door's lock mechanism, almost effortlessly unlocking the door. Hunter had finally freed himself from the room. For the first time since arriving, he felt excitement surge through his young body. He wasted no time-his journey was just beginning.

  The hallway was dark, with no source of light from either end despite the numerous light fixtures hanging from the ceilings. Hunter had only taken a few steps into the hallway when he began to doubt making his journey deeper into the mysterious mansion. As well as he had thought out the escape, he hadn't given it any thought as to what he would need once he had gotten out. If only he had a flashlight…

  Hunter remembered that the hallway outside their room was nothing more than a long corridor with numerous quarters for the mansion's guests, so he figured he would pick a direction and stick to it. He assumed he would run into some stairs sooner or later, so he made his way deeper into the creepy, dark corridor, traveling to the right from his room. The hallway slowly started to curve, and once Hunter made his way around the bend, the first specs of light came into view. There, in the near distance, he saw a small button emitting a glowing orange hue. He recognized the color from the main elevator ride that they had taken previously up to their room when they arrived.

  Then suddenly a very distinct noise broke the eerie silence of the darkened hall.

  A door has just creaked open somewhere in the distance.

  Hunter knew he had to make a move quickly; there was no way he was going to get caught already. He hadn't even made it past his bedroom hallway. Hunter cursed to himself silently; he had tried moving through the corridor as silently as possible, hoping not to wake anyone. He knew now he hadn't been quiet enough. Stupid, he thought to himself… There was no way he was going to blow it now.

  Hunter wasted no time and darted swiftly towards the elevator. Once he stood in front of the cool steel doors, he frantically hit the button to summon it. Nerves quickly took over his stomach, and he felt like he had just swallowed a bucket full of volcanic rocks. Blood rushed to his face, and for a split second, he thought he might be sick. The sound of footsteps now haunted him as they quickly grew louder. He envisioned it now, whoever it was was probably about to round the curve. They would see him soon, and he would be caught…

  Come on you blasted elevator, c'mon… Hunter clenched his fists tightly as he cursed the contraption in his head.

  Suddenly, the elevator door opened, and Hunter desperately jumped into the lift. He didn't have time to think, he just needed to get off the floor as soon as possible. Getting caught just wasn't an option. He wasted no time and hit the first button he saw. It happened to be marked SB-1 with the words ‘Library' neatly typed next to it. The elevator doors then closed, and the soft calming sound of generic elevator music played. Hunter felt a sudden feeling of relaxation overtake his body.

  That was close, he thought. A little too close. He let out a deep resounding sigh of relief, and his nerves faded away, replaced with a pulsating sensation of adrenaline shooting throughout his body once again.

  He had made it… He had really made it!