Angus woke cold and soaked in seawater. Though not a direct hit, the effect had still rendered him unconscious for some time. It was pitch dark and smelled of mold, rotting garbage, and unwashed armpits. Angus realized it was dark because he was blindfolded. He lay on a hard, rough surface, cuffs binding him to a metal ring set into the floor.
"We can't just kill them," said a familiar-sounding voice, "our contract specifically prohibits killing or serious injury, plus even if it didn't, we aren't above the law."
"But dey make me so mad!" wailed Knucks, easily recognizable.
Tok....tok-tok....tok
"Enough with the tapping!" Scribbs snapped. "You always give us away with your incessant tapping."
"I'm petting Thonker," Knucks cooed, "He likes it."
Tok....tok-tok....tok
"I can't believe we found them outside the city again," said Scribbs. "It was like someone delivered them to us. Here we are looking for an unguarded entrance, and out they walk in a mini dome."
"Should I go tell Mendax we got his kid?" asked Knucks.
Angus’s heart almost stopped. Was it my father after the composers and me the whole time?
"No," said Scribbs, "He's in a big meeting with the faction leaders right now."
"But he's gonna pay us good, right?"
"He better," replied Scribbs, "sneaking that little robot into Benthos was risky. And then putting together that pickup for Angus in the Caverns; it's too bad he didn’t show. Maybe he figured out Mendax would never come in person. He always gets other people to do his dirty work."
My father wasn't even waiting for me? I knew he was lying.
"When do they wake up?" asked Knucks.
"An hour or so. I scrambled their brains pretty good with one of Clicky's spells. I'm so glad I could fix him. If he was permanently busted, I'd sue the bones out of them!"
"Haha, they'd be floppy with no bones," Knucks giggled.
"Um, yeah, sure would. I think I got all their Instruments. Angus didn't seem to have one on him, but I got his backpack. There’s a bunch of weird junk in there. I'll put everything in the false bottom of the locker by the boiler. No one will find it there."
Angus heard a locker squeak open and then slam shut.
"I'll have a couple of guards keep an eye on the kids, then we can check in with the boss."
"Can I smash them a bit?" asked Knucks.
"No," said Scribbs with a sigh, "No, smashing."
The sound of an elevator ‘bing’ was followed by footsteps and mumbling about ‘keeping an eye.’ A door slammed shut.
Angus felt his elbows touching someone else's, although they did not stir. He held his breath and strained to listen, identifying a quiet conversation between what sounded like three people, the roar of a furnace, and a dripping faucet.
Trevor stirred first. "Where are we? This blindfold is so tight," he mumbled.
"Shhh," whispered Angus. "We've been kidnapped by Knucks and Scribbs.” He explained everything he remembered.” I don't know where we are, and that dripping sound drives me crazy."
"No, it’s good; it really helps," said Trevor.
"Dripping water will not help us; we can't even see anything."
"Well, that's my point," Trevor hissed, "You know my mentor, Resha? Her ears are like mine, and she’s teaching me how to use my echolocation properly. I can map out the room like a bat.”
"You have super-hearing powers?" Angus was doubtful, but Trevor didn’t tend to make things up.
"Obviously! How did you not know? Just give me a few minutes of silence, and I'll tell you what I hear."
Trevor listened to the dripping water and focused on the echoes.
"We're in a room roughly ten by ten feet. The hallway behind the door is about twenty feet long, and there's an elevator at the end."
"To the right of the elevator," continued Trevor, "there’s a side room where the guards are playing cards. Up by the ceiling to my left, there’s a vent that leads to a larger space. I think it's the boiler room where you said our Instruments are."
"That's amazing," said Angus, "truly amazing."
Without the blindfold, he would have seen Trevor's ears blushing pink with pride.
Someone else began to stir.
"Hush!" Angus warned, "They don't know we're awake, and I'd like to keep it that way."
"Where are we?" Veronica hissed.
"In some basement, and I’m pretty sure we aren't in Benthos anymore. Those pirate guys from the Caverns got us while walking outside on the ocean floor. Trevor is awake too."
Veronica raised her voice, "I got us into this mess? Darn it, I knew I wasn't ready to show you guys. Anastasia insisted. Why would she do that?"
"Shhh! Veronica, this is not your fault, and please keep your voice down. It's Mendax. He's after me, so don't blame yourself. They've taken the Instruments, but we know where they are. I need to get these handcuffs off."
One by one, the others woke.
"So now what," Adora murmured, "how do we get free?"
Angus strained at his bonds. "I have no idea. I've been trying for the past hour. If I could get these cuffs off, I could crawl through the vent to the boiler room and grab the instruments. At least then we'd have a chance against those goons."
"How do you know about the vent?" asked Veronica.
“Skills, my friend, skills,” the smile in Trevor’s voice was audible.
"I might have an idea to open the handcuffs," said Hamish. "There's a trick Freyja showed me, but it's pretty risky. It involves singing high notes with a sympathetic resonance to something I want to influence."
"That sounds pretty technical," whispered Adora.
"I think I know what he means," said Trevor, "It's like breaking glass with a high-pitched voice. He will try and rattle the pins in the handcuffs to get us free."
"But won't they hear you?" Angus worried.
"Well," said Hamish, "I think the notes will be so high that they won't hear it. It’s like how I make my particles move around. Still, it’ll be much more complicated since I don't know the lock’s resonance yet. Sorry, Trevor, I don’t think you’ll enjoy this."
Adora had faith in Hamish. "It’s worth a try. Besides, we don’t have a choice. If I had Boomer, I'd blow them all up in one shot."
"Let's do it," Trevor agreed, "work on Angus first so he can go after our Instruments. I’ll be fine."
Hamish sucked in a deep breath. There was no sound, but Angus could feel the pressure building and began to develop a headache. Trevor moaned through gritted teeth.
A voice down the hall said something about feeling nauseous, and the five heard the elevator go "bing."
"Good, now there's only two of them," muttered Angus.
The handcuffs started to vibrate and heat a bit. There was a click, and they loosened up a notch.
"It’s working! " The cuffs opened with a snap, and Angus was free.
"Way to go, Hamish! Try the others while I go and get those Instruments."
Angus yanked off his blindfold, then pulled himself up into the vent. One sound would alert the guards. He was grateful for Horace’s lessons on stealth, even though they’d been boring at the time.
Just focus on distributing your weight evenly. No sudden movements.
A belly crawl brought him to the boiler room, where he dropped silently to the floor. The locker was precisely where he expected it to be. Knowing it might squeak, Angus opened the door cautiously, lifted the bottom panel, and grabbed the Instrument crystals and his backpack. With a boost from an upended garbage bin, he pulled himself into the vent and made his way back.
Hamish had freed everyone by the time Angus’s head popped from the hole by the ceiling. They stretched and rubbed sore wrists. Veronica tried the door but unsurprisingly found it locked.
"Here, take your Instruments, then help me down," whispered Angus as he dropped pieces of jewelry into eager hands. "Uh-oh, I’m..."
"CRASH!" Angus slid from the vent bringing the grate down with him.
"Pretty sure they heard that," said Adora.
Footsteps pounded down the hall.
"I got this," Veronica pulled Anastasia to her chin. "Everybody, plug your ears, quickly!"
They jammed fingers into their ears as two guards charged through the door. With a few bars of Johannes Brahms's Wiegenlied, Veronica had them collapsing to the floor, snoring. Hamish grabbed handcuffs and secured the guards to the floor rings.
"OK, now what?" said Trevor, "Do we even know what city we're in?"
"I'm guessing New York," Veronica plucked an envelope from the litter on the floor. "The address on here is for Manhattan."
"That's a long way from Benthos," said Adora. "How do we get out of here?"
"There's an elevator at the end of the hall," Trevor said, stuffing the remaining handcuffs into his pockets.
The five tiptoed down the hall. They could see they were in a basement as the windows, which had bars on them, were high up and looked into an alley.
"Should we just go up?" asked Angus, reaching to push the elevator button.
"Maybe we should take the stairs," Hamish pointed to the sign.
"Yes," said Veronica, "I like that idea better. At least we won't be trapped in a box."