I pointed at the entrance. “I thought I heard something strange and was going to see.”
He wrinkled his snout. “That’s rather foolish of you. What if it’s an unwelcome guest?”
I stepped aside and swept my hand toward the entrance. “Then why don’t you check it out?”
He lifted one of his clawed hands and wiggled his stumpy toes. “No opposable thumbs.”
I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I crack it open, and you look to see who it is. You’re so short, they won’t expect to look down, and you’ll probably be safe.”
He stood and puffed out his chest. “Open it.”
I grasped the handle and eased the latch off, so the door opened only a few inches. Ramaro peeked outside, and his tail stiffened straight behind him. He yanked his head back and showed off his wide eyes.
“Someone is hanging in the trap door!”
My heart skipped a beat, and I yanked the door open. The trap door was indeed open, and a pair of hands clung to the edge with all their might. I threw myself on the ground and latched onto the hands. My new vantage point allowed me to see the newest victim.
“Henry!” I yelled.
The young man’s brow was covered in sweat, and his whole body trembled. “Get me out of here!”
I readjusted my grip on him and nodded. “Sure thing. Just hold on.”
The boy was a little heavier than I estimated, and I had trouble pulling him up. He tried to get his footing, but the walls were too slick. His breathing became even more labored, and his sweaty hands didn’t help.
“Hold on!” I yelped as I felt him slip.
“I have no choice!” he countered.
His hands slipped out of my grip inch by inch until there wasn’t enough finger hold for me to bear his weight. My heart practically stopped as he dropped into the hole.
Until another arm shot past me and latched onto Henry’s wrist. I whipped my head to my right and found Marc kneeling beside me. He had a roguish smile on his lips. “You appear to need some help.”
“Please!” Henry begged.
Marc pulled him up with only one hand and set the young lad on the safe part of the threshold. Henry was as white as a sheet as he looked into the abyss he almost dropped into.
Marc clapped a hand on his shoulder, and the shaking lad nearly sank beneath the form of affection. “No need to worry that much. You would’ve only fallen into a cage where you would have been fished out eventually.” The poor boy’s face lost what color it had left. Marc stepped aside and swept his arm toward the interior of the house. “Let’s go inside, and you can tell me why you dropped by.”
Ramaro wrinkled his snout as he strolled into the foyer. “That is a terrible joke.”
“I have more.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
We led the exhausted lad into the house and guided him to the dining room, where he was glad to plop down in a chair. The rest of us took up seats, though Ramaro scurried onto the table top close beside me.
Henry cleared his throat. “I came to tell you what we found out already about those Managers. The ones with the cat. They’re in the city right now.”
Marc nodded. “We met them last night.”
Henry winced. “Sorry about that. We didn’t get the info until this morning when they were spotted coming out of one of the stations.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “A station?”
“That’s the name of the Manager’s offices.”
“Was this before or after midnight?” Marc wondered.
