“Welcome to the Hall of Knowledge,” he says aloud, bringing my attention to our surroundings, and my jaw drops.
“What the fuck?” The words slip from me as I take in the massive room. We’re standing in a hallway as wide as a four-lane highway, and I can’t see where it ends. Along the walls are doors or portals. I’m not sure what their purpose is, but they have silver cords that extend from each doorway at the top, running up to a massive disk above us. There seem to be more disks the further down the hall you go, but the main one above us is a white, round frisbee the size of a house suspended in the air. While some cords run from door to door, the silver cords light up to a golden hue with no rhyme or reason or even a time limit that I can tell, connecting all the doors.
“What is this place? Nothing makes sense,” I admit, watching one cord light up for a full minute and bounce straight across from it directly to another door instead of going to the central hub.
“It’s the inner workings of us DKs. I was hoping this would work,” Knots admits, running his fingers through his hair.
“You werehoping?” My voice comes out shrill.“You mean you didn’t know for sure? What would have happened if it didn’t?” I yell as the shock of where we are wears off.
All the fucking pine needle does is shrug his shoulders like it isn’t a big deal. I swear I’m looking for an axe when I find a way out of here.
‘Knots? Is that you? Are you back?’Willow’s sultry voice booms throughout the hall as a suspended, broken golden thread lights up above us.
“How the hell am I hearing her?” I ask Knots.
“I don’t know,” he says, looking up at a severed golden thread above us. “But that’s my thread right there,” he points out.
‘Yes, dear, I’m back,’Knots tells her, and I watch as his severed thread above us lights up once again.
‘Where in the Horsemen’s ass have you been?’
Following his thread, I notice a door attached to another nearby thread that lights up when Willow begins talking. Following it, I find myself in front of a door that looks familiar.
The door flickers, and in its place is a white film that showcases a beautiful redhead wearing a scandalous outfit, like an old barmaid’s costume. Her image flickers once, and I see the Harpies' inner sanctum before it flashes to our hallway in the dorms.
‘We all thought you died, which of course sent everyone in a panic because we all thought we couldn’t die, then Derrick started looking into the archives that he could manipulate Gage into?—’
‘Willow! I’m good. I got pulled to Hell,’he says as an explanation.
Was that redhead Willow? Is this her door? The image flashes back to the woman, and this time, her hands are on her hips, and her face is one of fury.
‘And that’s better?’she shrieks.‘How the hell is going to HELL better than dying?’she demands as her thread flashes like a disco light above the door.
‘It’s not, but I don’t have time to talk about where I’ve been now. We can catch up another time. I need to find Levi. The Harpies took him, and I need to get to him before it’s too late. Once that’s finished, I promise we will catch up on all that has happened.’
‘The only thing I overheard those evil bitches talking about was needing the space of the Admin building, so try Birchman,’she suggests.
‘Thanks, Willow.’Knots walks a little way down the hallway and raises his voice.‘Birchman, have you seen Emerson and her goonies?’
‘Nope,’a deep voice replies with a golden flash of a cord and a door.
‘I have. She just passed through here a few moments ago,’a new feminine voice calls out, and I see a corresponding door lined with flowers and golden light up to the left. We hurry over to see a flicker on the film over the door, displaying a blonde elf covered in blooming pink flowers over her chest and hips down to her knees.
‘Did you see where they went or anything about their group?’Knots probes as the scene changes, and I take in the sight.
On our first day here at Purgatory, Moni showed us around, and right after we came to the cafeteria, I took off to explore on my own. Funny enough, this place looks familiar. This is the door next to the portal room in the Admin building.
‘She has Prince Caldron with them by knifepoint, but I think he’s also spelled. There’s a strong pulse around him that I quickly picked up. So there’s a total of six guarding him. All high-profile, so remember that,’she advises Knots, and he sneers.
‘Thanks, Cherry Blossom. I appreciate your help.’Knots curses under his breath before calling out again.
‘Who’s got eyes?’Knots asks no one in particular.
It’s crickets as no one speaks up, so he starts pacing.
‘Pawpaw, did they go through the portal?’Knots demands an answer.
‘Um..’someone clears his throat before continuing.‘Knots, we lost sight of them after they passed Cherry Blossom. They never came through the portal. We don’t know where they went,’Pawpaw admits warily.
