Being in this tight space is not good, Crystal is having a really rough time, though she is trying not to show it too much. But I can tell just looking at her. I picked up Muffin and gave her to Crystal and Muffin began to purr. “It will help,” I said smiling, “just concentrate on Muffin and her purring. Remember how it was before?” “Yes, I do,” she said, “thank you Steve.”

I decided to try calling Rock and surprise, the call went through okay. “What is happening Steve?” he asked. “Well, we are trapped in a passageway,” I said, “rather narrow and a door closed us in with no way out that we can find.” I then told him where we were. Perhaps there is a way to open that door from the outside. “We will come down there right away Steve,” he said, “and see if we can find a way in there.”

“That would be very nice,” I said, “Crystal is ready to have a serious panic attack.” She looks at me. Hmm, perhaps I should not have added that last part. I had tried pushing on that stone again, hoping it would open the door the way it closed that door. But nothing happened. Meowi?=Maybe should try to push with 2 footies. Hmm, perhaps she is right.

I knew what she meant, push down twice quickly instead of just once. I did so and sure enough, the wall in front of us opened into a rather large room. There was a fairly clear path through the dusty floor. It led to a wood door on the other side of the room. However, before checking out the door I thought perhaps we should look around this room a bit.

There were electric lights in here too, someone had been very busy putting in electricity down here. There was some interesting machinery down here. Some was obviously used for counterfeiting purposes, though not used recently. However, it was not set up for counterfeiting money, but for other documents. That is quite interesting. But I am not sure that helps us since everything was covered with a good layer of dust.

Cinnamon found a floor plan for the whole castle, including the rooms down here. Plus some rooms under other buildings here that we need to explore as well. “Can you remember it?” I asked her. “No problem,” she said and put the papers back where she found them. Fortunately we had one of our scramblers with us so we could talk freely down here without being heard. “It would not be hard to cover things with dust when not being used,” said Sigurbjorn, “just in case they are found.”

“Hmm, that is a good point,” I said, “I am beginning to think there is someone else who wants this castle too, and not just Andrew.” Just then Rock and his team came into the room the same way we did. Apparently the wall behind us opened up again after we came through the door into this room. Storm went running over to Muffin. Meowr?=You okay Muffin? You not hurt?

Meow,meow.=Yep, me okay, only stuck for short time. Me help human Crystal with her scary tightness problem. Meowr.=Oh, that good, me worry about you when hear you get all trapped. Meow,meow.=It was sorta scary at start but good that it short time. Meowi=Me trapped in there too Storm. Meowr.=Oh, that right, you okay too right? That nice to hear. Muffin, you need to rest when we get back out.

Meow,meow.=Yep, me think so too, maybe you rest with me? Meowr.=Oh, me do that for sure, yep. Tiia just sits there swishing her tail while watching Muffin and Storm. I pick up Tiia and whisper to her. Meowi.=Oh, me not know that, now me understand. It was getting late and we needed to clean up for dinner so we went back the way we came in. I told Storm to go spend some time with Angel before dinner. I wanted to talk with Muffin and Kat, I mean, Crystal.

Why do I keep doing that? Muffin’s ears went straight up! I told her this was a secret though, she was not allowed to tell anyone, not even Storm or the kittens. She promised. “Why not tell everyone?” asked Crystal. “Well, a secret is no longer a secret if others know about it,” I said smiling. “But we know,” she said, smiling back. “True,” I said, “but someone else needs to know.” “Yes, I suppose,” she admitted. “I will need to talk with Jim about things a bit more tomorrow,” I said, “but hopefully without making him suspicious. This is certainly not going the way I thought it would.” “Yes, someone is going to be in for a big surprise,” admitted Crystal….

To Be Continued.

©2023 Steve McLeod.