The Playing Fields First Draft

Chapter Twelve

     For the second time, Claire woke up with a headache. This time, she didn't feel overwhelming pain from it, just a dull throbbing sensation. Claire sat up, blinking as she regained her clarity of sight.

     How long have I been out? Claire grunted as she got up from the sofa. The Farmhouse didn't have the death stench of the capsized boat in the Forest, nor did it smell of flowers. The Farmhouse was just as messy as the boat was, Claire was happy to be wearing shoes just for all the glass she saw on the floor. So much destruction in these playing fields.

     "He's still out there..."

     Claire could hear Mari in the room next to the living room, and she made her way toward where she heard Mari talking. A loud thump startled Claire, making her jump from fright, which her yelp caused Mari to rush in to check on Claire.

     "Are you all right?" Mari asked, worried.

     "Yeah, I'm fine." Claire replied.

     "You're finally awake." Rick strolled into the living room, he seemed far too relaxed for someone trapped in a house with a monster outside. "You had Mari worried."

     Claire smiled weakly. "Yeah, I guess I used my powers too much for my own good."

     "Strange how we're fine, but when you use your powers, it drains you." Rick said, stroking his chin.

     "It's an odd world we're in." Claire replied. "We could run as long as we want, but never feel tired..."

     "...try to use your psychic gifts as much as you want, and you'll pass out." Mari finished. "They're draining in the human world, but not on the same level as here."

     "How are you feeling, Claire?" Rick asked, his frown showed the concern he had for the young psychic. There was a lot they didn't know about the Playing Fields, including how much time passed in the human world. Expeditions into the Other World noted that progression of time could differ from realm to realm.

     "Still tired." Claire yawned. "I don't know how long I'll need to sleep before I'm fully energized."

     "Damn." Rick replied. "We shouldn't try using your abilities any time soon."

     "I could..."

     "No." Rick interrupted. "You passed out because of the use of your power. You're not recovered yet, and God knows what will happen if you do try it now."

     Claire wondered if Rick ever got tired of being right. While Claire had no desire of dying in the Playing Fields, she also didn't want to stay any longer than she needed to.

     "So, what now?" Claire asked.

     "Mari and I spent the entire time you were asleep searching the house." Rick answered. "We could use your help."

     "The only place we managed to search completely was the living room." Mari added.

     Claire approached the two with a wry grin. "Well, three sets of eyes are better than two, right?"

     Rick chuckled at the remark. "Welcome to the party then."

                                                                                       ********

     This kitchen is far larger than it had any right to be. Claire complained in her head.

     The Farmhouse's kitchen was as large as a fast food kitchen, with enough storage to ensure that their contents would go bad before they were used. All that storage meant a lot of places for the three to look through.

     "Will's probably going to kill us all before we find the component." Claire joked.

     "Not the right time." Mari chided her.

     "Maybe I should check elsewhere." Claire suggested. "Maybe the cellar?"

     "Why the cellar?" Rick asked.

     "Because it feels like they'd put it in the last place to look." Claire shrugged.

     "If you want to go look there, be my guest." Rick said, he looked through a drawer. The sour expression told the story of a man long frustrated by his search for the key components.

     Claire remembered something her father used to say when he refused to give up on something "There's nothing more stubborn than a frustrated old man."

     A giggle escaped from Claire, she couldn't help it, but the way her father said it, and the expression he made while he said it would always bring a smile to Claire. And then came the downer note of Claire wondering why she didn't have any memories like that of her mother. Because she was the one too busy thinking about how to make her family look perfect. The sour thought caused the smile to go away.

     Claire sighed and walked away from the drawer she went to. "I'm gonna walk around a bit." Claire told Rick.

     "Are you all right?" Mari asked, concerned.

     "I'm fine, just need to walk around."

     "Just be careful." Rick said. "We don't know what else is in this house."

     I can imagine that there are some benign creatures in here. Claire thought.

     The other two went back to their work, Mari was checking the drawers on the far end of the kitchen, which Claire guessed was where the silverware was placed in copious amounts. If the rest of the Farmhouse was built the same way as the kitchen, then the fae had no idea how humans designed their houses.

                                                                                    ********

     The dining room was just as ridiculously sized as the kitchen.

     While Claire was looking for the cellar door, she couldn't help but be judgmental of the fae's inability to design human accurate houses. If they decided to build a mansion, and title it "Farmhouse" just because they put it on a plot of farmland.

     Calm down Claire, remember to focus on the cellar! Claire rolled her eyes at her inability to not criticize architecture. Perhaps I'm suited to be an architect.

     The dining room table was dusty, but the feeling of the wood was that of a fine wood, one that Claire figured would only be afforded by a rich family. Something clicked in Claire's mind, with how the capsized boat was a boat that disappeared years ago, who says that this house wasn't just plucked by the fae to play the role of a farmhouse? While it was the equivalent to having a man with no muscles play the part of an action hero, if the fae decided to build this without any kind of research on what they were doing, it was something that could happen.

     This is stupid, why am I focusing on this when there is a monster outside?! Claire shook herself away from the table. If we meet this Donella after we escape, I have to ask if we're being manipulated by them!

     There was something not quite right about the room either, Claire walked around the dining room. She didn't see anything wrong with the doors, no lines indicating a secret door, Claire looked down at the floor, and searched. There was something about the room that was off to Claire, and if it had anything to do with finding the key component, she'd find it.

     And Claire saw something, a bump in the rug that looked suspiciously like a trap door. While Claire was hoping it was the trap door to escape this nightmare, she knew better than to hope on that. They were trapped inside the house with only two out of the three key components, and with Will outside, the mindless spriggan changeling with a desire to kill, it would be a death sentence for them to try to escape.

     Whatever was underneath the rug was square in shape, and Claire slowly pulled the rug off.

     It was a trap door.