Easternport Vol. 1, First Edition

A New Day - Part 3

Mikkel

The meeting from the previous night had disturbed me a little, and not just because Cory managed to degrade herself so thoroughly.

I knew that the Serpents would be watching us, but I didn't realize to what extent. Knowing that I had started a fight with a Serpent squad was a given. And knowing we had crossed the Southern Bridge was obvious enough. They were probably watching the area constantly for Jaggars. But knowing about my connection to Steven was something I hadn't expected. Sure, I knew they'd be watching the police, just like they watched for the Jaggars. But the way that Marcel had said it made me think they knew my intention with the police. Or perhaps they had only been guessing.

Either way, by the time I made it back to Rea Estate that night, I was in desperate need of a drink to soak in. But that decision made the next day difficult. Between Cory's thoughtless waking and Anna's screaming and Miles's building anger toward me, my head felt as if it was about to break. I needed them all to shut up. But that wasn't going to happen as long as I was within reach. So I decided to find a place out of their reach and out of reach of their noise.

So I picked myself off the table and dragged my dying body up the stairs to Miles's room closet where I knew there had to be a trap door to the hidden passage ways. No one followed after me.

Finding the passage ways was easy as long as you knew where to look and how to look. That's how I found the tunnel in the wine cellar. I knew which room to look in and I knew how to look. But I hadn't found the interior passageways because I hadn't known where to look; not until Miles gave it away. Knowing where it was, it was easy to find the door. My hangover couldn't even slow me down.

Cory

Mikkel went back to bed after the flashlight argument. He looked to be in pretty bad shape from all the drinking he must have done between the hours of two and eight in the morning. He was oozing a horrible feeling of pain or vexation and lazy loathing, if that's possibly a thing. I was certain that Miles felt it too. He just didn't care how Mikkel felt. But it worried me. Mikkel never gave off such dark feelings before. Usually he was upbeat in spite of all odds.

Steven reentered the room with a Serpent soldier in tow. The soldier looked to be about in his early twenties, held his head tall and his shoulders squared and carried the phone Marcel had promised us the night before along with a radio and a few cords to hook them both up. "He's here to hook up a phone," Steven said.

"And a radio," the soldier added. "Where would be your closest port?"

"I think there's an old rotary phone in the study," Miles said. "Here, I'll show you. Steven, did you--"

"Yes, I did," Steven said. "He'll be here as soon as possible."

"Thank you," Miles said. He led the soldier into the study across from the kitchen. "I don't suppose you know anything about electrical wiring, do you? We really could use a good electrician to look some things over." His voice faded into a hollow echo before disappearing behind stone walls.

I opened the fridge to look for something to eat.

"You're hungry again?" Ingrid asked. "I just made you breakfast."

"Sorry," I said, grabbing a jar of homemade yogurt. "I get real hungry when I'm healing. Do we have any meat?"

Ingrid came over to the fridge and rummaged through for meat and lettuce and a few other things to make me a sandwich. Meanwhile, I sat down with the yogurt and started eating. I had an overwhelming feeling that the Serpents were going to push me back into Jaggar Territory very soon and I didn't want my shoulder aching while I was down there.