The Children of Hypnos

Chapter 15: Mad Science

Past the castle's portcullis was an long and empty courtyard, and the far side of it stood a yawning entrance. Weeds grew up through the courtyard flagstones. The entrance of the castle had once been covered by two great oak doors banded with iron; one now hung open on an iron hinge the length of Emery's leg, and the other lay across the floor of the entrance hall, covered in a layer of dust. Emery and Wes had to step around it to enter.

Moonlight filtered through the high narrow windows behind them, illuminating dancing dust motes in the air. To their left and right was darkness, no walls in sight, and stretching out before them was a wide green carpet covering the smooth stone floor. The ceiling vaulted high over their heads, held aloft by two rows of columns that led from the ruined doors to a large stone staircase at the far end of the hall. The staircase, too, had been destroyed. It looked as if a great fist had punched sideways through its middle; the bottom half of the stairs was scattered to their left in chunks of stone bigger than Emery's whole body, and the intact remains of the upper half hung over the gaping hole that remained. The green carpet climbed the stairs until it reached the rubble, then fell down into the hole.

The place had an eerie gaping silence; it gave Emery the feeling that something had been making noise just before they entered. Their footsteps made no sound against the carpet.

"Bets on Frankenstein monsters?" Emery said. Her voice echoed up to the ceiling.

Wes looked sick. "Please don't talk. It's creepy enough in here already."

There were no other visible doors in the room, and the staircase, like the walls, disappeared into darkness. They approached the hole in the stairs. The carpet tripped down over the rubble left behind, then fell straight, hanging into what must have been a secret passage beneath the staircase, now revealed. A ten foot drop led the way to another staircase. This one curved downward, and around the bend was the faintest glow of firelight.

Wes made an unhappy noise.

"Yes, we have to go down," Emery said. "Even if we don't find anything, we have to play out the dream to get out of here."

Her voice was higher than she liked. She pushed sweaty hair off her forehead, then looked at her hand, confused. She hadn't been sweaty until just then. Her heart beat faster, too, and her throat tightened. Wes didn't look like he was faring much better; though a chill settled through the castle, a sheen of sweat coated his forehead.

"This is just the fear the Dream wants us to feel," Emery said. "It's a nightmare, this was going to happen. The more fear we feel, the closer we are to something important."

Wes nodded. Emery lowered herself into the hole first, climbing carefully down the rubble that had partially filled the secret passageway. Wes followed. They kept their weapons out as they descended the curving staircase into the castle's basement, and Emery prayed they didn't run into anything else wearing a suit of armor.

At the bottom of the curving stair was yet another heavy door. A padlock the size of Emery's head hung on a black chain looped several times around the door handle and an iron ring on the wall.

"I can try shooting this," Emery said, "or you can dreamform it away. I'm not super eager to shoot anything else around here, so dreamforming is my choice."

Wes shouldered up beside her in the narrow passage and took the padlock. He looked it over, frowning, and said, "This is a strong dream. I don't know if I can get rid of the whole padlock, but I can probably just..." He grabbed the chain instead. The chain creaked in his fist as he squeezed tight around it, and with a loud clink, a link gave way. Wes unraveled the chain and let the padlock fall to the ground.