The Island of Secrets

Chapter 24) Descent Into Darkness

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Cera's POV: Damien's eyes were focused on the images on the screen, as they had been for the last few minutes. Occasionally he would cackle evilly, and when Shellington evidently realised that Dashi wasn't actually there at all, Damien laughed out loud for a long few seconds. I wasn't really concentrating on the images, I was cleaning my fur absently, only half paying attention to what was going on. Lupo was sat next to Damien, but due to the look on his face he wasn't concentrating much either.

Presently, Fiona came into the room, glowering darkly at Damien's back when he showed no sign of having recognised her presence before sitting heavily down on a chair in the corner. Her newborn child was nowhere in sight. Some couple they were. I didn't know what my sister saw in Damien, but whatever it was, it wasn't constant. Why she wanted to go and get pregnant with his kid I really couldn't see, but what they did in private was their own business. I was only working with them. Maybe Fiona thought it would make him pay attention to her more, but as far as I could see that wasn't going to happen. I was amazed he sat with her through the birth.

Fiona looked over Damien's shoulder at the screen he was so intently watching, and her expression altered, if just for a moment, when she saw the wounded sea otter lying gasping on the floor of the top lobby, weakly trying and failing to fight the paralysis gas. I remembered that she had kissed him once, and wondered if she was thinking about that now. He had tricked her into doing it, it was evident from the footage that I had gone through later. He didn't care about her, he hated her, of course. But from the brief expression on Fiona's face which I had always been able to read so well, it was clear to me that she was desperate. Of course she was, by the way Damien was treating her right now. Maybe she was so deluded that she actually considered the Octonaut as a possibility. Which of course was madness. Fiona would never sink so low.

But it was an amusing thought.

Damien growled at the screen after a few moments. Shellington was now lying there, unmoving. The paralysis gas had evidently now kicked in, and whether he was still conscious or not was unclear.

"He's stopped doing things," complained Damien like a petulant child who had got bored of their new toy. "It's no fun when they're unconscious. Make him do something else."

I rolled my eyes at Lupo, who shared my look for a second, before he made another suggestion to Damien. "How about if we play a recording of Dashi crying out his name and screaming into one of our traps. He'll think she's in trouble and follow her voice, then fall into one of our traps. That entertaining enough for you?"

Damien smiled like a shark who had just spotted their prey. "I think that will be sufficient."

KateSeleneMelody3OCS

Eelean's POV: I stared down the staircase, trying to see where it led without actually going on it. Wherever it led, it probably wasn't good. But something seemed to draw me down there.

Christian had been here. I was sure of it.

Kwazii and Tweak ran into the room, followed shortly after by Kate and Selene. Peso hugged Kate on sight, which made her chuckle.

Selene was still and silent for a moment, before grabbing a decaying support beam that must've fallen from the ceiling. It was about as tall as her. She waved it in front of her, allowing it to touch the first step.

"It'll be a slow and perhaps tedious process, using this beam to check for traps, but better to go slow and avoid traps then get stuck in them." She spoke aloud. Everyone nodded agreement.

"Okay... so who's going to be first?" Kate asked. I could tell she was struggling to not volunteer for the position herself.

Captain Barnacles smiled, but it was grim. "Allow me." He replied. I could tell he didn't want anything to happen to his crew. His family. Not like on the Island of Fear, where he couldn't do anything.