Out of the ballroom and into, surprisingly, not a hallway. I found myself in a mid-sized square room, with a fireplace on the right, along with a few cozy chairs, a drinks cabinet, and a coffee table. A quiet little spot for some after dinner conversation. To the left of it was a staircase leading upwards.
I rummaged in the drinks cabinet first, taking two bottles of whiskey that were small enough to fit in my pockets. I also found the Cuban cigars that I had hoped would be there, because it meant a lighter of some sort wasn't far off. If I was going to be dealing with plant monsters, then having the ingredients for some Molotov cocktails would prove rather handy.
Sweeping my arm across the coffee table, I knocked its contents to the floor, figuring for whatever reason that they would be easier to search through that way. A few magazines, food scraps, a cheesy book of poems called Outside a Broken Window, and an expensive pipe, but no lighter.
Frustrated, I started going through the drawers on the side of the table, unearthing random knickknacks, but no lighter. I had just about given up hope, when I heard a polite cough behind me that nearly gave me a heart attack. I turned to find myself face to face with Kenneth Mugsy, holding the lighter I had so desperately sought, along with one of the cigars.
"Lookin for this?" he asked, in a smug tone of voice, as if not only aware that he had nearly frightened me to death, but rather happy about the fact.
"In fact, I am," I said, pulling myself together and trying to remember the little I knew about Kenneth. He was a shortish man, not so much fat as just kind of broad, with surprisingly boyish looking curly hair. All I knew about him was that he owned some kind of fish farm.
Smirking, he handed me the lighter, popped the lit cigar in his mouth, and extended his free hand.
"Kenneth Mugsy. Most people call me Kevin. I don't think we were introduced at dinner."
I shook his hand grudgingly, letting go as soon as polite.
"Nillium Neems. I'm, err, a... brain doctor." I added the last bit on a whim. No clue why. I was just annoyed at his attitude. Of course, then I frowned. This 'Kevin' guy, seemed awfully calm for being stuck in a mansion full of murder.
"You do know there's monsters and stuff going around, right?" I asked, taking a step back in case he was one himself.
He just shrugged and took a puff of his cigar.
"I did the running around in terror thing for a while. Then I figured we're probably all going to die anyways, so I might as well relax. Smoke a quality cigar, maybe drink a little brandy. Care to join me?"
I gave him a disgusted look.
"People are dying, you moron! We have to save them!"
He just puffed, puffed, and blew smoke in my face like a jerk. Annoyed to the point of anger, I just huffed, pocketed the lighter, and walked past him and up the stairs. I heard his footsteps behind me before I was even halfway up. I whirled on him furiously.
"Decided to have a heart after all?" I asked.
He just puffed his cigar at me.
"Not really. I just figured I might as well not die alone. No harm in following you around to see what happens."
Shaking my head, deciding to just ignore the man and hope that Mr. Slither went for him first, I kept walking. On up the stairs and onto the landing at the top, still holding my Teddy Bear in one hand. Naturally, I found myself faced by a hallway and a row of doors. I felt like screaming.
Not wasting any time, still hearing the surprisingly quiet steps of Kenneth Mugsy behind me, I opened the first door I came to and went through. It opened up onto a library, one of the classy ones with spiral staircases, all kinds of ornate carvings, and a huge portrait on one wall that was presumably of one of the family founders.
There was also another dinner guest, standing in the middle of the library looking terrified and lost. Instantly I trusted him, since as opposed to 'Kevin' he had the proper reaction to his situation. I crept up behind him, placed the Teddy Bear's cold nose against the back of his neck, and shouted 'Boo'. I have a large streak of mischief in me.
He yelled in alarm as he turned and punched me across the face. Admittedly, I probably deserved it. I fell sideways to the ground, taking in the appearance of the man who hit me as I landed.
Average in height, a little scruffy but with good enough looks to pull it off, he looked like the sidekick in about a dozen or so detective shows. Not handsome enough to be the main lead, but not ugly enough to be a villain, he was left with the role of slightly dashing almost-hero.
"Sebastian Aioli?" I asked from my place on the floor.
He lowered his fists.
"Nil?"
I waved at him.
"What's up, Seabass. Congrats on not being murdered yet."
"You're that weird girl from dinner right?"
I was starting to get annoyed at being remembered that way on a pretty much universal basis. That weird girl at dinner. The weird girl on the bus. The weird girl who crashed the library elevator (don't ask). I was always 'the weird girl who did the crazy thing\was from that place'. And I was getting fed up with it. Of course before I could say anything about this to Sebastian, I saw him look behind me and his eyes went wide with shock.
Turning my head in panic, fearing another plant zombie, I just saw Kenneth Mugsy. His own eyes had gone a bit wide, and he stood there staring at Seabass. It occurred to me that they had been sitting on opposite ends of the dinner table, and might just have failed to notice each other. Until now.
"You!" Seabass shouted, his eyes narrowing with rage.
Kenneth turned and ran. Seabass dashed after him, vaulting right over my still prone body. Lying still for another minute, trying to take it all in, I shrugged and then got to my feet.
"That was weird."
Then I decided to explore the library. I made it three steps before I heard frantic steps behind me, as Seabass and Kenneth both ran back into the room. I just dodged being knocked to the ground once more, and stared in confusion at their departing figures as they headed for one of the spiral staircases to the second floor. Then I heard the slithering and everything became clear. Mr. Slither had found us.
I took off running, following in the steps of Kenneth and Seabass, and hit the stairs only a little behind them both. I'd learned to run pretty fast over the years, usually out of necessity, so it was surprisingly easy to catch up with them. Which unfortunately, meant that Mr. Slither as well wouldn't have that much trouble.
They were both out of breath by the time we hit the landing at the top, which branched into a walkway that circled the entire upper floor of the library. There were two doors, one at the opposite end from us, and one only a few feet away, and I found myself dearly hoping that one of them would take us out of the library.
The slithering below us increased in volume, and what seemed to be nothing more than a roiling ball of vines entered the room. No Mr. Slither after all. It wiggled and writhed, and did just about everything else intimidating that sentient vines can manage, but beneath the façade of horror, it was basically just a slow rolling lump of plants.
I watched until it collided with the bottom step, and was not surprised when it couldn't seem to get any higher. It just kind of bumped against the stairs, viney fingers reaching out uselessly for support. The terror on both of my companions faces faded.
"It can't get up." Seabass said.
Kenneth leaned over the railing to take a closer look.
"Doesn't even seem scary from up here. It's just a big, slow moving ball. Huh." He turned to share a glance with Seabass, both a little embarrassed that they had run from something so dumb. Of course, then they realized what they had originally been up to.
Seabass was the first to act, charging towards Kenneth and shoving him back against the railing. His hands found their way around Kenneth's neck, and it looked like it would all be over until Kenneth stomped hard on his foot, pushed the stunned Seabass backwards a step, and then hit him across the face with a punch. After that they just kind of started hitting each other, neither one bothering to defend or dodge.
"You stole my wife!" Seabass shouted, making their dispute at least a little clearer for me as he launched a punch into Kenneth's stomach.
"It was only for a little while!" Kenneth responded, as if that made everything all right. He threw two quick jabs to his opponent's chest.
I sidled closer to the nearby door, so that I wouldn't accidently trip either of them, and just stood there for a while enjoying the show. There wasn't much I could do to break it up.
"Villain!" Seabass shouted. Punch.
"You were a useless employee. Always slacking on the job. What was I supposed to do!?" Kick.
"Wife stealing blackguard!" Punch, hit, shove.
Then the door beside me opened. All three of us froze as Silas Took, lord and master of Took Manor, walked into the room. I could tell right off that something was wrong. He moved in the herky-jerky motions of a wooden puppet, like his limbs didn't quite work right. His face was ashen and the expression on it was one of stark, raving terror. He stopped in front of me, fell to his knees and vomited. Without wanting to be rude, I took a few steps back. I was fond of my sneakers with their little Charlie Brown patches over the holes, and would hate for them to get all eww.
"Dinner disagree with you?" I asked, knowing good and well that wasn't the case.
"Can't..." he said in a dry rasp of a voice, like a mummy come to life. "Can't... stop it..."
I glanced over at Kenneth and Seabass, who both looked ready to run. Then I turned back to Silas Took.
"What has caused all this?" I asked, daring to step closer to him. I knelt down beside him, taking my luck even further. "How do we stop Mr. Slither?"
He gave me the most horrifying mockery of a smile that I'd ever seen, as he looked up at me from where he knelt.
"Haunted me... for years," he said slowly, as if merely speaking was a great struggle. "The curse, the... curse!" He collapsed completely to the floor, facedown and unmoving.
Gently, I reached out and poked him with my Teddy Bear. Then I turned to Seabass and Kenneth, who were looking on in horror.
"I think he died..."
I nearly screamed as Silas Took's right hand shot out and grabbed my arm, gripping it with surprising strength. The Teddy Bear fell from my hands. Slowly, as if he were Atlas holding up the world, Silas lifted his head to look me in the eye.
"One of the other guests is helping it," he said, his face scrunching up as he summoned what strength he had left to speak. "You must run, Neems. Run... as quickly as you can. Run before I..."
The lights flickered. Silas Took's face transfigured into something that didn't even look human, and for just a second, I knew what truest terror looked like.
"...Gwelhb'hot..." he all but whispered.
Taking the hint that something unpleasant was about to happen, I took several quick steps back from him, till I stood with Seabass and Kenneth once more. An odd twilight glow lit the room, a strange sort of dark light that made everything seem fuzzy around the edges, blurred and not quite real. Shadows twisted and morphed, and others appeared where no shadows could possibly be. I held my hands up before my eyes, trying to remember if I'd accidently overdosed on the anti-psychotics that I'd gotten a prescription for a few weeks back. Nope, because I'd thrown them out when my parents weren't looking. What was happening was real.
Silas Took got to his feet. He was backlit now by the not-quite light, just the silhouette of a man, a form in the darkness that could have been anyone. There was a ripping sound and he jerked slightly to the side, a puff of feathers or cloth, or maybe just more shadows leaping up from his back and floating into the air.
As they started to fall, I heard that telltale slither as three long tendrils grew out of his back, growing upwards and then curling down to his chest, down to the floor, and across the floor towards me. Mr. Slither was back...
I'm not sure who screamed first. By all rights it should have been me, since I appeared to be target number one. All I know is that Kenneth was the first to move, turning to run back down the stairs we'd just come up. Seabass was only a few steps behind him, and I was only a few steps behind him after taking a last and terrified look at Mr. Slither. We all stopped short when we saw what waited below.
The previously harmless ball of plant vines had unfolded itself into a floor of plant vines, spreading out until the entire area below us was covered. Worse yet, some of the vines were already creeping their way up the walls towards us.
I shared a glance with my companions, then looked over at Mr. Slither. He was still walking towards us, slowly, but too fast all the same. And I didn't even have my Bear to defend myself.
"We need a game plan and fast," I said, turning back to Seabass and Kenneth. Kenneth's eyes narrowed, he looked at the nearest door, then kicked Seabass in the chest and ran for it. Seabass hit the railing and began to fall.