Zephyr's face was impassive. "I have to go," he repeated. Kyleen
and Max moved closer. "Uh, hey, Boreas? People are staring...maybe
we should take him back to the dorm and interrogate him there." Max
whispered.
Boreas gritted his teeth, then jumped onto a wave of ice, grabbed a
line of ice chains on Zephyr, and bounded away, not bothering to
wait for Kyleen or Max.
Kyleen whispered something to Max, handed him a small object, and
walked away. Max followed Boreas, hurrying to catch up. Meanwhile,
Zephyr repeated over and over in a monotone voice, "I have to go. I
have to go."
"Snap out of it!" Boreas cried, frustrated. "Look, I don't want to
hurt you. Just, hand out the hypnotising thing, tell me where Fauna
is, and I'll let you go!"
When they reached the dorm, Max opened the door and ushered them
inside. "Boreas, Kyleen's told me about hypnotism. You aren't
really self-aware. He dug a duplicate to the Hypnotico out of his
pocket. "To get Zephyr to tell us what happened, we have to get him
under a different hypnotic spell."
Benjamin was quick to follow the sheet of ice, his legs having
turned into an animal's. With those legs, he was literally bouncing
off the walls on corners, and leaping up stairs. Eventually, he
found himself at a closed door, where he was sure that Boreas had
gone into. Glancing at himself, his legs turned back to normal and
the large ears shot out from his head. Listening, he waited to hear
something from the other side of the door.
Max nodded and crouched in front of Zephyr. "Now, if I remember
correctly..." he held up the duplicate artifact and slowly swung it
from side to side. "Listen to the Call of the Hypnotico...Listen to
the Call of the Hypnotico...Listen to the Call of the Hypnotico!"
Suddenly, Zephyr's green eyes darkened to brown. "What is your
wish.," he said slowly. "Tell us where you took Fauna." "The
Underground...the Gloworms will only tell..." That's when his eyes
suddenly reverted to a shock blue. Max dropped his arm. "W-Woah,
what's going on?" He looked down at the chains. "Uh, can someone
tell me why I'm chained up?"
Zephyr rubbed his arms. "Chilly." But then, he looked up in alarm.
"Wait, Fauna's missing?!" Max held up a finger. "Uhh, I think it's
the Underground? Zephyr said something about that when he was all,
y'know, hypnoticy and stuff."
"There was an accident a couple of years ago, and these huge
glowworms started appearing in a corner of the Library. I've heard
that they can talk and stuff. Maybe they know what this Underground
is!"
Max wondered to himself why Boreas was so eager but followed after
him. "H-hey! I'm coming too!" said Zephyr, running after Max. They
all eventually found themselves at the library, where Maurice and
Kyleen were waiting for them.
Maurice said, "Oh? The glowvovms? Over here." She led them to a
tight corner, covered in a mysterious green goo. Hanging from the
ceiling were 5 large, green glowworms pulsing a strange, yellow
light. "Well, here they are," Kyleen said. "Now who's going to ask
them about Fauna?"
Max was surprised. "Me? Oh, uh, okay." He stepped up and called
out, "Uh, glowworms? You got any pizza? Or, maybe, do you know
where the Underground is? Cause we'd like that better." The
glowworms seemed to be awakened by Max's voice. You can't tell
where the voice is coming from, but a deep male voice says, "Why do
you disturb our slumber?" Max choked a little but recovered with,
"Hey ladies, naptimes over. Can you tell us where the Underground
is?" The glowworms rumbled, "You must pay the price to know of our
sacred burial ground."