Only the Several of Many (Chapter Two)
What did I say about it going dead ha. Look man, things got realllll busy and I have ADHD. So. I wanted to write it just because I was procrastinating on assignments. By the way, did you know Evelyn’s actual last name is Applby. Pfft oops too late
The cooling sensation of water wrapped Adeline when she broke the service of whatever small pool she landed in when falling however many feet. When she came up she could see her father looking down. Evelyn put a hand to her chest with relief when she saw Adeline’s face pop out of the water. “Good God girl! Are you trying to kill your old man?!” Her father shouted down, his voice travelling across the walls, bouncing their way down to her. Brushing her now soaked hair out of her face, she looked up to the two before shouting back, “You?! Are you trying to kill me?! You’re not the one who fell 50 feet!” The older man just laughed, wiping his forehead with a handkerchief, before leaving Adeline’s sight. Evelyn got down on her knees, inspecting the trap door before looking down towards Adeline. “Well? Are you alright?” She asked, almost sounding like the question wasn’t at the top of her mind. Adeline swam to the edge of the pool, beginning the process of ringing out her clothes, taking off the layers before whatever cold set in. “As well as I can be, no broken bones” She replied, now just down to a wife-beater shirt, her button-up and sweater now useless. “Well good! You'll want your strength if you want to get back up here!” Adeline heard her father holler, watching as he threw something down the hole, splashing into the water. She grabs it out before it sinks and sees something she’s only ever seen in paintings and old photos. A shiny grappling hook staring back at her, the rope around a metal bar, attached to a belt that has a makeshift harness, all the stories of the hook her father told her floods her mind. She thought it was set as an exhibit in the museum, but here it was, the cold metal in her hand. “Well, don’t just stand there, get back up here!” Her father shouts once more, breaking her out of the stare she held with the hook. Without hesitation she slips the harness in, adjusting the straps to fit her frame, as she does her head looks down the small area she had been standing on, seeing a tunnel leading farther in. “Adeline. What do you see?” Her father says, concerned. “There’s uh. There seems to be a tunnel” She says, her eyes locked on the darkness, almost as if it’s calling her. “Adeline, I know what’s coursing through your veins. It’s adrenaline, use that to get out of there and not fuel thoughts of pointless danger!” His father gets down on one knee, hoping to get his daughter’s attention. She pays no attention to him though, something is down that tunnel and Adeline Venture is determined to find out. “I’ll be quick” She says, smiling at him before heading down the tunnel. The shouts of protest become distant as she makes her way in the darkness.
— — —
Adeline has learned that everyone has a small voice in their head, one that moves the body away from danger, one that makes you rethink a decision before a terrible possibility. Adeline grew up learning how to ignore that voice.
The tunnel was very long, only when she could see light she began to pick up her speed. The tunnel opening up to a much larger one, seemingly led to a sewer system, small grates that lead to the streets lining the left and right, where water could trickle down if it rained. Large gaps between cement platforms that lead down further, Adeline could only see so far with the small amount of light coming from the grates.
Adeline glances down off the platform she currently stands on, seeing a bit of a tumble before hitting the sewage water, just as dark as the tunnel she came from. Glancing up she looked for anything hanging from the ceiling. Her hand grasping the hook, the metal cool and heavy in her hand, but it felt so right. She spots some pipes that hang low enough for a gap to be visible.
The young Venture takes a deep breath, slightly recoiling from the smell. Moves the hook lower in her hand, so soon the rope slowly gets lowered. She has to guess the length for the first time. She spins the rope getting a good constant speed before throwing the hook with her night at the pipe. Too short, she pulls the rope back and lengths it before attempting again. Her only thoughts are how her father could do this with impeccable speed and precision, having to swing from one end to the next, never breaking momentum. Another toss, and she makes the hook through the gap, pulling on the rope, the three pronged hook latches on. Adeline jumps slightly with joy.
She quickly winds the coil on the metal box, tightening the rope so she would be able to swing. When she glances down at the box once more, she sees something she missed. A small steel button, big enough to be quickly pushed and released. Quirking her eyebrow, she presses it. Feeling the coil begin to spin. Instead of releasing the rope, it begins to retract it. Bringing Adeling to the hook.
The speed whips Adeline forward, letting a shout out at the rudeness and watching as the box practically drags her up and up. Her feet are now leaving the ground and watching as she is beginning to close in on the hook on the pipe. She reflexes and hits the button once more, stopping the recoil, leaving her handing over the next platform. She laughs, of course. Adeline knows her father is a genius, but she forgets how much he enjoys the innovative side of things. A much faster recoil can give momentum to a swing. His tricks slowly became known to Adeline.
There's a low creak from above her, before a couple drops of water hit her face. She looks up at the pipe, barely able to see the shift of metal, as it begins to bend under her weight. “Oh no, oh no, oh no” She hisses to herself, as she reaches for the crank, beginning to uncoil the rope as quick as she can, so as not to fall. The creaking continues, before a loud bang, and Adeline feels her body become weightless as she falls. Landing on her back on the cement, lifting her head as to hope not to bang it. She groans before opening one eye, seeing the familiar shiny hook fall towards her.
“Shit”
She quickly moves to the side, hearing a loud clunk as the hook hits the ground, right next to her. She lays there for a minute, breathing. Not too bad for her first time.
She sits up, her back aching, she’ll definitely be bruised, but it didn’t feel as if anything broke. She slowly makes her way onto her feet, peering down the large tunnel, seeing that only two platforms away, a set of stairs. At least she has a direction. She glances up once more, finding another pipe, one that seems much more stable, she hopes. SHe goes through the steps. Throwing and bringing the rope back until the hook gets caught on the pipe. Cranking so it’s tight. Much more knowledgeable about the infamous grappling hook, she presses the button, letting the rope pull her in once more, before quickly pressing it again. The sudden stop brings her in a swing motion, and she stumbles onto the next platform.
“Yes!” She shouts, throwing her arms up in the air, she groans, still aching from the previous attempt. She looks up at the hook. Right. She grabs the end of the rope and begins to wave it. After a good two minutes of waving the rope back and forth, the hook lets go of the pipe. Cranking it up she looks towards the last platform. She cracks her knuckles.
The last attempt went smoothly, the hook still getting stuck on the pipe. How her father makes smooth transitions from one to another is beyond Adeline, and it’s becoming frustrating. She turns towards the set of stairs, the hook once again hanging at her waist. She heads up the stairs, the stairs beginning to curl before coming to a much larger chamber. Writing being written on the ground.
Adeline gets down and moves some dirt to see the words better. “Dominus Illuminatio Mea?” She says, slightly thankful for her Latin lessons her father forced her to go to (not like she had much choice, he was the teacher). She begins to hear a low grinding of stone behind her, before a sudden flash of golden light, an image of the solar system being displayed. The golden light illuminating the room also reveals small tablets displaying small excerpts, seven in a row. “Fascinating” she whispers to herself, looking at the source of the light, finding a small hole, where when she moves her hand in front of it, the image of the solar system disappears. “A projector in the walls, wonder how long that’s been there?” Adeline moves to the tablets and reads the first one. “Then God said, ‘Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear’; and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good”. She quirks an eyebrow, and reads the second, “‘Then God said, ‘Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.’ So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.’ So the evening and the morning were the fifth day”. She lets out an airy laugh, a puzzle, this was making Adeline beam with joy. To think her father and Evelyn wanted her to pass this up. She began to quickly analyze each tablet looking for the Light. Finding the tablet, she picks it up and moves it to the first pedestal, removing the other.
The projector clicks, the next slide in the film, now showing the earth. Adeline smiles. This just keeps getting better. She quickly sets down the tablet in her hand and grabs the second tablet and moves it into its correct position. Another click, and the image changes again, showing the eastern side of the earth. Adeline quickly begins to put all the tablets in place. Each a small excerpt about the seven days God made earth in, each correct placement the image got closer and closer to a place, before a glowing dot, Saint-Jean-de-Luz. France. Adeline smiled wide, her father was going to love this. She scoured the room for any more exits and when finding a small hall, she ran down.
— — —
Evelyn paced the office, looking down towards the empty spot where the secret passage had been open. It’s been an hour and a half. Dr. Venture sitting in his chair casually reading his book, the fire and the flipping of pages the only sounds that Evelyn could hear. “Are you not worried?” She says to him, she’s been fiddling with the end of her cardigan, trying to ease the several nerves she has bubbling up. “Adeline is strong, my dear. She’ll be alright” He says, not looking at her, his eyes trained on the novel. “Are we sure closing the trapdoor was a good idea?” She asks again, fearing for the other woman, Evelyn barely knew the young Venture, but anyone would worry for someone who just ran off into a dark tunnel with unknown dangers ahead. Adeline’s father finally looked up at the blonde woman, giving her a small smile and setting his book down. “Evelyn. My daughter has dreamt of things like this. There have been many times in her youth, she has come back bleeding and bruised because she has picked a fight with bigger men than her. Her mother told me before she passed, that Adeline has put me on a pedestal so high that she will go through so much trying to climb it.” He stood up, taking his small reading glasses off. “I am worried, of course I am. She is my daughter, my only one in fact. But, I saw that spark in her eyes, the one I’m all too familiar with. It’s difficult to reason with a Venture who has that spark in their eyes”.
Evelyn took in the older gentlemen's words, he clearly had seen his fair shares of scraps and bruises, scars littered his hands and arms. She had seen a few on Adeline, ones that weren’t from falling or from traps in dark chambers. They were cuts and scars from knives and split skin, she had seen them before, patched them before. Adeline was thicker than any woman she had seen, stronger than any woman. Evelyn glanced at the older man once more. Adeline was trying to prove herself to him, trying to become him. Evelyn hoped it wouldn’t get her killed.
The sudden sound of loud rapid footsteps approaching made Evelyn and Arthur look towards the door, then at each other before the older man took his cane and began to head towards the footsteps, Evelyn following on his heels. Running down the halls was one Adeline Venture, her wife beater covered in dirt and her hair tousled. The harness and grappling hook tightly fitted her frame. The smile she had on was so big and bright, it could be seen from miles away. “Adeline! You’re alright!” Arthur said, more of a statement, like he knew she’d be okay. “More or less, the hook is a bit to get used to, especially when I don’t have an instruction manual” She says, that smile never fading as she approaches the two.
Evelyn saw it, that spark. It shined so bright behind Adeline’s eyes that it made Evelyn shiver. Whatever was down there was enough for her to be extremely excited.
“You will not believe what’s down there” She breathed, she had been running a bit for her to huff the way she was. Her father had been looking her up and down, looking for any new scrapes and bruises to add to her collection. “The sewer system definitely, my girl you will need to bathe” Her father chuckled, the foul stench emanating off of Adeline was incredible but it didn’t phase either Venture. “That can wait, father. There was this, this room that had a projector in it, it showed the solar system, and there were excerpts from the bible, the ones about when God created the world. When they were put in order it showed a map, a location. Saint-Jean-de-Luz!” She said it was like she was a kid getting candy, practically jumping with joy. “You can tell me more but you need to get cleaned up, come let’s get you bathed” Arthur began to take her by the arm, leading her back down the hall, Adeline stopped abruptly, the smile now faded into a guilty look. “About that…”