The world froze for a heartbeat.
Blood slid down the rusty metal floor of the clock tower, dripping between the gears like ink sinking into old paper. Lili stood trembling behind #@&#, clutching the brass key her grandfather had left her. The masked men tightened their circle, shadows stretching across the dusty floor as if they were reaching for the three of them.
"Okay," #@&# whispered, raising his hands, "I'd like to officially declare that this is—without competition—the worst day of my career."
One of the masked men growled.
"That tower door won't open again. You're trapped."
"Ah," #@&# nodded. "Yes. Wonderful. Perfect. I love when criminals explain the situation like a tutorial."
Behind him, William hissed, "Stop joking! This is serious!"
"Everything's serious when you stop laughing," #@&# replied. "I refuse."
The gears above them groaned, and the giant pendulum swung with a heavy metallic KA-CHUNG, as if warning them all.
Suddenly, a crack of glass echoed.
The mirror.
The strange mirror they carried from the mansion—strapped to William's back—began to glow, vibrations pulsing through its frame as if it sensed danger.
"Why is it doing that?" William whispered.
"I don't know," #@&# said. "Ask it politely?"
The mirror flashed. Words appeared like smoke on its surface:
LOOK DOWN.
#@&# didn't hesitate. He shoved William and Lili flat on the floor just as a masked man swung a metal pipe where William's head had been.
"RUN!" #@&# yelled.
They darted between broken gears and metal beams. The masked men followed like wolves.
A gear snapped loose above them.
A giant, three-meter wheel came crashing down.
"DUCK!" #@&# shouted.
William screamed. Lili screamed. #@&# also screamed—but he insisted it was "manly screaming."
They rolled aside just before the gear smashed into the wooden platform, exploding into dust and splinters.
"WHY DOES EVERYTHING IN THIS TOWER WANT TO KILL US?!" William cried.
"I DON'T KNOW! MAYBE IT'S HAUNTED! MAYBE IT'S MAD WE BROKE IN! MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE YOU NEVER SAY PLEASE TO ANTIQUE MACHINERY!"
Behind them, Lili tugged #@&#'s sleeve urgently.
"The mirror! It's showing something!"
They all turned.
The mirror's surface swirled like water. A scene appeared:
Lili's grandfather… writing at his desk… sliding a leather notebook into a hidden panel… then turning toward the viewer and mouthing a single word:
"RUN."
Then the image shifted.
A symbol.
A serpent biting its tail.
Surrounded by flame-like markings.
William gasped. "That's—"
"The symbol from the masked men's jackets," #@&# finished. "Great. Love that for us."
Then another flash of words burned onto the mirror's glass:
THE SECRET IS UNDER THE BELL.
#@&# blinked.
"Under the—wait. Under the bell? As in the HUGE bell above us?"
They all looked up.
The tower's enormous iron bell hung overhead like a sleeping giant.
Lili swallowed. "How… how do we get up there?"
A masked man answered from behind them:
"You don't."
He lunged.
#@&# kicked a toolbox into the man's legs, sending him stumbling. William grabbed a wrench and—against all expectations—actually knocked another masked man unconscious.
#@&# stared. "WILLIAM—WHAT?!"
William gasped. "I panicked! My ancestors must be proud!"
The last masked man blew a whistle. Reinforcements were coming.
"Up!" #@&# said. "We climb!"
They scrambled up the metal ladder bolted to the wall. The tower shook with every step, as if the entire structure disapproved.
Halfway up, the ladder broke.
"No, no, no, NO—" #@&# shouted as the bottom half of the ladder fell away.
They dangled.
Lili clung to #@&# like a terrified cat.
William clung to Lili.
#@&# clung to a rusty bolt that absolutely would not pass a safety inspection.
"Well," #@&# grunted, "if I fall, please tell the cat to come to my funeral."
William wheezed, "WHY THE CAT?!"
"WE SPENT MORE EMOTIONAL TIME TOGETHER THAN YOU AND I!"
He swung his body sideways, kicking open a maintenance hatch. They hauled themselves inside a narrow crawl-space, the walls lined with old copper wires and dust thick enough to suffocate a hamster.
They crawled.
The masked men were climbing after them like spiders.
Finally they reached the top—just behind the giant bell.
Below the bell, hidden by shadows, was a wooden trapdoor.
Lili gasped. "This must be it! The secret!"
But they had no time.
The masked men burst into the crawl-space.
#@&# turned to William.
"Do you trust me?"
"No!" William shouted. "Absolutely not!"
"Good! Then this'll be a surprise!"
He grabbed the rope attached to the bell.
And pulled.
The bell dropped three centimeters.
A thunderous DOOOOONG roared through the tower.
The vibration knocked the masked men backward, shaking the entire structure.
"Again!" Lili said.
They rang the bell.
Then again.
The constant shockwaves rattled everything—the gears, the ceiling, the floor—until the masked men lost their balance completely and fell back through the crawl-space.
The tower went still.
Breathing hard, #@&# knelt beside the trapdoor.
"Alright," he whispered. "Time to see what Grandfather Shadow-Secrets was hiding."
He pushed it open.
Inside was a narrow stairway spiraling into darkness.
At the bottom lay something glowing.
A book.
Wrapped in chains.
Marked with the serpent symbol.
#@&# swallowed. William shivered. Lili's eyes widened, full of fear and hope.
"What… what is that?" William whispered.
#@&# exhaled slowly.
"I think," he said, "we just found the reason they're trying to kill us."
A whisper drifted up the stairs.
Not human.
Not friendly.
Almost… welcoming.
"Come closer…"
Lili grabbed #@&#'s hand.
William stepped back.
The mirror flashed one final message:
DO NOT OPEN IT.
#@&# stared down the stairs.
And smiled nervously.
"Well," he said, "we're definitely opening it."
And they descended.
—— つづく ——