As usual, Parsley was gone by the time the Kadie's woke up, off on her morning milk deliveries. She also told them that she'd be busy today with various chores and 'making the rounds' as it were. The Lapi still had time to make box lunches for her friends before leaving though.

Zahnrad bolts upright. "Morning!" he shouts as he rolls out of the bed onto all fours, handstands, then flips onto his feet and stretches! "No need to sleep the day away! A lot to do! An old hatch to unseal and all that and evil Skeeks of red eye doom to hunt down! And then we have lunch," he chitters as he zips about getting dressed. This, of course, involves hopping on one leg now and then.

Amelia pulls a pillow over her head for a moment, and then sort of oozes out of the bed. "Guh, why do I feel so worn out still?" she mutters. "Oh, I need a wine bottle. Doesn't have to be completely empty."

"Well, it might have been when Parsley was … uh … doing … that … uh … to you," Zahnrad says as he looks decidedly embarrassed for a moment. Thankful for the topic change, though, he asks, "What do you need a wine bottle for?"

"To catch the ghost in, of course," Amy notes, and finally starts her own morning stretch-belly-dance exercises.

"How does a wine bottle catch ghosts? Zahnrad asks, "That sounds silly." Still he goes to look in his box of 'random junk' (tm). Sometimes he keeps bottles for making new goggles out of. It's funny how his don't seem to survive long. Anyway, he seems to have turned up a bottle after a few minutes of searching. Of course he ends up staring at Amelia instead of handing it to her. As parts of her bounce, so does his head.

"Ah, good," Amy says, noticing the bottle. "That looks long and sturdy enough for the job!"

Zahnrad looks rather … distracted as he holds out the bottle for Amelia. "Booble," he says, the corrects himself by blurting loudly, "BOTTLE! I said BOTTLE!"

The Kadie girls laughs, and takes the bottle… which she sets aside to give Zahn a good-morning kiss. "Anything else we need to bring?" she asks him.

Of course Amelia happens to notice the tips of her claws are blood red when she takes the bottle. Zahn, however, is completely clueless as usual. And the talk of any project that might require engineering breaks him out of the male side of his brain. "Yes, there is: I need to get some solvent and also some replacement glue in case we need to reseal the passage. I believe we should have both in the storeroom," he says, "Is there anything you need?"

Hiding her hands behind her back for a moment, Amelia says, "I don't think so. Parsley left us lunches, after all."

"Ah, we can have lunch down in the old workroom then. Maybe the white Skeek will come out and chat over some tea," Zahn suggests. He finishes pulling on his clothing and then wraps his usual sturdy tool belt around his waist. "And speaking of white Skeeks, they ever been mentioned in your clan?"

"Not that I've heard," Amelia says, putting on some clothes as well… in fact, it appears she's putting on the clothes that Parsley wore on the search for Abner's cabin, before she changed. "I think the only Skeek mentioned by color is Blue Miller."

"You're going to smell like Lapi," Zahnrad comments when he notices the clothing Amelia picks. "Any stories of weird underground monsters, then?"

"Hmmm, nothing specific, no," Amy says. "I mean, we had our pond monster, but it's tame. Mostly we focused on stuff that would come out of the swamp or the forest."

"And if the Lapi know anything they won't talk about it," Zahn grumbles and shrugs. He taps on his chin for a minute while he runs through a mental list. "You'll probably want a weapon," he notes, "And you might chip up that nail polish. When did you start painting your nails, anyway? Please tell me it was recent or I'm going to feel like a dope."

"That's… not nail polish," Amy says, and shakes her hands really fast as if trying to make the color fly off. Bad demon! BAD! she chides in her mind.

"What else could it be?" Zahn asks, looking confused, "I'm not versed in girly stuff." The hand shaking, alas, isn't helping remove the color at the moment and there's no inward response to her chiding yet either.

"Well, it's like when my hair turns red," Amy says, and adds her sword-belt (and sword) to her apparel.

And of course if on cue, a lock of red hair falls in front of Amelia's eyes as if asking "You called?" Thankfully Zahn's back is to her right now.

I'm not playing with you today, Amelia tells her inner self. So behave yourself until I need you for grabbing a ghost.

And abruptly, the color is gone; just in time for Zahnrad to turn around. "Want to wait here while I go to the store room or want to come?" he asks.

Amelia says, "I should come along. I want to know how to get there."

"All right," Zahn says as he hefts his pack and slings it over his shoulder. "Let's go. You first and I'll lock the door behind you," he says.

Just because she can, Amy flicks her tail against Zahn's chest as she passes him to leave the cabin.

So Zahn grabs onto it briefly, then play-bites the tip. "Rrr," he says, "I like this view of you, it reminds me of when we… " And abruptly he lets it go and blinks. "Gah, Parsley has corrupted me," he complains.

"She doesn't have this tail though," Amy points out, and waits for Zahn outside.

As Zahnrad is locking the door behind them, there's a blood curdling scream from above and a furious gray ball of fur lands on Amelia's back. "I have you now!" Gunther declares as he promptly fluffs out all of Amelia's hair! "Ahahah!"

"AAAHHHAH!" Amy yells and spins around wildly! "GETOFF!"

Gunther goes flying! He catches one of the branches with his hind feet and swings there upside down. He's still cackling, too.

Zahnrad isn't even started by it all. "Oh, heh. Looks like he's taken to attacking you in the morning instead of me," the Kadie notes.

"What is wrong with you, Gunther?!" Amelia chatters at the younger Kadie.

"I'm bored," the young Kadie claims, "I've been up for hours and no one else was around!"

"You better not have harassed Parsley too!" Amy warns.

"Of course not! She promised me good breakfasts if she could pass in peace," Gunther notes as he sways back and forth. "So, whatcha dooooing?"

"Work!" Amy claims.

"That's boring," Gunther complains. "But … why do you have a sword, then?"

"For poking your brother with," Amelia says, arms crossed.

"So … you won't let me have it today, then?" Gunther asks hopefully. "I can poke him with it!"

"You've got your own dagger!" Amy points out.

Zahnrad rolls his eyes. He goes to the branch Gunther is hanging from and grips it. Then ever so slowly he increases his weight on it, causing it to bed down. When it has deflected about a foot, Zahnrad lets go. Of course this causes it to spring back and then vibrate in place. The Kadie hanging from it goes, "AaaaAAaaaAaaaAAAAH!"

"C'mon, let's go before this gets silly," Zahnrad tells Amelia.

"Before?" Amelia asks, hurrying along.

"Welcome to the family," Zahnrad quips and grins. The hike through the compound is quick. The storeroom turns out to be in a fairly boring place; through a side door of the kitchen and down a flight of stairs into a hollowed out portion of the trunk. The room is surprisingly well organized. All the shelves are neatly stacked with boxes and bottles and each shelf is labeled with a letter (presumably indexing them).

"Glue and solvents are under 'S'," Zahnrad says.

"Why is glue under 'S'?" Amy asks.

"For 'Sticky', of course," Zahnrad answers as he goes to the mentioned shelf. "Let's see, tree sap solvent should be here somewhere… "

Amelia checks for syrup too.

Well, syrup is sticky so after a quick look, Amelia does find it. It's right next to the honey and molasses.

"So… you don't think it's asking for trouble to keep cooking supplies next to glues and solvents?" Amelia asks.

"Dad only glued his lips shut once," Zahnrad answers. Wingnuts. Are you really surprised?

"Mmmmm," Amelia goes. "The solvent doesn't have any nasty fumes or anything does it?" she asks.

"Well, yes, it smells like feet and moldy cheese," Zahnrad answers. He seems to have found it too, because he pulls a jug off the shelf and offers it to Amelia in case she wants to take a sniff.

Amy backs up into the oatmeal. "I don't need to smell it!" she notes. "I just want to know that it's safe to use in an enclosed space… "

"Oh, it's safe. It won't kill you, it just smells bad," Zahnrad notes as he uses one of the hooks on his belt to hang the jug from. He pulls another one off and offers that to Amelia now. "Here, you can carry the glue if we need to reseal it."

The Kadie girl delicately holds the jar as if it will explode on impact.

"You look worried," Zahn comments.

"I'm not used to glue," Amelia notes. "Especially not glue used to fix dams and stuff."

"It doesn't bite," Zahnrad reassures Amelia. He pats her back now, saying, "Onward!" He starts up the stairs, then pauses to look back and ask, "Uhm, I'm not freaking you out about my family today, am I?"

"Your family?" Amy asks, looking confused. "No… I just hope I never get asked to sort through this stuff."

"Besides, we can train this one to behave the way we want. His family isn't important… " Amelia could swear she hears as soft whisper in her mind.

"Oh, no, you won't be asked to do that. Well, not unless you really screw up. Sorting the storeroom is a punishment," Zahnrad notes.

Amelia twitches, and says, "Let's get going."

"Heeheeheehee," goes the voice in her mind as the pair ascends the stairs.

"I wonder if alcohol makes demons shut up," Amelia mutters to herself.

The trip to the workshop was decidedly uneventful; Gunther didn't even ambush them again. Zahnrad showed Amelia the way into the workshop down to how all the mechanisms work and even told Amelia she could come here alone any time she wanted. That's actually a huge deal; a Kadie giving someone free access to their secret places. He didn't even hesitate.

"So, here's Abner's lair of kidnapping and fornication," Zahnrad declares as the pair enter.

With all of the stuff to look at… Amelia immediately goes to check out the bathroom. "Oooooo… "

"The bathroom is lovely," Zahnrad shouts after Amelia as he goes right to the alcove with the trap door. There he sets down the solvent and the few tools he brought (a hammer, an adjustable wrench, a prybar, and the usual coil of rope and a lantern. Whistling to himself, he checks the old glue seal to see if it has been disturbed.

Given that's it's glue (or some form of resin) that's lasted for 70 years so far… there doesn't seem to be any indication that it's been tampered with since yesterday. But then, why would ghosts need to open a hatch?

"Oh wow!" Amelia says, having found the funky bed. "If you could bring this up, Gunther and the otters would never leave it alone. It'd be the ultimate distraction!"

"Oh, uh, can you keep talking? I don't want the Skeek possessing you and sneaking up on me again," Zahnrad calls back. He digs in a side bag and pulls out a rag. The Kadie then quickly uncorks the solvent bottle and douses the end of the rag in the smelly stuff. He then starts applying it to the old glue, trying to remove it in thin layers.

Amelia comes out of the room and sits next to Zahn while he works, keeping one hand on her sword hilt. "I don't think I can be possessed. But those other pictures had Abner posing with different Skeeks. Think they were all ghosts?"

"I suspect they were actual girls, just possessed. One of them might have been my ancestor he kidnapped. Maybe the Skeek possessed them while they were drugged so Abner would have an active partner," Zahn suggests as he continues to work. "And what bestows immunity to possession? I don't want to get possessed!"

"Being born with a demon," Amy notes. "And… you know… the witch stuff. Ghosts respect witches!"

"You don't look very demonic," Zahnrad notes and looks up briefly.

"I can fix that… " Amelia hears.

"Not at the moment, no," Amy says, gritting her teeth.

There a stink from the solvent, of course… and some fizzing noises as it eats into the outer layer of resin-glue.

Zahnrad resumes his work. "Did I tell you the ghost asked for my head?" Zahnrad comments, "I can't remember if I did."

"Think the hatch leads down to… hmm," Amelia muses, looking thoughtful. "We're under the reservoir right? Well… it's one of your best features."

"We're almost center under the reservoir, yes," Zahnrad agrees, "I suspect this is a passage that eventually leads into the same tunnels we saw before, the ones with the apartments and such. Maybe the old workshop. We have those pictures of Abner in the grotto after all."

"I'm trying to figure out the map in my head," Amy notes. "I guess the canal that heads under the manor must lead here somehow. We didn't check that one."

"The burned out manor? I haven't been there since I was a kid," Zahnrad notes, "The place is just creepy."

"I haven't been there," Amy notes. "Except for the graveyard. Did you explore the basements?"

"No, I was only ten at the time. Dark creepy holes in the ground made me nervous," Zahnrad admits. "Just being near the place made my fur stand up. I heard that horrible events at a spot leaves a mark that people can feel. Is that true? You're kind of a witch, so you'd know, right?"

"Yeah, it's true," Amy says. "You don't seem afraid of dark creepy holes in the ground anymore though," she points out with a grin, as the solvent keeps breaking down the glue.

"Eh, get blown up a few times and flung across the lake more times than you could count and dark holes lose their scariness," Zahnrad claims. "Besides, I have you with me. No one can beat you."

"I like him!" Amelia's inner monologue comments.

"Mmmmmm," Amy goes. "Of course no one can beat me!" she says. I like him too, she thinks to herself.

There's a slight cracking sound as part of the glue seal gives way.

"Though … having someone be a little rough is fun," Amelia hears.

Zahn holds his hand over the crack, feeling for either air being blown out or sucked in.

There's definitely a pressure difference, with warm are blowing out from the crack.

"Good, it's exhausting. That means the air shouldn't be too stale. We shouldn't suffocate down there," Zahnrad declares! So, back to work on the glue. He also decides to just knock on the door, you know, in case anyone is down there…

There's no reply to the knock.

"Did you really think someone would be waiting on the other side?" Amelia asks, a bit quietly.

"Not really. There hasn't been any evidence anyone still lives down there," Zahnrad admits, "I was being polite just in case."

"There are the trolls," Amy notes, sounding uncertain. "And apparently ghosts. But we haven't seen ant of those in other areas before."

Thinking of something, though, Zahn presses one ear to the center of the hatch and listens. With air movement … if there is any water down there that might be rising … he might hear some gurgling. That's the theory anyway.

There is certainly some sort of whooshing sound, but it's so faint that he could just be hearing the blood in his ears.

"I don't think there's a geyser waiting for us," Zahnrad declares. "So, do you feel anything weird down here?"

"Nooo, but it's not like I can feel ghosts or geysers," Amy admits. "Abner wouldn't put his workshop over a geyser anyway, would he?"

"Weeeeell," Zahnrad begins, "A steam vent can be used as a mechanical power source."

"You could feel more if you embraced me," Amelia's inner companion reminds her.

"Yeah, but it's a hatch," Amy says. Then she takes a deep breath, and mentally asks, What will that cost me?

"Why, horns of course!" Amelia hears.

"Pipe lines can have hatches," Zahnrad notes. He sets the rag he had been using to apply solvent to the glue and gives the hatch a few tugs, testing how much it still holds.

Fine, if it'll help, Amelia relents, and warns Zahn, "Uh, I may sprout horns for a little bit. Don't worry about it!"

The crack has left some give, but it hasn't fully spread around the entire circumference yet.

"Say what?" Zahnrad says as he looks up at Amelia. Of course he just had to look when Amelia feels the skin of her forehead split in two spots. It actually doesn't hurt; it just feels weird as something solid slowly slides through the new gap. His interest in the hatch goes on hold as he stares at Amelia. "That, that," he stammers.

"They're not real," Amy says, with a slight grumble.

"They're neat!" Zahnrad declares as the ram-shaped horns curl down and rest lightly against the sides of Amelia's face. "Can I touch them?"

"You're going Gunther on me, aren't you?" Amelia asks, but nods. "Yes, you can touch anything on me, you know that… "

And so Zahn takes a hold of them and turns Amelia's head this way and that. When he lets go, he nods approvingly. "There's only one thing you might want to worry about with those … "

The Kadie girl eyes Zahn critically. "You're going to say something about 'handlebars' and sex, aren't you?" she says.

"No, but that's not a bad idea, you know," Zahnrad says, then grins widely. "You better hope your children some day doesn't have them! That would hurt! But on the plus side you could hang them from a clothesline when they misbehaved!"

Amelia just… gapes… at Zahn. "They'd be your children too! And I don't think it's hereditary like that."

Zahnrad grins and shrugs. Instead of commenting immediately he cups his hand under her chin and kisses her. "It's just my way of saying don't worry about things like that around me; I already accepted everything about you," he claims as he draws back. "Truth be told, your father is far more terrifying than those are."

"Well, okay then," Amy says, mollified. "Now go back to your glue while I try to detect any spirits."

"Just one thing, though," Zahnrad says…

"What?" Amy asks.

"Don't you dare show those to Gunther. He'll demand a pair," Zahnrad says quite seriously.

"Just be glad I don't sprout wings," Amy notes, and then stands up and closes her eyes. She seems to be looking around the room, and then starts following some sort of trail into the bathroom.

"It would be neat if you did!" Zahnrad claims. As Amelia heads off to hunt, Zahnrad returns his attention to the old glue. Feeling in decent spirits, he resumes whistling while he works.

Amy wanders from the bathroom into the bedroom, and then back to the hatch, which makes another cracking sound as the ring of glue finally gives.

"Anything interesting?" Zahn asks as he gives a careful tug on the hatch, trying to free it.

Opening her eyes, Amy rubs at her horns and says, "I can tell it's been here, and that it came up through the hatch. And it's attracted to lusty thoughts."

"Oh, uh, that was Parsley!" Zahnrad claims, "Can you tell what it was?"

Amelia discovers something mildly disturbing. Rubbing the horns feels good.

You're doing that on purpose, aren't you? Amy thinks to her inner spirit.

There's no reply to that particular question.

"Just… a spirit of some sort," Amy says, and shrugs. "I don't know enough to say what kind. But it could have been a Skeek ghost, I suppose."

The hatch is now just being held closed by it's own clamping mechanism, connected to the turn wheel on top.

Zahn pats the hatch. "Well, shall we go try to learn about these Skeeks of years past? They were obviously brilliant, though I am afraid they may have been a bit on the lewd side, all things being equal," he says. And with that, he goes to the clamping mechanism and starts the process of releasing it.

Amy steps back, and draws her sword just in case. There's a groan as the mechanism unfreezes, and then hatches pops up a bit and releases a puff of warm, sulfurous air.

"Wow, smells worse than the solvent," Zahnrad claims. The Kadie does what any Wingnut would do at this point. He sticks his head in the hole and shouts, "Hello?!"

The word echoes down into the dark, wet, creepy hole. There are reverse-ladder rungs cut into the side, and the walls look smooth.

"Oh look! A dark creepy hole!" Zahnrad declares. Amelia, of course, hears a snickering voice in her head.

"Hmmm," Amy says, looking into the hole. "Do you want to go down it, or try to summon the ghost?"

"I'm not sure how to summon the ghost," Zahn admits as he peers down the hole.

"Well… uh… handlebars," Amy suggests with a grin.

Zahnrad blinks a few times. "Amelia are you asking me to … " he says, "… shake the branches with you? You want to try the bed, don't you?"

Amelia nods, and grins. "I mean, we haven't been alone together since that first night," she notes. "Ever since, Parsley's been with us."

"True … and she's no Kadie," Zahnrad has to agree, "Sure , she's nice … but there's something about the feel of your brush, uhm… " He closes the hatch but doesn't engage the locking mechanism. He extends his hand to Amelia now as he says, "Let's go summon a ghost. We'll try all day if we have to." Sure, the Kadie is grinning goofily, but there's true fondness in his eyes. "And if it doesn't work, well … it doesn't matter! We win either way!"