Hilbert and the others have been walking through more hallways and corridors. They haven't found another big room since then. The sounds of their footsteps softly reverberated in his ears. The castle itself was a quiet place, but the silence did make it eerie.
The constant same sights caused Esta to start grumbling. "I can't take it anymore. Why does everything here look the same?"
"Maybe it's to throw people off on purpose?" Hilbert pondered. "It's actually a clever tactic to trap intruders and have them be discouraged and frustrated from venturing further."
"You're only saying that because this tower fascinates you."
"Maybe."
"Esta has a point, though." Margaret remarked. "It does make it hard to tell if we're going somewhere or if we have been going the same path several times without realizing it."
"If only we had a map or something…"
Vanessa thought of an idea, "Why don't we take a look at Arcturus's journal? He writes down a lot of things, right? Since he did traverse through the first Castle Lavender, maybe there's something in there that can help us clue in to how to traverse through this maze."
Sophia was vehement towards the idea. "Hey, we shouldn't be looking inside people's journals. It's private information! You kept diaries and such in your youth, right? You know how secretive they can be!"
"Then, should we just keep getting lost forever?" Asteria inquired. "I'm for the idea of looking into the journal. Just keep it a secret between us."
"The real question is if the journal is wet," Bootes quipped. "We all fell into the sea when the house got destroyed, right? The bag is soaked, right?"
Murphy jumped in, "Fortunately, Sophia and I didn't touch the water as we were on top of a large chunk of the house when it got destroyed. It only got soaked a little as she lost her balance and fell on her butt near the water."
Worry befell Sara as she questioned, "If the bag got soaked a little, shouldn't you check if the journal is wet? He had two, right? A black and a red one?"
Sara made a very good point and it caused everyone to gasp. Murphy swiftly took the two journals out of the bag to see if there was any water damage. The bottom of the red one was soaked while the black one wasn't. Hilbert took a good look at both from afar. The black one did have some wavy pages, as if it looked as if it had prior water damage, yet the ink still didn't smudge. It would make sense as Arcturus had traversed through a boat to reach Eternally.
Murphy sighed with relief. "At least the ink didn't smudge."
Marlo then pointed out, "You do know you are looking through his journal?"
Sophia and Murphy gasped as they realized what they had done. Hilbert glanced over at Sara and wondered if she had asked that question on purpose. She was hard to read, even for him who had known her for a long time.
"What's done is done." Asteria said, "Anyways, does the journal have anything regarding Castle Lavender that can help us?"
Sophia looked through the black one and Murphy skimmed through the red one. Murphy stated that the entries were recent, and closed the book and put it back in the bag. Sophia pointed out how a lot of his entries were disjointed as he took a lot of notes, but only dated the ones that had his personal thoughts.
"A lot of his notes in between the dated entries are just observations and such. There's a few bulleted notes before his entry on EW 22-260 that do detail a bit of the things he experienced in Castle Lavender."
"What do they say?" Hilbert asked out of curiosity.
"He says that the castle is full of tricks that Nova does to trap his enemies."
"What kind of tricks?"
"Well, he witnessed hidden staircases that revealed themselves through a button so tiny that he had to activate them with his daggers. There's another one where he saw Nova purposely shifting around walls to trap Shifties that were after him." She flipped a page. "That's about it." She quickly closed the journal and put it back in the bag.
"Not much that would help us…"
"Finding a small button would take forever for us to find," Vanessa muttered.
"What if the walls we're traveling through are the ones that were already shifted?" Sara pondered.
Hilbert then noticed Murphy had his head turned towards the right.
"Are you okay?"
"I hear that voice from before…"
"The one before we entered this building?" Sophia asked with concern.
"Yes…that woman's voice… she's telling me to follow her."
"But you can't see her…?"
"I can sense reverberations from the direction she's speaking to me."
"He's not lying," Constance remarked as her ears twitched. "I can hear her too."
Hilbert scanned his surroundings. They were in a corridor that was basically a linear path. Their only option was to resume straight on ahead and that was what they did. They had to trust the quarter-Plasmian man and the Shiftie who were more in tune with the supernatural than the Ilacians and Laminans around them. He wasn't sure how long they had been walking, but they soon had reached a dead end.
"There's nothing but a wall here!" Marlo proclaimed.
"No, the voice is saying that the room was sealed off due to Nova's power. He just shifted the wall, so no intruder could enter." Murphy explained.
"Do we really have to find a tiny button to open the door?" Esta asked; Hilbert could easily see that she wasn't up for that idea.
Constance's ears twitched again as she spoke, "No. She said that as long as there's a force strong enough to make a hole in the wall, we should be able to enter this room."
Hilbert walked up to the wall and knocked on it. "Is it even possible to make a hole in the wall? This is really hard material."
"Well, there's a reason why we have a Shiftie with us." Asteria glanced at Constance. "You're able to make a hole with your strength, right? Or are you just a useless robot?"
Constance shook her head. "I am not a useless robot."
She then placed her brother on the floor gently as she stood in front of the wall. Everyone else distanced themselves to give her space; The men had to carry 541-STG's body and moved him aside so he wouldn't get in her way.
Constance then asked, "Should I make a hole by kicking?"
"Speaking of which, is it even possible to make a hole in a block of ice?" Marlo wondered.
"Uh, yes? Haven't you seen ice fishing?" Vanessa spoke condescendingly.
"Yes, but don't they use special machines to make holes on a frozen lake?"
"That's for regular ice. This is incandescent ice. It's durable and really hard."
"No, Marlo does make a good point," Bootes remarked. "People use special gadgets on incandescent ice to shape them. Even if Shifties are really strong, can they even withstand the force of a hard block of unmelting ice?"
"We won't know unless we try." Margaret said.
Hilbert then noticed Constance muttering calculations of the wall's density and the probability of her success rate. She then prepared herself.
Sophia started fretting to her husband. "What if her leg breaks? Her arm tends to fall off, so what if her leg experiences the same thing?"
Murphy responded by gathering her hands into his and hoped for their daughter's success. Constance then swiftly pierced the wall with her foot. The sole of her boot was stuck. She had to use force to pull it out and repeated the kicking until a visible hole was created. Hilbert had lost the amount of kicks she had to make to create a hole big enough for everyone to fit through. However, he was amazed by her strength.
Combat Shifties really are on another level…
Her final kick did cause her right leg to stiffen up. "It seems like my leg is malfunctioning."
Sophia ran up to her and started fretting over her leg.
"I thought Shifties were a lot more durable, especially Combat ones like you." Asteria stated.
"I am an older model."
"Makes sense. Thank you, though."
"Are you going to be okay?" Sophia was panicking. She turned to Hilbert. "Can't you do something about this? My baby's leg is malfunctioning!"
"I lost my equipment, ma'am…" The fact that he couldn't do anything for Constance right now annoyed him. Technology and gadgets were his trade and not being able to do anything frustrated him. How would he make inventions if he had nothing to tinker with? How could he be of use to others if his value was already lost the moment he lost his important tools?
Sophia quickly apologized. Constance decided to change into her deer form so it'd be easier for her to move around with more legs. Asteria was the first to go through the hole. Murphy and Hilbert hoisted 541-STG up and then they went through with Constance and Sophia following suit. The rest of DUO then followed them.
What Hilbert saw was the largest room in the building by far. He quickly noticed two people on a large throne and instantly recognized them to be Arcturus and Nova. Arcturus was sitting on the throne with his head hung low. Hilbert was able to recognize Nova because of his hair color. His back was mainly facing the front, but it did look as if he was kneeling and resting himself against his legs.
"How sweet." Esta remarked.
Margaret suddenly rushed towards them. She then turned to the group. "Arcturus is bleeding! Quick, help me lay him down so I can treat his wound!"
"Are you sure we should separate them?" Marlo asked. "They look peaceful!"
"Well, are you going to take responsibility if Arcturus dies from his wound?"
Marlo immediately clammed up as he helped separate Arcturus and Nova. Bootes was carrying Nova while Marlo and Vanessa carried Arcturus. Sara took the blankets Asteria handed her and spread them out so it was easier for Margaret to treat him. Sophia took off his bag from her shoulder and placed it under his head as a makeshift pillow. Vanessa volunteered herself to be Margaret's assistant as she obeyed every command the former nurse gave to her. She took off his jacket as the back of it had been stained with blood. She got a small knife and tore a portion of his shirt open so Margaret could get a better look at the wound on his solar plexus.
"Will a first aid kit be enough?" Murphy asked.
"I wish I had more, but I'll do my best."
Constance approached Arcturus. "I can detect a faint heartbeat despite being stabbed in a fatal area."
Vanessa touched his pulse. "His pulse is really weak, but it's there!"
"What's the cause of the wound?" Esta inquired.
"Stabbing–most likely due to my brother-bot."
Hilbert glanced over to see Murphy placing the immobile Shiftie onto the throne and then stretched his back due to the weight.
Margaret then asked as she put on latex gloves and a mask that the kit came with. She started interrogating Constance with all sorts of questions regarding the wound. Hilbert knew he had no place to help out as there was already plenty.
"What should we do about Nova?" Bootes asked worryingly. "He's not heavy, but he's mumbling in his sleep and it worries me."
Hilbert noticed Nova's expression slowly contorting. He then looked down at his coat that he had carried and decided to spread it out so Nova could have a soft place to rest. Though, he didn't have anything to rest his head with. Asteria knelt down with an excited look.
"How about my lap?"
"No." Hilbert was against the idea. Bootes, Marlo, Sara, Sophia and Murphy shook their heads in disagreement as well. Asteria could only pout as she stood up and sulked.
Murphy and Marlo took off their coats. Marlo folded his to make it a makeshift pillow while Murphy used his as a makeshift blanket. Despite the more comfortable change in position, Nova kept his scrunched up expression and his mumbling persisted.
"I wonder what he's saying…" Sara wondered.
Sophia held Asteria back from approaching Nova. This made Hilbert realize that he was in charge of trying to discern his words as he knelt down and leaned his ear against his mouth to get a more concise understanding of what he was saying.
Nova's mumbling slowly became articulate. "...Why…?"
"Why?"
Nova continued, "...would you do this…? Why…have…you…betrayed me…?"
"Betrayed?" Hilbert became concerned.
"P…Penelope…"
"Penelope?"
"As in Penelope Leonis?" Asteria remarked.
"It could be a different Penelope–the name's not that rare." Marlo retorted.
Nova continued, "L…Linda…why…?"
"Linda?"
"Who's that?" Asteria muttered as Sophia shrugged.
Nova's words became more articulate. "How could you do this to me...Sirius?"
"Sirius?"
Suddenly, tears started flowing out of his eyes. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry…"
Hilbert leaned back and sat down. Nova was having unpleasant dreams. He wondered if there wasn't anything he could do to help. He saw his hand twitching. He had remembered an instance of his childhood where he had gotten sick and his mother held his hand. Despite her treatment of him over the years, it had been one of the rare times she had shown kindness towards him. While medicine was the main cause of his recovery, the warmth of a hand was also a factor–that was what he believed. He gently grabbed his hand. Nova's hand was cold as well as his own, but the fact that the trick worked as Nova calmed down.
Sara used her sleeve to wipe away his tears, but he continued to weep.
"Please forgive me…Aster."
He tightened his grip on Hilbert's hand.