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[quote=Hato]With a quick toss of the box, it landed in his free hand. . . . Hato pressed the silver box against the forehead of the rat, adding a little force.[/quote]

The moment the box was transferred to another hand, the ticking inside began to change pace -- it was faster, like a quickened mechanical heartbeat, but it remained methodical.

And when it was pressed against the rodent's head, the ticking became even faster. The box began to hum in Hato's grip, as if something were spinning furiously inside.

Somewhere deep in the woods, a flock of birds began to sing sweetly.

[quote=Hato]”Well, given our current location, we’re in the midst of taiga biome. We must be on the edge, as its snow consistency has dwindled exceptionally. As for how we got here- well, I believe I was knocked out while treating myself to a warm cup of coffee. But given the fact that we are here, we were of course moved to this area. By what, you may ask? We don’t know. I can’t properly calculate the trajectory of us in comparison to the constellations above, since we’re on too low terrain. Now, if you would take a look at this…”

The astronomer trailed off, he tapped his heel on the metallic surface, then pointed the teeth-sunken hand to the rim. ”In case you haven’t notice, much like us, this plate of metal was put here. It was dug into the ground, covered around its edges, and left to nature’s whims. Carriages are too large to weave between the treeline, and traveling by horseback is too risky. That means this sheet was carried or lugged here. This would lead me to believe that there is hopefully a village nearby, which can give us our relative location in juxtaposition to our village. Or villages, if we derive from separate homesteads.”[/quote]

"The boy makes a clever deduction," a ragged voice spoke out of the shadows of the trees, from the direction of the singing birds. The weeds swished. A rather short woman scuffled into the light, one foot at a time. Her age was unclear in the soft glow of the lantern; her hair was gray and spindly, her long warm dress was stitched from coarse brown cloth, and she moved with the assistance of a walking stick.

She stopped a few feet away from the edge of the metal platform, and she lifted her head to examine them -- or, rather, her dead-gray eyes seemed to gaze [i]through[/i] them. After a few moments of turning her head, it would become clear that this woman was completely blind. However, when she lifted a finger she pointed directly at Hato.

"You're half-right," she said with a small amused smile, "I'll give you that. You would've been a little more right a century ago, but it's not a terrible train of thought." She paused a moment, then frowned. "I wouldn't tease the blood-rat if I were you, boy."

While Hato was thus distracted, the rodent -- its beady eyes flashing -- reached up and dug its claws into Hato's hand, to give itself leverage. With a wild fling of its tail and a tension of its entire furry body, it snapped its jaws shut with an impossible force. Suddenly it fell to the metal floor and disappeared among the vines and weeds -- along with the tip of Hato's finger lodged in its mouth. The animal had generously allowed the astronomer to keep the bloody stump of his previously perfect appendage.

"Oh," the woman sighed. "Well, then. You'll need something to put on that." She waited a moment for the shock of the injury to die down -- an expression of [i]I told you so[/i] on her sightless face, though her warning had come too late -- and she shuffled forward and lifted a hand toward Alexander in greeting. "Lord Argen, I presume. And you've brought your daughter!" Her smile broadened. "Miss Rine," she addressed Annabel, "Good to see you. Hah!" Her head tipped toward Simon, then to Hato. "And these are your brothers? Wonderful. I had hoped you wouldn't come alone, Lord Argen. The trees have a nasty grudge against you."

She pointed to the sealed silver box. "Have any of you brought the key to the music box? You'd best open it before it goes off, or we'll all have missing fingers." Her smile was eager, tantalized by the idea of what lay within the trap box.