"Wait! It could be dangerous--oh." Before he could protest Ace had dashed off into the town hall. Wait, did the girl say she had experience with this kind of stuff. Harper stared blankly at the door as he wondered about her life in the human realm. She didn't look much older than him, so how on earth was she used to stuff like his. He let out a sigh. "Just...be careful," but by the time he had spoken the words, Ace was already inside. He watched worriedly as she yanked one of the rabbit's rifles away and began teasing the animal.
"Jasper, let's go--ah!" He was getting yanked around a lot lately. Jasper grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him forward. Harper coughed and sputtered until she finally loosened her grip. "What?" He asked in a frantic yell, his head turning right and left. Why had she grabbed him? Was the mayor coming back? No! They had to get Ace out of there quickly. "W-What's wrong?" He continued, appearing more frantic as the seconds ticked past.
"Are you two out of your mind? We'll get caught!"Oh. She had a point...Ace wasn't exactly the stealthiest person. She teased the rabbit soldiers rather playfully and loudly and to be honest it was just a matter of time before they were found out, but this was their only chance and they couldn't waste it. Harper was about to reassure his friend, but before he could he was once again yanked and this time it was into a cramped and dusty closet. He felt his nose itch and struggled hard to hold back a sneeze. THIS was absurd, they couldn't stay here or Ace would get caught, they'd be found and in the end they wouldn't get any new information on the drowning deaths or the sirens. He was about to say something, anything to calm Jasper down but the girl slapped herself across the face and he winced in response. "Are you...okay? You can stay here...and wait for me?" He really didn't want to go alone but Jasper was being fidgety and tense.
Instead of responding, Jasper opened the closet and jumped out with him in tow. They ran down the dark hallway, Ace's voice growing fainter as they got farther away from the scene. Both teens skidded to a stop in front of several doors and Jasper asked him which one they should enter first. There was the closet, the washroom, a random door without a label, then the mayor's office. The last one seemed like the logical choice, right? "Let's go there!" He turned the knob and it was open! They made their way into the room and as soon as they were in Harper locked the door and frantically pushed one of the tables in front of it. That would buy them time, then they could get out through the window--there was no window...
"Let's look in the drawers and cabinets." He stated in a hushed yet frantic voice. The boy began yanking drawers open, sifting through papers and reading headlines as fast as he could. There were news articles, documents, magazines and food recipes? The mayor didn't seem very organized at all. He pulled open a cabinet and out came an avalanche of papers, there were so many papers and in a matter of seconds the teens were up to their knees in old news articles. Just how old was the town of Yonder anyways? The boy let out an exasperated sigh, beads of sweat forming on his forehead...if they didn't move fast enough there was a possibility the mayor would return! If he found them meddling around in his office, what would he do to them? The thought made him go pale. Shakily, he dug through the papers eventually picking up something that looked useful.
His eyes landed on the headlines and a chill ran up his spine. Something terrible had happened here and the mayor didn't want anyone to know about it. His hands shook as he raised the paper above his head. "Jasper, I think you should read these." He held them out to her with a frown.
The NewspapersHarper looked at the ground and hesitated before finally speaking. "I think we should take these with us...show them to Serenade and the others." He waded through the papers and continued looking for more articles, though a part of him didn't want to know anything else about Siren lake or the woman. Some secrets were better off buried, but the problem was they needed to uncover this one if they ever wanted to find the second item and go home. "Did you find anything?"
~x~x~x~x~x~Outside the officeThe leader of the bunny guard platoon would have no more of this disrespect for the town hall! This girl was infuriating and rude and he'd make sure she paid. She had made fun of his men and of him. Also, it was their duty to keep people out of the town hall, the mayor had said so himself!
He turned his steely black eyes to his comrades. Several of them flailed around, uniforms crumpled and expressions distraught. The girl was a giant! She held the rifle in the air before shooting at the ground! That gun was loaded with super pointy carrots, she could blind someone! What was she doing? He pulled his whistle to his lips and blew as hard as his little rabbit lungs could blow. A shrill sound filled the hall followed by the ringing of a siren? It sounded more like a cellphone alarm.
Bzzzt! Bzzt! The sound rang throughout the town hall and before Ace knew it she was surrounded by rabbit soldiers with their rifles drawn. They jabbed the rifles in her direction angrily before the leader snapped his fingers. As he did so six of his men tackled the girl and wrenched the carrot rifle from her arms. They held her down before the leader of the bunny guard platoon waved a stick of celery angrily at her face. He didn't say a word, none of them did. It seemed they were all mute. He took out a pair of gummy worm handcuffs and restrained Ace.
When her hands were bound he snapped his fingers and the bunny guards got off her, stood with perfect posture and gave their commanding officer a salute. They tried to look menacing, but they were far from that and the gummy bear handcuffs weren't durable...they were edible though. Despite that, the bunny guards felt confident that it would keep the girl out of trouble. The lead bunny pressed a button and not long after a young looking lad in a weird outfit ran down the hall with a stick in hand.
The nobody nearly crashed into a nearby lamp table.
"CRAP! How the hell did you get in here, lady?" He held the stick in front of him like it was some super dangerous weapon. "No trespassers allowed...didn't ya read the sign or can you not read?" He narrowed his beady yellow eyes at her. He looked human if one ignored his eyes, his pointy ears, and leopard tail that flicked back and forth behind him. He looked very irritated, he had been enjoying a nice nap when the rabbit soldiers rang the alarm. "That fish-face will get me fired if he finds out about this."
There was a thud from the office followed by what sounded like a waterfall of papers.
"Are you a burglar or sumthin?" He strode towards her lazily a scowl stuck on his face. The bunny soldiers pristine uniforms were crumpled and they looked worse for wear. "I see you've been givin' them trouble, huh." He didn't like the silent bunnies, they were all rules and no fun, so seeing them frantic and annoyed was amusing and a smirk lit up his face. "Haha, you're not half bad at causin' a ruckus, so tell me what the hell are you doing in the town hall?" He tapped her on the forehead with his stick before grinning from ear to ear like a child. His ears twitched. "And tell me, who exactly is here with you? They're not exactly silent and my hearing is pretty good."
The young man motioned for the bunny soldiers to check out the office and four of them saluted before heading to the door. However, they couldn't get it open...it was locked, so they did what they knew how and began ramming the door with their tiny rifles.
The young man was chuckling as he twirled the stick in his hand. "Oh, you guys are so busted~!"
~x~x~x~x~x~In the OfficeThe doorknob turned back and forth, back and forth.
Harper stood stiff, his heart hammering in his chest. He felt sick to his stomach and staggered back, nearly crashing into a cabinet. "Jasper!" He called out frantically. "T-They're at the door." And as soon as he had said those words the rabbits on the other side began pounding on the door like mad.
