Chapter Eleven: Visions of Ice
Mary and Margaret were desperate to find the disappeared James Jones, Mary's father. "Look!" Mary pointed, "There are fresh drips from where he was lying! We must follow them before they dry!"
Mary hastily trailed the drops though the raucous main room with Margaret close behind, and nobody paid them any attention. From there they went down a quiet hallway and up the stairs to the door of the library. "This room again," said Mary.
"Is it bad?" asked Margaret.
"Never fear, my dear friend," said Mary. "I'll protect you. You must be brave for us to find him. Are you ready?"
"I'll fight like a tiger for my love!" Margaret said, her eyes and teeth flashing.
"That's the spirit!" said Mary, and threw open the door to the library. It was empty. Mary carefully trailed the drops, and they didn't lead to the secret door, but to another bookcase. "Could there be more than one secret door?" Mary asked.
"What are you talking about?" asked Margaret. "The drips just end. What'll we do now?"
Mary started to read the titles of the bookshelf her father's drips led to. "'Delectabili Foraminibus'," Mary said. "This must be the one." She pulled on the book, and the bookcase sprung open. It was another secret door.
"Mary, you may be a strange, strange girl, but you're a wonderful good detective," Margaret gushed.
"There's no time to lose!" said Mary, pulling the bookcase open. There was another spiral staircase leading down. Mary raced down the steps, with Margaret close after. These steps were not dusty, but well-used. At the bottom of the steps, there was a single door. This must be another basement room.
Mary opened the door to find many men slowly going about their business in a barracks-like environment. There were odd things about the scene that struck Mary immediately. The walls of the room were painted a garish shade of red. She could see that the faces of all the men in the room had a fixed expression, like they were frozen in ice; she realized that all the men in the room were hypnotized in some way. Then she noticed a machine on the other side of the room with a swirling light show on its face and playing a recording of a calm voice. Mary recognized it must be a hypnosis machine of some sort. She hadn't imagined such a thing was possible.
Right in front of Mary and Margaret, two men were dragging a naked older man across the floor. Sadly, it was not her father, but she recognized him, because he had last seen him atop her friend Imogene and fucking her silly to their obvious and great mutual pleasure. It was the governor of Illinois!