Page 73 of Beneath the Starlight and Storms

His dark eyes grew serious and settled directly on mine. “Nothingwas getting near you, Tink. You never had anything to fear.” He reaches out and takes my hand and quickly leads us down the hall before taking a swift left. This place is just as bad as Hooks' manor, with as many twists and turns.

“How do you know exactly where to go?” I keep my voice low while glancing around to make sure no one is following us. Especially those hounds.

“I can sense it.” He pulls me around another corner before glancing back at me.

I smirk at him. “Ah, yes. One of your talents.”

He gives me a savage look. “One of many.”

I’m about to ask him what the rest are when he stops outside a door. There’s nothing special about it but whatever is on the other side has Hooks' eyes lighting up and a cocky look sliding across his face.

He pulls out a small gold key from his pocket and runs his thumb along the edge of it, before placing it in the lock and turning it. I hear a click and his smirk grows as he turns the handle and walks inside.

“How did you do that?” I ask as he pulls me into the room and shuts the door behind us.

“It’s a universal key.” He shows me the gold key before pocketing it.

“Universal? Meaning you can get intoanyroom?”

He chuckles at what must be my shocked expression. “Exactly.”

With something like that in the hands of Hook, I can only imagine the trouble he gets into with it.

“Must come in handy.”

He gives me a roguish smile. “I usually prefer to do it the old way. Makes it more challenging, but time isn’t on our side tonight.”

I shake my head at him as he turns to survey the room, a look of concentration on his face as his eyes turn to storms, his power coming to life before they land on the desk.

“Simple minds,” he mutters as he walks over to it and opens a drawer. I glance into it but apart from some ink and papers, there’s nothing else in there.

Hook bends down and pulls out a small black dagger from his pocket and slides it across a wooden piece on the top of the draw. It drops quickly revealing a small hidden compartment above. In it there’s a small black box, half the size of my hand. Hook takes it and places it in a pocket inside his suit jacket. He puts the draw back in place and grabs my hand pulling me out of the room with him.

Closing the door behind us, I open my mouth to ask him what happens now, when I hear multiple voices coming our way.

They must not have been in the ballroom with the pixie cake.

I look at Hook with wide eyes. We can’t have made it this far only to be caught.

Something flashes in his eyes before he places a finger on his lips. I nod as he quickly glances around before moving us in the opposite direction.

And much further away from the main entrance.

My heart races as we silently sneak through the halls trying to get away from the voices. But it’s as if they know exactly where we’re going and keep following us.

They gain on us just as we come to a stairwell. This one is much smaller and not as grand as the one at the entrance.

“I saw something down there.”The voices grow louder, gaining on us.

Hook glances over the staircase, before quickly pulling me down it. We make it down the stairs with no one following us, only to come out into a group of men. All of them are wearing Lord Basilius’ crest.

They freeze, all turning to us with looks of suspicion.

“What were you doing up there?” A tall man with graying hair asks.

Hook gives him a mocking smile as he grabs my hand once more and we make a run for it, no longer worrying about being quiet.

“Hey, come back here!”

---