:)

Flame ran his hand over the wall, and tugged fruitlessly on the coat hook by the door. Nothing happened. It was so frustrating. Where was he supposed to find a radio? Luna called out from across the room.

"I think I found something!" They all hurried over to her, for the last time Luna had found something, it had yielded good results. She held up a manilla envelope.

"It was under this armchair," she explained. She opened it, and Flame drew a breath, ready to see mysterious formulas, or an escape plan, or anything exciting, really- but instead he saw a collection of houshold lists. A wide range of reciepts, shopping lists, chore lists, and a few notes, like

'Don't forget to take out the trash!' Everyone else turned away, but Flame took the papers from where Luna had cast them on the ground. He flipped through them, scanning each one for clues. In the middle of the pile, he stumbled across gold. It was a list of radio channels, numbered one to ten, and each number had a few dots or dashes next to it before listing a few songs or artists. Flame took a breath to call out, then hesitated. Did he really know any of these people? He folded up the list and kept in concealed in his fist as he casually walked over to the bookshelf. The second to last shelf had a collection of statues on it. Not an inch of the wood was showing. There were ten statues, all in a row. Flame counted, from left to right, until he reached the fifth one. He lifted it up. There was a little black circle underneath, so Flame looked back at the list and tapped the morse code from channel five onto the circle. Nothing happened. Then a small whirring sound caught his attention. A section of the shelf slid back, revealing a small cavity where a little keychain flashlight sat. Flame reached down and picked it up. He pressed the button, and discovered that it was a black light. A moment after making this discovery, however, a loud rumbling noise penetrated the silence. The bookshelf, inexplicably, was sliding down through the floor, revealing a hidden room. By now, the others had realized that there was a gaping hole in the wall. Tiny flashlight in hand, Flame led the way into the room.

           ~-o-~ 

Snow waited in the dimly lit room. It was late, and she should have been in bed, but she was curious. She had just decided that after a few more minutes, she would turn in when the door creaked open. Ashfang slipped in quietly and shut it. Snow sat for a few moments in the shadow, then stepped out. Ashfang jumped, then breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who it was.

"How'd the mission go?" asked Snow. Ashfang grinned.

"Smooth as silk. Wasn't expecting it to be that crowded, though." Snow nodded.

"Leo did that on purpose, I presume?"

"He didn't say, but it's pretty obvoius. It does sound like something he would do." Snow sat down on her bed and debated how much to ask. She knew Ashfang was too loyal to the Order to give away too much information, but if she worded it right...

"Did Leo even tell you what it is you were retreiving?" she asked. Ashfang shook her head.

"Nope. But it was a lot of trouble, so I hope it was something worthwhile." She rubbed her ankle and grimaced. "I exited through the window, and landed on my ankle wrong. On the outside, Snow winced in sympathy, but inside, she turned over what she'd just learned. If it was a lot of trouble, it had to be valuable, unless Leo had set it up as a trick, and whatever Ashfang had retrieved had been worthless. But Snow knew Leo, and he would have gloated if it was just junk. And the fact that Ashfang still didn't know what it was meant it was in a box, and the fact that Ashfang had exited through a window meant that it was small enough to carry easily. Snow faked a yawn.

"It's been a long day for me, too, so let's get some sleep." Luckily for Snow, Ashfang was somewhat of a heavy sleeper. As soon as she heard a steady, constant deep breathing, she slipped out of bed and darted to the window. She had to use the window because the door squeaked, no matter how many times Snow had oiled it over the past week. She dropped to the pavement, landing a bit more gracefully than Ashfang had managed, then she sprinted off into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

DUHN DUHN DUUUUUUUUUHN! Sorry for the wait and short post, I'm suffering from a bit of writer's block. Ugh! 

Hey Quill! You’re doing a great job! Even though I’m not in it, I always check this solowrite when I pop in. Keep up the good work! I really like where this is going!