Freaking Tucker, I thought to myself. Always has the worst timing possible.

I quickly got to my feet and scrambled to the back of the walk-in closet with Mary while Mr. Reginald held the doors closed against the seemingly possessed staff that were banging on the closet doors. We got to the secret pathways entrance which was now just a wall. I began frantically trying to find the spot where it opens but couldn't seem to locate it; It just seemed like a regular wall. I kept trying to separate it in different areas, but it wouldn't budge.

I looked back to see Mr. Reginald struggle to keep the army of butlers and maids at bay. He was strong but was no match for what was basically a zombie horde. After the banging got louder and louder, one of them punched a hole through the thick closet door.

Can everyone punch through doors now!?

I looked over at Mary who seemed to disregard the horrible situation we were in as she watched me fight with the wall. I turned to her with an expression that may as well have been pleading for help.

Mary sighed. "Up by one and right twice."

I looked at her, puzzled. Is she giving me cheat codes? But after a few seconds of detective work I managed to decipher her encrypted message.

I moved my arms like she instructed and felt a very thin line on the wall that was barely visible. I put my hands on both sides of the line and the walls apart, once again revealing a dark entrance.

"Mary how did yo-" But Mr. Reginald's booming voice cut off any and all noise.

"Get inside you two!"

Mary grabbed me by my shirt collar and dragged me through the dark entrance which lit up as soon as we entered. I looked back at Mr. Reginald to see more hands through the closet door as the possessed staff began pressuring him more.

"Hurry up, Mr. Reginald!" I yelled.

"I will keep them at bay," he said as he struggled to fight the hoard. You two should escape. Otherwise they'll enter the secret entrance. Leave this to me."

I looked at Mr. Reginald with disbelief. "Mr. Reginald, even you can't handle all of them. Trying to handle them all is suicide."

"Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," he reassured me, although due to how much he was struggling his statement wasn't very convincing.

"Bu-"

"Stop being stupid," Mary ordered.

Both me and Mr. Reginald paused at Mary's entrance. Even the horde seemed to grow quieter.

"Keeping the Young Master safe is our current priority. Your self-sacrificial attitude isn't helping right now. If you want to die do it after we get him somewhere safe."

Mr. Reginald paused for a second before abandoning the door entirely and bolting for the secret passage. The hoard immediately opened the closet doors and flooded the closet. Once inside he used all his strength to close the walls. Before he could close it entirely one of the maid's hands got caught in the crack. Without hesitation, Mary kicked her in the stomach and Mr. Reginald closed the entrance.

Sweat was beading from Mr. Reginald's now slightly unkempt gray hair. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and started dabbing the sweat on his forehead.

"Um, Mary, don't you think that was a little much?"

"No Sir Arthur, Mary was exactly right. In difficult times such as this, staying rational is a necessity."

Mary looked at Mr. Reginald and me but didn't say anything.

"Well, what do we do now? If my father isn't in his quarters where else could he be?"

"There is actually a secret room beneath the basement," Mr. Reginald informed us. "It's possible he felt unsafe in his room and decided to hide there."

Judging by the large mob in his room, I think he made a good choice, I thought to myself.

"There should be a secret pathway to the basement, right?"

Mr. Reginald looked at me with an apologetic expression. "Unfortunately, the basement is the only place without a passage precisely because of the secret room. That room holds many heirlooms and other valuables that are priceless."

"That does make sense but it's also extremely inconvenient."

"The closest room to the basement would be the maids' rooms. It would be best to head there."

"But wouldn't that be the best place to get ambushed?"

"Sir Arthur, we don't have many options. While it is my duty to keep you safe, affirming the safety of your father, the head of the household, is also a priority."

"I believe the Young Master isn't telling you to switch your priorities, but to be more cautious as we don't know our enemy," Mary said.

I smiled. It's always nice to have someone smart like Mary around.

"I believe that's fair," Mr. Reginald said. "But it is still our best option. We should at least check."

I looked at Mary, who as usual had a blank expression, which in this case meant she was indifferent.

I gestured forward. "Lead the way."

We began walking like before with Mr. Reginald leading and Mary trailing behind him, with me at the back. The air was stiff with no one talking. Especially with the current series of events that have happened today, some idle chatter would ease my nerves a little. I really wish there was someone to lighten the mood. Too bad Mary and Mr. Reginald were amongst the worst when it came to small talk.

We walked to our next destination in silence as expected after taking right and left turns like we were in a labyrinth. When we finally got to our destination, I realized it never felt like we went down, which is strange since the maid rooms were on the first floor.

"Mr. Reginald, isn't it weird that it never felt like we went down?"

"Yes, I know what you mean. I don't know the intricacies of this place, but I can assure you this is downstairs."

Although I knew he wasn't lying, it didn't ease this feeling in my gut that something bad was going to happen.

The wall we stared at was blank with seemingly no way to open it. Mr. Reginald walked forward and stood upright as he always does. He took two steps forward, being mere inches away from the wall and waited a few seconds. The walls immediately opened and he walked through. Mary followed behind him into the Maid halls and I trailed behind.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

We walked into the maid section of the mansion. Unlike upstairs, the walls were light pink and the soft carpet floor was light brown. The area we walked into is what I always believed to be a dead end. There was nothing here but a wall. No decorations or paintings. It just kind of existed. But with the secret labyrinth of the mansion it makes a lot more sense.

I looked forward and saw maids passing by intently, as if patrolling. Luckily, they didn't see us. Or so I thought until the last one in line started screeching like a banshee. The others quickly came back and surrounded us.

"Tsk." Mary got in position to deal with the maids but Mr. Reginald put a hand out to stop her from charging in.

He pulled his white gloves down. "Let me clear a path," he said calmly.

"Young Master, if something happens to us, just keep running towards the basement entrance," Mary instructed.

I nodded. "Understood."

With that Mr. Reginald charged into the maids and seemed to bulldoze through all of them. Mary and I ran through the path he had cleared for us. He turned left and we followed. Unlike the dead end, this part of the hall was beautiful and featured various paintings, vases, and flowers that let off a wonderful aroma.

There was even a long red Aubusson rug that seemed to go on forever. Sadly, the tranquility of this hallway was killed by the maids trying to stab us with random sharp objects, although they weren't very successful with Mr. Reginald ramming through them all. It wasn't until three maids seemed to drop from the ceiling that Mr. Reginald stopped in his tracks. They were in standard black and white maid attire but had a different vibe from the others. They felt far more dangerous.

They lunged at Mary and Mr. Reginald, who were still in front of me. My suspicions seemed to be right, as they were more capable than any maids I've seen today and had Mr. Reginald on his toes. Mary on the other hand seemed perfectly fine dealing with the other two but couldn't finish them off. The maids from before were catching up and we were about to be surrounded again. Luckily Mr. Reginald noticed as well.

"Sir Arthur, run to the basement!"

I started to object but stopped myself. "Got it!"

I attempted to pass the maids, but one tried to shear me with scissors. She didn't get too far before she was roundhouse kicked by Mary the second she took her eyes off of her. The maid stuttered back but didn't fall. She was bleeding below her eyebrow, but it didn't seem to affect her too much. I kept running down the hall towards an intersection and turned the corner.

Pain soared my skull as I felt like I ran into a brick wall. Without even looking, I panicked and grabbed my handgun from my pocket and aimed right in front of me. I looked up to see a confused Tucker.

As far as appearance goes, Tucker and I were drastically different. In contrast to my fair skin, messy brown hair, and purple eyes, Tucker had brown skin, long black dreads that were tied up in a ponytail, and brown eyes. While my build was pretty average for my age, he was tall and relatively bulky from working out and playing sports, although you couldn't tell due to his standard attire always being long sleeve shirts and jackets. He also has a habit of always wearing shorts and sneakers unless he is dragged to a formal event.

As soon as he saw me his eyes widened.

He raised his hands to the sky as if in a dramatic play. "Oh Arthur," he began, "how could you do this? I thought we were friends; I thought we were brothers. We're kin, yet you're ready to shoot me in cold blood. Am I nothing to you?"

Despite how dire the situation was, I couldn't help but bust out laughing. It's impossible to be serious around Tucker. Well unless you're Mary. I lowered my gun and grinned. He offered me a hand and I took it without hesitation.

"Yo, I see you did exactly what I thought you would and ignored everything I told you to do."

I laughed nervously. "In my defense, Mr. Reginald broke down the door."

"Ol' man Regi did!?"

"I was surprised too," I admitted.

"Yeesh. No wonder I haven't been able to beat him in arm wrestling. He ain't human. Well, where is he now?"

Just as he asked that, Mary and Mr. Reginald came sprinting from behind us. They stopped when they saw Tucker. They didn't seem to be injured anywhere, aside from a few scratches to Mr.Reginald's uniform.

He waved a hand at them. "Yo."

Mr. Reginald bowed. "Ah Tucker, it's good to see you're safe."

"And to see you almost got us killed," Mary added.

Tucker looked astonished. "What, me? I'd never." He looked at me. "Tell her she's wrong Arthur. That I'd never cause such travesty."

I laughed. "I keep telling you your phone call timing is the worst."

"Even you. I'm hurt." He put his hand over his chest.

Mr. Reginald chuckled a bit but Mary didn't waver.

Mary sighed. "This reunion is nice and all, but we need to get moving. Those maids are only unconscious. They'll come looking for us when they wake up."

Tucker looked genuinely surprised. "Moving? Where ya headed?"

"The basement. We believe your father is there inside a secret bunker."

"Ah, that does sound like him. Such a paranoid old man."

"Enough chatter," Mary spoke. "We need to move."

"After you," Tucker gestured.

Mary glared daggers at him.

We walked towards the direction I was headed and surprisingly ran into no threats. Which is suspicious in its own right. Mary was silent as usual while Tucker was telling him the details of how he had to escape from the maids in the front yard after coming back from a ballgame.

I was partially listening but also trying to come up with a logical conclusion of what could be happening within the mansion. The most logical answer I could come up with is that we've been hit with a chemical bomb that drove the butlers and maids mad. It would explain the purple haze at least. But what bothered me is the staff seem almost puppet-like. Rather than possessed like Mr. Reginald said, it would be more accurate to say that they're being controlled. They seem too organized to be mad. Maybe I'm thinking too much into i-

"Arthur. Earth to Arthur." Tucker was repeatedly snapping his fingers in my face.

"Huh. What happened?" I looked at Mary and Mr. Reginald, who were just staring at me.

"Snap out of it man. We're here."

"Are you okay, Sir Arthur?"

I scratched my hair and laughed nervously. "Yeah, just lost in thought."

I looked in front of me to see the basement door. It wasn't anything special. Just a regular brown wooden door at the end of the hall. Mr. Reginald opened the door and flipped on the switch, revealing a flight of stairs leading down. The stairs were loud and creaky but felt stable enough to step on. Down the stairs it was completely pitch black. I felt for the light switch on the wall but couldn't find it. I searched my pocket for my phone. It was an iPhone, although I didn't know which version nor did I really care. I turned it on and switched on the flashlight to find the light switch.

I pointed the phone left to reveal Tucker, Mary, and Mr. Reginald. Then I pointed it in front of me to reveal a large butler towering over me. His red eyes felt as if they were peering into my soul. I tried to grab my gun, but he had already grabbed me by the neck. I tried gasping for air but his arms just got tighter around my neck. Out of nowhere Tucker shot out of the darkness and grabbed the butler by the head and kneed his face. The butler released his grip on me and I fell to the floor, coughing. Mary and Mr. Reginald ran to make sure I was ok while Tucker continued fighting the butler.

The butler charged at him, but Tucker ducked to dodge his punch, tripped him to throw off his balance, elbowed him in the stomach, grabbed his head, and tossed him over his shoulder. The butler hit the ground hard and didn't move an inch. Tucker kicked him a couple times to make sure he was out and then ran to me.

"Arthur, you good!?"

I coughed a few times. "Yeah, yeah I'm fine. Thanks for that."

Tucker loosened his serious demeanor and went back to his usual easy going personality. He put on a high and mighty face like he always does when he's getting ready to gloat. "No problem," he said. "Anything for my fans."

"What fans..." Mary and I said in unison.

I looked up to see the lights were on, which I didn't even notice before. They must've found them right as I was grabbed. The basement was a large room filled with boxes, antiques and other goods we had no use for in the mansion. There were shelves along the walls filled with items from various countries. Nothing really stood out that screamed secret bunker unless these walls were magic like the others.

Mr. Reginald walked through the sea of boxes to the back of the room, and as usual, we followed without question. He walked to the back of the basement and opened the side door that held extra cleaning supplies. He threw the cleaning supplies out of the closet and pushed what seemed like the floorboard forward to reveal a latch. Mr. Reginald grabbed the latch and pulled it up to reveal another set of stairs.

Tucker nudged me. "Yo that's wild. Arthur, you seeing this?"

I looked at him with a blank expression. "You get used to it."

I guess I couldn't blame him for getting excited. But after all the mansion secrets I've dealt with today, there wasn't much that surprised me.

We walked down the steps to reveal a study. On all sides of the spacious room were bookcases filled with novels, encyclopedias, documents, etc. There appeared to be about a dozen maids and butlers each standing in the center of the room. Behind them was a royal study desk with fancy designs, multiple documents, pens, and a lamp sitting atop it. Behind it, was a gold and silver decorative chair. And sitting in the chair, glaring at us with crimson red-eyes, was my father.