。 it's been a {ℓσηg уєαя} 。

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

"Zaxx? Is that you?" Lane asked, peeking at him with curious eyes.

[deepwallow]

Zaxx nodded, wiping his teary eyes on the blanket. "No Mistress now. Old mean Humys trapped Mistress in the house. Sealed room so I can't find! No hear Mistress!" He said glumly. But then he wiped his face again and peered over at Lane, his eyes brightening from their sadness. "But you! You heard her! You like old humy! The good humy!" He said with a smile

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Lane frowned, "Is this Mistress the one voice I heard in the library?"

[deepwallow]

Once again, Zaxx nodded. "You think about demons! Have big connection! That's why mistress could get to you! Why you could hear her!" Zaxx announced happily, wiggling in his blanket cocoon in excitement

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Lane pressed his lips together, "What would happen if I set her free?"

[deepwallow]

"Mistress repay you! She nice!" Zaxx said, uncurling from the blanket and sitting down next to Lane, looking up at him with a smile."I'll be your friend too! Haven't had friend in long time!" Zaxx chirped, patting Lane with a smile

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Lane chuckled and held out his hand to the creature, "Well, my name is Lane. I guess there's no harm in having a friend." Truthfully, Lane didn't have any friends beside Blaire.

[deepwallow]

Zaxx took Lane's hand in both of his tiny claws and shook it vigorously, a big smile curving his mask. "Yay! I is happy!" He announced, dropping the heir's hand. "Now! We need maps! Need to find where Mistress sealed!" Zaxx said with determination. Hey, the voice had mentioned maps too...

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

"Well..we have a whole room full of maps.." Lane murmured

[deepwallow]

"Map of house!" Jaxx said, jumping to his feet excitedly. "Not many of those, yes? Just need one!" Jaxx explained with a smile, hopping of the bed to the floor and looking up at Lane. "Want to find Mistress soon! I miss her." Jaxx said with a sniffle

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Lane nodded, rubbing his neck, "Okay, well, follow me. We'll find a map of the room."

[deepwallow]

Jaxx clapped his hands, bouncing from one foot to the other in excitement. "Yay! Lead Tallsy! Jaxx will follow!" He said with a smile, glomping Lane's leg in a hug before heading for the door and waiting for the boy to begin leading

I have to admit... I want a Jaxx now D: ))

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Lane laughed and walked out the door, knowing Jaxx would follow closely behind.

[deepwallow]

And he was right. Jaxx was hot on his heels, gazing around the house but still managing to stay behind Lane despite his constantly wandering gaze. He was almost like a small child of sorts

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

"So..how long have you been in my house?" Lane asked after a moment.

[deepwallow]

"Looooong time! Since old Humy brought Mistress! Used to be lots of us! But then..." Jaxx went silent and sniffles again, his smile disappearing. "Other Humys got rid of us and sealed Mistress! I escaped, but now Jaxx all alone..." He whimpered

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

"Well, you aren't alone now," Lane told him as they stopped by the map room.

[deepwallow]

Jaxx looked up, wiping a tear from his eye before smiling and nodding. "Yes!" He agreed before pushing forward to the map room. Inside were. It was a relatively small room compared to the rest of the house, but every bookcase was packets with different maps, ranging from maps of the world to maps of towns, some old or modern. Luckily, the maps were all in labeled rows, so it didn't take long for Jaxx to run over and point up at one row labeled "the Everheart Mansion".

"There! That will should where Mistress might be!" He said excitedly, taking a chair from the table in the room and scooting it over towards the picked row, clambering onto the seat. He still had to stand on his tip-toes to see the many maps piled in

[нαℓƒ~мσση]

Lane stood up on his tiptoes and reached for the map, unraveling it in his hands, "This one?"

[deepwallow]

"I think" Jaxx said, looking over the map Lane had pulled out. It was a more recent map of the house. It looked very complex, but eventually Jaxx yippee and pointed his claw to a space in the map. "There!!" He said. He was pointing to the other corner of the house on the second floor, eerily close to Lane's room. There, in the plans, was a room that Lane had never seen before. Also, Oddly enough, there were no entrances to it marked. It looked essentially inaccessible from any point. "There! We gotta go there! Mistress!"