¶. A new problem arose, how do we climb up there? Jack looked between the two of us, "so what do you guys think"? Lucas responded, "about what"? Jack stretched out his arms behind his head, "about how were gonna get up there"? I don't know why but Lucas's tone shifted from simply annoyed to suspicious. His eyes sharpened, as if he was getting ready for us to make a sudden move. I broke the tension by interjecting, "maybe we should check the cells for stuff to climb. If that doesn't work, maybe we can stand on top of eachothers shoulders". I chuckled a bit to myself, but they both liked my advice.
¶. Lucas instantly darted to the cell nearest us, while Jack positioned his back against the wall right beneath the crawlspace. I took a step back and laughed a little, "I was Joking". Jack flexed his arms, "it was a great idea, I can handle it"! I didn't feel like searching the cell, so I told Jack to, "turn around and squat down". He instantly did so and that left me to step onto my friends shoulders. The first step was unstable and incredibly frightening. Everytime his muscles spasmed, I'd feel my chest drop in fear, but when I had both feet planted on his shoulders and my hands against the wall, he slowly began to rise. I shook wildly, but managed to stay up by hugging the wall with all the strength I could. With both of us standing upright, we were about a foot away from the crawlspace. If Lucas was here, we could have easily made it.
¶. Almost as if it was on que, Lucas dropped a pile of swords at our feet and began laughing at us. "What are you two idiots doing"? Jack began to tremble as he tried to squat, before I could tell him not to make any sudden moves, I fell off his shoulders and landed on my hands and feet. There was an intense tingling in my hands, it wasn't nearly as painful after the first second, but my hands and feet were incredibly uncomfortable. Jack on the other hand landed on his chest laughing.
¶. I shook my hand like I was trying to shake away the pain while I explained, "turns out we can make it up to the crawlspace". Lucas's expression softened, "alright tell me how". As I helped Jack up, I further explained, "I'm gonna get on my knees right below the crawlspace, then Jack will get on my back in a similar position, then you'll climb on top of Jack's shoulders. Then Jack slowly stands up. You then climb into the crawlspace and position yourself to pull Jack up, and Jack will pull me up". He looked at me like I was a fool, but shrugged his shoulders with a laugh, "alright then, let's try this".
¶. Weirdly, the plan mostly went off without a hitch. Aside from me feeling the weight of two grown men pushing me my chest in, everything went great. Lucas managed to make it in the crawlspace and pull Jack up with him. Now here's where the problem arose. Turns out, I was a foot away from reaching Jack's arm. I was stuck down here all by myself. I tried running up the wall and propelling myself off the swords Lucas brought, but I was stuck.
¶. I shouted at the two of them with a bit of panic in my voice, "now what"? Jack peaked his head out from the crawlspace, "we leave you"? I heard a small thud followed by Jack shouting, "I was just kidding, relax. I'd never leave Reeling behind"! Even with Lucas shouting, it was hard to hear him, there was too much of an echo, "hold on, I have an idea". I heard a faint of clothes shuffling, followed by Jack shouting, "Stop, why are you getting naked"! Instantly afterwards he shouted, "ohhhhh"! I stood for half a minute awkwardly while I barely managed to hear them speak. The next second, Jack popped his head out the crawlspace with Lucas's jumpsuit hanging out his hand. I let out a small, "ohhh", and quickly caught the clothes and pulled myself up.
¶. The first thing I noticed when I entered the crawlspace was how much of a tight squeeze it was. We instantly threw Lucas his clothes and let him crawl a bit forward so he could put his clothes back on. We didn't say much while we crawled, so all I could hear was the sound of our arms hitting the stone and our clothes pulling against the stone. It wasn't a comfortable experience, but it was easier with them beside me. I couldn't keep count, but we probably crawled for about half an hour. When we saw the first bits of light pierce the darkness I threw my head back and covered my eyes with my arm. When my eyes readjusted, I saw a massive banquet hall beneath us, as well as a throne set at the direct center of the main wall. It was difficult to make out specifics, not because we were far away, but I just have blurry eyes. Jack hit the wall to get our attention, "I think that's Evan sitting on the thrown"! Lucas shouted, "you're right, it's him"! Jack hesitated, "should we shout at him"? Lucas shook his head, "no it might be dangerous". I let out a quier scream, "how can you guys see him from here"! Jack and Lucas gave me a small look then ignored me completely, "let's keep crawling and see if we can find a way to get to him".
¶. We kept crawling until we found a large wooden beam leading to the other side of the room, there were several others like it. I'm not sure what they're used for, maybe to add support? I'm not sure. Regardless, Jack spoke up, "only one of us should cross at a time, there's no way this thing could support all of us". I nodded my head in agreement, "yeah you guys are heavy". Without a word, Jack and Lucas pushed me forward onto the beam. "What'd I do? All I did was tell the truth"!
¶. When I pressed down with my arm, I heard the wood creek. "Are you sure we have to do this"? Lucas tried his best to encourage me, "Just hurry up Reeling. Stop being a coward". I grumbled a bit under my breath as I crawled on top of the wooden beam. The first thing I did was look down. There were three massive and long tables filled with food and drinks, I couldn't make out any specifics, but I could see things lining the plates and cups beside it. They were all directly coordinated with the planks. There was a rope lining the plank, I assume it was meant to hold up decorations and the like, but it was currently empty. I slowly and carefully inched my way forward until the room shook. Everything on the tables, in the room, shook. Unfortunately, the plank I was on also shook. I nearly fell to my demise, but I managed to grab the rope. I saw Jack without hesitations rush over to me. I held on for my dear life, but the rope gave way under my weight. As I fell, my hands beagn to get scrapped and cut open by the rope. Luckily, only half of the rings holding the rope fell out of the plank, so the rope began to swing.
¶. I don't know how I managed this but I perfectly fell with the rope's swing, and landed on the table, not without throwing everything from the table in my wake, but it was a small price to pay for my survival. When I stood up, I felt like I should've done a bow, but my legs were shaking far too hard to do that.