Theo walked into the room to announce that Malenka was free from her chains and that she was currently helping herself to the kitchen. Yet, when Daniel looked up at him as he walked into the room, he knew there was something else he had to say.

“It’s no surprise that August kept his public and private life separate even within family.”

“And you knew about this?”

“Of course Master Wyke. I did more than know about it, I was there through most of it. Your Uncle was truly one of America’s greatest living Adventurers.”

“Adventurer… huh?”

“By the By young master, before I forget. A one Agatha Park has sent by numerous messages in your absence. It seems she’s eager to know when you’d be back.”

“Agatha? That’s right!” Daniel jumped out his chair. “I must see her right away Theo.”

“If you must. Shall I inform your guest that you’ll be off?”

“Yes.. and um.. Keep an eye on her as well I guess. I dunno. It’s weird.” Daniel said as he frantically moved about, stumbling around the desk in such a hurry to remember who she was.

He ran out the door of the estate as fast as he could, and down to the town square.

—

Daniel pressed his face up to the glass of the tailor shop where Agatha worked, to see if she was inside. Sure enough she was at the front of the store as always and became startled by Daniel. It was her jumping which in turn startled him because he completely forgot about her Mannequinaja, assuming that she was just a statue put in place to show off the current style.

Then she looked into his eyes, and he looked into the location that he could safely assume were her eyes, and their hearts skipped a beat. They were both very happy to see each other again.

Daniel ran into the store to go by her side. He then took her by the hands and Agatha just stood there, twitterpated.

“I’m sorry I’ve been away. I ended up taking a strange turn of events… I–I don’t even know what day it is to be honest.”

Agatha shrugged, a moved about like she was trying to say something.

“You wouldn’t believe what I who I crossed paths with though. some woman, I have no idea who she is, but she knows plenty about this town. She knew about my uncle, she even knew about you!..”

Agatha pressed a hand up against her chin, it looked like she was gasping.

“And she gave me something. I’m to give it to you.” Daniel proceeded to run his hands through his pockets. “It’s somewhere.” Daniel proceeded to check the same pockets again, a little embarrassed as Agatha just looked on.

“I swear I have it on me. Don’t tell me I dropped it!… Oh dear.”

Agatha put a hand on his face and bobbed her head, Daniel interpreted that as her asking about what he’s doing.

“It was a vial. She gave it to me for– I think it’s for your… skin.”

Agatha was taken aback by those words, it’s something she never thought she’d hear. While Daniel continued to struggle with finding the vial, Agatha pulled out her note pad and wrote him a note.

‘It’s ok, Daniel.’

“But you can’t even begin to believe the stuff that I went through. That chance may never happen again.”

Agatha shook her head and wrote another note.

‘I’m just happy to see you again.’

Daniel stopped searching and just smiled at the note. This would have been the perfect time for him to lean in for a kiss but at the absence of Agatha’s lips he grabbed her hands and asked a question.

“Something else has come up though. If you can, I’d like it if you came with me. Can you skip work for the rest of the day?”

Agatha looked at her manager who was standing there watching them this entire time. Though the manager didn’t like the idea of people skipping work for anything other than personal reasons, they didn’t want to come off looking like an asshole to Agatha who’s never received this kind of attention in all of her years.

With their arms folded at the idea, they nodded. And with that Daniel was excited to show Agatha what he uncovered, and they both went back to the estate, hand in hand.

—

“Master Wyke, miss Park.” Greeted Theo as they entered.

“Hi Theo, I hope Ms. St. Clair is still around?”

“Brushing up on her billiards, sir. Shall I fetch her?”

“If you please. Agatha, come with me.”

Daniel guided Agatha back to the study to show her his findings, his behaviour has been that of an eager child this whole time. The scrolls still where they were on the desk, and he eagerly picks them up and talk about them.

“This is apparently something my Uncle has worked on. It might be the proof that there is something within the cave after all. All those stories about how there’s supposed to be rich in metals, and such? That submarine is probably the link… It’s underwater.”

“What is?” said a voice by the door of the study. Daniel and Agatha looked to see Malenka leaning against it.

“Oh Ms. St. Clair… There may be treasure in the cave after all.”

Malenka strutted towards them and grabbed the papers from Daniel’s hands “Let me see that.” As she scanned them over, Agatha was looking her down, wondering if this was someone she should be jealous about.

“Underwater huh? Could explain why you can’t see shit in that cave… Everything’s below it.” She threw the paper down onto the desk, “Okay boy, you caught my attention.” Malenka noticed the blank face starting at her, “ What’s with the lifesize doll? is this a fetish?” She inched backwards, eating those words as Agatha jumped up and stomped her foot. angrily signed ‘It’s a skin disease’ right in Malenka’s face.

“Right, ok. sorry.”

“You understood that?” Said a confused Daniel.

“What, sign-language?” she asked. Daniel’s expression showed the look of a man that suddenly understood what Agatha was doing. To prevent the situation from getting awkward, Malenka continued the conversation along.

“So, where is this submarine then? It’s darker than night down there, how will we know where to look?”

Theo, who brought Malenka to the study and has since been waiting by the door, approached with an answer. “I believe I can offer some insight there.”

They followed Theo to the end of the hall, and he opened the closest. Then he shifted a board from the space and pushed back a wall to reveal a dark stairwell that moved it’s way down.

Theo then grabbed a torch on the wall of the stairwell, lit it and handed it Daniel. “I believe down here is what you’re looking for.” He said.

Malenka grabbed the torch from Daniel’s Hand and didn’t waste any time walking through, “Whelp. Let’s have a look then.”

Daniel brushed off her rudeness, and took Agatha by the hand and they all went down together.

It was a rather long stairwell, compared to most that people use. It was steep at times, it was straight at others, it even spiraled. But it had to have been as long as it was because the Thorburn mansion was on the opposite side of town, When the passage was originally created nobody must have thought about how much of an inconvenience it was until the entire thing was complete.

When they finally reached the bottom, Malenka and Daniel proceeded to light lanterns that were all along the walls. Pushing the darkness away and revealing so much about the cave then they ever thought they’d see. On the walls were symbols and drawings of creatures, and behind them was an oddly shaped submarine poking out of the water.

All three of them were in awe. What did any of it mean? Where would the Submarine take them? Was Daniel ready to dig as deep as he could?

“You know what this means right?” Asked Malenka, to a daniel who couldn’t even know where to start, “If we’re using this thing, I’m driving.”