We walked down the stairs past all the noisy prisoners and got to the floor Dans said she had initially come from. The alarm was still blaring, but it wasn’t as loud down here. 

Just from a quick glance, I saw the place was littered with guards. They were all knocked out on the cold floor. Dans sure knew how to use her fists… Well, I suppose it’s just a singular fist now. 

A high-pitched voice suddenly rang out from above us. “Oh gosh, what’s with all this noise lately! What’re the guards doing?!”

We all looked up to where the voice was coming from. There was someone suspended inside of a human-sized bird cage. It was dangling in the air precariously. The only thing connecting it was a single chain linked to some kind of pulley system on the ceiling.

“Darrell?” Dans called out.

Darrell? I thought. Why would he be up there? And in a cage? What’s with the sudden low tech?

“Agh, now what? Please just let me sleep for once!” the voice called out.  

When the supposed Darrell turned to face us down below, I noticed that he had the same blue eyes and black hair as Dans. He looked like an elementary school version of Dans but with shorter hair. 

The boy’s eyes lit up. “Oh, hey sis! I was trying to sleep, but gosh, there was some ruckus going on everywhere that I just couldn’t keep my eyes closed. Pretty weird. Wait, oh my gosh, are those all guards?” He pointed at the unconscious guards sprawled all over the floor. “Anyways, it got so quiet, so I started falling aslee…” He suddenly collapsed. 

“Darrell, no! You can’t die yet!”

His eyes fluttered open once more. “Gosh, sis. You’re loud.” He let out a loud yawn. “Ah, I just wanna sleep…” Then he started snoring loudly before he, once again, closed his eyes. 

“Is he… okay?” I asked.

“I-I don’t know.” She paused for a moment. “But we need to get him down. How do we—” 

I pointed at the lever that connected to the pulley up top. “You mean that?”

“Yes. That.” Dans started walking towards the lever, but Mark quickly stepped in. 

“Rest Cap’n. I got it.” He got up to the lever and pulled down hard. 

The cage that was dangling in the air abruptly fell. We all watched in horror, waiting for it to hit the ground. I shut my eyes, readying for a loud sound. 

Instead, I heard an angry yelp. When I opened my eyes again, I realized that the cage stopped a few feet above the ground. Dans sighed in relief. Darrell, on the other hand, was not quite so happy. 

“What was that for! Gosh, that was terrible! Couldn’t you have lowered it slower? Like a tiny bit slower? Even the guards do better than that!”

“Sorry.” Mark walked up to the cage. “So how does this open?”

“Sorry? That’s it? Mark, I thought you were better than that!”

Dans ignored her brother. “Is there some kind of lock anywhere?”

“Hello? Sis? Are you guys ignoring me? Gosh, you guys are so rude.”

“I’m not sure…” Dans called out. “Oh, there’s a latch at the very bottom.” 

Mark unlatched something at the very bottom. 

Darrell came tumbling out from the bottom of the cage. “Ow, Mark! What are you doing? There’s a latch up top too! I’ve seen the guards use it! Just ask me first before doing anything, please? Gosh, you guys have no tact!”

Dans turned to Mark. “Can you carry him?”

Mark nodded. He picked up Darrell and put him over his shoulder.

“Wait, stop!” Darrell started squirming around in Mark’s arms. “I can walk on my own.  Maaaark, put me down!”

I chuckled a little. Other than their appearance, Darrell was nothing like his sister. 

Darrell suddenly stopped his yelling. It seemed like he noticed me for the first time. “Wait, who’s that, sis?”

“Oh, don’t worry about him. He’s nothing important,” Dans replied. 

“Wha-huh? Hello? Dans?”

“Gosh, sis. You don’t have to be so rude.” Darrell waved at me. “Hi stranger!”

“Hi Darrell,” I waved back. “Boy, your sister has no manners, doesn’t she?”

“She’s always like that. Gosh, one time when we were playing at the stra—mmph!” Dans clasped her hand over Darrell’s mouth, but he managed to break free. “Gosh, what’s wrong with you, sis? I’m just trying to make the stranger feel at home!”

“Not now.” Dans gestured to Mark. “Let’s get out of here.”

Mark gave a quick nod. 

“Oh my gosh! What’s wrong with your hand, sis?”

“Nothing,” she answered. 

“But it’s all bandaged up!”

“Darrell, please just quiet down, alright? I’ll answer everything later.”

Darrell gestured as if he were zipping up his lips and nodded.

“Okay”—Dans shook her head—“Up the stairs we go.” 

“Yay! The stairs!” Darrell exclaimed.