Von Gobstopper's Arcade by Alexandra Adornetto Page B

simply read Basement Level. They opened the door and stepped into a long corridor lit by overhead fluorescent lights. It took them some seconds to adjust to the brightness. The floor was flecked grey linoleum and highly polished, and the air smelled of cleaning agents, not dissimilar to how Ernest’s house smelled after his mother had gone on one of her cleaning binges. For some unaccountable reason, this sterile corridor was more frightening than if they’d stepped into a dark cave full of bats. It felt like a mausoleum—cold and devoid of life.
    They had to tread carefully for they found the linoleum squeaked if they moved too fast. Loyal moved so smoothly and silently that the children concluded his rockers must be felt-lined. Both Milli and Ernest clung on to his reins, more for a sense of security than anything else. All the time they were conscious of the possibility of being discovered and felt extremely exposed walking down the middle of this deserted corridor with nothing in sight that might work to conceal their presence.
    The hollow silence made the hairs on Milli’s neck prickle. ‘Where are we?’ she breathed.
    Looking at the wide-eyed expression on Loyal’s face she could see he was thinking the same. Whatever the rocking horse had imagined finding, it wasn’t this. He didn’t know what to make of it. His spongy nostrils flared and his breathing quickened.
    Ernest, too, was uncomfortable. His fingers holding the reins had gone rigid and he couldn’t seem to relax them. Whatever it was that lurked within the basement, Ernest was sure it was something much more sinister than a monster. Monsters, as a rule, could be outsmarted if youwere quick-witted and didn’t panic. But he wasn’t sure he was ready to face whatever was concealed down here.
    Other polished corridors branched off the main one, like ancillary roads running off a highway. Occasionally they came to a series of closed doors, most with glass panels. Some appeared to be supply closets, because when the children peered inside they could see containers with labels like Furry Appendages, Assorted Paws and Mechanical Limbs. In one they saw sacks spilling their contents of synthetic hair in different shades. Another supply room looked like a wrecker’s yard, with rusty saws, metal prongs and boxes spilling screws all over the floor. At the end of the corridor was a set of double swinging doors with a sign above that said Quiet Please — Surgery in Progress. That made them believe they might be in a toy hospital but then other rooms incongruously named Accessories Lab and Objects Blunt and Sharp completely confused them.
    The sound of conversation reached them as they rounded a corner. They followed it to a door with Botchers’ Common Room written above it.
    ‘What on earth’s a Botcher?’ Ernest whispered.
    Loyal’s brow creased and he shook his head to indicate that he could not enlighten them.
    Milli and Ernest crept closer, with Loyal watching them, poised to spring at the slightest sign of trouble. They had to stand on their tiptoes to peer into the room and even then their eyes only just reached to where the glass panel began.
    Nothing terribly exciting appeared to be going on inside the room, which looked a little like the waiting lounge in an airport where passengers sit counting off the time before boarding their flights. The occupants were mostly men in lab coats, bespectacled and greying. They were sitting in leather armchairs, reading papers or sipping coffee, and by the semi-recumbent positions of some you could tell they had been there for a while. They had a look of being temporarily marooned and nobody was making any move to resume their duties. In one corner was a bar where some people downed amber liquid from tumblers. Two men were engrossed in a game of chess. Another had nodded off in the midst of readinga journal, which had slipped from his hands onto his thighs. A very unhospital-like smell of alcohol and tobacco seeped