"Bit of a hothead, that one," Solomon retorted. He made a quiet snorting noise that could be called a sound of amusement, but his bony 'face' made it hard to tell if he was smiling or not. As Azoth tore into the mansion's entrance, Solomon clambered his way up the wall, his proportionally very long limbs letting him move swiftly up on the bricks and bars. He steered clear of Aamu as she tore open a window, and once she was inside, he perched himself atop the forced-open bars.<br/><br/>Looking down at the boys, he made a 'follow me' motion with his finger. "Time is wasting. The sooner we get done with this, the sooner we can get back to relative safety. Get up here." After speaking the order, he slithered through the window and leaped from the ledge, spreading his wings and flapping them to slow his descent. His claws clicked against the floor as he landed, and upon doing so, he looked up from his four-limbed crouch. His wide, pitch black eyes scanned the room for signs of motion, a gesture that might have been terrifying if he weren't three feet tall. Besides the commotion being caused by Azoth's forceful entry, he heard no sounds nearby, and saw no immediate threats. He stood, folding his wings over his shoulders, and spoke. "So far, so good. No guards yet."<br/><br/>Back outside, Salem's arms dropped. "This is bullshit, man," He complained aloud to Joe. Climbing wasn't his strong suit, but now it was their only option. Damn it to hell. With closed eyes, he inhaled very deeply, bent his knees, and then suddenly bolted forward. All that extra strength and endurance they gained after their bonding might have helped with his idea. As he drew nearer to the wall, he kicked off the ground and sent himself flying a fairly impressive distance. A hell of a lot higher than his usual jumps, which were maybe three inches off the ground on a good day. Evidently, he surprised himself, because instead of managing to grab onto something and swoop himself up into the window like a cool guy, he smacked against it and slid down a few feet until he managed to grab a windowsill.<br/><br/>"Ow. Okay, I'm up," He reassured himself. Halfway there in one jump. Not too bad. Looking down at Joe, he removed his hand from the window to wave, but immediately took hold of it again when the weight shift almost made him fall. His feet skidded against the brick as he attempted to right himself, and after a few moments of recollection, he began his ascent to the open window. It wasn't terribly far off the ground, maybe twenty feet at most. A few awkward gropes at vines and grooves, pushes with his legs off of footholds, and other motions got him to the torn apart gate, which he slipped his upper body through to look inside. Managing that, he waved to Aamu and Solomon, and immediately fell the rest of the way through and landed on his back on the floor.<br/><br/>A loud smack followed, and Solomon cringed. For a few seconds, there was worry, until Salem spoke up. A long, drawn-out "<span style="font-style: italic">Fuuuuuuuck,</span>" came from him, and he slowly sat up.<br/><br/>"Feeling alright?" Solomon asked, hopping over to Salem's side. He took hold of his shoulder and put his feet on his arm as he stood, letting himself by carried up.<br/><br/>"Ugh. Yeah, fine. What next?" Salem grumbled out. He watched as Solomon pointed toward a door at the end of the room they were in.<br/><br/>"Through there. If we're lucky, Azoth will keep everyone in here busy. Shall we?" After he finished speaking, he slithered down Salem's arm and into his hand, transforming himself into the longsword-shaped form he had taken on before. His entire form turned dark grey and extremely rigid as he became stone, and once he was fully transformed, Salem balanced him across his shoulder and started forward.<br/><br/>----<br/><br/>"Yeah, the less I fall into some...Fucked up devil world, the better," Mary responded, crossing her arms tightly under her chest. Ugh, she was cold. The damned portal, shadow, thing, whatever it was, hadn't even been thoughtful enough to bring the jacket she was holding through. Obviously it was sentient and hated her. She turned and stared at the floor until Eve spoke up again, asking how she was doing. Her immediate response was a quick, but entirely reflexive laugh of exasperation. Once it ended, she shook her head.<br/><br/>"Alright is...Not the word I'd use right now," She offered as an explanation. "It's late, I'm cold, and my brother and best friend are playing around in some fucked up nightmare while I'm sitting here wondering what the hell is even going on." She slumped back in her chair, letting her head roll back as she looked towards one of the library's chandeliers. "I really hope this is a dream. God, tell me I have food poisoning and this is some shitty fever dream I'm having because some asshole egg decided to be filled with salmonella or something." Mary was sure salmonella didn't actually cause awful hallucinations, but she was also sure that she didn't want any of this to be real. Between the zombies, the giant shadow, the flaming horse, and the talking lawn decoration, a nightmare was really the best explanation she could come up with.