5 Ways
Two days later, Kaleb had arrived in Portland. He looked a little disheveled, a few days without a shower will do that to you, but he was doing well. His suitcase has since reached its maximum size, that being 3x it's normal size. Luckily he managed to remove the Architect before it started making new rooms. Kaleb had also managed to progress his ability through almost constant use to the point that he could freeze a bottle of water in seconds if he didn't bother trying to control how it was shaped. Although the improvement may seem small it was leaps and bounds better than how it was that first day.
Having arrived Kaleb wasted no time in attempting to find some hint of a Way into Three Ports. He kept his eye out for any hint of the anomalous, mostly looking for anart, but after spending almost a whole day searching with nothing to show for it seemed like he was going to have to rent a hotel room somewhere, something he wasn't originally planning on doing. That is until he caught wind of a passing conversation from a small group of teenagers not much younger than himself.
"Man that place was creepy, felt like those things were watching me" One with with a beanie said with a shiver.
"Yeah I know what you're saying. I mean, those things are creepy normally but the ones in that place… there was something off about them" Another in a red hoodie said.
"Hey" Kaleb interrupted, "sorry I couldn't help but overhear, but what store are you all talking about?"
Beanie guy turned toward me "uh yeah, it's a place called Grimalkin's Taxidermy" he replied with a hesitant tone.
"Could you give me directions?" Kaleb inquired further.
"Sure, you go to 7th avenue, then down 7th street and it's the 7th shop down" Hoodie replied this time.
Kaleb thanked them before swiftly turning and walking away to find his only lead. He just barely heard the comments the teens in the group mumbled to one another, one in particular called him a homeless person but he supposed that was true. It took him almost twenty minutes to find 7th avenue, and it was an easy task to find the street, and in addition the shop, from there.
Standing in front of the store Kaleb could easily understand what those teenagers were talking about. The taxidermied animals that occupied the store's windows just gave off a feeling of wrongness, like they were watching him, And the almost decrepit state of the store didn't help. After standing outside the store for a minute he finally steeled his nerves thinking that this is nothing compared to the stuff he will have to confront in the future. Opening the door and being greeted by the classic ding of the bell above the door, he was surprised by the man he saw manning the counter. Unlike the Image of an old wizard like man Kaleb had in his head, he saw a man that couldn't be much older than himself manning the counter reading a very old looking book. The ding of the bell attracted the man's attention, he glanced up from his book and squinted at Kaleb.
"What do you want, kid?" he asked.
Now Kaleb was used to being called kid, it happens when you're on the shorter side and it didn't help that he just looked younger, but nonetheless he still didn't like it. So he just got straight to the point.
"Are you affiliated with Three Portslands?" Kaleb asked.
The moment he finished that question multiple things happened at once. The man slammed his fist into the counter and cursed. At the same time a stuffed mountain lion jumped off it's pedestal landing on the floor in front of Kaleb. Kaleb backpedaled at the sight of the large cat but stopped him his tracks when he heard a low growl from behind. Glancing over his shoulder he spots two large wolves standing in between him and the door. Kaleb's attention was pulled away from the heard the man yelling into a backroom.
"Get out here old man we got a problem!"
Shortly after a man looking much more like the image Kaleb had in his head earlier came out of the room. He walked around the counter to stand behind the mountain lion.
"Who are you?" the old man asked.
"K-Kaleb Asher" Kaleb answers, stumbling slightly.
"What do you want?" the old man questioned.
"I'm attempting to find a Way into Three Portlands" Kaleb swiftly answered.
"Why?"
"I've heard rumors about it and lack the knowledge to find one myself" Kaleb half lied.
The old man turned towards his employee and shrugged "well he's not lying"
"You sure?" the younger man asked.
The old man only responded by shrugging again, causing the younger one to groan and roll his eyes. He turned toward the very lively dead animals and whistled. The lion and both wolves turned and began to make its way back to their respective pedestals.
"Sorry for the excessively unwelcoming welcome" the younger man apologized, "we've been a bit paranoid lately. What we're doing here breaks a lot of rules and for a second I thought you were with the Jailors or the Book Burners or something like that. Seems pretty silly in hindsight."
"Apology accepted" Kaleb told him, before shaking his hand and for the first time noticing a name tag with the name David "so can you help me… uh, David?"
He seems surprised before glancing down and remembering the name tag "uh, yeah, I think we can" he pauses "but you'll have to pay a small toll" he tells Kaleb with a smile.
Kaleb is visibly surprised by that statement before regathering himself "how much?" he hesitantly asks.
"You got, like, 50 bucks?" David asks.
Grumbling Kaleb reaches into his back pocket grabbing his rapidly shrinking wallet to pay him. "Here. Now, where to?"
David smiles before pocketing the cash "right this way" he says before turning and walking through the door into the back.
Kaleb follows him through, finding himself standing in a small office. David is standing behind the desk, next to a door. Seeing this Kaleb focuses his attention on the door, it's old, much older than the rest of the building, and it's been placed behind the desk like they were guarding it.
"Alright here it is, just step right up and knock 7 times before saying 'grant entrance for the7th son', got that?" David instructed me, "you'll come through in the shadow of our little shop, and I'll be following you through to make sure you make it ok."
Walking up to the door Kaleb follows his instructions. The moment he finishes turning the knob he jerks as he feels as if he was punched in the stomach before his vision goes black.
