Time Stands Still

Val, Reilly, and Brad left TD Garden and headed to the Magician’s shop, accurately named “The Riddler”. It was a small gift shop, but when they walked inside, they thought they were in the middle of a fortune teller’s office. In the right hand corner, was a tall restaurant style podium. Behind this was a man with a goofy magician’s hat.

“May I help you gentleman?”

“Yeah, you can!” Reilly stated, stepping forward.

Val joined his partner. “Tyler Seguin.”

“You know where he is?” Reilly asked.

“Tyler Seguin, Tyler Seguin,
The ex-Boston Bruin?
Now he’s a Dallas Star,
Mighty and extremely far.
He used disrespect on Twitter,
Now he’s been kidnapped
And it is quite bitter,
I hope he’s learning his lesson
And won’t be a quitter!” The man sang out in rhyme.

“Yes. Yes. You know him? Where is he?” Val exclaimed, jumping up and down, before noticing Reilly’s stern look and stopping.

Brad stomped forward and leaned over the podium, even though he had to stand on his tip-toes. “Listen here, riddle freak, tell us -without the little game- where my friend is!? WHERE IS TYLER PAUL SEGUIN??”

The man calmly rounded the podium, eyeing the Boston pest.
“I know where thee friend is,
But it will come at a cost.
Not is he here,
But with Katie and Tommy,
Abundant in fear.”

“Enough with the riddles, man. I just want my friend!”

“Ah...so you shall,” The magician guy spoke, removing his hat from his head. He spun the hat around in his hand and then seemed to conjure a rabbit from within. But instead of a rabbit coming out, he spoke with another riddle.
“You think you have won,
You think all is well.
But there isn’t a chance in hell.
And watch, now, as I will make Val disappear,
But remember this and do not worry,
For this is far from the fin,
But where is little Valeri Nichushkin?”

A cloud of smoke surrounded Val, engulfing him in the haze. Reilly and Brad drew back, lifting their hands up, at the awful stench of the smoke, thinking it as hazardous. A bright light shone from the haze that added to the reason not to look at it. And a crackling noise almost like lighting a sparkler on the fourth of July greeted their ears.

When the smoke cleared, Val was gone. The two Bruin teammates shared a look of horror with one another.

Brad was ignited in anger. “Where is the Russian kid?” he demanded, grabbing the magic guy by his coat.

“What did you do with Nichy?” Reilly asked, frowning.

The magician responded, rather calmly, in another riddle, as though he thought this was some kind of game to him, some kind of joke.
“To get to Val or Nichy,
You must play my game.
Venture into my “funhouse”,
And try not to go insane.
Listen to these instructions
And you will have a chance
But should you fail, so will he.
Down the hall and to the left,
Up the stairs and down again.
To the side, or maybe the other side.
No, try straight ahead,
That is where you will find him,
That is where he will be,
Hiding in a secret room
So it will be he.”

Brad and Reilly shared another look and shrugged. Brad let go of the magician, shoving him backward. The man brushed himself off, preventing himself from falling. He cackling evilly, as the two hockey players venture into the main part of the “shop” which resembles some kind of “funhouse” look. They step through an entrance door frame into a vast hallway. There are mirrors everywhere, along the walls. It is sort of freaky.

They are confused, that the place seemed so big, but when they were outside, the place looked like a small little shop. But then again, it was a magician’s place, so it made some sense. The laughter faded, as they were pretty sure that the guy was leaving his spot, maybe to do something to Val or set up more traps or whatever.

Either way, the duo had to be cautious.

“Stay close!” Reilly hissed.

“No really, Smitty?” Brad sarcastically remarked, much to Reilly’s annoyance.

The two ventured farther into the hallway, noticing their creepy, abnormal variety of reflections in the trick mirrors, as they walked by.

“Val? Valeri?” Brad called out.

“Nichy?” Reilly added on. “Where are you buddy?”

They reached what they thought was the middle of the room, where a ladder extended upward, into darkness. It led into a hole, where one of the ceiling tiles had been pushed away or removed from its spot.

Reilly began to climb it. He halted to Brad’s voice.

“Smitty, we need to go straight ahead, not up! Remember the riddle?”

“Right! Right….” Reilly backed down the latter.

They continued on, nearing the end of the hallway. They saw a massive funhouse mirror. Reilly and Brad shared a look. Then they both attempted to find a lever or something, pulling it backward. They both worked together to heave the mirror door open.

It was a secret room. The end of the riddle.

“Nichy!” Reilly called out.

They peered inside, instantly hearing muffled cries coming from the interior. They stepped inside and gazed around the room. At the far end of the room, there was a door closed and a chair propped against it.

Reilly dashed into the room and threw the chair to the side. Brad slowly walked in, following him. The HDA private eye flung open the door.

Inside the small closet, sat Val Nichushkin. He was bound with tape and had a cloth stuffed into his mouth. The tape was wound around his ankles, below his knees, around his wrists, pinning his arms behind his back and finally around his upper arms and chest, over his shirt. His eyes were wide and he was struggling in place.

Reilly dropped down on his knees and removed the cloth at once.

“Спасибо (Thank you)”

“Пожалуйста (You’re welcome)!”

“Большое спасибо, Reilly (Thank you very much)”

“Sorry it took so long to find you, buddy.”

“Не за что (That’s all right)”

“What happened?” Brad asked.

“Magician guy dragged me over to his friend, who put tape around me and this cloth in my mouth. It was not a good taste. Not normal.”

“No, no. It’s not normal, Val.”

Reilly and Brad helped Val to his feet. He was a little shaky, but he caught himself and eventually waved the two men off. They obliged.

“We should get outta here, guy!” Brad stated. “That wasn’t the magician guy. He doesn’t tie up his guests, I know he wouldn’t!”

Val brushed himself off and nodded, biting his lip.

“Alright! Let’s go! But we still don’t know about Tyler’s whereabouts!”

“Luckily for you, I had a few less crazier fans of mine take the back entrance and spy on it. Just in case. They should be able to tell us where the fake imposter magician went.”

“Then let’s go check that information out!”

“Right!”

The three trekked back into the funhouse mirror hallway, passed the ladder and out through the main room. Sure enough, the magician guy still wasn’t there.