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Ethan recognized that Nico had not heard what Samantha had shouted because of Larkin’s blast. He had been on the other side of the snake and managed to miss some of the debris, so he darted toward the right tiles in an attempt to open the exit for a quick escape for all while the snake was down for the count. But, in the middle of his run, the ground gave out underneath him and he stumbled into the quicksand. He was up to his shins in the sand and stared at Nico in complete shock at how shitty this situation had gotten in less than five minutes.

He froze, remembering the lessons on quicksand and heeding Nico’s words. It was hard to maintain his balance with the awkward stride he was stuck in, but Ethan used all his strength to keep upright. As big of a mess as this tomb was, his heart wasn’t beating any faster, his mind wasn’t jumbled with fear, and his eyes continued to dart around to take in everything and anything that would help them. He watched the debris continue to fall and as it dropped into the quicksand it rolled---not much, but pushed by the force of the fall and its weight, toward the corner that Samantha had said the exit would be. He watched one more tilt over toward the corner and his heart leapt.

“We’re on a slant,” he said to himself, his excitement causing his legs to shift and therefore dig a little deeper into the quicksand. It was past his knees now, even without the marginal movements. If he could get the door open, some of the sand was surely to slide out and it could free them enough to get to the snake and up Larkin’s rope. The quicksand seemed to be focused on those alive and breathing in the room and the tile work surrounded the booby trapped one was slowly disappearing from sight. Slowly, but---the one that should open the door.

Ethan jabbed out his wand, summoning a piece of debris towards him. Swiftly, he dropped his wand and caught the stone with his good hand and with precision that he would have to give credit to his hours upon hours of shooting crumpled up ball of parchment into rubbish bins, shot the stone in a delicate arc across the room. It landed with a loud thud on the target and just like Samantha had said, a door opened.

The sound he let out at the sight of an exit was nearly embarrassing, but there was no time. His motion had caused him to sink further into the sand, and his wand had completely disappeared underneath. Ethan prayed that the magical string that was attached to the end of his wand and retracted into a case tucked neatly in his clock pocket would be strong enough to hold on through the pull of the quicksand.

“ROPE?” he called out, watching as, yes, the quicksand was seeping out of the exit, but not fast enough to unbury them. “ROPE WOULD BE NICE!”

Any sort of calm he had a few seconds before was gone now, as it was literally they got out of this tomb now or never.