I felt just one pair of hands hold me down at first. I screamed and struggled.

"Ack, you're awake!" My captor cursed.

I heard footsteps as another person walked in. "The other one's dead."

"Good- ack!" The person holding me said as I hit them in the face. From the voices, I was pretty sure both of them were guys, but it was hard to tell because they were muffled by something, maybe a mask.

My first thought was Etho. He wore a mask. But I discarded that thought when I realized that both of them had them on. It could have been anyone.

"A little help here?" The person holding me said as I kicked him and screamed again.

"Just kill her," a third person said. "We don't want Scott or Pearl to wake up and come in."

What about Cleo? Did they not know she was here?

"I... can't," the first guy panted. "Yellow, remember? Stop moving!"

I heard a shiiinnk as a sword was pulled out of its sheath across the room. Then footsteps approaching me, and then everything went black.

------

I woke up in my bed and then immediately got out, disgusted. The sheets and blankets were covered in my own blood.

It was still dark outside, but there was no sign of the people who had attacked me. They had left. I grabbed my watch off of my nightstand to see if I had died. It sure felt like it.

Bluemoon Tay was slain by Tango Tek

They had said something about killing someone else, too... I scrolled up and nearly screamed again.

Cleo Zombie was slain by Tango Tek

I ran into Scott's room.

"Scott, WAKE UP!" I yelled. He sat up suddenly. "What? What's going on? Are we under attack?"

"Cleo's dead!"

"What? What happened?"

"I'll explain later, but now we have to get out of here. We've been attacked two nights in a row. We're not safe here anymore."

Scott got up. "Get the Nether star," he said. "I'll grab Pearl."

I nodded. I had almost forgotten about the gem in the chaos. I went back into my room and opened the drawer that I kept it in. Thank goodness, it was still there. I stuck it into my pocket and ran back downstairs.

I glanced out a window as I met Scott and Pearl in the living room. We had barely used the towers outside. But it was too late now.

"How did you turn yellow?" Pearl said when she saw me.

"Later," I said. "We need to leave now. "They could come back any minute."

Pearl bit her lip. "But where will we go?"

Scott looked up at the snow castle that shone like a beacon in the moonlight. "I heard Etho has a secret base somewhere."

"Good idea, let's go," I said, even though my brain screamed at me not to associate with Etho. I was terrified. I saw people behind every tree and claws in every bush. All I wanted was to get away.

"But why are we leaving?" Pearl said. "And where's Cleo?"

Scott grabbed my arm and I jumped, thinking for half a second that it was another attacker. "Blue, you need to tell us what's going on."

I took a deep breath. "So..." I said, not knowing how to start. "Uh... well, I had this dream where someone called the Listener warned me about shadows and then people attacked me and killed me and then I looked at my watch and they killed Cleo, too. It was Tango and two other people. One of them said they couldn't kill me because they were yellow."

Pearl looked at me with curiosity. "The Listener?"

It was only then that I remembered what she had told us about her past in Evo. The Listener was the one who had helped her and her fellow Evolutionists escape.

"I'll explain more when we get somewhere safe," I said. "I wasn't able to kill any of them, so they might come back."

They followed me up the hill to the snow fort. I walked in first, and under the cover of darkness, slipped into one of the towers lining the wall. Pearl and Scott followed me.

"We'll stay here the rest of tonight," he said. "Let's talk to Etho in the morning. I'll take first watch."

Pearl and I nodded. We found a few sleeping bags in a crate in the corner, and we rolled them out and were asleep on the hard wooden floor in minutes.

"Blue, wake up, Etho's here," Pearl said, shaking my shoulders.

I sat up groggily. I hadn't been able to grieve last night because of all the action, but now Cleo's death hit me like a falling anvil.

I had mixed feelings about her now that my memories were back. Part of me was happy she was dead. She had betrayed me in Third Life. But the majority of me remembered her loyalty in Last Life and the fact that she had risked her own life to save Pearl.

Had that only been yesterday morning? It seemed like years ago.

Etho stood at the entrance, arguing with Scott. They seemed to be getting nowhere.

Outside the little tower, I could still see craters from the Battle of the Nether Star. The Nether star that I still had in my pocket.

"But what if I need the secret base soon?" Etho said. "If they discover you there, my cover is blown!"

"You could come down there with us," Scott offered. "Bdubs is dead. Skiz is dead. And Tango killed Blue and Cleo under the cover of darkness."

"Coward," Etho muttered. "When we get back to Hermitcraft, I am never shopping at a Pass N' Gas again."

I snorted at the name. That sounded like something Tango would come up with. Pearl glanced at me and Scott, and then Etho. There seemed to be almost panic in her expression. Weird.

Etho finally gave in and agreed to show us his secret base.

While we were on the way, Scar died again. Why was he so good at dying?

Scar Goodtimes tried to swim in lava

And he lost all his stuff, too... I would have felt sorry for him if I hadn't been on his List in Third Life.

We went down a tunnel in the hills and into a room entirely covered in deepslate. The walls, floors, and ceilings were all made of the dark grey stone.

Etho showed us around. The sleeping quarters were very compact, and since it was built for Team B.E.S.T, there were no separate rooms for girls and boys. Pearl and I decided that just wouldn't do, so we built an ugly cobblestone wall in the middle of the room, with two beds on either side. But better an ugly cobblestone wall than the same room as boys all night.

It was faint later that day, but we heard it: Thunder, announcing another Boogeyman.

3...

2...

1...

You are...

"Not the Boogeyman," Etho said before any of us got our results.

Not the Boogeyman.

I let out a relieved sigh.

"I think it's Etho," Pearl said.

"It's not," Etho said confidently. "I just did that to scare the Southlanders when they spied on us and now it's a habit."

We relaxed. Or, most of us did.

"How come it's always one of us?" Scott said quietly. "It's me again."

Etho backed away.

"I won't kill you," Scott shook his head. "I don't think I'll kill anyone."

"But... you'll turn red," Pearl choked.

"Then so be it. I'm done with killing people. It's only one life, anyway. And I think I can control myself."

"You're not Cleo," I said. "She already had those instincts, so it was easier for her to suppress them."

"I don't want to kill anyone unless they attack me first."

We could tell that he was set on his decision. So we didn't bother him about it anymore.

I totally agreed with him. There was too much murder in this world. But I didn't want him to turn red.

With the Boogeyman thing settled, we sat in a circle on the floor to hear what had happened last night.

I sat down in between Pearl and Scott. I wasn't sure how to start this story.

"So..." Scott said impatiently.

"Well, I had a dream last night," I started. "In it, a person called the Listener warned that the Shadows were coming. They said to gather my allies and the wizard on the mountain and fight them. Then I woke up, and then people attacked me."

"The wizard on the mountain could be Scar," Pearl said.

"He's not a real wizard," I denied.

"But he's the only 'wizard on the mountain,'" Scott said.

I thought about how Scar claimed to have gotten his powers, the same way that Gem had gotten hers. But I still had doubts.

"Tell me more about the attack," Etho said. "Maybe we can figure out who it was."

"I didn't see them. It was too dark, but when they talked their voices were all muffled so I couldn't tell who they were that way. One of them held me down and then the other came into the room. They talked about killing someone else, who I later realized was Cleo. Then they killed me. I looked at the death messages and saw that Tango had gotten both me and Cleo."

"Their voices were muffled... like they were wearing a mask!" Scott wheeled on Etho, drawing his sword. "And Tango was your ally! Who was the other one?"

"Scott, stop it!" I said. "You said you wouldn't kill anyone!"

Scott sat down again, still glaring.

"Etho, can you explain this?" I asked.

Etho took a breath, aware that he had narrowly escaped death. "I used to be allies with Tango, yes. But then he turned red because of Bdubs and decided that he would find his way on his own. He probably wants to kill me as much as he wants to kill you. And yes, I do wear a mask, but it's possible for other people to wear them, too."

"Bdubs killed him?" Pearl asked.

Etho nodded. "Bdubs was trying to get me to turn red, like always, and Tango came in to stop him. And Bdubs killed him."

"Who is Tango allied with now?" Scott asked.

"I don't know. He's been pretty quiet. But he might be allied with Jimmy."

"It's not Jimmy," Pearl said automatically.

I couldn't picture him allying with Tango, either. But there was something off about how Pearl had said it. "What are you hiding?"

Pearl bit her lip. She did that a lot.

Etho and Scott looked at her eagerly.

"I told him I wouldn't tell," she said loyally.

So we lost potential information.

I wasn't sure if I would tell Etho about the Nether star. I didn't know if I trusted him yet, because Scott was right, a lot of clues pointed to Etho as my other attacker. It also explained why Tango had killed both of us: Etho couldn't, because he was yellow.

I decided that I wouldn't tell him until I found the actual killer.

Scott offered to go up to the surface to check the time, but Etho had a clock that he had wanted to give to Bdubs. I was touched that he had decided to keep it this long. It was about dinnertime, so we made a quick meal of mutton and carrots and went to bed.

I got a good night's sleep for the first time in several days. The bed wasn't exactly comfortable, but it was better than a sleeping bag. And I woke up the next morning feeling better than I had since, well, a while.

After I grabbed a leftover carrot for breakfast, I met Etho, Scott, and Pearl in the living room. We decided to just sit around and do nothing that day, because we were all tired of all the scary people out to kill us up at the surface.

Pearl wanted to go and find Scar. She was positive that he was what the Listener meant by the wizard on the mountain. But I was trying to deny it as much as possible, because Scar was an idiot and I didn't exactly want him on my side.

I didn't tell them about my emotions returning, but I could see that they seemed more responsive when I mentioned former allies or enemies. Scott didn't like Ren, Etho and I didn't know what to think of each other, and Pearl got seriously homesick.

That evening, Pearl and I stayed up, talking. "We need to go get Scar."

"For the last time, no. We're safe here."

"But the Listener said-"

"Last time I listened to them, they gave me a cryptic warning that didn't help at all!"

"They have to be cryptic, or they'll be discovered."

"By who?"

"The Watchers."

I turned away from her. "If the Listener is so powerful, then why haven't they helped us until now? We've been stuck in Third Life, and now Last Life. Where was the Listener when we needed them?"

"You just don't like Scar," Pearl accused.

"True," I said. "But the Listener hasn't helped us at all!"

Pearl tried to find an explanation for that. Failing, she huffed and laid down on her bed.

The next morning, she was gone.

I woke up, ready to apologize to her about our argument. But then I looked over at her bed and it was empty.

A spike of panic went down my spine. Last time she had gone missing, she died twice. But she could have been in the kitchen or something.

She wasn't.

I glanced toward Scott and Etho's room, then walked toward the stairway to the surface. I could find Pearl on my own.

As soon as I got to the surface, squinting at the sudden sunlight, I thought, where would Pearl go?

Avoiding the obvious reply, I answered myself, the Scottage.

So I went home.

Pearl was not there.

Dang it, I had to go to Magical Mountain.

I sighed and started the climb for the second time.

When I got to the top, panting, I found that I was right. Pearl was up here, and she was talking with Scar. I stood outside of Scar's ice cream cone hut and listened in.

"Well, I'd love to be your 'wizard on the mountain,'" Scar was saying. "But I have a functioning business here!"

"You got your powers from a grey person, right?"

"How did you know?"

"Blue told me. Scar, that person is the Listener. They told us to find you, even though Blue won't let me and we had an argument about it last night."

"Actually, I was going to apologize to you about that," I said, stepping into the hut.

"OH OH OH!" Scar yelled, pointing his sword at me.

I crossed my arms, trying to keep a straight face. "Pearl, I woke up, found you gone, and immediately thought that you had been kidnapped again. You need to tell people where you're going!"

Pearl hung her head. "Sorry," she said. "I didn't think you would let me go."

I shrugged. "You were right. I don't like Scar very much."

"Hey!" Scar said. "I am impossible to not like! And I'm right here!"

I ignored him. "The boys are probably up by now and losing their minds. We need to go back to the bunker."

Pearl looked at Scar desperately. "Please come. For Boatem?"

Something triggered in the back of my mind: the document Pix had hidden. It had said End Crystal War in Boatem.

I already knew that he meant Hermitcraft. But how did Pearl know about it?

It was probably just something she had found out from Cleo or Scar, before I became physical and everyone became enemies with each other.

Either way, that sold it to Scar. He nodded.

And that was how we got a fifth person in the Team B.E.S.T. secret base.

A fifth person who would probably drive me crazy, give away our location, die, turn red, and kill us all. In that order.

We went back to the secret base. Scar obviously didn't understand why I didn't like him. He kept trying to make conversation, part of which I wanted to answer to, but I made myself give him the silent treatment until we got back.

Once we did, Scott didn't even notice Scar at first. He was too busy yelling at us for running away. He wanted to go after us but Etho wouldn't let him, why did we leave in the first place, there were reds out there to murder us literally in our sleep, etcetera, etcetera.

Etho, meanwhile, was glaring at Scar. They had had a rivalry since Third Life, when Scar developed a habit of burning his stuff. Scar grinned, seemingly oblivious, and said, "Hi, Etho!"

Then Scott finally noticed him. "What is he doing here?"

"It wasn't my choice," I grumbled.

Pearl jumped in. "He's a wizard," she said. "He can help."

"If he's real," I said.

Scar looked at me, offended. "I am real!"

I rolled my eyes.

"He's not staying... right?" Etho said, still glaring.

Pearl looked at Scar. "Do you want to stay?"

Scar glanced at Etho. "I still don't know."

"Hi," someone said in the doorway.

We all turned around and pulled out weapons. Jimmy, one of the two red names, had followed us back.

Scott looked sad, even pained to see his Third Life ally.

Etho barely knew him as anything other than a Southlander who was obsessed with spyglasses and liked to spy on the snow castle.

Scar barely knew him at all.

And Pearl and I remembered him from the Empires.

Scott, Pearl, and I knew that he wouldn't be able to kill anyone before he died. If anyone was worse at staying alive than Scar, it was Jimmy.

I knew he was red, but I just couldn't imagine him attacking anyone and winning. But I had always had a soft spot for Jimmy, just because he always seemed so vulnerable.

But he was obviously plenty threatening to Scar and Etho. They pulled out sword and axe and got ready to fight.

Pearl, Scott, and I did nothing.

Jimmy looked hurt. "Why aren't you running away in fear?"

I snorted. "One, there's nowhere to run. We're in a bunker. Two, I can't see you hurting anything more dangerous than a salmon."

Jimmy glared. "Salmon are plenty dangerous! They drove cod out of the ocean and the two fish are still at war! They're as dangerous as cod are, or they would have lost the war already!"

"But cod aren't dangerous either," Scott laughed.

Jimmy fumed. "ARE YOU CALLING ME-"

"Okay, it's fine, we'll just have to get a new secret base before he brings Tango, that's all," Scar said, interrupting the teasing.

"Tango?" Jimmy asked. "Why would I tell him where you are?"

"You're both red," Etho said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Jimmy threw his hands in the air. "I've been alone since I was banished from the Southlands when I stole Martyn's life and that weird voice came out of the sky-"

Scott and Pearl looked at me. I glared to tell them not to say anything. Thankfully, they didn't. Etho shot us a strange look, and I could see him filing the experience away to interrogate us about later.

Etho was dangerous to say the least. I didn't trust him, but I had to work with him if I wanted to stay alive.

Jimmy kept talking, ignorant of the war of glances going on around him. Scar listened intently.

Most of Jimmy's comments were about how lonely he had been and how he hated being red and GOODNESS JIM WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY. Then he finally left after being sworn to secrecy about the base's location at swordpoint.

Then Scott finished the lecture about leaving the base and running off.

After Pearl and I had apologized to his satisfaction, we all helped expand the boys' side of the bedroom to accommodate one more bed for Scar. The rest of the day was spent mining, almost dying, a little more mining, another near-death experience with a creeper, and then chickening out and leaving the caves.

The secret base living room was full that night. Scott watched Etho and Scar settle their differences and learn to get along, Pearl read a book. I restlessly bounced in my seat, itching to get out and do something, even if it was killing mobs or chopping trees. I just didn't want to stay cooped up in the base any longer. The tight space was getting to me.

Scott had taken charge and decreed that no one could leave the base until Tango at least was dead. I had a feeling we would be here a long time.

My sleep was riddled with dreams of the surface, of golden sunlight sifting through green leaves, and my swamp home back at the Empires. But just as I was waking up, the voice of the Listener whispered four chilling words:

They know. Be ready.

~~~

What's Pearl hiding?...

If you know, you know

-Indigo