“We’re all going to die!” Kevin wailed, pulling at his ears. Others were just sitting and staring, dumbfounded and horrified. Rose got up and walked over to Kevin, who had curled up in a tight ball.

“Shh, shh, it’s okay,” she comforted. “Who said we have to kill each other? We could work together and find a way out. Don’t worry.” 

“B-but she - Theca - said that i-if we didn’t kill w-we would be killed by th-the Warper!” Kevin blubbered. Rose’s expressioin hardened.

“Then we run. Run from this ‘Warper.’ Fight it if possible.” Zero hissed in his low tone. “But to fight, we need to see our surroundings first. Let’s take ourselves on a tour of this place.”

~~~ 

Hero led their group down the halls. The candles on the walls flickered, casting uneasy shadows across the rooms. They stopped at a door to the left. Kinley nudged it open to reveal a nice-looking living room area, with a crackling fire and fancy chairs patterned with fish. A small chandelier hung in the ceiling, adorned with glass crystals and more candles. There were windows, red afternoon light streaming through.

 “Nice, but not very interesting,” Sky commented. Kinley seemed interested in the fish on the couches, but it was quickly confirmed by Poppy that they weren’t real.

 “So, let’s keep going,” Gentry said, breaking the silence.

 “There’s another door across from this one, let’s check it out,” Kevin suggested. He had started to calm down as they had progressed on the tour, the little groupbecoming more talkative with each other.

 Behind the door, there was a very nice library. Shelves and shelves of books, lit with stained galss windows portraying scenes from history. Poppy looked especially interested. She searched through the nearest shelves, levitating books that seemed interesting to her.

 “Waaaiiit a second,” Lapis said, dumbfounded. “You can levitate stuff?” Poppy nodded.

“I can’t teleport yet, though,” Poppy noted. “A lot of power was drained when I woke up, but it’s kinda strange.” She pored over one of the books, apparently finding it very interesting.

 “What’s strange?” Lapis pushed. Poppy looked up.

 “Two things,” Poppy muttered, furrowing her eyebrows. “One, all of the useful stuff here is written in Spanish, and two, I remember… stuff. Useless, random ideas and steps and procedures that don’t really seem to be linked. Nothing that connects to getting us out of here, though,” she clarified, which earned a handful of groans from her eager audience.

 “Well then, it’s just a bunch of books. Useful for when we’re bored, I guess,” Gentry said weakly, brushing the hair out of his face.

 “Come on,” Wolf said, “I think there’s one more room.” As they headed out, the group found that, indeed, there was one more door, at the far end of some kind of parlor. There were windows on either side, and Wolf was surprised to see the reddish light on the other end, darkening quickly.

 “The night has fallen already?” Kinley walked over to the window and stretched his long neck. Sure enough, the sun was setting.

 “No,” Wolf corrected. “It’s the fact that this door is even here, not even barricaded. I wonder if it’s locked?” Before anyone could reply, Theca appeared in front of the door, blocking it.

“Locked! And if anyone even thinks about breaking it down, I will personally exterminate them. Got it?” When nobody answered, Theca nodded. “Thought so. Later!” And with that, she disappeared. Zero’s eyes flashed, and Kevin gulped.

“Well then,” he muttered. “That was interesting.”

~~~

Dinner had been fairly uneventful. The meal was in silence, everyone casting nervous looks at each other. As soon as they all had finished eating, Theca’s voice had boomed over the speakers, telling them to “get in bed or else.” Since no one had wanted to find out what “or else” meant, they had all headed to bed, although Zero had grumbled something about slaughtering this ‘Theca’ when he had the chance. Now Wolf and the others were lying in bed, wondering if they were going to die. But as eight nervous souls slowly drifted off, one was lying awake, planning the first murder.