Bree's hand held onto mine. "Everyone holding hands?" I asked as I glanced over my shoulder. The five of us were standing in the dark hallway outside of the dining hall. The doors were locked but because I was intangible, breaking in wasn't an issue.

"I still don't get why we gotta hold hands," Leo commented sardonically. He was refusing to touch his own friend. Sometimes, guys were so weird with physical contact, even if it's with people they already know. I never understood why.

"I've told you multiple times," I huffed. "You're got to maintain physical contact with either me or someone else while I phase. If not, your body might get stuck in solid matter."

Leo rolled his eyes and finally grabbed Henry's wrist. "Whatever."

Once everyone was ready, I walked through the door, along with the rest of my friends. When we made it to the other side, everyone let go of each other. We all wore growing smiles when the realization of our plan working hit.

"Race you guys to the pantry!" Leo shouted. The five of us immediately bolted towards the back of the large dining hall, running as fast as we could to win.

Leo began sending waves of fire towards Henry in an attempt to slow the boy down. "Hey, that's cheating!" Henry exclaimed as he narrowly dodged the fire. He was now placed behind all of us because Leo's plan had worked.

"No one said it wasn't allowed!" Leo proclaimed.

Bree laughed as she decided to use her own powers to her advantage. She created a force field with the air right in front of me, but I was easily able to phase through it. I ran through every table and chair, while my friends had to jump over the furniture or maneuver around. Finally, I phased through the wall to the pantry and made it to all of the snacks and food first.

I grabbed a jar of chocolate chip cookies and ran back out and over to the table we usually sat at. I screwed the jar open and pulled out a cookie, eating while I waited for the rest of my friends to return with their own snacks. Leo was the first to reappear. He held a bag of spicy chips. Then, Zara, Bree, and Henry walked out of the pantry right after.

As they each took their seats, I smirked victoriously. "I win!" I took a bite out of a cookie. Chocolate chip was definitely my favorite.

"Only cause you cheated," Leo remarked. He seemed a bit bitter about his loss, but in a joking manner.

"Well, technically, you cheated first, and all's fair is love and war," I retorted, sending him a sly wink. Leo chuckled smiled softly and chuckled as his hands dug into a bag of chips.

"Man, I can't wait for our next mission," Leo changed the topic. His eyes were staring beyond us as he thought to himself.

"Don't you guys think that was a little.. I don't know- cruel?" Bree asked. Her eyes wandered around the table to get everyone's opinions. "I mean, Silas didn't even tell us why we were supposed to 'eliminate' those men.. For all we know, they could've been innocent people."

"Hate to break it to you, but no one in this world is innocent," Zara replied carelessly. "Besides, who cares what happens to other people? As long as we're set up in life, I'm perfectly fine following the Order's rules and doing their dirty work."

"Bree makes a good point though," Henry spoke up. "As much as I feel conveyed to stay neutral, something about today just didn't feel right." I nodded in agreement. It seemed that Bree and Henry were the only ones to understand the point I have been trying to make for months now about how bad the Horror Order can really be.

"You know what's not right?" Leo asked rhetorically. "The fact that Asher got to sit out when the rest of us were making ourselves useful."

"Cause hurting people is useful," I remarked quietly to myself.

"Well, actually, I heard a few rumors going around the compound about why Asher never showed," Zara said. She didn't meet anyone's eyes as she spoke. "Apparently.. he's not with us anymore." My eyebrows furrowed. What was she talking about? "It's turns out that Asher had the deadliest ability among all of us.. pain infliction. They found him in the boys' bathroom right before we were called for backup." My eyes went wide. Zara sighed and continued explaining what she had heard, "Silas said that he must've used his own powers on himself. I guess he just couldn't take it anymore."

"No wonder he was always so quiet," Leo commented.

I frowned sadly and shook my head. I couldn't believe that Asher was gone. This was never supposed to happen. "I'm so sorry, Zara. I know how much he meant to you."

"What are you talking about?" Zara asked. She turned towards me with a confused expression. "I've never spoken to that kid in my life." I paused almost immediately and everyone began to stare at me. "You okay, Alexa?" Zara asked. "I didn't know you guys were that close."

"We weren't," I replied. "You guys were.. or you were supposed to be." The Asian girl gave me a strange look. Of course, I knew she has no idea what I was talking about. I was just so stunned and confused as to what I could've possibly done to change and affect the future this badly. First, Eleanor was taken away and now Asher was dead. This timeline is even worse than the one I had originally lived through because all of this was my fault.

"Blondie, c'mon, what's done is done," Leo said ignorantly. "There's nothing we can do about it now."

I shot him a harsh glare. "How can you say that? Asher was apart of our group. He was our friend. Of course you don't care. Just when I think you've changed you just go back to being the careless, asshole you already are." I hadn't realized how angry Leo's remark had actually until had to force my body to relax. I took a deep breath after going off on him. My fists were clenched and my face was scrunched. He remained quiet as I stared into his eyes. Maybe Leo would always be the same person. I thought I could change him or at least help him but I guess not. "Look, there might not be anything we can do about Asher now, but we can still escape this place while we've got the chance."

Zara snickered and shook her head. "Why would we want to leave?" She asked as if my statement was ridiculous. "Silas has given us everything we could've dreamed of here."

"Can't you see?" I exclaimed. "This place is all just an illusion. He's brainwashed you and everyone else into believing that this is some perfect life, when in reality, it's just hell."

"Speak for yourself, Blondie," Leo huffed. He crossed his arms over his chest. "No one brainwashed me, alright? Maybe you should take a page out of Eleanor or Asher's book and shut the hell up, while you still can."

My eyes shot daggers at Leo. "Don't talk about them like they didn't mean anything."

"I'll start doing that when you stop acting like you know what's best for everyone," Leo spat.

"I do know what's best for everyone," I declared.

"And how would you know that, huh?" Leo continued to fight back with me. I could feel my blood begin to boil from anger. I've never gotten so riled up this easily before.

"Because I've already-"

"Stop!" I was about to make a huge mistake, but luckily Bree cut me off before I could finish yelling at Leo. "All of you, please just stop fighting." There was a thick tension surrounding us now. Everyone had their walls up.

Suddenly, Leo stood up from the table and stormed out of the dining hall. Zara got up too and walked off in the opposite direction, and soon enough, Henry sent me an apologetic frown and followed after his blonde friend, leaving Bree and I alone in silence.

I rested my face on the palms of my hands. I felt all of my bottled up emotions fighting to release from inside of me, but I fought off the urge to do anything. I wasn't even sure whether I wanted to cry or scream because I had so many thoughts running through my head.

"I think you're right," Bree spoke up. "This place.. nothing about it is right. We need to get out of here."

I finally picked my head up and turned towards her. "Let's escape now," I told her.

Bree's eyebrows furrowed. "We don't have a plan though."

"We don't need one," I said. "I already know exactly what happens, remember?"

Bree nodded but then paused. "Remember when you told me about how you had already lived through this timeline?" I nodded slowly, unsure as to where she was going with this. "Why did you ask me that question about saving someone if you knew it would put your future at risk?"

"Oh, I don't know," I tried lying. Bree frowned and shook her head, signaling that she wasn't buying what I had said.

"Who do you need to save?" She asked me. I could tell that she was hesitant in her question. Bree probably already knew the answer, which was why her voice sounded so careful and delicate when she spoke.

"You," I whispered.

Bree was frozen in thought for a moment, until she nodded slowly. "Okay," she said. "Let's get out of here."