Aiden's POV
Portals everywhere. And I mean everywhere. Like, we're stuck in a hallway, and almost every inch of the walls is covered by portals. The biggest problem is—which one brings us home?

Pick a random one . . . I guess?

*~*~*~*

Ow. I wish the portal wouldn't lead to the air.

"Well, grass, forests, ground," I observe around the area. "Promising so far."

Ivor clears his throat, tapping my shoulder and pointing to the sky. Oh. Two moons. That's not normal.

"So, unless we live on Pluto or something and I never realized it, we're definitely not home," (Y/N) says, her eyes darting back and forth from one moon to the other.

"Fair enough," I say.

"What now?" Lukas asks.

"Somehow find the other portal?" I suggest with a shrug.

"I hope we can do it quickly," (Y/N) says, a look of guilt on her face. "I'm worried about Maya and Gill."

"Why?" I ask.

"I don't know; I just . . ." She trails off, recollecting herself. "What if they find the portal to Sky City? They'll be stuck up there, and . . . well, you know." Tears look about ready to slip from her eyes.

"Look, we're going to get there before anyone else gets hurt. We'll find that portal out of here and hopefully find the right one home. And, maybe, when we're in the portal hall next time, we can leave a note or something. Just in case. But they'll be all right, okay?" I lay my hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"I hope you're right."

I smile. "I always am."

She returns the smile. There it is again. That uplifting smile of hers.

"Well, I, for one, vote that we not be so hasty to try and get out of here," Ivor says. "Who knows what sorts of treasures this new world could hold?" Typical Ivor. "Besides, unless this portal is disguised as a tombstone, I'm not seeing it anywhere near here." Not helping the case, Ivor.

Eh, still typical Ivor.

"What's that?" (Y/N) says, staring off and pointing into the distance.

"Only one way to know," I say before running towards whatever it is. (Y/N) laughs and chases after me, followed by everyone else.

I pick up what appears to be a book on a stand, opening it to the first page. I read what it says in fancy print and (Y/N) reads over my shoulder.

"You actually going to read it out loud so the rest of us know what it says?" Jesse says, stopping me before I can read most of it.

"Oh, right," I say, handing it to (Y/N), since she's the reader of the group.

She clears her throat. "'Invitation. Read immediately! Your life depends on it! Greetings, travelers—"

And here come the zombies. What else is new?

"Keep reading, (Y/N)," I say. "We got you!"

"I humbly invite you to my mansion for an evening of food and festivity with your fellow adventurers."

"That's . . . weird," Faith mumbles.

"Is there more?" Jesse asks.

"Yeah, there—ugh!—is," (Y/N) says, fumbling with the "invitation" while also fighting off zombies.

"Toss it here!" I tell her. She throws it to me, and I immediately still realizing the mistake of asking the girl who—even though I still love her to death—can't throw for the life of her.

"Sorry!" she says, fending off zombies from herself and mine.

"Come to my home on the hill; just follow the path. Please look out for zombies. Sincerely, The Host."

"What a timely warning," Lukas says.

"Hey, the path's over here!" (Y/N) calls to us.

"I must say this is the highest concentration of zombies I've ever seen in one place," Ivor says as we dart along the path.

"You think this host is going to be legit?" Lukas asks.

"I sure hope so," (Y/N) says.

We eventually come into sight of what seems to be a giant mansion—and I presume that's the place we want.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that's the place we're looking for," Ivor says.

"I'll race you," I say, nudging (Y/N) with my elbow.

"Race?" she groans. "I don't like running more than necessary."

"Too late," I say with a wink, already darting towards the mansion. (Y/N) reluctantly rushes after me, our other friends following her lead.

Ivor trips over a gravestone and (Y/N) trips over—well, air.

By the time we reach the mansion, I win and (Y/N) collapses onto the ground.

"You good?" I ask, hovering over her.

"I'm just . . . I'll stay here. I'll sacrifice myself to the zombies," she says, panting heavily.

"No, you won't." I chuckle and pick her up off the ground, holding her bridal-style.

"Hey!" she shrieks. "If you drop me, so help me, I will—"

"Relax, I won't drop you," I say with a snicker.

"Put me down," she demands, sticking out her bottom lip. She's so cute when she pouts.

Figuring I shouldn't argue with her, I set her on the ground.

We approach the mansion further and realize the front door is blocked by a horde of zombies.

"Well, the front door probably isn't the smartest option," Faith says.

But, of course, before we can formulate a plan B, the zombies notice us.

"Stick close to me," (Y/N) says before leading us way from the monsters. She dodges them as she runs.

When we turn the corner, (Y/N) slows down and her eyes widen as she looks into one of the windows. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Jesse asks.

"It was this person with a white pumpkin on their head," she says.

"A white pumpkin? Those don't exist!" Ivor says.

"I'm telling you that's what I saw," she says. "It was a white pumpkin-headed person with glowing yellow eyes."

"That seems a little . . . strange," I say. "Are you sure you really saw something?"

"I am almost a hundred percent sure I saw something! I'm not hallucinating!" she says.

"Okay, I believe you," I say, feeling bad about what I said.

By the time we reach the backside of the mansion, we realize there's no other way in.

"Great! There's no door back here! How are we supposed to get in!" Ivor whines.

We look around for a solution when Lukas points out a window, most likely on the second floor. "We can break in through there!"

"But that's so high up!" (Y/N) protests.

"Would you rather be eaten by zombies?" Jesse asks.

"Not . . . really," she says.

"Then it seems like we're taking the safe route and breaking the window," I say. "We can gather wood from these trees to build a staircase up or something."

We collect wood and build stairs up, breaking some off the end so the zombies can't follow us.

"Now my inventory's full of wood blocks," Jesse complains.

"You never know when you might need those," (Y/N) points out. She presses her gloved hands against the window. "It looks like there's a kitchen or something in there.

"Then break the window and get us into the blasted place!" Ivor snaps.

"Hope the Host won't mind a broken window," (Y/N) says and she punches her fist through the glass.

"I'm sure they'll be able to give us," I say.

We enter through the window and check around the room a bit. There are a bunch of running furnaces. Pretty cool kitchen, if you ask me.

I hear voices coming from outside the door. It sounds like, "Trey, you know I don't care if you took it. . . . Just give it back."

Another voice—I'm assuming the "Trey" the other one mentioned—says, "I'm telling you for the last time, Lewis. I didn't take the stupid thing!"

The two come through the door and "Lewis" says, "I think we could avoid a lot of unpleasantness if—," but stops when he sees us.

"What the?" Trey says, pushing through Lewis.

"Hello," (Y/N) says.

"Oh, ha ha ha, very, very funny," Trey says, definitely confusing us all. "Show up super late; make us all sit and wonder what the heck is going on. . . . This is your house, right?"

"We don't live here. Heck we aren't even from here. We're just here to escape the ridiculous amount of zombies out there," (Y/N) explains.

"It's really bad out there," I say.

"No way," Trey says sarcastically.

"Be polite," Lewis tells him. {In all honesty, Trey's and Lewis's actual personalities are totally switched in here xD}

"Well, we aren't the ones who did this, either," Lewis says. "This is Realsquirtle97."

"Call me Trey," Trey says.

"And I'm Captain Glitter," Lewis says {I am so sorry but it's what he wanted}. "But you can call me Lewis. Though, maybe you know that already. You know, 'cause I have, like, nine million fans?"

"I don't know any Lewises, let alone 'Captain Glitter's," (Y/N) says awkwardly. "But, I'm (Y/N), and that's Aiden, Faith, Jesse, Lukas, and Ivor. And, of course, this is Fish." She gestures to each of us as she introduces us and pats Fish on the head when she says his name.

"Charmed," Ivor says dramatically.

"'(Y/N)'? That's a weird name," Trey scoffs.

"Well, I love her . . . name," I say, coughing to cover myself. (Y/N) smiles, but I can't tell if it's to me or herself.

"What are you supposed to be, anyways? Some sort of Loser Patrol?" Trey asks.

His mention of "Loser Patrol" makes me glance over to Jesse, once again making me feel guilty about how I bullied her and her friends.

"Actually," (Y/N) says, looking at me sorrowfully, though I'm unsure if she realizes the real reason I'm upset, "we're the Order of the Stone, legendary heroes, kind of a big deal."

"Legendary heroes? I ain't never heard of you," Trey says, pushing through (Y/N) and facing the furnaces.

"Hey, leave her alone!" I defend her.

"Yeah, cool it," Lewis says. "Those zombies have us all trapped, so we need to try our best to get along."

"How many other people are here?" I ask.

"Counting the two of us, seven?" Lewis says. So, adding us would be thirteen? Huh. That seems unlucky.

"Mhm. Most of them useless," Trey says. "I tell you, the minute those zombies are gone, Trey is outta here!"

"Okay, so the millions of zombies isn't normal. Good to know," Jesse says.

"But two moons is normal though, right?" Faith asks.

"Uh . . . the moons? Yeah," Lewis says.

"Why don't you know this stuff?" Trey asks. "You from, like, out of town or something?"

That's when the lights go off and everyone is sent into a panic.

❤️A/N❤️

Yay! I finally have it done! *does some sort of weird happy dance thing*
Anyways! I'm sorry that I didn't get to bring y'all in yet. But just enjoy Realsquirtle97 and . . . er . . . Captain Glitter for now.
I again apologize for the name "Captain Glitter". It's my fault for asking him what he wanted his name to be.
I also apologize for not having that play I said I would have for you yet. We haven't finished editing it but it will hopefully be up soon 😊
Well, see you in the next chapter! ☺️
Word count: 1,886