-Laelyn-

"Run!" I yelled, throat already burning from the smoke. My mind was filled with flashbacks from the bus, Tayvis' possession... We're going to die. My feet had planted anxious roots into the ground, refusing to take another step.

"Lyn!" Mason shouted, taking my hand and pulling me along with him. Together, we escaped the closely approaching wall of flames. I heard the shouts of the others but couldn't see them at all, my vision instead blurred by tears and heat. "The exit!" Mason coughed. Right. Straight ahead, Lyn. You know the way to the axis.

Soon enough we emerged, coughing and spluttering, into the small room we'd been in before; the room we'd come to think of as safe, the 'axis' of the web of hallways. Looking around at the others, I managed a weak smile - we were alive.

"Third hallway," Isaac huffed. "The third one. And still, nothing that hasn't attempted to kill us."

"There has to be a pattern!" Mason said, frustrated. "It can't simply be random. Even when people attempt to be 'random,' there's usually a trend at least!"

"She's a demon, not a person!" Alyrica sighed. "There's no way to logic our way out of something made with no logic in the first place."

I sat down in the middle of the axis, holding my head in my hands. "There has to be something to understand, some sort of trend."

"Well, let's think about this," Isaac muttered. "Blue stone, water. Black stone, safety. Red stone, zero gravity.  Orange stone, killer vines. Green stone-"

"Fire, we know! Here's an idea, why don't we just try to get through the maze instead of making logic of it?" Alyrica shouted, exasperated. "The longer we try to make sense of it, the longer Daeva has Link."

"Well then what are we going to do?!" Mason asked.

"I say we split up-"

We all shouted against the idea before Alyrica could finish. Split up? It's dangerous enough being here together! "We can't split up," I said quietly. "Being alone is the last thing we need right now!"

"Not alone, you idiots. Just into pairs. Double our area coverage," Alyrica shrugged, as if she didn't see anything wrong with the notion. "Name one reason we shouldn't!"

We all struggled to find things to say, yet nothing came to mind. Think, Laelyn! We would all be alone. But we would be in pairs. How would we know if the others found Link? All that matters is that he's found, we'd find each other later. Daeva could attack us. As sad as this is to say, it's better for two of us to die than all of us...

"Fine," Isaac sighed.

"Geez, finally. How long does it usually take you to make decisions?" Alyrica asked. Isaac rolled his eyes.

"Don't make me regret this decision."

"Let's do it," Mason said. I kept wracking my brain for reasons this was a bad idea, why we should stick together... But I really couldn't. This might really be the smartest way.

"How would we split up?" I asked. I suppose this means I'm supporting the idea now... Let's just hope to God it works out.

"By abilities," Isaac said immediately. "We don't want to pair fire with fire, in a sense. That'd be a bad... Match," Isaac finished, bursting out laughing. Against my will, I started giggling - the pun was a bit funny.

"If I'm paired with him, kill me. It'd be less painful." Alyrica sat back down and twirled her hair, thoroughly annoyed.

"Oh, come on! That was funny!" Isaac defended.

"After almost getting fried by an actual firewall? No thanks."

"Firewall!" Isaac repeated, slapping his knee. "That's hilarious!"

"It's really not."

"You need to hang out with Treyden more. You act like you're always at a funeral," Isaac said. Alyrica huffed and crossed her arms. "But hey! That's only half bad."

"Why is it only half bad?" Mason asked. I facepalmed - I knew where this was going.

"Well, when you think about it, the first half of a funeral is fun!" Isaac said, nudging Alyrica with his heel. She hit her forehead repeatedly. Wow, he's really not much different than Earth Isaac at all, I mused. It was odd to think of the range of difference among them all. Alyrica especially was night and day, comparing Soryx to Earth.

"Isaac! Back on topic!" I reprimanded, holding back another laugh. "How will we pair up according to abilities?"

"Oh, right! Well, I'd need to know all your magic potentials first..."

"Alyrica's a wolf, Mason has mind control, and I have... Something," I answered.

"Well then..." Isaac began. "Mason, you should probably go with Lyn, and I should go with Alyrica."

Alyrica snorted. "Yeah, sure. What even is your potential?" she laughed.

"Well, I'm good at math," Isaac shrugged.

"We want your magic potential, not more evidence of how big of a nerd you are," Alyrica said passively. Isaac was visibly affected by this, but shook it off.

"You're exactly five point two three inches shorter than Mason," Isaac said.

"What?"

"Your birthday is April seventh, making you sixteen years, two days, seven hours, thirty four minutes, and eight seconds old, correct?"

"I'm sorry?" Alyrica said, confused.

"And you haven't eaten or drank anything since thirteen seconds after six forty three this morning, which means," Isaac continued, "Based on your body type and metabolism, that you have exactly three hours, sixteen minutes, and forty seven seconds until you'd start feeling dizzy from dehydration."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"When I look at people, I see a string of numbers, each one meaning something different," Isaac explained. "Everything in my brain works on numbers. I could tell you lots of things you probably don't even know about yourself. I'm not a nerd. This is my magic potential."

"Woah, what else can you figure out with math?" Mason asked, intrigued.

"Sports, weapons, people..." Isaac trailed off. "In my world, everything is figured out with math." He placed a hand on the back of his neck subconsciously. "It's not like everyone else's magic potential, but it's pretty useful."

"That's so cool!" Mason exclaimed. I heartily agreed, and I saw Isaac's mouth pull into a smile as Alyrica mumbled something that sounded a lot like an apology.

Author's Note!

Hey guys! So I finally updated, thanks to some motivation from some of you wonderful people who like this story as much as I do, for some reason! I can't even begin to express how insanely happy I am to share all this with you. I hope you're all still liking where I'm going with these characters, and the story!

(And, let's be honest, some top notch puns XD)

Anyways, please tell me what you think. How do you feel about the fact that they're splitting up? What do you think is going to happen to Beckham and Cowyn? 

Love you guys!

Savy