Nine Years Later

"Stand back. Doors closing. The next stop is York Street." The lady over the announcement says in a fake robotic monotone. The metro doors slam shut, and I sink in my seat; a knot forming in my stomach. I breathe it out, but I'm used to it; closed spaces have always made me uncomfortable.

An irritating vibration comes from my jeans pocket signaling a call from my phone. It says "Dad" with a picture of my father on it. I'm proud of his real smile I managed to capture; I pick the phone up, realizing it was still ringing.

"Hello, Miabellia," My dad says; hearing his English accent sends a wave of relief over me.

"What's up, Dad?" I ask, looking up at the polished white roof of the metro train, smiling.

"Why did I hear a slight laugh in your voice?"

"What?" I sit up.

"You were either kidnapped and forced to talk into the phone or you're relieved to hear from me. None of the two seem good so why are you laughing?"

"Relax, dad! I'm on a metro train and hearing from you calmed me down." There was silence on the other line.
"Dad?" I ask cautiously.

"So there's this letter that came," he continues as if nothing happened. "I don't know what to do with it. Says 'To Miabellia' on it; only people with a decent IQ use your full name, so it must be something important."

"I'm on my way home dad; only a few stops to go. I'll be home in..," I flick my wrist, seeing the time. 14:47. "Ten minutes."

"Be safe." Dad declares. "A lot of people are murdered on trains; you know. See you." On that cheery note, he hangs up.

My hand drops on the seat cushion with my phone still in it and I finally relax on the Metro train. Well, as relaxed as I get. Five stops to go. I realize I need to put my earphones on and distract myself with a song. I click on my Queen soundtrack. The first song up, "We Will Rock You". I slip my phone in my pocket and dig my long nails in my jeans, a bad habit I have.

"Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise, hey!
Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday,
You got mud on your face. You big disgrace.
Kicking your can all over the place singing:
We will, we will, rock you!
We will, we will, rock you!" I follow the lyrics in my mind.

Two or three stops later (I lost track), I hear a voice through my music. "Can I sit here?" a light voice asks.

I look up to see a girl with a mix of blue, green, purple, and pink dyed hair; all swooped to the right side. On her head, lay a small gold tiara, with an amethyst glowing in the center. Her eyes were a radiant magenta, stating they were contacts. A white shirt clung around her body; wavy oversized long sleeves covered most of her palm. Her white skinny jeans reached her ankles. White Converse, the perfect size were on her feet. She wore a black choker with a charm in the shape of a sun.

"Princess Celestia?" I smile, pretending to look shocked, scooting over a little. She rolls her eyes and sits down as I remove the earphones from my head and slide them down to my neck. "I'm Miabellia." I smile. "But you can call me Mia."

"Nice to meet you," she smiles back. "And yes, my name is Celestia. I even dress up like her. Just for the fun of it. I mean, look." She raises her hands a little and we both look down at her laughing together. Her eyes drift toward my headband and she says, "I love your cat ears. Cat-girl." She smiles a little. I take them off and grin at my cat ears, gazing at them.

The ears are poofy and black, with a light pink puff inside them. They were a birthday present from my grandmother. Much better than Dad's present, I smirk. A loaded gun. After Uncle Mycroft had to take it away, I never found out what happened to it. I shake my head a little and I put the ears back on.

"Thanks," I say. We socially interact with each other for a bit. Before I realize the doors close and the robotic lady comes back on.

"Stand back. Doors closing. The next stop is Dorset street."

"Well, my stop is next," Celestia states. She gets up and walks to the door; so do I.

"Coincidentally, mine too," I grin.

"Guess we get off together," After a solid minute of listening to the thumping of the rails, the train screeches to a stop. My body falls to the left, but I hold on. The door swooshes open; I practically run out of there. I could hear the woman announcing the next stop, but I'm not staying in a train for a second longer. I go up the escalator with Celestia following me. Both paying with our metro cards and walking up to another escalator. Finally, we reached the sunlight.

"Shoot, I'm running out of money." I mutter to myself, seeing that I only have ten pounds left on my card.
"Well, I'm all good. I have thirty pounds. I'll last two more days." We laugh. We walk outside after a minute of silence.

"Oh, I love the fresh air," I say and smile to the sun; stretching a little as we get out of the closure of the metro.
"And I love water. You never find me without a bottle." Celestia lifts the light blue water bottle that hung by her side.

(A/N: artificial fake conversations start now! XD)

"That's nice," I say. "I only drink water two or three times a day." We start walking down the street.

"Oh?" She lifts an eyebrow.

"Yeah, half a gallon in the morning, some water mid-day, and half a gallon right as I go to bed," I tell her my tale.
"Well, I beat you in the water-drinking contest; I drink ten to fourteen of these babies a day." She laughs, holding up her pint-sized water bottle once more.

"That's a lot," I admit. We cross the road and I notice I'm almost at my house. "Well, I have to go down that street, so..." I shift around a little. "Want to exchange numbers or something? Talk for a little." I shrug.

"You live on Baker Street?!" Celestia exclaims. "Sorry, um, that would be great!" She smiles as she corrects herself; we exchange numbers. "And I have to go down... that way." She points to an intersection. "So, I hope to see you, I'm always available to talk when you need me."

"Thank you. Hope to see you again as well." I bow my head and we separate ways. I sigh, putting on my headphones again, and singing along to the Queen soundtrack.

"Mama just killed a man.
Put a gun against his head,
Pull my trigger,
Now he's dead..."

I reach the door and put my hand over my face, sighing into it. This was getting annoying by now. Seems like Uncle Mycroft had to visit dad. He turned our door knocker straight. I like our door knocker tilted to the side (I don't like people knocking on the door with it anyway, it's too loud) and I can also tease people around like that.

So many people with OCD nowadays. I think to myself as I twist my door knocker fifteen degrees to the right and walk-in.

"Dad! I'm home!" I call. My dad comes downstairs and gives me one of his fake smiles, giving the letter addressed to me and goes back upstairs to continue with his work. "Hey, dad?" I ask, scanning the room for a letter opener.

"What is it, Mia?" Dad asks.

"So... I'm sort of running out of money on my MetroCard..." I slowly say.

"Ugh, why don't you get a job or drive a car?" My dad asks with slight annoyance, going through his wallet.

"Not old enough for a job. Still can't get in cars." I offer him a smile and he shoves twenty pounds in my hand. "Oh! Thank you." I smile, expecting less.

"Right, claustrophobia." My dad says enthusiastically with a snap of his fingers, going upstairs. I take out my paper addressed to me and lean against the wall. It says the following,

Miabellia Holmes,
I am here to inform you that you need to turn up at Carnaby Street this afternoon at 17:30 strictly, no excuses. You are needed for designer purposes. Your school art teacher showed us your street art that would work amazingly for the opening of our new pub. You will be paid thirty pounds for every picture you make, and we consider you making at least four of them. We expect you at 17:30, good luck, and hope you agree to turn up.
Sincerely, Anonymous

Talk about needing money... I thought to myself as I walked up.

"Dad," I start to say, walking upstairs.

"Mia," my dad says strictly like he does when he's caught in the act of doing something. "I need to figure out how to work this case out, what. Do. You. Need?" He quickly turns around and hides his cigarette he was smoking behind his back.

"Dad..." I frown, walking up to him and taking his cigarette from him. "You need to figure out how to stop yourself, honestly." I shake my head, throwing it away.
"Never mind me, what did you need?" He says and immediately turns to his case. A couple of pictures of a corpse, the usual.

"What can you tell me about the man that wrote this letter?" I ask.

"Wait one second." He stares at the photos for a couple more seconds and turns to me. "I help with your case and you help with mine." He takes my letter from me and goes to the lamp to investigate.

"It isn't exactly a case..." It was useless. He wasn't listening. I sigh and look at the photo of a man on his back. There's another picture close up of his neck that has a wound in it.

Bullet? My senses kick in. I call her Instinct. No, bullets will leave a wider wound. A medicine shot? Too narrow. A dart. The answer hit me. I peer over at a small paper next to the pictures.

Herbert Wallace
Age: 49
Occupation: ??? Night Guard
Death weapon: ???
Murderer: ???
Evidence: ???

Next, to Occupation, Dad had scribbled "Night Guard." The death weapon stayed empty along with the other slots. I wrote in "poisonous dart" in pencil next to "death weapon."

"Already writing something are you?" My dad stood behind me.

"Oh, sorry." I back off.

"Brilliant mind you got," Dad smirks and goes to grab another cigarette but I slap his hand away. "But I'm still better, do you know what kind of poison it is?"

"Enough about your case, what about mine?" I smile, imitating what my dad said a couple of seconds ago. Because truth be told, I did not know the answer to his question.

"He is indeed a man if you examine the handwriting. He was writing the letter in a rush, you can't make out some letters that are quickly scribbled. And... he smeared some chocolate on the side."

Chocolate lover. Instinct says.

"Chocolate lover?" I repeat.

"Exactly." Dad smiles. "Something seems fishy about this. You get paid for drawing on a wall and get decent money for it. Is that even a thing?" He says, confused, while lightly tapping my letter against his palm.

"Yeah, it is." I slowly nod my head.

"Oh well. I guess you could go. You will pass a candy store, get the man some...." dad sniffed the chocolate. "Dark chocolate with sea salt." He smiles and hands me back my letter.

"Is that all?" I ask.

"About what?" Dad says, attempting to reach for another cigarette. I give him an ice-cold stare and he doesn't take one.

"The letter case. Surely you know more."

"I do know more, you just won't need the information. It's unnecessary. Figure it out yourself if you're so curious."

"Why did Uncle Mycroft visit?" I ask, but dad already tuned himself out of the world, only hearing his thoughts. Knowing he wasn't going to hear me, I sigh and go to my room to pack my bag.

I go to my small basket of things I always need to have with me if I'm going somewhere alone except for school, which I just returned from. I got in trouble and was suspended once in middle school for bringing in a pocket knife. But this seemed serious because my dad wasn't telling me something. So I open up the secret pocket in my small cat backpack and start filling it with everything. Leopard print pocket knife. Pepper spray, to blind someone for a couple of minutes. Flashlight with extra batteries. Dust rag. Butterfly knife that I wanted until dad gave it to me on my birthday (Uncle Mycroft hasn't taken it away yet). I smile at my knife and put it in my secret pocket, closing it. I fill the rest of my backpack up with normal stuff, like a pair of sunglasses, my wallet, and my passport with my ID. I settled at my desk to do my homework quickly.

"Oh Ashborn High, what are you doing to me?" I ask as I drop what feels like a kilogram of papers on my desk. I take a deep breath and take the first paper and pull it closer to me.

Calculus, my sworn enemy. I think to myself; scribbling down the answers that I already knew.

~~~~Time Skip~~~~

"Mia, are you forgetting something?" Dad calls later. "You need to be out in seven minutes and twenty seconds three milliseconds, and John needs to be here in five. Probably going to come in seven." My dad calls and starts rattling off about how John is always late.

I take one peek over my shoulder at my last calculus problem and stare at the note Ms. Adams wrote with a highlighter. "Miabellia, please show your work. We can't read what's going on in your head :)".

"Dad, John is fine..." I reassure my father, grabbing my backpack and checking over my stuff and my clothes. I throw my cat ears in my backpack, run downstairs, and put on my turquoise sneakers. I grab an apple and was about to open the door when John opens it before me.

"Dr. Watson!" I exclaim and hug him.

"How many times do I have to tell you, call me John." John laughs and we break the hug.

"Oh she does, when you aren't around." Dad smiles as he comes downstairs. John is the only thing that made him truly smile. "Miabellia take your watch with you. A flashlight. Sunglasses. Everything in the basket-"

"Yes dad, I'm fine." I smile. "I got this. Nothing's going to happen anyway!"

"Well, you never know. Run along, Little Kitten." John waves toward me. Little Kitten. That's my nickname from back in primary school. It stuck along to me as I grew up; I never really minded it.

"See you. I have a tracker on your phone so I know where you are."

"That's creepy. Bye, dad! Bye John!" I wave as I walk out the front door.

Nibbling on my Granny Smith apple, I make my way to Carnaby Street. I had done some research on my computer and found out there is, in fact, a pub that is opening on that road. I was glad to be invited to do some doodles on the walls and get cash in my pocket. I was tired of asking my dad for money, and I kind of wanted to be more independent. Before I knew it, I have already arrived there. Carnaby Street. I smile and walk up to a pub that says "Grand Opening Soon!" on it. There was an open door. I was going to enter but my dad's voice says something.

"You will pass a candy store, get the man some...Dark chocolate with sea salt." I smile and walk to the candy store next door and buy the man some chocolate.
Now you're ready. Instinct says as I walk through the pubs' door. There are a couple more people in the room I was in. We say our "hi's" to each other and stand in silence. A couple more walk in. The last person that came in shocked me.

"Celestia?" I ask.

"Mia!?" Celestia exclaims and we run to each other. The other people just stared at us.

"What are you doing here?" I ask her.

"Oh, well.... Someone asked if I wanted to help with organizations for the new pub that's opening up-" She got cut off by the door slamming shut. It was pitch black in the room. One girlish voice screamed.

"Alright everyone, calm your horses." A deep male voice sounded. "Did the light bulb fail?"

"No, idiot, can't you recognize a slamming door and a light bulb popping?" Another male voice hissed back.

"Guys! Relax! I have a flashlight anyway..," I declare, in a matter-of-fact voice and start rummaging through my backpack. When I felt the flashlight's switch I exclaimed, "Found it!" I turn the flashlight on.

"Thank you," says the same voice. He had artfully messy black hair and I made out his dark chocolate brown eyes, which were full of fear; he didn't show it. "So. Um. How do I do this?" He takes a breath. "Hi, my name is Flint. Flint Tall. Yes, you can laugh." He says, and some people smiled. He was tall after all. "So it looks like we're going to be here for a while." He scans around the dull black room. "So.... I guess we should all introduce ourselves!" He smiles, clapping his hands together. Around six figures nod. One shivers next to me.

She's the one that screamed. Instinct clicked. The girl had ocean green eyes which were almost impossible to make out; her pupils dilated from all the fear. She had sleek and shiny black hair with metallic green strands of dyed hair. Her head was decorated with a grapevine that looked like a nature crown. She played with her hands; fully covered in henna tattoos. She's nervous. Calm her down.

"Are you alright?" I automatically mutter to her. The panicked girl nods. She slowly backs into a wall and jumps because she hit the cold bricks. "What's your name?"

"Ma-Ma-Maleficent." She stutters. "I don't like the dark, sorry."

"So, it's fine, that you're scared. You know what? I have claustrophobia, and this isn't pretty for me to see. If I can get through it, so can everyone. Especially you." I give her a reassuring smile.

"Alright. I'll try to." Maleficent smiles. "Maleficent Turner." She says with a soft smile. "That's my name."

"Enough chit-chat. We're stuck in here. We need to get out. Someone pulled a prank. It went well. But now I need to figure out who did this so I can beat them up." A male yells fiercely. I've almost forgotten others were in this room since I got carried away by talking down Maleficent. We all turn to him. The only thing to spot from the angry male voice was the blood-red glow coming from his eyes. We all stare at the least expected light source. Literal glowing eyes.

"What's with your eyes bro?" Someone asks. "That's dope!"

"Contacts. They only glow in the dark." The kid explains without a rush. He seems bored.

"And who would you be?" Flint asked.

"Lucifer." He shot at him. "Morningstar." Now that I listen to him, I can make out his English accent. I smile because my dad has one too. It calms me down.

"Now, Lucifer, calm down. We just got locked in."

"I know how to break the door down...." I suggest.

"That would be great, can you quickly do that?" Flint requests.

"That's what I was about to do," I reply with an eye roll. My eyes were starting to adjust to the dark. I look to see eleven figures; one belonging to the glowing red eyes. I located the door and reached for the handle to jiggle the doorknob.

"No, no, not so fast. That's not how you escape." A deep voice says. Like a grownup man. I turn around as the mist started to fill in.

"Don't breathe!" I yell and hold my breath, turning off my flashlight.

A hear a thump. Someone already fell after ten seconds. Ten figures that look panicked by their body language. I ran around the room trying to find an exit but no, we were locked in from all sides. Nine figures. I don't know how long I've been holding my breath for, but I think for a pretty long time because I started to hallucinate. Eight. The walls of the future pub, even if it was a pub, started to close in. Seven. It seemed like a real-life nightmare. Six. I calm down. I can't be panicking right now. Everything is going to be alright. Five. I was running out of breath, but I keep going. Four. I hear a bang on the door like someone is kicking it. Three. I just breathe in the toxins and start to feel dizzy. Two. I collapse on the surprisingly warm and soft floor. One.

~~~~Time Skip~~~~

"Hey, get off!" someone says. I jerk up and find myself laying across a boy's chest. He has matte raven-black hair down to his shoulders with bangs covering one of his eyes. They were dyed blood-red.

"Ah!" I jump up and breathe out. "What happened?" I preview around the room. The twelve of us were still here. The only two awake people were me and this random kid I accidentally fell on. The room was lit by torches. It was covered with dark red bricks. The floor is decorated with cold gray cement.

"You fell asleep on me, that's what happened."

"No, not that." I start digging on my phone for service. I curse under my breath when I see the words 'No service' in the top left corner.

"What?" The kid asked me.

"No service."

"Wait, what?"

"No, service."

"Ah, boo hoo no games to play on your phone." the boy said with a sarcastic tone of voice.

"I was trying to say that my dad will come in a couple of minutes."

"Yeah, what's he gonna do when he gets here?" The kid rolls his eyes.

"He's a detective." I shrug. "Might do something." I returned the sass.

"Who?"

"Sherlock Holmes."

"A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Holmes!" The kid's emotions change from confusion and happiness.

"Miabellia. Call me Mia." I give him my quick, fake, and cheery smile that I learned from my dad.

"But can you prove it?" He asks. I sigh and pull out my passport. "Woah, never mind, Detective Holmes!"

"Don't call me that." I look the other way.

"Ooh, you blushing?" The boy asks.

"No. What's your name?" I ask him.

"Oh, now you're changing the subject as well?" The kid asks, doing a little victory dance.

"Give me your name," I say strictly.

"Fine, fine," The guy pulls out his hand. "Asher Hall. Ash."

"Wake up the others Asher. We need a plan to get out of here." I say confidently, shaking his hand.

"Aye, aye captain," Asher salutes to me and goes to wake up the others. I check for any openings or cracks in the wall. When unable to find any, I sigh and lean with my back against the wall. I slide down to sit on the ground.

"Um, detective?" Asher says with slight concern in his voice.

"What?" I sigh.

"They aren't exactly waking up..."

"What do you mean?" I say, my voice going slightly higher in mockery. Strolling over to a body and kick it hard in the ribs. The boy jerks up and stands straight in a matter of seconds.

"Well, maybe I'm not trying hard enough," Asher says and kicks Lucifer. "I like this game." He smiles.

"What's going on?" The kid I kicked asked.

"Oh, you're up," I say sarcastically, something I was good at. "We've been put to sleep, and I woke you up, thank me later." I give him dad's smile and take out my hand and he shakes it with a confused look on his face. "Who are you?"

"Scorpiones." He gives me a smirk. "My friends call me Scorpion."

"So, Scorps, so we need to gather everyone. Wake people up. I'll do the talking. People find me rather..." I think a little to pick the right word. "Persuasive." I give him my dad's smile again and start looking for exits all over again. I know it's hopeless, but I'll give it a third try. Scorpiones shrugged and started waking people up. What is wrong with everyone's names? Have all the normal ones been taken? I shrug off the thought.

(A/N: this is a Divergent reference, where Christina asks Four why his name is so weird and have all the other ones been taken)

If you were your dad, how would you act? Instinct asks.
"I would find all the possibilities, cross out the impossible ones, and try to reason out all the ones that are left. You'll be left with one or two solutions, and you need to test them out in your mind palace before acting." I mutter.

I let Instinct do the talking. What do you know? You are trapped with eleven other strangers in a room. You have been 'kidnapped' by the person that wrote you the letter. He couldn't pick out random people's names from a hat, you are all connected...

Reality hit me hard, I stopped dead. I turn to see most people were up except for Maleficent, who refused to believe she was trapped in a room full of strangers.

"Listen up everyone!" I yell loudly. All heads turn to me. "So, let's work this out." I take a breath. "My name is Mia..." Ugh, what do I say? I think. Dad makes it look so easy when he talks to a group of people. I'm an extrovert, so why is this hard for me? "Um, we've all been gathered here. Obviously... and, we don't know each other." I drop my gaze on Celestia. "Most of us. And, I don't see anything we could do but see why we are all here and what connects us all here and we get out as quickly as possible. Got it?" I ask.

Everyone 'enthusiastically' mumbles "Uhum," And we all form a circle.

"So, how about we do something; I ask you a question and you give me an honest answer. It won't be anything personal, but if you don't answer honestly that will set us off track." I ask.

"Got it!" Everyone says in unison.

Um, where do we start? I think.

"How did we end up in this room? What's the reason you were called here? I was going to be the designer for the new pub." I say.

"I was going to be an employee at this place until I came here and found out it was a trap." A girl says.

"And who are you?" I ask the girl. She had on a black shirt with jeans overalls on her. Her black wavy thick hair and big dark brown eyes made her look so innocent.

"Danika. Dani." She says. "Spelled D-A-N-I."

"I crave for this place to be dead and buried." A boy unexpectedly says. His blonde hair with natural golden highlights and his stormy-grey eyes that looked a little off made him feel a little sketchy. I turn to him.

"What about you?" I ask. "And who would you be?"
"I have no desire to apprise my name." He says with a scornful look on his face. I stare at the kids' forehead, not blinking. It was like a staring contest, one I win all the time; it's worthless to try to win against me. If you stare at a person's forehead they get uncomfortable, I read in a book once, so I guess that's what happened.

"Are you sure about that?" I say after what feels like one full minute of uneasy silence.

"Nixes. That's all I'm telling you."

"Listen, give Detective the evidence because you are on our suspicions list." Asher steps up for me.

"Nixsaless... Washington..." He says. Asher stares at him a little longer. "Want me to make a disquisition out of this?" He gives Ash an attitude and he steps away. "Thank you."

"I got you everything you need Detective." He grins. I turn my head back at Nixsaless again.

He has extremely long eyelashes. That's why he looks so weird. Instinct kicks in. I throw a "Thanks," at him and get back to the circle.

"Um, I came to make sure this pub never opens either." Lucifer raises his hand.

"Same here." A girl I don't know says.

"OK... So how about we introduce ourselves so we know and can trust each other?" I look over at Nixaless.

"Lucifer." I point at him.

"Here!"

"We aren't in school and this isn't a place for jokes," I answer. "So stop being funny."

"Just trying to lighten the mood..." He mumbles.

"Danika," I say, then keep going around the circle.

"Who are you?"

"Belatrixia, Bela." A girl with super curly raven hair and light brown eyes says. She had a pair of earphones in her ears, though she wasn't listening to any music, the cord just hung by her thigh.

"Who are you?" I ask.

"Jeriko Hope." A boy with light brown hair and blue eyes says.

"Thank you, and who would you be?" I stop by a girl who has greenish-yellow cat eye contacts, a leopard long-sleeve, and tight skinny jeans. She wore sneakers with a leopard pattern on them, and her light brown waist-length hair had different brown highlights in it.

"I'm Leopard Jackson." She says; her eyes - stone-cold glare in them. Her perfect posture made her seem catlike. I was about to move on when she says, "Leo. My friends call me Leo. Not that I have a lot."

"Cat-lover huh?" I ask.

"Problem?" She queries.

"I love it," I swing my backpack to one shoulder and take out my cat ears. The right side up to my lip curves into a half-smile, and I move farther in the circle.

"You are Maleficent, you're Scorpiones, Asher, Flint, Celestia, and Nixes..." I think. "Would our names match up or something?" I ask rhetorically. I look up at the ceiling to see faint symbols. Some others follow my gaze.

"No, I don't want to match up with you in any way-" Lucifer starts.

"Woah!" Scorpion says. "Oh! I think I recognize the symbols." I ignore him and look up. I'm able to spot a bow and arrow sign, but I gave up quickly. That's how I'm unlike my dad.

"Wait, what didn't you say your name was?" I suddenly point to Leopard.

"Leopard." She says.

"No, your nickname," I say. "What is it?"

"Leo."

"Weird, that rings a bell somewhere." I start to hum.

"I don't know, maybe you heard of me. I'm pretty popular at my school."

"No, that nickname just seems familiar. Anyway, how old is everyone? I'm fifteen for example."

"Sixteen, " Lucifer says.

"Fifteen," Danika sings.

"Sixteen," Bela replies.

"Fifteen," Jeriko says.

"Sixteen," Leopard meows.

"Sixteen," Maleficent smiles.

"Sixteen," Scorpion answers.

"Sixteen," Ash says.

"Sixteen," Flint replies.

"Fifteen," Celestia yawns.

"Fifteen," Nixes spit out after a second of awkward silence.

"That doesn't work out evenly...." I say. "But at least we're all in the same age group." I recount everyone.

Twelve. Instinct says. I raise both of my hands and close my eyes, trying to think. "What does or might the number twelve represent?"

"Months in a year?"

"Day we were born?"

"Lucky number?"

"Dozens?"

"Number of people that are here?"

"Number of animals in the Chinese calendar?"

"1+2=12?" Lucifer rolls his eyes. People stare at him.

"There are twelve colored pencils in a pack!"

"There are twelve lunations in a solar year."

"Hours in a day?" Everyone was shouting out things that didn't make sense to me in a matter of seconds. They seemed to be either discussing everything at once, talking over each other.

I walk up and down the room when everyone stopped shouting out nonsense. "Everyone! Stop talking!" I yell to get the elevens' attention. "I need you to search the room for possible exits, if you find something, let me know immediately."

They all shrug or mumble something in response. Others go up and start introducing themselves. I walk up to one of the corners myself. There was a crack in the wall like someone was trying to break through it. But what if there are no walls? I push the wall slightly, half expecting it to fall, like what happened with dad and aunt Eurus. I never really got to know her. No one ever mentioned her in the Holmes household; the wall didn't fall. It was in its place where it was before.

"Detective?" I hear Asher call me; I retract from my thoughts.

"What?" I came over to him. We both stand there in the corner, frozen. "Where was that all this time? I swear I checked all the walls, especially the corners!"

"I don't know, it appeared right as I pressed my hand on this brick." Asher pointed to a brick. I examined the words that appeared between the cracks.

Haven't you realized yet? Why have you been gathered? I'll start knocking you out one by one if you don't do what I want you to do.

"Do you know what this might mean Detective?" he asked.

"No, not a clue. But the man who trapped us in here isn't here to play." I say. "Say, Asher-"

"Ash."

"Huh?" I react.

"Call me Ash. Detective.

"Fine, Ash, what did you come here for?" I ask. The comment must've caught him off-guard, Ash stared at the ground, he stopped moving. Some wave emotions must have run over him. He usually taps his foot with impatience.

"You don't have to tell me-"

"I had a friend at this pub." He blurted out. I raised an eyebrow in curiosity as he talks. "It was the older one before this one started to get renovated. We were always together, like twins. We were always there for each other. She died here, in one of these rooms. I want to make sure this place doesn't open again. Ever. That's why I came here." He swallows hard, looking ahead of him and rocking on his feet back and forth. I can tell he was on the verge of tears.

"Hey, it's fine, we don't have to talk about it." I pat his shoulder.

"I loved her..." He takes a long shaky breath. "I'll stop them from opening this pub. Even if I die doing it."

"No, don't say that!" I exclaim.

"Alright. I'll live." He looks up. "Is that-" He stammers. "No... That's my symbol!" He points up to the bow and arrow. This was getting too fishy. First Leopard's nickname, now Ash's 'symbol' whatever it is. I look more carefully. They look like constellations. That's because they're stars!

"I know why we are here! Who's good with astronomy?" I turn around.

"Me!" A boy says. Scorpiones get out of the crowd and walks up to me.

"Can you study that? The stars I mean. They have symbols on them I've seen before, but don't remember where."

"Very well," Scorpion says after a while. "I'll look. But only because this is going to get us out."

"Everyone, carry on," I say to eight of the people that weren't doing anything. They curiously looked at what Scorpiones was doing, not listening to what I was saying.
"Well there are symbols here, here's a bow and arrow, here are two fish, here's a lion, this can mean anything!" He looks at me.

"Oh, this is just so tedious to watch..." I heard Nixes spit somewhere near me.

"Well can you at least try to find a connection between them all.... What are you looking at?" I ask Scorpion, ignoring Nixsaless. "Scorpion?" I ask him when he doesn't answer. I look up as well. He's looking at the picture of a scorpion.

"That can't be...." He mutters, looking at the ceiling.

"Whoa. Are you telling me,"

"That we are,"

"Looking at,"

"The twelve zodiacs..." I say in almost a whisper.

A/N: Finally! This is the first official chapter in this book! Do you guys like it so far? Write a comment in order for me to get a better understanding of what the future chapters should look like. Y'all know the drill, if there's a misspelling or confusion, write. Comment. Also who named these kids they have weird names. I am literally hating on my own writing ;-; See you guys next chapter!

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