The knife room has become a constant reminder that we're not safe. Jasmine stays by my side most the time. It's been a few days since the knife room was discovered. Nobody has died yet. I'm running out of jokes that relate to the situation. I've reused so many it's not even funny anymore.

"Daniel, I'm going out for a bit, can you watch the group?" Asher asks. He's looking more and more gaunt by the day. He's not taking care of himself.

"Sure. I'll make sure nothing happens." I agree.

"Why is he in charge? I'm the obvious choice!" Maddie says. Asher tries to reply, but she continues talking. "I already can't talk to my precious Zack. Now I have to listen to Daniel? I couldn't think of a worse way to live."

"Calm down, Maddie." Asher sighs. "At least we're all still alive. And Zach will be waiting... Wait, Zach? You're dating Zach?" His expression changes a little to match the confusion in his voice.

"Not Zach, she's dating Zack." I say, just confusing him more.

"Wait did you think I was dating that weirdo? No. I'm dating my sweet little Zack with a 'k'."

"Oh...! Okay, that makes more sense."

"So, am I in charge?" She asks.

"No, I made my choice, sorry Maddie." Asher gets up slowly.

"Try to get something to eat." I say, noticing that he's looking really thin.

"I will, thanks."

"Ugh! Fine, but if I'm not in charge, the least you can do is get me some food." Maddie turns away and pouts.

"Sure... What do you want?"

"Anything. Oh, but no carbs. I'm on a diet." She says, even though I can recall her eating a donut earlier.

"Alright. Please take care of everyone, Daniel." Asher begins to make his way out, not bothering to wait for my reply.

Maddie stomps over to me. "Why do you hate me?!" She asks angrily.

"I don't, really! I don't hate anyone." I reply casually. Jasmine nods, backing me up.

"So that's why you won't let me be in charge?! Because you don't hate me?" She makes a few weird noises that I can only comprehend as anger. I shrug which makes her turn away from me. "Fine. I don't care. But when you die, I will not mourn your death." She leaves me alone, but Mercutio stands up to face her. He and Saskia saw everything that just happened.

"That's overstepping your bounds." He says, trying to hide the fear in his voice. Saskia joins him. She nods fiercely.

Maddie scoffs. "What would you know? You're just a nerd and a transfer student." She almost laughs. "Leave me alone."

"Saying that is mean of you." Saskia says in her heavily accented English. "I don't like it. Death is nothing to joke about."

"It wasn't a joke." Maddie pushes her hair back and ignores them.

"Hey. We're talking to you...!"

"Talk all you want. I don't have to listen."

Saskia takes a deep breath. "Maybe you are just worried that nobody will care when you die. That is why you say things like that."

Maddie hesitates, obviously affected by the words. "...No." She says after a moment of silence. "Everyone cares about me. Nobody would dare overlook my death." Then, she leaves.

Saskia takes another deep breath. Mercutio puts his hand on the German's shoulder. He smiles at her.

"Thank you." I say. "That was nice of you to do when neither of you know me well."

"We know you enough to know that you're kind." Saskia replies, Mercutio nodding in agreement.

"Everyone knows how kind you are, Daniel. I knew it as soon as I met you." Jasmine says, bringing my attention back to her.

"I'm glad you think so." My smile widens a little. I have more friends than I originally knew.

It takes around an hour for Asher to come back. In his absence, we sit silently. Nobody really has anything to say. The Maddie thing was more talking than most of us had done in a long time.

Asher takes out a bag of mixed nuts. He immediately notices Maddie's disappearance. "Where's Maddie," he asks, earning a shrug from me.

"She left after—"

Jasmine is interrupted by a loud girly scream.

"Maddie...?!" Asher says, failing to hide the worry from his tone.

"Maddie didn't scream... That was Kelvin." I reply.

"We have to go check." Asher leads us towards the scream. Saskia looks ashamed. Mercutio looks worried. Jasmine takes my hand for comfort.

We arrive on scene and see Kelvin standing in front of the growing crowd. His face is very red. He laughs awkwardly.

"Nobody died...! False alarm everyone..." He says, earning a glare from Cadmus.

"Don't do that." He mumbles in a gruff tone. "We thought someone died. Do you know what that does to a person?" Cadmus doesn't really seem invested in his words. He almost seems spaced out.

"Sorry...?" Kelvin says. "I saw a bug..."

Lyra places a hand on her brother's shoulders. "Please understand, he has always had an irrational fear of beetles." Raiden and Ashlynn roll their eyes at the exact same time before leaving in separate directions.

Caspian nods. "It's okay..." He and Kody walk away together.

"Don't mess up again." Cadmus leaves, too.

James, Jaqueline, and Cecelia aren't anywhere to be seen, but they could be busy. Sebastian leads Mia away right before Asher tries to bring the group away.

"Wait! Daniel, can we talk?" Kelvin asks before I leave.

"Sure." I reply with a slight nod. I give Jasmine's hand a slight squeeze. "I'll come find you guys later."

"Be careful." She replies, forcing a smile and leaving me with Kelvin and Lyra

"What's up?" I ask the siblings.

"Today, I'm getting my proof. I want you to go with me." Kelvin says.

"He wants you to go kill the beetles for him." Lyra explains with an amused smile.

"I guess I can go." I agree, making Kelvin smile.

"Great! I saw them go that way!"

"Them?"

"Sebastian and Mia!"

He leads me down the hall to our right. Soon enough, we hear a few noises.

"That was anticlimactic." Sebastian murmurs on the other side of a closed door.

"Didn't it scare you...?" Mia asks almost too quiet for us to hear.

"Hmmm, I guess it did. This whole place is creepy. Unfortunately, it's closed in."

Kelvin pulls a bandana up over his face. "I'm a ninja spy." He says to me.

I hold back a laugh and nod. "Okay then." I whisper back. Kelvin is starting to remind me of my brother, Will.

We wait for a while, listening to nothing. Either they noticed us, or they don't talk much. It's about 20 minutes of waiting before we hear more voices.

"Mia, I want to run." Sebastian says in a quiet desperation.

"Wh-what...??" I don't have to see her expression to know she's just as shocked as I am. Even Kelvin's eyes are wide with surprise.

"Not away, just around." Sebastian clarifies.

Kelvin turns to me. "Woah..."

"U-uh okay..."

"Do you run?"

"I-I mean I can..."

"Let's go run."

"O-Okay...!"

"We should go..." I say to Kelvin, realizing that they could very easily come run in the hallway.

"Yeah..." Kelvin agrees. We quietly walk farther down the hallway. It's silent for a while. We just walk down the hall until Kelvin pauses. "I should go back to Lyra. Want to come with?"

"That's okay. I should head back to the group anyway." I reply. We part ways, and my journey down the hallway continues.

I keep waking until I hear laughter. I glance into the closest room.

"Come on James! You know you want to watch another one!"

"No! Cecelia, they're too cute!"

James and Cecelia are both hunched over something laughing while Jaqueline sleeps nearby. Cecelia notices me first.

"Oh! Hey Daniel!" She waves.

"Daniel? Hey!" James turns to look at me. He's actually smiling. I notice they're hunched over a cellphone.

"Hi guys! Sorry to bother you." I say, smiling back at them.

"Eh, it's not really a bother." James shrugs.

"Daniel, you're never a bother." Cecelia laughs. "See you later!" Is that her way of telling me to get lost?

"Yeah, bye..!" I wave and walk away a little faster than I should've. What did I just see?