“Yes, if he’s the only one who knows where the Stone is, we’ll need him. But the newspaper is too old… Which meant that he had been missing for a very long time now. We may have to accept the fact that he’s dead. So I guess our next priority is to find a memento.”

Jasper sighed in disappointment that the only being who might be able to lead them to their destination might have already passed away now. It was made clear that very few have ever found the stone let alone escape the Forest of Ancients in one piece. She wondered if they would be able to make it or survive this journey. This particular task wasn't a lot like the others. This time, the life risks at stake were much more costly since they were up against powerful witches who had the capability of killing them off as they wished. A sneak attack wasn't even a valid option since the last time they had hid, the old hags already knew of their presence but thankfully chose to ignore it.

“Has your group, by chance, met these ‘hooded figures’ they’ve been talking about? What do you think of them?”

Avian's question snapped her out of her self worrying as her mind flashed back to the time at the swamp. "Yes, we have. They demanded possession of the Living List because they didn't want the Queen to get her things," she wrinkled her nose in annoyance, "They had terrible manners. Very rude and they were very physical too. It was a good thing the guides came along to save us or we would've been in real bad trouble." Hakuren was bleeding in the side of the head and all of them were involved in combat with those hooded thieves. It had always bothered her why they wanted the list so badly and how come they had acted so violently and persistently to get it.

Standing from her crouched posture, she swiped at her thighs and bum to rid of dust particles that had stuck and surveyed the room a couple more times before turning to Avian. "I think we should join up with Lesley and Inadi to show them what we found. They might've found some stuff in the study as well," she gathered the newspaper clippings then twisted the knob of the door that they had previously entered from and beckoned him to follow.

The walk was a short one as they arrived to the room just one door over. Carefully, she balled up her hand into a fist and lightly knocked on the wood several times then paused and waited for either Inadi or Lesley to come and open it. From within, she could here mumbling of some serious oratory that Inadi was spouting.

When the mystery of the double M's had been solved, it seemed to have taken the topic of Mr.Cuddle's off of Inadi's mind as Lesley watched him make his way back to the desk to flip through some signatured pages again. Not only was the Midnight Man a definite hoarder, but he was quite the doodler as well. Random notes and scribbles of inked stick men were scrawled all over many of the documents and Inadi looked to be intently trying to figure out their meanings. His demeanor was intensely focused, but Lesley could tell that the boy was growing profusely agitated with each page as the scanning and chucking of pages to the 'looked at pile' quickened in pace. All the pink haired man could do was shake his head. His poor partner had been so troubled by the article that his whole mood had been flipped completely upside down.

At this point, Inadi was basically looking and throwing the papers aside in clear annoyance. As his frustration increased and blood circulation sped up, it was almost to the point that Lesley could imagine hearing the rush of the red vessels coursing through the male's veins. Until the anger climaxed and Inadi went all HULK SMASH on the glow jar which caused the bugs within the blink blindingly with light as if they'd just been shocked by the sudden commotion that took place on their beloved glass home. It now acquired a crack jagged line running from the lid towards the mid-center of the see-through enclosure. Lesley eyed the pulsing veins that were now very vividly showing themselves at the sides of Inadi's forehead. He didn't dare breathe as he watched the frame-faced man release the papers from his hold, letting it fall back onto the table's wooden surface.

He'd never once seen Inadi so riled up over something, that was obviously false, but he couldn't blame him. Friends should always stick up for friends and the feeling of possible betrayal was never a sweet sensation, not for anybody. Watching the boy wide-eyed at his next reaction, he was relieved that the male looked to be recollecting his normal self again as he heaved a heavy exhale and gazed up at him.

Inadi: “Lesley I'm sorry I'm not being the most hospitable person I could be right now. I admit that I'm letting all this stuff get to my head and it probably isn't the prettiest sight. But one thing you have to understand about me is that, as you put it, I am a worrywart. I've been that way growing up and it'll probably stay that way for a while."

Lesley transferred his weight onto one foot as he listened to what Inadi had to say who had now seated himself back onto the chair with his tired eyes examining the jar of luminescent critters. Waving a hand of dismissal at Inadi's apology for his behavior, Lesley really wasn't looking for excuses because he understood that people felt that way sometimes and he'd rather Inadi let it out than have him suppress it within himself. The boy was now checking out his hand which had clearly not taken the sudden hit so well and bubbled up a bit in the flesh.

Inadi: “For me, life has to follow a certain pattern. I'm getting better at it, but I like to be comfortable in what I do and when I do it. When random things that I'm not prepared happen, I panic and begin running like a scared child. I don't know why I'm like that but it's the way things have been for me since I can remember. So when I hear that someone I thought I could trust turns out to not be that trustworthy in the end, I naturally.....or unnaturally maybe in this case....panic quite a bit more than the normal person. And it's worse when I end up doing favors for someone that I don't know if I ever could trust, in this case; The Queen.”

He appreciated the fact that Inadi was pouring out all his thoughts and feelings and was glad to be the one getting to know these facts on a personal level with a guy he cared about. Meeting Inadi's eyes, the man then jutted out a finger towards him, explaining the reasoning behind why he agreed to join in on this; to get home of course.

That's why I'm doing all this dangerous and insane crap,” He said as he walked towards where he dropped his spear off and took it from its leaning position. “It will get me back to where I feel comfortable.”

Inadi stabbed one of the papers with his spear, using it like an extension o his limb as he elevated the document back up towards him, staring at the page with determination. Lesley nodded his head in awe of his inspiring speech. Suddenly, he heard someone knocking on the door. "Ah, it's probably the pair from the other room," he quickly made his way towards the door and smiled at the sight of Jasper and Avian upon swinging it open. "Please come in." he said as he motioned for them to come inside. Leading the two towards the desk, he brought to Avian's attention the pages on which the M's were printed on, the article about Mr.cuddles was also on top of the pile, but he didn't make the effort of purposely pointing it out, afraid that it might upset Inadi again.

Back inside, he hadn't really been listening, but now that they were out, Ace's words began to sink in. The queen a villain? That was ridiculous, RIGHT? She was helping them after all and she was offering them a ticket out of Nowhere, a chance to go home.

Harper shot Ace a pointed look, if that was the case, then the items and everything, what was it all for? He wanted to see the best in Nowhere and he was trying so darned hard! He didn't want to think poorly of the Nobodies and of the queen, not when they had been helping them from the beginning. If not for some of the Nobodies then they'd be dead by now, in fact, they would have died all the way back on the Shakespearean Star Fisher.

"Yeah, it was Mary." His eyebrows furrowed together in worry. "They're criminals though...maybe that's why she's after them." His mind wandered back to the encounter in the caves. The way those hooded figures had demanded for the list, the way they had bashed Haku in the head, they were the ones who couldn't be trusted. They were dangerous. Well, at least, that was what the boy believed.

The two of them trudged on through the pouring rain with Ace once again taking the lead. "That sounds like a good idea. I wonder if the others found anything as well. We could pool together the clues we gathered and maybe try to make sense of this mess." They walked through a field, the mansion coming closer into view. "Say Ace, what do you think about the hooded figures?" Harper didn't like them one bit, but they were from back home too so in a way they were all in the same boat, all stuck in this nonsensical world of sky pirates and ice cream mountains.

One of the birds swooped down, nearly yanking Ace's beloved hat off her head. It cawed loudly and soon even more birds began swooping down on them. How were they even able to fly in this horrible rain? The duo eventually reached the porch and entered the mansion. It was warmer inside and none of the birds followed. "They told us to regroup at the library, right?" The duo made their way upstairs only to be greeted by Haku and a cobweb covered Leon.

"What's up?" Haku was sprawled out on one of the couches, a philosophy book in hand. "You two look a little cold."

Harper blinked then eyed Leon. "What happened to him?"

"A vase fell on the poor queen's head." The ice mage gave his friend a pat on the head and Leon fumbled around with his now dusty clothes.

The wind mage scowled. "It was disgusting! But my ruined clothes aside, Elsa and I found some cutouts. What did you two find?"

Harper looked towards Ace, cutouts huh? "We found some clues too. I guess we'll be waiting for the others then."

Hakuren sighed, "slowpokes through and through, but what did I say? Birds of a feather always flock together."

Harper was no longer listening, the boy plopped down on one of the couches and sighed. "Things are getting strange, aren't they Ace?" He stared at all the books. Now they had to wait for the others and the guides. Hopefully they'd be able to make sense of all this.

"Those odd ex-humans were doing what they did for a cause. They apparently wanted to get home just like we do. Maybe Queeny isn't letting them. I don't think they were that bad..." Then Ace hit her fist against her palm. "Except for that pink creature. If I see that one again I'm making it a goal to smack her with that pole of hers." Another one of her goals... Well, she carried out her dragon goal, what made anyone think she wouldn't see that one through as well?

The birds caught her attention, one narrowly missing her hat. "That's it..." She picked up a stick, fully prepared to play baseball with it. And that's what she did. Especially when one managed to get too close to her face. Bird's mistake. "Stupid crows. You should find someone else to pick on!" She yelled out as they walked in.

When he asked her a question about the library Ace raised an eyebrow. "I don't know, that's what I have a partner for." She laughed and followed Harper to the library. Seeing Leon and Haku she saluted. "Instead of going through our finds now, I think we should just wait for everyone to get here. But we did find stuff." She shook her hat off and wrung out her hair from the access water, not too much caring about the carpet.

Ace didn't pay too much attention to the complaints about clothes and whatnot. Leon wasn't rained on in clothes that exposed his stomach. "Mannn, we're gonna get sick Harper. Do people get sick in Nowhere? Maybe we'll get lucky or something." She casually sat next to him and then draped her legs over the arm of the couch and then laid down. Her hair was already wet, so resting her head on Harper's leg didn't mean much.

"Silly Harper, it was strange when you first got in that train. Now it's just getting crazy." Ace sighed and wondered where everyone else was and hoped they found good clues too.

"So Harper," She looked up at him and smiled. "When you go home, what do you plan on doing? I mean after such an exciting adventure, will you just leave it all behind?" She was rather curious about it, considering she didn't have the intention to leave anytime soon. "I mean, once you get past all this. . . It's not such a bad place. Stay in the cities and live amongst the others, one would be fine. Oh, and now that the dragons are tamed- I could even become one of the dragon riders! That would be so cool!"

Looking to where the others had entered the small room Inadi immediately went towards the book and paper that were strew about the desk. Before Avian and Jasper could get close enough to read the newspaper clipping Inadi reached for it and quickly stuffed it into the left sleeve of his coat. He gave a quick nod of acknowledgment towards Jasper and Avian as they got closer to the room. Giving a quick stare at the jar that held the still brightly lit beetles that illuminated the room quite well, he slowly shifted the jar so that the crack was away from the two who had just entered.

At this point the mystery of the symbol and the Midnight Man's existence had been the only major clue that the two groups were able to piece together. Inadi watched as Lesley led Jasper and Avian to the desk, something Inadi was already hoping would happen so they could get their whole conference out of the way. The faster they got out of this room the better. Once the man joined him at the desk Inadi began pointing out certain things he had begun to deduce about the study and the seemingly vast collection of papers dedicated to the mysterious witch hunter of the woods.

Spreading out a few pieces of paper and flipping through certain pages of the book, Inadi began explaining what he believed was the purpose of the study itself. “Avian, while I cannot say I knew the Midnight Man in his prime, I doubt he would be so lost in his own glory as to create a whole room and collection of crude art dedicated to himself. Plus, most of this seems like it was created in a hurry. Almost as if someone was trying to write it all down before they forgot something,” Inadi explained as he gave a quick look towards Jasper and Lesley, who were now standing relatively close to each other opposite of them. He was beginning to think back to the time they were staring at him back when the dragons were around, but decided it was better to focus on the task at hand.

“At the end of the day I would only assume this was some kind of deranged fan of his dedicated to documenting his work. Some kind of scholar who had become so infatuated with the Midnight Man that he lost all control of what he was thinking or saying. Half of these things are so poorly drawn or scribbled up it is hard to even imagine what he saw, let alone what he is trying to write down,” Inadi said to Avian as he picked himself off the desk and used his spear to point towards the symbol on a specific piece of paper that had it dead center and filling up the entire page it seemed. “Regardless of that though, there is a chance this guy could have known the Midnight Man personally. No other way to explain how he was able to draw what he saw or what the Midnight Man may have described to him after one of his so-called hunts. And if he knew him, he might have a way for us to find him.”

Inadi set the spear down to his side as he gave Avian a quick look to see what he was thinking. It was hard to tell to be honest. The guide never really seemed to give a sign as to what he was thinking or what he was going to do. Granted Inadi didn't know him too well so that might have also played into it. But he felt his explanation was sound and it seemed to make sense considering what all the papers looked like.

Leaning against his weapon he gave a quick nod of the head towards the door that would get the group out of the study. “More than likely someone else in the group may have already found a way to get this witch hunter to come out of hiding. I doubt he's actually dead to be honest. Nothing is ever that simple in this backwards place of Nowhere. So I plan on going downstairs and seeing if Harper has found anything useful,” He said matter-of-factly as he began stepping towards the doorway. Each step Inadi would flex his left hand, the numbness still trying to take effect after the punch a few minutes ago. Turning back to the person he had entered with and the girl standing next to him, Inadi shrugged at them both. “Are either of you coming? I'd hate to get dragged down the hall alone like some bad horror flick.” He joked as he continued to walk out of the room. He was done with that study anyway. Just standing in it was making his mind race and blood boil.

"Yes, we have. They demanded possession of the Living List because they didn't want the Queen to get her things. They had terrible manners. Very rude and they were very physical too. It was a good thing the guides came along to save us or we would've been in real bad trouble."

The girl seemed bothered by the experience, but it was understandable. People often balk in the face of aggression; these “Lost Souls” may come from a different world, but at their core Avian believed that they possessed the basest instincts and emotions that every nobody has... But perhaps only that. His exposure to their ilk was relatively thin compared to that of a normal guide’s (for example Cello) so he wasn’t so sure about the spectrum of human emotions, but he heard from someone that these “hommuns” are capable of immense cruelty. Daily gang wars, “nu-clear” bombing, “hom-ee-side”, manslaughter… Here in Nowhere the only creatures up to par to those were the ones in the Dark Side and the closest they got to the aforementioned crimes was the War.

He figured he should say something about the HF too.

“They are a strange lot,” He murmured in agreement as they exited the bedroom, refraining from saying anything more should Jasper take notice of his words. According to Songbird, one of the Lost Souls almost beheaded a tall boy with a cleaver. He would get violet too if someone tried to slice his head off with that, to be honest, so not much sympathy for the blade-toting crazy girl. Nowhere and “Earth” was surprisingly similar in the fact that creatures of the same species warred against each other… And he’d seen his own share of decapitated bodies too. Perhaps this is not the best time to talk about that.

They entered the room and the boy with the glasses, Inadi, drew his sleeve. Avian narrowed his eyes but didn’t poke the issue; the boy was probably just fixing his appearance. Golden pear knows Victoria does that a lot. Anyway… He listened in on the young man’s explanation up to its end with a neutral expression on his face. Hmm, they’ve all garnered a good bit of information about the Midnight Man, but no way to the Stone, it seemed… The dragoon sighed but gave Inadi a warm smile. “Good work,” He said as they left the room, where they met Brandy and Songbird heading up the second floor as well.

Before he could greet the duo, Avian noticed a shimmering beyond and noticed a tail- Ah, Martini! The mermaid was further off the corridor, looking quite panicked as she peeked in from room to room before finally exclaiming “Ah, there you are!” then bubbling in. Looks like some of the humans went over there…

“Let’s meet up with the others to share the information we found,” The soldier noted the guides’ pale faces and the fact that Songbird’s jaw was clenched tightly. “Did you see anything unpleasant?” Avian asked as their group headed after Martini. Before the item hunter could answer their question they were inside the library, where all the other humans were save for…

“Where’s miss Riley? And the one who hugged Temeraire?” Avian questioned as their group formed a circle for his head count. He was pretty sure they headed this way too earlier… To his credit, the soldier looked more and more like a bewildered single father who was tasked with babysitting all twelve of his cousins’ children on a trip to the amusement park.

Meanwhile, Songbird was staring up at a certain shelf, his brows furrowed as he inspected the strange marks on the floor. “Looks like this thing moved around a lot,” He grumbled then called on for Avian to move the shelf. “It looks heavy,” The dragoon winced and retorted as he angled himself to one side of the bookcase. The white-haired nobody, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care much, mumbling something incoherent but resembled “well you’re the beefcake so you do it”. Although he heaved a lot of times, Avian was unable to move the bookshelf- he wasn’t some superhero, you know- but his attempts jostled it enough for books to start falling off the cases. With the thick tomes out of the way, the party began to hear the sound of banging and angry yelling more distinctly.

“Are you sure there’s no switch to this thing?” Avian wiped his forehead and rested against the wall as Songbird inspected the shelf yet again, only to shake his head with conviction.

“You’re sure? I’m not just wasting my energy here?” The dragoon pressed before heaving again- which, of course, resulted in nothing save more angry yelling from Riley. “Yep, 100 percent sure about it!” Songbird noticed a dark slot hidden behind a thick dictionary and shoved the book aside, testing the space with his fingers. Looks like an average book could fit in here, but for what? He inserted a red primer inside and watched as the bookshelf moved.

Avian’s facial expression told everyone the extent of his irritation.

Though of course, he broke out of his unpleasant mood when Leila and Riley stepped forth from within the secret room. “Are you two all right!?” The soldier immediate crowed while Songbird opted to inspect the bookcase more.

"Don't worry, I'm sure someone will hear us soon." Riley slammed both her fists on the bookcase's back.

She did so again and again until her hands began hurting. The girl let out an angry yell and suddenly the ground beneath them began to shake "Whaddya know, it's scared to get yelled at." Before she could give Leila a triumphant grin, she noticed the others staring. "Oh hey guys, funny seeing you here." She flashed a grateful look in Avian's direction. "Thanks for the save, it was awfully dusty in there, tons of rats too."

Harper was just about to respond to Ace when the bookcase moved, revealing both Riley and Leila. "Oh wow...and um, I'd probably cook dinner for the family and all that." He waited for Ace to sit up then stood. "We should probably pool together our clues." He took a step towards the guides then turned to her with a curious expression. "What would you do?" He was interested in knowing. Unlike most of them, she was one of the few who didn't really seem to miss home. Maybe, Nowhere suited her personality more, so when she left this colorful world and went back to their pain one what would she do? He waited for an answer then turned his attention towards the guides.

"We found something from a torn newspaper about the drownings in Yonder." He muttered.

Leon stood up and eyed the others. "Haku and I found stuff about the midnight man. About how only he could get us to the witches." Leon shivered, peeling a couple of spider webs off of his shirt. "Whoever lived here was obsessed."

"You found stuff about the midnight man too?" Riley brightened up, before swinging an arm over Leila's shoulder and pulling her close.

The wind mage arched an eyebrow. "Uh...we did, it was freaky." To this, Haku gave Leon a smug smile.

"We found a way to summon him." Riley grinned from ear to ear and held out an old journal that looked ready to fall apart. "If he's the only one who can lead us to the stone of sacrifice then we might as well contact him, right?"

Harper gave her a look of disbelief. "I don't think that's a very good idea." He looked to Inadi, one of the few reasonable people left in this group.

"If we don't we'll be stuck here forever." Riley flipped through the journals pages and pretty much pulled Avian close. "See this, he talks about the forest being under a curse by the witches and that only MM knows how to find the stone." She sighed, "so you know what this means, right?"

Haku chuckled, "we all die?"

"Yeah," Riley shot a pointed look in his direction. "We get stuck here forever till we rot, so there's only one option." She slammed her fist into her open palm and gave everyone a look brimming with determination. "It's stupid but it's the only way, we're going to be playing the midnight game!"

Looking down at the papers that had been presented to them, it didn't look like anything was of use to their current situation. Inadi and Lesley didn't seem to understand the material either only that this nobody either is or was obsessed with the Midnight Man. After they examined the pages for a couple more minutes, it was decided that it'd be best to meet up with the rest of the crew to see if anyone else found useful information. Everyone looked to have gathered up at the library entrance, but Riley and Leila were the only two missing.

Suddenly, from behind a bookshelf, shouts and cries for help could be heard. It was the female duo. 'How'd they get back there?' she wondered to herself as she watched Avian struggling to move the heavy block aside to let the girls out. But apparently, all the trouble was of no use because the thing wouldn't even budge. Upon sliding a book back into one the suspicious looking slots, it opened on its own to release both girls leaving Avian with an annoyed expression for his wasted efforts.

Finally, the lot of them had been regrouped and all were present. Withdrawing the newspaper cut outs from her pocket, she passed them around for the others to read. "This is what we found." People pooled in their clues together in order to draw some sort of viable solution. As everyone discussed the next step, the mention of death was brought up, but it was obviously not anyone's number one option. Since Riley and Leila had found some instructions on how to summon this so called Midnight Man, it was decided that they carry out this demon-communicating game to hopefully get in touch with a monster. Though she was wholly against the entire idea, which by the way sounded absolutely ridiculous and unsafe, since there were so many of them participating, she felt much more secure.

"It's stupid but it's the only way, we're going to be playing the midnight game!"

Harper stared at the piece of paper that had been nailed to the front door. All their names had been written in alphabetical order and each of them had smeared a drop of their blood onto the now reddish paper. This game, it sounded absolutely ridiculous, but if it really was the only way then they didn't have a choice. He rubbed his arms in an attempt to warm himself up, his clothes were still wet and it was freezing cold. He turned to look at Ace, "how are you doing?" he pretty much asked through chattering teeth.

The boy glanced at Riley, "this doesn't exactly feel safe. The whole, summoning a demon into a haunted house in a cursed forest."

"That's because it isn't safe," Riley shrugged in reply. "We don't really have much of a choice though, if we want to find those witches and the stone of sacrifice then we're going to have to best this midnight man in his own game." The girl glanced down at the open journal on one of the dusty coffee tables. "Okay, so after I knock on the door twenty two times he should arrive. Remember, he'll challenge us to find something and we'll need to find it before he finds us." The girl had a determined gleam in her eyes and gone were the silly grins and laughter. "You guys have the salt, right?" She gave Songbird, Marti, and Brandy two thumbs up. "Thanks for looking around the kitchen." Riley paused to stare at the journal for a bit longer, memorizing the most important rules as she went.

"Oh yeah, super important but keep your light source on. If it goes out, you'll need to draw a salt circle around you or he'll find you and," she ran a finger over her neck. "It'll be game over." The girl focused her eyes on Harper. "No flashlights allowed, we stick to these jars and we're not allowed to leave the house either. If we stick together and remember these rules, we should be all good. Though, a big group like us all together would be easy to spot so looks like we're splitting up."

Avian and Martini got together to form the first group while Songbird and Brandy became the second group.

The guides began to split the humans up then made sure they each had a glow jar. "Lesley!" Riley gave the man a grin. "This was a real awesome find, good luck." She made her way towards the door then turned her head to look at the others. "Ready?"

"To be honest," Leon's eyes were practically the size of dinner plates. "I don't think any of us are."

Hakuren chuckled, "no time like the present, go ahead. I'm sure queen Leon will be alright after a deep breath." He slapped his friend cheerfully on the shoulder then made his way to both Songbird and Brandy's group.

Harper had to agree with Leon on this one but there wasn't much of a choice, he turned to look at Jasper and Lesley, his teammates and gave them both a hesitant but hopefully reassuring smile. "We'll be fine as long as we keep our lights lit and don't lose sight of the salt."

"Okay! I'm going in for the kill." Riley took in a deep breath and knocked on the door twenty two times.

At the last knock the lights in the ancient manor began to flicker and the chandelier began to swing. Every creaky step made a sound and the wind outside banged on the glass windows. The girl leaped back, pretty much crashing into Songbird as she did so. She recalled muttering an apology but was far too focused on the sudden flash of lightning that illuminated the room. "T-Talk about eerie!"

Every single light bulb suddenly came to life and the lost souls were blinded by a bright flash of light. As soon as their eyes adjusted they saw bright streaks of white painted across several of the walls. Riley gaped, the summoning it had worked...



Harper's amulet shone twice as bright and he held back the urge to run. The lights sputtered before once again shining bright, the message was different this time, but written in the same messy way. His thoughts went back to the messages down in the basement, these messages matched it in every single way aside from color. The midnight man had written those things in the basement.



The lights flickered off once more before shining brighter than they had ever done.



The light bulbs shattered and the room was enveloped in silence. Harper turned to his group mates and frowned. "Well, we need to keep moving if we want to make sure he doesn't find us. But if you had a prized sword, where would you keep it?" He was pushing himself forward in an attempt to quell the fear. "Everyone, stay safe okay?"

It took Riley a few moments to actually take it all in. If they lost, if he found them first, it would be over. "Guys, let's move quickly."

Ace sat up when she saw Riley and Leila appear from the bookcase and she smiled. "Flashy entrance, nice." When Harper made the mention of exchanging clues, she pulled the newspaper clipping out of her hat. She didn't have pockets and she wasn't going to stuff it in her shirt so her hat was the next best thing. She handed the newspaper over to Harper, figuring she would explain where he missed.

"Along with the drownings, there's also someone who really doesn't like those bunny guards. It was not a pretty picture." She remembered the writing on the wall and added. "The rabbits are not what they seem... so it said on the wall. In paint- well it's still debatable. It could've been blood."

She listened to the rest of the findings, giving a curious look when Riley mentioned summoning the Midnight Man. She recalled the old tree saying something about him, but didn't think much of it at the time. Now apparently, it was a big deal. She should really pay more attention to detail sometimes.

Everyone was together and Riley took the lead. She stared at the door with her bloody fingerprint next to get name. She pricked her finger for it and then had been sitting down, hugging herself to fight the cold. The rain really did a number on her. Ace tried to focus on everything but the cold, but then Harper brought it back to her attention. "Eh, I could be worse. A little cold will at least keep me awake..." She couldn't help but laugh between the banter on safety.

"What is safe anymore?"

And rules. Of course. Everything had rules. Ace sighed and decided to TRY and remember them. "Stay to the rules. Only use the glow bugs. Don't go outside- well it's raining anyway. Who wants to go outside in this weather? Oh, um, and don't forget the salt." When they all were placed into a group, she fist bumped Riley and grinned. "Sweet, we're in a group together!" She gave a supportive salute to Harper and Jasper. "You guys will be fine, don't worry! And you have Lesley and Avian. He's a warrior and such." She smiled and then turned to the game Riley had started.

A bright flash made her shut her eyes, only to see writing on the walls. They like just like the messages on the wall in the basement. . . Did that mean the Midnight Man was the one who wrote them? Maybe. . . "So. We have to find a sword somewhere in this house." Ace shook her hat, trying to get at least that dry. But it was to no avail. "Well, I hope he doesn't mind if we trash his house." She said when Harper asked where they would find it.

"Don't worry Harper. With the groups, we'll cover more ground. We'll be safe!" She patted his back before taking a step forward. When she took a step forward she plopped her hat back on her head and grinned.
Riley was already next to Leila, so she pulled Inadi along between the stairs. "C'mon Riley, we'll take the downstairs area. Sounds good?" As she moved forward, she almost forgot the guides and Haku were following them too. "Don't fall behind you three. We gotta hurry after all." As they walked, Ace looked at a painting on the wall.



She tilted her head and stepped towards it. "Hm..." The redhead removed it from the wall and put it on the floor. She tapped the wall behind it and didn't hear anything. "Well, there's no hollow secret door here. And the painting can't hold a sword." She shrugged and kept it moving with the group. She remembered from being with the gang she was raised in that some of the guys would do that only to find secret compartments with money stashed in them. Normally, paintings were where they hid. But this was not the case, so they just had to keep looking.

Inadi took the initiative on attempting to explain what the messy files of newspapers and scribbles meant, but in the end, the only conclusion they were able to successfully withdraw was that the owner of this mansion had a thing for the Midnight Man. It was all evident in his signatures and drawings, plus many of the excerpts mentioned him. Whoever this guy he was, it was for certain that he had an unhealthy obsession with this demon. Once Avian and Jasper finished sifting through the documents that were scattered across the table, the royal dragoon offered them a simple "Good job!" as they all headed out the door with the framed male leading them towards the library.

A head count was performed none other than Avian himself and Lesley couldn't help but perceive him as a mother duck checking up on all her little ducklings. All but a pair of ladies were present and this brought upon a heavy feeling of worry until distinct shouts for help erupted from behind one of the large oak bookshelves. Songbird and Avian sprung into action immediately with the dragoon visibly applying all the force he possibly could to the side of the unbudging piece of heavy, wooden furniture. His efforts only served to cause a handful of books to topple out of their place from the shaking movements. There were usually secret switches to these sorts of things, even in movies back home there was always some hidden button or something that would cause a hidden contraption to reveal itself. And right as he thought it, Song slipped one of the novels into a peculiar looking empty space which allowed the stubborn shelf to rotate sideways and let the trapped ones free.

Following the sharing of new found clues and information that might prove useful, most of what people found had one thing in common, the Midnight Man. Since Riley and Leila happened to find a slip of paper with actual instructions on how to summon this demon of sorts, it was drastically settled that they would carry out these steps and play the horror game.

---

Rules were established and Lesley hugged his glow jar tightly and clutched a small baggie of salt just in case his bugs failed him. The entirety of both earthlings and guides were divided in half. To his dismay, the albino head was picked to be in his group. Pursing his lips into a slight pout, he still wasn't happy about the puking incident, but he couldn't help feeling like he no longer hated her as much. She was too innocent minded and jittery. something about her made you feel the need to protect and baby her like she was a younger sister.

Riley proceeded with the calling ceremony and with the last knock, the seemingly dead house burst into life. The lights flickered on to their maximum brightness, Lesley could hardly see as he waited for his vision to refocus. The first sentence definitely freaked him out. Totally copyrighted straight out of Saw. It was Jigsaw for sure. They had summoned the swirly-cheeked, extremely baby-powdered face, red-eyed, non-hair-combing psychopath. He told them to find a sword. Lesley flared his nose in unamusement. "A sword really? I thought he was going to torture us. Never mind."

Breaking glass and a cascade of shattered pieces fell from every corner of the room that was previously lit up. Grabbing onto Martini, he passed her the salt as he held their light source. "You heard her right? If this goes out, which I will keep a close eye on so that doesn't happen, you draw a circle around both of us with the salt mkay?" he said. Out of everyone he got paired up with, he trusted Martini the most so he stuck close to her. "Where d you think we can find a sword? Anyone see an armor display while they were walking around? Old mansions usually have one of those." It looked as of they were straying back up the staircase. There were couple of doors up there that they hadn't had the chance to check yet. Who knows. Maybe one of them held this special Midnight Man sword.

Inadi stood in the room with the whole group and maintained a somewhat stoic composure. To be honest he didn't like the idea one bit. There had to be something other than this to get the Midnight Man's attention. Maybe some kind of postcard or a telephone call. Carrier pigeon even. This whole thing just screamed out the words bad idea, and it made the spear holding individual feel like he was going to regret ever being a part of this whole debacle.

Riley began the whole speech on how the game was going to work and how everything would eventually play out in regards to the game itself. They needed to find something that the Midnight Man himself would tell them to find and that if they got caught before hand, it would be lights out for whoever picked the wrong place at the wrong time. Inadi definitely didn't want to find out how the Midnight Man took care of those who couldn't beat his game, but he knew it wasn't a pleasant way to go out. Probably the one thing he didn't like was the idea of not being able to make a new light source rather than the jars they had with them. Surely they would have a better way to light their path than those pathetic things. Inadi wanted to try something out before the whole game started and began focusing his energies that came from his crystal.

Very quickly he built up some electricity in his hand and saw that it was similar to when he first made a lightening bolt. Now it wasn't so much a wonder to him, as he had seen it now at least four times. He continued to building his energies in his palm and once he felt it was enough he decided to crush the small lightening bolts in his hand and a sudden flash of light shot from his palm, just bright enough to blind the man who was experimenting with his power. Rubbing his eyes out once the flash died out he gave a quick chuckle. “Like a power station blowing a fuse.” He muttered to himself as he got down to his part of the game and wrote his name out and dropped a small portion of his blood on the paper.

The knocking commenced and Inadi couldn't help but grip his spear just a little tighter than before. This whole thing seemed like a really bad idea and the whole thing seemed to be getting worse by the second. The knocking was speeding up in his ears, even though Riley was keeping the same pace if maybe slowing down a bit. The speeding up was actually the pounding in his heart. And once the 22nd knock hit the pounding stopped, as did the ability to see. When the lights came back on the messages began showing up. Looks like the game wasn't just gonna be smoke and mirrors like he was hoping it would be to Inadi's displeasure.

Giving a quick salute to Harper after wishing him luck he was jarring pulled along by Ace to follow the rest of his group. Inadi was almost at the right pace to follow Ace step for step until she stopped suddenly and forced him to try and put a stop to his own momentum. Looking at Ace with an eyebrow raised and a few breaths caught in his throat. Following Ace's steps she picked up at picture off the wall and began looking for some kind of hidden door, like some of the secret passages others had found throughout the mansion. Sadly this wall didn't appear to be one of them. Plus the picture wasn't all that appealing to look at either. As Ace decided the picture was not worth anything to them in regards to the game he decided to stick his spear through the spot where the eye hole was in the corpse's picture, at least that was what it was to him. The spear went through the paper like a knife through butter. Picking his head up slowly and keeping an eye out around him and Ace, he decided to break his silence to the group. “Now we know it's worthless. Come on, we got a sword to find and a maniac to keep ahead of.” Inadi told the red head as he began picking put the pace and eventually found himself side by side with Leila further along in the mansion.

Group One

Based from the information he had amassed from the Lost Souls, it seems as if nobody found a map or directions which would lead them to the Stone of Sacrifice, but… Two of the humans found something even “better”: a way to contact the Midnight Man and ask for his help. Even though Riley had not yet finished explaining the proposition Avian was already against the idea; this was too risky for a bunch of… well, let’s say it, neophytes who were all drenched in rainwater and shivering like wind-ravaged leaves. He was already accustomed to the cold biting his skin through his clothes, but what’s to say that the Lost Souls and the other guides shared his constitution? Songbird’s teeth were chattering so much that you could easily switch him in as a live bone rattle during a street performance.

Riley pulled the dragoon closer and presented the journals to him as if to say that there really was no other way to know the Stone’s whereabouts. As he leafed through the aged yellow pages it began to dawn on Avian that yes… This was the only route there was to getting to the witches.

Frankly, it scared him. Obviously not for his sake, but for the ones who would have to fight should he fall.

He had, very much unlike Victoria, launched onto imagining the next events should they win this game. Sure, they’d go to the Stone… But what then? It would be him versus how many witches…? How many could he fight until he couldn’t stand anymore? One would be easy, two would be… a harsh battle, three was... Hmm. The soldier knew how far his abilities ran and felt chills run up his spine when he considered the probability of success… A dismal percentage, to be honest. He gave each of the Lost Souls a long, unflinching look and then nodded. If the odds weren’t in their favor, he’d focus on killing one witch, get the heart, and keep the others away as everyone retreated. That’s the plan.

“All right then, let’s summon him,” Avian replied to Riley’s determined exclamations, a warm smile spreading through his face to keep the spirits up.

Much much later, they began this pagan ritual while Avian watched with his arms folded over his chest with his eyes closed. The rules were stated, lights flashed on and off, cryptic messages appeared on the walls, and glass shattered signaling the start of the game. He expected as much seeing that they were instructed to use light sources for the duration of the game; that meant that they would be given a disability at the very start... When you gambled your life far too many times you tend to pay attention to those sorts of details. Darkness fell over them like a thick blanket and the different colors their glow jars emanated light that was like something out of a ghoulish theater performance. Avian inhaled slowly before opening his eyes, which were now accustomed to the dark thanks to his earlier preparation, then unfurled his hands and moved to the rear of his group.

“Okay then, let’s do this,” He said calmly and loud enough for everyone in his team to hear as they reached the top of the stairs. “Keep an eye on your jar. Those bugs are tired, so they may be a bit unreliable. Also…” The soldier passed out candles that he received from Songbird earlier. “Here, these may be useful. Unfortunately, we only found two flints so if you want to get that lighted, you’ll have to go to me,” Avian talked gently and soothingly, seemingly unruffled by the tense atmosphere caused by summoning the Midnight Man.

The soldier then walked over to the left corridor where the bedroom was, but a loud crack resounded out of nowhere and he looked down to see the bugs in his jar flying around madly, the light they produced flickering on and off in an unpredictable manner. The little things kept slamming themselves against the glass, as if trying to break out of the container, and one by one the critters fell down to the bottom dead. He looked at the corridor ahead and swore that he saw something shaped like a person move through the shadows.

... Oh. Ohhh...

“Let’s go the opposite way then. Come on, everyone,” Avian called out firmly, still unflinchingly calm save for a wince when goosebumps broke through his skin, as the insects clamored even louder and the temperature dropped. Unintelligible whispers wafted from the silhouette and the noise got louder as it advanced, but the royal dragoon was already ushering the group into the opposite corridor. “At least there’s signs that he’s near…” He muttered as he kicked open one door near the end of the hallway and they moved inside the room.

---

Group Two

When everyone pooled their information, Songbird did the wise thing and shut up. Who would want to know about finding decapitated bunny guards in a possibly haunted mansion in the middle of a creepstastic forest anyway? Certainly not Jasper or Leila or, quite frankly, anyone. Martini looked queasy enough as it is. He briefly wondered how the mermaid would act if Two-Thirds was here… “Hehehe,” The item hunter was unable to resist an evil snicker at the thought. Unfortunately, he laughed while Riley was knocking on the door so… Yeah, wasn’t the best time for that type of sound. Thankfully nobody noticed- Songbird would have hated making anyone panic for no reason at all…

“Hey guys, here. Have these,” The item hunter distributed odd, twisted candles to everyone in his group. “I’m not sure if I need to worry if you need help with those since we have Ace,” He nodded towards the redhead, then brought out a rock before adding, “But if your jars get lost or broken just approach me or Brandy, we’ll certainly light the candles up for you. That goes for relighting too.”

Then all sorts of scary things happened and their instructions- well, it looked more like a challenge to be honest- were sprawled all over the walls before the lights disappeared completely. Songbird covered his head to make sure none of the glass pierced him, and unlike Avian, the item hunter hadn’t prepared himself for the sudden darkness which left him stunned for a flat minute.

His group started to move and he struggled to catch up as hazy shapes and outlines popped out of nowhere. Still, at least he could identify who was who thanks to the glow jars. Just before they entered a room Songbird saw Avian and his group on the head of the staircase. The dragoon was frozen in place, eyes staring deep into the darkness of the opposite corridor, and even from there the item hunter could see the flicker of a split-second decision being made in the man’s violet eyes. The soldier then turned away and ushered his teammates away to the other hallway and Songbird sensed that there was something more to that act than the eye could see.

Ace and Inadi inspected a painting, the former knocking on the wood behind while the latter stabbed the artwork with his spear. They were in a wide room full of artworks and… well, shelves. Was this some sort of display area? Songbird rocketed to and fro, checking inside each cabinet he could before realizing that the Lost Souls have left him behind and moved on to the next room. He could feel the hairs on his nape stand up on end at the realization but… There were still shelves left unchecked.

Then the door slammed shut.

“Eeek!” Songbird screeched out loud before clamping a hand over his mouth. What the actual carrot!? He got up from checking a glass case and hurried over to that door, trying the knob and pushing it. No such luck. It seemed jammed. “Well holy beans, how do I-,” He started, willing himself to remain calm as overall this did not seem like a good situation given what they were supposed to do right now. “Hey, can you guys open this from the opposite side-!?” He yelped out yet again and lifted himself from his face-pressed-against-the-door position when someone tapped him from behind.

“Riley! You’re going to kill me someday!” The item hunter snapped at the human who got left behind with him, but the annoyed tone was mixed with relief. It was a selfish thought, but at least he wasn’t alone, thank the clouds.

It wouldn’t do good to try and make lots of noise though, so Songbird kept calling through the door. “Humans? Brandy? Can you open this door?” When no reply came, the white-haired nobody braced himself and body slammed against it, his glow jar awkwardly cradled in one arm.

Leila would have spoke with Riley some more, but the conversation sort of trailed off by the time they reached the end of the staircase, leaving most of Riley’s questions unanswered and Leila pondering by herself about various things as they carried on in their investigation.

* * * *

Leila tapped the side of the liquid-filled jar.

As she walked among the group around the now pitch-dark interior of the mansion, she’d do that one every few minutes. It started off as an attempt to disturb the bugs so that they glowed brighter, like they did the first time around. The first few times she tapped, the light emitting bugs would sometimes reluctantly flash a bit brighter when she did so. Though, after a while., they persisted to stay near the bottom of the container, in only a faint glow of green. They’ve been acting like that since the game started, as if they, just as the humans and Nobodies in this room, were afraid. Leila, however, persisted with the tapping on the jar, insisting to herself that it would make her feel safer.

She rubbed the little cut on her index finger, which was made when her blood was required for the ritual, and instinctively brought her hand up and pressed the cut against her mouth. She could feel that it wasn’t bleeding anymore, but the metal-like taste of blood was still there. Biting her lip in disapproval she wondered why so many of these rituals necessarily involved human blood.

She was still amazed that trying such an absurd “game” - as they called it - had become the only reasonable path for them to proceed on this journey. She didn’t reject that idea, but that didn’t make all of this any less scary either.

The light from the jar was now only barely bright enough to let her see her own footsteps, and the sense of secureness it once provided no longer remained. Leila struggled with the restricted visibility that made her rather anxious, and tried as hard as she could to keep at least one person in the group close enough for her to see at all times - and to grab onto, if necessary. The jar was a good thing to have as it provided illumination, but having to hold onto it as well as the candle she was handed as backup required both hands - which meant there would be little she could do if it so happened that something was to -

- Leila decided it wasn’t the best of ideas to think about such things at the moment.

The area the group was in seemed to be a display of a collection of art, presumably owned by the past residents of this mansion. Leila didn’t know enough about art to tell anything definitely about the collection, but the pieces, in the dark room and under the dim green light of the glowing bugs, did succeed in invoking a very eerie atmosphere.

Leila would’ve said that some of them didn’t look the same the second time around she looked at them, but didn’t because that obviously was less probable than herself remembering incorrectly.

Still, it was unsettling.

She kept close to Inadi, who had just finished inspecting one of the pictures along with Ace. They were near the end of the group, and Leila hurried not to be left behind by the others in front, just having decided it was time to move on, perhaps because that they’ve done searching through here, or the hope that being constantly on the move would make it harder for the Midnight Man to catch up.

thud.

Leila turned around to see what once was the exit from the cabinet they were earlier inspecting now replaced by a solid surface.

She didn’t really have spare time to think about that when she heard the thuds on the door and the muffled yelling from the item hunter that came from the other side. She couldn’t make out what he was saying, but the picture that emerged in her mind was the imagination of being trapped inside a dark, sealed area; and that made her shiver.

There was a conflict between wanting to run away as fast as she could and feeling the necessity to get the people in that room back out so that they didn’t feel the same.

Leila hurried back, without making sure that anyone followed - a choice that she regretted almost immediately as she found herself submerged into the darkness, seemingly alone. To make it worse, her jar and candle slipped out of her hands as she leant against the wall - throwing her off into a small session of panic until she managed to grab hold of the jar, stopping it from rolling away. She placed them onto the ground close to her so she could see, and pressed her ear against the door:

”...can you guys open this from the opposite side-!?”

It was Songbird’s voice. Open this from the opposite side...Leila scrambled to look for any sign of a switch or trigger, to no avail.

How could she open this door? She tried hard to figure out a way. She recalled about mechanisms for trapdoors and gates and how they were embedded, in hope of getting a clue about where such a trigger might be located. There had to be one because only so would the design make sense. How could she find it? She thought hard, and meanwhile wished that she would have yelled something back then so that the others would know - no signs of anyone coming back yet. Riley was able to locate the book that was the switch to the gate back at the library - how?

Leila hoped Riley was there only to realize that she was, but only on the other side of the door. She figured she could ask, but in these surroundings she wouldn’t dare as much as make a sound. She gritted her teeth and went on. Few of the possibilities that she could think of fitted the design of this house and the ones that were plausible she tried but found nothing. Where potential levers and switches and tripwires could be placed, Leila only felt the constant smooth texture of the walls….

...Felt. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized that: she needed to feel the surface to know about them. She didn’t see anymore - she had wandered far enough into the darkness - a mere couple of meters, perhaps, but it was already where the light did not penetrate. She needed to go back to the jar.

But she kept looking. She was sure she wasn’t thinking clearly right now - couldn’t afford to. She had to keep looking because she realized that the presence of this task as a distraction was the only thing keeping her from feeling her fear of the darkness. If she stopped -

The thought of what would happen if she got distracted served as the distraction needed to have her look away for a second and end up collapsing to the ground.

She saw the light from a distance, to her left - it seemed farther than she knew it was. She hoped she could stare at it - the light made her feel safe, at least she could see something - but then she would worry about the darkness on the other side that she knew existed. Yet she could see nothing even if she looked into that darkness. Every act she could probably think of was wrong in a different way - and she froze in place because that’s the only known safe thing to do, but that not even for long. And the light from the jar seems to have started to decrease in intensity - or was it just her imagination? It was seemingly fading farther away by the moment.

”uhhhhhhh-”

She felt like screaming, or crying even. Or both at once. But neither could she do that. So she tucked herself tighter towards the wall, and closed her eyes - if she did that she could perhaps persuade herself that there will be light when she opened her eyes and she just wasn’t seeing it yet? Somewhere in that, for one moment she believed that the temperature was dropping around her. And then a loud thud from the other side of the wall...

Can you open this door?”

Songbird.

Leila opened her eyes again at the sound of that. Not because the sentence itself, but because that sentence was uttered nearly right into the wall and Leila could hear that the walls were solid.

There was no hollow space for mechanism triggered by switches or levers of tripwires a distance away.

She almost wanted to punch herself in her face for her stupidity, but that can wait until later. Leila nearly held her breath as she forced herself to decide without thinking it through - that was the only way she could have decided - to dash back at the door and the glow jar and candle.

It wasn’t far and she made it, just at the moment the light from her jar flickered out and she thought her heart was going to stop. At the same time, though, at a turn of the doorknob, the locked door to the cabinet clicked open.

Group One

Harper had a blank expression on his face. Ever since they boarded the Midnight Train, they had been thrown into predicament after predicament. First the star fisher, and now some demon. They never got a break, and the weight of every new quest felt heavy on his shoulders. "We'll be alright." He told Lesley, Martini, and Jasper.

Avian was calm and that was relief. As long as they listened to him, they'd be okay.

Leon inched closer towards both Martini and Lesley, aside from Haku he had always thought they were cool and he wanted to befriend them one day. "I never got to say this before, so I might as well say it before we head into the unknown." Leon's cheeks turned a slight shade of pink and he fumbled with the crown on his head. "Martini, I think your work is just fabulous and Lesley, your hair is so bouncy and beautiful, what kind of shampoo do you use?" He chuckled rather awkwardly before giving the pink haired man a good-natured tap on the back.

Seeing them, it made Harper smile. He didn't know how long it had been since they had entered Nowhere, but all the crazy adventures had definitely brought them closer together. At first all of them had been nothing but strangers, but now they were friends, and they'd go home, together. "I haven't seen an armory, but Ace and I did find a creepy basement. Whoever lived here didn't like the bunny guards at all."

Avian told them to keep an eye on their jars then began moving forward.

"Alright," Harper turned to look at the others. "Jasper, are you okay? And he's right, let's get this over with quickly." The boy moved forward then called out to Avian softly. "Hey Avian, I know that you didn't have to come here with us, so thank you very much." He gave the soldier a small bow then followed him, the jar tucked beneath one arm and the candle held tightly in his other hand.

They headed down the left corridor but were quickly ushered in the opposite direction.

"The bugs are going crazy." Leon hissed as the insects in his glass jar began scrambling around.

There was no time to waste and Avian kicked open a door. Instantly, they began scrambling inside. It appeared to be a child's room.



The place smelled of decay and it screamed eerie. Harper forced a chuckle before moving deeper into the room. Toy boxes were scattered across the floor and a small horse toy made a creepy creaking sound as it swayed back and forth in place. In an attempt to ease the tension he turned to his fellow Lost Souls. "So, if you don't mind me asking, why did you guys get on the train?" Back in Yonder Jasper, Ace, and him had talked about their wishes but he didn't know why the others had gotten on the train and he was curious.

"Geez, this place is horrible." Leon made a face then turned to look at Harper. "Oh, I guess I wanted to find myself." His eyebrows furrowed. Funny, he didn't enjoy telling people about himself because he didn't know who he was. But here he was, talking to people who were practically strangers. "Living in my father's shadow for so long, sometimes I think I'll lose myself, I don't want to be a part of the corporation and I don't want much to do with my dad or my brother...I just want to be Leon." He was frowning now but he shrugged if off then looked at the others. "Why did you guys get into the train?"

Harper frowned. "I wanted to save my sister. She's sick and Jasper, she wants to save someone important too." His expression turned steely. "And that's exactly what we're going to do, right Jasper?" The boy mustered up a smile even though dredging up memories made him feel empty.

They had already collected three items so far, and they weren't stopping anytime soon. Everyone had entered the train for completely different reasons, but now, they were in this together. "Do you think he'd hide a sword down here?" The boy began looking around before he paused in front of a large mirror. For a moment, he could have sworn he had seen a flash of red eyes, but when he spun around nothing was there. However, the bugs in his lamp began to flicker and a cool breeze passed through the room.

---

Group Two

"Psh, you nearly gave me a heart attack when you screamed." Riley shuddered, perhaps walking into the room without checking hadn't been the smartest idea. "That just makes us fair now." Songbird began yelling for someone to open the door and suddenly the windows flew open.

Riley stared into the darkness and could have sworn she saw shadowy outlines in the distance.

Songbird slammed into the door and Riley shot him a glare. "You're making too much noise." The girl whined before practically launching herself at the item hunter. The light their jars created wasn't exactly bright so she wanted to be as close to the guide as possible. "I think I saw something," she whispered desperately before pulling Songbird away from the door. "He'll hear you!" Whatever courage she had at the beginning of the game was ebbing away and like the item hunter, she wanted out of the spooky room as soon as possible. The girl twisted the doorknob right and left before pressing her ear against the wall.

"Guys? Would you mind hurrying it up a little bit? I think there's something in here with us."

The freaking bookshelf fell over and suddenly the bugs in their lamp began to flicker. OH GOD, they were going to die. She stared at Songbird with a horrified expression before the door flung open, causing the two of them to tumble out into the hallway.

Riley remained flat on the ground before her eyes flitted to the person by the door.

Hakuren tapped both Inadi and Ace on the shoulder. Brandy had told them to look for a switch but apparently Leila had somehow managed to open the door. "Looks like the pup's got some tricks up her sleeve." Hakuren gave her a smile then stared at the jar in his hands. The bugs had began to act strange.

"Leila!" Riley hissed before leaping to her feet. "You saved us!" She tackled the poor girl into a hug, practically shaking her silly in the process. Riley would have continued doing so for quite sometime when the lamp by her feet suddenly died. "OH CRAP." She grabbed the fallen item hunter by his scarf then yanked him up. "Something is in there, we have to go ASAP."

Hakuren chuckled, looks like the fiery flame mage had bitten off more than she could chew. "Relax, it looks like you two have seen a ghost." The ice mage placed a hand on Leila's shoulder. "Good job, puppy, now we should inspect the room further for clues."

"No," Riley pretty much began shaking Ace and Inadi by this point. "Something is in there--!"

And just as she had finished her sentence, a cold feeling settled across the hall and every lamp was snuffed out. An eerie whisper rendered them speechless, as a voice that sounded like hissing snakes resonated across the dark halls.

Ace realized there were a lot more pictures and little cabinets around, and true to her word, the redhead began to pull paintings off the walls and scavenge through the dressers. She didn't find anything but dust. "Ugh, why is it so hard to find one dumb sword..." She coughed when a dust cloud hit her face. Waving it away, she heard the sounds of a door closing. Obviously, nothing was found and Ace kept walking ahead. The screech made her pause and she turned on her heel.

"Didn't we have a little birdy and a Riley with us?" She turned to see no one behind them. She walked back, hearing them call out. "We've only been searching for like ten minutes guys..." She searched around for a switch or lever to get the door opened. "I don't see anything around here." As they looked, Haku tapped her and she looked up. "What is- wonderful Leila! You found a way to open it. Good job."

She patted the girl on the back while Riley hugged the life out of her. "Well, now that that is over. We should probably-" Then Riley began freaking out and Ace watched. "Dude, chill. We're leaving now. We still have to search for the sword you know." Hakuren suggested to search for clues only for Riley to start shaking her and Inadi. She put a hand on Riley's shoulder for her to stop. "Okay! Okay! Don't-"

She stopped mid sentence when it got colder and her little bugs stopped glowing. "...freak out." She finished the sentence softer and then looked down at her jar. "Wake up bugs. We need a little light here." She tapped the jar, and then shook it a little but got nothing. "Stupid bugs."

The redhead fell silent once more when she heard the whisper. A cold chill went down her spine and she stepped back. "Don't we need a light source. . . Does fire count?" She pulled out the sword hilt and watched as the fiery sword appeared and lit the surrounding area. She had completely forgot about the candles they were given and decided on the next best thing. At least holding her sword didn't drain her as much as attacking. It meant they had a fair amount of light for the time being. The fire lit the area around them showing the closest things in view.

"I'm sure. . . Everyone heard that. And I'm also sure. . . We should definitely go before we see him. And if we run out of more light, we still have the salt right?" Ace couldn't attack what she couldn't see, so their best bet was to move out, and move out fast. Instead of fighting blindly, something Ace would do, she stepped away from the sound and towards the door. "We should probably continue looking for a sword. Standing still in one spot is never a good idea."

As they continued along the narrow hall towards one of the farther rooms which they hadn't yet went into, the bugs within his jar started to go berserk. Constantly slamming their entirety with all their little bug-might at the glass walling of their home. The lights emanating from their abdomens were unstable flickering on and off like a kid was playing with the light switch. Shadows lurked the halls and the atmosphere in the home instantly felt ten times cooler than before. Though he could quite see the Midnight Man, he could definitely feel the demon's presence around him and it appeared that the puny bugs did too. Dark outlines stalked here and there, but he forced himself to think that they were nothing, certainly not the Midnight Man. A mode of denial was always the best method to get through tough times such as these.

Upon entering one of the rooms at the end of the hall, they walked into a room which looked like it could've been a child's bedroom in the past. Toys were placed around the room and a small bed in the middle confirmed their assumptions. Jasper strolled right in and headed for the kid's dresser, digging through the thing like she was mining for gold. Her determination was rather admirable and Lesley soon followed suite as he reached out and yanked on a box flap. Peering into the large carton, he sifted through many toys, but nothing that looked like a sword.

Harper struck up conversation to ease the tension and Lesley happily replied. "Before getting onto the train, I was supposed to go to an audition to get into an art school. A very prestigious one at that. The train tempted me with the letter of acceptance I would've gotten anyway... if I hadn't stepped into the darned thing in the first place." The thought that he could be happily pursuing his dreams back home, but instead he was stuck in some whimsical realm full of dangers irritated him immensely. Life was so unfair. Nowhere was becoming more real and deadly to him with every passing moment. No longer was it the land of ice-cream and rainbows, but a death trap. And the humans and himself were all stuck there under the rule of the Queen. If she wanted these items so much, why could she hire someone else to do it. She was the Queen after all. Why count on rookie humans to go out and find things for you when you could be getting those items much faster if you had just hired someone like Songbird, but a whole army of Songbird's?

Something was fishy. Definitely fishy...

As the group neared the hall of rooms they had been in earlier, the bugs within their jars seemed to be panicking, repeatedly ramming full on towards the walling of the galls cage in which they were trapped, their efforts proved useless as many failed attempts after the other caused the poor bugs to go toppling down to the jar's base either from exhaustion or worse. Avian knew why they were doing that and told them the very reasoning. Jasper had a feeling the light bugs wouldn't be doing that for any other motive than a warning that danger was coming threateningly near. Ahead of them, she caught sight of a dark figure walk across the hall and into on of the rooms, she stopped dead in her tracks and made sure to stay as close as possible to the nearest human being(Leon and Harper). The two boys looked just as terrified as she was, but sharing the same tension with a peer was better that feeling scared all alone.

As Avian led them into the last door in the corridor, she was still very hesitant on entering, but as the game said, they find the sword or die basically. No choice games were never fun. It was basically a lose lose situation, at least for her. There was a toddler's bed smack dab in the center of the room up against the back wall along with cabinets and a nightstand. There was also a closet off to the right side of the room as well as many boxes of all sizes scattered about the floor. Timidly, she began searching inside one of the cabinets to see if there was anything inside that could be what the Midnight Man was asking for.

"I wanted to save my sister. She's sick and Jasper, she wants to save someone important too. And that's exactly what we're going to do, right Jasper?"

She nodded sadly with a light sigh escaping through her parted lips. Rosen was dead, there was no one to save. Regret sunk in. She couldn't believe she feel for the train's bait on a woman who was already dead. Now she was trapped here playing some sick game with a deadly monster on their tracks. Suddenly, a cold chill blew across her arm and everyone else seemed to have felt it too. Shuddering, she huddled close to Harper and rummaged some more. There didn't seemed to be much except or a toy sword which she held onto just in case it was what the Midnight Man was looking for. "Found a sword, but I don't if this is it." Though she was sure the toy was not the item, she held onto it tightly for it gave her a false feeling of security.

Double... oops.

Harper tapped Lesley on the shoulder and gave the man a smile, "who knows, maybe we'll get our wishes when we finish this list."

He gave them all a smile. "I mean, whales can fly here, so having our wishes granted it doesn't sound very far-fetched. Soon, you'll be with Rosen and Lesley, you'll be living the dream at your art school. We just need to keep at this." Harper paced around the room and gave Leon a nod. "And what better way to find yourself than go on a crazy quest filled with unbelievable things, right?"

Leon arched an eyebrow at boy. "Never thought you were an optimist, but not like we have much of a choice." He began yanking cabinet doors open and scrunched his nose in distaste. Everything was so dusty and it didn't smell pleasant either. "So Lesley, do you paint?" Leon's eyes lit up a little, "or are you into designing things like maybe houses, or..." He made his way towards the man, "perhaps clothes?"

Jasper mentioned finding a sword and Harper turned around to face her. "Hmm, it doesn't look like a special witch slaying sword but it is Nowhere." He gave her a smile, "so the sword could be anything--" before Harper could finish his sentence, the temperature in the room dropped and he saw a black outline dance across the mirror. "Avian? Did you see that?" The boy made his way towards the mirror, his eyes flitted to his reflection and it gave him a sinister smile.

Harper nearly stumbled back as the mirror suddenly shattered. The bugs inside their lamps began to go crazy before the house shook with a loud and terrifying creak. "Out now!" He saw shadowy fingers claw at the air before every single jar in the room shattered.

There was total darkness.

"Avian?" Leon practically pulled Lesley into a death hug. "Is this you?" The boy began shaking Lesley around, mistaking him for the solider. "Oh God, Avian...what do we do, is there some special protocol for times like this?"

Harper crashed into one of the cabinets, the soft glow of his amulet the only thing he could see. They had to leave now, before he found them. "Guys, we need to get out of the room now." Lightning tore through the sky, illuminating the dark room.

A dark apparition of shadowy tendrils stood in the middle of the room and behind him beneath one of the beds, a glimmer of silver caught Harper's eyes. It was a sword! "Behind him!" The boy yelled, but as soon as the words left his mouth, one of the cabinets toppled over and the room was once again submerged in Darkness. "Beneath the bed." Harper felt something snake around his ankle and before he knew it he was lifted into the air.

"M-M-Midnight man!" Leon exploded. "Someone get the sword!"