When the dark boy, who from others' eyes may have appeared to be close in age to the boy who had abducted them but was indisputably different, asked his question, the hooded boy looked around at the gathered people. "How long were you asleep?" he repeated the boy's question. "Would someone care to answer that question?" He didn't bother saying 'someone with a watch' because those who went to check the time on their phones would find that it was not on them. Indeed, the boy had stripped them of all electronic devices that could contact the outside world.

Where the boy stood, right as the walkway around the pool of water began, anyone who wished to get to the door would have to walk within inches of him or else through the pool. He watched unconcerned as the youngest of those gathered ran over to the water. That one's chance of survival would be low. Curiosity and ignorance and misfortune. It was nothing he hadn't seen before.