Day 10, Part 29

Atom and Rose both looked at Echo in surprise, but before she could say anything, Writing came running.

“Come quick!” Writing yelled. “We found Avara, Tsuki, and Darkling!”

They followed writing over to where Silver Crystal was kneeling next to Avara, Tsuki, and Darkling, all of whom were unconscious on the ground. She was taking Tsuki’s pulse.

“Is she alive?” Rose asked anxiously.

“Yes, and so is Avara,” Silver Crystal said. “Tsuki seems to have miraculously survived whatever happened to her, but she’s in bad condition. Avara hasn’t been harmed at all.” She didn’t look up. “But I have bad news about Darkling.”

Atom looked over at the people before them. Silver was right - Avara seemed to be merely asleep, a look of peace upon her face. Tsuki, on the other hand, seemed to be breathing despite multiple injuries and looking like she’d had years of life sucked out of her. And Darkling…

Rose gasped a little at Darkling’s face. One of their eyes was open, and it was filled with ones and zeroes. 

“We’re not sure what happened to them,” Writing said. “We can ask Avara and Tsuki when we wake up. But we need to get out of here and tend to Tsuki’s injuries if we want her to survive.”

“But how?” Atom asked.

“Actually, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem for much longer.” Silver gestured around and for the first time they noticed that the sky around them had large cracks in it. Bits of it were falling to the ground, which crumbled too. 

“The maze is falling apart,” Writing said. “Like it’s… finished with us.”

The ground rumbled, and everything started to fade until all anyone could see was bright white light. 

***

When Echo woke up, they were back outside of the hotel. This time, it said "The Somewhere Hotel" like it was supposed to.

She shook Atom, Rose, Writing, and Silver awake, and they carried the other three inside.

“I brought Avara up to her room after making sure we hadn’t missed any possible injuries,” said Rose. “We should keep Tsuki down here to check on her health regularly. And as for Darkling…”

“We still haven’t buried Sterling, either,” Atom said quietly. “We should have a quick funeral for both of them, and then we need to get some sleep.”

That’s what they did.

***

Layla was missing.

Well, not missing in the sense that nobody had a clue as to where she was. They had a good idea. Probably in the large black tower that had appeared on Sunflower Hill. But nobody could get up there. It was surrounded by thorns and vines; there didn’t seem to be any way in.

Inside the tower, Layla and Ink sat.

Why are you keeping me here? Layla said. Who are you?

Ink chuckled. I’m your other half, Layla, it said. We’re two sides of the same coin.

Let me go! Layla said. 

I don’t think I’ll be doing that. Don’t you know that part of the reason was here is that one of the others helped me.

What do you mean? It’s not like anybody on Sunflower Hill would want to help you. You’re a monster!

Ah, but they did. I promised them freedom… and power. It’s funny how persuasive those two things can be.

Layla looked up at Ink, afraid. What do you want from me?

Ink smiled. I’m so glad you asked…

***

“I can take the first shift watching Tsuki,” Rose said, her eyes shut.

“You really don’t have to.” Atom was half asleep.

“I’ve got it. Go get some rest, guys,” said the murderer. Rose and Atom were too tired to even argue — or get a good look at who they were speaking to.

Once they were gone, the murderer looked over to Tsuki, who was still unconscious. “Well, it seems the maze did some of the work for me today,” they said to her. “Darkling’s dead, and you’re half-dead. Now I just have to finish the job.”

The murderer was careful. It had to look like Tsuki had died all on her own, like she had been in worse condition than everyone had thought. They couldn’t physically injure Tsuki… but maybe they could poison their medicine.

“You put up a good fight, Tsuki,” the murderer said as they worked. “I admire you. Really. I wish I didn’t have to do this, but I’m afraid I do. And let’s be honest, you don’t want to stay here anyway.” The poison was in Tsuki’s system now. The murderer stepped back. “It’s getting worse by the minute.”

Day 11, Part 30

Avara woke up that morning. Her memories of yesterday were blurry and confusing, and she had no idea how she’d made it back to her room. She also had a bad headache. 

She went downstairs to find Silver Crystal, Writing, Rose, Atom, and Echo sitting solemnly in the lobby. Tsuki seemed to be asleep on the couch. Or was she asleep?

“What happened?” Avara said. “How did we get out of the maze? Where’s Darkling? Is Tsuki okay?”

Atom looked up. “Darkling and Tsuki are dead.” His voice was quieter than usual, and almost completely defeated.

“The only reason we made it out of the maze is because it fell apart,” Rose added. “We’re really surprised to see you’re alive, you know.”

“Yeah,” said Echo. “Seeing as the other two are dead.”

“How did they die? What happened?”

“We were hoping you could tell us that.”

“But I don’t… I mean, I was…”

Suddenly Avara noticed the way they were all looking at her.

“Wait. You don’t think I’m - ”

“We’re not accusing you of anything, Avara,” Rose said. “We just think maybe it’s best if we don’t, um, leave you alone with anyone for a while until we can get out of this mess. So from now on, I’ll be chaperoning you, and Silver Crystal will be helping me. Thanks for offering to help, Silver..

Silver Crystal…

Writing was not the murderer, Avara knew. And Avara wasn’t either. So that could only mean…

Avara’s eyes widened. Silver Crystal grinned. “Of course,” she said, her face daring Avara to say anything. “I’m always happy to help.”

***

When they opened the doors, nobody was very happy with what they saw.

“The Hall of Ghosts? Again?” Echo looked around, then spun back towards the hotel. “Nope. We’re not doing this again. Everyone back inside.”

Nobody was going to argue. The Hall of Ghosts was creepy, and they were still so shaken up from the day before.

But Atom felt something. A hand on his shoulder. A voice in their ear.

“Are you coming?” Said Echo.

“Uh, yeah.” He turned and went inside.

The rest of the day, Atom acted strangely. They didn’t eat much at lunch. Even when Sonder appeared for a while, he seemed out of it. 

“I tried,” Sonder said. Eventually Echo came back.

About an hour before dinner, Aton managed to get away from the rest of the group and back out to the Hall of Ghosts.

“You brought me here, didn’t you?” Atom said to the hotel. “You brought us here for me, I mean.” He glanced around.

“So what is it?” They said. 

Silence.

“Come on!” He shouted. “I’ve seen so many people die in such a short amount of time. There has to be someone here for me that isn’t Xavier. So who is it? Who could possibly make me feel better?” They slided against the wall of the hotel down to the ground and put their head in their hands. “What am I missing?”

“My favorite brother,” said a familiar voice. “What aren’t you missing?”

Atom inhaled sharply and looked up. “Timothy?”

***

"I won’t!" Layla shouted.

"But you will," Ink said. "And you already are. You play a key role in this story, and everyone has to do their part for the grand finale. We’re coming up on it now." 

"But I’m not like you," Layla insisted. 

"Not quite," Ink agreed. "I know. And you’re not like them, either. That’s what makes you so important. You are the vessel. Do you understand, Layla? I will get my power out into the world through you. That’s how we write the ending."

"The ending? Does that mean this nightmare will be over soon?"

"Of course." Ink smiled. It was getting through to her. "As long as you do exactly what you’re told."

"I…"

But this was bad. Layla didn’t want to hurt anybody. She didn’t want to be a “vessel.” She wanted to be a happy, normal kid. Surely there was some other way.

"No," Layla said finally. Her voice was firm. Ink sighed.

"Oh, child." Vines grew up around Layla’s arms and legs, despite her protests. "Just know I tried to do this the civil way."

Day 11, Part 31

There was a voice in Silver’s head - one she was used to by now. “Are you ready?” It asked her. “Yes,” she answered. “Do you have the girl?”

“I do,” it said. “But we should act quickly.”

Somewhere deep inside her head, there was another voice. One she tried to ignore, because the truth was it scared her more than Ink did. 

Her real self. The good and kind one. The one that had been locked away that first night. And all these days the murderer had been fortifying the cell. It grew quieter with each passing day, but it was still there.

Let me out of here… please… 

***

Atom looked up. A tall ghost with brown hair smiled at him. Timothy. 

Atom jumped to his feet and tried to hug Timothy. It didn’t work at first.

“Focus on the movement, and the memory of me,” Timothy instructed simply. Atom tried again, and this time it worked. For the first time in years, he was hugging his brother.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come here earlier,” Timothy said. “I felt really bad. You know, for leaving you like that. And I was scared to come back, because what if you hated me? But I realized I couldn’t move on until I said goodbye to you, and knew you got out okay.”

“I did,” Atom said. “I’m not as sure about the others. I have to find them.”

“I hope you do. I really, really hope so. But first, you have to get out of here alive. I feel something in this hotel. A presence… I don’t like it.”

“We think it’s one of the guests,” Atom said. “Avara.”

“No,” Timothy said immediately. “The viola girl? It’s not her.” 

“What? How do you know?” 

“The only thing I feel coming from her is heroism. Atom, I think she saved those two. The ones you think she killed. I think she’s the reason they got out of the maze at all, the reason you had any bodies to bury.”

“So where’s this ‘bad energy’ coming from?”

“The other girl. Silver Crystal is what you call her. Well, sort of.”

“‘Sort of?’” 

“It feels… wrong. The energy is coming from her, but it’s not her energy. There’s a tiny light deep inside of her. That’s all that’s left — that I can sense anyway.”

Atom paused. What if they had been looking at this all wrong?

What if the murderer was a victim too?

***

Rose sat alone in the lobby. Echo and Writing had gone down to the basement to watch movies with Avara, trying to pretend everything was normal. Silver Crystal was in the kitchen cooking dinner; Rose had said she was fine with cooking, but Silver insisted on giving her a break.

Atom came bursting into the hotel. “It’s not her,” he panted. “It’s not Avara!”

“What? But how do you know?”

“Timothy told me.”

“You found Timothy?!” 

“Yes, but — oh, it doesn’t matter. We need to act quickly.” 

“Who is it, then?” Rose’s eyes widened. “Silver Crystal?”

“No,” Atom said. “Rose, we’ve been thinking about this all wrong. Remember when Echo and the others warned us about a monster? That monster is trying to make its way into Silver’s consciousness by driving the real her away — just like what Sonder said. But it’s been part of Echo’s consciousness for a long time, and it’s having trouble getting out.”

“But how can we know for sure?”

Atom paused. “Well,” he said. “We could ask Echo for the full story. Maybe there’s something that can help us piece the truth together.”

Rose turned towards the basement door. “Yeah,” she said, a doubt filling her. “Something tells me we’ve been trusting all the wrong people.”

***

Sorry this one is a little shorter! I'm building up to the finale, slowly but surely -- and I don't think that's the last we'll see of Timothy either, but that's all I will say in that regard…

Thanks again for reading along and I hope you enjoyed this part! I also hope the bold and italics don't come out weird. They were misbehaving again.