There are two ways to resolve puzzling situations: thoughtful contemplation or force. After thoughtful contemplation, little Isabella chose force.

Everything happened just way too quickly. There was no time to think, to explain, to discuss. A flash, just a single moment, and a burning wave rushed towards me. I made an attempt to jump aside, but my reflexes weren’t good enough to escape the tragedy.

Henry’s words came to my head. Would I revert back to the original substance he mentioned? Who would I wake up as?

And then the reality itself bent, tentacles appearing around me, twisting and squirming chaotically, albeit I thought there was a pattern to them. The fire hit the center of the pattern but instead of burning tentacles away, it disappeared, leaving no mark.

Absurd changes made me unable to perceive anything. The world went blank. When I got back to my senses I was half-lying on the grass, my back slouched against a tree.

My head felt heavy, it seems that the aftermath was much more taxing than I initially thought it to be. It felt as if something was clawing its way towards my brain. It wasn’t just mental pain, it felt rather physical to me, weird. I felt my temperature was abnormal. Did I have a fever? A black tail hit my left cheek.

I pulled the ‘aftermath’ off my head. It tried to resist. Its resistance was denied and it surrendered shortly afterwards. Everything was back to normal – no excessive weight, no clawing, no abnormal temperature.

Little Isabella was sulking, looking slightly apologetic. It was finally time to ask, “So who might you be? Can it be that you dragons reproduce like rabbits, by budding?”

Little Isabella harrumphed, “I’m your classmate, the one and only Isabella Nevermind!”

Trunk Henry’s voice piped in, now it had somewhat weary undertones, “Don’t be hard on her. Isabella’s condition is that she has become a child in more than one way. It’s not just appearance, it had a toll on her mentality as well.”

I looked at little Isabella. It won’t do to argue with a child. But those ‘limitations’ as they call their curses, they appeared once again. Was I unaccounted for? One more thought was swimming across my mind, “She called me a traitor. Does it have something to do with Vlad’s mind control case?”

“Not exactly,” I heard Richard’s voice, “As I mentioned before, when we appeared on the island, we were told that besides curses there’s one more issue. There are two traitors within our midst, neither of them has a curse. They took over the memories and bodies of our classmates when we appeared in the labyrinth. It’s almost impossible to find them out by normal means.”

“They have memories. They possess bodies. So is there no way to unmask them?” I remembered Hummingbird. I had encountered too many cases of possessions recently. Is it really just a coincidence?

“There’s a way. Probably. I’ll explain further when we reach the caves. Seeing and hearing are entirely different.” Richard postponed answering my question.

Speak of the devil. I heard a clatter of hooves. I turned my head to see that Dezire had found a mount for herself. Apparently, she grew bored and decided to leave while I was out cold. Was Vlad still under control? Or did he allow Dezire to ride him out of his free will?

“Dezire, thanks for putting the fire out. I really appreciate that,” I didn’t want to revert to the substance, at least not yet.

“Don’t sweat it.” she shrugged her tentacles.

Vlad glanced at me and then at trunk Henry. He looked too dejected to be controlled. Shouldn’t he be happy for not being controlled and for his best friend to return?

I decided to ask him, “Hey Vlad, it seems like you are finally not under someone’s control, right? Are you fine?”

He nodded and then shook his head, “The entity enhanced our mental defenses to make the exile phase more fair after all, so no one should be controlled again. The second question shouldn’t be directed towards me, however. Henry, did you change your mind? I won’t try anymore.”

Henry shook his head, “The idea is too repulsive to me. It’s the opposite of what I aspire to. So my answer is still no.”

Too many omissions. Entity? Mental enhancement? Something happened between Henry and Vlad? Why can’t they simply sit down and tell me everything from the very beginning to the end? They can’t be afraid that I’m one of the traitors, can they?

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An uneasy silence formed as no one was in a hurry to talk. Finally Richard went down the hill, to the side from where Vlad came without saying anything. I looked for the last time at those who gathered in the heart of the verdure. Richard is my best bet to get some answers. I followed him. When I was about to leave, something heavy enough for me to stumble perched upon my shoulder. Something with black wings and wagging tail, like the one of a puppy. It climbed on my head, where it coiled, forming a crown. I stopped for a moment but then decided against persuading the child. Let it be.

I could already see eerie caves in the distance when someone called us. I turned around to see headless Hugh and his horse.

The two of us watched our decapitated classmate catch up to us when suddenly a loud deep male voice declared, “Hugh watched his classmate Richard going towards the caves with a person Hugh had never seen before. Who was that unfamiliar person? Could it be that Hugh wasn’t the only dark horse on the island?”

Voice was sudden and loud enough for me to flinch. Did Hugh’s voice change? Why would he talk about himself in a third-person point of view and with such pathos?

I looked at him quizzically at which both Hugh and his horse nodded, at least I think that headless Hugh tried to nod as his body slightly bent, “That’s my condition. So noisy! Can’t do anything without trying to explain my actions.”

For a second I felt as if the horse looked a bit smug but I dismissed the notion. Who would be happy for some voice to exalt them at every step they take? There’s no way anyone would.

“I was a tree before,” I answered as I couldn’t name myself. It wouldn’t be any good to say I’m your classmate that doesn’t have a name and is totally not a traitor, right?

Luckily it worked as he nodded or just decided to stretch his body again without pressing the matter any further. Instead he asked another question, the one I didn’t have a definite answer to either, “So, since you already know my condition, it would be only polite if you were to tell yours.”

Name, condition, portal – there were just too many differences between me and the rest of my classmates. Well, at least I didn’t turn into a baby, the weight on my head reminding me of a silver lining. It was way easier back then. I tried to remember how things were back then. I tried to imagine Richard, Hugh and myself when we still were humans. The images of the first two appeared without any delay. Oh, shucks! It seems, like I had forgotten my own appearance.

Well it wasn’t the first extraordinary thing that happened to me and probably not the last one so I took it better than that time when I found out that I lack a name. Hugh was still waiting for my answer so I didn’t keep him waiting. Sometimes it’s good to acknowledge that you lack something. Probably.

“I don’t know about my condition. To be exact, I don’t know much of anything. After I fell into a portal I found myself on the island’s beach. There were no voices, no inscriptions, no explanations. Richard helped me to fill in some blanks but I’m far from knowing everything.”

Even if I were to evade one question, Hugh would just follow up with another. My lack of condition wasn’t much of a secret anyway.

My decapitated classmate ruffled his mount’s mane, while the dark horse took its time to look at the sky, “You know, it actually makes sense. When you were late for the first time, I didn’t think much of it. Now that you are late for a second time, without any knowledge I’m sure of it. Your condition is a lack of thereof. The entity thought it would be fun for you to scrape knowledge together. I guess I can help you with this. So after using a portal we were told by an entity that a condition will be imposed on each of us with the exception of traitors. During the first day we will need to get familiar with this island, on the second day we’ll explore the caves – the ones you can see in the distance. Apparently caves on the left contain secrets that will help us in our search. But don’t go in the caves on your right. If you see them up close you’ll understand. There are even more important secrets hidden there but they are much more dangerous. And if you care for your life you shouldn’t enter them. On the third day we’ll need to gather together and exile the traitor.”

Hugh continued, “We didn’t see the entity, just a voice. But since there’s a voice, there should be something sentient behind it.”

Finally, some answers. Concise and clear. But I wasn’t able to say my thanks as the deep male voice intervened. “Seeing his classmate in a plight, Hugh didn’t hesitate to help. He explained all important points, going as far as giving a friendly warning. And even if he won’t receive any gratitude for what he had done, nothing could undermine his resolution.”

The voice eliminated any thoughts about giving Hugh a token of gratitude. Poor guy. He had a really repulsive condition. Hugh, after thinking for a bit, added, “But I actually already pinpointed both traitors. Traitor number one is, of course, the one who put a mind controlling spell on Vlad – Raphael.”

Raphael? There was a classmate of mine, Raphael Spencer, but until now I didn’t even notice his absence. Unlike Henry, who was considered as the only missing student and became a topic of conversations quite often, no one ever mentioned Raphael. He wasn’t in the cave with us, was he?

Seeing my confused expression, Hugh smirked, “Tell me, who was in the tunnels with you when you found out that Vlad is being mind controlled?”

Haven’t we already discussed that before? Still I answered, “There were six of us. Besides me, there were Richard, Vlad, Rita, Reina and… Raphael!”

How could this escape my attention for so long? There always were six of us in that tunnel yet whenever I counted, I would count only to five.

Seeing my enlightened expression, Hugh’s horse nodded, “That confirms the fact that your mind defenses have been enhanced. Raphael had a set of very nasty powers: you couldn’t even remember about him, as everything about him would get sealed by your own memory.”

Raphael didn’t change much visually, his appearance remaining human-like. He didn’t do anything unusual, the only point at which he participated was during hazy shades’ attack when he disposed of two of them. Was Raphael really the traitor? My dislike increased as I remembered that he did nothing to take suspicion off witch Rita.

“As for the second traitor, it’s obviously the one who took over Otto’s clown body. I realized that something was wrong with him the moment he hid card’s existence from me. Raphael’s mind powers are mostly negated so he shouldn’t be of much danger. Otto on the other hand gives me an uneasy feeling. Be careful around him.”

I remembered the conversation Hugh had with Otto. It’s possible that Otto really hid the secret of the cards but did it really mean that he is the traitor? Too many people omit too many important points.

The voice didn’t wait for a reminder to laud Hugh’s conjectures, “As expected of a dark hero! Being able to determine both suspects just after arriving on the scene!”

‘Dark hero’ I noted for myself. It seems like the voice has already invented a moniker for Hugh. The most important things were agreed upon, so we said goodbye and that was it.

It was finally time to come closer towards the caves I thought, slightly annoyed by the fact that Richard didn’t explain everything in such a convenient way, Hugh did. Why didn’t he? I changed to a brisk walk, Richard following me.

Caves on the left didn’t look like they were formed naturally. Pathways in them seemed to beckon me, promising unseen benefits. I caught myself thinking that I’m eager for tomorrow to come in order to get to know what is there to see.

Caves on the right seemed to be alive. Alive, monstrous and terrifying. It seemed as if those caves were watching me, waiting for me to come close in order to devour me whole. No matter what is inside those horrific tunnels, unless the person was crazy enough, they should avoid those.