Although Rose is the one glowing, she doesn't seem to notice this herself; she is still kneeling on the floor and facing the back wall of the room with her eyes closed, her breathing rapid.

They have all taken a step back the moment she started glowing, but now that they realise this odd phenomenon is against her will and unbeknownst to even herself, Lancaster slowly approaches her. Alaina and Lloyd exchange worry glances, but do not take their eyes off Rose no longer.

Lancaster is soon stopped in his tracks by a bandaged arm that belongs to Kai. "What are you doing?" Lancaster snaps, bringing his eyes away from Rose to glare at Kai.

"Don't interfere," Kai replies, not looking at him. "She's abnormal."

Lancaster turns on his heels, stomps towards Kai and grabs him by the arm when he attempts to back away at the sight of Lancaster approaching. "Explain. Now," Lancaster threatens, "what do you mean by 'abnormal'? Why do you keep saying that?"

"Don't touch me! How many times do I have to say it -- do not touch me," Kai returns his glare, though he knows it's not as strong as Lancaster's. He struggles to break free from Lancaster's strong grip, but that only makes things worse as the bandages along the arm he is grabbed by loosen, but his arm seems to be uninjured despite the bandages he wears. Kai watches in horror as Lancaster's fingers make contact with his bare arm, and he struggles even further.

Despite noticing his strange look, Lancaster holds on to his arm firmly, not letting go. "What --" he begins, intending to first demand an answer to the unanswered question regarding Rose's abnormality and second ask why is he so afraid of human contact, emphasising over and over again for people not to touch him. But Lancaster is unable to finish what he is about to say, as he feels a sharp, piercing pain where his hand had touched Kai's arm. Gradually, the pain increases and he feels his hand burning, so he jerks it away immediately, shaking the pain away furiously.

However, the pain fades from his hand after a short moment, and there's nothing else. Alaina tears her eyes away from Rose and inspects Lancaster's hand in concern, only to find nothing. No marks, no scars.

"Sorry, it wasn't on purpose," Kai says when he feels Alaina's eyes on him. "Just don't touch me again, and it'll never happen."

"You --" Lancaster starts again, but is stopped by Alaina this time. "This is not the time, both of you," she says sternly, her eyes drifting from Lancaster to Kai. "We have bigger problems --"

"Just watch," Kai interrupts.

"Watch what?"

"Do you want out of here?"

"No! Wait, yes," Lloyd says, still staring at Rose in awe and disbelief. "But we're talking about Rose here!"

Kai stares at her intently as if staring at his own reflection, and then says in a soft voice, "she may just be our ticket out of here."

Alaina and Lancaster turns to him, preparing to bombard him with questions, but they haven't a second to even open their mouths when they hear something approaching outside, through the barred gap above them.

Alaina takes a few steps back and lifts her head up in an attempt to see through the bars. In the silence of the room, she hears the wind blowing tempestuously outside, as if there's a storm coming. But she feels no wind. It's only after a whole minute that she realises it isn't the wind, but the sound of something moving at high speed through the trees and branches of the forest, rustling leaves and scraping through trees barks.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Before any of them can so much as to draw their eyes to the incoming source of the violent sounds, they jump at the sudden bang they hear at the bars of the gap above, no time to comprehend what has happened. Their mouths fall open as giant vines surge through the bars, knotting themselves tightly around them and in an instant, pull out the bars that confined them inside the room. Few vines stretch into the now open and bar free gap and fall along the stone wall, creeping close to them.

They jump backwards on instinct, Lancaster pulling his sword out immediately. He is about to slice the vines to prevent them from getting any closer, but the vines stop moving just as their tips barely touch the stone floor, hanging from the gap.

Their eyes can finally look through the unbarred sights ahead of them, towards the moonlight and beyond; but most importantly, they are free.

Yet no one utters a word, for they are too surprised to do so. They had thought they wouldn't be too shocked for anything else in store for them no longer before -- not too long ago, even -- but as they witness what's happening before their eyes, they now take back their words.

Rose stops glowing. The moment she does so, she slumps down on the floor without warning. Alaina, Lancaster and Lloyd all hurry to her side and help her up. She's still conscious, but she seems to have little to no strength left in her.

She blinks weakly, looking at her concerned friends then at the giant vines along the stone wall. Her eyes trace the vines from near her feet to the now unbarred gap above and out in the dark night. At the sight of their road to escape, she jumps to her feet, her energy restored at once. "We're free!" she beams proudly, skipping towards the vine-covered wall.

Alaina and Lancaster glance at one another with confusion plastered across their faces. Lloyd only becomes more curious. He is the first to open his mouth, and the first things that come out of it are questions that might satisfy his curiosity: "what happened? Rose, what did you just do?"

"We're free," Rose repeats, tugging at one of the vines, "I freed us."

"But how?" Lloyd insists, circling around Rose who is now touching one of the vines gently.

All he gets as a reply, though, are the glares of Alaina and Lancaster telling him it isn't the time; they know it's difficult to stop Rose at this point when she is finally feeling unbounded to this place.

Rose pulls her eyes away from the vines to stare at Lloyd. Blankly, she replies, "nature calls to me."

When Alaina, Lancaster and Lloyd are all still lost in confusion and recovering from shock, Kai, who had remained silent as if for them to take in something he'd predicted would happen, approaches Rose. He stretches a gloved hand to her. "Fire calls to me," he grins.

She returns a smile, taking his hand and shaking it. "How?"

"Still trying solve this mystery myself," he shrugs.

"Is this magic?"

"In a way, perhaps," ignoring the curious looks of Alaina, Lancaster and Lloyd from behind Rose, Kai turns to the vines and lifts his head up in an attempt to look beyond the gap. He turns back to the others to glance at them briefly before grabbing onto a vine and starts climbing towards the gap. Within seconds, he is already sitting on the gap above from an effortless climb. "Weren't you eager to be out of here just minutes ago?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Nature calls to me," Rose repeats, gasping. She glows again, startling the others.

The vines move again; Kai would've fall from his position if he hadn't grabbed the side of the wall, and Lancaster grabs Alaina and Lloyd and pulls them backwards, away from the wall of moving vines. The vines twist and turn then curl onto Rose's arms and legs and steadily bring her upwards. When she is at the gap, the vines release her gently next to Kai.

Lloyd is dumbstruck below, but starts climbing slowly towards the gap as well, closely followed by Alaina and Lancaster. None of them say a word, their minds still swirling with questions. Nevertheless, they are grateful for this chance of escape.

Kai takes a look below them on the other side of the wall and finds the wall similar to the one inside: it is covered with giant vines. His eyes follow the vines and he realises they all come from the forest ahead of them, stretching far into the dark. Squinting his eyes, he searches for the source of the vines, but all he finds is darkness.

"Where did all the vines come from?" he asks Rose, giving up his fruitless search.

Rose seems to ponder on this, too, as she stares into the dark forest, wondering. "I don't know," she admits, "but I'm about to find out!" the moment she finishes, she jumps from the gap where she'd sat without a second of hesitation.

Kai is startled to see her jump so dangerously, but when he sees vines lighting her fall below, he feels relief -- though not for long, as Rose takes off for the forest, disappearing into the dark before he can say another word.