{-Myr-}

He hadn’t appeared quite so intimidating when he was talking to Relenri earlier. Myr guessed the change was because he knew they were there—and the fact his cold gaze was almost immediately directed to the twins.

Without taking his eyes off them, he asked, “Tabby, where did Rachel go?”

“She went to do something else,” Tinath responded casually.

“How did the players get here?”

“You forgot to close this place up before coming. They’re too stupid to be any real threat.” Of course she ignored the glare Zetai gave her.

“Escort them back to Kyirius City and make sure they don’t try anything.”

“Cassidy—”

“Rest assured, I haven’t forgotten. We’ll arrange that when this is all done.”

Seemingly satisfied, Tinath nodded and ushered Zetai and Reynneak out. Whatever threatening mumble she gave them, it worked to keep them both quiet.

“As for the two of you…” Mr. Mair smiled, though it lacked any kind of warmth. “I have a special place prepared for you.” But he didn’t step any closer. “Come along. I don’t plan on using force if I don’t have to.”

They both got up and began following him, though stayed close together. Myr just hoped that she wouldn’t need to let go of Llewel’s hand and she knew that he felt the same.

“It really is a shame,” Mr. Mair said as he led them into another section of hallways. There was something different about these; they weren’t the ones meant for just anybody to wander into. “If we’d had this whole thing settled earlier, then you wouldn’t be afraid. You wouldn’t know what you should be afraid of. Luckily for you, it’s not going to take very long once we have everything settled.”

Jacob came up from behind them so that he could be beside Mr. Mair. “Is there anything we can do, sir? We’ll help wherever we can.”

“That’s a much different tune than you were singing earlier,” Mr. Mair muttered. “I’d like to remind you that, if you’re unhappy with your current situation, trying to get on my good side is not going to make you any happier.”

“I—I mean it honestly, sir! Just say the word!”

He sighed. “Send a message to all players that we’ll be going into unexpected maintenance in five minutes. Tell them we came across an important issue that we need to address as soon as possible, and that they’ll be compensated for any inconveniences it might have caused.”

“Yes, sir.” Jacob nodded and darted off, another worker soon following after him.

Mr. Mair glanced back at the remaining one. “Find Rachel and ask her to join me. I’m going to need an extra hand and I certainly don’t trust any of you to do it.”

That one left as well.

He stopped at one of the doors and pushed it open. It looked nearly exactly the same to all the other rooms earlier, though this didn’t have any papers or research notes in it. He gestured the twins inside but didn’t enter it himself. “You are going to stay here for the time being. Your games aren’t going to work on me and there’s no point in trying to run. Make this easier for all of us and stay put.”

They simply complied, both unwilling to find out what would happen if they didn’t. He shut the door but made no sound of walking away.

The darkness that followed triggered a certain kind of panic in Myr, more than what had been growing earlier. It was worse for a minute when Llewel’s hand slipped her grasp, but the sound of shuffling and eventually light let her understand what he was doing.

“I don’t think they’ll mind if we have this,” he mumbled. He wandered to a spot near the corner, sat down, and gestured for her to join him while setting the small lamp in front of him.

She sat beside him, once again taking his hand to try to give herself a better sense of comfort. “What are we going to do..?”

“I don’t know.”

“I thought this was the part where you tried to lie to me to make me feel better.”

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“Zetai and Reynneak probably aren’t going to be able to come back here. Unless they can get to Kyirius City, rally whatever players are there, and come back here to get us in five minutes, there’s nothing they can do. Even then they might not even be able to get it.”

“Casrane..?”

“We don’t know where she is or what she’s doing. She could’ve actually believed Mr. Mair and whatever he told her. I wouldn’t count on it.”

“I liked it better when you pretended like everything was going to be alright…”

“We’re not in Nafrius anymore. It isn’t as simple as changing plans because something else came up. It’s not something that really didn’t matter in the end.” He sighed and leaned against the wall. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen. I don’t really see a reason to hide that at this point.”

“I don’t want to act like this is going to be the end.”

“Neither do I. But it’s easier than hoping on a miracle that may never come.”

They both went silent when they heard the two voices outside.

“You wanted me, sir?”

“Ah, Rachel. You know what we’re going to have to do to them, don’t you? You’re the only one I trusted to tell.” He paused for a moment—enough time for a nod. “I need you with me. Hopefully we can have this done as soon as the game shuts down and have all those consequences fixed in an hour.”

“Didn’t… you say earlier that you needed Cassidy’s help as well..?”

“I have someone else ready for that part. There may be a way to settle this while still allowing everyone their happy ending.”

“Everyone… except the two of them, you mean.”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting sympathetic. Remember that they’re the root of this problem. They were never supposed to have a happy ending to begin with.”

Myr shrunk at the implications. What had they ever done? Though, she supposed there was little point in trying to fight it now.

Something happened that let her dare to hope—another unfamiliar voice.

“Sir, I’ve received word that Cassidy disappeared.”

“She’s insistent on making this much more difficult than it needs to be, doesn’t she?” Mr. Mair sighed. “Well, it couldn’t have happened more than a couple of minutes ago. Look for her.”

“Yes, sir.”

It was a moment before Rachel asked, “Do you think she’s coming here?”

“Undoubtedly,” Mr. Mair replied casually, “and I’m going to do my best to convince her to leave again. I don’t want to get her involved in this if she doesn’t have to be. Can I trust you to keep those two from going anywhere?”

“Of course. I assume my job rests on it, after all.”

“I can’t get rid of you. You’re one of the few smart ones. But I’m still trusting you with this—don’t let me down.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Then there was the sound of him leaving. Myr gave Llewel a hopeful glance, wanting to hear some kind of reassurance from him; that he was wrong to try to give up so quickly.

His mumble wasn’t really anything comforting, but showed that he may have been willing to take the chance. “She’s almost out of time. No matter where she is, I don’t think they’re going to wait to get rid of us if they have the chance.”

“What if we tried to get out now? Rachel sounds like she might listen to us—maybe she’d help!”

“We don’t know how many others are out there. Even if we tried, we’ll probably just end up coming right back and having more people watching us.”

“What happened to ever really relying on each other?”

“This isn’t just a game anymore, Myr. I’m not even sure if we should think that someone’s any more capable of doing something than we can.”

“Well, for the record, I want to see the look on your face when Casrane does come and you’re wrong.”

“Maybe then we’d all get stuck in here,” he grumbled.

She whacked him. “Come on, I want to hear something other than the annoying pessimist Llewel!”

“Too bad.”

Their growing argument was interrupted once again by the voices outside.

“Cassidy? No, you shouldn’t be here. I should get Mr. Mair…”

“Hello, Mrs. Rogers! It’s been a long time since I last saw you. Erin’s doing well, right?”

“Y-yes, but…”

“I need to get to that room. Do you think you can move..?”

“I told your father I wasn’t going to let them leave.”

“So they are in there.”

“Cassidy, please don’t make this complicated.”

“I don’t think helping my friends is complicated. Dad’s probably going to come back soon, so can you maybe step out of the way, or..?”

“I can’t. I shouldn’t.”

“But you are, aren’t you?”

Rachel sighed. “Have any ideas of what I should tell him?”

“I very loudly told you that we were immediately heading to Anseshara. Right in the center. No players or anything.”

“I don’t think he’s going to believe that.”

“He’d believe it more than thinking his daughter lied to somebody.”

“Be quick.”

“If you see Erin before I do, tell her I’ll try to meet up with her soon.”

“I will.”

The light of the hallway slowly slipped into the room when the door opened. Casrane smiled. “Are you two ready to get out of here?”

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