Grim stood back with his arms crossed as the others scurried around the room, looking for the right keyhole. It wasn't like they were going to find it. The place had obviously been designed to keep them in, give them false hope, then take it away. He knew the others didn't trust him. He huffed. 

Good. Who needs them? He didn't realize he must have said the words aloud until Wren came up behind him.

"You may not need us, but we need you," she said.

"They certainly don't think so," he said, gesturing at the other three. They were stealing mistrustful glances at him every few minutes. Wren shook her head.

"I need you, then," she said. This time, Grim was surprised. She was being sincere.

"Alright," he conceded. "I'll help." Together, they searched high and low, for anything with a keyhole. There were plenty of locks, but none that fit their little key. Grim was beginning to think he had been right, that the key was a fake, when he saw something. Something off. He went back to recheck an antique wooden desk.

"We already checked there," called Flame. He sounded exasperated. Grim ignored him. He lifted up the top of the desk and felt the underside. There it was- a keyhole!

"Bring over the key," he called, but Iris just tossed the key to Luna, who shouldered past Grim and inserted it.

"It fits!" she exclaimed. Grm watched as the inside of the desk slid outwards, then folded over itself, repeating that motion until all that was left were two folded up rectangles of wood. When Grim looked more closely, he marveled at the tiny separations that were unnoticable when the wood was flat. Underneath, there was a piece of stitched cloth pinned under a sheet of glass. There were different stitched flowers on it, lines of them. Grim puzzled over what it could mean.

"Oh!" Wren burst out after a few minutes of quiet contemplation. "A code! Look, I bet these flowers have corresponding flowers somewhere in this room, maybe with letters on them, and then we can decipher the message!" Grim thought that was highly doubtful, but what else did they have to go on? So he reluctantly joined them in scouring the room for tiny stitched flowers.

After about a half hour of fruitless searching, Grim suggested they give up. Wren gave him a pained look.

"I can't. You can, but I can't."

"You can't or you won't?"

"I can't! I'm not ready to give up. I will not stay trapped here. You felt it, earlier. That glimpse of a memory. We could all have a life outside of this place! Please, if not for your sake, for mine, don't give in." Grim felt a strong pang of guilt. Amazing how quickly he could trust someone... how quickly someone could trust him. For Wren's sake, he'd find a way out. He try. He would.

         ~-o-~ 

Leo watched Ivy patiently waiting for the girl to come back with Grim's file. He dug his fingernails into his palms. How was she so patient? It was taking everything he had to restrain himself from throwing something across the room. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, then gave up.

"I'll be back," he said gruffly. Ivy turned and smiled coldly.

"Going to scream at some guards?" she asked. Leo started, for that had been exactly what he had been planning on doing. He wondered, not for the first time, if Ivyreally did have some of the old magic woven into her tattoo. When it caught the light, it did seem to shimmer slightly... He turned abruptly and exited. He didn't like it when she did that, when she made him feel weaker, made her seem stronger. He was the toughest one around, she was just the brains of the operation. He was the powerul one. But still, she was formidable. As he passed one of the many windows (Ivy's doing, she said she liked to see what people were up to), he stopped. He saw the secretary girl, the one with Grim's file. She was hesitating. He peered closer. She seemed to examine the ripped file, tracing a finger over the words, cannot trust. She discarded the idea a moment later, but as Leo walked away, he made a mental note to keep a close eye on that one.

Luna didn't know why she didn't trust Grim. He hadn't really done anything wrong... but still, there was a feeling that her instincts told her to trust. She wondered if he might be the one who had trapped them in the room. It would seem fitting, since he was the least active in the search for a way out. She quietly searched, staying a little ways apart from the others. The less people she got close to, the less people to betray her. She peeked behind the sofa. It was leather, so there weren't any flowers on it, but who knew? Maybe there could be a tapestry behind it. It was a long shot, but at present, that was all they had. She felt around between the sofa and the wall, and her hand brushed something hard and rectangular. A frame! With a series of tugs, Luna managed to pry it from the tight space, drawing the others over in the process. Turning it over, she saw it was not a tapestry, just a family photo. She squinted at it, Flame peering over her shoulder and Iris attempting to look at it upside down. She noticed Grim hanging back, and once again felt a surge of suspicion. She returned her gaze back to the photo, and let her eyes slide over the faces. None were looking familiar- then she reached the last person. She gasped. It was of a young woman, maybe twenty-five, with long black hair, blue eyes, a light complexion. It was Luna. An older Luna, but it looked just like her. She noticed a pin in her hair; a flower pin. It looked just like the stitched lily flower from the desk!

"Look!" she said, beckoning everyone closer. She pointed at the pin. "They all have one." It was true; the girls had different flowers in their hair, and the boys had them pinned to their shirts. Wren drew a sharp breath.

"Look at him," she said, voive wavering. Luna looked where she was pointing. It was a man, maybe thirty, that was the spitting image of Wren. Luna nodded wordlessly and pointed to the woman who looked like her. They each found the man or woman who looked like them- all but Grim.

"Could they be our... parents?" asked Iris quietly. Luna flipped the frame over and began loosening the back. It popped out, and Luna looked behind the picture. Sure enough, there was a smaller slip of paper. She held it up and read it aloud.

"Left to right: Myra, Elana, Kyra, Matt..." The list continued, but she trailed off. Names. Letters.

"Look at the first letter of every name," she said. "And match their pin to a flower from the desk."

It was long, tedious work, but in the end they had a clue. The letters read:

RADIOCHANNELFIVE

"Radio channel five," read Grim. "Anyone see a radio?"

                     ~-o-~ 

Ashfang slipped quietly through the streets of the city, pausing whenever she heard a voice or a footstep. This was her first solo mission, and there was no way she was going to blow it. In her dark grey and black clothes, she blended perfectly into the shadows of the alley. She watched the small, buzzing diner across the street, waiting for the opportune moment.

Of course it's busy tonight, She thought. Just my luck. She knew she should have scouted the area beforehand, kept an eye on when it was busy and when business was low, but this had been a surprise assignment from Lion. It had been short notice, probably to prevent her from doing any such thing. She looked at her watch. Ten thirty. Better now than midnight, where most people expect attacks. That was one of the things that made O.I. so successful- they planned things at random times, when you wouldn't expect trouble. She tucked her hair into her hood, and sprinted across the street, head down. She walked into the diner, and sat down at the farthest booth from the counter. She reached into her pocket and fingered the little pouch she carried. It would come out soon. Soon, but not quite yet. A perky, redheaded waitress bounced over to her.

"Hi there! How can I help you?" Ashfang pulled out the object in her pocket.

"You can bring me an order of chaos." She dropped the pouch, and it exploded into a cloud of thick white smoke. The waitress doubled over coughing, like everyone else, and Ashfang slipped past her. She mentally told herself to work on her comebacks, and hurried to the back of the shop. She searched the back room and kitchen, moving quickly. She had a few minutes to find the Item and get out before the smoke cleared. In the manager's office, she spotted a small ornate box, like the one Lion had described. She quickly picked the lock on the door and swept in. She grabbed the box, being sure to keep it tightly shut. Lion had given her clear instructions not to open it. She kicked open the window, and, without glancing back, climbed out through it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From this point forward, the people from Order of Ink will most likely have longer parts.

Sorry for the wait! 

YAAAAAAY!!!!!!!!!!!!

Such amazing writing!

I can't wait for the next post!