DAY ONE

Once I wake up, I find myself on the floor, surrounded by bodies. Oh my. They’re…knocked out, or sleeping, I think, brushing my short, silvery-white hair out of my face and pulling myself upright, aided by a counter directly beside me.

Before I wake up the bodies around me—the…hopefully knocked out ones, that is—I decide to scope out my surroundings.

I am in a beautifully built lobby—a hotel, I think. I glance in front of me and see that it has a burning fireplace in the middle with chairs around it. As I look down, I notice that the floor is carpeted in red, pinstriped carpets. Glowing gas lamps burn around me, on the pillars holding up the roof. Chandeliers dot the roof, and belhop carts dot the room around me.

“Mmmph…” A CBer behind me is waking up. She has long blonde hair tied into a braid, glasses, and grey eyes with long lashes. Her long legs lash out as she pulls herself upright. “Wait…where AM I?” she says, standing up straight. “Who are you—oh, wait, you’re Moonstone, right? Sterling’s AE?”

“Yes, that’s me. I see you’re alive, but what about the others?” I ask. “Are they alive? And, who are you?”

“I’m Echo Hallowswift—or just Echo. And, I think so…we should rouse them,” Echo replies calmly.

I nod, conceding with Echo, and then proceed to wake up someone I know—Carnelian. I shake him awake and then proceed to wake up the others.

The CBers and other AEs are groggy—and a bit grumpy. This doesn’t bode well for my explanation, but I disregard this and begin.

“My name is Moonstone, an AE of Sterling’s. I don’t know where I am. I don’t know where we are. I don’t even know half of you,” I say.

“I’m Periwinkle, or just Peri,” a girl with short periwinkle hair pipes up.

“I’m Hawkstar,” another says.

“I’M STRAWBERRY!” says another.

The rest proceed to introduce themselves until I could name them all by heart—but this doesn’t solve our problem.

“This is spooky,” Echo remarks. “I was alone, on the side of the mountain, separated from my hiking group, when a bright flash of light appeared and a bridge popped up out of nowhere.”

“Wait,” I say. “That’s exactly what happened to me.”

“The last thing I remember,” Echo continues, “was dashing across the bridge with the rain on my face and the bridge beginning to collapse behind me. As I passed through the doors—” she stops to point at the double doors behind us and continues speaking, “I passed out.”

“That’s odd,” Artemis says. “That happened to me as well.”

Suddenly, a CBer named Celeste dashes over to the doors. “Don’t you realize what this MEANS?” they exclaim with a horrified look on their face. “We’re trapped.”

The word trapped reverberates in our skulls until we dash to the doors as well, and stare at the bridge, somehow suspended in midair.

“There are elevators over here!” Hawkstar exclaims. “I’m going to go up one!”

“Wait, it could be dangerous—” Echo begins to say, then sighs as Hawkstar disappears behind the closing doors of the elevator. “Oh my.”

“We have to follow her!” I exclaim, tugging on Echo’s hand and grabbing Carnelian’s hoodie. “Come on, you guys! WE HAVE TO GO.”

As I dash to the elevators with Echo and Carnelian, the rest of the CBers follow.

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As I follow Moonstone into the elevator, I have a sudden thought: Is this safe? Can we trust each other? This feels…wrong, somehow. The rest of the CBers and AEs pile into the elevator, until it’s squished and cramped—I’m next to Artemis and Moonstone.

Suddenly, with a ding! the elevator opens up. “I see Hawkstar up ahead!” Moonstone exclaims, struggling to get out of the cramped elevator. “She’s just gone through the door in front of us!”

After freeing myself, I glance around and notice paintings around us. There are desks and—Carnelian pushes past me, dashing for the door.

“We have to follow her,” he exclaims.

“Wait, this door has a number on it,” Artemis says. “It says 002. That must mean something!” she exclaims, then realizes what it means and turns red. “Nevermind. This is the second door we’re going through.”

I push my way through the crowd and through door 002. This happens a few more times until the lights flicker and we hear Hawkstar scream through door 005.

We enter the room and see a vast, smiling form over her body, and it begins coming towards us. “OH MY GANDALF!” I scream, and dive into the closet next to me. Moonstone dives in next to me, along with Artemis and Carnelian.

 “OH MY GOD WHAT IS THAT THING?” Artemis screeches into my ear. I give no response, being busy with holding the closet shut. The thing from outside is trying to open it, its claws scrabbling at the door, the hinges, everything it can reach.

Then, suddenly and without warning, the four of us are pushed out of the closet.

I glance around, looking for the black smiling monster, but see nothing except for the rest of our party emerging from closets littered around the room.

“OH MY GOD,” I scream, my eyes landing on Hawkstar’s body in the middle of the room. “OH MY GOD!”

“MOVE!” Strawberry shouts. “I CAN HEAL THIS!” Strawberry dashes over to Hawkstar’s barely alive body and pulls out cupcakes from her dress pocket.

Moonstone is sobbing violently into Sterling’s other AE, Carnelian, and Carnelian is staring at Hawkstar, horror struck.

Artemis stares blankly at Strawberry and Hawkstar, and Celeste is curled into a ball on the floor, rocking back and forth.

“SHE’S ALIVE!” Strawberry shouts, and shoves cupcakes into Hawkstar’s mouth, and with a muffled “HEY!” Hawkstar sits up. She is covered in scratches and bleeding profusely, but alive nevertheless. As she finishes the mouthful of cupcake, Hawkstar sits up and winces.

“Hey, guys.” she says.

“What were you thinking!” Strawberry shouts. “YOU DITCHED US!”

“I was EXPLORING,” Hawkstar retorts. “I thought you were right behind me!”

“WE WERE,” Strawberry huffs. “Lucky we were there, huh?”

“Enough,” Celeste says, glaring at each and every one of us. “We have to crash here for the night. I’m not exactly partial to the idea of having more CBers or AEs almost die,” she says with a glare at Hawkstar.

I murmur my consent, and lean against the closet, my eyes fluttering asleep and darkness descending down upon me.

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Well, Hawkstar almost died, Lizards. Better keep a close eye on that one… 

I know this is super late, but if you can, would you mind making an exception and letting me join? 

Thank you for your consideration, 

Aether 

Sign Up Form:

Name: Ethan

CBer or AE:

Age: 13

Pronouns: He/Him

Personality: Funny, usually optimistic, has a wicked-ish sense of humor, and is kind.

Appearance: Shaggy blonde hair, handsome. Skinny, short, Has dark brown eyes, wears t-shirt and sweatpants under mountain climbing clothes.

Fire or Water?: Fire

Other: Carries flashlight and lighter.