Dedicated to Lonelia, in hopes that you will read this story and give me your honest review. Don't hold back on what needs fixing!

NAOMI

"What?!" The question burst out of my mouth before I could swallow it back down, hovering in the air like a force. Alex's dark eyes swept towards me, and I flinched back, though I stared back at him shamelessly.

"This is a place of certain death and injuries," he continued, his eyes like a storm cloud as they rested on mine. "However, you're stuck here. You can't leave until we complete our mission."

"Which is?" Annabelle's voice was so edged it almost seemed to cut through the air.

"To get the Christmas entities. There are only three, but it's very difficult to get them." He swiveled his eyes away from mine, locking them on to Annabelle. "Who's asking, cupcake?"

Annabelle's eyes widened, and her mouth slightly parted. She hated girly nicknames. "You little jerk" was all I caught before Alex suddenly staggered, falling to the ground. I could only blink at his twitching body as he inhaled a ragged breath.

"You kicked him in the crotch." That's Annabelle, everybody.

Annabelle's opal-blue eyes sparked at me. "Who's asking, cupcake?" she mimicked in a falsetto voice. I opened my mouth, about to scold her, but she cut me off. "He was asking for it, Naomi. Even you should know that."

If I was an animal, my fur would've bristled. "Oh, yeah? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ladies, ladies." Alex coughed before springing to his feet, as agile and graceful as a cat. It reminded me of Annabelle's own grace, but his was way more natural, more... special. He was like water, every motion like smoothed silk. "I know you're going to start a catfight over my greatness, but there's no need." He grinned, folding his hands behind his head. "I'm available to every damsel in distress in town."

I scoffed, not able to hide my rolling eyes. Oh, brother. This was supposed to be our tour guide in whatever place this is, but I think I would kill him before we even took a step. Alex was apparently the arrogant, smirk-y, convinced-he's-God's-golden-child type of person, which frankly, I can't stand. That type of guy needed a doctor's appointment for a reality check.

"There's a camp over there." Alex pointed behind him. "As the director, I'm supposed to take you there and explain everything about the Above and its purposes."

 You're the director? I was about to ask, but a voice cut me off.

"Please do," Isaac, who had been deathly silent before, muttered. He was always a curious kid, and I could see his hunger for knowledge gleam in his eyes, can read it in the tautness of his body. I can read my best friends like books, the font big and bold.

"Impatience will get you killed here, buddy. Ever hear the saying curiosity kills the cat?" Maybe Alex noticed it, too. He flashed him a lazy and an almost irritatingly easygoing grin before he began to walk away. "Come on! Are you slugs or something?" he called back to us when we didn't follow.

I glanced at Annabelle and Isaac, who reflexively turned to look at me. I could feel the question on their minds, not crossing their lips: Should we follow him?

I was a born leader, so I must lead. I shrugged, trying to keep a casual façade, but my stomach was boiling with nerves. We were in something like a fairy tale, something that shouldn't really happen to human beings. I was scared out of my mind at all the strangeness, the confusion, not to mention the fact that I have a feeling this fairy tale wasn't going to have a happy ending.

"Might as well follow him," I reasoned, beginning to hurry after Alex. "We don't want to starve to death out here, do we?"

Alex smiled crookedly at us as we caught up to him. "By the way, newbies, you can't feel hunger or thirst here. You should be thankful when you scallywags find out that there's a more dangerous threat looming above us."

What is he talking about? I repeated Alex's words in my head. This new land seemed peaceful and lulling, not a dangerous place where threats lurk around you, but just then a voice hissed softly in my head: Simba will not defeat Scar in this one. Scar will kill all lions, and the world will run with blood. I shivered, goose bumps dotting my arms. I felt like I was floundering in a bottomless ocean, drowning, not knowing which way was up or down or left or right. Pull it together, Brackett.

"Hey, Naomi, is it? Pay attention. This info will be key to your survival." Alex snapped his fingers, the sharp sound making me tumble back into reality. I rubbed my neck, giving him a cheeky smile.

"Whatever you say, captain." I mock-saluted him.

I abruptly noticed we were at the bottom of some moss-covered, worn-away stairs. The stone was cracked and weathered, moss creeping up like predators from the sides. It looked ancient, like something scavenged from long ago and placed here, in front of us. Alex was at the top, huge fir wood doors behind him. They looked way too heavy to even think about trying to open them. Surrounding the doors, huge stone walls scrabbled at the sky, fighting to reach the heavens, to grow taller until the tops disappeared.

Beyond the fortress, though... it was shrouded completely in black.

Alex caught me gazing at the horizon and laughed, a sound that seemed inappropriate in the current situation. "I'll explain everything and answer any questions you three have at the end," he promised. Before he could give any of us a chance to reply, he turned around and pushed at the heavy doors, pressing his whole body weight into it. Isaac planted a foot on a step, ready to assist, but the doors slid outward with a scratchy groan, then thundered as they slammed back against the stone walls.

"Come and meet the family!" Alex announced, his voice bright.

Isaac, Annabelle, and I bounded up the stairs, pausing in the doorway as dozens of eyes bored into us, studying every detail. Their intent stares were analyzing, like they had X-ray vision.

Also following our entrance was an unbroken silence, an eerie quiet that made my ears ring just for some kind of noise, but after about a minute or two the people began talking all at once, so I could only catch the barest snippets of whispers.

"Three newbies–"

"She has blue hair–"

"It'll probably attract the monsters–"

I slid my fingers through my blue hair self-consciously. What did that guy mean, it'll probably attract the monsters? Monsters were fake... right?

I could've laughed at myself right then. I was doubting all my certainties, my reliefs, my reality. It could drive a person to madness, yet I'm still hanging on. Go me, I guess.

"Ladies and gentlemen, calm down. Meet the unfortunate newbies. Naomi, would you introduce yourself and your friends?" Alex turned and pinned his eyes on me. I took a deep breath and straightened, trying to appear confident.

"I'm Naomi Brackett, and these are my friends Annabelle and Isaac." I paused, then added, "We have no idea what's going on here."

"Like the movie Annabelle?" someone piped up.

Annabelle's fists balled at her sides, and her eyes flared with undisguised fury. She hated many things, but she hated that question the most. "Will one person not ask me that?" she spat. You could almost see her hair twisting and writhing around her face, like Medusa. With that look in her eyes, she could probably turn a person to stone.

"She may look like a doll and have the name of a movie about one, but trust me, her temper disproves that very well." Alex grinned as a few people chuckled. "Naomi, cupcake, Isaac, meet the residents of the Above."

"You're one of us now!" a girl with silky brown hair chimed in.

"Welcome to the team," a boy with spiky hair muttered.

"Wait, Alex–" I reached my hand out for him, a little dizzy. Were they saying... were they saying we were stuck here? With this mysterious threat? But fairy tales always have happy endings... always...

"I'll explain everything during the tour," he dismissed, waving a careless hand. "Follow me." Then, without waiting to see if we would actually follow, he weaved toward the left stone wall.

I sighed and rushed after him, my friends in tow. When I was trailing behind Alex, I surveyed the thing he called a camp. It was spacious, I guess, but not huge. There was another door straight from the entrance, which was right up against the lands covered in deep shadows. I was still curious about that.

To the door's right–east–there were archery targets tacked on to the stone walls, dummies swaying on poles, and even a ridiculously long obstacle course that looked like if you took one step out of place, you would fall sprawling on the cloud-floor. On the left of the door, it was split into two sections. One section had dozens of sleeping bags nestled into the clouds, with no personal belongings to be seen. Although some had a few daggers or swords or even bows and arrows tucked into them, like it wasn't at all strange they had weapons in their sleeping areas.

The other section had words scribbled on the walls, and as I squinted at them, I realized they were... names. The wall had a foreboding sense about it, too, like you were at a funeral. There were names like Benjamin Hayes and Ryan Callinan and Sophia Martinez.

"This is the sleeping area, where we somehow get sleeping bags every time people join the Above." I jolted back into the present as Alex toed a black sleeping bag, his face expressionless. "There should be three new sleeping bags for you all. Remember your sleeping bag, too, because campers get real cranky when strangers sleep in theirs."

"Oh, really?" Annabelle mumbled. Alex just nodded and trudged to the east side, to the targets and dummies and obstacle courses. "This is the training area, and now I think is the time to reveal the big secret." He smiled grimly as he pointed to the door and the blackness beyond. "There are monsters and fatal trials right outside of that door. Remember when I mentioned the Christmas entities? We only know they're at the end of those trials, and nothing more. No one has survived to see them, much less retrieve them.

"Our mission is to beat these trials and get the entities here. This training area is the only way to prepare someone against these trials, along with wit, instincts, and quick thinking. Now, I'm gonna heed you newbies a warning, and listen closely, because I don't like repeating myself." Alex's face was sinister as he leaned towards us, deadly serious. "Don't go out there unless you're ready. If you have a single doubt about being ready to face the Trials, then keep your pretty little faces inside. I don't care if it's boring, because I don't want your foolish little minds to get eaten because you chose not to listen to my warning. Too many lives were lost because of that."

"Monsters eat brains?" I blurted out. Isaac gave me a look that said That's all you got out of that? Well, Isaac, I don't know about you, but I don't want my brain eaten zombie-style.

"Brains, hearts, organs. Whatever they can get their hands on." Alex's gaze darkened as he glanced at the door, now seeming to radiate with evil. I could feel it burning against my skin, scoring its deep claws in my heart. Even if I was ready, I don't think I'll even consider going out there.

I decided to mention the walls with the names."Alex..." At the sound of his name, he snapped his attention towards me. I gestured at the second section to the west, the one with the names on the walls. "What's that for?"

"Oh, the names on the walls." Alex's eyes looked like a brewing storm, hidden emotions only showed in flickers. I only could read sadness and despair in there, and my heart panged painfully inside my chest. How many times had someone gone out there and never came back? Maybe he had a best friend, a sibling, perhaps even a girlfriend that risked their life and failed in the mission.

I pursed my lips. I was scared, I'm not gonna lie. My whole body wanted to run away from this new reality and never come back, to never step outside that door. A new question popped in my mind, but I bit it back down. I still needed to hear Alex's answer.

"It's a graveyard. They're the names of the people who went out to complete the Trials but died in them. Writing their names on the walls was the best we could do." Alex looked away, and chills crawled up my spine. There were so many names... This Trials thing was no joke.

"Why are we here? Why do we have to get the Christmas entities?" I asked carefully. He didn't seem to want to talk about the graveyard anymore, and neither did I.

"When I came here, all alone, the first person to step into the Above, a lady told me that there was a force of evil that took the Christmas entities away. If we don't get them in about ten more years, then the evildoer will destroy everyone on Earth, including us." He smiled at me, but it was full of bitterness. "Earth will be a wasteland, with no one left."

"How will I be ready?" Adrenaline suddenly fizzed through my veins, whispering in my ear to hurry, hurry, hurry. My fright changed into impatience, and maybe even a little bravery. I had a life on Earth, a family and friends and good education. Life sucked in a lot of places, but that didn't mean all of humanity had to be wiped out.

"Start training, Naomi Brackett." He tipped his head, holding my stare. He also pulled out a dagger from his belt, one I didn't notice before, and tossed it to me. "You also have to wash that blue dye out. Bright colors attract monsters."