The worst discovery Lucas had made so far was finding out that the house had a life of its own.

The first tremors under their feet hadn't been signs of collapse, unlike what he had first assumed them to be. Seconds after Irene had left, the ground itself had begun to heave, the corridors shifting and turning like they had been inspired by Hogwarts staircases, and not in a good way. At all.

The group had dispersed into chaos, the boys grabbing the first thing they could find for support, which had resulted in the group of six being broken up into pairs and trios. Lucas had barely registered what had happened—all the throwing around and trying to stay on his feet had made him lose sight of his surroundings, and the next thing he knew was that he was alone.

He straightened, taking in his new and changed environment. It still seemed like he was inside the mansion. The carpet under his feet was the same, but instead of the balcony he seemed to be standing in a long, seemingly endless hallway. It was echoingly silent, giving away no indication of what had happened to the others, but if he concentrated hard enough, he could hear a dull throb like a heartbeat all around him. It was as if the walls were alive with it, a pulsating beat like a real heart—as if the house were a person and he was standing inside its heart.

Lucas swallowed back his fear. This was no time to worry about himself, especially when his friends were all who-knows-where in this godforsaken house. The knowledge that Taeyong had jumped didn't help, either, even if Shao had leaped after him. Maybe they were both dead now, long lost to the raging fire, but there was no way to know what had happened.

He took a few shallow breaths to calm his racing heart before starting forward. His pant leg was badly torn, and being tossed around by a temperamental building had opened up the stitches in his side, which didn't make for ideal walking conditions. Lucas had managed to ignore his injuries so far (it hadn't been hard, given the crazy stuff that had been thrown at them one after the other) but now that he was alone with no immediate danger in sight, they were impossible to overlook.

It had been long since he'd been out on a job, but he remembered the basic instructions for being stranded without your team. Look for immediate threats: so far, there didn't seem to be any. Assess damages: yep, those were pretty hard to disregard. Take inventory: all he had was his torn-up suit and an assortment of knives lining the inside of his jacket, though he doubted those were going to be any use against a solid wall.

He stopped at the end of the corridor.

Instead of a door, the hallway ended in a maze. The choices to turn to seemed endless, multiple corridors emerging from the mouth and snaking in different directions. Lucas took exactly six seconds to think about which one to choose. Then he realized they were all equally dangerous and randomly picked one.

The corridor seemed to extend forever, twisting and turning and leading him nowhere. Lucas had ripped away the torn part of his pant leg in hopes of his blood leaving a trail, but whenever he turned, it was gone. It was as if the house was wiping up after him, both chiding his carelessness and telling him there was nothing he could do.

The corridor also got progressively darker as he went on, until he was standing in a spot so dim he could barely make out his own feet. Lucas leaned against the plastered wall in despair, overcome by his hopelessness and worry and exhaustion.

"Come on," he said aloud, mostly to reassure himself that his voice still worked. "Think."

Nothing. No sign from the heavens, not a single lightbulb moment to save his life. He was used to using whatever his surroundings gave him to get out, but this was just and endless nothing, the same path over and over like he was going in circles.

Lucas was just beginning to think he would be stuck there forever when someone emerged from the next corner.

It was Shao, looking absolutely intact like the fire hadn't even touched her. Lucas was instantly alert, a hunting knife in his hand as she came towards him. "How did you find me?"

He knew the correct question should have been how are you alive or how are you in general, but that was the first thing his confused mind had blurted. Shao raised her hands placatingly, like she was dealing with a wild animal, and Lucas backed into the wall. Guilt flickered over her features. "I'm here to help."

"How can I trust you?" he asked bitterly. If this had been any other circumstance, he would have at least considered being nicer. Not now, though, when her side had trapped him in a labyrinth.

"You don't have to," said a third voice. Taeyong came out from behind her, looking—well, not unharmed, but relatively unscathed. He wasn't alone, either—there was another person behind him, Sicheng from the B squad, though Lucas had no idea what he was doing there. "Trust me."

Lucas was too overwhelmed with surprise and relief that he couldn't say anything. Taeyong took the lead and explained everything to him, from his gamble with the fall and the fact that they were in a separate dimension created by Irene.

"I don't get it," Lucas said when the explanation was finally over. He frowned, pointing at Shao. "You can travel in and out of this place?"

"Only because I'm the one lending her most of her powers," she answered. He hadn't noticed it before, but she looked a little jittery, like she was about to step onto a roller coaster for the first time in her life. "And I can only take one person with me at a time. It's not easy."

"You can get us out then," Lucas said. "We can find the others, and—"

"That won't guarantee Irene won't just drag everyone back in again," Sicheng said. He looked surprisingly calm for someone who was aboveground for the first time in years. "And there's no way to find the others."

Lucas frowned. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be helping the squad evacuate the building?" He was about to ask how both Sicheng and Taeyong were there if Shao could only bring in one person at a time, but then realized it was a stupid question.

"They have it under control," Taeyong said. He was talking very calmly, articulating each word with perfect clarity as if he knew exactly what was going on. Well, Lucas thought, that makes one of us. "And she will be taking everyone out, but not by herself."

"It'll sap too much of my energy," Shao said. "And Irene can sense my interference since it's a dimension created by her, since it's literally connected to her—there's a more direct method needed."

Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Enlighten me."

"The dimension exists only inside the building," she explained. "It takes too much energy to generate and power an entire world, so if you find a proper exit—a singular door—then it should be able to get everyone out at once."

"I still don't see why you can't just take everyone out one by one," Lucas said. "It would be much easier that way. And she already knows you've done it once."

"She can interfere," Shao said. "Granted, she can't stop me fully, but I'll only be able to get in a couple more jumps before my energy is spent completely."

Lucas swallowed that piece of information, then sighed. "Okay," he said wearily. "Where is this exit?"

Taeyong and Shao glanced at each other. "The front door of the mansion," Shao murmured. "The true exit."

Lucas stared at her. "That's it?"

"One problem," Taeyong said, looking uncomfortable. "It's locked."

"Of course it is."

"We know where the key is," Shao said hastily as soon as she saw the tired look on Lucas's face. "And we can get to it, but we need the team for that. Then it's bye-bye, Bae Manor."

Lucas's thoughts swam in his head. This was a lot to take in at once. Of course, he had been trained in insane situations and could accept wild ideas more easily than the rest, but it was still hard to digest everything. "The catch?" he asked.

Taeyong pursed his lips. "Not all of us can go through it," he said. "Some of us will have to stay to carry out the second half of the plan."

Of course there's a second half. Lucas resisted the urge to sigh again. "Right."

Taeyong quickly explained the rest to him, making the idea as easy and compact as he could without making it sound impossible. At the end of the explanation, Lucas's doubt hadn't been lessened, but there was something there that hadn't been before: hope.

Better than nothing, he guessed.

"Are you sure you can do this?" he asked Sicheng, who had been standing there in silence throughout the entire conversation. "Absolutely sure?"

The boy hesitated. Then his jaw set, and he nodded firmly.

"Good." Lucas straightened to his full height. The pain in his side increased sharply, but he found it a lot easier to deal with now that they had a plan. "Then let's find the others."

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is this getting boring? pls tell me it's not getting boring bc i've convinced myself it's getting boring 

only a few more chapters left guys,,,,,i know i've said that like twelve times already lol but i promise this is IT. less than seventy in all so :(( i'll be sad to see this book go (maybe that's why i'm procrastinating on it so much). i'll work SUPER hard on the last ones so you don't have to live w/ a shitty ending, dw

hoping it lives up to your expectations and i don't fuck anything up, fingers crossed

love, 
Manx.