"If you understand hallucination and illusion, you don't blindly follow any leader, you must know if the person is sane or insane, over the abyss".
-Marguerite Young

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Lottie hadn't seen her father after that moment when he nodded a goodbye and disappeared down the wall's face. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to follow. The view in front of her seemed too a desirable place to sit and ponder. Far in front of her was a jigsaw puzzle of stone walls interlocking with eachother, crowned by blazing sunlight bouncing off their tops. The sky was a deep crimson, swirled with black and gold, and a thin layer of white cloud floated a few metres above the maze. It did occur to her afterwards that she could have memorised the patterns of the labyrinth, but she wasn't the most attentive person on Earth. And besides, the maze seemed to move by itself; entire walls sliding into different patterns. That was what it was doing then. The stone made an awful sound when it shifted, like nails scratching down a blackboard, which made Lottie grit her teeth. However when it stopped, she noticed they had changed into two rooms. She guessed one of them was her destination. Dropping down the wall, she had rather forgotten she didn't have a Hyde to, well, survive that sort of fall, but luckily she didn't break anything, anythings.
In fact she teleported; not by her own doing, but all the same instead of landing face first into the stone flooring, she landed face first into a red carpeted floor. However she guessed surviving the fall wasn't the test.

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Louis had been teleported too, to a different room. This one was tiled on the floors and walls, completely shrouded in darkness. On the walls were lots of bookshelves covered in books of all topics. Next to these was a single scroll hung from a nail, closely covered in writing. He approached it; trying to figure out the inky text, and then realizing he may need spectacles as, even when he was only a few feet away, it was still blurry. However, he eventually read it as:

'Abandoned for 22 years. No mother, no father. The only person near. Is the man who desires to kill her. Her story taken away. And buried under a sheet of ice. Broken into two pathways. Her life a roll of the dice.
You left her. The Order. Your punishment? To relive the moment she lost all hope.  And find the letter, to find the key, to find your escape'.

"Was that it?" he pondered. "Just find a letter. It's probably in one of these manuscripts". He thought of the challenges including horrifying monsters and creatures from Hell, but, well, this seemed like child's play. He started to look through the novels on the shelves, but they were all empty. Nothing but stained parchment bordered with gold ribbon.

"Who are you?" he heard a tiny voice say behind him. It sounded...strangely accented. Like British, but with a strong overlay of Russian. He was about to turn around, introduce himself, but then he heard heavy footsteps. Curiously, he turned around to see a curly, dark-haired child, around the age of seven, with huge, emerald eyes. She wore a dark green dress which was slightly too long in the sleeves. He was sure he had seen it somewhere before. Was it... Evelina's? Yes, yes, he remembered. It was hers when she was young. But how did this child get hold of it? Then he thought about the manuscript.

"You left her. The Order", he spoke out loud, but no sound came out. Lottie. This girl, this terrified, little girl, was Lottie. How could he be so blind? She only looked young, must have been just after he.... left her. But she was at her grandmother's after Tenebrae, so why wasn't she there. A long shadow stretched across the ground; a silhouette of a man wearing a coat and a wide hat. He didn't know where this was, or why Lottie was here, but he was sure he was about to find out.

"Your punishment? To relive the moment she lost all hope", he thought, thinking of what the manuscript said. "The moment she lost all hope".

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'Falling apart at the seams. With no candle to guide him. The only thing in his dreams. To escape what's inside him. Three children at his side. But no matriarch. Used, abused, driven by pain and lies. In a world of light, all he saw was dark. 

He left you. But it was never your right to give up on him so soon. Your punishment?  To relive the moment he lost all hope. And find the letter, to find the key, to find your escape'.

The room was very light, but there were no windows. It was regally decorated with red and gold furniture, with satin draping down from the walls and strung across the chairs. She immediately recognised the design, the colour scheme: Tenebrae. There was a large wooden table in the middle of the room, with a single, loaded gun in the very centre. There was a great display cabinet of mahogany on the far wall, covered in, what seemed like hundreds of parchment scrolls.  However the wall beside her was where she found this verse, scratched into the paint on the wall in block capitals. It had been engraved deeply, and she ran her fingers along the lettering; it had been done with a sharp-ended blade. Furrowing her curved eyebrows into confusion, she turned around to see the silver end of a gun being held to her head. She held her ground, refusing to put her hands up to surrender, especially when she caught eye of who was behind it. Dance. 

"I will shoot you", he exclaimed, and Lottie just nodded. "Don't ever think I will think of you. Not again. Not ever. You chose a life of misery and pain, over a life where you will be accepted". 

"You lied to us", said a voice over her shoulder, and it suddenly occurred to her that she wasn't the one the gun was pointing at. "You've taken our child and experimented on her". She turned around, noting that they couldn't see her, and saw her mother and father, looking absolutely terrified. Her mother stood slightly behind him, dark wings sweeping the carpeted floor. Her father looked much younger; his hair was darker and his eyes a deeper hazel. They were obviously talking about her; in fact she sort of remembered this, vaguely. Was this...? Oh no...

"I merely enhanced her", Dance hissed. "I just removed the cotton wool that you've insisted to wrap her in for the last six years". 

"She thought of you as an uncle, you know", her mother, Evelina, piped up in a cracked tone that still sounded sweet. "Uncle Dance, she called you". 

"Then she is as thick as the rest of you". 

"You know what Dance, if it means that much to you, shoot me. Shoot me dead and leave me on the floor to rot", Louis retorted, eyes suddenly changing to blue and back again. His Hyde had surfaced. "But what will you get out of that?"

"I will be able to cherish the look of surprise on your face for all eternity". 

"You're mad", Evelina whispered under her breath. 

"Oh please, 'mad'? Darling, I'm a psychopath", Dance lulled, smiling. He went over and sat on the arm of one of the chairs, still pointing the gun at her father. She guessed it had black monocane in it, or otherwise not a lot would happen. "But you could have chosen me, couldn't you? All those years ago, stuck between the psychopath and the sociopath. And you chose the sociopath? Everyone knows the crazy ones are more fun". 

"I chose Louis because I loved him more than you". 

"I'll burn you when this is over, Evelina. You'll be wishing that God threw you into Hell instead of here". 

In the background Lottie was desperately hunting through the scrolls, trying not to listen to the people behind her, because she knew what came next.

"Empty threats. It's what you are known for Dance. You say you don't care when you really do". 

"I didn't care enough to experiment on your daughter. I didn't care when she screamed in my arms for you. You think I care now?" 

"I do", she said calmly, and she stood in front of Louis, holding her hand out towards Dance. "I know you aren't... mentally sound, but I still think that, even after all this, you care about us". Dance just sighed in retaliation. 

"You're a fallen angel. A fallen angel. Why do you want to make the world so bright and...good?"

"Because I may be an angel no longer, and I admit some things I cannot change, but until I try I'll never know. Goodness knows the wicked's lives are lonely".

"Is that what you want? For me to be favoured?"

"At the moment I want you to put the gun down and admit what you did to our Lottie".

"Alright, I will", he said, placing the gun on the mahogany table. "But, tell me about your son and daughter, that you decided against informing me about".

"They are none of your business".

"They are my business. You never got it did you? Why they are so powerful?"

"We were... curious. But we never wanted to know".

"They are the Triumvirate, Evelina. The strongest of the monste-"

"They are not monsters!" Louis shouted, slightly losing his rag at Dance.

"Perhaps, but this, see this, is why they need to be... enhanced. Think of the progress we could make in Tenebrae if they become more than they are now".

"Robert and Olalla are three years old, Lottie is six. They have no place in your business".
Dance slid the gun off the table, concealing it in his palm. He could hear Keres telepathically speaking to him.

"Kill him", she said. "Or kill her; they do not matter anymore. All we need are the children and we can rule the world".

"It is not that simple", he answered back.

"It is. In fact I have a plan to acquire the children and keep Louis Hyde in Tenebrae", Keres hissed and then went on to explain her ploy. Dance just nodded quietly to himself, smiling.

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"What's your name?" the tiny child, Lottie, said as the man approached. Louis could see him now in the light. He was tall; fair skinned, wearing a tan coloured trench coat and a wide brimmed hat.

"My dear, my name is Roger Bulstrode, and I'm here to make you better", he lilted, grey eyes sparkling.

"My uncle said that to me once. 'Don't worry, I'll make you better', but I was never sick".

"Who is your uncle?"

"Dance". Bulstrode sighed softly. Tenebrae had already made their move. It would take years to eradicate all of their experimental drugs from this girl. But they could try.

"Do you know what a monster is, Charlotte?"

"I've got one. She's called Hyde and I've been told that I have to keep her in a room in my head and lock the door on her". Bulstrode pondered it for a second.

"Come with me", he said finally, but all Lottie did was shake her head.

"I don't want to". Louis chuckled. He had been searching for the letter, but lent an ear to the conversation. She reminded her so much of her mother; stubborn as a mule. "I want my Papa".

"Louis Hyde, your father, has gone. He's abandoned you".

"He wouldn't. Where is Robbie and Olalla then?"

"We believe Robert is in Ceylon and Olalla has been taken in by your... uncle, Dance".

"I won't come with you", she exclaimed, and immediately she felt an arm wrap around her neck and tasted chloroform on her tongue. Bulstrode looked on as her eyes unexpectedly changed to ice blue and back to green, signalling her Hyde coming out to play. She spun around to face the man who had tried to knock her out. He was short, with blonde hair and wearing a three piece, pinstriped suit.

"I WILL NOT COME WITH YOU!" she roared at him, and threw him against a wall. A horrible crack reverberated around her. She turned towards Bulstrode, standing on a step so she was a few inches taller than him, and hiked him up by the lapels of his coat, even though he was at least three times her weight. All of a sudden, a bullet of green monocane was shot into her arm by another one of Bulstrode's 'invisible men'. She felt it enter her veins, closing the door on her Hyde again. In fact, the chloroform seemed to be finally... taking over. Within a moment she had collapsed onto the London ground, and was promptly picked up by the same man who put her down there.

"Take her back to HQ", Bulstrode commanded. "And tell no one how we procured her. Human rights would have our head". They both laughed, cackled even, and the sound hurt Louis so much as he continued searching for the letter.  He could've helped. If he hadn't been so selfish and left them, then he could've had a whole family. He was holding another book, completely empty of words, or any letter in that case.

"I'm sorry, Lottie", he murmured quietly, and as soon as he said those words, ink started to run down the page. He didn't know where it came from, and it puzzled him until he realised that in the Puzzlebox anything can happen. The ink twisted and turned on its own, soon transforming into a beautiful decorated letter 'D'. He nodded; he was successful.

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Lottie hadn't found hers... yet. She was rather engrossed in the drama about to unfold before her eyes.

"You know, you're right Evelina", Dance started, getting up from the chair. No one, but Dance noticed Keres slithering into the shadows of the room. "I am mad. I'm, well, I'm insane. But you know what else I am?" Evelina shook her head and she could feel Louis's hand slip into hers.

"I'm wicked", he smiled and lifting the gun, fired a single monocane bullet into her chest. She stood upright for a moment, her breath rasping, and then fell backwards. Her wings turned as black as the night, as they absorbed all of the monocane from her bloodstream before it could kill her. But it wasn't the monocane that did. It was the sharp end of the bullet in her heart that meant her demise on that night. Louis caught her, eyes disbelieving and panicked. He didn't know what to do. In a moment, in a single gunshot, his children had lost a mother, and him the woman he loved. He had so much to tell her, and right now all he longed for was to hear her voice, but he knew. He knew that he would never hear it again.

"I'll tear you apart, Dance. I promise that I will break every bone in your body and I will burn the heart out of yo-" he started, but then suddenly very vertiginous and fell faint next to his lifeless wife.

"Nice job", Keres murmured and came out of the shadows. "Didn't think you'd do it".

"Why does everyone think I care so much for her? I am simply using her to get to the children. What did you do to him anyway?"

"Just knocked him out for a minute", she answered. "Now, I will need that gun". Dance nodded, handing it over, and Keres bent down, clasping Louis's hand around it. Concentrating, her eyes turned a deep scarlet and she slowly turned her hand. "There", she lulled, her eye colour returning to normal. "I have changed this memory in his mind. He will believe that he was the one that slayed Evelina. Meanwhile, go and find the children. I give you full permission to experiment on them however you like. It's what their grandfather would have wanted; carrying on the family name of being human lab rats".

Lottie was speechless. To think that she doubted her father when he had to live with the engineered memory that he shot his own wife. And that the only thing Dance could ever get out of it was Robert, Olalla and her; it just sickened her. There was just one scroll left on the shelf; she unrolled it and there it was. Her letter: 'A'. The figures around her, Keres, Louis, Dance and... Evelina, all faded away and the room returned to as it was when she first entered.

"Oh, thank God", Lottie thought to herself, and she shoved the scroll in her belt. Her dark hair flicked in her face and she curled it behind her ear. Then something caught her eye. Something that seemed completely out of place here. A mirror. Now, what place would a mirror have in an organisation ran by a vampire. It wasn't the right colour scheme either; silver and pale blue in a room of red and gold. Curiously she crossed the room, looking into it, but instead of her own reflection looking back at her, she saw Semira. What was this?

"Hello", she started, startling Lottie to hear her voice. "This is a Sight Mirror. It gives you the ability to see what is happening around you outside the Puzzlebox. Look, I need to you to listen to me. I know you don't trust me, but try to. Tenebrae are going to launch an attack on MIO, using you. They want to ignite a war between monsters and humans; a war that no human will win".

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked, but no sound came out. "Why me?"

"You may be wondering why I am telling you this. Let's just say my loyalties lies with humans instead of monsters. I want to live in peace, Tenebrae want war. And that's why I will never truly be a member, nor want to be". Semira looked around her, panicked. "I can't say much more, but remember: Abbadon".

Abbadon.

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