Owing to the terrible news, many in Dormitory Were, including Abby didn't get much sleep. And as she lay in her bunk the next morning, she stared across the room and out of a window, her thoughts on her parents.

But a whimper drew her attention.

Glancing over her side, Abby saw Esme in bed staring out of the window too, Gwen snuggling with her.

Poor little one, Abby said to herself before curling back up into her moss. She was about to resume her contemplation when the sound of horns blared into the room. It wasn't alarming but a marching tune she had heard many times while watching her father in parades, marching with the other veterans of the king's army.

A twinkle of hope fluttered within her, hope that she'll see her parents again.

'Time to wake up, I guess,' came Esme's voice. 'Time to get on with life.'

Abby looked over again and replied, 'Morning.'

'Morning. And sorry if Gwen's crying kept you up at night.'

'You don't need to apologize. I wouldn't have slept anyway.'

The music ended with a sharp spurt and everyone who was not awake sure was now. Shortly after, everyone was out of bed and downstairs in the sitting room, where much of last night's dinner sat mostly uneaten. Nobody had an appetite after coming back from the Pit.

'What's happening there?' asked Esme, pointing over to a large group crowded around a table.

'It's the activity list,' a girl with blonde hair replied as she whisked by.

'I'm glad there's fishing,' a boy said as he broke off from the table. 'I used to fish with my grandfather all the time.'

With Esme and Gwen, Abby squeezed through the crowd to get a look at the list herself. And it was a long list, but there was one word that stuck out.

'Esme, there's potions,' Abby said, the hope within her growing. 'We're doing that.'

'Excellent,' Esme said from behind, straining to get a look herself.

'We'll be together doing potions after all.'

Ever since the two were very young, they both had a fascination for potions and had planned, promised each other, that they would attend the same potions' school when they were older. And when they both received acceptances for the School for Potion Makers, the two were so over the moon that they had a joint party to celebrate.

'Funny how things work out.'

'What about me?' asked Gwen, a frown on her face. 'I don't know anything about potions. I want to stay with you, Esme.'

'You can come,' Esme replied reassuringly. 'So where do we go, Abby?'

'The Apothecary, it says,' answered Abby. 'In the Alchemist Quarter.'

But where was that, she wondered?

Abby then noticed that the list was resting on a much larger, stained and older looking piece of parchment spanning the entire table.

It was a map. A map of the entire outpost.

It took her some time, but Abby eventually found the Alchemist Quarter wedged inside a crease, it labeled like many other places with a faint cursive writing. It was near the exact middle of the outpost, close to the Royal Keep. She then found Dormitory Were and saw that it was quite far away. It took her more time to find a route through the trees and remember it.

'Anyone else doing potions?' Abby asked loudly. 'We can all go together.'

Nobody raised their hands, but this initiated others to group into their chosen activities.

Suddenly the dormitory door opened and in walked several younglings led by a boy dressed in an apron, each one carrying plates of breakfast.

'Being that you didn't eat much dinner last night,' exclaimed the boy, getting everyone's attention, 'we didn't make a lot of food this morning. But I do hope you eat it. Princess Edina told me to tell you that you must eat. We all need to keep up our strength.'

As if the boy's words were magic, everyone's appetites did a full circle with stomachs rumbling all over the sitting room. And not only did breakfast get eaten but the leftovers from last night's dinner too. Maybe it was everyone's newfound purpose that contributed to the change.

It was when the cooks came to take the dishes away that another tune of horns was heard.

'It's time to go,' said Abby, and together, she, Esme and Gwen left the dormitory with everyone else, funneling outside into the warming morning.

And as the three of them explored more of the outpost, traversing more bridges, walkways, spiral staircases, and even branches, they came across other dormitories, with some carved into the trees themselves. Dormitory Vampire and Dormitory Magic were just a couple of their names.

On and on they kept going, watching evacuees gather throughout like swarms of bees waiting to start their activities. But as they got to the bottom of a staircase, their journey to the Alchemist Quarter came to an abrupt halt.

Peering out over a large gap as she stood on a ledge, Abby said, 'There should be a bridge here. It was on the map. I'm sure of it.'

'It did look like a really old map,' said Esme. 'Maybe it's just outdated. Or maybe the bridge just crumbled from lack of maintenance.'

Abby looked over the side but saw no reminiscence of the bridge either down on the forest floor or caught up in the trees.

'What now?' asked Gwen.

'We'll just have to find another way,' said Abby. 'With all the bridges, there's surely one.'

'What this place needs are sign posts,' said Esme.

Turning around to go back up the stairs, Abby replied, 'It definitely does. Hey, look.' She gestured to a rope tied up to the tree's trunk beside her. Then looking up, wondering where it hung from, she saw no end, the rope shooting up far into the tops of the trees. An idea came to her, albeit a joking one. 'Anyone up for swinging across?'

'Never in a million years,' breathed Esme, giving a not-amused look.

'Oh, come on,' Abby said with a smirk, and she untied the rope in jest.

'Stop playing. I know when you are. I've known you too long. You'd never swing across either.'

Abby gave a slight chuckle and was about to tie the rope back up when it somehow twisted around her arm like a slithering snake all on its own.

'Abby!' Esme shrieked.

'What's going on?' Abby snapped back, now terrified and trying desperately to free herself. 'Help. Get it off of me.'

The sisters had only moved an inch when something more terrifying happened.

One moment Abby was on solid ground and the next she was swinging through the air gaining speed. And as air whooshed past her ears, she was too scared to scream. It was when she could breathe again when she realized she was heading straight for a tree. Not knowing what to do she just closed her eyes and prepared for impact.

This is going to hurt, Abby yelled to herself.

However, nothing came. Instead, Abby felt herself slow. It was only a split second later when her feet touched down, stopping completely. And when she opened her eyes, she saw she was standing on another ledge.

'ABBY!' Esme yelled from across the gap. 'ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?'

'Yes,' Abby replied back as she watched the end of the rope begin to unwrap around her arm. 'Whoa. What magical rope is this?'

Once she was free, the rope shot back to where it came.

'I think that's how you get across,' she then screamed to Esme and Gwen.

'I'm not doing that,' Esme echoed back, 'or allowing my little sis–'

But before her best friend could finish, Abby saw a swinging Gwen zipping towards her. In no time, she was standing on the ledge too.

Grinning madly, Gwen looked at Abby and said, 'That was fun.'

'Seriously, Gwen!' yelled Esme. 'You have no idea how mad I am right now. If our parents were here, I'd tell on you. That was incredibly—'

Gwen turned and yelled back, 'Stop whining and join us already.'

It took some time before Esme picked up the courage to swing across, but when she landed on the ledge, her anger had disappeared, a smile on her face as well.

'Fun, wasn't it?' Gwen asked.

'It was,' Esme admitted.

In a better mood than last night, the three carried on. And to their luck, there were more magical ropes to swing on, with two traversing even larger gaps.

After the fifth rope crossing, Abby saw the biggest structure yet and probably the biggest in the entire outpost. It was clearly the Royal Keep, where Princess Edina and the other royals were housed. It looked like a watchtower with vines creeping all over and it was stretched, sandwiched between five trees.

It was a bit further along when the three finally reached the Alchemist Quarter.