"Touching as this moment is," Mr. Speck boomed with an obnoxious sniff. "But that's enough distraction. Let's not forget we have an antidote to find though. And the more you resist, the more useless you become to me and believe me, you do not want that for your own sakes. So don't even think of slacking off."

   No one in the room hid their frustration. While the rest of us released sighs and groans, Rav, who was leaning against the wall, raised his head, only to slam it back into it was an annoyed cry.

   Camila rushed to him before he could repeat his actions. "Stop that!"

   As she dragged him away, my eyes stared at the back of Rav's head before moving to the spot of the wall it had just come into contact with. The force he used to carry out that hit made me paranoid enough to check for any bloodstains.

   But that feeling was short-lived when I saw nothing but a plain white tile. Just like the one next to it, and the one next to that, and the one after–

   Hold on.

   That tile wasn't white. Not entirely, anyway. It wasn't long before noticing what appeared to be a smudge of soot on the tile that could've easily been mistaken for a design that I saw tiny curved holes at its four corners.

   I left Dorian and everyone else astonished as I got off the floor and ventured toward what was too weird to be a coincidence. At least I hope it wasn't. I wasn't sure how I would explain that my sanity was intact to the others if I was wrong.

   Coming closer gave me a better view of the stained, chipped tile. As my hesitant fingers reached forward to touch it, a thousand and one thoughts won't stop telling me why I was just wasting my time and how I was only making a fool out of myself.

   Until I touched it.

   The ear piercing shriek that my throat released was the final straw that sent everyone rushing toward me with visible worry.

   With my eyes never leaving the tile, I pointed toward it, exclaiming, "The tile. It m–mmm!"

   I gave Rav, whose hands over my mouth were the reason I was cut off, the dirtiest look as his grip got only tighter with each fight I put. When he gestured upwards and pointed a free finger to his ear, however, his action didn't seem so insane anymore. After I stared at him with a nod and understanding eyes, he released his grip. I took a minute to calm myself before dropping my voice to a volume I was positive Mr. Speck wouldn't hear.

"When I touched this tile," I whispered, still pointing, "It moved."

"Are you sure?" The look on Cami's face as she asked reflected everyone's disbelief.

   Rather than respond, I grabbed her hand and placed it on the tile. Sure enough, it shifted from the pressure exerted and reverted to a standstill when Camila yanked her hand with big eyes.

"It–It..."

   I shot her a 'told you so' glance while she continued to fumble with her words.

"Guys," Dorian's soft call came from far away.

   All the excitement made me miss the moment he'd moved all the way to the other side of the room.

   My heart skipped a beat when I saw the bewildered look as he pointed towards one of the tiles next to him. One which looked exactly like the one we were just freaking out over.

   Swallowing down my rising hysteria at this strange turn of events, I turned to Rav, Camila and Landon, talking in an undertone, "I'm positive at this point that we'll find more of these if we keep looking."

   Sure enough, it hardly took a few minutes of them scouting our environment with hawk-like focus when they drew Dorian and I's attention– with gestures, of course, not words– to the similar looking tiles before them.

   After a last sweep of every inch of the four walls to ensure we weren't missing anything, everyone's hands moved to their tiles, our eyes on each other.

"On three," I mouthed, holding up three fingers. Then two.

   The moment my final finger lowered, all hands pushed on their respective tiles. As expected, mine began to move. Exerting more pressure on the tile caused its upper part to shrink further into the wall while the bottom continued to protrude until the entire thing flipped to reveal...

   ... nothing but more tile. The whiteness of this one actually blended in better with the others.

   I dug my fingers in my hair and let it remain there. If I wasn't so concerned about Mr. Speck hearing us and finding out our discovery, I wouldn't have held back the frustrated scream tickling the base of my throat.

   But like that would stop me from glaring at the tile in utter disdain. After giving us a message that played no major role in getting us to where we currently were, you'd think Mr. Sacury would have at least thought to make it easier at this critical stage.

   In a moment of weird hope, my fingers poked at the tile once more, only to find that it won't budge. Great, I'd somehow broken this useless clue.

   Turning away from the source of my misery was when I saw Cami making hand gestures toward her and Landon's tile. Judging by how wild her movements, she seemed to have been trying to get my attention for a while. I tried not to appear too eager as I darted from my spot to theirs.

"Show her," Camila tapped Landon's shoulder.

   When Landon's curled fist released to unveil a scrap of black paper, I had to blink several times to confirm they weren't playing some humourless joke on me.

"It fell out while the tile flipped over," Camila's whisper dripped with excitement. "I was ready to give up when the other side of the tile showed nothing. Landon was the one who noticed it right next to my feet on the floor."

   My peripheral vision caught sight of Rav's clasping hand not too far from us.

   I craned my neck in the direction of my deserted tile. What if...

   Rather than stand around contemplating the possibilities, I returned toward it with a strange new fire. This time, I didn't spare a single glance at that tile. My eyes surveyed the floor around me instead. The search did not last long.

   Soon, I was grinning from ear to ear while grabbing a piece of paper from the pale floor it appeared to have merged with like a chameleon. I waved it to Landon and Camila, grateful that the optimism within me hadn't been for nothing.

   We united once more, with Dorian and Rav, this time, who were holding similar scraps of blue and green paper.

"I'm assuming everyone's paper has something inscribed on it?" Rav muttered while waving his.

   We nodded. It was obvious the impatient urge to see what was on the others' papers was mutual. I couldn't hinder the thought that the combination of our inscriptions was going to create some form of map that will finally, finally lead us to what we need to end this whole thing.

   Rav held up his paper first.

   Penned down in glittery gold which formed a pleasant contrast with the rich, green paper were two simple words:

   For All

   Dorian went next.

   As I continued to look at his paper, it was getting harder to disguise my surprise. Eventually, I came to accept that what I was seeing wasn't my brain screwing with me:

   =

   Yes. A red equal sign. Nothing more.

   The urging looks thrown my way made me focus less on Dorian's hand and more on showing what my paper said. Unlike his, it was pretty uncomplicated:

   Liberation.

"Wait!" Rav snapped his fingers before Camila and Landon could show us anything.

   He used the moment of alarm created to snatch Dorian and I's papers had them, together with his, strewn on the floor before we could protest.

   Or at least kick him in the shins. Since you know, we were trying to not let Mr. Speck hear us.

   But my temper evaporated when I saw what Rav had arranged the papers to become.

   Liberation For All =

   Well, that was easier than expected.

   That kick can wait.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! Please don't forget to vote and comment!