Behind one of the many doors in the vast estate, five people are trying to find a way to escape the kitchen they are currently trapped in.

"There isn't anything in this room!" the dark-haired girl says.

"Well, sure there is. There're appliances, counters, food, water, knives—" the brown-haired boy shoots back, never taking his eyes off the objects in the room.

"You know that isn't what I meant!" the girl turns to look at him, frustration on her face.

Amelia Taylor stops listening to them after hearing them going back and forth for a few minutes. She takes note of the people in the room: there is the dark-haired girl who is frustrated, there is the brown-haired boy who is arguing with her, there is another girl who hasn't stopped searching for clues, and there is a blonde boy who is staring at everyone as if they are an organism under a microscope.

Amelia doesn't know where she is. She doesn't know why she is there. All she knows is that there are four other strangers who refuse to give their names in the room with her.

Click!

Amelia looks over towards where the noise came from and sees the Clue Girl standing next to a door which had been previously concealed.

"I think I found the exit," she says.

"Great, now we can leave this horrid place and find out why we're here." Amelia responds.

"Don't you guys think it could be helpful for us to share our names? Maybe then we can find a connection as to why we're here." the black-haired girl reasons.

Everyone looks at each other—some with disgust, and others with curiosity.

"My name is Zuri," she offers. "How about you?" She eyes everyone in the room expectantly.

Amelia rolls her eyes. What is this girl, a first grader trying to make friends? Does she have any idea who these people may be?

"Well?" Zuri puts her right hand on her hip and Amelia notices the mischievous glint in the girl's eyes. She'd have to be careful.

Clue Girl walks closer to Zuri, looking up at her with her head cocked to the side. She studies her, eyeing her up and down before smiling.

"You want me to give you my name?" She smiles. "Nah. I don't think so."

Zuri scowls and turns to the brown-haired boy. "What about you?"

The said boy disinterestedly glances her direction. "I don't think I want you to know my name, you jerk."

Oh great. Here we go again.

"Excuse me, but I'm trying to be civilized!" she retorts. "Unlike some people."

He reels toward her. "Well sorry!" he counters sarcastically. "You don't have to be such a brat about it! My name is James. That's all you're getting outta me."

Zuri huffs, but there's a hint of a smile on her face.

Clue Girl sighs and shakes her head. "Fine. I'm Naomi. If you cross me, you're dead." She makes a slicing motion across her neck. "And trust me, I know quite a few ways to make your death long and miserable."

Okay, well that wasn't alarming at all. But then, Amelia does too, so maybe she isn't in a position to say anything. The three of them turn to her and she flushes.

"I...I would prefer not to give myself away..." Amelia says. "You can call me Mia."

"That's a pretty nickname, Amelia." James wags his eyebrows and Amelia's mouth opens in shock. How the heck did he guess so quickly?

"Don't give you and your stupid hair too much credit," Zuri says, ruffling his thick hair. "It wasn't that hard of a guess."

James shoves her away and starts to fix his hair.

"What about you?" Naomi asks the figure in the shadows.

All eyes turn expectantly towards the last boy—even James stops messing with his hair to see what the boy might say.

"I'm not giving you my name." the blonde says, shocking the others.

"Why? We gave you ours!" Zuri readies herself to get into another argument.

"Don't you all see? We are all some of the most ruthless people in the world. It only takes someone with a little common sense to realize that it isn't a good idea to spread information about ourselves."

This sends everyone glaring at each other, putting on their masks that cover their true emotions.

Amelia starts to dig deep into her mind to find out who these people are and what they have done. To find out who to be cautious of and who to stick close to, if anyone.

"If anyone ever—!" Zuri yells, pointing an accusatory finger at everyone in the room.

"Chill! I'm not going to do anything!" James argues back.

"How can I trust you! You're supposably ruthless, how do I know you aren't lying?!" Zuri shoots back.

"I swear those two are going to murder each other before we even leave the room." Amelia hears Naomi mutter under her breath.

"Twenty euros Zuri kills James." the stranger whispers to Naomi with a small grin on his face.

"Twenty dollars James kills Zuri." Amelia whispers, deciding to join in on the bet.

"Do we have a deal, then?" the stranger turns to face Amelia.

"I suppose we do." Amelia sticks her hand out and the stranger grabs it with his own, finalizing their deal.

A loud crash drags their attention away from their bet to Zuri tackling James to the floor.

"Don't you dare say that!" Zuri yells.

"I meant every word!" James yells back, still struggling against the body on top of him.

In what seems to be a second, James flips himself on top of Zuri and punches her square in the jaw. He quickly gets up and backs away, preparing himself for any coming attacks.

"Should we stop them?" Naomi asks, her arms folded over her chest as she leans against the wall.

"Nope. I've got a bet to win." the stranger smirks and goes to leave the room.

"Hey!" Amelia grabs his arm, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Don't touch me," he says through gritted teeth, yanking his arm out of Amelia's hold.

The stranger goes outside the door, leaving the rest of them behind.

"What's his deal?" Amelia mutters, turning her focus back on the fight.

There is a small pool of blood on the floor, presumably from when James punched Zuri.

Neither Zuri nor James was murdered. Yet.

James is backed into a corner, with Zuri in front of him.

Amelia looks over at Naomi, who seems bored with the fight.

"They need to stop before one of them gets killed." she says, looking over at Amelia.

Amelia wonders how Naomi can stop two people who are clearly out for blood.

"Alright!" Naomi's loud voice fills the room, stopping everyone in their tracks. "We are not going to kill each other until we find out what's going on, understand?"

"So, we can kill each other after we know what's going on?" James asks, a bit of excitement in his voice.

Amelia realizes how odd it is that, despite getting into several fights, James still seems perfectly fine–if his attitude has anything to say about it.

But Zuri is fuming. She storms out of the room, never once looking back.

James, not ready for their argument to finish, chases after her.

"I'll go make sure they don't kill each other." Naomi looks over at Amelia before she pushes herself off the wall and walks out the door.

With a sigh, Amelia takes one last look at the kitchen before she walks out the door in search of the blond-haired boy.

***

"Some things never change." Amelia turns to look at the stranger behind her.

"They could, you know," he responds.

"Do you want to?" She sincerely looks at him in wonder. He averts her gaze and opens his mouth as if he were going to say something, but quickly snaps it shut. He hesitates before answering.

"Partly. But I need to protect Emilie."

"Who's she? A girlfriend?"

"My twin sister." He looks at Amelia, unable to hide the disgust from his face.

"Ah, you're a de Vanily too, aren't you?" Amelia vaguely recalls hearing about a Emilie de Vanily who, with her twin brother, runs a major heist society. Emilie is notorious for pulling off insane—and as some might say, impossible—thefts. Her brother, Felix, is the brains behind her operations, using his logic and intelligence to make the most realistic counterfeits in the world. This is something that has made them very popular in the heist world. Thieves would pay loads of money to get counterfeits to use in their own heists.

"I see our reputation precedes us." The stranger—which Amelia recalled as Felix de Vanily—seems to wilt.

"Well, I haven't directly been in business with your Society, but I've also heard that you've got some competition and are being exploited."

"It's a small world, isn't it?"

"I guess it is."

The hallways seem to stretch on forever.

Amelia and Felix stand under the dull lights, hoping to find some sort of clue as to where they are and why.

Doors line the walls, almost as if it were a pattern; a pattern that is only known to the one who built the mansion.

"Nothing in this one," Zuri says, closing the wooden door behind her.

"There's gotta be some place where we're supposed to go. It's got to be a puzzle. Why stick complete strangers in a place with no information if not?" James questions aloud.

As much as Amelia hates to admit it, James has a point. She realizes the oddity of some of the most relentless people in the world being put in a room together. But she really hopes it's not a puzzle. Amelia has hated puzzles ever since a particularly cruel one left her without a finger.

"What here could possibly be a puzzle? The doors?" Amelia deadpans.

"The doors? No! Of course not! You need to think bigger! You need to think...The chandeliers!" James points at the roof, showing his enjoyment of solving a puzzle.

"What? What about the chandeliers? They seem normal to me!" Amelia's voice starts to get louder, covering the voices of Zuri, Felix, and Naomi.

"That's because you're not thinking! Look," James once again points at the chandeliers, ignoring Amelia's fury, "each chandelier has seven arms. Every chandelier except—"

"—that one." Amelia finishes his statement, though she refuses to acknowledge his brilliance. The chandelier in question has an extra arm, which is clearly no mistake.

"Now that we know what the answer to the puzzle is, the question is what does it mean?" Naomi asks, folding her arms.

Nobody speaks for a few moments—partly because they don't know the answer, and partly because nobody wants to reveal anything about themselves—even if it may not seem like it.

A long sigh brings their attention to Felix.

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Is what obvious? What the answer means?" Naomi asks, clear irritation in her voice.

"The extra arm on the chandelier. It points towards that door." Felix gestures at a door which looked much like all the others; the only difference is that door had a long scratch mark that digs into the front.

"Well," James breathes, stepping forward. "Here we go."

He turns the ornate knob and leans against the heavy oak door, leading them all into the darkness of another puzzle room.*