Socks' POV

"And that's when I said, 'That's not a camel, that's my wife'"

"Blaza! Is that the punch line to literally all your stories?"

"Maybe."

I froze. That was definitely the voices of Meme and Blaza. I had been looking for them for sense the morning after I had run off. Running away had solved a short-term problem, but this was a big mess and was getting so hard to manage. I wondered if I should stop keeping secrets and just tell them everything. But, the truth was, I was scared to tell them. Scared they would judge me for what I did. Scared they would blame Laff for what he did. Scared they would be mad at themselves for the things they did. I cut my train of thought off there. The sound of footsteps getting softer, and I didn't want to lose them. If I could hear them through the wall then the two corridors must be parallel. Sure enough, when I came to the next intersection, there was a u-turn to the left. I turned the corner, and...

"OW!"

And ran straight into Meme. I rubbed my forehead and Meme grabbed an ice pack out of his first aid kit. Since when did he have an ice pack? How had it not melted? -lot armo-

"Found him," Blaza said, pointing at me, "Do I get a reward now or something?"

"No," Meme said, adjusting his ice pack, "No you do not."

"Really?" Blaza asked.

"Really," Meme said.

"Maybe just one gold coin?" Blaza begged.

"You have enough gold coins!"

"How about I flip my coin and if it is heads then you owe me a gold coin, and if it is tails then I'll drop the idea," Blaza offered. -AMPAGNE PROBLE-

"Fine," Meme said, "but don't use your double head coin."

"Ok, let me just grab my coin..." Blaza trailed off as he pulled his hands out of his pockets, "I can't find it."

"You mean this coin?" I asked, smiling. Meme snickered. Resting in my palm was a single gold coin with a bidoof face on it. Blaza snatched it.

"Where did you get that!?" He ques -SHHH- tioned, with an accusatory look at me.

"You dropped it two days ago," I explained, "I was waiting to see how long it would take you to realize it was missing."

"Hmph," Blaza said, obviously doubting my story, "well now for the coin toss."

"Flip it, flip it!" Meme and I chanted. The coin flew through the air, spinning as it sailed higher and higher. It glinted in the light as it reached its peak and began to fall. It completed its parabolic journey and landed in Blaza's hand.

Meme peered over, and the bidoof face stared back at him.

-Why so descri-

"Heads!" Blaza declared, "I win!"

"..." Meme said nothing.

"You owe me a coin," Blaza added.

Meme sighed, "I'll give it to you if we ever get out of here."

"Deal," Blaza said quickly, accepting the offer.

-ERE'S GLITTER ON THE FLOOR AF-

"Well now that that's dealt with," I said, "why don't we get moving"

"Where should we go?" Meme asked.

"Idk, my map is useless now that we are lost," Blaza answered.

"Just pick a random direction then," I said. Blaza started spinning around in a circle. He stopped, swaying dizzily for a second, then pointed in the direction he was facing.

"You're pointing at the wall," Meme said, facepalming.

"I know that," Blaza said, obviously annoyed that his idea didn't work.

"Why don't we go through the roof," I suggested, "Then we can escape too."

"And you thought my idea was dumb," Blaza said.

"Does anyone have an idea that includes actual logic?" Meme asked. No one spoke.

"Well why don't you share your ideas, if you're so special," Blaza retorted.

"Yeah," I agreed, "Show us your logic."

"We go down, obviously," Meme explained, "We can dig a tunnel to the exit without all this maze nonsense."

"What would we even dig with?" I asked, "We don't have a shovel or anythi-his is getting stupi-ng." Blaza ran off down a corridor.

"I've picked a random direction," Blaza yelled over his shoulder. We sprinted after him.

{INFORMATION REQUESTED: THE STATUS OF GEN 83}

{ESTABLISHING CONNECTION...}

{CONNECTION ESTABLISHED}

{BEGINNING SESSION}

"Welcome Gen 83," a computerized voice echoed overhead, "Preparing launch."

Gen 83 took a deep breath. She was sure she would have been tapping her foot, if she had feet. Despite her studies into the various habits of humans, she was not one. She was a maze spirt, a gray wisp with the power to shap-shift. All the spirits had taken courses on the behaviors of the various species in the maze. Humans, dragons, squids, fae, they had studied them all.

"Group assigned: Group C."

Photos of three humans in group C appeared on the pod screen. All the data that was available on group C came rushing into her brain. She would use that knowledge, plus anything else she picked up from shifting, to carry out her mission. Every day, fifteen-ish spirits were taken from the learning halls and given missions. None had returned. Her best friend, Gen 77, had left on a mission yesterday. She was beginning to doubt they were ever coming back. If sevens was really dead, then Gen 83 would carry out her mission in their honor. She would bring back her prize in memory of them. She tried not to think too hard about the what-ifs and the fact no one had returned from a mission yet. It would be fine. She'd be the first to succeed. Sevens would come back too, and she'd finally have the courage to ask them the question that burned inside of her. The pod doors opened with a hiss, and Gen 83 stepped out into the maze.