Bombshells. Bombshells. Bombshells.

Why's today so filled with bombshells?

Bradbury-Jones had explained what happened after the Room. We would be used as slaves for the Puritans. Sure, I could accept that. But being put into the Room again?

The scream in my throat is so intense but it won't come out.

Coral's breath comes in ragged pants, like wind on rocks. "They didn't tell you that either, did they?"

Having somehow gotten a case of the Lost Voice, I can only shake my head mutely.

She sits back onto my stomach, releasing my shoulders.

"OW!" I shriek, my voice returning after its holiday. "Seriously though, can you just get off me before I puke on you?"

Her slender jawline is clenched. Bitterness? Regret? They're everywhere in the air today. "Sure. But I doubt that you have much to puke up anyway."

"Ersline! ERSLINE! ERSLINE!" 

Seamus's tone is tinged with a panicky urgency. "Geroff me," I mutter, pushing Coral away, to which she obliges to comply. "Seamus! I'm here!"

A minute later, I hear him swear.

"Oh spannit. . .these smarmed brambles, did they make this journey hard on purpose or what?"

Coral rolls her eyes as she sits down next to me as I sit back up again. There's a moment of silence, only broken by Seamus's constant 'spannit's and 'smarmed's. "How many others are there in with you this year?" she finally asks.

"Three, apart from you and me," I say.

"Wowww. . .did the number decrease? I had five others in with me in my first Room. And that wasn't even ten years ago."

"Probably." I try to say it casually, but inwardly, the gears in my head start grinding. Does this mean that we're coming close to extinction?

"Maybe," Coral says, and I realise that I had asked my question aloud. "But E.L. wouldn't allow it to happen. Or the Cleansers."

There it is again. The mysterious E.L., and the Cleansers, whoever they are.

"Who are-"

"There you are!" yells Seamus. I glare at him with the glariest of glares, and if expressions talk, then mine would say Oh come on! I was this close! 

"Yeah. I'm here. Like I am right now," I say, trying to keep my voice even. 

"Did you have any idea how worried we were?!"

I bite my lip, then un-bite it. "This is Coral."

"What coral? We're not in the middle of the sea in a coral reef or whatever, duh," he says, obviously annoyed by my intrusion onto his rant. (Just like how I'm annoyed with him for intruding on Coral about to tell me things.)

I turn towards her. "No, this is Co-"

The words die on my tongue before I can finish.

Coral's disappeared.

"Coral?" I ask into thin air. 

"ERSLINE!" screams Amisha, picking her way through the last of the brambles, looking worse for wear. Well, Seamus also looks worse for wear, having his legs criss-crossed with bleeding cuts, his worn shoes and his ripped clothes, but Amisha's cuts look twice as worse, her clothes twice as ripped, her shoes twice as worn. "Ersline, howdareyouleavebyyourselfwithouttellingusyoucouldhavegottenkilledorcapturedor-"

"Whoa, Amisha," I say meekly, holding up my hands. "I'm sorry, okay? I won't do it again."

She takes a deep breath. "What's with the fire, anyway?"

"That's not mine, it's Coral's," I say, by means of an explanation.

"Who's Coral?"

Seamus rolls his eyes. "Oh, you know, her imaginary friend."

Amisha looks at me with an expression that clearly asks for an elaboration.

"She's not imaginary!" I protest. "She's just as real as you are!"

"Uh, I hate to break it to you, but I doubt that," interjects Seamus.

"Whatever. The fact is, she's here. Or was here, at least."

"Oh, really?"

"Shut up already."

"Mmm."

"Where's Anton?" I ask, trying to change the subject.

"Keeping guard. Which, by the way, you totally abandoned," says Amisha, smirking at the last sentence.

Anyone who had just met Amisha would have thought that she's always this arrogant. I thought so too, at first. But her outburst last night and Anton's reveal had thrown a different light over her. A girl with nothing to lose and every reason to fight back.

I wonder what it's like, being her.

"Sooo. . ." Seamus says, "assuming Coral is not imaginary—which I find hard to believe—what'd she do when she saw your eyes? Freak out? Swear to get rid of demons? Run off? That would at least explain why she's not—GAHHHH!"

"Coral, NO!"

"Don't. You. Dare. Say. Another. Word," pants Coral, holding Seamus down like she did to me. "And stay away!" she shouts, flinging an arm out towards Amisha. Coral's eyes are crazed; and I have to wonder if she's insane.

Seamus's eyes, on the other hand, scream pure shock. "How did—how did you get here?"

"I have my magiabilities," she answers with poison in her voice. "Now. . ." Coral sits back onto Seamus's stomach like she did to mine, making him choke. Amisha tenses like a tiger on the hunt, and I hold her back.

"No, Amisha," I whisper. "Coral has valuable info. If you kill her then we might as well say bye-bye to our life."

"For real?"

"Yeah, for real."

"What're you talking about?" Coral shoots at us, snapping her head around.

"Oh. . .um. . .just. . .talking about how incredible the weather is!" I say in a falsely cheery voice, indicating the barren landscape and the complete deadness of the entire place.

"Oh sure. . .it's very incredible, isn't it!" she says, and I can nearly see the sarcasm dripping off her voice. She flicks her hair back as she watches, calmly, almost yogi-like, as Seamus's eyes start to bulge.

"JUST STOP IT!" Amisha shrieks.

"OY!" shouts a voice. The sound of metal being drawn confirms its owner; Anton. "What the- what're you even doing?"

Amisha's fingers clench mine like a vice.

Anton stamps his way through the brambles. Catching sight of his drawn "sword" glinting in the sun, Coral gets off Seamus. "Guess that's my cue to leave then. See you guys around. . .if ever."

The way that she says the last two words freezes my blood.

Coral seems to dissolve out of sight, the colours on her blending and changing and muting each other until she disappears.

Right after that, the ground blows up.

(I WARNED YOU- DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU THAT THERE WOULD BE DYING XD dw....this is totally NOT the end! But I'll leave you here for now....Soph -> out!)