AMANDA

As soon as Amanda saw what was in the desk, she ran out of the library. Everything was dark and quiet. She hadn't realized it, but she must have spent hours combing through the locked room. Now there was no one to tell what she found, because they were all asleep.

She gave up her idea of spreading the word immediately, and fell into a restless sleep. But in the morning she jolted awake and raced through the hall, her eyes wide and her heart pounding. I have to tell someone. I have to....

The rays of the morning sun stretched through the stained glass windows into the mansion's empty halls. Amanda skidded to a stop in front of the closest door and knocked. It was James's room, but he wasn't there. After waiting as long as she could bear for a response, Amanda ran to the door directly across the hall and pounded on it. It belonged to Julia and Kathryn, who were also gone. She tried all of the doors. The only people who were in their rooms still were Star and Stewart, and both refused to see her. Amanda didn't even try with Star, but she kept trying with Stewart.

"Stewart!" she called. "I know you're in there and there's no use ignoring me! I need to tell you something; I need to tell somebody! You wouldn't believe what I found..."

He wouldn't answer. Amanda heard footsteps walking towards the door, but when they arrived, she only heard the sound of a lock sliding into place.

She was getting anxious. She had found something too important to not tell. "Stewart, please let me in! I need to talk to you, but I don't want to yell everything from out here. Unlock this door and let me in!"

No other sound came from inside the room. Amanda threw her fist against the door and sighed. I need to tell someone.

She considered going back to Star, but she was spared the trouble when a maid walked up from behind her and cleared her throat.

Amanda turned, hoping that it was a student who was ready to listen, but her face fell when she saw it was just a maid. Her spirits rose again when she saw James following behind closely. I can't tell him with this maid here, but maybe if she leaves...

"You've been summoned," James said, breaking through her thought.

Amanda tilted her head, her hair rustling slightly. "What?" she asked.

James's eyes shifted. "You've been summoned," he repeated. "We've been summoned. Haven't you heard? Since last night, J. Q. King's been calling the students up to see him. It's our turn now."

Amanda's eyes narrowed. Of course she hadn't heard. She had spent the last night recovering from the shock of finding what was behind the locked library door. And after finding it, she wasn't so sure she wanted to meet with J. Q. King.

James took advantage of her hesitation by adding, "He wants us to go to his office immediately. It's on the top floor." James didn't look very nervous when he mentioned the forbidden floor. Amanda wondered why.

She stood where she was, not wanting to move. "How come he wants to see us now?" she asked warily.

James shrugged. "I don't know. I only know what this letter says." He held up a small, red piece of paper. "The maid gave it to me."

"Let me see that." Amanda snatched the letter out of his hand and skimmed over it quickly. It said:

Hello, Mr. Young. This is J. Q. King. I wish to see you in my office on the top floor immediately. Bring Amanda Rogers with you.

Amanda handed it back to James. "I see," she muttered.

The maid glared at Amanda, her blue eyes flashing. James shifted on his feet uncomfortably. "Can you come now?" he asked. "It kind of says he wants us immediately. We wouldn't want to keep him waiting."

Amanda nodded slowly. "Sure," she answered softly. "I'll come."

She wanted to get to the bottom of this.

MADISON

Madison sat up in her bed and began to cry. Tears of hopelessness streaked down her face. She wiped them with her palm, which only smeared them more. She was still having nightmares.

Mr. Dimpleton had been mended by Lara and given back just in time for Madison to go to sleep that night. But he wasn't the same. Something felt different about him, and Madison didn't know what. She had dismissed it, not thinking the change would matter, and had gone to sleep. But it did matter.

The dreams were still coming, although they had changed. Instead of the same frightening dream occurring over and over again, Madison was having different ones that made just as little sense and were just as terrifying. In one, she was lost in an endless maze of hallways. In another, she woke up, looked in the mirror, and saw her reflection staring back at her without a face. In others, she was in a murky lake, struggling to stay above the surface, but always sinking into darkness in the end. All of the dreams had one thing in common: the mysterious man was always there, laughing.

Madison was afraid to move. When breakfast came along, she was reluctant to eat. But she was able to rise shakily from her bed, find her way to the dining room, and take a muffin to eat in her room. All day long she felt like she was floating without reality, with no purpose but to wait and anticipate the horrors that would come.

Madison sat on her bed, nibbling the muffin distractedly. Mr. Dimpleton sat on her lap. Her eyes flicked from left to right across her room. Every sound made her jump.

Lara hadn't come yet, assuming that since Mr. Dimpleton was back, everything was fine. Madison wanted her to come, sit down next to her, and help her. That was the only way she could imagine possibly making it through the terror. But Lara didn't come. Madison's gaze flicked to the clock. It was nine in the morning.

The solitude eventually got to Madison. Her eyes started to close slowly every few minutes as if they were melting, then spring back open again to avoid the pain of sleep. The silence was deafening, and the only sound in the room was the rhythmic tick-tocking of the clock. At about nine thirty, her eyes fluttered shut and stayed that way.

She was in the maze. She had run through it numerous times in her mind, and was able to immediately pick the direction she wanted to go. Not to the right—there was a bottomless pit that way. Not left here—the mysterious, laughing man was waiting in that direction. A few more yards. Not left again—that led to a dead end.

After running through the maze for several minutes, Madison paused to catch her breath. As she went, the lamps on the walls grew brighter, and the number of different ways she could turn decreased until she found herself running down a brightly-lit hall that ran straight without branching off. Encouraged, she ran faster and faster, until she broke into a sprint. Her heart was racing, the tunnel walls were flying past her, and the lights only grew brighter. I'm going to reach the end! she thought excitedly.

"I'm afraid not," an echoing voice said.

When she turned to find the source of the voice, the walls of the tunnel collapsed around her and disappeared into blackness. The world spun around her until she was dizzy. She fell onto her knees and clutched her head. Then the spinning stopped. When she opened her eyes, she saw she was in a room. It was clover-shaped and the wallpaper was red. Cheery oil lamps cast their dancing light over the walls. A man sat at a large oak desk. He was wearing a suit, but his back was turned, hiding his face.

Madison was the first to speak. "Why can't I make it out of the maze?" she demanded, rising to her feet.

"Because," the man said. "You don't remember."

"Remember what?"

"Everything," he replied simply.

Madison was curious. "What do you mean by everything?"

"Everything you should remember."

Madison stepped forward, keeping her eyes on the back of his head. "Maybe I'll remember if you tell me what I have to know."

The man's head shook. "I can't."

"Well, why not?"

His reply was wistful. "Because I don't quite know either."

Madison frowned. "Who are you?" she said, raising her voice.

The man turned in his chair. Madison gasped.

Then the dream ended.

She woke up, panting and sweating on her bed. She stared at the floor, her eyes wide. J. Q. King! she thought.

Madison sat alone, breathless with shock, wondering what it all could mean. The clock's hands ticked slowly along, and they struck twelve when Lara entered.

She saw Madison's face and rushed to her side quickly. "What happened?" she questioned.

Madison's voice was filled with dread. "It didn't work. Mr. Dimpleton's back, but I'm still having nightmares."

Lara's face was filled with disappointment and sadness. She sat heavily on the mattress beside Madison. She was starting to look just as hopeless as Madison already was.

"You're still having nightmares?" she echoed.

Madison nodded.

Lara looked her in the eye. "I'm so sorry. I think there's nothing I can do."

"No," Madison corrected. "You can stay here and be my friend. It won't make the nightmares go away, but at least it'll help me feel safer."

Lara smiled. It wasn't very big or bright, but it was still a smile. "Okay," she replied. "I can do that."

Madison had been right. The nightmares were still there and they were still terrifying, but having Lara there made them more bearable. As they sat together, speculating over the meaning of the dreams, joking about them, and talking them over, Madison felt her fear slowly going away. The dreams still came, but she wasn't afraid of them anymore. She knew she could handle them.

Then someone knocked on the door. Madison rose from her bed and went to open it. Lara, who had settled into a chair, stood as well. Madison answered the door. A maid waited outside.

"What is it?" Madison asked. The strength had returned to her voice.

The maid held up a red piece of paper and gestured for Lara to come to the door. When she arrived, the maid handed her the note. She read it slowly, then looked apologetically at Madison and said, "I have to go."

"Why?" Madison questioned.

Lara held up the note. "It says I've been summoned by J. Q. King. I need to get someone else and go to his office immediately."

Madison remembered her dream. She remembered J. Q. King. She didn't think she trusted him anymore, if she ever had. "You can't go," she said shortly.

Lara pocketed the note and shrugged. "I think I have to. He's in charge."

Madison eyed the maid. She wanted to tell Lara about the dream, but she thought that if she didn't trust the master, she shouldn't trust the servants either. She tried a different approach. "Lara, if you leave, who will be here for me if I start feeling bad again?"

"I'm sorry, Madison," Lara said sadly. "I need to go."

Lara and the maid disappeared down the hall.

Madison was worried. She spent the next few hours pacing in her room, wondering who J. Q. King really was and what he wanted with the students. Her fears gradually mounted again, this time from a mixture of her fear of her dreams and her distrust of J. Q. King. At one point, she was trembling so horribly that she had to stop pacing completely and sit on her bed, holding Mr. Dimpleton.

The thought once crossed her mind that she, could also be called to meet with the owner of the mansion. The more she thought about it, the more nervous she became. What if he's the reason I'm having these dreams? I don't want to talk to him; I don't want to see him. I just want to go home!

She waited in this state for what seemed like an eternity. She hoped that she wouldn't be summoned, that there would be no knock on her door, that she wouldn't have to meet J. Q. King face to face.

However, J. Q. King meant to personally meet with all his students, leaving no one out. Not Madison, not anybody. He especially wanted to talk with Madison, and he would.

Eventually.