MADISON

Lara and Madison had searched everywhere, and they had asked everyone if they had seen the teddy bear, but found nothing. Madison didn't have Mr. Dimpleton, and her nightmares were growing worse than they had ever been.

Not only did the dream come at night, but even when she blinked, she saw glimpses of the horrible scene. She was afraid to close her eyes, and spent most of the day sitting on her bed, squeezing Dr. Gregg and Penny McParks, and trying to keep her eyelids wide open.

Every ten minutes or so, Lara would pop her head through the door and check on Madison. When meal time came, she brought her food. When she needed water, she brought her a glass. Every moment she could spare, she looked for the teddy bear. But he was nowhere to be found.

"I can't do this," Madison said shakily, her eyes wide with terror. "No matter how hard I try to forget about them, the dreams keep coming back."

Lara nodded sympathetically.

"I think the mansion's making it worse," she continued. "I need to go home."

Lara shook her head. "You're only having nightmares because we can't find Mr. Dimpleton. If you leave now, you'll never find him. Besides," she smiled, "you're my friend. I'll miss you."

Madison clutched her stuffed animals tighter. "Fine. Then let's find my teddy bear."

They did another sweep of the mansion. They looked in the lobby, the theater, the gym, the library, and every other room they were allowed to enter. They even searched every student's bedroom, with or without permission. Of course, they didn't search the top floor. They eyed the staircase suspiciously, but they didn't look. They would just have to dismiss the possibility.

However diligently they searched, they came no closer to finding the teddy bear. Madison was growing hopeless, and Lara was trying to bolster her optimism.

"Maybe you should take your mind off this for a while," Lara suggested as they were walking back to Madison's room. "Maybe we should go to the gym and play some badminton."

Madison sighed bleakly. She turned to look at Lara, her eyes bloodshot and unfocused. "Do I look like I want to play badminton right now?"

"Yes?" Lara said hopefully.

"No, I don't. All I want to do right now is get Mr. Dimpleton back so I can go to sleep."

They entered the students' hall. It was midday, and all of the students had either left their rooms or were being very quiet. The lights were dim, and the hallway was silent. Madison felt her eyelids droop.

"I found you."

Her eyes shot open. She couldn't rest. She had to keep searching.

Lara opened the door to Madison's room for her, but didn't enter. "I'm going to get you something to eat, and maybe search the dining room again," she explained. Madison nodded slowly in response. She walked into her room and closed the door behind her with a soft thud.

It reminded her of the door in her dream. The images flashed in front of her eyes. She shook her head, and they were gone in an instant. But she knew they would be back.

She dragged her feet as she stepped across her carpeted floor. She relaxed in a chair in the corner of the room. Its old wooden legs creaked.

Madison groaned. It sounded like the floorboards that had swallowed her up.

Her sleepy eyes wandered along the outlines of her room. Maybe if I focus on other things, I won't go to sleep, she thought. She concentrated on her surroundings, naming every object she saw. Dresser, wallpaper, bedpost, mattress, pillow, nightstand, oil lamp, Mr. Dimpleton...

Madison's eyes flew open, and she jumped from her chair with enough force to send it crashing to the ground on its side. Mr. Dimpleton! She ran to the nightstand, almost losing her footing on the piles of clothes she had scattered all over the floor.

There he was, the teddy bear they had spent hours looking for, sitting on the nightstand as if nothing had happened.

Madison smiled, and every trace of exhaustion fled from her face. "Mr. Dimpleton!" she shouted.

Lara barged through the door. The orange that she held dropped to the floor. "Madison, what's wrong...?" her eyes flew to the bear. "Mr. Dimpleton!" she joined in Madison's cry. Then her face fell. "What happened to his arm?"

Madison did a double-take. She'd been so surprised, she hadn't even noticed. Mr. Dimpleton was back, the same as ever...except for his right arm, which was hanging off awkwardly to the side, spilling stuffing.

Madison picked him up, speechless. Her eyes watered. "He's...he's...," she fingered the soft white stuffing. "Who did this?"

Lara watched but did not interrupt.

Madison went to her bed and sat down heavily. "Someone must have taken him," she said. "Someone wanted to play a trick on me, so they took him and ruined him."

Lara stepped in. "Why would someone do that?"

"Because you're right. Nobody likes me. They all think I'm stuck-up. And I am."

Lara sat down beside her and stroked Mr. Dimpleton gently behind his ears. "I don't think you're stuck-up. I also don't think someone would have done this out of spite."

"Then what do you think happened?" Madison demanded.

Lara shrugged. "I know just as much as you. But I am sure this was an accident. Not everyone here is very nice, but I still don't think any of them would do this."

"Sure." Madison didn't quite believe that.

"I know how to sew," Lara said slowly.

Madison lifted her head. "Why didn't you say so?"

"I was busy convincing you that nobody hates you."

Madison rose to her feet and smiled. "You can fix Mr. Dimpleton!" she said.

Lara smiled. "Yes, I can. And now that he's back, you won't have nightmares anymore."

AMANDA

It was Saturday, and Amanda was thrilled. She had dressed herself and eaten breakfast, and was ready to spend the rest of the day in the library. She gathered up the pile of books she had read, a stack of eight, and pushed her bedroom door open with her shoulder

She walked down the halls, whistling and smiling to herself. She was glad she had been invited to PITY. She wasn't crazy about the mansion itself, or the maids or the schooling, but she absolutely adored the library. It was quiet and empty, she'd found more books there than she had ever dreamed of reading.

Amanda could barely see where she was going over the tower of books that weighed down her arms. Her eyes were just able to peek over them to see what was straight ahead, but nothing more. She didn't think that this would be a problem, since she was familiar with the route. However, her foot suddenly found something round and slippery on the floor and gave way underneath her. She stumbled to the floor, her books flying out in every direction, and she landed with a leather-bound volume jabbing into her ribs.

"Ouch," she breathed. She struggled to her knees and wiped the dust from the old carpets off her clothes. She crawled along, picking up her scattered books and fixing any bent pages. Once she had remade the pile and set it on the ground, she turned to see what she had stepped on.

It was a large metal key. It lay on the floor in the middle of the hall, gleaming slightly in the light of the oil lamps. Its head was in the shape of a spade. It was bronze, its metal dull with age.

What was it doing on the ground in the middle of a hallway? Amanda inched toward it slowly and picked it up. She turned it over in her hand to examine it. What lock would it open?

Amanda was about to leave it where she had found it when an idea struck her. "There are so many locked rooms in this mansion," she said to herself. "Maybe this key could open one of them." She smiled. Her curiosity had gotten the best of her.

She stood, dusted herself off once more, and picked up her stack of books, setting the key on top. "I'll try every room in this mansion," she whispered excitedly. "But first I need to go to the library."

When she arrived at her destination, she returned each  book to its place. When she came to the last book, she took the key and slid it into her pocket. She searched the library for another ten minutes, almost forgetting about the key. She found two more books to read, including an autobiography. Some people's lives were just as good as made-up stories.

She set her books on a reading table and climbed a set of stairs. There she found one more book, and she added it to the others.

Suddenly, she smiled. She wheeled around to look at the stairs she had just gone down. There's another set of stairs that has a locked door at the top.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the key. She eyed the staircase. Who knew what it led to? Her heart skipped with excitement. If this works, I'll know.

She climbed the stairs quickly, taking two steps at a time. She had to keep telling herself that the key might not work, so she couldn't get her hopes up too high. But she was still anticipating success. She could solve this mystery.

Amanda reached the door. She slid the key into the lock, then grinned. It fit perfectly. She turned it. Click. The lock opened.

She pushed on the door slowly and peeped inside. The room was dark. Not a single lamp or candle was lit, though there were quite a few that sat on the littered desks that Amanda could see through the dim light of the open door. She retreated back through the doorway and took a candle from a light fixture on the wall. She found her way through the dark room and lit a few more candles.

Amanda studied the room more closely. Along the wall to the right of the door was a bookshelf, not quite as big as the ones in the rest of the library, but still large enough to hold hundreds of books. The shelf filled up the entire wall, since the room was somewhat small. Against the wall directly across from the entrance there was a small wooden desk,  piled with assorted papers, pens, knick-knacks, and books.

Although she would have immediately gone to the bookshelf, Amanda walked over to take a closer look at the desk. The papers were mostly business things: land contracts, bills, and checks. Others were random notes and jotted-down phone numbers. Some were completely blank, and some were illegible. Nothing sparked Amanda's interest.

As soon as she had pulled open the desk's drawers, she found something. It was a small photo album. She blew the dust off its cover and opened it. It was filled with pictures of people. They weren't family photos. They looked more like mug shots. After searching through the entire album, she found that there were pictures of nineteen people. Twelve of them were older pictures of girls—Amanda could tell the age by the poor picture quality and fraying edges. The girls all looked same age. The last seven people were also kids, nearly the same age as the twelve girls. Of these seven, there were three girls and four boys. None of them seemed very happy, since none were smiling.

She searched the album from cover to cover again. There was one person that appeared in more pictures than the rest of them. He was a tall, lanky boy with glossy black hair and soft amber eyes. Amanda stared at those eyes for a long time. She had never seen eyes like that.

He was in at least half of the pictures. He looked even more serious than the rest of the kids. His mouth was straight and his amber eyes stared at the camera gloomily. He looked familiar, but Amanda couldn't quite put her finger on it.

After she was satisfied with what she had found, Amanda placed the photo album back and closed the drawer. She opened another compartment, still thinking about the images she had seen. She was completely unprepared for what she found next.

As soon as her eyes went to it, her heart jumped, and her eyes grew wide. "It's not possible," she whispered.

RICK and ROY

The day was drawing to a close. Rick, Roy, and Dwain were heading back from the gym where they had played an intense game of Horse against one another. Rick was the winner, since he was the tallest and had the best aim, but Roy and Dwain were unwilling to admit defeat.

"We're going to beat you tomorrow," Roy said. "Right Dwain?"

"Yeah. We could play a little two-on-one and see how you do then," he said in reply.

Roy and Dwain laughed, and Rick just shook his head and grinned. "Why not?" he said. "I could probably beat you two goofballs with my eyes closed, anyway."

The merry band filled the halls with their laughter as they walked. They were heading toward the dining room for dinner. It had been the same for the first two nights: a large ham or bird along with assorted side dishes. It was no different tonight. On the table sat a medium-sized carved bird that Roy thought looked like a chicken. However, they later identified it as a duck.

Dwain raised his eyebrows. "Fancy," he muttered.

After they had eaten their fill, the boys left the dining room to make their way back to their rooms. By the time they had finished eating, the sun was setting and the mansion was growing dark. Maids wandered the halls, lighting candles and oil lamps.

They had almost reached Rick and Roy's room when someone reached out to tug on Dwain's shirt sleeve. He whirled around to see who was there. It was one of the maids. Kathryn stood behind her. The maid looked solemn; Kathryn just looked confused.

"What is it?" Dwain asked.

The maid looked at Kathryn and nodded. Kathryn spoke. "I think that we're being summoned," she said slowly and almost questioningly.

The maid nodded and smiled.

Dwain scratched his head. "By who?"

The maid looked to Kathryn to again be her spokesperson. Kathryn replied, "I think...by J. Q. King."

Rick, Roy, and Dwain froze when they heard the name. He hadn't shown himself ever since the first night when he had greeted them. He had disappeared, and none of the students thought he would show up again. But now Dwain and Kathryn were being summoned.

"Summoned where?" Dwain asked.

Kathryn nearly whispered her response. "His office...on the top floor."

The boys' eyes grew wide. "I thought no one was allowed up there...." Rick began.

"Not unless they have permission," Kathryn said, interrupting. "And we do."

Dwain didn't speak again, and neither did Rick and Roy. They watched as Dwain and Kathryn followed the maid, and they wondered why J. Q. King suddenly wanted to see them.

"Something's up," Roy mumbled.

"Definitely," Rick agreed.