Chapter 3
After a quick round of introductions, we were blindfolded and led into the first room. When the blindfolds came off, it took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust.
It was a dimly lit nursery. Building blocks and picture books were scattered across the floor, and the wallpaper was covered in stars and moons.
From the moment we walked in, Anna was practically glued to Ethan's arm.
Ethan looked at me and lowered his voice. "Ellie, Anna's just scared of the dark."
The camera's red light glowed faintly.
"Right, totally." I nodded, acting like I'd just witnessed the sweetest moment in history. "You don't have to explain yourselves to me."
The director had mentioned this was a warm-up room with low difficulty. This was to help us find our rhythm.
Anna naturally paired off with Ethan. They found a wooden crate in the corner with a bloody handprint on top, surrounded by small holes of varying sizes.
Anna crouched down to get a closer look.
"9-2-7-7," she said, looking up with sparkling eyes. "These holes correspond to the alphabet chart on the wall."
Logan happened to be standing by the door and gave the combination lock a spin. "Whoa," he whistled. "Impressive, genius."
Anna pressed her lips together in a modest smile, while Ethan stood behind her, looking like a proud peacock.
As we headed out, I saw a red button on the wall out of the corner of my eye. It was big and round, like a piece of candy or an emergency drain button on an aquarium.
Before my brain could even process it, my hand had already pressed it.
The heavy thud of a metal bolt locking echoed behind us, followed by a low whimper from the far end of the dark hallway.
Anna spun around, her voice hitting a high note. "Why did you just press that? Now we can't go back. What if we missed a clue?"
"I'm sorry," I muttered, wringing my hands. "I couldn't help myself."
Ethan pulled Anna into his arms, and the rest of the group shot me looks that said I was the odd one out.
Deep in the hallway, heavy, hurried footsteps began to approach. Everyone rushed toward the only door that wasn't locked.
The lights were even dimmer than in the last room, and the walls were plastered with old, yellowed newspapers. The words were so dense they blurred into a dark mess in the faint light.
I leaned in, trying to make sense of it, but eventually gave up and scanned the corners of the room instead.
A set of Matryoshka dolls lay scattered across the wooden floor.
I walked over, picked up the smallest one, and tucked it inside the next size up. Then, I nested them both into the larger one.
The moment the final doll clicked into place, there was a faint snap from above.
The flickering ceiling light gave one last shudder and died. The room was plunged into complete darkness.
"Ellie!" Ethan's voice was edged with rage he couldn't hide. "Did you seriously touch something again?"
In the frantic shuffling and shoving that followed, I was caught off guard and knocked to the floor. My knees hit the ground hard. I gasped as the pain surged, my eyes stinging with tears.
As I looked down, I saw the bottom of a low cabinet. There, a row of glowing fluorescent numbers shimmered in the dark. [3814.]
Three seconds later, the emergency lights kicked in. The glowing numbers vanished into the light as if they had never existed.
I pushed myself up from the floor, still cradling the nested dolls.
Jack marched over to me, looking totally freaked out. His face was pale. "How old are you? This was such an obvious trap, and you couldn't see it coming? Even my little cousin in kindergarten would know better than to mess with those dolls."
The background sound effects were buzzing in my ears, and he was spitting out every word with venom.
I blinked, my brain only catching the very beginning of his rant. How old are you?
He was asking for my age. I looked up at him and answered earnestly, "I'm twenty-one."
Jack froze, staring at me as if I were some kind of alien.
My eyes lit up slightly. "Mr. Harper," I whispered, "I just saw the code. It's—"
"Just a sec!" Anna's voice rang out from nearby.
She was hunched over a desk, staring at an open math olympiad book with her eyebrows knitted together. "Wait, why are there two variables here?"
Jack wandered over, intrigued. He glanced at the question and said flatly, "It's just a basic system of equations, 'genius.'"
Anna's pen faltered. "The light is just too dim," she muttered.
I raised my voice, trying once more to cut in. "The code is thirty-eight—"
"There's a globe in this chest." Ethan's voice cut me off abruptly. He was squatting in the corner, holding a palm-sized globe. "Maybe the clue's hidden on it? Who wants to help me check?"
Logan rushed over, and even Jack turned away. No one was listening to me.
Suddenly, I realized they were intentionally freezing me out of the team. I shut my mouth.
Back in high school, I'd just transferred to Star City. With my Southern Shores accent and barely being able to read the language, the bullying crept in before I even realized it.
They isolated me, shut me out, and laughed at me. They used puns I didn't understand just to watch me make a fool of myself.
The hardest part was that one boy. He stopped me at a breakfast stall, wearing a gentle smile. "How much for a night with you?"
Because he seemed friendly, I thought he was asking about the price of the breakfast. "Fifteen bucks," I answered honestly.
Laughter crashed over me like a tidal wave. I stood at the center of it, having no clue what I'd done wrong.
Then, Ethan suddenly threw a punch at him. From that day on, I became his little shadow.
He taught me how to read, writing every word on sticky notes that covered my textbooks.
He took me to the cafeteria and stood in front of me when people laughed, saying, "She's with me."
After all these years, he knew exactly what I was afraid of.
I let out a quiet sigh and walked over to the small door painted with cartoons. I reached out and punched in 3-8-1-4.
The lock clicked open. A soft light poured through the crack, illuminating half of my face.
Everyone turned to look at me at once.