felt indignant. Pride was certainly not one of my greater traits; I didn’t think so anyway, but my curiosity overpowered my ill feelings towards him.
“So what do I have to do?” I asked.
“This is a little game,” he said. “Where your powers of resistance will be tested. You will be presented with many temptations you must resist, and many hardships you must battle through. Be sure you resist, though, because the more you give in to temptations and fail to deal with traumas, the more you will suffer for it. The worst case scenario may be that you … never return.”
I gulped—was he serious? “How do I know when I’m done?” I asked.
“You will merely pass through stages—rooms, if you will, and you will know when you’re finished,” he said, smirking in such a way that I felt extremely nervous.
He put the thing he was holding down on a table between us, and I stared at it. It looked quite unremarkable—merely a metal box with two sides that were slightly open. But I didn’t have any more time to wonder, because Hall had moved to my side of the desk, grabbed my arm, and thrust my hand through the open part of the box closest to me. I felt my world tilt, and then I was falling through a whirl of colour and sound.
Chapter 4: Inside the Box
Then I was back on my feet, standing in a place I didn’t recognise. I was at the end of a dimly lit corridor, stone walls to my left and right, and behind of me. It had a nothing-sort of feel to it, as though it’s only purpose was as a transition between locations, rather than a place one was meant to stand around in. Taking deep, steadying breaths, I walked forward, as there was nowhere else for me to go. Hall hadn’t given me a lot of advice, and he certainly hadn’t told me what I had to do. What was going to happen now? How do I get out of here? There was no point using magic to help me, as the Light Crystal hadn’t made the trip through the box with me. Was that Hall’s plan, to get the Light Crystal? How had he gotten his hands on a magical item like this anyway? Surely, Mr. Woodward hadn’t given it to him…
I continued forward, and eventually saw a closed door ahead of me. I hurried forward, and when I reached it, put my ear to the keyhole to listen for any sound. I couldn’t hear anything, so I checked the knob. It was unlocked, which was a relief; Hall’s plan wasn’t to lock me inside, it seemed.
The next room was considerably brighter, and I had to shield my eyes for a moment before I was able to look around. It looked like the house Marc and Amelia had used for their group on camp, except that there were no people or furniture in it, aside from a few beanbags on the floor roughly where the couches had been. It was just a big empty space, so far as I could tell. I couldn’t see anything dangerous, so I edged my way into the room and shut the door softly behind me. It was only then that I spotted, sitting on a beanbag in a corner to my left and reading a book, Natalie. At least it looked like Natalie, though I knew it couldn’t really be her—the real Natalie was probably still walking home from school, well out of reach of Hall’s madness. The not-Natalie looked up at the sound of my footsteps.
“Hi,” she said, smiling at me. I felt my stomach lurch; she had such a beautiful smile.
“Er—hi,” I said, wondering how I should go about this. “Er—who are you? Or what are you?”
She raised her eyebrows at me. “John, I’m Natalie. You know that.”
“Er—right,” I said, wondering what on earth was going on here. It just wasn’t possible; it was just my mind playing tricks on me—or rather, the box playing tricks on me. Was this one of the tests Hall spoke of? “Well, what are you doing here then?”
“Oh, just waiting for some company,” she said, putting her book aside and getting to her feet to face me. “But I don’t have to wait no more do I, now you’re here.”
“I don’t know,” I said, glancing around for another door so I could continue moving forward, and spotting it directly opposite the one I’d just come through (in real life, that door had led to the bathrooms). “I really should be going, you know—”
“What for?” she asked, sounding hurt as she moved right up in front of me. “It’s just us here, you know?”
“Well I’ve got things to do—”
“John,” she said, taking my hands in hers. I noticed how warm and soft her hands were, and gulped. “We both know how hard it’s been to get a moment like this. We’ve been waiting for it for years—”
“What?”
“Oh come on,” she said, her voice dropping a few tones, making her sound extremely sexy all of a sudden. I’d never heard Natalie talk like that before, other than in my dirty fantasies, and this further confirmed that this was … well, not her. “It’s just us here. None of the others matter right now, so come on. Let us speak openly to each other for once. I know how you feel about me. I know you know how I feel about you, thanks to Sebastian, anyway—”
“How did you know about that?” I asked, horrified. “Did he—”
“What don’t I know?” she replied. “Stella told me all I needed to know. She knew Sebastian had stolen my diary—dickhead—and she knew from reading one of the Maivises’ minds that you feel the same.”
My stomach was falling with every word she said. It all sounded so plausible, and here was me thinking I could tell her when I wanted to, on my own terms…
“So what do you want me to say?” I asked, unable to take my eyes off hers.
“Tell me how you feel,” she said. “Tell me what you think of me.”
My mouth went very dry. I was no good at this—I never had been. I’d never had any practise, but there she was, standing in front of me, holding my hands and staring into my eyes, asking me how I felt about her. She already knew, so what was the point in retreating now?
“Well, I’ve got very strong feelings for you,” I said, finding it easier to keep going now I’d started. “I always have, but… I guess… I didn’t really think I’d be in with a shot. And I didn’t wanna ruin our friendship, or Nicole’s.”
She smiled, and it lit up her whole face, making her more beautiful than ever. I still felt tense, but also as though a weight had come off my shoulders.
“You don’t know how good it feels to hear that,” she said, her voice dropping even lower now, so that it was the same pitch (or thereabouts) as my own. “Come on, we’ve got this moment; let’s not waste it.”
Though I’d had no practise, I knew instinctively what was to be done. She was leaning forward, so I did the same. But our lips had barely touched when there was an almighty bang and shouts filled the room. I looked around and, to my horror, saw Tommy. Not just one Tommy though; many Tommys were running around the room, blocking the door that had been my way forward. I looked back at Natalie and realised, to my further horror, that she was gone.
“How dare you!” one of the Tommys shouted at me.
“You will not get away with that,” another shouted, and they began to advance on me.
A quick glance around told me there was nothing to do for it. There were at least twenty of them, and they were going to beat the crap out of me. Even one Tommy would normally be too much for me. There was only one thing for it: I bent low and charge forward, straight at the walking wall of Tommys.
The Tommys furthest out closed in around me as I approached the line, while those directly ahead prepared for the collision. It came, but I didn’t break through them as I had intended. Two grabbed me, and a moment later I was on the floor, having my arms, legs and hair pulled and twisted, and those not doing that were punching and pummelling every bit of me they could reach. It looked bad, all right.
I struggled and kicked and flailed every bit of me I could, but achieved