Wendy Adams (Agnes/Sefina/Silas/Ursula/Yorick/Zoey)
The book continued to glow as Agnes approached it. I watched by her side as she flipped through the pages. She didn’t seem worried or scared. I would have been. She just seemed very focused, like she knew exactly what she was looking for and just couldn’t find it.
“Agnes, is everything going to be okay?” Sefina asked. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
Agnes didn’t speak in return, but she did nod. She was too focused on the book to respond.
I felt badly standing next to her. I wished she would say something to reassure me. Being in here was so awful. I felt so useless compared to everyone else. And I knew there was no way I could help Agnes or Sefina figure out what was going on with the book. But I also felt safest around Agnes, especially after she helped take care of me after the Gluttony Room. Still, I felt like I couldn’t really do anything just standing around next to her. If anything, I would get in the way. So I silently walked off and joined Yorick again.
Yorick was still by Silas’ side. Silas was still on the floor, breathing heavily and coughing on the floor after being caught inside the gas chamber in the East Room.
“This is terrible,” Zoey said. “He’s extremely sick. It’s a miracle he’s even lasting this long.”
“Is there anything we can do for him?” Yorick asked.
Ursula held up her crown. “He could try wearing this! It has lots of powers. It could help.”
Silas looked Ursula dead in the eyes. “Don’t you dare put that thing on my head!”
“Reasonably speaking, it’s the best option we have-” Yorick began before being cut off by Silas again.
“I would rather die than wear that thing,” Silas yelled.
Zoey got close to Silas’ face. “Listen, Silas. You are extremely sick. You might not even be able to tell, but you are coughing up blood. I don’t know how much longer you’ll be able to make it as you are. This crown could be the answer.”
“I won’t wear it and that’s the end of it,” Silas said angrily. He balled up his hands into two fists and slammed them into the ground. “I would rather lie here and die from this poison than let you put that hellish thing on me.”
“Why do you hate this so much?” Ursula asked, shocked.
“It’s not a power any of us were meant to have,” Silas said. Then, he narrowed his eyes at Ursula and said something that truly terrified me. “If the natural way of the world had its way, you would be dying with me right now.”
That’s when Zoey slapped Silas across the face. “You fool!” she yelled. “Nothing about this is natural! We are in some weird alien temple in another dimension. People are dying right in front of us. You are dying right in front of us! And you lecture us about what is natural at a time like this? Would you have us all die, helpless, with no way to escape?”
“Leave him, Zoey,” Yorick said. He stood up and motioned for everyone to go. “He can’t be reasoned with. Perhaps the gas did something to his mind. He doesn’t want to be saved.”
“Even if he wanted to be saved,” Ursula said softly, “I don’t know if we really have a way.”
“No, you don’t. At least, not any way I’ll accept,” Silas said. “Now, let me die.” He coughed up even more blood and his eyes slowly closed. “It’s what I deserve, after all.”
We all stood around him, silently.
“Leave me. I don’t want you to see the moment I go,” Silas said. Yorick, Zoey, and Ursula, all resigned to Silas’ commands, each said their final goodbyes, then walked away to join with Agnes and Sefina on the other side of the room. I turned to join them but then I saw Silas point to me.
“Wendy,” he said weakly. “Come.”
I turned and knelt next to him. He took my hand.
“I hate to see you like this,” I said, trying to hold back tears. I knew people were dying in this temple. I saw Daisy die right in front of me. But this was different. This was a quiet death. We might have been able to save him. The smallest spark of hope in Ursula’s crown, the powers of which we didn’t fully know. But he refused it. He refused it to die a painful death alone, right here.
“I need to confess something before I go. I don’t want to die with these secrets. I want you to know this, because I trust you will make the right choice with the secrets I’m going to tell you. And frankly, it’s weak of me, but you’re the only one I’m brave enough to tell this to right now.”
I didn’t know what he meant, but I felt something in me swell up. A purpose.
“After Carolyn and I went back to talk to Lola, Lola killed her. It was like she was possessed by some kind of power. She did it so easily and without remorse. I could have saved her, but I didn’t. I failed her. I was so angry at myself. And that’s when I killed Lola by setting her on fire with my torch. I didn’t want to say anything, because I was afraid people would kill me for it. But I see, I’m dying now anyway, and that’s probably what I deserve.”
“Nobody is pushing the button, Wendy. I didn’t push it after I killed Lola. I couldn’t bear to touch it. When I said I had time stored up for a week, that was a total lie. I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s going to happen to you all now. But I wanted you to know, while I was still here to tell you.”
A small, weak smile crossed his face. He seemed, at last, content. And then, Silas closed his eyes and slipped away.
Alive (Ranking)
- Pete
- Preston
- Zoey
- Ursula
- Minh
- Calvin
- Wendy
- Agnes
- Jenny
- Mark
- Sefina
- Yorick
- Roland
- Finn
Eliminated
June 15th: SILAS, succumbed to earlier poisonous gas exposure while in the Book Room
June 14th: AKACHI, succumbed to poisonous gas in the East Room
June 13th: RITA, woke up alive in Arkham
June 12th: LEO, shot dead by Finn in the South Room
June 11th: REX, torn apart by byakhee in the North Room
June 10th: MARIE, fell into the chasm in the South Room
June 9th: CAROLYN, head smashed by Lola in the Button Room
June 8th: JOE, shot himself in the Lust Room
June 7th: SKIDS, dismembered in the Greed Room
June 6th: JIM, possessed by Ambrose in the Lust Room
June 5th: DIANA, possessed in the Lust Room
June 4th: MATEO, drowned in the Sloth Room
June 3rd: DAISY, shot dead by Roland in the Gluttony Room
June 2nd: NORMAN, disintegrated in the Envy Room
June 1st: LOLA, abandoned in the Button Room
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Rite of Seeking 