Young Writers Society

Someone was never punished for letting secrets slip. "Okay..." she furrowed her brow as if confused and took another sip of her drink. She, in reality, knew not to push. Knew to leave that little topic alone, lest she get in a fight with someone who almost certainly knew how to use a knife. Of course, the dumb, rich chick she was playing now wouldn't know any such thing.

"Why?" she asked, pretending she didn't know that was a stupid question.

James looked first to Genevieve, and then at the girl who'd broken the glass all with the same blank, neutral expression. Fear made people do weird things, like break glass so they could have something sharp to hold. But a piece of glass wasn't a shield, even though the thought of holding a weapon could be comforting.

Maybe a year or two ago, he would've tried to find something to weaponize, but as it stood currently, he was less interested in preparing for a fight and more interested in simply staying afloat. And all that meant was he would go with the flow. Whatever was to come would come, and he would deal with it when it did.

He nodded to Kate, and pushed himself up out of the water. As he emerged, he accepted the truth that at this point, everyone would probably have already seen the scars he normally hid. It was not a comfortable truth to swallow, and he still eagerly wished for something to cover himself, but there was an old habit that wouldn't let him reveal how uncomfortable he was.

There was still a part of him that was fully convinced that even though he looked vulnerable, he had to act unbothered, otherwise, people might take advantage of it.

He knew now that that wasn't always true, but sometimes, unfortunately, it was.

As he walked up beside Kate, now dripping wet, he wiped one arm, flicking water back into the pool.

"I'm James, by the way."

"Why would I feel better with my daggers?" Alyss stared at the girl. Was she really that dumb? She considered responding, but then decided to change the subject. "Is it any good?" she said, gesturing to the drink. She was starting to rethink her earlier aversion to the food. Most of the others were drinking, and they didn't seem to be having problems. Alyss didn't really drink much, it brought back more bad memories, but occasionally she took a sip or two. Besides, she was thirsty. Grabbing a glass, she took a sip and then turned and looked at the man who had just gotten out of the pool. Noticing his scars, Alyss winced ever so slightly. The memories they brought back, the pain.
She gripped the shard tighter, feeling the edges dig into her hand and causing blood to trickle down it.

Genevieve sat back and observed for as long as possible. She wasn’t interested in the talk of weapons. However, Gigi felt she was at a disadvantage. Everyone else seemed to have experience with weapons. They all seemed to be focused on self preservation. On the other hand, Genevieve felt that there was no need to be worried. She didn’t sense the presence of danger. Finally, she spoke up. “I don’t think we have to worried,” Gigi lifted her ponytail out of the water, the end of it dripping water. “I mean, yeah we should be alert, but weapons, probably not the best idea.”

Queenie nodded in agreement with her lookalike and put down her drink. "Oh! You're bleeding!" she said to the girl who was either too distraught to remember how to properly use broken glass as a weapon, or had never done so before. There was concern in her voice, of course, but the validity of that concern was questionable.



Kate eyed James, her gaze, with no input from her, lingering on his scars. She looked away and shrugged off her swimsuit coverup. Without warning or explaination, she shoved it into James' hands.

She wasn't being nice. She just didn't want to look at them.

James was looking back at Genevieve while the girl spoke, but he could sense people were looking at him. He could feel Kate’s gaze.

“We may not need weapons,” he said. “But it’s normal to worr-“ he paused, looking down at the cape-like covering Kate had formerly been wearing that she’d shoved into his hands. “-y...”

He trailed off as he looked down at it, gears turning slowly in the back of his mind.

She wanted him to wear it. That’s the only reasonable reason she would’ve handed it to him. So what, she wanted him to cover up? Or was she giving him something to cover up with out of kindness?

His gaze flicked around the others before returning to Kate.

She hadn’t said anything, but he felt he understood. He slipped his arms into the black garment and brought it over his shoulders. He averted his gaze to the ground.

“Thanks,” he whispered gruffly.

Kate gave a quick nod and went to the counter to pour him a drink. She wasn't going to get any herself. No one ever catered anything she could actually eat, and by the gods was she starving.

To drink this stuff now was like chewing on saltine crackers while dehydrated in the desert. An overall stupid idea.

She offered the cup to James.

Benji finally managed to find his voice.

"I think we should be careful," he said, trying to ignore how dry his throat was right now. He should have gotten something from the drinks table, but he was worried he'd cut himself on the broken glass.

He avoided mentioning the need for weapons; he couldn't help but think of the possibility that they'd be turned on him if the person or thing that had brought them here decided to reveal the truth.

"It seems safe," he agreed. His gaze dropped down to the water's edge, only for him to look away again a second later - that was a mistake. "A pool isn't dangerous-"

Even though every inch of his body was telling him to stay far, far away from it.

"-but we were still kidnapped. I think we should be careful."

He took a deep breath, letting his grip on the towel loosen a little. His adrenaline had shot through the roof at the thought of Daniel being here earlier, but it was finally starting to die down. If he was lucky, he'd be able to stop feeling so nervous and jumpy soon.

"I heard everyone's introductions earlier," he admitted, "but I'm not sure everyone heard mine. I'm Benjamin Frost, but everyone calls me Benji. I'm a reporter for The Skeptic. I was in Point Pleasant before, but I don't think I'm there now - it's too warm here."

He felt like he was beginning to sound like a broken record both internally and externally, but there was little he could do about that.

His gaze traveled to the mansion.

He'd need to go in there, soon. If he was lucky, he could find a spare change of clothes - he hated how uncomfortable and unfamiliar his clothes felt right now.

James gave Kate a silent nod of thanks. Thankfully, the drink Kate had gotten him was just water. He sipped it, turning to look at the man with the towel.

Though he was paying attention to what Benji was saying, he couldn’t stop wondering where Benji had found a towel.

“It’s very likely that we’re all on another world,” James added. Benji was addressing everyone, so James followed suit. Not that he wanted to, really, but it was necessary and helpful to all be on the same page. “Unless someone here recognizes this place, it’s safe to assume none of us are remotely close to our homes.”

He held his glass in one hand, tucked at his side.

“It might be wise to search the mansion, but with caution. We don’t know who else or what else is out here, but we either wait for it to come to us or we find it ourselves. I prefer the latter, only because it has a greater potential for us finding a way home sooner.”

Queenie had slipped away. With no eyes on her, it was easy. She heard the last bit of what the others were saying, the suggestion to search the mansion being brought up as she was already inside, but she only listened passively. Her focus was on the mansion itself.

It really wasn't much like her home, but then, her home was from another world, another time, another place. Still, was it too much to ask for whoever brought them here to hide a gun here or there?



Kate leaned against the counter, nodding along to James' words. "I say we split into groups. Cover a bit more ground." And give me less people to listen to.

She missed her sword. That lovely leather handle that Tallulah had so carefully engraved. The shark teeth Tallulah had embedded at the base of the blade 'for extra damage'. The ability to stab people who were annoying.

Alyss was grateful that the scarred man had distracted the others from her. She turned away from the group as the tell-tale buzzing started again in her mind and her silver tattoos grew brighter. Why had she cut herself? She was being so stupid right now, letting herself get hurt and showing her healing magic.

She wished desperately that she was able to control it, it would make hiding herself so much easier, but it insisted on manifesting itself every fricking time she got hurt. The niggling hum gradually faded, and Alyss turned back to the group.

"Yeah, we should split up," she agreed. Alyss wasn't sure on what to do, or how to get out of this place, so she just planned to follow the lead of those who knew what to do, namely the scarred man.

James nodded at Kate’s suggestion and Alyss’s agreement.

“Benji, you take Genevieve and Alyss with you. I’ll go with Kate, and it looks like the other girl went on ahead herself. Stick together and look out for each other. Be cautious. Kate and I can take the top floor, and you three can take the bottom. Let’s aim to meet back at the pool in an hour or two. If you lose track of time just go by your gut. We don’t have a lot to work with, so just play it by ear. Alright?”

He looked over to Benji and Genevieve, hoping for their cooperation.

Kate nodded, twirling her glasses in her hands. "Sounds good to me." How had she missed the fact that one of them went missing? Was she really that thick-headed today?

Well, at least she was paired up with the one of them who proved he had a brain in his skull, and not a hint of glitter so far.

She swore to the gods, if any of the fae had anything to do with this this time she was going to have Connery's head for a basketball.

xXx

Queenie had drawn one singular conclusion from this place, whoever decorated had no personality.

Either that or they'd looked at a bunch of old movies and based their generic rich person house off of every other generic rich person house to appear on film since the sixties. Still, she was careful not to disturb the carefully cultivated stereotype in which she walked. She was barefoot, so that was easier than usual.

Sneaking around in stilettos was an underappreciated art.

Lavish was a good way to describe this place, she decided. A good and boring word for a place with the false-interest of 'I have money' practically scrawled on the walls.

She gave up looking for a weapon and changed her focus. She was looking for information. Who lived here, and what did they want with this ragtag group in particular?

Benji gave a nod.

"Alright," he agreed. He glanced over at Alyss and Genevieve. He had wanted to go into the house on his own - he didn't like the idea of staying with people he didn't know. He wouldn't have wanted to even if he did know them.

But Benji also knew the importance of not splitting up in strange, unfamiliar situations. He would try his best to get answers. Hopefully, he would get to go back to where he was supposed to be - even though he didn't want to face Daniel again - soon.

(He tried to ignore the little voice in the back of his head telling him he'd be here for a long time.)

Genevieve nodded. “Alright, sounds like a plan.” She hoisted herself out of the pool, wringing out the end of her ponytail. Taking her time, Gigi walked over to the lounge chair her things were layed out on. One shoe, then two shoes on. Finally, she put on her cover up and went over to Benji and Alyss. “Well, isn’t this an adventure?” Gigi said excitedly.