Young Writers Society

Queenie snickered at the probably-accidental use of the outdated phrase. Her gaze flicked over him, his outfit. "Somewhere beyond your time, it appears."

She finished carving the bird and put the knife neatly down before sitting back down, careful to move her braid out of the way. Stupid thing was thicker than most rope, and heavier too, but it still managed to be in the way more often than any length of rope she'd ever had to deal with.

"Ah yes, very informative, Queenie," James replied dryly, before turning to Tara instead. "And you - the place you're from. It's on earth, right? You seem like you're from earth. Or at least some version of it."

"Yes, I'm from Earth," Tara said cautiously. "Cleveland, Ohio. The US. Anything else?"

She rolled her eyes at the sarcasm and leaned back in her seat, still listening to the conversation. She imagined that there might be some link of interest between them, but so far all she saw was a mostly-universal connection to Earth. Maybe this CB guy wanted to know more about Earth?

But if that was the case, why bother with all these theatrics? And they clearly knew a great deal about Earth culture already to be able to pull off that creepy room.

So it was something else, probably.

"Well, I'm not sure. I'm just trying to find some common thread between all of us, but it doesn't seem that there is one," he answered, shrugging a little as he leaned back into his seat.

He gave the carved turkey a good look. He didn't know why she'd bothered to carve it, but he assumed Queenie just needed something to do with her hands. And with knives, apparently.

"Colleen," he said. "What's your world like? I know that's perhaps too broad of a question. Maybe - well - does it have magic? What's the latest in technological advancements?"

Colleen jumped a bit when someone started looking at her — Oliver, if she remembered correctly, the one with the brother — once she described her world.

She wouldn’t often get people starting at her back home, mostly because of her slightly changing profession and inability to not seem a bit intimidating as Cardinal, so this was an interesting feeling.

Maybe Oliver also was from somewhere else — that would make the most sense to explain why he was interested in her.

Colleen listened to the rest of the conversation, blinking when her name popped up again.

“Oh, hm, well, it’s rather big cause I haven’t seen a quarter of its entirety and I’ve traveled quite a while over the years. Yes, there’s magic, some don’t believe, some do, it’s a mixture for everyone.”

She paused at the last question. “Um, we’ve got this cool sword maker in town. Does that help?”

Colleen grinned widely. Answering questions was kind of fun.

Odris was already trying to imagine what Colleen's world was like from the little she had described. It didn't sound like the world he knew so well - it was less advanced than that. It was more like one of the worlds Maahes would have seen on one of his off-world missions with the SGC. Still, it was...comforting.

Even if it didn't help Odris figure out a similarity between all of them. James, hopefully, was having a little more luck.

(He tried to ignore the little voice in the back of his head that insisted they weren't going to find any connections unless he started telling the entire truth, but the voice refused to go away.)

Magic. Swords. It sounded like Colleen's world hadn't yet reached the age of gunpowder like his had, but hers sounded the most like his home out of all of them. Earth was very different from Nye, and so was Atlantis - which was where Odris was originally from, if he remembered that right.

He wished he'd paid more attention at first when the others mentioned where they were from in the hall, but he didn't know that it would help much now. Clearly, the common thread was not in where they were from. Even though it was a less desirable reason, it seemed the common thread lied more in who they were as people. Their stories. Their character.

Of course. CB knew so much about them and their history - CB probably knew things about each of them that they would never say to a group of strangers.

They probably wouldn't find answers until they stopped lying.

But James didn't want to share his life story with a bunch of people he barely knew. Odris already knew some of it, but even then, that wasn't exactly his choice. It was just because they had a mutual friend in Maahes.

James looked up and around the room. He didn't know if cameras could be hidden in a place like this. His understanding of earthen technology was still fuzzy at best, but he couldn't help but feel like CB was watching and listening to all of this. They had to be.

He was beginning to feel the impatience Tara had expressed only moments ago when she'd demanded answers, but he fought against it.

Still leaning back in his seat, he sighed.

"It's helpful to know, and it's interesting, but I don't think it tells us anything more about why we're here," he admitted.

"Our worlds probably have nothing to do with it," he said, looking down at his plate. He tried imagining something that wasn't food. A pinecone. It could pass as edible, but it was technically breaking the rules. It wasn't a meal.

Nothing showed up. Disappointing.

So instead, he imagined potatoes. Not to eat. He just needed something to poke at.

A dollop of mashed potatoes appeared on his plate and he picked up his fork and started raking through it idly.

"It's probably more personal. That would be on theme."

Queenie listened along to the conversation. James was right, and it was just wishful thinking to presume otherwise. Everything here pointed toward them needing to open up a little about their personal lives.

CB wanted them to 'get to know each other', after all. What else could that mean?

Her gaze strayed to James's plate, absently staring at his potatoes as he played with them.

She shook her head. Stay focused.

"What do you mean by 'more personal'?" she asked. A pretty pointless question that happened to sound productive.

James stared at his plate and let out a deep sigh, fork caught in the potatoes before he looked up at Queenie and blinked slowly, meeting her eyes.

"You know what I mean," he said, already weary of where this would inevitably lead. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his secrets and personal experiences, and he was sure the others felt the same. He would be content leaving their search for common ground at this - some unknown link that tied them together, related to their pasts. That would be enough to satiate his curiosity, and until it became a matter of life and death he wasn't going to dig deeper. Not anymore. He was done.

As his gaze fell back to the potatoes on his plate, he slid his fork across them to make little valleys, like plowing rows into fresh earth. About halfway through drawing the lines, the potatoes vanished, like evaporating particles into the air.

He glanced up just in time to see the turkey, and every other food on the table do the same.

It seems most of you aren't interested in the food. But that's alright. I expected this. the voice returned, speaking in his head like before. James didn't like the feeling of someone else voicing thoughts in his mind. His head was the only truly private place he had, and now there was someone dancing around in it.

If such a thing were possible, he would rip their voice out of his ear. Instead, all he could do was listen.

I was going to give you all dessert, but you seem like you'd appreciate a mission more. You want answers, so listen closely.

The voice, once heard only in his head like a thought, suddenly became audible. It felt like the voice filled the whole room - melodic, charismatic, soothing - and yet, unsettling.

"Down the hall to the right there's a study It's a bit of a walk, but you'll find it. You'll go past the bedrooms first. Right next to the door there's a small stand with a bust of Sir Hagglethorn, not that any of you know him, but it's the only bust I have on display. Should be self explanatory."

"Tara, Odris, and Queenie, I'd like you to go there. I'll save you the pain of wasted time spent in rebellion by telling you there's a reason for the groups and you won't get very far if you split differently. Anyhow - when you get to the door, give it three knocks and it should open to you."

"As for James and Colleen, I'd like you to take to the left of the hall. You'll know the door when you see it. It'll be on the right."

"Don't dawdle too much. I mean - by all means, enjoy one another's company, but you know what I mean. Or - well, maybe you don't."

An amused laugh echoed throughout the room, and the dining room doors slowly began to swing open.

James stared into the empty hall then looked around the table. He felt nauseous, but he pushed out his chair and stood up tall.

"Well... I don't know if we have much of a choice." He didn't want to know what would happen if they disobeyed. CB could speak in their heads, control doors remotely, and who knew what else.

He looked to Odris.

"You'll be alright, you three?"

He asked the question to all of them, but at the root of the question he was asking Odris if he was alright. He could tell Odris was already anxious from everything going on. He didn't know what it'd be like when the two of them separated, with James being the only person Odris knew.

Odris did not feel like he was going to be alright. He felt just as nauseous as James did - or possibly even worse. CB had used his actual name; Odris hadn't even had the chance to cut him off. And now CB had decided to separate him from the one person who he had actually knew here. He should have expected it. CB seemed to be fond of manipulating them.

But knowing why everything was happening didn't make it easier to deal with.

He bit his lip. He was trying his best not to cry. He couldn't let himself tear up now. Not in front of total strangers, not in front of the group he was going to be stuck with, and not in front of whatever way CB was monitoring them. He wasn't going to give CB the satisfaction of watching him break down.

He couldn't give him that.

Odris got to his feet.

"I'll be alright," he said, giving a nod and a smile he didn't really feel. His hands were shaking as he balled them into fists at his side. He wasn't sure if it was out of fear or frustration.

He waited for Queenie and Tara to get up, too.

Tara snuck in one more bite of her hot dog before she stood up and went beside Odris. She wasn't thrilled about the idea, but it's not like they had much of a choice. She gave him a tired smile as they waited for Queenie to join them.

Whoever this 'CB' person was, Queenie was going to kill them. Play nice. Sure. Fine. With the non-kidnapers of the group, she would.

She got to her feet and joined her assigned group like the obedient little grade-schooler CB seemed to assume she was going to act like.

Well, she was. She was going to obey, for now, and wait until she could find their captor. Then she was going to lock a couple of doors, pick up something sharp, and do a few things that would give her companions here nightmares for the rest of their lives. CB, too, if she wasn't going to let them bleed out, nice and slow.

"Let's go," she said to the others, letting herself look and sound a little frustrated. It would be weirder if she wasn't. She absently fiddled with her braid, twisting it around her hands, letting it go, and twisting it again.

Colleen was relieved she finished her apple before CB’s announcement. She watched the stem disappear, along with a few seeds. Taking away the food seemed a bit weird, but it was one method of getting this group to move from the dining room.

Hmm. Dividing them up like this made her wonder even more as to why CB had selected them to be here. She had at least said something to James before when he asked her about where she was from.

“Well, okay,” Colleen whispered. “Good luck to you all.”

She got up from her chair, apparently the last one. So she and James were meant to go the left section once in the hallway. Simple directions which should make her less nervous, but anything worried her now, especially when starting in this strange place and having a strange voice.

James bowed his head Odris and then went to the door, glancing at Colleen, who seemed to be just as resigned to their orders as the others. He expected her to follow.

He paused for half a second in the doorway, considering saying some sort of farewell to the others - but he didn't know when he'd see them again. Maybe that was dramatic, to consider that he might not see them soon, if ever again, but all of this already did feel quite dramatic. CB had made it so.

He started down the hall, going left just like he was told. He didn't know what CB meant when they said they'd know what door it was, as if they'd recognize it, or know on instinct. He just hoped it was nothing dangerous.