Dark halls and empty corridors echoed softly with every beating footstep.

Running, running, running….

She was doing a lot of that today wasn’t she?

Lin clutched her heaving chest, taking a reprise as her body at last begun to realize the strain it had been put through.

“Just… a little… further… Oh gods.”

With nothing but adrenaline and perseverance pushing her forward, she soon found herself again in the quarters of the haunted cafeteria. From the ceiling still hung rows of countless cocoons, which if her suspicions were right, were what she was here for.

DOOM DOOM!

It seemed the battle outside was growing fierce. The teen ran to the nearest web-ladened wall, eyeing the weave in hopes that its thick strands could support a climb. It was a stupid idea. Dangerous even. Stupidly dangerous.

DOOM DOOM!

With caution to the wind, her right shoe stepped onto the lowest bar of web she could find. It certainly seemed sturdy enough, like rock or cement. Thinking back to those rock-climbing walls at the playground, she began to slowly work her way up to the nearest hanging cocoon.

Fortunately with the way the webs were arrayed, it was easy to find footing, and the way that they protruded from the wall made it difficult to slip. Several times she froze, eyes wide at the sensation of something crawling across her skin. In the end, however, she only climbed faster, whispering curses under her breath as she prayed for this exhaustingly long day to end.

Soon she was high enough to look down at a couple of the hanging eggs, something she quickly came to regret as she realized just how high it was she had climbed.

“Oh why… why, why, why….”

She had to jump. It was the only way to reach one of those cocoons from the wall. It wouldn’t be a difficult task, after all the nearest one couldn’t have been more than a foot away.

But her legs refused to move. Her fingers refused to let go.

This was ridiculous! Crazy! Granted, there was a lot of crazy going on already, but there were limits to crazy, and jumping from so high up was drawing the line.

DOOM!

Another tremor, more fierce than any of the ones before. The walls shook, the ceiling groaned, and Lin strangely found herself moving away from them both.

“Oh bad. BAD, BAD!”

Her limbs flailed in panic at her sudden weightlessness, screaming as she was sure that this was the end. She would fall to the ground below, never to solve today’s mysteries, never to save Morgan’s brother, never again to hear Morgan ask for a piece of her lunch…

“Oof!”

Whether by sheer luck or just the way she fell, Lin was now hugging the top of the nearby cocoon. Her heart beat furiously as it continued to try to escape from her chest, and she was certain that she had just lost several years of her life.

Still, luck was luck, and being alive she wasn’t going to take it for granted. Her hands pawed at the material, searching until she found… a face! Bingo! Though smaller than the one that had held Morgan, it seemed that they still served as some sort of human chamber. Though she didn’t recognize the child inside, she let out a breath of relief regardless as he was still breathing, still alive.

But then, where was Arthur?

There were much too many cocoons in the room, and accidentally falling onto each and every one of them was definitely out of the question.

Her attention then fell back to the glow around her hand. It had worked before in freeing Morgan, so why not the others? She focused for the light to gather and placed her palm against the egg.

“Rele–”

“Don’t!”

The light from her hand retracted, her breath held at the familiarity of that child-like voice. On top of a neighboring cocoon, stood Avalon.

“Don’t do that,” spoke the black creature. “The webs are the only things protecting them from the miasma.” Its tail wagged playfully, contrasting with the tone of its words.

“You!!” Lin threw a finger forward. “LIAR!”

She was sure something important was said just now, but her mind at the moment was too preoccupied with trying to figure out how to strangle the furball without falling off her already precarious perch.

“Liar?” Avalon repeated back. It tilted its head, seemingly confused.

“Morgan sent you? She doesn’t even know you!”

“Oh.” It replied bluntly. “Is that all?”

“Is that – “ Lin’s mouth hung open appalled. As much as she hated to admit it, outside of that one lie, everything else this creature had done actually helped in this whole affair. She tried to come up with something, anything to use against the ferret, only managing to strangle out an odd sound from the pit of her throat.

At last her finger dropped, conceding defeat to the madness before her. “Fine, whatever. What am I supposed to do now?”

Avalon had known what to do before, so why not now?

From its mouth came three familiar words.

“Play with me.”