Neverland

6

"So..." Norman begins.

"What we need to investigate now is..." Karma says.

"Outside." The quadruple say in unison.

"We know most of what we need to about the House." Karma says.

"The training is going well. The tracking devices can be broken." Norman reviews.

"We just need to get intel on the outside. We also need to outmaneuver the adults. If we can do that, we can definitely clear the wall." Ray says.

"Next is checking the escape route." Emma says.

"So this escape has three ways." Norman starts naming the steps. "One, get over the wall and escape. Two, get away from this farm safely. Three, establish a way to survive and become self-reliant.

"Hopefully we will have success on the first step. Then, we'll focus on the outside. Evade the pursuers and get away from the farm safely. We need to prepare for for that."

"First, we need information about the area about the farm." Ray spoke.

"When I climbed the tree, I saw a forest." Emma tells them.

"We still have to properly check it." Ray says.

"We should look into it as soon as tomorrow." Norman tells them.

"Oh, I have something to show you guys that may have to do with the outside." Karma spoke. "I have someone I want to introduce."

...

The quadruple went to the library

Karma was looking through the book shelves.

"The person I want to introduce is..." Karma pulls out a book and opens the cover. "This person."

Karma points to the bookplate that shows an owl with a not full circle around it.

"William Minerva?" Norman reads.

"Who's he?" Ray asks.

"He's the previous owner of this book." Karma answers. "Other than that, that's all I know. But I think he could be on our side."

"What do you mean?" Norman wonders.

"This person has been conveying certain messages through books." Karma explains. "Not just one book, but many of them."

The quadruple pull out books and open the front covers.

"What's the certain messages?" Norman asks.

"Look carefully." Karma tells him.

Norman looks back at the bookplate. Around the owl is a circle that wasn't fully connected. The disconnected circle has a few spaces with dots and lines in a certain order that wasn't identical with the other bookplates. Norman traces the circle and then the answer came to him.

"It's morse code!" Norman realizes.

"That's right." Karma says. "We could translate the morse code from the books and find out what other messages are there."

The children get to work and took out more books to see what messages were hidden for them to find.

"Run. Doubt. Danger. Truth. Harvest.
Monster." Norman reads all these words when he translated the morse code.
"Farm."

"This is a message from the outside to us, hidden under the noses of the adults and demons." Ray says. "I think we should trust that."

"Trust that?" Norman questions.

"This man named Minerva could be an ally to us." Karma says. "The thing is we don't know if he's alive or dead. But let's now get our hopes up too much."

"William Minerva may be our ally. He might still be out there." Norman says with hope. "If that's true, then there could be a society of humans outside."

"Exactly!" Emma exclaims.

There were two more books with the bookplate. One has no morse code on it. The other one does.

Promise, it read.

"These two books must be special." Karma thinks out loud.

"I think so too." Emma agrees. "These will become some kind of guide for us."

"What's your reasoning?" Ray asks Emma.

"A hunch!" Emma says.

Ray makes a face.

"Hey!" Emma shouts.

"And you?" Ray turns to look at Karma.

"Out of all the words found, that one is the most interesting to me." Karma answers.

°~○●○~°

Meanwhile, Don manages to steal the key from Mom. Don and Gilda were investigating the secret room. Don finds a trap door that leads down a dark room.

Gilda lights a lantern and they both go down further in their secret investigation.

There were items down in the room that had belong to the previous children that lived in the house. Including Little Bunny.

"Why is this here?" Don asks when he saw Conny's Little Bunny back in the secret room.

"So what they said was true." Gilda says. "Mom was lying. No one went to foster families."

"But why?"

"Because if they were, none of the stuff down here would be here."

"No way!" Don says as he steps back. But he accidentally bumps into the bookshelf that hides the communication system to headquarters.

"Who is Mom communicating with? The base Ray was talking about?" Don thinks out loud. "Ray says he has Mom under control, but we're doomed if Sister finds out."

Don walks over to Gilda. "What does he mean by that? If Mom and Sister find out, are they going to do something to us? What if Mom is much more dangerous, and Conny and our siblings are already..."

"Stop it." Gilda stops Don from finishing, "Norman said he doesn't know what happened to Conny."

"No."

Don comes to the conclusion that the quadruple are lying to him and Gilda about the situation.

When the quadruple entered the dining hall, they realized Don and Gilda weren't there. No one kept track about their whereabouts. They all thought of the worst.

Everything only meant one thing.

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"Where were you?" Ray asks when the two made it to the dining hall.