"You're Next!"

- Chapter 9 -

A day had passed. And then a week. It felt like only a few seconds. But it was hard to cope with life at that moment. Sure, Lizzie was back, yay, but Gem was dead. Dead. Gone. Forever. FWhip still blamed himself for the incident, he spent most of his time pacing around the kitchen.

Grian felt mostly worried for his friends.

And Lizzie was still confused about everything. When she had woken up, she was on some sort of bed, with Joel sitting on the edge, facing away from her. "Joel?" She murmured. Joel turned around quickly. "Lizzie! You're okay!" He said happily.

Lizzie looked around, sitting up. Two other beds were down near the side of the room. "Where are we?" She asked.

"The attic," Joel said calmly.

"What- who- Joel, how long has it been?" Lizzie asked, shocked.

Joel stayed quiet for a minute. "Lizzie- You've been asleep for almost a month."

"WHAT!?"

Joel nodded. "We made these beds. Scar found a whole thing of cobwebs- we used the string to make wool and-"

The doors opened. It was Grian and Mumbo, carrying a plate of drinks and some sandwiches.

"Oh! She's awake!" Mumbo exclaimed, setting down the plate at the end of the bed.

Lizzie reached for one of the sandwiches. She took a bite, savoring the taste of the soft bread in her mouth.

"Thanks," Joel said to Mumbo. Grian ran off, out of the room.

A few moments later, Grian re-entered, followed by Scar, FWhip, Bdubs, and Etho. Everyone was here. Except...

"Hey," Lizzie said, over the soft greetings and noises of happiness. "Where's Gem?" 

FWhip froze. Everyone shuffled uncomfortably. They weren't telling her something. "What?" She asked, suddenly nervous.

"She- She- um..." Scar leaned closer to Lizzie. He whispered everything that had happened in her ear. "FWhip had been pretty on-edge since it happened, so we've been trying to not talk about it," Scar added, before pulling away.

Something leapt up onto Lizzie's bed, purring. Jellie.

Lizzie wanted to say sorry to FWhip. But he had already left the room. "I feel terrible," Lizzie whispered to Joel as the others slowly followed FWhip out of the room.

"Don't worry, Lizzie." Joel said to her. "It's not your fault. You didn't know."

"Still," Lizzie muttered.

They sat in silence for a bit. "You know, something exciting should've happened by now. Maybe we should check on the others...?" Lizzie suggested. Joel nodded, getting up.

They both walked out of the room into the kitchen, which was now cleared of cobwebs and looked much cleaner. Something bumped into Lizzie, making her stumble a few steps. She turned and saw Scar, panting heavily. "Sorry, Lizzie- I just- There's something you guys- need to see," He said between breaths. Joel and Lizzie shared a look of concern, before running into the hallway, Scar following a bit slower. The others were gathered around near the door to the dining room. Lizzie looked inside and gasped.

Floating there, looking at them with a tear-streaked face... was Gem.