Villians

One | The Letter

ONLY READ THIS IF YOU ARE ON WATTPAD. IF YOU ARE READING IT ANYWHERE ELSE, THE BOOK HAS BEEN STOLEN.

Made the art myself, what do ya think?

"Go fish!" Gem snickered, happily beating her younger brother at another game. 

"Not again!" FWhip whined, picking up yet another card. He immediately set down two kings. "Aha! Can't beat me now!"

"Are you sure about that?" Gem lifted her set of five cards. Compared to FWhip's, she had the smaller amount.

ding, dong! 

Gem stood up and set down her cards on the wooden table, and went to the door to open it. She unlocked the door and it cracked open an inch. She pushed it the full way and her eyes widened in surprise.

"Hi, X. Can I help you?" Gem asked, staring at the admin. Xisuma nodded and held up a black envelope.

"This letter is addressed to most of the hermits. You happen to be one of them. It leads to a big mansion somewhere. I've already got the others in the car." He said, voice warm.

"Oh!" Gem smiled. "I'll have to bring my brother, too, though... If that's alright with you?"

"Sure is. The more the merrier!" Xisuma laughed a little bit. Gem ran back to the living room and saw FWhip bent over the table, trying to look like he wasn't peeking at his sister's cards. He snapped his head up and slapped the cards down on the table again when Gem entered the room.

"Were you-" Gem sighed and face-palmed. "Come on, we're going on a road trip. And you only get to come because your my baby brother and I couldn't leave you home alone."

"I'm thirty seconds younger than you!" FWhip protested.

"Best thirty seconds of my life." Gem joked, laughing at the pout-y face FWhip was now making. She wrapped an arm around her sibling and they both walked out onto the porch.

A horn honked from the road.

"CARPOOL!" Pearl yelled from the back of the truck. "WOO!" Cleo, False and Stress agreed, shouting their own happy cries. Gem let go of her brother and tapped him on the shoulder. "Last one there's a rotten egg!" She then ran towards the car, but FWhip was faster than her, and reached the vehicle first. 

"Who's a rotten egg now?"

"Oh, stop it. You're just lucky to be coming on this trip in the first place." As the two siblings argued and talked, the car drove down the street- past a donut shop (to Scar's disappointment, the group wasn't getting any), past many, many houses and apartments, up a hill... and into a parking lot. The mansion was huge- made from many different types of wood and stone. As Gem stepped out of the car she could see the building more clearly. 

Both front and back doors were locked. 

A small surge of panic flared in Gem's heart. She gazed up at the window and that panic inside flared harder. A black shape moved in the window, closing the blinds.

Xisuma was at the front door, typing a code in a keypad. Joe was the second to get out of the truck, followed by Cleo, Ren, Cub, Scar(and Jellie!), Stress, Pearl, Grian, and FWhip. 

After everyone was inside, Gem heard a small click that made her doe ears point upwards. She turned around and the door was shut tight. She tried the handle. It didn't budge. It was locked.

"We're locked in!" She gasped. Joe ran to a glass door and tried the handle of it. 

"This one too!" He said.

"Everyone!" Xisuma raised his voice over the scared chattering. "Split up to find an exit. And hurry!"

Gem watched as the group split up- dividing out into one person per group or two. Gem ran forwards into a room with a white door. It opened and she walked inside. There was a window with the blinds closed on one side of the room, and in the center, a black box just begging to be opened. As she got closer, she thought she could hear... crying? Gem lifted the lid of the box and felt the world slip away.

A door slammed from somewhere in the mansion. FWhip, who was following Gem from afar, saw the door to her room slam shut. A large, black number one appeared on the white door. 

"No... no no no no no!" FWhip couldn't open the door. No matter how hard he tried. So, he ran back to tell the others... only to realize-

"Where is everyone?!"