Queen of Beasts: The Fallen Book One

The Show Goes On

I'm so nervous right now and it's not even my usual awkward nervousness. I can hear a lot of people gathering in the hall. Most of the drama team had spent the entire afternoon preparing the hall with all the seating arrangements needed for people to come and watch the show. Mr. Fasoli is backstage barking orders at lots of different people and they're just accepting that he is a little bit on edge at the moment. I haven't seen Oliver since he went to go into the other room for a costume change. The stagehand, Peter has been doing a great job organizing everybody. I feel a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Brandi who is the Evil Queen understudy.

"Hey Amelia," She says, her nerdy teenager costume giving away absolutely everything. No young male teacher in their right mind would ever give a girl looking like that a B or lower. "Oliver said he needed your help? He went to the security room to go change."

"I'm sorry I don't know where that is."

"Come on, I'll show you, we gotta be quick though." I follow Brandy backstage and past an exit door. This hallway was still part of the school and she points to a door about three down. "That one." As I reach it, the door is wide open, so I go inside. It's very dark, which I know Oliver likes, but I can't see him in here. I yelp as the door behind me slams shut. I run back to it and try to open the door, but there's no handle.

"Sorry, we decided Prince Charming needs a new Snow White." Was that Amanda?

"Amanda, please open the door!" I shout.

"Don't worry we will. As soon as the show is over. You can watch it on the monitors from in there." I shout again but I don't get a response. I suppose they've gone away. I turn around and I can see rows of monitors that surround areas of the college. About five of the lower ones are focused around the hall area, and the drama team. On one of the monitors I can see Oliver is looking around for somebody, hopefully it's me and he'll come find me soon. I look down at the buttons and see if I can get them to do anything. There's a keyboard that kind of looks like it's selective of which camera it chooses. As I press the green button beneath them, the corresponding number monitor turns on with a loud noise.

"-you seen Amelia?" It's Oliver's voice. The camera's must pick up audio as well. Doing my best to ignore the other voices that are around him and pay attention to what he is asking people. He steps a little bit too far away from the camera for me to hear him ask Amanda and Brandy where I am. But I can physically see them shrug shoulders. He shakes his head and continues to look around. I can see his movement on the monitors as he goes back and forth between certain areas. He pulls out his phone and starts to text. I already know there's no point for me to check my pockets since I've changed my costume. I left my phone with the rest of my clothes. I try again to look around the office, but I don't even see a phone. What kind of security office doesn't have a phone? I see a microphone, so I hit the button but nothing changes. Picking it up to see if I needed to switch it on. I can see that the court has been cut. Those girls really thought of everything. I also hear a strange buzzing noise. I look up towards where I can see a vent that's not big enough for a person to fit through, but there's something on the other side. I can't reach it, but there is certainly a smell coming from it and I really foul one at that. The girls must have put something in here because it's getting really hard to breathe. I watch Oliver as he goes on to another monitor and I switch on that one's sound. At least I figured out how to do something. He's calling on the phone. For a moment I thought he was calling me, but he ends up talking to somebody else.

"Nolan, I need your help. Something's wrong, I can't find Amelia." He pauses for a moment while he listens to what Nolan has to say. "No Seth isn't picking up. The drama hall at the college. You guys are nearby, right? Great, I'll let you in through the back." As he slowly walks around the back stage, he still keeps an eye out for me. What am I supposed to do from here? How do I get his attention? As I start pressing buttons, I notice that there is also a joystick. Can I move the cameras? Looking up some of the other monitors, I try to figure out where Oliver just went. As I look up to one of the high ones I can see he's going to an exit door to let Nolan and the triplets in. I press the buttons again where I select the camera and I use a joystick to try move it. I'm surprised that it does actually do exactly what I hoped it would. But the guys are too preoccupied to notice. As they go further up the hallway, I keep an eye on them and I try to move the camera around so they will see it. No luck. They stop alone in the hallway as I turn on the sound.