⊹ ｡ ﾟ⁖✦ •𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘢 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘰 𝘈𝘜⁖ °✦ ･ﾟ⋆

Chapter 7

"Uh, I'm Adam."
He looked down at Jonah who was still grasping onto his sleeve. "And this is Jonah." He sighed. "Nice ta meet'chu both! What can I get started for ya?"

Adam thought for a moment. "Just surprise me. I'm not picky." "Aye aye!" Six said, then he got to work. Jonah tugged on Adam's sleeve. "Are you really gonna take something from this guy?" He whispered. "Yeah, why not? We're already dead. It's not like anything's gonna happen to me." This made Jonah think.

"When you get a chance, could I get something too?" He asked. "Course!" Six replied. "Anything you have in mind?" "Can you make something sweet? I'm not really into bitterness." "Sure, sure." Jonah gave up his grip on Adam's sleeve. As long as he wasn't alone, things would probably be fine.

Adam didn't really understand why Jonah's demeanor had changed like this. He was usually so outgoing and more than happy to introduce himself. But then again, this "Six" guy really did just climb out of a mirror...Adam himself was more than a little put off by that as well. He just did as he usually would; hide his feelings. Six handed the guys their drinks. "I'm just askin' for the sake of conversation, we don't ID here, ya know? Cause it don't matter! But how old are you two?"

"I'm 20." Adam answered. And he was telling the truth. "Really now? Ya don't look a day over 18!" Six replied. "I'm 21." Jonah said. He was also telling the truth. "Gotcha gotcha. Maybe it's just me, but it's almost like they're comin' out younger n' younger every year!" Six joked. The boys didn't really have anything to say, so Adam shrugged and Jonah faked a laugh. After some light conversation, Adam and Jonah said their goodbyes and left for the evening game. "I really don't think he's that bad." Adam said, talking about Six. "I guess, maybe." Jonah responded.

When they came up to the card table, Mark stared at them in disappointment. They totally forgot about meeting up in the library again. Nothing could be said though, because Cesar was standing there shuffling cards. "Glad you're here! And you're just on time!" He said without looking up. "Uh, glad we are on time!" Jonah said. Adam and Jonah sat down. "I'm sorry!" Adam mouthed to Mark.

After the night's tournaments were over, Jonah and Adam followed Mark out of earshot of Cesar. "What did you guys find?" Mark asked. "It's...not really that important." Jonah said. "I found a lot," said Mark. "Like what?" Adam asked him. Mark explained everything to them. The rooms, the office room with the files, and the files themselves. They all agreed to meet again the next day. "So what did you guys find? You never told me." Mark asked sitting down at the start of the meeting.

Adam and Jonah exchanged looks. What they found likely had no significance to Cesar or anything. "Um," Adam started "We found a bar," Jonah blurted out. "Thanks Jonah, I was getting there!" Adam said sarcastically. "Oh. So that's where you guys were instead of coming back up here." Mark said with disappointment and slight passive-aggression in his voice. "Look man, we're sorry, okay? The bartender can talk your damn ear off if you let him." Adam was slightly annoyed by Mark's tone. "Anyway, can you tell us about those files?" Jonah asked, eager to change the subject. "Yeah, they're...something." Mark said.

Adam was really starting to lose his patience. "What do you mean?!" He asked.
Mark tried to explain them more. "Well why didn't you take them with you?!"
Adam scowled. "Do you know how hard it would be to do that with Cesar around and everything? Do it yourself then!" Mark quipped. "Fine, maybe I fucking will!" Adam yelled.
Mark looked up in surprise. "Sorry man..." Jonah said to Mark. Adam started walking away. "Wait, where are you going?" Jonah asked.

"I'm going to get those files myself!" Adam replied angrily. Jonah and Mark watched him walk away. "Heh, anyways..." Jonah shyly said. "How do you put up with that?" Mark asked, half joking. Jonah giggled. "That's not even the worst of it!" He teased. Jonah told him about the bar.

A few hours later, Mark and Jonah went to the office room to see if Adam was in there. They heard a thud when they opened the door. It was Adam hitting his head on the desk he was trying to hide under.

"I told him we should knock first!" Said Jonah. "And I told you knocking would attract unwanted attention." Mark said back, closing the door. "Today, *I* have an idea." Adam declared. "Okay, what is it?" Mark asked him. Adam held out blank pieces of paper he tore out of his notebook. "What if we take the papers out of the files and replace them with these?"
"I don't know," Mark said, "they're pretty big files, they're like biographies on us."
Adam froze in surprise. He was always a secretive type of guy. The fact that all of the information that could ever possibly be known about him being in a place he's never been, able to be accessed by people he's never met scared him.

The three boys made the mistake of all leaving the room together. It gathered suspicion.
"Hey," a woman's voice called out. "You're not supposed to be in there! Didn't you three already know that?" She asked them, making her way over. It was Ruth. Jonah and Mark messily spoke over each other trying to explain themselves and make up something believable on the spot. Adam used this opportunity to sneak away with the files.

He threw them into each suite and closed the doors. He then made his way down the staircase as if he had been up there for hours and didn't have anything to do with the mischief and sneaking around.

Just as he reappeared at the end of the hallway, he heard the end of Ruth telling the other two off. She turned around and nodded to Adam as she walked away. "It's not fair!" Jonah moaned, "you're literally a giant, how were you able to get away?" Adam shrugged and smirked. "I don't know. It pays to keep your mouth shut in some situations." "I panicked." Mark admitted. "Yeah yeah, anyways, I put our files in our suites. I think we should keep them up there for as long as possible." The expressions on Mark and Jonah's faces lightened up. The first hurdle had been surpassed!

"How about we take the rest of this day off, read our files later, and have a meeting about it tomorrow?" Said Jonah. "Only if you two actually show up this time." Marked teased. He was also half serious. Adam rolled his eyes. "I thought we were over that mistake. Deal."

Later that night, everyone was in their respective suites after nightly games.
Mark was given not only his own file, but Cesar's as well.
Since he had already read his own, he hid it away again and opened Cesar's up.
His was different...Everyone else's was in chronological order. Cesar's however, had a strange document staring back at Mark when he opened the file folder. It read:

"I, 𝒞𝑒𝓈𝒶𝓇 𝒯𝑜𝓇𝓇𝑒𝓈, hereby irrevocably agree to engage in a deal with the devil, Lucifer himself, and understand that withdrawing will cost me my life.

Do you understand? I understand. X I do not *jumbled messy scribbles*"

Mark stared at it with a mix of emotion. Was this real? Why would Cesar agree to something like this? Was it forged? Why was it the first thing to see when the folder was opened? Mark felt a pit in his stomach grow. He thought that maybe looking at the other contents would calm him down a bit, since they would be more innocent and normal things. Maybe even nostalgic, since Mark had known Cesar since they were toddlers. But everything was written on in relatively unintelligible writing. It was definitely not Cesar's. Mark was more than a bit disappointed by this. He grabbed his notebook and a pen, and started writing about everything in Cesar's file.

Jonah fell asleep at his desk while reading his file. He only got halfway through it.
Adam didn't even touch his. His reason for going against the plan of reading and discussing the next day was unknown, even to him. He just felt the urge to ignore the file. He hid it in his armoire where no one would ever think of looking and went to sleep.
The next morning, Jonah jolted awake to the sound of Cesar knocking on the door, carrying out his morning routine of "good mornings"and reminders of breakfast hours. Jonah forgot about the whole file-reading thing, but quickly remembered when his eyes adjusted and he woke up more. He was already full of anxiety and he just woke up.

He left his room and was hoping some food and his friends would help him shake it off. His biggest source of anxiety at the moment was Cesar. Jonah peeked his head out of his room looking around, but didn't see him. Cesar was probably already down in the dining room or almost there. Jonah was relieved to not see Cesar anywhere in sight, and also to see Adam and Mark already making their way down the stairs. He jogged to catch up.

"Hey, don't run!" A familiar voice said. "You don't want to fall and get hurt, right?" It was Cesar. Jonah froze and felt like he was being trapped by Cesar. He felt obligated to stay in place and walk with Cesar just as Mark and Adam were walking side-by-side. This was one of those moments where Jonah had never wanted anyone but Adam by his side.