The Misadventure

Chapter 42

Cavet's POV

. . . . . . . .

Nothing

. . . . . . . . . . .

There's nothing

My hands grasped wildly at the air around me, nails biting into my palms as they came up empty each time. My clothes flapped around me, wind howling in my ears, darkness pushing against my eyes.

There's nothing.

Closing my eyes didn't help. I could barely tell if they were open or closed, anyway.

Nothing

Then there was the ground.

It exploded underneath me, all the air escaping my body as I slammed into it. I lay still for a long moment, blinded by the pain and unable to force air into my lungs. But then my lungs suddenly started to work and I gasped, arching my back off the floor as I groaned. I thumped my stump of a hand against the floor, the dull throb pulling my attention away from the screaming agony of the bruise spreading across my back.

Slowly, ever so slowly, I rolled over and pushed myself to my feet. The hallway stretched far on both sides, with no one in sight. I stood quietly, just breathing, trying to regain control before moving again.

As I stood, a sound like faint screams reached my ears, and I frowned. There was no one in the hall, yes. So, that would mean...

I pressed my ear against a door to my right and listened, smirking as I heard Bella's voice.

"-since you are all part of the prize, you have to go through it too."

Clever girl.

I pushed open the door and walked in slowly, confidently, clapping. "Bravo, Bella. You can handle yourself better than I expected. How did you find out that you were in a door?" She stared at me, eyes narrowed, and crossed her arms. All of the others were dissolving into little bits of numbers and code, pieces of data, and dissolving, but she only had eyes for me.

"So you're alive after all. What? Did Maniac recruit you and promise you time alone with me? Trust me, you may get what you've desired, but you'll end up just like Evil if you trust her," Bella scoffed.

I rose an eyebrow at her. "Oh, you're so funny. I have a plan to deal with my alter. As you said, I'm the perfect soldier," I mocked. "You, on the other hand, can't even kill a fly without feeling sorry for it."

She huffed. "What do you want, Cavet? Or are you just stalling for Maniac?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but shut it quickly in surprise as a tremor ran through the floor. Cracks split down the walls, pieces of the ceiling raining down onto our heads. A door fell to the ground behind us.

Starting shutdown process, logging off all users. . . Log-off failed. Commence with shutdown. . .

The message appeared in the corner of my vision, bright and green. Bella stared at me with wide eyes, presumably reading the same message. I tried to meet hers calmly.

Our eyes were still locked together when the floor fell away, and she was the last thing I saw before everything faded to black once more.

. . .

I was ready this time. This time, I could tell when the floor was coming, so when I rejoined the mansion, it was my feet that slammed into the ground instead of my back. I forced all of my momentum into a roll and managed to come up standing, with only a dull ache in my ankles from the impact. Running my hand through my hair, I glanced around, taking a quick inventory of my surroundings. I had reappeared in a completely empty room this time, all gray walls and dim lighting. I had hoped my sword might join up with me again, but had no such luck.