Truth or Dare?

Chapter Five - Aspen

The room slowly grew emptier, though I didn't notice until they called my name. Kieran and I had been talking throughout the entire time, which felt like minutes but probably had been hours.

"Wardal, Aspen." The hooded figure said. I looked back and realized we were in the project again.

I looked back at Kieran, scared. I knew he could sense the fear in my eyes and I could sense his for his own Truth or Dare or maybe my own. "Hey, I'll see you around, okay?" I told him as I got up.

"Sure." He said. "I have your number," he pulled out his phone, "and you have mine, so if you want to talk, just call."

I pulled out my phone and we laughed. "See you soon." I said and walked towards the door.

A butler escorted me around the castle. I felt my hands sweating and it felt like I was walking around in the hallways for days. I swear I saw things, and I flashbacked to when they told us no one had been in the castle in almost one hundred years. Oh, just lovely.

The butler opened the door for me and I walked in. It was a huge white room with a screen that read my name on it. Under it, it said "Ally: Penny Hattley".

"Welcome, Aspen." The screen said. Two words appeared on the screen and it read them to me. "Truth or Dare?"

I had another flashback to when they said I only needed to choose dare once throughout the process. I took a deep breath and decided it was good to just start out with a truth.

"Truth," I said.

"Congratulations, Aspen. Your dare is..."

"What?"

It repeated itself.

"Um, truth."

It repeated again.

"Uh," I said, and then went to the door to tell the butler. He was standing there looking at me. "I think this thing is broken..."

"Oh, not broken at all." A hooded figure appeared behind him out of nowhere. Two more walked over and the butler grinned at me evilly and suddenly I just didn't feel safe anymore.

I closed the door and walked back into the room. My dare was lit up on the screen.

"You have twenty-four hours to complete the following.

Hide the shampoo of the bright-haired boy of Quarter Four. Know your ally.

-the Chair Board"

The screen went black and again I was alone in the white room.

I walked out and the hooded men were gone and the butler offered to walk me back to my tower but I denied. The evil smile from him was too much to handle right now and I didn't want to associate myself with them ever again.

I almost got to my tower. I was looking down, walking, with my arms crossed when I walked straight into someone. "Ow," I rubbed my head.

"Sorry," a girl's voice said.

"No, it's my fault, sorry." I said. We looked at each other for a second before I extended my hand. "Hi, I'm Aspen."

She looked at me cautiously before shaking my hand. "Penn."

I looked at her cautiously again. "Penn as in Penny Hattley?"

"Aspen as in Aspen Wardal?"

"You're my ally." We said in unison.

I flashbacked (lots of flashbacks in here, I apologize for the inconvenience) to when they explained the allies in the presentation. The person you can tell your Truth or Dare to (but I'm fairly positive we were only getting dares now) and they can help you complete your task.

"Hey, um, we'd better talk," she told me.

"Probably," I said. "I was just heading back to my tower; you wanna come with me to my lounge?"

"You have a tower?" she looked at me. "I only got my own wing!"

"Well, the tower is a lot of stairs to climb," I forced laughter out of me.

She smiled at me. "Sure."

I lead her to my tower and we sat in my lounge. It was the first time I checked out my lounge as well, it was pretty much vintage stuff like the library but nice in the same way. There was a huge glass wall that overlooked the fountains and gardens outside which I loved. Part of the floor was glass as well and the glass lifted up to a spiral staircase which lead down the tower, I supposed. Secret passage. Could come in handy someday.

I thought about my dare again while admiring the fireplace in my lounge. "Know your ally," I whispered to myself.

"What?" Penn asked.

I looked up at her and she was in the other corner looking at a painting of the castle. "Oh, nothing." I said. "So, let the sneaking around together to work out our dares begin."