The Haunted Orphanage

Chapter 57

Mark's POV

Thomas and I chatted about the plan for roughly an hour before I decided to try to sleep. We planned that he and Logan would meet Jack and me at the cafeteria, then they would help get us out from there.

I rolled over on the cold, concrete floor. I wanted to get to Reagan, but she had to bring me to her dreamscape. I needed to fill her in on what had been happening down here, and find out if the situation had improved in the human world. All I could really do was wait.

"Thomas, do you have to watch me sleep, or do you get to leave the prison?" I wondered aloud.

"Neither. I'm kind of allowed to do whatever I want once you go to bed, but I can't leave. I'm currently watching the news."

"What's the news say?" I asked, bored.

"Literally every news channel is either talking about you and Jack, or Percy's execution. I'm leaning more toward the ones talking about Jack and you just because everything they're saying is ridiculous."

I chuckled slightly and laid on my back. "What's being said about Jack and me?"

"Most of it is stating that humans are taking over the Underworld. Oh! Here's a good headline! 'Greedy Humans Intend to Overthrow King F–'." He stopped himself.

"Oh yeah, I never found out," I commented as I sat up a bit. "Who's the king of the Underworld?"

There was a short pause before Thomas replied, "You won't like it."

"I don't care if I'll like it or not. I think I deserve to know the name of the person's house I'm breaking into," I tried to reason.

Another short pause. "It's, uh, King Felix."

My breathing stopped for a second before proceeding on normally. I guess it made sense. Felix was the most subscribed to YouTuber, so, in a way, it likely had some correlation. "I always knew Felix would make a good dictator."

There was a small silence before I heard Thomas cracking up. "You took that news a lot better than I expected you to!"

I shrugged and laid back down. "For one, the king isn't my friend. He's the demon version of my friend. Secondly, the next time I see Felix, I'm definitely bringing up the fact that his demon version tried to execute Percy, as well as Jack and I." I felt my eyelids begin to droop and I assumed Reagan was trying to bring me to her dreamscape. I smiled to myself. "Thomas, I'm going to get some shut eye."

"Alright," was the last I heard before I drifted to sleep.

•••

I opened my eyes to find myself laying on the floor in a blue-walled room. I sat up and looked around to find Reagan sitting in the middle with her head in her hands.

"Reagan?" I called.

Her head turned to face me and a smile lit up her tear stricken face. "Mark! I thought it didn't work!" She leaped off the ground and barreled into a hug. She pulled away before I got the chance to hug back. "I'm not sure what the voice is up to, but it's weird. I'm getting a type of special treatment, I think. They keep bringing me food and tried to give me a new laptop. The only thing that pisses them off is when I yell for help or try to ask them a bunch of questions about everyone else."

I sorted through everything she had told me, then chuckled, "Keep annoying them. They might just let you go."

She looked up at me. "You think? Hmm, I'll try. If nothing else it's entertaining to see them get frustrated. By the way, have you found Jack yet?"