Dangerous Collaboration

Ominous Hypnosis

Pentatonix was closing in, trying to trap the entirety of the group. Their humming was ominous, almost like suspenseful music from a tense movie scene. Their eyes seemed to shine brighter, and they weren't blinking.

"What is with them?" Wade whispered.

"Not sure," Ethan answered. "But I'm kind of guessing that we shouldn't stick around to find out."

"I agree, " Ken said.

With that, the group dispersed, a few running between Mitch and Scott, who were standing next to each other. As they ran out of the room, Signe glanced over her shoulder at Pentatonix. They hadn't moved from their position, instead staring blankly forward. Her eyebrow arched; she was confused, but kept running.

Amy, Mark, Cristina, and Nate all hurried down the stairs into the basement. 

"Is this a good idea?" Cristina questioned. 

"Only one way to find out," Nate said.

"Why didn't we just bust the door down?" Amy asked. "Who cares if the doorknob is gone?"

"We didn't have time," Mark answered. "Besides, the door's phased into the wall. We can't break it down without taking out the entirety of the wall with it."

"Yeah we don't have the time or the money for that," Nate put in. "And I don't think anyone wants to be on the receiving end of that lawsuit."

The group ducked behind the old furniture in the basement. Well, they tried to. It was so dark and no one had time to find a switch. After tripping over a few things, Amy tried to wedge herself beneath the couch, while Mark barricaded himself behind a bookshelf.

---

Meanwhile, upstairs, Jack threw himself on the ground and rolled under the bed. He gasped when he hit something, but froze when that thing spoke.

"Who is that?"

Jack let out a breath. It was Signe.

"It's me," Jack stated.

"Oh." It wasn't a rude "oh", just an awkward "oh". Like she wasn't sure what to say. 

It was quiet after that. The atmosphere was tense, and the awkwardness of the former couple's relationship wasn't helping at all. Jack wondered how long they could handle that, but obviously, they had bigger problems.

At the sound of the song coming nearer, Jack felt himself tense. Beside him, Signe stiffened. Both of them remained still as one of the singer's voices grew louder and louder. After a minute or so, it began to get quieter, until it faded away completely. 

Jack let out an audible sigh of relief, and Signe relaxed almost completely. A couple moments passed when they suddenly realized how close they had gotten in the midst of their fear.

"Um, so--" Jack said awkwardly, "-what now?"

"I don't know," Signe said. "Should we try to leave?"

"I'm not sure," Jack answered. "I mean, whatever's wrong with them is bound to wear off soon. Right?"

"It did with Mat," Signe pointed out. "Maybe we should stay here until we know for sure, though."

Jack nodded in agreement. 

---

Back in the basement, Mark started to wedge himself out from behind the bookshelf--then immediately wedged himself back in when he heard the voices again.

"They just don't quit," Cristina whispered. 

"When is it going to wear off?" Amy whispered.

"Maybe this time it won't," Mark murmured. 

The singing voices grew louder. Just then, Nate heard a different noise. A thump. Risking being seen, he peeked out from behind the piano. Mark was on the ground, scrambling to get up and hidden again.  Judging by his socked feet and the way he was sitting on the ground, he had slipped into the open floor.

Unfortunately for Mark, he wasn't quick enough. Scott entered the room, blue eyes glowing intensely. Right behind him, was Mitch. Mark took off, running for the other doorway. He slid to a stop when he saw Kirsten and Kevin there, both of them with glowing eyes that lit up the room.

Mark tried to turn around again, but couldn't get anywhere, as Scott was right behind him. The song only got more intense and louder. They weren't even singing words at this point; just ominous humming.

"Hey! Over here!" Nate called, trying to distract the group.

It didn't work. They were too focused on a terrified Mark. He tried to squeeze past him, but Scott instead locked his hands around Mark's throat. His face paled as Scott lifted him into the air. He wiggled to get away and clawed at Scott's hand, but to no avail. 

Until it all stopped. Everything went quiet. One by one, Pentatonix's eyes stopped glowing, and they snapped out of what seemed like a hypnotic trance. Scott slowly lowered Mark to the floor as he realized what he had been doing.

"Tell me I wasn't just doing what I think I was," Scott said.

"How did we get here?" Mitch asked.

Mark took a step backward. Nate revealed himself and moved to Mark's side, only because he wanted to protect the others if he needed to. Amy and Cristina peered out from beneath the couch, scared, but curious. 

"You don't remember any of that?" Nate asked.

Each of them responded that no, they had no idea what had just happened, or how they had even gotten to the basement.

"The last thing I remember is leaving the bathroom," Kirsten stated. "On the upper floor."

Amy finally squirmed out from under the couch and flipped on the basement lights.

"Only one of you has blue eyes," Cristina pointed out. She stood to face them all. "The rest of you have brown ones."

"But they were pretty blue a few minutes ago," Amy stated. 

"The same thing happened with Mat," Nate said. "His turned green, which isn't even close."

"We need to figure out what's going on here," Mark said. "Someone is seriously going to get hurt."

"And someone almost did," Amy said. She put her hand on Mark's arm.

"I'll be fine," Mark stated firmly.

Scott ran his hands through his hair as the full weight of the situation landed on him. "I almost killed someone."

"If you hadn't, one of us would have," Mitch said. He crossed his arms. "In a way, we all almost caused someone to die."

A crash occurred from upstairs, distracting everyone from the current situation. As the group ran to investigate, all that each and every one of them could wonder, was how could this possibly get any worse?