Discussion

After his talk with Norman, Ray headed up to the place where he was meeting Isabella. She glanced up at him as he entered. "What took you so long?"

"Just talking to Norman." Ray responded, shutting the door behind him.

"About what?"

"Not much has changed. They're still training by playing tag. The problem, is Sister. She's on the move yet again. So be careful."

"Oh."

"It wasn't a smart move to summon her here. I mean, I know you only did it to term me, I've helped you for six years, and you still don't fully trust me. I might cry."

"It's merely a promotion." Isabella explained, her eyes never leaving Ray. "But I hope you're aware, that had you kept those three away from the gate, they wouldn't even be in this situation."

"I said sorry." Ray hummed, walking up to her.

"I never thought someone like you was capable of failing such a simple task. I wasn't really asking for much."

"I already made up for that by spying for you. I ratted on my friends, and I report every move Sister Krona makes, so you better give me my reward."

"Of course." Isabella smiled. "That is part of our deal."

Norman panted as he ran across the gate, followed closely by the rest of his siblings. He narrowed his eyes as he ran. "We're all going to escape this place together. That means Ray, too!"

The sounds behind him turned down, and he slowly turned around. His eyes widened at the sight in front of him.

All of his siblings. Dead. With the flowers that killed Connie stuck their hearts, their eyes wide and empty.

"See? This is why...I tried to tell you." The raspy voice of Ray caused Norman to turn around in horror. Something else caught his eye and he saw Emma on the ground. Penny was with her as well, shuddering as she held her sister's hand.

"Emma! Penny!" Norman yelled, running over to his siblings. Emma was already dead, and Penny was shaking, eyes cringing in pain. "N-Norman..."

"Penny..." Norman gasped, clutching his dying sister in his arms. "Just hang in there a little longer!"

"It hurts..." Penny whimpered, squeezing her eyes tight and clutching his arm.

"N-no..." Norman gasped, shuddering as her form went limp in his arms. "Penny! Emma!" He sobbed. "Everyone..."

Hearing something dripping, Norman turned around to see a demon. It opened its mouth and lunged at Norman, and the boy let out a terrified scream.

He was awoken by someone shaking his arm. "Time to get up, Norman!"

He glanced up shakily to see his younger siblings smiling at him. He sighed in relief in his head. They were alive. He opened his arms and smiled. "Good morning!"

When he finally got dressed, he headed downstairs to breakfast. Penny noticed and grinned happily, catching her older brother in a hug. "Norman, good morning!"

Norman smiled in relief at the sight of his younger sister, returning the hug. Penny stared at him in confusion, a little surprised on how tight he was hugging her. She was about to ask him about it when Emma's cheery voice interrupted them.

"Good morning, Norman!"

Norman glanced above Penny's head, smiling at Emma. "Morning!" He felt a hand on his shoulder and glanced around to see Ray passing him and Penny, muttering a good morning.

"Good morning, Ray." Norman said softly.

"Huh." Penny hummed, watching the boy's face turn somber.

"So, what happened with the rope?" Emma asked as she, Penny, Norman, and Ray met in the forest again. "Did you find out who the informant is?"

"I've been wondering that myself." Penny said, glancing at Norman. "Who is it?"

Norman glanced at his little sister, stuttering. "Actually..."

"That?" Ray suddenly said. "It's me." He pointed at himself. "I'm the one who's been leaking info."

Emma and Penny both stuttered.

"IT WAS YOU?!" Emma shrieked, pointing at him.

"Ray..." Penny squeaked out, shocked. "Why?"

Emma put both of her hands to her head, muttering. "Sorry about that reaction, I don't really understand..."

"Let me explain!" Norman yelped.

Hearing Ray snicker, Penny glared at her older brother. "Just shut up!"

After explaining everything to the girls, Penny was finally grasping it together. Sure she was mad and shocked about Ray turning out to be the traitor, but it was all starting to make sense.

"So Ray is Mom's spy, but he's not our enemy." Emma hummed slowly. "And the reason why he was helping Mom this entire time was for our sake?"

"Yeah." Ray said. "The truth is I was planning on telling you. As soon as you came back from the gate in fact!" He sighed in annoyance. "But you left Little Bunny behind, and mention bringing everyone with, so I had no choice but to hold off. Then Mom found out, which meant I had to work around all of that. While also handling your reckless actions. I figured it was best to stay quiet and keep things under control."

"Basically you were covering up the mistake Norman, Penny, and I made." Emma muttered. She glanced at Ray, her eyes wide. "Are you still against escaping with everyone? 'Cause we can use your help."

"I had a change of heart." Ray hummed. "So I will help you escape with everyone."

Silence. Penny stared at Ray in shock. This wasn't the boy she knew the day before, where he hated the idea of escaping with everyone. Now he was being generous to even help them completely? Who was this kid?

"That's unlike you." Emma said in surprise.

"Do you think he's lying?" Norman asked her. Emma shook her head with a smile. "I'm glad! Having Ray there to help everyone escape is going to be great! And now we have all kinds of info to use so we can trick Mom from the inside! We're at an advantage!"

"That is actually true." Penny hummed softly.

Emma's smile turned into a sudden frown. "Although, that means...you knew for a long time, didn't you?"

"Emma?" Penny asked softly, while Norman just stared at her in surprise.

"I bet it was tough." Emma continued softly. "Knowing and sending them all off...so many of our siblings..." She walked up to Ray. "Hey. About the tracking devices, they were tested on our siblings, weren't they?"

Ray, Norman, and Penny's eyes widened.

Emma continued. "So then, tell me, what happened to all those kids? You didn't make them get shipped out early, did you? I sincerely hope...you didn't sacrifice someone for us."

Feeling sick, Penny reached out and grabbed Norman's hand, who squeezed it reassuringly.

Ray narrowed his eyes.

"Actually, I should thank you!" Emma said quickly, raising her hands in defense. "Because of that, all of us can run away!" She grabbed Ray's hand and stared at him with wide eyes. "But...you have to promise me, that you'll never do that again." She grasped his hand tighter. "You're not alone. You've got us now, so..."

Ray smiled, lifting his free hand from his pocket. "All right, fine. I give you my word." He smiled. "Let's all escape from here, together."

"They were both pretty mad, I guess." Ray chuckled as he held his hurting hand.

"By the way," Norman hummed, glancing at his friend. "I wanted to ask you something."

"Yeah? What's up?"

"You said before that you did this so Emma and I wouldn't die. You're not planing to..."

"Norman! Ray! Emma and I just remembered something." Penny said suddenly, running up to the boys.

"What is it?" Norman asked curiously.

"There was something we both have to report!" Emma responded.

"Gilda, Penny, and I decided to observe Mom again. And we noticed something strange." Emma said.

They were in their bedroom, quietly giving the boys their report. Emma held the sketchbook in her hands as she stared at the group of kids around her. "She disappears right before eight every night."

"She does?" Norman asked in surprise.

"Yeah." Penny said.

"There are no traces of her anywhere!" Emma added, opening the sketch book. "Meaning there's a secret room in this house."

Don's eyes went wide, and he quickly leaned over the sketchbook. "Whoa! Really?"

"Yeah." Emma said, taking out a marker. "Located here." She made a mark over the handmade map of the house. "It's right next to Mom's bedroom. Mom's room is connected to both the bathroom and washroom. And then past that, behind the wall, is where her office is. But from what I gathered, this probably isn't a wall." She made another sketch with the marker, tracing the spot where the supposed wall was.

Gilda nodded, glancing up. "As for me and Penny, what we both noticed is that she disappears into either the office or the washroom."

"That said, I measured the distance between the inside of the room, along with the hallway outside of it."

"Oh!" Penny said suddenly, her eyes widening in realization. "That explains what you were doing the night we had that little talk with Norman."

Norman hummed, surprised.

"Okay, and?" Don asked.

Emma shook her head. "They didn't match. There's about ten steps worth of space here. One side's a wall, the other has bookshelves. But I'm guessing there are hidden doors on both sides."

And beyond those doors is Mom's secret room." Gilda finished, determination in her eyes.

"But what if something like that even exists?" Don asked.

"I don't know," Penny hummed thoughtfully. "But from what I'm hearing, I can only guess that it's probably for..."

"Standard check ins." Ray said suddenly. "I betcha that's where she goes to check in with Headquarters every day. Makes the most sense."

"Headquarters?" Don asked.

"The base that supplies babies and sister s like Krona to this house.

Emma glared at Ray suspiciously. "I'm curious, Ray. Did you know about the room?"

"No." Ray shook his head. "But I had a feeling it existed."

"Let's try to get in." Don suddenly said. "Because what if there's a way to, like, talk to the outside in there? Or some clues about Connie and the others?"

"Don't you think it'll be hard to get in?" Gilda pointed out.

"Who cares!" Don snapped. "We still have to try!"

"Hold it!" Ray said suddenly. "There's no advantage of doing that. I've got a strong feeling that the transmission device only connects with HQ. As for where our siblings were sent to, Mom wouldn't know. So I don't think we'd find any clues. And don't forget the trackers could show where you're snooping. That is if the security in the room does it first. It's too risky."

"Yeah, but..."

"I'm trying to tell you that the risks greatly outweigh the benefits!" Ray said, glaring at Don.

Don shrunk back, his eyes wide with fear.

"Don..." Penny muttered, taking his hand gently. He squeezed it back, shaking.

"I agree." Norman said. "And we still have to worry about Krona, so it's not really wise to make foolish moves."

"Exactly." Ray said. "I still got Mom under control. But we're done for if Krona finds out. Keep that in mind."

Penny glanced at Don worriedly, who looked furious.

Ray glanced at Don. "Don, do me a favor and go make dinner, please. If one of us doesn't go..."

"Yeah." Don snapped, shrugging Penny off him. "I know." He stomped out the door, followed closely by Gilda.

"Don..." Penny mumbled, and Norman wrapped an arm around her shoulder comfortingly.

Gilda was about to head to the kitchen, but she noticed that Don wasn't following her. She turned towards Don and saw that he was walking towards Mom's bedroom.

"Don, but that's-!" Gilda gasped.

The two walked until they stood in front of Mom's door. Gilda sweated. "Are you really going in?"

"I can't just stay calm like the rest of them..." Don muttered. He narrowed his eyes. "And I wanna know Mom. I mean, the real Mom."

Gilda faced at the door, finally agreeing with him with a silent nod.

Don knocked. When no one answered, the two walked into the room. It was empty. Gilda gently shut the door behind her. Don glanced at the bookshelf and narrowed his eyes. "There's a hidden door behind this thing."

He tried opening it, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't open. "Why won't it budge?!" Don asked in frustration. "Is it really even here?!" He smashed it with his arm again. "We have to hurry up and find some clues that will help us rescue Connie!"

"Maybe..." Gilda glanced at the bookshelf, narrowing her eyes. "Take a closer look at this shape...." She slid the bookshelf back, and Don's eyes widened at the sight of a door in front of them.

Don narrowed his eyes. "Come on." He tried opening it, but the nob gave a small click. "Oh, man, it's locked!" Don groaned.

Hearing the door creak open, the two turned towards the door.

Their eyes widened in horror as it swung open.