Chapter 2

"We shouldn't be far from a solution now", Frey said. His voice, it sounded calm. Which, looking back, was unnatural, since it was indeed a very tense situation.

Not that there wasn't hope, just that we had been at it for what seemed like hours. Then again, time tends to have a funny way of being the opposite of whatever you think it should be. One boy had proposed the idea that we take our chances with the ladder, but no one had paid attention to him since the start. As if anyone could face those lasers. Maybe that was what they wanted from us, the ones above, the ones watching our every move. Maybe they wanted to see how long it would be before we did climb that ladder.

At first, we just ignored that. But after time and time again of knocking against the walls, banging the floors, even mildly touching the edges of the ladders. One even threw his shoes up to see if the lasers were there. Of course they were, and it was somewhat a pity, those shoes looked fancy. The arguments started. The minor push, the occasional glare, people started to fight. The conflict was there.

As I walked away from the argument, hoping to find something that may help us escape, I saw a tall boy. He stood away from the people, a fleeting shadow. It was as if at any moment, he would be someplace else, and I wouldn't see one inch of him. Like he could just disappear.

He looked around, as if he was studying us. His eyes rested on me, and I said, "Come on. It's alright, I won't hurt you." Not that I could, but just that I thought it would be something reassuring to him. The boy shook his head slowly and stepped back before turning around...and ran. This boy, he could be important, he could know something! I decided to go after him.

Step, step, step.

Left, right, left, right. He seemed so far from my grasp, like a shadow, a wisp among the lights. I could hear Frey shouting behind me, telling me to stop, warning me of how that boy could be dangerous, but I had seen this boy, and he wasn't from our group. Either he knew something, or he was part of it. Which at that point was almost the same thing.

"Stop." I heard the boy say. Did he just speak?

"Stop, you won't catch up anyway."

I didn't respond, and continued running. However, he was equally as fast, and we were getting nowhere with this wild goose chase. Whenever I almost caught up to him, when he was almost in my grasp, he'd start running even faster, and I'd start slowing down from exhaustion. So near, yet so far. It almost seemed like he had infinite stamina.

I decided to take a risk, and leaped onto him. If I didn't catch him, he would have been able to escape while I fell to the ground.

However, at that moment, lady luck was on my side.

"Name?" I said. My lungs were burning, but I couldn't show weakness. His eyes were calculating something; There was the warmth of emotion, and yet that emotion wasn't meant for me.

He muttered something, and I shook him back and forth violently. "You heard me."

"Wisp", he spat. "The name. Is. Wisp."

"So- oh", I took one good look at his face, and heaven forbid if I wasn't surprised. His hair was white, like one of a crone's. His eyes were those of a demon. I stared at him, and two red irises, fueled with a flurry of anger and hatred, glared back at me. This boy, he wasn't a wisp, but rather, a ghoul.

"Let me go!" Wisp struggled against my grip, and it was by pinching my wrist that he managed to free himself.

How dirty.

However, this time, he didn't run. He was probably also out of breath.

"Who is this guy?"

No, I thought to myself. He must have a reason, or some way to be here. I shook him again, and the hatred in those eyes just intensified. "I don't know anything, man!"

"Last time I checked, you weren't with us," I said.

"Are you sure about that? Hm?" Wisp challenged. His voice, now I noticed, had that challenging tone in every word, like he wanted to prove everyone wrong in everything. "Why don't we do a head count to confirm?" Ignoring him, I dragged him back to the gang, and said to Frey, "I'll check around for anything that could help. Don't lose sight of him. Ever." He nods, and I throw him over into Frey's grip.

"Listen up", I said to the others, and I was suddenly the centre of attention. It is strange how someone can draw that to themselves that easily. "We have a problem, and I've found a..."

However, before I could finish my sentence, a deafening noise echoed all around the dome.

Boom.