The Dark Forest / Act 1, Part 5

"He's joking right?" Trinity said

The countdown had started, we had an hour to find a key to get out of this room, or else we would be expelled.

As soon as the TV turned off, I looked around the room, trying to find something that didn't fit in, or felt off

"What are you looking at?" Asked Tom

'Didn't you hear him, we have to find a way out, I'm trying to find something that feels odd"

I responded, but as soon as I finished talking, I spotted something, a painting that had small barely visible markings on the edges, I made my way to the painting which was located in the corner of the room

"Why are you guys just standing still, look for something"

I realized that everyone was just standing still, and not really helping me out. Seeing as there was a camera in the room, I could tell we were being watched and closely monitored to tell which one of us was the smartest and most capable. I didn't want to come off as the leader of the group, but if I didn't tell the rest of the group to do something, we might be expelled

"What do we look for?" Asked Gabe

"Things that feel off or things that look strange"

I grabbed the painting and pulled it off the wall and closely observed it, the markings were in each corner of the painting, XX on the top right, III on the bottom left, VI on the bottom right, and XVIII on the top left. Roman Numerals, I hadn't seen any in my lifetime but I learned how to read 1-50 in the 7th grade, but 50 was my limit, I might be able to read 51 but that's it:)

With the numbers 20,3,6, and 18 now in my head, I looked around the room if there was any representation of these numbers or even anywhere I could put these numbers

*Trinity POV*

Mora had finished looking at the painting on the wall and started looking around again, From where I was standing I could tell there were roman numerals on the painting, good vision was one of the only good things I was born with.

I walked up to Mora

'What was on the painting?"

"Huh?...The numbers 20,3,6,18"

"You got any idea on how we can use them?"

"I'm working on that right now...Hey, can you tell the rest of the group the numbers I just told you, and also tell them to look for any representation, or anywhere we can put the numbers?"

"Huh? Sure"

I didn't know why Mora wanted me to do this when he could do it himself. We still had plenty of time, it would only be a small inconvenience if he took the time to do so. I looked at the camera with a curious expression.

I walked toward Gabe and Tom who were having a conversation while looking at a bookshelf seeing if it had anything important

"You find anything?" asked Tom

"No, most of these books are probably here for show"

Before I spoke to both of them I had an idea that crossed my mind but I would see if it was true when they were both out of the way

*GLANCE*

At the corner of my eye I noticed Mora looking at me, I quickly looked back but Mora quickly turned his head in another direction. He freaks me out sometimes, you never really know what he's thinking. Maybe that's why Quinn acts weird around him, maybe be he's interested in him, well, not in a gay way but there might be something unique about Mora

"Hey, you guys got anything?"

"Nope, nothing here so far"

"Yeah like he said, most of these books have nothing important inside them," said Tom

"Maybe you guys should look around for something that might make the books useful, looking in them will take forever...oh I forgot to tell you guys, 20,3,6,18 look for does numbers"

"What...why?" Tom said with a questionable expression

"I found them over by the painting, they might help us get out of here"

Tom and Gabe looked over my shoulder and looked at the painting and then looked back at me.

'You got it' Said Gabe

"Oh... and if you're going to mess with the books make sure to put them back in the right spot, if the books are involved in us getting out of here, having them in a messed up order might make it harder for us," I said then left them to do whatever they were going to do

I stood still and looked around the room to see if I might spot something that might be helpful. but then I realized something, 20,3,6,18. I turned around and went back to the bookshelf.

20th book, 3rd page, 6th word, but I couldn't figure out what the 18 was for,

"hey what are you doing" I shoved Tom out the way

"1..5...7..12...17...20 here it is"

I pulled the book out and opened it, I turned the page to the 3rd page and counted the words. The book was called "The Hidden World Within Kin" The third word was KIn, that didn't really help, but it brought me back to the 18 I didn't know how to use, I tried looking at the 18th word but it only gave me "World"

"Hey, did you find something?" Asked Gabe

"I thought I did, remember the numbers I gave you? Well I figured that the 20 was for the 20th book, the 3 was for the third page, and 6 was for the 6th word, after all, I got the word KIn, but I don't know how we could use the 18"

"Did you try looking for the 18th word?

"Yeah, but I got the word "World" which I don't see any way it can help us"

"Maybe you could split the numbers," said Gabe

"What?" I looked at Gabe

"You know, like make 18, 1 and 8, Maybe 1st page and 8th word"

That could work, I turned the book back two pages and looked for the 8th word

"Eyes"

"So Kin Eyes?"

I had only heard of Kin Eyes once before, my dad told me that they were a technique in which you would infuse your eyes with Kin for a short period of time, this allowed the user to see messages that were made with Kin and hidden from normal eyes. The school board said we weren't allowed to use Kin eyes as it was a banned technique.

"So who wants to try it?" I asked

Even tho the user would only have Kin eyes for a short period of time, depending on how much Kin you put into your eyes, it was still a painful process, you would put some Kin in your fingers, and then you would have to stab your eyes, you wouldn't damage your eyes as the Kin prevented that from happening but it would still hurt.

That didn't change the fact that if one of us didn't get Kin eyes we might not be able to see important information to get out of here.

"I'll do it" said Mora