The two headed towards the light in front of them. They noticed another path laid out in front of them; this one seemed different, though. As the two walked closer, Tommy and Maggie looked around, crystals attached to the walls glowed prominently everywhere they turned. They had variations of sizes and colors, almost as if they’re neon lights at a rave, glow sticks at a concert, or even rock candy you’d find at a store.

Tommy leaned over to inspect a crystal; he could see his reflection on one of them and reached for a red one. When he pulled it out of the wall, however, the heat rose around his side, causing it to burn. Tommy quickly let go of the crystal and yelped in pain as a result and tried to blow softly on his hand to numb the pain.

“Are you all right?” Maggie asked, checking for marks on his body.

“Yeah, I'm fine,” Tommy replied weakly, rubbing his hands. “Why did it do that, though? How did it do that?”

“You’re asking me? I don’t know, maybe it’s just that crystal, and the others are different.” I don’t even see why you’d do that.

Maggie walked over and extended her reach to grab a peach-colored crystal. After taking it out from the wall, it didn’t seem to burn her hand. The presence felt warm and light, being surrounded by a soft glow around her hands soothingly.

Tommy, on the contrary, had a feeling something was up. He wanted to ask her how she knew one wouldn’t give her any side effects, but he didn’t have concrete evidence, or was he sure if what Maggie said was a coincidence or just a superb guess. To be on the safe side, though, it wouldn’t hurt to ask right now.

“Hey, Maggie, do you know what that one does? It doesn't seem like anyone is—”

Sounds of footsteps interrupted him as it came closer to where they stood.

“Who’s there?” Maggie asked, quickly turning to face the entrance.

“Quick, we should hide!” Tommy whisper-yelled, pointing over at a big rock.

The two ran and hid behind the rock as two shadows appeared in the area from the sides. Tommy and Maggie peeked their heads out as more shadows showed up and gathered around the area where the crystals were. Tommy squinted his eyes, trying to get a good glimpse of who was there, but he couldn't get a great view of anything without getting spotted. Maggie mentioned she couldn't see well either.

Two of the shadows dug through the walls and knocked over some crystals, while two more brought in some baskets to fill them in as they passed the buckets to the next group for taking out before repeating the cycle.

“What are they doing? And what could they be doing? Taking all of those crystals like that...” Tommy whispered. He turned to notice that Maggie wasn’t paying attention or listening to him as she was too focused on the glass she recently got. “Uh, Maggie?” He asked, trying to get her attention.

“I think it’s dirty,” Maggie muttered. She rubbed the crystal to get a better view of it, as the shard shined brighter, too bright even.

A flash of light beamed out from the crystal. It bounced around the walls and headed towards the entrance to the room. The glow of light caught the attention of the shadowy figures.

“What was that?” One of them asked.

“I think it came from over there.” Another figure replied while pointing at the gray rock Tommy and Maggie hid behind.

“Run!” Tommy exclaimed as he and Maggie escaped their hiding spot and rushed out of the area as quickly as possible.

“Hey!” The shadow figures shouted as they gave chase.