The Pink Wizard’s gaze couldn’t penetrate the darkness beyond the open door. “Ash, are you able to hold a flashlight and point it into the room?”

“I. Can. Try.” The flashlight from Ash’s inventory appeared atop the vase. He wrapped his middle third around its handle, like a boa constrictor squeezing its prey. To help anchor it, he pressed his upper body against the rim of the vase and kept his lower body inside, presumably pressing against the interior wall. “Turn. It. On?”

“Yes, please.” She glanced towards the intersection with the main corridor. Convention-goers attired in all the colors of the rainbow ambled by, carrying swords, rifles, shields, maces, axes, giant hammers, and more. None of them showed any interest in what a group of five were doing at the far end of the hall. Not everyone at the convention was possessed. Not yet.

A beam of light shot into the darkness, but failed to illuminate anything inside. Ash might as well have been shining his flashlight straight up into a starless, moonless night sky with not even insects flying about.

Petals leaned forward, straining to see something. “Aim the light at the floor.”

The beam swept downward. Still, nothing caught the light, no tile or carpet or concrete. Ash tilted the light further, until the lower arc of the beam landed on the door frame. Nothing but blackness lay beyond. No floor. Petals poked her head and shoulders through the doorway, allowing Ash to tilt the flashlight at a steeper angle. There wasn’t even a ledge in evidence.

“Well,” said the Pink Wizard, aiming her staff through the doorway. “Room—if a room you be—if you’re hiding something from me, I implore you, let me See.”

An explosion of sparkles burst from the tip of her staff, forming a brilliant cone of bits reaching twenty feet away, where they impacted a vertical barrier. The sparks between Petals and the distant wall floated lazily downward, dropping below floor level, descending until they were too small to see. A few sparks floated up a short way as though caught by an updraft, but then they too dropped into the swallowing darkness.

The Pink Wizard wasn’t done. “If you have another door in here, let me See it, room, dear.”

A shower of sparks propelled across the room with no floor. Some of them stuck to the far wall and continued to shine, forming a rectangular outline. Smaller groups of sparks stuck to the wall within the rectangle, forming letters. They spelled out two words, one above the other, centered in the rectangle: Flower Head.

Cherri peeked around Petals. “Is that where we’re going? How are we getting over there? Do you have a spell for flying?”

Petals shook her head. “My Move spell isn’t that powerful yet. But we were directed to this room. There’s got to be a way across. Shine your light at the ceiling, Ash.”

The flashlight beam directed upward, illuminating a metal handle attached to a concrete block ceiling. Ash moved the flashlight beam in a search pattern, to reveal a line of metal handles crossing the ceiling, starting on the wall just above Petals and ending at the far wall.

With a hollow laugh, Petals turned to the group. “I don’t suppose anyone has a rope on their person.”

Cherri frowned. “I have a jump rope.” No one else had anything to offer.

“No,” said Petals. “I mean, like a fifty-foot rope one might pack if they were going into a dungeon. In this case, even thirty feet could work.”

The Moon Priestess shook her head. “Nah, I didn’t think I’d be going in a real dungeon at this convention. Sorry.”

“Okay, then,” Petals said. “We have to cross a bottomless pit by swinging from one overhead hand grip to the next. Who’s in?”

Cherri’s hand shot up. “Oh, I’m definitely going. This is the kind of adventure I was born for. Want me to go first?”

“Just wait. Greta, are you going with us?”

The Green Warrior shrugged. “I have no choice. I go where you go.”

Petals had expected that answer. “Elena? What about you? Still game to travel with us?”

The rifle girl nodded slowly. “I won’t say I’m not afraid. But I don’t want to be possessed again. And I’m too curious about being awakened not to go.”

“Good.” Petals returned to peering into the room, twisting her neck to look above her. “Shine your light on the wall above us, Ash.”

Three metal hand grips lined the wall above the door, leading up. Metal screws secured the bent ends of the hand grips to the concrete block wall. The middle portion of the hand grips bowed out, with enough space for Petals to slide in three fingers. She stashed her staff and tugged on the nearest hand grip. It felt solid, and she put some weight on it. It held. She withdrew, backing out of the doorway. “Okay, I’m going first. Ash, I need you to stash your flashlight and wrap yourself around my neck.” She held the vase near her face.

The flashlight vanished as the Gray Healer placed it in his inventory. He didn’t ask questions, but did as asked, stretching from the vase to her shoulder and crawling from there to her neck, winding around it like a snake. The Move spell she had cast on him earlier had apparently altered his body chemistry, as though a vat of glue had been poured on him and hardened into something pliable, imparting to his outer shell the texture of a gummy worm. Her magic had undoubtedly long expired, being only level one, but it had given Ash the mental boost he’d needed to shape and control the pile of ashes he’d been. The serpentine shape worked well for him, giving him more mobility than a pile or blob shape would.

He stuck his wigged end—what served as his head—up next to her chin. “Ready.” No part of him moved as he spoke—nothing like a mouth or lips. Where his voice came from, Petals couldn’t guess. As a clump of ashes, he had no lungs or throat or any of the body parts one expected to use to vocalize thoughts.

She stashed the vase and leaned through the doorway, which still had a glowing outline. The door across the way still glowed, too, and still bore the words, Flower Head. The spell effects shouldn’t expire as long as she was considered to be ‘in the encounter or situation.’ The same should hold true for other spells she might yet cast in her attempt to pass through the far door. She brought her staff to hand and pointed it across the way. “Door which addresses me, grant your Access to me.”

The door bearing the words Flower Head opened, swinging towards her. Beyond it lay more darkness. No shadow monsters came billowing out, to the Pink Wizard’s relief.

She blew out a breath. “Room, where I’m to place my hands, let me See your metal bands.” She waved her staff in an overhead arc.

No grand effect spouted from her staff, but as she directed the tip of her staff at each hand grip, it brightened as though molten, casting a faint light around it on the ceiling. Stashing the staff, she reached for the nearest hand grip on the wall above her. No heat emanated from it, and she gingerly placed a fingertip within a quarter inch of it, ready to draw away at the first indication she might be burned. Then she closed the gap, touching the bright metal. It chilled her flesh. She grabbed hold without harmful effect. “Here goes.” She hauled herself up with one arm and reached for the second grip, exhaling noisily as she caught it.

Planting her feet against the wall relieved some of the strain on her arms. The concrete block gave her good traction. Pulling herself up further, she caught the third grip protruding from the wall.

“Don’t. Fall,” said Ash.

“Shut up, worm.” She meant it jokingly, of course. Petals made a quarter turn and grabbed the nearest hand grip on the ceiling. Releasing the handle on the wall, she made another quarter turn and swung away from the wall. Her momentum swung her within grasping distance of the next rung on the ceiling, and she quickly slid three fingers between the metal and the concrete. Though it wasn’t walking a tightrope, this situation called on her Body Balance stat, and she was glad she’d put a point into it. If she could successfully make the crossing, then Greta and Cherri should be able to as well, both having a point in Body Balance. Elena, however, was a concern, having no stat points at all.

Offense stats helped too, and it hardly mattered which type. Body Offense granted a person physical strength, whereas Mind Offense granted one a strong will, and Spirit Offense gave one an optimistic outlook that allowed one to forge ahead regardless of the situation. Defense stats were also helpful. Body Defense helped one not get fatigued or feel pain so quickly. Mind Defense helped one put pain and fatigue out of their head. Spirit Defense pushed aside any despairing thoughts that might make one falter. This was why Cherri, with so many points in Spirit stats, was always ready for anything and afraid of nothing.

Petals, on the other hand, had most of her points in Mind stats, and they came through for her as she crossed the ceiling, one swing after the other, granting her a strong will to complete the crossing and helping her put aside thoughts of how tired her arms were becoming. She gasped as she latched onto a hand grip at the top of the wall near her destination. She’d made it across. All that remained was to climb down this wall and pass through the open door. Fortunately, the door hung from the other side of the doorway, so she didn’t have it to deal with.

Reaching the bottom hand grip, she swung her legs back and forth to build up sideways momentum. She caught the door frame with her left foot and centered her body closer to the opening. Holding on to the metal hand grip with her right hand and hugging the wall, she grabbed the door frame with her left hand.

The position was awkward. If she released the metal grip, she had one chance to swing her body through the doorway, but her hold of the door frame wasn’t a strong one. Most likely, if she let go of the hand grip, her body would swing outward, she’d lose her grip on the door frame, and she’d plummet into the bottomless depths below. Not a good plan.

From her vantage point, the faint light of her glimmering spell effects granted Petals sight of a floor beyond the open door. That was good. Otherwise, this trip might have all been for nothing. “Ash?”

“Yeah?”

“Crawl down my arm and jump through the doorway. Can you do that? If I fall, I don’t want you going with me.”

“Sure.” He unwound from her throat and crawled along her left arm. When he reached her wrist, he sprang like a striking snake, passing through the doorway. “Done.”

“Okay, good. Slither over to the other side of the door, out of my way. I can’t stay up here much longer. My muscles are giving out. I have to try swinging over or I’m going to fall anyway.”

“Try. Move. Spell,” he suggested. “On. Self.”

“Yeah, if I can manage it.” Keeping her fingertips tight against the door frame, she arched her fingers and willed her staff into her left hand, jammed into the space between her palm and the door frame. She pressed her thumb hard against it. “Magical energies, swing me about. Move me through the doorway without a doubt.”

Her skin tingled. She released the metal hand grip in her right hand.

For a moment, she felt weightless. Her left hand slipped from the door frame. She clung to her staff, and it moved through the doorway, tugging her weightless body after it. Then the weight returned to her body, and she collapsed on the floor. Not wanting to accidentally lose the staff, she stashed it in inventory. At first level, her Move spell wasn’t capable of a lot, but fortunately, it had been enough.

“You. Made. It.”

“I did.” She laughed and sat up, scooting away from the doorway before willing a flashlight to hand. The Pink Wizard and Gray Healer occupied an empty ten by ten room with a closed door opposite them. A key protruded from a keyhole below the doorknob.

She aimed the light at Ash. He still wore his wig and sunglasses.

“You’re looking good, worm.”

“You. Too. Flower. Head.”

They both laughed until Petals cried.

Greta called, “You two all right over there?”

“Yes,” Petals shouted back. “Cherri, I want you to come next. But leave your jump rope with Greta, please.”

“Oh, goody.” She pulled a length of rope from her backpack and handed it to Greta before leaning through the doorway to look for the handholds. Wasting no time, she went right up the wall. With smooth grace, she made the half turn to face her destination. Swinging hand over hand as though she were a spry kid at a playground, she made quick work of the crossing. She climbed down the wall rungs. “I’m coming through.” With her right hand on the bottom hand grip, she swung towards the door and let go before Petals could tell her to wait.

The Moon Priestess fell out of sight.

Petals lunged for the doorway, calling her staff to hand.

The teenager hung by her fingertips on the floor edge.

Petals cast her spell with the words that first came to mind. “Bring this hasty one up here. Move.”

Cherri floated up.

Stashing her flashlight, Petals grabbed the girl’s arm and yanked her into the room before the Move spell could expire.

Once her feet hit the floor, Cherri spun in a circle with her arms raised. “That was so fun!”

“You scared me half to death, girl.”

“I knew you wouldn’t let me fall.” Cherri glanced around. “It’s so dark in here.”

Settled some distance back from the door, Ash turned on his flashlight, providing minimal light for his companions.

“Sit tight until the others join us.” Petals eyed the girl to make sure she was listening and then turned her attention to the two females who had yet to cross. “Elena,” she called, “can you stash your rifle in your inventory?”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

Cherri tapped her foot for attention. “I didn’t have access to an inventory grid until I became an awakened NPC. She probably doesn’t have an inventory grid, either.”

“Okay, Elena,” Petals said, “give your rifle to Greta while you cross over. Greta can stash it and easily bring it over with her. Greta, before she comes over, tie the jump rope around her left wrist. Elena, when you get over here, don’t try swinging for the doorway like Cherri did. When you get over here, I’ll walk you through it, but I plan to grab the jump rope, cast my Move spell on you, and then pull you over. Got it?”

“I think so.”

Greta tied the jump rope to Elena’s left wrist as Petals had requested, wrapping the loose end around the girl’s forearm and tucking it under so it wouldn’t be dangling and in her way. Elena leaned through the door and reached for the lowest hand grip. She drew her hand back. “I don’t know if I can do this.”

“Sure you can,” Cherri said. “If I can do it, so can you.”

“Yeah, but you’re awakened,” Elena replied.

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Cherri said. “I would have done it anyway. You need to have faith.”

“I have faith,” said Elena, “that I’m going to die.”

“Elena,” said Petals, “stay focused and move as quickly as you can, but not so quick that you become careless. I won’t let you fall down the shaft. I’ve got my staff ready to cast Move on you if it’s needed. If you lose your grip, I’ll float you back up to the ceiling, and you can grab hold of a hand grip right away. Take hold of the first grip, and then take it one at a time after that. You’ll do fine. Or you can stay behind. It’s your choice. What do you say? Are you coming with us?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want to be awakened?”

Elena nodded and grasped the first rung with her left hand, the jump rope clearly wrapped around her forearm. With a gasp, she pulled herself up to grab the second rung. A laugh rolled from her throat.

Soon she was at the third rung and making the half turn to face towards Petals. She took the first overhead metal grip in her right hand and then glanced down. “I don’t know about this.”

“You can do it.” A note of cheer rang in Cherri’s voice. “I know you can do it.”

“If you make it across,” Petals said, “I’m betting it will be enough to awaken you. It will only take a minute, and then it will be over. Just focus on the next handle, swing to it, grab it, and then pause and take a breath. Take it one rung at a time. You’ll do fine.”

The rifle girl inhaled and nodded. “I’ll do it.” She released the wall grip and swung on her right arm, twisting in the air as she moved. Keeping her gaze locked on the next ceiling-mounted handle, she slid her fingers firmly around it. But her right hand lost its grip, and she shrieked as she continued swinging. Her eyes widened as they sought the next handle. She grabbed it before her left hand lost its grip. Shrieking again, she swung to the next handle in line and caught it. But she couldn’t keep her grip behind her, and swung yet again.

Greta started her climb up the wall.

Elena caught the next handle and the next two after that, with Greta soon coming across behind her. The rifle girl was halfway across the room before she missed a handle and swung backward.

“Focus, Elena,” said Petals, aiming her staff, ready to cast her Move spell if needed.

The rifle girl kicked her feet to keep her momentum from fading, and grabbed the next rung with her left hand. This time, she kept hold of the rung behind her with her right hand. She closed her eyes, breathing hard. “I’m so tired.”

Greta hung from the pair of metal handles behind Elena. “Let go with your right hand, Elena. I’m right behind you. Between me and Petals, we’ll get you across if you fall. But you have to move.”

A shadow darkened the doorway to the convention hall. “Someone’s in here,” a male voice shouted. The silhouette of a boy in a pirate hat and coat stood framed in the doorway. He pointed his sword into the room. “She’s in here.”

“You’ve got to go, sweetheart,” Greta said softly. “We’ve got unwanted company.”

“I’m going to fall.”

“Then fall already. You’ve got to do something. If you don’t move, I swear I’ll kick you in the back.”

The pirate boy sheathed his sword and leaned through the doorway. Catching sight of the hand grips, he hauled himself up.

“A pirate boy is coming after you,” Cherri said. “Please hurry.”

More shadows darkened the doorway. Pirate boys lined up to make the climb across the ceiling. This was exactly the scenario Petals had hoped to avoid.

“Go,” Greta growled.

Elena sucked in a breath, let go with her right hand, and swung to the next rung. She caught it and let go with her left hand. Greta followed close behind. The rifle girl caught the next rung and then the next… and kept going. With a laugh she caught the top rung on the destination wall and planted her feet against the concrete. “Oh, God, I’m so tired.”

The first pirate boy sped across the ceiling with the agility of a chimpanzee.

“He’s coming fast,” Cherri yelled.

Greta glanced back.

Reaching the rung behind the Green Warrior, the boy hung behind her on his left arm and drew his sword with his right hand.

Petals aimed her staff at him.

The Green Warrior released her hand furthest from the pirate boy, and her bastard sword appeared in it. She swung towards him, her weapon arcing ahead of her, clashing with his weapon and batting it aside. She bunched her legs and kicked with them both, striking the pirate boy in the chest, knocking the wind from him. He swung backwards with more force than he could withstand, and his left hand lost its grip. With an angered yell, he plummeted into the dark depths. Greta kept her grip.

With a gasp, however, Elena lost hers.

Alert for such an eventuality, the Pink Wizard shifted her staff’s aim and shouted, “Magic, prevent the tragic. Elena, Move to me.”

As the rifle girl floated up with eyes closed but hands reaching high above her, Greta completed the crossing to the wall. The Green Warrior reached the bottom wall rung as Elena’s hands reached the bottom of the door frame. At the opposite wall, another pirate boy had climbed up and was coming across the ceiling, with a third pirate boy starting the climb.

Petals and Cherri each took one of Elena’s hands and pulled her up before the Move spell on her faded. She laughed as her companions dragged her face down across the threshold. Rolling onto her back, she thrust her arms above her, the laughter rolling from her as her chest heaved. She sucked air between laughs. One end of the jump rope fell free from where Greta had tucked it in, and it unwound from the rifle girl’s arm, the tied end remaining firmly attached to her wrist.

“A little help here,” said Greta.

“I’ve no great rhyme this time,” said the Pink Wizard while aiming her staff at the Green Warrior. “Move your sorry ass over here.” She lowered her staff and reached out. “Give me your hand.” Greta complied, and Petals pulled the Green Warrior’s weightless body into the ten by ten room.

The second pirate boy finished crossing the ceiling. He came down the wall rungs fast, and jumped for the doorway. Greta’s booted foot smacked him in the chest, and he flew backward three feet before dropping out of sight.

Petals aimed her staff at the third pirate boy, about three-quarters of the way across the ceiling. “Time to join your friends, pirate boy. Move it down the shaft. Ahoy.”

Winds buffeted the teen on the ceiling, and he missed the next rung, losing his grip on the one behind him. Raging, he followed his friends into the bottomless darkness.

Another silhouette appeared at the doorway on the other side of the shaft, this one wearing a miniskirt and pointing a rifle at the ceiling.

“Please don’t make her fall in,” whispered Elena, sitting up.

“Magic winds, I implore, Move that door… and close it now.”

“Don’t you always have to rhyme somehow?” Greta asked with a grin, poetically completing the verse for the Pink Wizard. Not that it helped with the casting of the spell.

The door on the other side of the shaft slammed shut.

A muffled groan sounded, and the door burst open, striking the inside wall. The silhouette stood there, arm outstretched.

“Door, Move and close again,” Petals said, not having another rhyme ready.

The silhouette pointed her rifle across the shaft. Before she could pull the trigger, the door slammed into her.

“Ow!” Once more, she shoved the door open.

“Door, Move.”

The silhouette bashed the oncoming door with the butt of her rifle, but the Pink Wizard’s spell held more power, and the door knocked the shadowy rifle girl flying backwards into the hallway behind her.

“Leave her to me,” said Greta. “You find us a way out of here.” She brought her bow into hand. “I’ve been aching to use this thing anyway. Elena, you want to help?” A rifle appeared in Greta’s other hand, and she offered it to Elena.

The camouflaged girl took possession of her weapon. “You want me to shoot my friend?”

“You mean friends. I’m sure there will be more than one before we’re done.” The Green Warrior chuckled. “I can rhyme, too. You know they’ll kill you if we don’t kill them, right?”

“I guess so.”

Petals brought the vase to hand and lowered it for Ash to jump in with his flashlight. She set the vase near the exit door at the back of the ten by ten room. The key still protruded from the keyhole. “Key, let me See if you hide any secrets.” She didn’t need to rhyme when casting her spells, but it helped her focus if she did. Justine had programmed spells to have a more enhanced effect the better one focused on the casting.

A shot rang out from right behind her. Cherri yelped, and Greta ordered the Moon Priestess to stand back.

Nothing happened with the key. If it had secrets to reveal, they were hidden by magic more powerful than the Pink Wizard’s. She gripped the key and waited to see if anything out of the ordinary happened. When nothing did, she turned it. The locking mechanism clicked, the key crumbled to dust, and the door opened away from her of its own accord.

Darkness and silence lay beyond. Ash shone his flashlight through the opening. A five-feet wide corridor with concrete floor, walls, and ceiling waited for them. The light beam caught no furnishings, adornments, or creatures.

A distant shot fired, and a bullet crunched bone nearby. “I’m okay,” Greta called out.

Another shot sounded behind the Pink Wizard, originating from this side of the shaft. A whimper escaped Elena’s lips. Though unwilling, the girl was shooting her friends.

The whine of speeding ammunition grew louder, and a bullet ricocheted off the wall to the left of Petals, bounced off the ceiling, and hit another wall.

Cherri cried, “In the name of the Moon Goddess, Stop!”

“Thanks, Moonbeam,” Greta said. “Makes shooting them a lot easier when they aren’t shooting back.” Her bow twanged as she fired.

Elena shot twice more, the echoing bangs making it impossible to hear the Green Warrior’s bow. The rifle girl turned away from the opening through which she and Greta fired. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

The Green Warrior clapped Elena on the shoulder. “You did it, soldier. You’re truly one of the Color Guard now.”

The door through which the group had entered the ten by ten room slammed shut. The only light remaining to them was the flashlight Ash held.

“Greta. Come.” Ash set his flashlight on the floor, aimed at the ceiling.

With a limp, the Green Warrior obediently approached the Gray Healer.

He jumped onto her leg and wrapped around her lower thigh. “Heal.”

“Ah, that’s better,” said Greta. “Thanks bunches, worm.”

“You’re. Welcome.” Ash jumped from her leg into his vase. Reaching over the side, he reached for his flashlight. Unable to lift it, he stashed it momentarily and then brought it back out, resting it atop the vase.

In stark white, the words, Encounter ended, flashed into the Pink Wizard’s view. Congratulations, you have gained level three Wizard.

Elena chortled. Or maybe she sobbed. “I did it. I’m awakened.”