I slammed the door behind me, leaning against it. My mind was racing, new curiosity sending millions of questions buzzing around my head like bees.

Who were the people in the photograph? Why had Liam gotten so worked up about them? Why was the calendar in his closet? What did the colored in dates represent? 

I was still trying to make sense of it all when Liam opened the door (fully dressed this time, mind you), shoving me forward. I jumped away in surprise. "Hey!" I yelped.

"What were you doing?" Liam asked, eyes narrowed in suspicion. 

"Nothing!" I said truthfully. Liam's eyes lingered on me, trying to determine whether I was lying. Apparently satisfied, he shut the door behind him. 

"Don't go in there," he grunted. After a moment, he added, "please."

"Fine, whatever," I said, this time less truthfully. Whatever was going on with Liam, I wouldn't find out about by leaving his closet of secrets alone. Unless, of course, I got them out of Liam directly. But that would require me to talk to him regularly, build trust, and tell him stuff in return, and I sure as hell wasn't gonna do that. At least, not any more than I already had.

Liam sighed, a faraway look in his red eyes. "Thank you."

I didn't quite know what to say to that. You're welcome was far too friendly, but nothing just seemed extremely rude. 

"Uh, sure," I said awkwardly. 

"Okay!" Liam said brightly, shaking off strange mood unnervingly fast. "Let's find something to occupy our time with, shall we?"

"Okay..." I said slowly. 

"We've got games down on the main floor, if you're into that. There's also a TV, I think we have some books-" Liam was cut off by the sound of a door slamming. We both whipped around to see Lucca, glaring at Liam with more distaste than I thought one face could convey.

"You will not be showing the human our recreational room, because the inside of my office space is the only thing you'll see," he said firmly, glare never leaving Liam's face. 

Liam laughed nervously. "But that sounds boring. It's my job to find something for Blythe to-" Lucca scoffed. 

"No, it's your job to keep this place up and running. Supposedly, anyway. I am willing to let some insolence slide, but over the past two days, you have kidnapped a girl we have no space for, murdered a valued member for a reason you will not specify, forgotten almost half of the grocery list I made, and spent the rest of the time doing nothing at all!" Lucca said, voice escalating into a shriek. He cleared his throat, and Liam winced.

"Sorry about the groceries. And the human. And for doing nothing," Liam muttered. Lucca raised an eyebrow, apparently still unsatisfied. 

"And about Robbie?" he prompted. Liam scowled. 

"I'm not sorry about that." Liam said, voice colder than ice. Lucca, noting the change, just nodded. 

"Okay. We have shipments for you to sign off on, application requests," Lucca said, ticking off a few more tasks on his fingers. "And, before I forget, guards are reporting a bit of a...situation in the basement."

"Situation?" Liam asked, voicing my own thoughts. Lucca shrugged.

"No details were given, but they want you down there, which probably means," Lucca's gaze slid to me for the first time since he'd come in. "Space will clear up sooner than I anticipated."

My stomach churned as I realized his meaning. I glanced up at Liam just in time to see a stricken look on his face. But he recovered so quickly that I thought I'd imagined it.

"I'd better go check that out, huh?" Lucca shrugged. 

"As long as you get your ass in my office before noon, I don't care what you do first," he sniffed. And with that, Lucca was gone, slamming the door behind him. 

Liam glanced down at me. "You'd, uh, better stay up here."

I narrowed my eyes. "Why? What are you gonna do?" I challenged.

"Maybe nothing. Maybe something you don't wanna watch," he said evasively. 

"So what, you expect me to sit up here, not even trying to stop you from maybe doing who knows what to a bunch of innocent people?" I said, not even trying to hide my annoyance. 

"Uh...yes?" Liam asked, wincing. I snorted. 

"Not happening. Now let's go."

That morning had really not been good for me. Though, waking up angry was better than waking up terrified, like I had the day before. Like I'd spent the entire day before. I suddenly remembered why I'd been so scared yesterday. The person I'd just mouthed off to had demonstrated time and time again that he was volatile, capable, and eager to destroy. It was so easy to forget that. 

But I got lucky, I guess, because he just kind of sighed and lead the way downstairs. Confidence, relief, and a tiny smidge of lingering nervousness swelled in my chest as I followed.

Once we reached the basement door, Liam held it open. Even the sight of the pitch darkness below made my earlier confidence wither just a bit. But if there was something I could do to help those people and I lost my chance because I was too scared to get past the door, I'd never forgive myself. 

Holding my head up higher, I carefully placed my foot on the first step. Then, I wave my foot around in the dark for a while until I find the second step. What with all the darkness I'd endured over the past few hours, my fear of the dark had lessened considerably. Especially considering the fact that I'd yet to be completely alone in darkness. 

I shuddered at the very thought. As if he heard my thoughts, Liam spoke up.

"While your flailing around is completely hilarious, can you hurry it up a bit?" He asked, sounding more amused than irritated. I turned around to scowl.

"Well since you put it like that," I said, deliberately moving even slower than before. Liam laughed.

"Fine. Have it your way," he said. Suddenly, I felt myself lifted up into the air. I shrieked. Liam laughed again. With the way I'd been tossed over his shoulder, I felt the vibrations right on my stomach. 

"Put me down you absolute barbarian!" I yelled, beating my fists against his back. Of course, no reaction. He didn't even say anything. 

In a moment of childishness, I reached up to Liam's neck and pinched it, digging my nails into his skin as hard as I could. I honestly didn't expect a reaction, but Liam made a shriek laughably similar to the one I'd just let out. I laughed, triumphant.

Unfortunately, my victory didn't last very long, as the surprise apparently made Liam lose his balance. We fell down the rest of the stairs, landing in a tangled heap at the bottom.