Zoe and Oli walked back to the tower, each praying that the plan would work. The scientist was waiting for them. He stood in front of two futuristic looking machines, both connected to the main machine.

"Ah, the chosen two. I have left instructions on these machines for you. I want to to get this machine to work," he said. Oli and Zoe exchanged a look. The scientist didn't know about the sabotaged machine. They were safe.

"Begin," he walked behind them as they rushed to the machines and grabbed their instructions.

We get the instructions and it shows us where we need to put wires and flip levers and turn knobs. It looks really confusing.

Zoe and Oli both set to work, switching levers and plugging wires in.

"Wait, I'm missing a wire, it looks like an important one," Zoe said. She didn't have a red wire. She looked over at Oli, and he didn't have one either.

I'm missing a wire, and I know Zoe is as well, so I really hope I find mine first, but I just keep going and make the circuit board look like the instructions.

The two continued to work on the circuit boards, until Zoe finished hers, and a lightbulb lit up.

Why there are lightbulbs in the medieval era I don't know.

A drawer opened on the machine, nearly hitting Zoe's shins. She crouched down and saw the red wire she needed. Quickly, she plugged it in and a second lightbulb lit up. At the same time, Oli finished his circuit board and grabbed his red wire. When he plugged it in, his second lightbulb lit up. Almost in perfect synchronisation, another flap opened up, filled with wires

I'm just behind Zoe, but I even it up and we're both onto the last task.

The final task is to fit wires together and attach the very long chain to the machine. We need to match up the different wires and attach it to the machine to power it up.

Oli and Zoe raced to put together their wire chains, trying to find the correct wires to fir together. Eventually, Zoe finished her chain and attached it to the main machine. Her final lightbulb lit up. The scientist applauded as she shared a look with Oli.

"Well done. And you, sir, have failed the challenge, and therefore must die," the scientist pushed Zoe to the side and grabbed Oli. He wasn't afraid. He was confident that he would survive. The scientist pushed him onto the machine, strapped him down and walked towards the lever on the wall attached to the machine.

"Oh, and I noticed the little modifications you made to the machine and have fixed them for you," he said.

"What?" Oli said, fear flashing across his face. The scientist pulled the lever, and immense amounts of electricity flooded into the machine. Zoe watched in horror as Oli screamed from the pain, and the scientist laughed maniacally. He struggled against the machine, but he couldn't break free. Eventually, his screams faded and his eyes closed as he died, free from the pain at last.

"You may leave," the scientist said to a horrified Zoe. She followed Alex and Lauren out of the room. As they left, they heard Alison whisper "thank you,".

———

Zoe walked back into the break room, and she saw that the totem piece had lit up. Alison was free.

"Wait, the plan failed?" Dan asked.

"The scientist noticed that we sabotaged the machine. He only told us right before he used to it murder Oli. We had no idea," Zoe said sadly. The guests realised that they couldn't cheat the system in that moment. The impact of the night suddenly hit them, and the inevitability of their deaths in the castle walls sank in again as they looked at the ever growing totem tower, each lit piece signifying two deaths.