As usual, Jace was their group's go-to voice of reason. He was quick to shut down the impending argument, and he did so with a sternness that rendered both Kelsey and Kindle silent. She was still fuming, still upset by the fact that Kindle had lobbed the Putt's precious keepsakes across the room, but she scowled and bit back the venomous words that threatened to spill out of her mouth.
Later. She'd give Kindle a piece of her mind later.
"Fine. We'll head to Ella's room."
She allowed herself a moment of calm as Jace left them to tend to Ethan. He'd enlisted the help of Marten, leaving the remaining four of them standing idly in the torn up library. Kelsey kept her eyes averted from Kindle and instead stared at her shoes. She'd only heard Marten's question in passing but it left her feeling sick.
The lack of one's identity and belongings seemed to be a reoccuring theme in Henbard, and they were missing almost all of their stuff. It seemed plain, correlating everyday objects to some haunted mansion in the woods... but there was a pattern there - somewhere if she squinted hard enough. If Marten's theory proved true, they were horribly screwed.
The group stood in tense silence for a more moments as Jace continued to tend to Ethan's wounds. It was quiet in the library, at least until a soft thud echoed throughout the empty room.
Fuck... what did it want now?
Standing atop one of the shelves was the miniature pumpkin. The pumpkin's hands raised atop its head in triumph and a mischievous shadowy gash of a smile stretched across its face until it looked like it would break in two.
It eyed them for a moment, hopping from one foot to the other in a mocking jig.
It brought both it's hands to its mouth and whistled loudly.
"Guys, we should go." Kelsey snapped the moment the sharp sound echoed all around them. However, before she could motion for her friends to leave, consecutive thuds resounded as dolls rolled out of the shelves and into the room.
It was something out of a horror movie. One by one, dolls started picking themselves off the ground and pushing themselves to their feet. They weren't the happy or colorful dolls one would expect an eight-year-old to own. Instead, they were old and tattered and manikin-like in the stiff disjointed way they moved.
The dolls were mostly uniform in size, but each came with their own distinct set of features - there was doll with long dark hair and a white hospital gown, a doll dressed up as a sad clown, a doll in a raincoat, and doll with a steel mask and more. They multiplied with each thud until there were about eight of them in total.
Kelsey immediately reached for the box, pulling out Han's scarf as the doll army assembled.
As the dolls approached, Jo's ears flattened against his head. Confused, and quite aware of everyone else's fear and discomfort, Joseff pulled back his lips and snarled angrily at the approaching threats.
"Shhh, it's okay, Jo."
The situation was far from okay, but Kelsey was horribly scared that they would attack if Joseff so much as barked.
Her worst fears were realized when Joseff finally began snapping his jaws at the threat. In a split second, the dolls were upon them - tiny monstrosities launching themselves at frightening speed.
The doll with the mask pulled out a knife as it ran towards them.
"RUN!"
As all the dolls began to wreak chaos upon the library, they also got to work separating the group.
London and Ethan were the first to be separated and sent on their merry way. The duo found themselves cornered in an isolated part of the library by a slew of gathering dolls. Things were looking bleak, and they tried to step away only to find themselves with their backs pressed firmly against one of the huge ornate shelves.
As the dolls gathered in front of them, one doll in particular began to mount one of the many book shelves.
The doll blew a flying kiss their way before pulling a nondescript book out of its location. Similar to the secret passage from earlier, the shelf they were leaning against spun around and propelled them into darkness.
Instead of a horizontal path however, they found themselves descending down what felt like a dark and musty slide to nowhere. Dust and cobwebs smashed into their faces before they found themselves exiting the darkness and crashing into cold cement. They were back to square one - the cellar where they'd awakened after dinner.
Before they could get up, a heavy weight was sent crashing into them.
GROUP TWO - GOING TO THE ATTIC
"Hey! Where's London and the Milk Man?" Ana kicked and fought as hard she could. But try as she might to give the dolls hell, the group was easily outnumbered. What started as a handful of dolls had turned into a growing army, and the longer they lingered in the library, the larger the group seemed to grow.
"Why won't they stay dead! We should really, really get out of here now." Ana screamed as she kicked at a doll that tried to block her path.
If they didn't leave, they would be overwhelmed.
"Guys, guys, just run. Ethan and London already left." The voice was unmistakably Kelsey's.
"We need to leave."
Ana didn't need to be told twice. She grabbed Jace and Marten - the people closest to her - and bolted. Kelsey was screaming something about regrouping outside, but there was no time to shout back an answer. The moment the three of them barreled out of the library doors, dolls began chasing after them.
GROUP THREE - ELLA'S ROOM
"Ana, we'll catch up!" Kelsey yelled out as Jace, Marten, and Ana disappeared through the library doors. "Kindle grab your stuff and let's go!" As much as she hated splitting up, there was no other choice right now. London, Ethan, and Joseff had disappear in an instant, and while Kelsey hadn't noticed where they'd gone to in the chaos of it all, something in the pit of her stomach told her they hadn't ran outside of the room. Still, there was no way to search for them right now.
Shit...
A moment of panic as she worried about their well being. Ethan could hold his own in a fight, she was sure he could protect London too, but he was hurt. London had her katana, but she could never really stop herself from worrying about her jumpier friend.
Ethan's with her, she'll be fine. They'll be fine. We need to get out of here then we can find them.
Kindle was pushing her along, saying something about Ella's room, the clues.
Crap. They still had to grab those.
"Just keep going! I'm behind you!" Kelsey kept her eyes trained on Kindle's back. Similar to Jace, Marten, and Ana, they exited the library and barreled down the hall. Dolls chased after them. However, instead heading towards the attic like their friends, they began making a beeline for Ella's room.