Chapter ten
When we woke up, yet another child was in our intercross, and a drop box. Finally Penelope had found her sister luckily. I got up, taking a look around, Victoria and Opal were sharing one sleeping bag, Elizabeth and Basil were asleep together on the fountain rim, and Penelope was awake, leaning against the wall. "Hey," I got up, smiling a bit "What's in the box?" I asked "Well there was some clothes," Penelope gestured to Victoria, who had newer nice clothes now. "Nothing for Basil though, I'm calling fan service," Penelope declared smirking "As well as a good bit of food, once everybody wakes up we're gonna have some stuff to eat" Penelope decided. "Got it," I smiled. I walked over to the fountain, splashing some water on my face and taking a couple sips "Any ideas on what we should do today?" I asked. "Well there isn't much we can do other than explore the maze, I think we might be able to find a way out. I mean if there's a way for us to get in as well as air, then we should be able to find a way out" Penelope told me. "Yeah…nobody's ever made it out before" I frowned, sinking in on myself "Well then we'll just have to be the first, Miriam would agree with me" Penelope said, knowing that would push me off the fence. I sighed "Are you doing this because you want to survive? Or…do you just care about Opal making it out?" I asked her. "Addie…promise me something, no matter what happens to me, make sure Opal is okay" Penelope begged "Why me?" I didn't want to be responsible for a life, I'm thirteen?! "If anybody can control this team it's you" Penelope informed me "What?" I asked. "Well Basil's your brother and Elizabeth will listen to him, Victoria knows you chose to keep her safe and take her with us, and Miriam…I don't know what's with you two but she'll listen to you. Even if she's…not dealieeng the best. She's a smart girl, honestly I think she's the only one being sane here" Penelope explained. I paused, Penelope was good at reading people, I had already figured that out but…I had never thought of that before. Would Victoria turn on me if she realized I was the reason Luke died? Basil had a million reasons to turn on me, we were siblings after all. And Elizabeth…I didn't trust her, she was too food motivated. If it came down to it, I didn't doubt she would turn on us for some food. Penelope seemed to trust me, or at least think I was useful enough to not dispose of me. And Opal…I didn't quite know her yet, she was clearly a smart kid though I don't know much more about her. "I swear" I promised Penelope "Swear it on the river Styx" Penelope said nervously "I swear on the river Styx to protect your sister, and make sure she makes it out alive" I swore. There was loud rumbling, thunder I assumed though I couldn't be sure. Penelope breathed a small sigh of relief "Thank you" She said "It's no problem, you'd do the same for me," I paused. "That's not true is it?" I asked her "No, it isn't" Penelope confirmed, shaking her head quietly. I chuckled "I think I actually have a place we can try and check out" I offered, Penelope perked up "Really?" She asked. "Yeah, we can backtrack and head to where me and Luke woke up, I know the way and if that's where we get in, it could be a way to get out" I explained. Penelope smiled "Sounds good…awesome sauce" She looked me dead in the eyes, as if judging my response "Yeah, guess it kind of is pretty awesome sauce" I shrugged. I heard Miriam groan, I looked over, she had finally woken up. Miriam sat up, looking around the group "Am I hallucinating or is there more people?" She asked. "Luckily nobody's hallucinating, we found Victoria last night after you went all sleeping beauty on us, and they found Opal while we were asleep" I explained. Miriam got up, groaning again "Holy Athena, did I hit my head?" She asked "You might a' bumped it when you passed out, I wasn't really paying attention because of the…well y'know" I rubbed my fingers together nervously. Miriam frowned, sitting on the bed of the fountain next to me "What's the plan?" She asked, putting on a brave face. I could tell she wasn't doing well, she was usually more…sarcastic, she had never been the most physically active in our class, she was more the smart one. "Addie over here is going to lead us back to where she woke up, hopefully we can find an exit there" Penelope explained. "We'll be gone for a night though, it took us just over a day to make our way here since me and Mir passed out after the monkey bars" I mentioned. Miriam shivered "Gods, don't remind me of that. I almost died to playground equipment" She groaned softly, clutching at the makeshift bandage on her hand. "We should check on that, should've scabbed over by now" I mentioned, Miriam nodded, unwrapping her hand, she winced in pain. "Looks good" Miriam held up her hand to show us, there was a small scab where she had cut herself. "It doesn't look bad, you should wash it though" Penelope suggested, Miriam leaned over the fountain, putting her hand under the spout on the bulls muzzle, letting cool water run down her palm. Miriam sighed "Feels good, we should just wake everybody up, we can't waste time and it's not smart to leave everybody alone and asleep" She suggested. "I call waking up Basil!" I smirked, turning to Basil and Elizabeth. I would've pushed the two into the fountain but they were too close and I had a feeling Elizabeth might murder me if I got her wet, so I shook the two instead. "Basil! Basil! Get upppppp!" I yelled, shaking the two awake. Basil looked at me, pissed "What?" He asked "I need you two to get your buts up so we can have something to eat" I told him. I headed to where Opal and Victoria were sleeping, shaking them up gently. I stepped back looking over at Elizabeth and Basil, Basil had gotten up and was looking at the box where we kept all of our supplies, Elizabeth was washing her face in the fountain. "May I make a suggestion?" Penelope asked, I nodded "I'm up to listen" Miriam smiled at her. "Maybe you guys should try and use Addie's dagger to cut your hair so it doesn't get all tangled and it stays out of your eyes" Penelope suggested. Elizabeth turned her neck one eighty degrees for the sole purpose of looking at Penelope like she was going to murder her "I will gouge out your eyes if you even think of suggesting that again" She snarled. "How would you even tell if we're…thinking about…" Victoria trailed off at the hard glare Elizabeth gave her. Opal made a small "Hump" Noise, getting up and taking a large drink out of the fountain "I mean it is a good idea, you can probably just keep your hair up though Liz" Basil said. It wasn't like many of us would have to cut our hair anyways, my hair was already short, Elizabeth would probably kill anybody who suggested cutting her hair, Penelope had shoulder length hair already, though it was pretty curly, I wonder if it gets longer if she straightens it? Though Miriam, Opal, and Victoria all had long hair. "I'll do it" Miriam offered, holding out her hand for the dagger. I fished it out of my boot but didn't give it to her. "Do you want me to help? I mean I cut my own hair so I think I'm not half bad" I offered "Sure" Miriam turned her back to me, visibly nervous. "I can't reach. Here sit on the fountain bed instead," I told Miriram, Miriam got up on the bed to the fountain, she was shaking. "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing" I assured her "I-I'm not worried" Miriam tried to sound brave but I could see her shaking "Are you sure?" I asked, Miriam nodded. I grabbed her hair, bundling it all together like a ponytail, just without the hair tie like I usually had. I ran my finger down the flat of the blade, readying myself. I know how to do this, I've done this before, I know…what I'm doing. "You alright?" Basil whispered to me, I nodded, biting my lip. I brought the dagger down on her hair, it cut cleanly leaving Miriam with a short bob of hair, and me with a fistful of hair which I wasn't sure what to do with. I dropped the hair by the back of the fountain, somewhat out of sight "Good?" I asked "I don't know, I can't see it" Miriam joked "Then look at the water" I teased. Miriam looked down at her reflection in the water filling the fountain's bed, she fluffed up her hair, shaking her head side to side to get a little more shape. It didn't look that bad, Miriam had always had really nice hair, I think the blue suits her in this lighting. Somehow she rocked the short hair look even better than I did, she seemed pretty shocked. Honestly I had to, when I first got my hair cut it had taken me weeks to get used to it. Though it was pretty worth it for the insane confidence boost I had gotten. I know of hope Miriam get's that confidence to, she had always been a little nervous. "It isn't that bad" Victoria offered politely, for the record it isn't bad whatsoever not just not that bad, totally awesome sauce if I do say so myself. Which I do obviously. "I think you look great" Opal said optimistically "Maybe this was a good idea, so who's next?" Penelope asked.