Basil was worried when he saw Miriam's burn, rightfully so. Her leg had started to become even more swollen and was pale pinkish red and she had quite a few blisters on her foot. Penelope set Bear down on one of the sleeping bags, Victoria got down on her knees next to him, watching him like a hawk. I looked around the room seeing that Elizabeth wasn't here anymore. Good, she freaked me out. I let Miriam off my back, she winced in pain and quickly hobbled over to the rim of the fountain, she put her feet in the water giving a small sigh of relief. I sat down on the rim, holding her hand, Miriam squeezed my hand so tightly it started to turn red but I didn't let go. "What happened?" Basil whispered to me "Li-" I caught myself, I didn't need to get Penelope in trouble. "They started a fire, we barely made it out and Mir lost her shoe. Oh and we found Bear, he's unconscious but alive, and he's over by the monkey bars, just a bit farther down" I gestured in the direction of the monkey bars. I didn't mention us finding Selina and Seb, Basil would probably make us go back and get them even though I really didn't want to. Basil sighed, sitting down next to Miriam and starting to help her out with her burns. "Did you guys find anything?" Opal asked nervously, she held her sister's hand like she thought Penelope would disappear if she let go. "We didn't find anything-" Penelope cut me off "We did gain some valuable information though" She commented. I glared at her. "We did?" Miriam asked, confused, she looked back at the group. "Yes, we did. We learnt that if we try to escape they'll try and stop us so we'll need to make some sort of distraction on our way out" Penelope kept her voice low so hopefully the microphones wouldn't pick up her voice. I wasn't absolutely sure if there were any microphones in the fountain, Miriam would know, she knew like everything. "And we got a new teammate" Victoria smiled, I'm pretty sure that's the first time I've heard her say anything in a while. "Where's Elizabeth?" I asked suddenly, I had been waiting to see if maybe she was just around the corner but she was just…gone? Basil paled, Opal sighed, frowning. Victoria still didn't react, she just stared down at Bear. She was being kind of creepy. Great, we went from one insane person to another. "Yeah, where is Elizabeth?" Miriam asked, looking at Basil, Penelope didn't care, she had never seemed to find Elizabeth important anyways. "She…was just…" Basil searched for the right words, luckily Opal already had them. "She went kind of crazy and attacked Victoria," She explained, Victoria nodded in agreement. "Then she ran off and none of us were willing to go after her" She finished. Me and Miriam shared a look, I think both of us had a feeling this was going to happen, at least Elizabeth didn't seem to have hurt anybody. Or at least not hurt anybody too badly, Victoria seemed alright, if not a little creepy with the way she sat and watched Bear. "Okay then…note to self, or I guess note to the group, we've got a crazy possibly psychotic girl and a bull man abomination running around and trying to kill us…great" I remarked. Miriam let out a snort of laughter, hitting her foot on the edge of the inside of the fountain bed which caused her to yell out some not so family friendly words. "Language" Basil commented, getting up and starting to dig through our supplies, "Greek, mater fututrix" Miriam retorted. Both me and Penelope burst out laughing at Miriam's comment, Jackson just sighed, seeming disappointed, it was clear neither Opal nor Victoria understood what Miriam had said. Good, Penelope would probably murder Miriam if she swore in any sort of way her sister would understand. I heard small snores, Victoria had fallen asleep curled up next to Bear. I pulled my dagger out of my boot, fiddling with it nervously. "So…what's the plan from here? I mean Miriam's hurt, Elizabeth is gone and the rest of us…" I didn't want to finish what I was saying. "Victoria and Bear can't go out into the maze without somebody older, Basil you clearly don't want to fight," Basil seemed offended by Penelope 's words for a moment before biting his lip and starting to lay out our supplies. "So me, Opal, and Addie are really the only ones who go into the maze" Penelope seemed like she was already ready to head back into the maze. "I'll go out with you guys" Opal smiled enthusiastically, "Wait, we need to figure out more of a plan, I mean we've lost the string and we have no idea where to go" Miriam frowned. "You lost the string" Penelope spat out "Technically it was all of our faults, none of us noticed anything until it was too late. And we were running for our lives, not like we would've been able to roll it back up anyways. We would've had to go back to the burnt area" I snapped. Miriam smiled softly, mouthing a quick thank you, it wasn't much of a problem, that's what friends are for right? Penelope glared daggers at me, oh well, she's kind of annoying anyways. How is Opal even related to her? I mean Penelope 's all pushy and kind of a jerk and Opal's this sweet little kid. "We could follow the string to its end and go get it back" Opal offered "Sounds like a plan" I smiled, I traced my finger along the dragon carving in the otherwise smooth willow wood before sliding my dagger into my boot. "Let's just head out" Penelope rolled her eyes, grabbing onto the string that was still here, pulled tight between the bulls statue and where we had left it. I stood up but Miriam kept her hand on my wrist, holding me tightly from leaving. "Be safe" She warned me "I will" I smiled down at Miriam as she let go of my wrist. Her fingers traced on mine for a moment leaving me a little breathless as a shiver ran down my body. I quickly headed out. Opal kept giving me little looks as we went, "Soooo~ You and Miriam, are you guys…something?" She asked. "Gem, why would they be? Don't ask that" Penelope scolded sharply. "I'm…not sure, she's really pretty and we've been friends a really long time but…" I sighed unsure as to what I could say. Sure Miriam was beautiful and I loved to be around her but I…didn't even know if she liked me back. And it's not like either of us were going to be making it out of this alive…I was glad at least my last moments would be spent with Miriam. We reached the monkey bars for what I hoped to be that last time, "Great, these again" Penelope rolled her eyes as I groaned.
