They all instantly peeled out and followed Alvin, hustling across the lobby, then heading toward the mansion's right wing. After moving down the right corridor, they stopped in front of a door on the left side.
"What's the big deal in here?" Zack demanded.
"You're about to see," Alvin rasped.
"Creeeak." Alvin wrenched the door wide open. They all stepped inside and were immediately shocked, then hit with the same wave of sheer terror that Alvin had. They were looking at a room set up like a music and study room for a little kid, complete with a large piano smack in the middle. Low cabinets lined the walls, the floor was carpeted, and there was a small desk, clearly a space custom-made for a child's learning.
But the horror show? The walls were crisscrossed with deep, violent claw marks, like some massive beast had ripped into the plaster. Kids' drawings were underneath, but they'd all been aggressively covered in thick black crayon, and there were even claw marks sliced into the ceiling. The piano lid had gashes on it, and its leg looked like something wild had bitten it.
The whole place felt wrong. Inside the claw marks on the walls, faint reddish streaks—what looked like ancient, dried blood were visible. The energy in the room was completely foreign and different from outside; it was intensely negative and made anyone who entered feel like they couldn't breathe.
"W-what in the hell is this room?" Nolan asked.
"Th-this is terrifying," Helena whispered, subconsciously grabbing Nolan's arm because she was so scared.
"Ugh... I-I feel sick," Ingrid muttered, covering her mouth.
"Hey! Why the hell did you bring us here, Alvin? It's obvious something is seriously screwed up in this house," Zack yelled, grabbing Ingrid by both shoulders.
"I had to show you guys this, didn't I?" Alvin replied, his own voice shaking.
Selma walked over to Helena and immediately hugged her from behind without saying a word, trembling all over.
"B-but what the hell happened here? Those claws... what kind of animal did that?" Nolan asked.
"Don't know and don't care! Let's get the hell out of here," Zack urged.
Nolan pulled his arm free from Helena's grip. He walked further into the room and checked out the deep, huge claw marks, they looked like something was trying to literally tear through the wall to escape. Then, Nolan looked around the room, examining the drawings on top of the cabinets. On one drawing, he could faintly see something beneath the black crayon: a picture with four little feet and hands clasped together, looking like two small kids holding hands under a sun.
"Huh... this drawing... where have I seen it before?" Nolan thought to himself.
"Hey, Nolan, let's go!" Selma yelled, still inside with Helena.
"Oh... right," Nolan said, turning and quickly running out of the room.
"Slam!" Nolan shut the door. Everyone in the corridor instantly went silent. Not a single person spoke. Their stomachs churned, and their bodies were shaking and crawling with fear.
"So now what? We ditch this place? I don't need the money anymore," Selma asked.
"Yeah, that's probably for the best. We don't know what went down in this house," Alvin agreed.
"I'm in," Ingrid replied.
"Alright, let's go, what are we waiting for?" Zack countered.
"Um... okay," Helena added.
They all immediately bolted toward the main mansion door, but just as Zack reached for the doorknob to open it, "Tap!" Nolan suddenly yanked Zack back, making him stumble.
"Hey! What the hell?" Zack shouted.
"Don't touch it! Stay away from that doorknob," Nolan yelled.
"Huh... why?" Selma questioned.
"Look at the floor," Nolan answered.
Everyone instantly looked down at the floor, where they could clearly see a shitload of dead mosquitoes scattered across the white tile, visible with just a quick glance. And not just there, the entire length of the walls, windows, and curtains had piles of dead mosquitoes.
They all backed up immediately. Nolan took off a sandal he'd found in his room and threw it at the door. "Bzzzt!" The sandal instantly sparked and jolted. "Aaah!" Helena, Ingrid, and Selma screamed, seeing that not just the doorknob, but the entire door was rigged with a powerful, dangerous electric current.
The door itself was metal painted to look like wood, as if the owner was trying to shield the house from outside criminals or trap something inside.
"Just to be safe... don't touch any windows... curtains... or anything on these walls... it's dangerous," Nolan said, catching his breath and still holding onto Zack from behind.
"Okay... okay, I get it. Please let me go and... thank you," Zack said.
"So... now the six of us are completely isolated in this house... for twenty-nine days," Selma said.
"Looks that way," Ingrid added.
"I-I'm scared... I'm genuinely terrified," Helena stammered, hugging herself.
"This means we were played, who knows what those servants wanted by locking us in here," Zack declared.
"No... even if we were played, that's on us for taking the bait... but for some reason, my gut is telling me this whole thing is real. I just... I never expected it to be like this," Alvin countered.
"What about going through the garden? When I was walking around earlier, I saw a gate in the side garden that looked like it might lead to the front of the mansion," Ingrid suggested.
"Let's go check it out," Alvin said.
They all immediately ran toward the living room and exited from there, following Ingrid, who led the way. After turning toward the front section of the house, they saw a small pavilion and a fence that seemed to be made of solid, tight metal, blocking the view to the outside.
"Okay... this is impossible," Zack groaned.
"It's the same deal as inside," Alvin stated.
"Ugh... so we can't get out that way either," Ingrid replied.
"Just try throwing something at the fence. Maybe it's not electrified," Selma suggested.
Zack picked up a rock from the ground and threw it at the fence. "Bzzzt!" The rock instantly jolted, and sparks were visible on the fence.
"I shouldn't have come here... I came because I wanted to get my memory back and find my parents... I don't care about the money... sniff... sniff... sniff," Helena sobbed, hugging herself and crying.
"Huh?" everyone asked, including Nolan, who instantly turned to stare at Helena. Selma immediately wrapped her arms around Helena. Nolan also moved closer to Helena.
"You... you have amnesia?" Nolan asked.
Helena didn't answer, but she nodded to confirm Nolan's question. Nolan then glanced at Alvin, Zack, and Ingrid, who were staring at Helena whose still in Selma's embrace, with faces that screamed, "Is she the billionaire's grandchild who called us here?"
They were clearly already scheming, and Nolan could practically feel the gears in their heads spinning furiously for an angle. Nolan looked over at Selma, who was still holding Helena. Her face looked normal, but a thin, fleeting smile crossed her lips, as if to say, "She's already mine."
"Now I get why there was a rule about not asking about backgrounds or talking about ourselves... everyone here is dangerous and totally untrustworthy. They're all going to be all over Helena now, trying to suck up to her because they think she's the real heiress... and they've clearly forgotten the second question: who isn't human," Nolan thought to himself.