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Chapter twenty-three -- Finale
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With their stuff packed in their bags, the three students and their new ally ran back down the hallway. They stopped in front of the main door and called out for their chameleon friend, expecting him to still be camouflaged.
"Roc? Are you still hidden? You can come out now, we got your stuff." Roya called out. However, the chameleon didn't reply as he was no longer there. Damian had taken him away, but they obviously didn't know that.
"This is a problem" Oliver said, "because he's obviously taken by Damian. Now we've gotta go look for him." Roya, Layne and the cheetah nodded in agreement, before Layne said "I've got an idea where they might've gone."
Following the arctic fox, everyone left through the main door and went to the building where Roc and Roya had been locked up earlier. As they reached the door, Layne went to grab it but hesitated for a second. He turned around and addressed Roya.
"Wait, you've been conditioned, I think?" He asked. Roya frowned, unsure of what the arctic fox meant by that. "As soon as you're gonna walk in here, you're probably gonna drop into his trance. With the stage thing." Layne explained. Roya nodded. " ahh, yeah. I have." The fox replied.
"I'm gonna have to take care of that first, otherwise that might backfire on us. I hope you don't mind." The arctic fox said, as he reached in his pocket and pulled out a small pendant. He wrapped the chain around his right arm and swung it in front of Roya's face. Oliver looked at the arctic fox. "What is it with you guys and always carrying pendulums?" The goat asked. Layne didn't even look at his friend. "A true hypnotist always comes prepared." He said, as he brought Roya down into trance. It didn't take long for the fox to sink, as his mind had by now gotten used to dropping easily.
"Good boy, so eager to drop into hypnosis. However, I want you to fully ignore all suggestions and conditioning that has been given to you for the next thirty minutes. Are you okay with that?" Layne asked the zonked fox, who absent-mindedly nodded. "Good." Layne said, sharply snapping his fingers in front of his face. "Now we're ready."
The building was completely silent except for the sound of the three students and Layne walking through the halls. They'd left their stuff at the door and traversed the hallway. Eventually, they reached the end of the corridor, where previously the old grandfathers' clock had been and where Roya found Roc that one night. Not knowing where to go, Oliver suggested splitting up, but Roya didn't agree. "You've clearly never seen a horror movie, where the protagonists always split up and die to the monster." The fox said. The four quickly debated what to do, until Layne proposed a coinflip. If heads, all four would go up the stairs and later go down to the basement. If tails, they'd split up. Layne and Oliver would go upstairs, Roya and the cheetah would go down.
Everyone agreed to the flip, so Layne reached into his wallet and pulled out a coin. The arctic fox threw up the coin. It momentarily hung suspended mid-air, light reflecting off of it as it spinned, before he caught the coin. He revealed the result by removing his hands, showing that the coin had landed on tails -- and so the four split up. Oliver and Layne teamed up and walked up the stairwell, Roya and the cheetah walked down.
"We've never really formally introduced ourselves, have we?" The cheetah asked. Roya shook his head. "Not really, no. I'm Roya." He replied.
"Cool, nice to meet you Roya. I'm Seville." The cheetah said. "Cool." Roya answered.
An awkward silence lingered and the two got to the bottom level. Roya realized he was at the jail cells where he and Roc had been kept captive. "This might be where they keep him." Roya told Seville, looking through all the windows to see if he could catch a glimpse of Roc, to no avail.
"It doesn't look like he's here." Roya said. He turned around to go back upstairs to meet up with Oliver and Layne, however he immediately realized Seville was missing. Frantically he looked around to see if he could find his schoolmate, however she was nowhere to be found.
"Seville? This isn't funny, especially not in this situation. Where are you?" The fox called out, frustrated at the sudden disappearance. No reply. "Fuck."
Frantically, the fox ran back down the corridor, reaching the stairway. No trace of the cheetah there either. However, he did hear some distant noise up the stairs. So naturally, the fox decided to go up the stairs to figure out what the noise was and meet up with his friends, to tell them what had happened to Seville.
As he got up the stairs, the sound started to become more clear. It was Layne calling out for the fox. "Roya, Seville, can you hear me?" Layne called out repeatedly. "Layne, it's me! Roya!" he replied as he ran up the stairs. Eventually, he saw the fox standing at the same location as the old grandfathers clock had. "What's up? And where's Oliver?" Roya asked.
"Where's Seville?" Layne asked in response. "Disappeared, no clue where she could've gone." Roya replied. He knew that she wasn't in the jail cells, else she would've heard one of those doors close. Layne looked at the fox in disbelief. "Oliver disappeared too, just like Seville... Super weird." Roya stared back at the arctic fox. "But you must've seen Seville walk through here.. right?" The fox asked. Layne frowned at the accusation. "No, but I did find what you were looking for. I've got it right here." Layne said, as he reached over his shoulder and revealed a medium-sized velvet bag.
Roya froze in place as Layne revealed a dark-red metronome, steadily ticking at roughly thirty beats per minute. Immediately, the fox felt his focus magnetize to the ticking sounds and the swaying arm. "Come on, did you really think I'd let you get away so easily? Master would never allow that to happen." The arctic fox spoke, holding the metronome in front of the fox. Roya's attention was fully taken by the metronome, barely hearing what Layne was saying. The arctic fox slowly pulled the metronome down to the ground and put it down, and Roya attentively sunk to his knees to keep staring at the metronome.
"You should've known better." Layne said. Behind him from down the hallway, Damian appeared. The wolf looked rather pleased as he watched down upon Roya.
"Good job Layne, you've done well as expected." Damian said, giving the arctic fox a pat on the shoulder. The wolf then faced Roya, who had been completely turned into a blank hypnotized subject again. Damian kneeled and shook his head at the sight of Roya. "So rebellious, so naïve. For no reason whatsoever, because we both know that you want to join me. You wouldn't have been this susceptible otherwise." The wolf whispered. As he finished his sentence, his two followers appeared from different floors of the stairway. The horse, Jamal, was carrying Oliver in his arms. The goat was deeply asleep, as evidenced by his regular deep breathing. Meanwhile, Malai was walking with Seville by her side. Seville's eyes were blank and she had an empty smile on her face -- clearly entranced by one thing or another. Damian smiled. "Looks like we're all complete. Layne, please carry Roya." He said, snapping his fingers at the fox who instantly fell into deep slumber.
With the wolf in front and Malai, Layne and Jamal following closely behind -- each of them carrying one of the students, they made their way to the giant wooden door where Damian had been when Roc saved his fox friend. Damian opened the door for his three followers, who entered the room and placing the three sleeping students on the floor. "Good. You're all dismissed, thanks for your help." Damian said, gesturing them to leave. They all nodded and left the room, with Layne closing the door behind him.
Damian proceeded to handcuff the three students, making sure they couldn't do anything to harm the wolf. He walked over to the corner and opened a closet door, revealing Roc inside. The chameleon was too sleeping deeply, having been overpowered by the wolf when he tried to make him trip. He carried Roc over to his friends and placed him next to Roya, before turning around and grabbing a remote control similar to the one his father used in the dining hall. He pressed a button and a giant spiral appeared on the wall projected behind him.
