I left Beverly with Tyla. She needed someone to keep an eye on her. I didn't want her to wake up alone and feel scared. As I made my way down the hall, people stepped aside to let me through. No one yelled at me or grabbed me or tried to stop me. They looked at me with confusion and fear. Most of the workers appeared to be totally lost. I would find them wandering down empty halls alone with distant looks on their faces. It was like they had no idea what to do with themselves now that Alexander was gone.

  Seeing them like that broke something inside of me. Even if they had been nothing more than a bunch of tools to Alexander, they were lost without him. I hoped there was some way to give them back the memories that they had lost. The guard who had let me go was still standing in the same place. The glassy look had left his eyes. He was wincing and rubbing his head as if in pain.

  "May I have the keys to Roy's room?" I asked. He stared at me with a look of pure fear. I guess that made sense. I was covered in blood and holding a knife in one hand. "Also, do you know where he was keeping my parents?" I added. He nodded slowly.

  "Thank you," I said as he handed me the key. I probably could have just broken down Roy's door the way I had done with Beverly, but I didn't want to startle him. Besides, this guard had helped me before. I wanted to give him the chance to do it again. Hopefully regaining memories wasn't too painful a process for him. I prayed that he would remember who he was and return to a normal life once this was all over. I opened the door to Roy's cell to find him already standing and facing the door with a tense look on his face. He had probably heard all the running and screaming and shouting.

  "What's happening out there? Tiffany... you're all bloody!" he burst out. "What's going on?"

  "A lot. Everything is alright now. Um... Alexander is dead, I killed him myself."

  "What! How did you do that?"

  "I slit his throat."

  "So, either you're joking, or I'm dreaming, or this is really happening! What happened?"

  "Like I said. A lot. I guess I have a lot to explain. Oh! Also, Tyla is here, but she's hurt." Roy stood there perfectly still, blinking rapidly.

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  "It sounds like I missed a lot."

  "Not really. It all happened very quickly. A lot can change in a couple of minutes," I said. He laughed.

  "I guess so." Both Beverly and Roy were walking around as if in a dream. Neither of them seemed to understand what had happened, even after I explained it. To be fair, I was still a little lightheaded from all that had happened. I left them to keep an eye on Tyla while I went to look for Mama and Papa.

  "What did Alexander do with them? Also, what exactly did he want with them in the first place? By the way, what's your name?" At my last question the guard stopped dead in his tracks.

  "I-I'm not sure I remember," he whispered. Maybe I shouldn't have asked him that. Poor guy. He just stood there for a moment, staring at the ground. After a while he cleared his throat and started forward again.

  "If I were to guess, your parents were meant as bait," he said.

  "Bait?"

  "To get you to come back. All of his plans seemed to be related to finding you. That was all that he ever talked about." All the halls here looked the same, but I could tell that we were heading deeper into the building than I had ever been before.

  "Why is he keeping them back here, do you know?" I asked.

  "Yes. They've been sleeping," was all he said.

  "What? What does that mean?" Please, no more torture.

  "He doesn't want too many people to know about this place. So, he keeps some of the prisoners in a deep sleep. He doesn't need them for anything other than bait. But he could also take them back home and they would wake up. But they wouldn't remember a thing." I had to admit that Alexander could be very brilliant when he wanted to be. He had clearly thought this through very carefully.

  "It doesn't hurt them, does it?"

  "I don't know." He was answering all of my questions and doing everything I told him like a robot. I had killed the man whom he worked for but he didn't seem the least bit affected. Maybe he wanted some kind of work to do. Maybe he was happy that I had given him these tasks. What if he wasn't? What if he was just scared of me and felt threatened? I needed to find some way to show these people that I meant them no harm.

  "I would be surprised if it hurt. But I know he probably gave them a particular drug that takes a while to wear off."

  "So, are you saying that I won't be able to talk to them right away?"

  "Correct. We can take away the drug supply, but they're probably going to be out for a while," said the guard. Anger began to rise up inside me. For a moment it took me over. I wanted to cry and scream and yell. But the sudden storm left my soul as quickly as it had come. Things were getting better. Our parents would be okay. They had to be okay. But Tyla and I were going to have to wait longer than expected to return home. That was okay. We still had plenty of work to do here. Either way, Tyla needed more time to recover.