Mick woke up in the straw bed. She rolled her head to the side to take a look at the room she was in. There was no one there. The room was similar to where Hal and Charles woke up.
A single straw bed. A fireplace. A metal pot.
Mick sat up slowly and grabbed her head. No nausea. No headache.
"I wasn't drugged." Mick thought silently.
She took a look at her body. A long white dress that reached the ankles with a medieval style design.
"I wasn't knocked out either." Mick thought silently. "Whoeve brought me here, they had a special way to do it. It must be some new type of sleeping agent or technology."
Mick let out a long sigh. She dragged her body upward and looked around the room.
She found a coin that was similar to Hal. But it had her portrait on it.
"Nothing to use as a weapon… These flimsy floorboards will do."
Mick grabbed a loose floorboard and broke it off. She used it as an improvised bat. It was better than using her fists.
She opened the door and walked outside.
There were already people standing in the town square. Nine other people to be exact.
Charles and Anna had reached the town square. They were talking with Hal and Richard.
Apart from them, there was an older woman, probably in her fifties. A tall skinny man in his late twenties. A male nerd with a pair of thick glasses. A young girl that was probably still in college. An incredibly beautiful woman with long dark hair and pale skin.
"So you can't hurt another person?" Charles said.
Hal and Richard nodded.
"Unless you act in self-defense." Hal added.
"We also figured out that you can't enter another person's home. There is an amulet on top of the door that will push anyone back if they tried to." Charles said.
"That is true." Anna nodded.
"Have you tried removing the amulet?" Richard asked.
"I haven't. I don't know what it would do. Beside, the amulets are hung very high. We need a ladder to reach it or we can try to stand on top of each other." Charles said.
"Very clever. Removing the amulets might cause even more reaction. It wouldn't simply be a push back." Hal said.
"Oh? There is another one. It really is as you said. There are ten people here." Anna pointed to Mick.
Mick was nonchalant about everything. She looked around then approached the town square.
"My name is Michaela. But you can call me Mick. Where are we?"
Charles shrugged. "We don't know either. We woke up here the exact same way you do."
Richard scanned Mick. His eyes darted to the piece of wood in her hands.
"You can drop the weapons. No one can hurt anyone here."
"What do you mean?" Mick said.
Richard turned to Hal.
"Come at me." Hal said.
"Alright."
Richard threw a punch in Hal's face. His fist stopped just a few centimeters before touching him.
Hal's brow furrowed.
"As you can see," Hal said, "No violence is allowed. They will all be stopped by some unexplainable force.
However, you can defend yourself if someone tries to harm you."
Hal slapped Richard again. He slapped hard, letting out a loud noise.
"Hey! You didn't need to slap me that hard."
Hal shrunken back. "I have to. Otherwise it would not be violence."
Richard rolled his eyes.
Then Hal continued. "But even self-defense is limited. I can strike him back one time. If I go further, it will register as violence and he can attack me."
"I think we should do another representation for this as well." Richard said.
"Eh… I'm not going to do that. My slap is nothing compared to your punch."
"Reasonable actually." Richard pursed his lips.
"Who are you people?" Mick said again.
"The name Richard Dawson. Former Specialist."
Charles's mind picked that up but he didn't show any reaction outside.
"Hal Blanc. Comedian."
"Anna Crawford. Hotel Receptionist."
"Eric Donovan. Day Trader." The tall man said.
"Leslie Norton. IT Engineer." The man with glasses said.
"I'm Ida Linfield, darling. I have a flower shop." The old woman said.
"The name is Jody. You don't need to know my last name or my job." The beautiful woman said.
"My name is Edith… Edith Sparrow. I'm just a student." The young girl said.
"Charles… Iris. Business Man."
"Your last name is a girl's name? Haha!" Richard bursted out laughing.
"Yeah. I got that a lot." Charles maintained a friendly smile.
"So. Since the introduction is over. Let's get to business." Charles said. "Check your pocket. There should be an envelope inside.
How many people received the same envelope with the eye seal before today?"
Charles held up his envelope for everyone to see. Anna also showed her.
Hal found his envelope and raised it up also. Richard and the others also had one.
Mick reached into her pocket and found her letter from before as well.
"You have all received this?" Jody said. "I found it in my house. I thought there was a stalker in my house. I called the police right after."
"Wait! You called the police? Have they left you alone?" Hal caught that one detail and asked.
"What do you mean?" Jody's brow furrowed.
"Where were you before you woke up here?" Hal said.
"In my villa. The cops were searching the premises and it took all night. I went into my bedroom for a nap, hoping they could catch the freak when I woke up."
Anna gasped. Her face went pale. The expressions of all the others also darkened.
"What? What is wrong with that?" Jody was more confused. She looked around for answers.
Mick spoke up. "Your house was full of cops when you were sleeping. The cops would obviously wake you up once they're done investigating. It is their process.
But you weren't woken up. That means whoever kidnapped you. They did it while the cops were still there."
Jody covered her mouth. "No way…"
"I… I don't want to be here." Edith teared up but tried her best to hold it in. "I want to go home!"
Charles rubbed his chin, falling into deep thoughts.
Hal wrapped his arms around, tapping his fingers in rhythm.
"Whoever kidnapped us…"
"...they did it for a reason.
Hal and Charles spoke at the same time with the same thing. They looked at each other and smiled, acknowledging the other's ability.