The rattling of chains wasn't something Ren expected to hear.
Opening his eyes, he looked around and noticed his prisoner garb—chains and shackles, even an iron ball secured to his ankle.
"On your feet, inmate!" a sharp voice cut through his thoughts.
Jerking his head toward the sound, Ren saw a pair of twins dressed in blue prison warden uniforms, each wearing an eyepatch—on opposite eyes of one another. One wore her hair in a tight bun, the other in a neat ponytail.
"You are in the presence of our Master," the gentler of the two said.
Looking up, Ren saw a man dressed in a butler's uniform—something that might have been considered quite spiffy, if not for his bloodshot, bulging eyes and unnaturally large nose.
A booming, discordant voice echoed through the room.
"Welcome… to my Velvet Room."
With a flourish of his hands, the man grinned at Ren.
"This place exists between dream and reality… mind and matter. It is a room only those bound by a contract may enter. My name is Igor. The master of this place. Remember it well."
"Contract? Dream and reality?" Ren asked, confusion threading through his voice.
Igor glanced around the old-timey jail block surrounding them.
"Still, this is a surprise. The state of this room mirrors the state of the heart… you truly are a prisoner of fate."
"What are you talking about?" Ren asked.
"Silence, inmate!" the sharper of the twins barked.
Ren snapped his mouth shut.
Intimidated by kids… what the hell is wrong with me lately?
"I have called you here to speak of important matters," Igor said calmly.
"What exactly is going on?" Ren asked, doing his best to stay composed, irritation seeping into his thoughts.
Why does all this shit keep happening that I don't understand?!
"It matters not," Igor replied matter-of-factly. "Be aware that ruin surely awaits you."
"My life is already in the shitter," Ren chuckled hollowly.
"Soon, your rehabilitation will begin."
"Rehabilitation? Now?" Ren scoffed. "Didn't I already do juvie?"
BANG.
One of the twins slammed her baton against the iron bars of the cell.
"Be grateful!" the girl with the bun snapped.
Both twins turned in unison, their golden eyes boring into Ren—past his body, toward something deeper.
"Ah… forgive me," Igor said mildly. "To your left is Caroline. To your right, Justine."
"We are your wardens, inmate!"
"We are also your collaborators."
"Uh… hi, girls," Ren said cautiously.
As he spoke, something else caught his eye.
An ethereal blue butterfly drifted through the air, alighting softly on the desk before Igor. Ren almost missed it—almost missed the brief scowl that crossed Igor's face.
But before Ren could think about what it meant—
"Time runs short. We shall meet again soon," Igor declared.
The world dissolved.
As Ren fell back into a restless sleep, his thoughts lingered on one thing alone:
The scowl.