"Hey, can you come to the hospital?" I hear Kinsey ask over the phone, "Yeah, of course. I'll be there in a bit" I tell her.
"Take Tyler with you, I have an idea," she says, we end the call and I turn to Tyler who is sitting next to me. "What did she need?" he asks me, "Kinsey needs us in the hospital, she has an idea" I inform him.
He gets up from his chair, "alright, let's go then" he says a hint of curiosity is evident in his voice. I close my books and place them in my bag, I grab Tyler's hand and we exit the library.
We sit in the car and start driving to the hospital, it's quiet for the first few minutes. The both of us wonder what Kinsey could possibly need from us at the hospital.
"What do you think she has in mind?" Tyler asks me, I turn my head to look at him. "I have no idea" I respond, "It must be important though" I add. Tyler nods at my statement, he grabs the hand that is resting on my thigh and intertwines our fingers.
A smile takes over my features as we talk all the way to the hospital.
As soon as we arrive Kinsey starts explaining her idea, "remember when we asked Ellie how she could remember magic even though she was a grown-up?" Kinsey asks us.
I hum, encouraging her to continue, "She said they found a way to remember. The keepers of the keys" she explains.
"Erin's the only keeper left" Tyler concludes, my mouth parts as the realization sinks in. "yeah, so if we go inside her head, maybe we can find a memory of what Ellie was talking about, how they remember," Kinsey tells us.
"Then we can make it so that we never forget" I finish for her, she nods at my statement. We enter Erin's room, the woman sits in a wheelchair turned to the window.
"First we need a couple of rules," I tell them, "yeah, we're not gonna look at anything we're not supposed to." Kinsey starts.
"We're not gonna touch anything. We don't want to make her worse than she already is" Tyler finishes.
Kinsey puts the key in the back of Erin's neck and twists it, making a door appear behind us. But there is no sign of a second Erin.
"Why... Why isn't there a second Erin?" Tyler asks, looking around. "I don't know" Kinsey and I tell him.
"It's weird" Kinsey adds, I nod also finding it strange that there is no sign of a second Erin. "It's possible there's nothing in there" Tyler states looking between me and Kinsey.
"We have to try anyway," Kinsey says, I'm the first to step through the door. Kinsey and Tyler following close behind.
We step into a dark hallway, with one flickering light that flashes above our heads.
We stop in front of a glass door, once we open it there is another hallway, the only difference is that here there are lockers pushed up against the wall. The door behind us suddenly slams shut, making the three of us spin around in fright.
Tyler protectively reaches for my hand, and I gladly take it. Kinsey walks towards a locker that is half opened, the creaking sound of it opening further makes me tighten the grip on Tyler's hand.
Kinsey takes out a book and opens it, only to reveal a page with tons of omega symbols on it. The book slowly but surely crumbles in her hands, leaving small pieces of paper floating in the air.
"Hey, guys, come look at this" Tyler speaks up, gently pulling me towards him. He's looking at a locker, well inside the locker, there are pictures of Erin and Rendell covering the entire locker.
"Look's like she never really moved on from dad," Tyler tells us, "Makes sense" Kinsey responds. I just stand in the middle of them confused as to what is happening.
"She's been in a catatonic state since she was our age," Tyler reasons, "Let's just keep looking," I tell them.
I open another door, it again reveals lockers. The middle locker slowly creaks open, the three of us look inside with full expectation.
A book flies out of the locker, making us flinch back. More books start flying out of the locker making us run back to the glass door, books fly around the room.
One hitting Kinsey in the face, I quickly let go of Tyler's hand and rush towards Kinsey. "Tyler!" Kinsey yells in fear. Tyler runs over to us and makes sure he's covering us with his body.
Another locker creaks open, "There!" I point out. We crawl to the locker, Tyler stays back urging me to go in first.
Quickly Kinsey and Tyler get inside as well, the locker slams shut after us. It's now pitch black here, making me worry.
"How do we get out of here?" Kinsey asks, speaking my thoughts. "I feel something!" Tyler yells, a light shines onto our faces as Tyler punches through some wood.
The three of us fall into a room, panting from the intense experience. "Are you both okay?" Tyler questions, "Yeah" Kinsey breathes out.
Tyler turns to me, I nod trying to catch my breath. He gently strokes my head, calming me down. I hear a faint sound in the room, Kinsey heard it too as she calls out to someone.
"Tell her to leave me alone!" a woman yells at us, I stumble back in shock of the sudden outburst. "Who?" I ask her, "Dodge!" she yells back.
"Dodge is gone" Kinsey calmly informs the younger version of Erin, "I'm Kinsey... that's Tyler and that's Angel" Kinsey introduces us.
"Who are you?" Erin asks, "we just introduced ourselves?" I ask confused. Erin points the knife at me, I put up my hands muttering a small apology.
"We're Rendell's kids, me and Kinsey" Tyler explains, "You're what?" Erin asks confused and hurt?
"Erin, have you been in here this whole time?" Kinsey asks the frightened woman, "What do you mean this whole time?" Erin let's out a small sob.
"Have you been trapped in here?" I softly ask her, "How do you know Dodge is gone?" she asks ignoring my question.
"Because we sent her back where she came from, into whatever is behind the Black Door" Kinsey explains.
"You're safe now" Tyler comforts Erin, "I promise".
"Just, um... Just come with us" Tyler says slowly taking the knife away from her. "We'll get you out of here," I tell her with a genuine smile on my lips.
