The Lost Ones Book 2: Welcome Home

Chapter 51

Quentin, Stampy, and Elio continued to wander the halls of the palace, occasionally stopping into other rooms as to not be seen. Every room they entered was practically empty, with no furniture in sight.

"It's strange to see so many empty..." Elio commented softly.

Stampy nodded. "Why do they need this many?"

Elio sighed. "Victims..."

"Victims? Like you?" Quentin asked.

He nodded. "Yes."

"There must be a lot of people like you then... but where are they?"

"...Depends... Experiment, Puppet... gone..."

"Oh gosh... do you think that they know that we're gone?"

Stampys ears laid back. "If they haven't already, they are bound to realize soon..."

"Great." Quentin swore under his breath. "I doubt we'll be making it out of here anytime soon... I have this feeling that the layout of this place keeps changing."

Elio nodded. "One of many tricks..."

Stampy sighed. "Great..."

"So we're stuck here then." Quentin crossed his arms and slumped against the wall, looking quite frustrated.

Elio gave a small nod. "Yes..."

Quentin sighed and looked at Stampy. "Have any ideas on what we should do now?"

"We... we can keep looking but other than that.... no."

Quentin fell silent, staring at the ground.

Stampy's ears laid flat too. "I really wish I knew what to do."

"Guess there isn't much to do..." Quentin huffed.

"I guess..."

"I just wish... I could remember my time here. That'd probably make this a lot easier..."

"You would not like it." Elio replied. "If like mine..."

"But it could still give us some sort of clue maybe? Whether it hurts me or not."

"Maybe... Be we have no clue where to start..."

"First of all, I have no idea who 'Penelope' is. The same sounds familiar but that's about it.

"Hopefully we don't run into her." Stampy replied.

Quentin nodded. "I can imagine she's not great..."

Stampy started to nod but stopped. "Someones coming," He quickly moved to pull them into another room to hide.

Quentin let out a small gasp at randomly being pulled and stumbled after him.

Stampy shut the door and footsteps filled the hall where they had been.

Quentin motioned for Elio to hide behind him.

Elio quickly moved to do so while Stampy listened carefully to the noise.

They stood in near silence, only their quick breaths could be heard.

Stampy hesitantly peeked through a crack in the door and saw Penelope before moving out of the way.

Quentin noticed the figure through the door when his eyes suddenly became wide. His head began to spin and he gripped the collar of his jacked, he struggled to stay standing.

Stampy noticed and quickly moved to support him and help him to the floor without making too much noise.

He checked if she was still there but she was gone now. He turned to Quentin. "Kippy?"

Quentin lowered his head into his hands and moved his knees up to his chest. His body shook and his breath was heavy.

"T-t-that w-was..."

"Her..." Elio confirmed.

Quentin nodded. "Oh gosh I-I..." he looked up and fearfully gazed at Stampy. "I-I remember how I t-t-turned into a-a..."

"Wait, really?" His eyes widened.

Quentin didn't respond and only continued to shake.

Stampy put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Quentin. You don't have to talk about it..." He tried to comfort him.

"I... I'm the reason that happened to me." He finally said. "It's my fault."

"K-Kippy?" Stampy looked really confused and Elio looked sympathetic.

"It f-feels so long ago but it was just the other day. I'm an idiot..."

"Kippy, you're not an idiot..."

"Yes I am! I-I told her and she- ARGH!" He buried his head into his knees.

"Told her? Told her what?"

Quentin was silent for the next few minutes before finally speaking.

(UwU It be my birthday so sorry for later chapter. -Molly)