(Matilda's POV):
After I wake up and Sunshine comes back with the hot chocolate, I leave it to cool. I feel well enough to sit up in bed and then to go exploring. Besides I might be able to find out why I was feeling so nauseated at the gates before. Speaking of, why on earth didn't it happen the last time?
Quietly I creep out of my room and find myself greeted by a long, colorful hallway; the walls covered with doors.
"Okay," I tell myself.
"Shouldn't be too difficult considering I don't have any particular location in mind. Just gotta be careful so that Wonka doesn't see me out of bed."
But the more I wander about, the more lost I become. It seems that the factory keeps shuffling itself. My head begins to spin and I find myself needing to lean against the walls for support.
Soon I come to a door labeled "Nut Room Laboratory." From within I hear tiny squeaks. Some eager and some-frightened?
"Why would anyone be frightened in here?" I ask myself.
"It's Wonka's Factory."
The door opens and I flatten myself against the wall as two Oompa-Loompas walk out talking about some nonsense. Quietly I slip inside and shut the door.
The room has the look of a doctor's office, yet the feel of an insane asylum. A shiver rolls through me and my stomach churns as if I'm back at the gate. Something doesn't feel right.
As I walk around, my eye falls on a clipboard hovering over the edge of the desk it's on. I grab it and it pops up. My eyes take it all in.
"What on earth?"
In front of me is a holographic list of names. I scroll through when I spy one I recognize; Billie Smith. I select her and before me is a whole profile on her; from her blood type to her age down to the millisecond.
A thought strikes my mind. Making a mental checklist, I go through the rest of the names of my friends. They're all there; all filled out save for mine and Charlie's.
"It doesn't make sense," I exclaim.
"Why would-?"
All of a sudden, Sophie's profile comes up along with statistics and a warning reading, "Transformation malfunction."
"Transformation malfunction? What does that mean?"
"What do you think?" a familiar, but higher-pitched, voice asks.
"Billie?" I turn my head, but see nothing.
"I'm down here."
I look by my feet. In front of me is a small, adorable, brown squirrel with blonde curls on the top of its head.
"Billie? No. That's insane. She's not a squirrel. Where are you, Billie?"
"I'm right here," the squirrel says.
I gasp as fear runs through me.
"But-but how did you get like this?"
"Help!" I hear a muffled voice yell.
"Somebody help us!"
"Go over there," the squirrel says pointing to a periwinkle door with a narrow trapezoid window.
"And you'll get your answer."
I go to the yelling and peek inside the window of the door. The feeling in my stomach heightens as I witness the sight. Two kids trapped in cylindric capsules like on a spaceship. One has two IVs stuck in his arm and has begun to turn furry brown and grow a tail. Another is trying to remove the second IV as the first hangs down by her side, dripping a strange brown liquid. She too has grown a tail and shrunken slightly.
The sight alone makes me feel sick. But what makes it worse is that I recognize both of those kids.
"Sophie? James?" I squeak.
Before I can make a move, there's a thud and a bang on the back of my head. I hit the floor.
"Sorry we have to do this to you," a voice says as I begin to black out.
"But you know too much about this, Matilda.