(James' POV):

I see Matilda drop limp in her cage and I begin to feel anger boil up inside of me.

"What did you do to her?" I growl.

"She's not dead, you rodent," Wonka answers menacingly.
"But four of you will be. Very soon."

Before he can do anything, I turn tail and run in the other direction. The others follow behind.

"Get back here, you rodents!" Wonka snaps.
"I'm not finished with you yet."

"Too bad!" I yell as we turn a sharp corner.
"You'll have to be."

Just up ahead, I spy a doorway. Quickly I duck inside and the others follow. Trying to shut the door behind us, we realize we're in an elevator. And Oompa Loompas are gaining on us.

"Where do we go?" Dani panics.

"I dunno," I exclaim.
"Just press any button."

"Wait. Look!" Veruca exclaims.
"There's a button that says Laboratory. Should I press it?"

"Sure. Just hurry!"

I turn around to see her jam her finger onto the button. I hear the elevator doors slide shut, but I don't see them slide shut. All of a sudden, the elevator jolts, sending us flying against the back wall.

"What the heck kind of elevator is this?" Violet gasps as it moves backwards.

"It appears to be made of glass," explains the ever-logical Alfie as he pulls himself away from the wall.

"A glass elevator?" Sophie gasps.
"That's impossible."

"Well, so is everything else we've seen," Dani exclaims.
"And yet it all exists here."

"Where are we even going?" Billie asks.

"A laboratory, apparently," I say as it begins to drop at high speeds.

My stomach jolts as the elevator shoots downwards.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Augustus gasps.

"Please don't," I squeak.

"Is this elevator even connected to anything?" Alfie asks.
"For all we know, we could be free-falling."

As we rocket downwards, I see Dani in a corner trembling. I scurry over to her.

"You okay?" I ask.

Trembling, she shakes her head.

"I'm afraid of speed and heights, for this very reason. Alfie's right. For all we know, we're free-falling towards doom."

I see tears form in her eyes and I feel an instinct inside of me. Quickly I grab and squeeze her front paws.

"Hey," I say soothingly.
"It's gonna be okay."

"But what if it's not?" she squeaks back.
"James, we're only 10. We can't die yet."

"I promise you. We'll find a way, somehow."

"I wish Matilda was here," Sophie laments.
"She would know what to do."

All of a sudden, I hear screeching and sparks begin to fly from atop the elevator. I scurry up to the top to see that it seems breaks have kicked in. And soon enough, we come to a shrieking halt. There's a ding, and the doors slide open.

"See?" I say smiling at Dani.
"I told you it'd be okay."

We step into a lit hallway with what look to be jail cells on either side. Except these look more futuristic. All of a sudden, we hear a groan come from one up ahead.

It's Billie who runs ahead to see who it is.

"Hello?" she calls.
"Who's there?"

"Sure, like that'll work," I scoff.

"Hello?" a voice calls back.

My stomach flips. We run up ahead to find a weary man with light brown hair chained to the walls of a cell.

"Is it you, Daisy Bloom?" he asks weakly.

"No, my name is Billie. Who are you?"

"Wait a minute," Nigel gasps.
"I'd recognize that fellow anywhere."

He steps forward to get a better look.

"Veruca, come look," he tells her.

She steps forward.

"What? I don't know why—."

Then she looks more closely at him and soon puts her hands over her mouth.

"It can't be," she exclaims breathily.

"But it is. It has to be," Nigel adds.

"Dorian?"