Okay, okay, okay, HOLD IT! Stop the presses! New reviewer! Thanks for your kind words, Rehia! As for everyone else who is reading this right now, please review. It's the only thing that brightens my day after I come home from a long day of school, after-school drama until ungodly hours of the night, and a big steaming pile of homework to top it all off. Seriously. And it's what keeps me writing – knowing that people appreciate me. Even if you aren't a member here, I'm allowing anonymous reviews for now (unless it gets way out of hand), so please tell me what you think, even if it's negative – but don't flame me too much. This is my first Myst fanfic, after all, and I promise, they'll get better!

"That was close."

"Too close."

Sirrus and Achenar stood at what appeared to be some area backstage. To their left, they saw a single door with a golden star on it, obviously a dressing room, and to their right, the way offstage.

Sirrus went to get a closer look and noticed that the curtains were already open. Cautiously, he snuck a peek at the audience, but to his great surprise, found nobody there.

Why, he thought, now utterly confused, Would father write a link to an empty auditorium?

He decided to examine the stage more by walking out onto it.

Wait a minute…

"Achenar?"
"Yes, dear brother?"

"Don't run off, okay? We don't know how big this place is, or how dangerous."

Achenar giggled creepily. "Very well, I won't. Not too far, at least."

Yeah, so his brother was a pain. That didn't mean that he wanted to be separated from him. Achenar was the only protection that he had.

But on to more pressing matters.

The stage in front of Sirrus was empty, but for a small blue chair, immodest and unassuming.

This is getting more and more confusing by the second, Sirrus thought as he sat down in the chair to think over all that had gone on in the past few hours.

"Know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars, know your stars…"

Startled, Sirrus glanced around, searching for whoever had been speaking just a moment ago.

"Hello?" He called out, more than a little nervous.

"Sirrus… enjoys making stupid sculptures out of clay and mashed potatoes!"

Sirrus was taken aback at this comment, annoyed at being made fun of and wondering why in the world anyone would make sculptures out of clay and mashed potatoes.

"Uh, what?"

Suddenly, it hit him. Achenar was hiding somewhere and taunting him, as usual. Yet, the voice didn't sound like Achenar…

"Sirrus… he's not very smart!"

"I beg your pardon? I think I'm quite intelligent, thank you!"

"Sirrus… he's so stupid that he eats carpets for dinner!"

"Achenar, cut it out!"

"Achenar who?"

"Achenar you, you numbskull."

"Sirrus… he's a numbskull!"

"That's what I just said!"

"That's what I just said!"

"Stop copying me!"

"Stop copying me!"

"Stop it!"

"Stop it!"

"Achenar, shut up!"

"Sirrus… he's so stupid that he thinks I'm his insane older brother."

Sirrus was about to say something else, but realized that this comment was actually true and shut up.

"Sirrus… I just made him shut up!"

This was beginning to get very annoying.

"Okay, whoever you are," Sirrus challenged, "Show yourself, and I promise that I won't hurt you. Not too badly, at least."

"Sirrus… look! Gold!"

"Where?" Sirrus looked around expectantly, but to his chagrin found that it had been a joke all along.

The mysterious person laughed. "Sirrus… I just fooled him into thinking that there was gold behind him!"

"I hate you…"

"Well, fine! Then I hate you!"

"I hate you more."

"I hate you the most, you big stupid poopy-head."

"I hate you to infinity!"

"I hate you to double infinity!"

"I hate you to the next Age and back again!"

"I hate you more than that!"

"I hate you to twenty-five!"

"I hate you even more than all of that!"

"Well… uh… FATHER! ACHENAR IS PICKING ON ME!!!"

The mysterious person's voice suddenly dropped into a perfect imitation of Atrus. "Now, Sirrus, stop picking on your brother!"

"But he's picking on… wait a minute. This is another one of your tricks!"

"Sirrus… eats whale blubber!"

"What's a whale?"

"Sirrus… doesn't cook his steaks!"

"What? That's disgusting!"

"Sirrus… is disgusting!"

"I am not! I'm quite clean, thank you very much!"

"Sirrus… is a dirty pig!"

"What's a pig?"

"It's what you are!"

"I am not a dirty pig, whatever that is!"

"Sirrus… likes to disco dance every Friday night and sing like a little girl!"

"That makes no sense! I'm not a moron!"

"Fine. I agree. You aren't a moron - you're an idiot!"

"SHUT UP!!!!"

"Now you know Sirrus… the idiotic pig who eats raw steak!"

"What? You don't know me! They don't know me! GET BACK HERE SO I CAN GET ACHENAR TO KILL YOU!!!!"

Sirrus stormed offstage, looking extremely annoyed. Achenar watched him from the big pile of blue chairs he was sitting on top of, swinging his legs and singing some random song under his breath.

"Achenar? Where are you?" Sirrus sounded angry, and there was nothing more that Achenar enjoyed than seeing his brother annoyed.

"I'm up here, brother!" he shouted before jumping off of the top of the massive pile and landing perfectly on his feet. Being trapped in a jungle world certainly did have its perks, such as becoming more agile.

Sirrus jumped back, startled at having his older brother land in a cat-like manner two feet in front of him.

"Don't do that again," he said, sounding weary and tired.

Achenar flashed an eerie smile at him. "Don't worry, I won't."

Meanwhile, elsewhere backstage…

Saavedro glanced about at the eerie surroundings of the backstage area he was clearly in. (Though it wasn't as clean as some of the theater areas he had seen back on Narayan.) The whole area was dark, and for a while he found himself stumbling around, trying not to trip on anything. Why, oh why had he followed Sirrus and Achenar here?

He stopped trying to walk for the moment, to let his eyes adjust to the darkness, and to think about what had just happened. He linked from Narayan to Atrus' house, albeit a different part of it. Sirrus and Achenar were there. He had followed them here. And now he was stuck here.

Wait… I'm stuck here?

"What?" Saavedro cried out in annoyance. "I get done with one twenty-year exile, and then I get flung straight into another one? Why me?"

Angrily, he kicked the wall nearby, which unfortunately hurt quite a bit. Saavedro winced and, mumbling to himself, walked off to find someone else. There had to be someone here, this was an auditorium, for crying out loud!

For a brief moment, he thought that he heard someone screaming from onstage. So there was someone here! Well, if he had to be trapped again, at least it would help to have someone to talk with.

Upon closer listening, however, Saavedro realized that the person yelling was Sirrus. Knowing that Achenar was probably somewhere nearby, he decided to lay low, crawling past props and sometimes hiding behind them in case he was seen.

After pausing behind a rather large chair, decorated with various fruits and the like, he began to think about where he might find other people.

Hmm. The dressing rooms are a good bet. But where are they?

Cautiously, he glanced out from behind the chair. There, about ten feet away, was a wooden door with a golden star carefully hung onto it. This was obviously it.

Unfortunately, the whole area in front of it was blank, and he could hear Achenar singing some irritating tune and thumping something that sounded like it was hollow. Did Achenar have a weapon with him?

Carefully, carefully, Saavedro snuck out from behind the chair and began to make his way towards the dressing room. Of course, it helped that he was barefoot, so his footsteps made little sound as he approached the door.

Unfortunately, he didn't count on Achenar noticing his movements, but he realized that he had been spotted when he glanced upwards to see that Achenar had lit a fire marble, which ended up spotlighting the entire area.

"Hey!" Achenar shouted, hopping down from the massive pile of chairs that he had been sitting on.

Oh, crap.

Saavedro ran as fast as he could (which was actually pretty fast), just barely making it to the dressing room in time.

Unfortunately, the door was locked.

Frantically, he began to pound on the door as Achenar drew ever closer.

"Let me in! Please! Help me! Let me in!"

To his great surprise, the door opened and Saavedro found himself on the carpeted floor of the pink-walled dressing room with three people looking down at him.

"Saavedro?" Atrus asked quizzically.

"Are you alright?" Catherine asked.

"Achenar, leave him alone!" the Stranger shouted, trying to get rid of the insane older brother and help Saavedro at the same time. She finally succeeded in getting Achenar to leave by throwing one of the small chocolate bars that were in a jar on a small end table out of the door. Achenar happily followed, and she shut the door behind him and locked it.

Saavedro sat up, his back against the wall and his heart pounding. He knew everyone here! Atrus… that girl who helped him… Catherine…

"Where am I?" he asked. "What are all of you doing here?"

"It's a long story," the Stranger said, helping herself to the jar of chocolate.

"Am I stuck here?" Saavedro replied, eyes wide with horror.

Atrus, Catherine, and the Stranger glanced at each other worriedly.

"I hope not," Catherine said. "But this is an auditorium. There's got to be a way out. Isn't there?"

"I checked," Atrus said, shaking his head. "There's none. There are doors, but every single one is locked tight. They're surprisingly difficult to break open."

"Do you think that my hammer might do the trick?" Saavedro asked. "If someone will come with me to make sure that Achenar doesn't try to attack me again, I might be able to break them."

"Somehow, I highly doubt that," the Stranger replied. "If the locks here are similar to the ones back where I come from, they're deadbolt locks, and there's no way that we can get in to smack them with your hammer."

"But how did you manage to open the dressing room door?"

"It was already opened. Quite odd, really. Usually, the director or stage manager locks up the dressing rooms before they leave for the night."

"Maybe this auditorium has different rules?" Catherine suggested.

"Whatever," the Stranger replied, "We can go all day and night wondering about the auditorium and how to get out, but what I want to know is, who is that guy that's been talking to all of us?"

"What guy?" Saavedro asked, quite interested now.

The Stranger looked at Atrus and Catherine gravely.

"You'll see soon enough," she said. If Achenar's out there, Sirrus is, too. And, since we heard screaming from the stage earlier, I don't doubt that the weird voice out there has found them."

"It sounded like Sirrus was yelling to me," Saavedro added.

"Then it's Achenar's turn after him," Atrus replied grimly. "And after that, I fear that you're next."

PWNED! Sirrus was struck down, and Achenar's next. And how will Saavedro fare? You'll just have to wait for the next chapter to find out…