"The Night Guard?" Chica asked.

"Yeah." I answered. "Think about it. He's the only one I can talk to about this. If I ask anyone else, he couldn't tell me."

"What about the old night guard, Jimmy, or whatever his name is?" Chica suggested.

"I can't go find him during the day. Besides, he's a friend of the Puppet, I don't think he'd tell me anything."

"So you're going to go after the Night Guard." She rubbed her forehead. "Then I guess I'd better help you."

"What?"

"You're not going to be able to do it by yourself, so I guess I'd better help you."

"You'd do that?" I asked.

"Of course," she said, placing a hand on my shoulder. "I don't think I could stand not knowing either. So I'm going to help you figure it out."

I smiled. "Thanks, Chica."

She nodded. "Now, that security booth in the back has a few security measures you're going to have to get past: First is the cameras, then the doors, and finally, you'll have to deal with the Night Guard himself."

"How do you know all of this?" I asked, jumping down from the stage.

"I may or may not have gone out for a little sneak peek, myself. I'm allowed to roam at night, remember?"

"Right." I scratched the back of my head.

Chica hopped down off the stage after me. I flipped open my watch. Seven twenty. I snapped it shut and replaced it in my pocket.

"First is the cameras." Chica repeated. "Now, I was watching him last night. Apparently, his camera can only see one room at a time. Which means that the rest of his cameras should be off.

"I think Bonnie might fulfill that requirement," I interrupted. She perked her ears, listening. "I tried to get out of the Cove last night, and ran into him, right outside the door. I could see that working as a functional distraction."

"Good. I'll have a chat with him; convince him to help us." Chica nodded.

"Think you can talk to him? I thought he couldn't talk?"

"I don't think he can speak, but he seems to notice whenever we speak to him."

I shrugged. "Then that should work."

"Okay, next, the doors. He has a door on each side, as far as I can tell. They're activated by a switch on either side of the room. I should be able to handle that one. If I can keep his attention at one door, you might be able to slip in through the other side." She tilted her head to the side.

"That sounds like it could work. Think he'll fall for it thought?"

"I pretty sure this guy is terrified of us. Did you hear him screaming last night? I think if one of us tried to attack him, he'll notice it, definitely."

"That's two defenses down." I said. "And I think I can handle the guard. He looks pretty big, but . . ." I raised by hook and slashed at the air. Chica frowned. "I won't actually have to hurt him. If he's as afraid of us as you say, he should settle down quickly."

"Let's hope so." Chica agreed.

"But what about the Puppet?" I asked. "He's not going to let us off the hook for something like this."

I could see her eyes narrow. "If he has a problem with this, he can burn in hell. If he's not going to tell us anything, then we're going to figure it out. Without him." I raised an eyebrow.

With a start, she covered her mouth. "Did I just say that?"

"Yeah," I answered, incredulously. "Yeah, you did."

"I'm sorry." She said, cowering. "I'm just sick of this. Of not knowing."

"There's nothing to apologize for. I'm with you on that. If he wants to keep us locked in the dark, we have to find another way out." I climbed back up on the stage. "If he does say something, I'll handle him, okay?" Chica nodded hesitantly.

"Foxy, just . . . Make me a promise."

"What's that?"

Chica remained quiet for a long while. From the confused look on her face, I would've guessed she couldn't decide how to phrase her next sentence. "If you learn something . . . About your past, about who you were . . ." She stopped.

"Yeah?" I offered.

"Don't change." She finished.

"What do you mean?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"No matter what you learn, just stay Foxy, okay?" Her mouth curved into a sad smile. "I don't want to lose you."

I opened my mouth to answer, but stopped myself. My mind processed her request, but had no answer to give.

"Foxy, promise me, or this doesn't happen." Her voice trembled. She threw her arms around me. Her head only reached up to my chest, but she still seemed to make me stumble.

"I promise. I swear that I won't leave you, Chica, no matter what." I lifted her chin until her eyes met mine, and smiled. "I promise you that."

"Then I'll hold you to that." She squeezed me one last time. With a wave goodbye, she hurried out of the room.

I scratched the back of my ear. That feeling in my chest didn't fade when she left this time. Keeping the smile on my lips, I heaved up onto the stage and closed the curtains, cutting off the light that filtered in from the hallway outside the Cove. I opened my trapdoor and dropped down, closing it after me. I shuffled over to the corner and dropped to the ground. I rolled onto my back and locked my hand and hook behind my head, careful not to cut myself. I thought about our plan, making sure that everything would work, but was interrupted by a loud footstep on the stage.

"Foxy, you here?" I recognized the voice as Freddy.

I rose to my feet and brushed the dust off my shorts. I opened the trapdoor to find Freddy standing at the edge of the stage.

"You rang." I started.

"I need to talk to you." He said, glancing of to the side.

I waited a few silent moment. "Well, what is it?"

He sniffed the air. "I wanted to thank you for standing up for my sister, earlier."

"Oh. Uhh . . . thanks, Freddy."

"I guess it just didn't occur to me that we were being so hard on her. I don't want her to get hurt, but she doesn't want to listen to me." He closed his eyes and rubbed his head. "Anyway, I just wanted to thank you." he finished.

"It's no problem, honestly." I chuckled.

Freddy looked around the room. He studied the mural painted on the back concrete wall: a pirate ship on a sunny ocean voyage. I knew the painting by heart. "What do you do back here all day?"

"Sit, stand, sometime I even lay down." I joked.

"Sounds like it sucks." Freddy added, scrunching his forehead.

"Ehh . . ." I shrugged. "Better than being dead."

"If you say so." Freddy didn't take his eyes of the mural.

"So is that all?" I asked.

"Yeah." He shook his head, breaking his concentration. "Thanks for your help. I guess I'll see you later then."

"Alright, see you then." With a slight nod, he turned and left through the curtains at the edge of the stage.

With the interruption over, I closed the hatch and resumed my placement in the corner. My eyes closed slowly, cutting out my vision completely. I just lay quiet, listening to the world around me. My eyes fluttered open and I jumped to my feet. I closed my eyes and listened again.

I could hear feverish scratching in the walls, and moans from somewhere beyond the stone room.