Aki sprinted past the Lady in Blue, clutching the silver rose desperately.
"Don't you want to play too?" The Lady in Blue was dragging herself along the ground surprisingly fast.
"No! Leave me alone!" Aki ran into a little side room and slammed the door shut.
There was a thumping sound as the Lady in Blue tried to open the door.
There has to be something in here!
Aki thought, turning around the corner.
There was nothing.
"Argh! You're kidding me!" Aki threw her rose to the floor.
Suddenly, the door burst open and the Lady in Blue tumbled through.
Aki picked up her rose immediatly and dodged around the Lady in Blue and out of the room, slamming the door shut.
"Phew!"
Aki ran from the room and into a hallway. A light blue vase was sitting on a table not far away.
"Huh? Can I...put my rose here?" Aki wondered aloud.
She put her silver rose in the jar and it glowed brightly.
Aki felt strange, as if she'd had one of those energy drinks.
She sprinted right and through the next door, then down the next hallway.
She stopped suddenly; she had heard voices.

"Ellen...can you use your magic to move the statue?" Aya asked.
"I'm not sure...maybe..." Ellen closed her eyes.
Aya noticed a pale blue outline appear around the statue, and it moved to the right.
"Oh, wow, Ellen! I didn't know you could do that!" Viola clapped her hands together.
Aya smiled to see the two girls getting along so well.
She had never had a proper friend of her own.
"Let's go!" Aya opened the door.
The others followed her through the door, but before she left, Aya thought she heard a gasp.
"Huh?" She whipped around.
"What?" Ib sounded worried.
"I heard something! I swear I did!" Aya pushed past the others and back into the room.
Was it the headless mannequin?
Aya heard footsteps, rapidly fading away.
"Wait! Who are you?" Aya flung the door open and saw a girl by the blue vase.
"Please...don't take my rose!" The girl pleaded.
"It's okay! I don't want to hurt you!" Aya moved towards the girl.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Aki. Are you stuck in this...place...too?"
"Yeah. I fell through a painting."
"Oh! I was visiting a gallery with my class...then the lights flickered, and I went down a new staircase. It brought me to that room over there..." She pointed to the door to the left.
"Then I was chased by a woman called the "Lady in Blue"."
"Well...we're about to move to the next area...do you want to join us?" Aya offered.
"Umm...okay! If it means more help." Aki nodded, her two brown ponytails bobbing.
Aya led the girl along the hallway and through the two doors, where the others were waiting.
"Hey guys, this is Aki. I found her by the "Lady in Blue" room." Aya told them.
"Another one to help us!" Ellen smiled.
"It's nice to meet you!" Viola hugged Aki. "You must have been so scared!"
"I was," Aki replied. "but I'm okay now. It was only a "Lady in Blue", after all!" She giggled nervously.
"Should we move on?" Aya asked.
"Sure. But we have to be careful, you never know what's up ahead." Ib warned.
She pushed open the grey door and came into a grey square-shaped room.
Aya noticed two hands sticking out of the ground.
"What...are those?" Aya asked.
"Hands. We need to put a ring on the bride's ring finger." Ib explained. "Does anyone have one?" She asked.
"No, I don't, but I have a flower ring. Will that work?" Viola pulled a small, ring-shaped chain of daisies from a pocket in her dress.
"No, but Viola, thank you! You've just helped us get to the next area without going through everything I had to!" Ib hugged Viola, who looked quite surprised.
"I did?" She said.
"Yes! All we need to do is give a painting some flowers, and he'll let us through!" Ib grinned, as Aki lead the way down the hallway into the next room.
It was also grey, and Aya stared around it, wondering how Ib knew her way around here.
"Somethings's not right...there's an extra door!" Ib pointed to a pale pink door with a flower on the front of it.
"Um...I don't like the look of that place..." Aya said, worried. "It's too pink and friendly-looking. Would we be safe?" She turned to Ib, who seemed to be their unofficial leader.
"I say let's go for it," she looked at Aya anxiously. "There's nothing else to do but go ahead, and I don't exactly want to...this might be an alternate route."
"Then let's go!" Ellen said impatiently, already halfway to the door.

Aki followed Ellen to the door.
Ib seems to know a lot about this place. Has she been here before?
She thought.
"Hey guys, what are those?" She suddenly noticed a bunch of lines on the floor.
"Eyes," Ib told them all. "They'll open if we go near them."
"Will they hurt us?" Viola asked fearfully.
"I'd like to see them try," Ellen glared at the eyes.
"Let's just go through the door!" Aki pushed it open, then screamed.
Right in front of her, blood tricking from a wound in her stomach, was a girl.
She had long brown hair in two braids, and clutched a black rose.
"Who...who is that?" Viola hid behind Aki.
"It's...she looks about my age!" Aki realised.
"Which is...?" Ellen faced her.
"Fifteen. I think this girl might be fifteen." Aki said.
"So?" Ellen raised her eyebrows.
"She might be able to help as a lot more than a five-year-old!" Aki replied.
"Yeah, I guess. But what if she doesn't? What then?" Ellen inquired.
"She can still come with us, we won't leave anyone behind, no matter how sorry we feel for Mary." Ib answered.
"Can we just find a vase, wake this girl up and leave? I don't like it here!" Aya spoke up finally.
"I agree; the walls are starting to scare me," Viola stared at the walls.
"There's nothing wrong with them!" Aki blinked and blinked, but all she saw was light pink.
"Can't you guys see it...?" Viola's voice trailed off as she looked around and saw the others shaking their heads.
"What can you see, Viola?" Ellen asked, staring at the girl as if she had gone mad.
"It's covered in blood...blood...everywhere!" Viola gasped, staring at the floor. "What is up with this room?"
"I don't know, but I say we find a vase and get out of here. I don't like it either." Aki couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched by someone.
"I can see a black vase over there," Aya pointed to the other side of the room.
"Then we have to get this girl's rose over to it. It only has enough water for one rose to be healed." Ib plucked the rose from the girls hand and carried it gently over to the vase.
Aki waited for Ib to return.
When she did, the black rose was looking healthier, and the girl on the floor started to stir.
"Huh...what happened...?" She said weakly, opening her eyes.
They were red, like Ib's.
"Wh...who are you?" She sat up quite quickly, and stared at the others.
"It's okay," Viola said kindly. "We're here to help you."
"Here's your rose, by the way," Ib gave the girl the rose and stood next to Ellen.
"Are you guys trapped in here too?" She asked.
"Yes. We're all trying to escape," Ellen told her.
"You're gonna come with us, aren't you?" Aki asked.
"Sure...I guess," she said Viola helped her to her feet.
"Then let's get out of here. Whatever attacked you can't be far." Ellen tryed to open the door, but it was locked. "Huh?" She muttered. "Since when did we lock this door?" She sounded puzzled.
"I...don't think we did..." Aya said, shoving herself against it.
It didn't budge.
"Is there another way out of here?" Viola asked the girl urgently.
"Yeah...it's that way," She indicated a pale pink door to the right Aki hadn't noticed before.
"It's covered in blood, too!" Viola covered her eyes.
"Yeah, it is," The girl said. "Should we go through it?"
"Of course! There's no other way out!" Ellen said in surprise.
"So let's go!" Aki opened the door and stepped into the next room.
It was covered in blood.
"Just like the last room!" Viola gasped.