I opened the door, which led into a long hallway. There wasn't any indication of which way anything was, so I just used the eenie-meanie method. I went left out of the bedroom door, padding silently down the hall and looking around myself; I counted all of the doors, memorizing which was mine. Everything was so plainly painted—I'd guess that this was a guest wing or something.

Finally, I reached a balcony, off of which stemmed two staircases. I walked over to the closest one and descended to the lower floor.

This floor was much less bland—there were more colors and there were pictures on the walls. I didn't stop to look, instead continuing my exploration. I found the kitchen, which was empty—it had all old appliances, rusted and everything. After that, I found a (huge) living room, in which there were three sofas and four armchairs, all sitting in a semicircle facing a large fireplace, which was lit.

At that point, I had been walking for what seemed like hours, so I decided to take a moment as a break. I wondered where I was for the hundredth time, but quickly brushed the question off, as I had the ninety-nine times before, thinking, Someone is bound to show up and tell me. Still, I wonder what country's house this is.

I sat on the couch closest to the fire, leaning my head back on the cushions. Just a minute, I thought, and then I'll go looking again. I felt my eyelids start to droop again. The warmth from the fire was so relaxing. I quickly sank into a dreamless sleep.

After what seemed like only a few minutes, but was probably a few hours, I felt myself rising to consciousness. I was laying down now, though I wasn't sure how I had gotten that way. I could still feel the warmth of the fire warming my face. Instinctively, I knew not to move though; I struggled to keep my eyes closed and my breathing even. I heard whispers—no, someone was shouting—they were just too far away for me to hear clearly. I thought I heard something about "lost" and "just like last time", but I couldn't be sure. Just a moment later, I heard footsteps; they must have been upstairs, because it sounded like someone was stomping down stairs.

I started to panic. What if I wasn't supposed to leave the bedroom? What if whoever was here was actually really mean? What was going to happen to me? Slowly, I managed to calm my breathing and stop twitching. Just in time, too. Seconds later, I heard at least two, maybe three sets of footsteps entering the sitting room. I remained perfectly still as they conversed only a few feet behind me; it was obvious they hadn't yet seen me.

"How could you be so careless?" one voice asked. The accent sounded familiar, but without the face put to the voice, I couldn't be sure. "I tool'd you, 'Watch her all night.' Why is that so hoord to undoorstahnd?"

Another voice chimed in. "Well, she was asleep! I didn't think she'd be awake anytime soon, and it's a little bit creepy to sit there watching someone sleep, isn't it?" This voice was higher, with a different accent, and there was there was emotion where the first voice had been monotone. I had to agree with him, though. It is pretty creepy to watch someone sleep.

"I don't know," yet another voice said. "Is't bedder to keep somewun safe, or not to be seen as creepy?" This voice was even deeper than the first, with less of a monotone and yet another accent. This one was somehow more familiar than the others, but I still couldn't tell what it was. I went through all of the countries, but couldn't figure out who it was.

"Whatever," the second voice said. "The point is, we have to find her." He sounded really scared. I almost wanted to get up to comfort him, but I couldn't give up my position. "What if she woondur'd out of deh house?" His voice was getting sadder and sadder as he spoke. "She could freeze!"

"Shut it, Dane. Calm down," the first voice said. "She's not going to freeze." He almost would have sounded angry, if his voice wasn't so drone-like. "She was built for this weather." I wasn't sure what 'this weather' was, but if it was as cold as they were saying, the second voice was right; I thrive in cold weather. I'm hardly ever cold, unless it's, like, negative thirty degrees. I never really understood it—I grew up in a relatively warm part of the U.S., so it's not like I could build up a tolerance.

The third voice interrupted my pondering. "Well," he said thoughtfully. "She coo'd still get lohst. Perhaps we shoo'd go looking fore hur." I heard all three set of footsteps head out, then a door slam. They must have gone outside looking for me.

After a few minutes of silence, I slowly opened my eyes. Seeing that the room was empty, I stood and made my way back up to my room. I was pretty sure as to whose house I was at now, and I thought, Maybe I should go find them… I paused, thinking about it. Nah. It would probably just cause more problems. What if we kept missing each other? It could be bad. I went up to my room to see about those books.

Hi guys!

This is a short chapter, so today you get two!

Yay!

Happy reading!

Anya