"So, there's a way out of here and we need to figure it out." Xander said. "Faith, let's try knocking on the walls and listening for hollow places. There should be two doors to this room, the front door and the door that leads to the rest of the building and two windows on either side of the front door."
"Too easy." Appeared on the mirror. "Ask me for help."
"No." Xander glared at the writing. "Not until we've exhausted every possibility that we can think of on our own. Who knows what the price might be?"
He and Faith divided the room and each took half. They knocked on the walls and listened, hoping to hear something that led them to the missing door and windows.
"Find anything?" Xander asked, after coming up empty himself.
"Just something that I think is carved into the wall." Faith answered. Xander came over and looked where she was pointing. He touched the wall and realized he could feel a rough, narrow groves. He traced his finger along it. "R. There's another one, L."
"Someone carved their initials in the wall?" Amy asked. "Or someone's, a boyfriend and girlfriend, maybe."
"Weird place to do it." Cordelia commented. "Most people do it on trees."
"Or lockets, like the one I gave you." Xander grinned at her for a moment, before putting his mind back to work on the solution. "Okay, the doors and windows don't seem to be covered over, just gone. Either with some kind of Magic that is masked from Amy's senses or by rearranging matter. How, I couldn't begin to explain. So we also need to check the ceiling and the floor. Faith, I'll lift you up on my shoulders and you can check the ceiling." Unfortunately that proved to be a bust as well, but Faith did find something.
"There's more carvings up here." Faith informed them. "M and I."
"Weird place for someone to carve their initials." Cordelia said. "They'd need a ladder or do what Xander did and get hoisted up."
"I think they're recent." Faith told her. "I can feel bits of the wall and ceiling on and around the groves. They haven't had time to be worn off."
Xander was focused on finding a way out and wasn't interested in kids marking their initials into the walls. He took a look around the small room. Tika was trying to stay calm and was fighting her woge. Jesse and Amy were holding her and trying to help her. 'Gods, this had to be bringing up some bad memories for her, after all she'd been imprisoned alone for five centuries.' He thought.
"Tika." He said softly. "You're not alone, hold onto that thought, you're not alone." She glanced at Jesse and then nodded, visually trying to calm down.
"So sweet." The mirror taunted. "But it doesn't help you find the way out." Xander glared at the mirror and dropped to his knees and pressed his ear to the floor and began again. Faith did the same on the other side of the small room. This time Xander found a carving. He traced the letters with his fingertips. "U, S."
Cordelia dug into her purse snd pulled out an envelope and a pen. "R, I, M, L, U, S. You never know, they could be clues." Xander grinned at her and nodded.
"You're right, we can't overlook any possibility. Alright, we need to check out the mirror itself next and behind it." He and Faith moved to it and tried to lift it off of the wall, but it was stuck solidly all the way around.
"Can't even wiggle it." Faith was the one glaring now. "It's like it's part of the wall."
"Let me try." Amy offered and reached out with her telekinesis and grasped it. Slowly it moved away from the wall.
"Hurry." Amy said. "It's like a magnet is trying to pull it back. I don't know how long I can hold it." Both Xander and Faith quickly squeezed behind it and methodically checked the wall behind it.
"I found two more letters carved into the wall." Faith reported. "P and K."
"I'll write them down." Cordelia responded. "Hurry, guys, there's a new message." Cordelia said urgently. "Magic is cheating! Penalty incurred!" Amy struggled to hold the mirror as the pull on it increased and Xander and Faith hastily stepped out from behind it, they barely cleared it when it abruptly jerked away from Amy and reattached to the wall.
"It was like gravity itself was pulling on it!" Amy exclaimed. "I almost feel like I strained something lifting something way too heavy for me,"
"What about the penalty?" Jesse asked, just as the walls on either side of the hall moved. Fortunately they stopped after about half an inch of movement each. Tika was shaking so hard, Jesse was afraid she'd vibrate apart before they figured this out. "Stop it!" He yelled. "This is cruel!"
"But fun." The mirror taunted.
"I'm beginning to think a vampire is possessing the building." Xander muttered. "Blood and cruelty are the their stock in trade after all"
"I am not one of those creatures!" The message flashed on the mirror. "Penalty incurred!" The ceiling lowed about half an inch as well.
"Xan." Jesse said nervously. "Let try not to piss off the possessed building, please." As Tika tried not to break down, silently though, Jesse vowed to borrow Uncle Rory's battle club and beat the shit out of whoever was doing this. Tika was barely holding on as it was. This had to be her biggest fear come to life.
"You're enjoying this." Xander addressed the mirror. "You aren't just trying to make us play your sick game, you're enjoying it. Why?"
"Not yet. Play the game."
"Captain Picard said no, when the Skin of Evil wanted him to entertain it. What happens if we simply refuse to play your game?" He asked. The answer came all too quickly as another wall slammed across the room and divided it in two. Xander, Cordelia and Faith on one side and Jesse, Amy and a freaked out Tika on the other.