Nagi and Nami were nose to nose, glaring at one another. "Why not?" Nami demanded.

"Because I'm older than you," Nagi said firmly.

Nami threw her arms in the air, "Oh, that is not a reason!"

"It is, it's just not a good one," Nagi crossed his arms over his chest.

"Glad I'm still smarter than you," Nami said dryly, rolling her eyes.

"Low blow," he growled.

"What are they fighting about?" Lulu asked, staring at the pair in disbelief.

"Their Politics essay's point-of-view," Parle replied, glancing up from his book. "They have been at it all day."

"They're giving me a headache," Chloe rubbed her temples, growling angrily.

"No, you're just coming up with another reason to bitch," Connor said dryly.

"Oh, cut it out..." Drake hissed.

"Yes, we are friends, we should not be fighting," Tristan reasoned.

Lucas rolled up his nudie magazine, "What'd I miss?" he asked as he looked around.

"Just about everybody is pissed at all the others," Anka yawned once before knitting her eyebrows together in frustration. She continued listening to the constant bickering and stupid, pointless arguements. "Seriously?"

"Hmm..." Lucas leaned forward, running his hand up Lulu's leg.

Lulu spun around quickly, slapping Lucas as hard as she could, "I have a boyfriend, perv!"

"Geez, you never told me! How am I supposed to know?" Lucas hissed.

"Guys, please stop fighting..." Tristan tried to butt into the multiple conversations that had elevated into arguments. All he got in return was every arguing party snapping on him and Drake snapping back and more elevated arguing.

"I think I'm going for a walk," Anka announced, her voice a mere whisper among the loud fighting.

"I'll come with you," Chloe volunteered as she grabbed her purse, following Anka.

"I'm not through with you," Connor growled as he chased after Chloe, the three of them winding up in the hallway.

Anka shivered, "It feels really creepy for some reason..."

The air grew really thick and shadowy, and it was to Anka's great surprise that the next room they entered... Was upside down and should have been at the complete opposite end of the building, "The hell...?" She muttered, clenching her jaws as Chloe and Connor entered the room behind her.

Obliviously the pair argued , jabbing accusing fingers at one another. "Will you get that finger out of my face, Connor!" Chloe hissed, swatting his hand aside and taking in the strange room before them, "Wait a minute... Isn't this the auditorium?" She asked, glancing up nervously to see rows and rows of seats above their heads. Paling, Chloe released a piercing scream of terror.

"Chloe, shut up!" Connor hissed half-heartedly in shock.

---

"What was that?" Nagi and Nami asked simultaneously as a scream echoed off the walls, the sound had startled them out of their own argument and now Tristan was glancing at the door nervously.

"You don't think some psycho serial killer is on the loose, do you?" He asked anxiously.

"I do not doubt it," Nami murmured.

"Keep the chatter to a quiet level," the detention teacher said before flipping to the next page of the newspaper.

"I'm gonna go check it out," Drake said firmly as he stood.

"Yeah, good idea. The jock always dies first," Nagi said with a sigh.

"And what are you?" Lulu asked.

"A nerdy jock. I don't exist in a horror cliche," Nagi responded.

"How about the pervert?" Lucas asked.

"You die during sex or a shower scene," Nami muttered. She glanced around the room. "Anka?"

"She left a bit ago," Tristan explained, "with Chloe and Connor."

Parle looked up at the teacher, "We can go one or two at a time...to find them..."

"Anka..." Nami whimpered as she started out the door.

"Nami! What if there is somebody..." Nagi started out the door after her without finishing his sentence.

"Young love..." Lulu said dreamily.

"Nami has a nice ass," Lucas muttered, nodding in approval.

"You were just hitting one me and now you're moving on to Nami?" Lulu demanded.

"All women are for me," Lucas grinned sheepishly.

---

Nami and Nagi came to a stop at the end of the hall. "Where did they get to?" Nami demanded of the walls.

Nagi glanced around at the lockers and classrooms that they walked past. "I want to know where we got to."

Nami spun around, "What are you talking about? We're at the end of the hall on the third floor, this is the science lab hall."

"Then why is the art room here instead of on the first floor?" Nagi crossed his arms as he stared into the art studio.

"What?" Nami stared blankly at the art room.

"Don't know. But I smell a certain magic shop," he commented.

Another loud cry came as the walls and rooms all shifted themselves. Nami clung tightly to Nagi as the hallway around them turned into the first floor, save the art room which was now the school's office.

"What's going on?" Nami asked.

---

"A dead end?" Anka stared at the wall.

"You mean another dead end," Connor corrected her.

"Oh, shut it. We are somehow lost in the school...erm...prison..." Chloe said quietly.

Anka bit her lip fretfully as she whipped out her cell phone, "I'm calling Nami." She muttered, speed-dialing her friend.

"Anka?" Nami's voice was filled with relief through the reciever, "Where are you?"

Anka tugged open another door and stepped into darkness, Chloe and Connor followed her closely as the door slammed shut. Eeping in surprise she groped around the shadows, "I-I don't know... Things're really weird." She managed.

"As in rooms not being where they should be?" Nami asked.

"That's exactly it..." Anka said sheepishly, "I thought we were going nuts..."

"Group insanity isn't really that far off." Nami replied.

"What'd you buy from the magic shop, now?" Nagi called over the line.

Finally locating a light switch Anka blinked in the sudden brilliance of the small room, "The... janitor's closet?" She muttered uncertainly, the room was oddly twisted and several objects were hovering in the air, moving lazily before her very eyes.

"Focus, Anka..." Nami pleaded, "Did you buy anything from the magic shop lately?"

"Nothing that I've brought to school with me." Anka said quickly, "What about Lulu or either of you?"

"Do you think I'd step foot into the magic shop if somebody else weren't in my body?" Connor asked dryly.

"You have a point," Anka conceded.

"I haven't bought anything," Chloe assured her.

"Well, none of us have been buying anything," Anka conveyed.

"Nagi, call Lulu," Nami sighed in frustration.

Lulu picked up her phone as she walked out of the classroom, heading into the bathroom, Lucas secretly following her. "Yeah, I bought a crystal ball. It's in my locker--where the hell is the bathroom?"

"Yeah, isn't this the computer lab?" Lucas asked.

Lulu turned around slowly. "You perv! You were going to follow me into the bathroom?!"

"Yeah, but we're not in the bathroom for some reason," Lucas stared in awe at the darkened lab.

"Lulu, listen to me," Nagi begged. "The school is changing shape."

"What?" Lulu asked.

"I think your crystal ball is doing it," Nagi said firmly. "Now which locker is yours?" he asked.

"Locker 118," she said promptly.

"Nami, we have to get to the first floor. That's where Lulu's magical item is," Nagi said as he hung up the phone.

"Well, these lockers are from the second floor, half of the hall being first floor classrooms and the rest being second floor..." Nami sighed, "Any thoughts?"

"Try to navigate into a group?" Anka suggested.

"Good idea, we haven't tried stairwells yet," Nami said as she started down the stairs, Nagi following closely behind her. As the pair reached the second floor the shriek of the walls shifting began again.

"I'm worried now," Drake said as he started out of the classroom with Parle at his heels.

"Me too..." Parle admitted.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Tristan pleaded.

The three walked out of the third floor detention hall and into the cafeteria. "What the..." Drake paused, glancing around nervously.

"Food!" Parle sniffed tentatively at the air, the scent of lunch was finally fading from the room, though he was fairly certain that some of it was still stored in the walk-in.

Quickly he darted past the other two who had no choice but to follow. "Parle, wait!" Tristan called worriedly, grabbing for Parle as the three of them tumbled into the walk-in cooler... and down a flight of stairs, landing in a confused heap.

"What's that noise?" Chloe asked nervously, gripping to Connor as the walls began to shriek and the room began to sway strangely about them.

Suddenly the trio stood in the women's bathroom. "Hey, it looks exactly the same in here as it does in the men's room!" Connor said lightly, "Save the... urinals in all." He added sheepishly.

"Most women's rooms don't have couches," Anka assured him.

"Most?" Connor asked.

"5 star restaurants have fashionable couches," Chloe explained.

"So, wonder where we're walking to. Any bets?" Anka asked.

"The gym for all we know," Connor muttered.


"We can take some solace in the others were smart and stayed into the classroom," Nami said with a sigh as she clung more tightly to Nagi's arm.

"Yeah," he agreed, his cheeks reddened.

"Something wrong?" Nami asked.

"No," Nagi answered. "Just trying to figure out the pattern," he said as they walked past the deep freezer.

"It's completely random," Nami commented.

"In math, randomness is considered a pattern," Nagi reminded her.

"This isn't math, but talk nerdy to me."

"Uh, right. "W-well," he stammered, "You remember that we were on the third floor with the most of the second floor rooms?"

"Yes," she nodded.

"Well we just need to get to the lockers on this floor. If they're third floor lockers we go to the first floor to get to Lulu's locker."

"You figured out the pattern so easily?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, it's fairly easy," Nagi replied.

Nami wrapped her arms around Nagi, kissing him a few times, "You're a genius!"

"Thank you..." he swallowed hard.


"Well, now that we have food, what the hell is going on?" Drake asked.

"Call Anka. She usually knows," Tristan shrugged.

Parle sniffled as he glanced at the pitiful, single cold slice of pizza he'd managed to grab before the room had vanished as he disentangled himself from the others.

Pulling out his phone Drake quickly dialed Anka's number, "Don't tell me... You left the classroom?" Anka's weary voice greeted him.

"How'd you know?" Drake asked, standing and brushing himself off.

"Why else would you call other than the fact that you wandered into the halls and found that things weren't what they appeared to be?" Anka replied, "Look, don't worry about answering that. We're all looking for Lulu's locker, 118, as well as trying to get together... Keep moving, and if you find the locker... Give myself, Nami, or Nagi a call and we'll figure out what to do from there."

"I don't understand..." Drake scratched his head sheepishly.

"Basically Lulu decided to make a trip to the magic shop." Anka said, "She bought a crystal ball and brought it to the school... Now we're stuck trying to figure out how the hell to get out and fix things. Just... start looking."

"Okay, we will." Drake replied as he hung up and glanced at the other two, "Magic shop mayhem." He shrugged.

"Ah..." Tristan made a face, "I guess that's better than psycho killer stalking us all..."

"Why does anyone continue to shop there?" Parle muttered, nibbling at his cold pizza.

"The town is pretty boring," Drake offered.

"That's why I shop there," Tristan admitted.

"Me too," Drake admitted. "Now, let's see..I want to be in the home ec room..."

"Why? More food?" Parle perked up.

"That and yarn," Drake replied.

Tristan stared off, "Like Thesius and the golden yarn..."

"There's a minotaur here?" Parle gulped.

Tristan and Drake turned around to stare blankly at Parle, neither of them saying a word.


"Okay so I still have to pee and we have wandered into every freaking room but a bathroom!" Lulu growled as she opened another classroom door to find the nurse's room.

"There, you can go and stop complaining now," Lucas said firmly.

"No," Lulu shook her head.

"What? Why not?" Lucas demanded.

"I'm sure as hell not letting you watch me," Lulu crossed her arms over her chest.

"You don't know if we will ever see a bathroom again," Lucas reminded her.

"And I'm taking my chances," Lulu slammed the door shut and walked to the next room, opening the door.


"What are we going to do?" Chloe asked. "My hair is frizzing, my nails are chipped, I'm starving, tired, dehydrated..."

"Calm down. We ate lunch 3 hours ago and we have been walking around for 45 minutes tops," Connor murmured.

"We'll find our way out of this soon," Anka assured them.


Nagi opened Lulu's locker, staring at the empty shelf's blankly. "118 is right, right?" he demanded.

"I guess...but the lockers might be switching..." Nami reminded him.

"I forgot to factor that in," he admitted.

When the loud screeching noise started again, Nami clung tightly to Nagi. The pair opened their eyes after the noise had ceased, staring in at the girl's locker room. "What the?" Nami blinked in surprise.

"Well, for the hell of it, do you want to go through?" Nagi inquired.

"Yes and no..."

"It'll be okay," he assured her as they stepped through the new door way, ending up in the girl's locker room.

"I need a rest," Nami muttered as she walked into the back where the Yoga mats were kept.

"Do you think closets are the same?" Nagi asked.

"They're doors," Nami shrugged as she pulled out a Yoga mat. She turned around to face him, "You're not..." she paused.

"I am," Nagi assured her. She grabbed his arm as he opened the door plunging into the blackened room.

"This is getting ridiculous..." Anka muttered as they entered the science lab for the third time.

"Mr. Benson usually has sweets in his drawer..." Chloe said suggestively as she traipsed into the room, dragging Connor with her.

Just then the ear splitting screaching began again, "Guys!" Anka gasped as the startled pair vanished from her sight and she was alone in the art room. "Dammit... I'm alone..." She sniffled dejectedly as she glanced around the room, an idea formulating in her mind, "Maybe..." She muttered.

"We're doomed!" Chloe lamented as she looked nervously around the darkened boiler room.

"Don't say that!" Connor gulped.

"We lost Anka, this is a hopeless situation..." She burst into tears.

"What am I?" Connor grumbled, drawing her soothingly into his arms, "She's only a phone call away, don't lose hope... besides, we already know what we need to do- find Lulu's locker..."

"Easier said than done..." Chloe sniffled, her voice muffled by his chest.

Nagi and Nami fell through the void, landing in front of Anka. "You okay?" Anka asked, gasping in surprise.

"Yeah, fine," Nami said as she slowly opened her eyes. "Uh..." her cheeks reddened when she looked up at Nagi who was groaning in pain and pinning her down. "N-Nagi?"

"Yeah?" Nagi asked as he opened his eyes. "Uh, oh..." he blushed as he sat up quickly, dusting himself off.

Nami stared up at Anka, "Anka?"

"Uh, hi...how'd you fall from the ceiling?" Anka asked.

"Locker that lead to the locker room that lead to a closet which poured us here," Nami said as Nagi helped her to her feet.

"Well, what are we gonna do about finding Lu's locker?" Anka asked.

"It lead to the girl's locker room," Nagi murmured.

"What?" Anka blinked. "Great, and I lost Connor and Chloe..."


"So where's the minotaur?" Parle asked.

"Do you want to stuff him in a locker?" Tristan asked.

Drake shrugged, "No, that would be torture." They all flinched when the shrieking walls shifted again and their hall transformed into the high school office.

Parle sighed happily, "Air conditioning!"


"What the...?" Lulu stared around at the urinals.

"Stop complaining now. We're in the bathroom," Lucas said firmly.

Lulu ran into a stall happily.


"What are we gonna do?" Chloe whimpered.

Connor sighed, "I'll call Anka and see where she went and what we should do."

"Don't leave me," Chloe begged.

"You're as close to me as you can be without us having sex. That'd be difficult to do when I'm standing still," Connor said as he pulled out his cellphone. He blinked, glancing around at the shop room. "Room changed," he commented.


"So basically... everything that opens, locker, doors, etc... Leads to another room?" Anka questioned, trying to understand the situation when the other two nodded, "Meaning... the crystal ball we're seeking can be anywhere in this building?" Here she recieved another nod, "That's perfect... let me give the others a call and let them know..." Anka muttered, tugging out her cell phone. She quickly dialed Chloe's phone, switched to the other line and dialed Drake's number, before connecting the calls as the other two picked up.

"Anka..." Chloe sniffled in worry, "I'm so sorry we lost you!"

"Got some news for us?" Drake said with an exasperated sigh.

"Well... it would seem that Lulu's locker... isn't going to help us. We need to search every square inch of this school for that crystal ball and figure out just what the hell we need to do with it... I think the magic shop is open for another half hour or so, I may try to call and see about getting advice. Please... Just keep your eyes open. I don't want to be stuck in school all night..."

"Great," Drake sighed. "We are screwed, royally."

"Please change into the cafeteria again," Parle pleaded.

"Yeah, please..." Tristan agreed as his stomach growled.

Lulu pulled out her cellphone, "Why didn't you call me?" she asked.

"Because my cellphone plan doesn't cover inter dimensional travel," Nagi answered.

"Well we went from the bathroom to the library if that helps anybody at all," Lulu grumbled.

"Who's with you?" Nagi asked.

"Lucas," Lulu glared at Lucas who was whistling innocently.

"Serves you right for buying the crystal ball," Nagi said firmly.

"What are we supposed to do?" Lulu cried.

"Find your crystal ball," Nagi said as he hung up the phone.

"Easier said than done," Anka said firmly as she grabbed a bottle of paint.

"What are you doing?" Nami inquired.

"Breadcrumbs," Anka shrugged.


"Connor... I'm scared..." Chloe whimpered as they neared the large furnace that had been dormant since the end of winter.

"We were told to look everywhere. Besides, whats there to be scared about an old furnace? We've looked in every other corner of this dismal place." Connor replied, clutching Chloe's hand comfortingly as he jerked open the door of the furnace... and they were sucked into the nurse's office.

"Well... guess that was a bust." Chloe shuddered, brushing off her arms nervously, "Lets get looking..."

"Remind me to make sure Lulu doesn't go back to that magic shop again..." Connor muttered as he began to search.


"Alright!" Drake hooted as they entered the home ec room, "Find the yarn and twine, and look for that crystal ball so we can be on our way!~"

The three males split up and delved into the drawers and cabinets of the home-ec room. "I found pepperoni rolls!" Parle called triumphantly from the kitchen area, "No!" He exclaimed briefly before he was sucked into the refridgerator... Only to collapse on Tristan from above.

"The hell?" Tristan grumbled, throwing Parle off of him, "Quit fooling around!"

"I-I thought for sure I was gonna wind up alone..." Parle whispered, clutching the bag of pepperoni rolls to his chest fearfully.

"You'd have done us a favor..." Tristan grumbled, rolling his eyes as he found several rolls of yarn and a large ball of twine. "So... why're we worrying about the twine again?" He asked curiously.

"A thought for an experiment." Drake responded, "I wondered what would happen if we tied the twine around say... Parle's waist, let him go through a doorway while we held the other end... And then gave him a yank back."

"So... you're thinking that the inter-dimensional insanity of this place could work both ways?" Tristan asked, "That we could simply give the twine a tug and it'd bring Parle back to us from wherever he's been taken to?"

"Its worth a shot." Drake shrugged, "And besides... if it doesn't work, at least we'd get some peace for a while."

"That's not nice!" Parle grumbled, "I'm not sharing my pepperoni rolls now..."


"Where do you think we'll end up?" Nami asked.

"We're in the hall now, so probably a bigger room," Nagi muttered, "it fits the pattern."

"There isn't a pattern," Anka argued.

"Randomness, or seeming randomness is still a pattern," Nagi replied.

"You're sure?" Anka asked.

"Definitely," Nagi affirmed. As anticipated the girls clung to Nagi as the screaming walls shifted again, the hallway becoming the cafeteria. "See?"

Nami leaned up and kissed him, "Right again," she said before dashing toward the kitchen.

"Awe..." Anka cooed, ruffling Nagi's hair.

"She likes that I'm right?" he asked, caressing where Nami kissed him.

"She likes you," Anka corrected him. "Now, done with teasing on to snacking."

"Food does sound good," Nagi admitted as he started after Anka.


Drake opened a cupboard, pulling out a few balls of yarn before he was sucked in and dropped into Parle. Parle began sniffling, "You....squished...my...pizza...rolls..."

"Shush, I might have just figured out a way around this," Drake replied.

"Right, so do you think we should call Anka?" Tristan asked. "Or the others? I mean we haven't heard from Chloe..." he muttered. "Or Nami or Lulu," he added.

"It's okay to have a crush," Drake said as he weaved the yarn into a tight line.

"Uh, right," Tristan sighed.


Nami held out a box of poptarts, "Want some?"

"Chocolate chip..." Anka drooled as she grabbed one.

"Yummy," Nagi muttered as he grabbed another. "So what do you want to do?"

"Eat, relax..." Nami shrugged.


Chloe tripped, falling into a box. She crawled out of the teacher's desk drawer. "This is getting ridiculous," Chloe growled.

"You're telling me..." Connor murmured. He continued crawling on the ground, searching for the crystal ball.

"For all we know it could be in a box, a bag, a locker..." Chloe muttered.

"Yeah, but without it we can't get out of the school," Connor replied.

"Worst detention ever," Chloe grumbled. "Wanna fool around?"

"We have to find the crystal ball," Connor reminded her.

"So?" Chloe pouted.


"I'm so bored..." Lulu muttered as she moved a book from the shelf, shoving more books to the side.

"Me too," Lucas agreed.

"We've looked everywhere in this room," Lulu muttered.

"We can wait until the room changes again," he suggested.

"Yeah...let's do that..."


"Heavenly..." Anka murmured as she polished off her poptarts, she frowned, "I bet poor Yaryck is simply starved about now, poor little guy..."

"I'm sure he'll be okay." Nagi assured her as he delved into a third package of poptarts.

"We should get back to looking..." Nami sighed, "No telling when the rooms'll change up again... We could be stuck here all night..."

"Worse..." Anka muttered, "Tomorrow and friday are act 80 days... meaning we could be stuck here for days by ourselves..." She made a face.

"Lets get to work." Nagi said quickly, throwing away his wrapper.


"Ugh... this is taking too long... I'm gonna try and find my way to another room." Lulu gave an exasperated sigh as she quickly stood and jerked open the door.

"Wait for me!" Lucas exclaimed, diving after her as they fell into the gym.

"As if there's a place for that crystal ball to be in this room..." Lulu muttered.

"Whats that up in the rafters?" Lucas gulped, pointing upward into the dimly lit rafters.

"Oh please no..." Lulu muttered, glaring at the rope that dangled a few feet over, "Climb, Lucas." She said severely.

"B-but..." Lucas whimpered.

"Do it!" Lulu prodded him.

Sighing in defeat Lucas made his way over to the rope and began to draw himself upward... He got past the knots in the rope that had gotten him started and fell immediately to the gym floor. Three tries and a dozen blisters later Lulu gave an exasperated sigh, "Outta my way." She said, pushing him aside as she grabbed ahold of the rope and tugged expertly to the top.

Swinging up onto the rafters she balanced over to where Lucas had seen the crystal ball... She leaned over, picked it up... And threw it with as much force as she could muster, beaming Lucas right in the face, "You bastard! That's not the crystal, its a dodgeball!" She howled down at him as he stared up at her in a daze, rubbing the aching spot on his jaw and praying that his nose wasn't broken.

---

Mr. Mcgrath, the detention teacher folded his newspaper again, glancing around the room at the lack of students. "What the? I told them to stay here!" he glanced around the room, realizing that he wasn't in his class room. "Where am I?" he demanded.

---

"I wonder if anybody else is having any luck finding their way through the rooms?" Nami asked as she approached the freezer. The door flew open and Parle flopped to the ground with a lot of yarn weaved into ropes around his waist. "Oh, God..." she placed her hand on her chest as she sighed in relief.

"What is it?" Nagi asked as he rushed to Nami.

"Hey, Drake! I found Anka, Nami and Nagi!" Parle shouted. "Grab my hands! He'll yank us back!" Parle assured them. Anka grabbed one hand, Nami grabbing the other and Nagi grabbing Nami and Anka's hands. "We're ready!" Parle said with a grin.

Drake and Tristan yanked the yarn rope, pulling the four of them into the home ec room. They all landed in an awkward pile. "Long time, no see," Tristan greeted them.

"Did that seriously just work?" Anka burst into a nervous fit of giggles and flung her arms around the three other males, "You guys are genius'!"

"It was Drake's idea..." Tristan replied, blushing, "Parle was just the guinea pig..."

"See how mean they've been to me?" Parle hugged Anka tightly before letting go.

"No luck with the crystal ball yet?" Drake questioned, clearing his throat.

"Unfortunately not." Nagi sighed, "We've looked in so many rooms... Its getting ridiculous."

"I'm getting sleepy..." Nami yawned, glancing at her watch, "And no wonder! Look at the time!" She gasped.

The others glanced at their own time pieces nonchallantly, "two in the morning!?!" Parle burst out, "How did that happen?"

"I'm thinking that in this twisted space time feels differently... Maybe we lose some every time the rooms change?" Nagi said thoughtfully.

---

"Wow, that was the longest you've ever lasted," Chloe sighed happily.

"Which is weird," Connor admitted as he glanced down at his watch. "It's 2 AM..."

"Hmm...wanna find the teacher's lounge and get some coffee?" Chloe asked as she started to dress again.

"We're gonna need it," Connor yawned.

---

"I am so tired," Lulu admitted as she sprawled out on the bleachers.

"Me too," Lucas sighed.

"The rooms haven't shifted for a while..." Lulu noted.

"I've noticed. We can find the nurse's room and lay down," Lucas suggested.

---

"Let's make some fashionable yarn belts," Nami said as she grabbed the black and blue yarn and began braiding them tightly together.

"You have a plan?" Nagi guessed as he sat beside her.

"Well, let's be like a chain gang. We can find the others and hopefully sticking together will give us more level heads," Nami muttered.

"Good plan. Pass me the purple," Anka said as she sat on the other side of Nagi.

"Does color matter?" Tristan asked.

"Naturally," Anka replied.

"What's it matter?" Parle asked.

"They're girls, color is everything," Drake commented as he opened the fridge, grabbing a few things and being flung from the ceiling.

"That was weird to watch," Nagi remarked.

"I'm hungry," Drake shrugged, opening the fridge again, the second time he fell from the ceiling, it was with a package of lumpy cookies.

"Wow, can't believe you actually got something..." Anka murmured, braiding her yarn without looking up, "So... maybe one or two of us stays back here, holding the ends of our yarn... and if we find something- a person or the crystal ball- we can give a tug on the yarn, shout, or even call the person left in here to pull us back..."

"Not a bad idea." Nagi replied, stroking his chin thoughtfully, "That way we can split up without actually being lost..."

"I don't want to be alone..." Parle whimpered, "This is really creepy..."

"So who stays?" Tristan asked.

"Wanna draw straws?" Drake suggested.

"The tuggers need to be strong enough to pull the weight of more than one person," Anka stated.

"She has a point," Nagi muttered, "So Drake and I will stay and you four will go."

"I won't be alone?" Parle asked.

"I'll go with you," Anka volunteered.

---

Lucas and Lulu collapsed against the row of lockers. "Kids?" Mr. Mcgrath asked as he approached them.

"Dude, you're still here?" Lucas asked.

"I'd love to leave but I can't. What the hell is going on here?" Mr. Mcgrath demanded.

"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Lulu replied.

"Is it that damn magic shop?" their teacher demanded.

"How'd you know?" Lucas asked.

"What? Why would you buy stuff from there? It always ends up like this!" Mr. Mcgrath sighed.

"I get bored," Lulu responded.

---

"I forgot how good you are at sex," Chloe admitted.

"Sarcasm helps," Connor replied as he plunged his hands into his pockets.

"That just makes you sexier," Chloe said as she wrapped her arm around Connor's waist.

"What do you think of trying to find a specific room?"

"It hasn't worked yet, but the rooms haven't shifted either," Chloe murmured.

"Teacher's lounge...teacher's lounge...." Connor repeated. The shriek of the shifting halls sounded through the night air. Connor and Chloe wound up in the library. "Damn..."

---

Lulu, Lucas and Mcgrath started down the hall, ending up in the auditorium. "Is there a pattern?" Mcgrath asked.

"No," Lulu sighed.

Lucas glanced around, "We haven't ended up here before."

"I'll call the others..." Lulu dialed Nagi's number.

"What's up?" Nagi asked.

"We got Mcgrath," Lulu announced.

"What's he still doing here?" Nagi asked in surprise.

"Trapped like the rest of us." Lulu replied.

"Stay there..." Nagi said, "We've figured out a way to bring us all together, but its an interesting challenge... Somebody may find their way to you within a few minutes..." He glanced at Anka who grabbed Parle and disappeared through the doorway.

"What're we planning to do about our current situation?" Mcgrath asked with a frown.

"Well... Lucas muttered, scratching the back of his head, "We're looking for a crystal ball that Lulu bought... It may very well be the cause of all this."

"Crystal ball?" Mcgrath muttered to himself, "You mean the one that Ms King has in her bag back in detention?"

"That's right!" Lulu gasped, "I forgot that I grabbed it after school, I was gonna fool with it in detention and then got distracted by everyone fighting..."

There was a collective groan from the other end of Nagi's phone, "You couldn't remember that sooner, Lu?" Tristan grumbled.

"Not like it matters, the way everything shifts around here..." Lulu muttered.

"Actually... it does make a difference..." Nami commented, "Considering its lying in your bag in a classroom that I don't think any of us has located yet..."

"Somebody needs to tell me what rooms they were in...I might be able to find a pattern," Nagi said calmly.

"Classroom, hall, computer room which was supposed to be a bathroom," Lulu said with a shrug.

"Somebody open a door, go through it and go through another door," Nagi suggested.

"I'll do it," Lucas shrugged, opening a closet, ending up in the teacher's lounge. He opened another door and ended up in a different classroom.

"Somebody call Lucas..." Lulu pleaded.

"On it," Drake said as he picked up his cell phone.


"Connor, Chloe!" Anka exclaimed as she and Parle found the pair wandering into another classroom.

"Looks like you've been busy..." Parle said slyly.

"What're you doing with the yarn?" Chloe asked curiously.

"Grab my hand." Anka said, "Both of you." She gave her yarn a quick tug as the pair clung to herself and Parle.

"Looks like Anka found something." Tristan said quickly, indicating the shaking yarn.

"Lets get her back then." Nagi nodded as he, Tristan, and a moment later Drake gave Anka's yarn a fierce tug.

Anka, Parle, Connor, and Chloe appeared in a heap on the floor beneath them, "Oh! I've never been so happy to see all of you!~" Chloe cried excitedly, "Have we figured a way out of here yet?"

"We're working on it." Nagi replied as Lucas answered Drake's call finally.

"Well, the great," Drake sighed.

"What?" Nagi asked.

"Lucas is now lost," Drake growled.

"Next time I am specifying," Nagi raked his fingers down his face.

"It's not your fault," Nami assured him. "Lucas is an idiot," she said, kissing Nagi's forehead. "Now, don't lose Tristan and me," Nami said as she and Tristan ventured into the hall.

"I am not an idiot!" Lucas said as he opened a closet, getting transferred into a different classroom. He opened the door to the hallway, ending up in the teacher's lounge. "What the...?"

"What now?" Drake asked.

"Uh, anybody want any coffee? I'm in the teacher's lounge," Lucas said sheepishly.

"Tell him to stay where he is." Anka said in exasperation, "Nami... lets take a door and grab him, look for Mcgrath and Lulu while we're at it... Everyone else be ready and get the yarn set up for the search for the crystal ball."

"I knew there was a reason we called on you when things get weird." Drake said with an amused grin as he tossed balls of yarn onto the tables, "Get to work everyone." He said cheerily as he sat and began to braid the yarn.

"Why're we braiding it?" Connor questioned as Chloe joined Drake, "Wouldn't we have more yarn if we only used it singly?"

"Sure, and then it wouldn't be strong enough to pull the others back, instead it'd break and leave them stranded on their own." Drake replied flatly.

Meanwhile Nami and Anka ensured that their yarn was tied firmly about their waists and that they had enough slack to move through several rooms before they'd have to return, "Ready?" Nami breathed as the girls stood in opposite doorways.

"Ready." Anka nodded, and the pair vanished from the room. Anka opened the door to an empty classroom, turning around, "Nothing..."

Nami stepped back, shrugging, "Same..."

The pattern continued, random empty classrooms on the first floor. "A coffee cup?" Anka squeaked happily, "Mcgrath's coffee cup!"

"You found it?" Nami asked as she turned around.

"Yes!" Anka announced as she happily opened the door. As the door opened, the familiar screech of the rooms shifting filled the air. "Noooo!" Anka cried.

"The rooms are changing! Pull them back!" Tristan said frantically as he grabbed a line and began tugging.

The group rushed into the hallway, tugging on the yarn ropes. "What's happening?" Lulu's voice came from Nagi's pocket. "Hey! Stop ignoring me.."

"We can walk..." Anka said dryly as they approached the group.

"Yeah..." Nami agreed. "Wonder where we're going now," Nami sighed as the walls of the hall shifted.

"There goes the food," Parle frowned.

"You've been eating all day," Drake remarked.

"To be fair we all have," Tristan muttered.

"Speak for yourself," Connor and Chloe frowned, glaring down at their growling stomachs.

Nagi pulled his cellphone from his pocket, "Found the room and lost it, but I now know the pattern," he explained to Lulu.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense," Anka pleaded.

"Cool, the teacher's lounge," Parle muttered.

Drake flipped his cellphone open, "Lucas is in the nurse's office."

"Lulu's in the gym," Nagi announced.

"Theory," Nami said firmly.

"Oh, right," Nagi snapped to realization. "The pattern...the shifts...they happen with a door opening. But not every door."

"Only the door we need to open," Chloe growled.

"Please find a pattern!" Parle pleaded as he groped Nagi's shirt, falling to his knees before Nagi.

"Uhh..." Nagi stared down at Parle, "working on it..."

"Too bad we can't open all the doors at once..." Connor grumbled.

"What are the chances that two people have opened a door at the same time before, anyhow?" Drake asked.

"Astronomical," Anka assured him.

"Nagi, I have an idea," Nami muttered as she approached a door.

"Hmm?" Nagi approached Nami, dragging Parle with him.

"Opening all of the doors at once is impossible with the number of doors and lockers, but opening multiple at once is possible," Nami said as she placed her hand on a doorknob.

"Right," Tristan grabbed a doorknob and nodded.

"3, 2, 1..." Nami counted down. She and Tristan both opened the doors at the same time. Everybody immediately covered their ears, cringing as they awaited the unpleasant sound.

"Nothing happened?" Anka guessed as she glanced around at their surroundings.

"Nagi! NAGI!

NAGI VINCENT WILLIAMS!

Lulu shouted into her phone.

"Jeez..." Parle flinched from the sound of Lulu's voice.

"Well, I have been ignoring her," Nagi conceded. "Don't open any doors. We have a new theory..." he said into his phone. "Now somebody tell Lucas not to move or open any doors," he said, turning to the others.

"Lost signal..." Drake said in frustration as he shifted his phone, moving his arm to different angles, trying to catch a signal.

"Great..." Nami raked her fingers down her cheeks in aggravation.

"Huh? Me too..." Nagi stared at the bold NO SIGNAL message sent to his cell phone.

"Same here..." Chloe announced, shutting her phone off. The others all concurred the lack of signal entirely.

Like clockwork, the walls let out a shrieking cacophony. "Remind me to kill him..." Nami clenched a fist as she turned away from the others.

"Nami!" Nagi called as he grabbed her arm and yanked her out of the forming room. The pair landed against a wall in an awkwardly sexual position in the newly formed janitor's closet.

"Normally I'd condone you two getting it on, but we're kind of screwed at the moment already," Lulu said crossly.

"Lulu?" Nami and Nagi chorused.

"Yeah, Mcgrath and I are here, now. But we're short a Lucas," Lulu announced.

The others were fighting to get out of the close quarters of the others. "Somebody open the damn door!" Chloe growled as she elbowed Drake and Tristan.

"Here," Mcgrath opened the door without a question. The loud cacophony filled the air again as the rooms changed again, this time they ended up in wood shop.

"We broke the pattern," Nagi remarked.

"Until we end up in the hall again we're screwed," Connor growled.

"So either us or Lucas will be deciding our fate..." Parle said thoughtfully. Everybody considered their options for a moment before rushing toward the door.

Anka gave a weary sigh as they re-entered the home ec room some odd time later, "Ugh... this is beyond ridiculous," she muttered.

"I'm starved..." Nami whimpered.

"Something's different," Nagi frowned, glancing around the room trying to put his finger on the feeling of displacement.

---

Lucas smiled as he flipped through his porn mag. "Anka's smart. She'll figure it out. And yo, Lucas, should relax until she saves you," he chuckled as he kicked his feet up onto a desk.

Lucas glanced up at the changing room, him ending up in the bathroom this time, though the urinals were on the ceiling, the toilets were upside down and the sinks were on the floor. "Sitting here will be awkward," he remarked. Glancing around at the incongruous room his eyes came to the urinals. "Dude! I have a cool game idea!"

---

"Nothing looks different," Parle remarked.

"Except for the desks floating in the air," Drake added.

"And the cupboards aren't here," Connor added as he stepped from the kitchen into the classroom part of the room.

"Nor is the fridge," Chloe added.

"No..." Nami grunted, collapsing at a desk.

"Here," Mcgrath pulled a nutrition bar from his pocket, "my wife packed it in my lunch."

"Thank you," she said happily as she accepted the food offering, devouring it in the same manner that Nagi ate.

"Well, her grade book is missing too.Damn," Lulu snapped her fingers.

"Lulu!" Anka chided.

"I mean...nothing's out of place," Lulu said, whistling inconspicuously.

Parle tugged on Anka's sleeve. Anka turned her attention to Parle who was pointing at the chalkboard. "Hmm?" she asked thoughtfully as she read the writing on the board.

"What is it?" Connor asked, turning his attention to Anka. "Oh..."

"Oh, what?" Nagi and Nami chorused. The pair turned their eyes to the chalkboard sighing in defeat.

"It says to split up and find the items on the list," Anka announced.

"Split up...after all of the effort it took for the most of us to group up?" Chloe asked.

"Apparently so..." Parle replied.

Everybody grabbed Anka's arm triumphantly. "Well, this isn't exactly splitting up..." Anka said dryly. She laughed nervously as her friends glared daggers at one another.

"Draw straws," Nami suggested as she grabbed a handful of the disposable straws the teacher kept on her desk. "There's an eve number of us so we can pair off," she said as she began cutting pairs of straws evenly. Nami shuffled the straws around in her hands behind her back before holding them strategically so the length of the straws was not obvious by looking.

Tristan approached Nami first, picking a straw. He watched and waited as one by one the others grabbed straws and began trying to match who their scavenger buddy was.

Anka and Mcgrath stepped into the hall, glancing around for a clue or anything out of the ordinary. "Well, the school didn't change," Mcgrath stated the obvious as a conversation starter.

"Though the room behind us did..." Anka sighed as she glanced over her shoulder, the home ec room had been replaced by the woodshop, tables and tools floated eerily about, "Something tells me that this is where we're supposed to be..." She muttered dryly.

"The drawing on the sketchboard?" Mcgrath managed a faint chuckle before clearing his throat.

"I am that which I destroy and create," Anka murmured, reading the text beneath the obscure drawing on the board, "Looks like... a saw blade but... they're made of metal, aren't they?"

"Hmm..." Mcgrath muttered thoughtfully, "Lets take a look around, I'm sure once we find what we're looking for the riddle will make sense."

"Its a thought," Anka nodded, "Just gonna have to be careful with everything floating around... "

"Oh! There!" Mcgrath pointed to the teacher's desk, teetering on the edge was a round, wooden object that looked curiously like a saw blade.

"Could it be that easy?" Anka mused, ducking under and around objects as she cautiously approached the desk with Mcgrath behind her and grabbed the blade.

She tensed, expecting something to happen, and when it didn't she gave a sigh of relief, picked it up, and tucked it carefully into her bag, "Okay, what ne-" Anka's question trailed off as the colors of the room bled together and the pair were whisked off to their next destination.

---

"So how did they manage to be paired?" Chloe muttered to Lulu as Nagi and Nami exited the room, vanishing after Anka and Mcgrath.

"I just wish I'd have gotten to be with Anka..." Parle whimpered, glaring briefly at Connor.

"Well of the smart girls she's the one who explains it on the lower intelligence level," Connor muttered.

"Are you calling us dumb?" Chloe demanded.

"No, just you," Connor snipped, sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry.

"Grrr..." she glared at Connor as he and Parle started out of the room.

Waiting for the interval they unofficially agreed on, Drake stared down at his shoes expectantly. "I'm wondering why the rooms didn't change," Drake announced.

Tristan spun around in a circle, "Yeah..that is pretty weird..."

"Well, let's go, Lulu," Drake said with disdain as he started toward the door, also bitter that he didn't end up with Anka.

"Right, see ya," Lulu waved to Chloe and Tristan as she followed closely behind Drake.

After a few seconds of silence Chloe and Tristan approached the door. The pair opened it to find that they were in the art room...though the desks were on the wall and all of the supplies were on the ceiling. "Do you think we all went to different places?" Tristan twiddled his thumbs.

"Since they're not here, I'd venture that as a good guess," Chloe answered as she crossed her arms over chest.

"Well, let's start looking for clues..." Tristan shrugged as he turned to the chalkboard which was rotating like a calming screen saver. Written on the chalkboard was what appeared to be jibberish.

"Null-ik..." Chloe stared at the board.

"N...L...I...backwards K..." Tristan whispered.

"Good clue. Next time let's put it in Chinese characters..." Chloe said as she opened her mirror. She flipped her hair into place to preen herself out of boredom.

Tristan leaned toward her, staring at the reflected letters. "Kiln! The kiln!" he said excitedly as he approached a wall.

"How're we supposed to get a kiln out of here?" Chloe muttered, glaring at it.

"Maybe we're not..." Tristan said thoughtfully.

"Come again?" Chloe questioned.

Tristan shook his head, "Never mind, I don't know, but maybe we'll just have to bring everything here?"

---

"Of course we're in the kitchen..." Lulu sighed as she and Parle entered the room, her stomach growled hungrily.

"Wonder what we're supposed to be looking for..." Parle looked around cautiously.

Lulu stopped when a squishing sound was emitted from her placing her foot on the ground. "Ew," she shuddered as she lifted her foot to find ketchup on the bottom. "I just bought these shoes..." she frowned.

"Look! It's an arrow!" Parle shouted excitedly as he followed the direction he was being led to.

Lulu growled, grabbing a napkin and wiping her shoe clean. "Wait for me..." she called out as she tossed the napkin aside.

"Don't get excited, it's just a pizza box with no pizza," Parle frowned.

"What the hell are we supposed to do with that?" Lulu demanded as she slapped the box off the counter, revealing a green and blue slice of pizza.

"Can you say mildew?" Parle gagged.

---

Anka and Mcgrath stood in the janitor's closet, each of them holding two different chemicals. "Well, this will be fun," Anka said wryly.

"How are we supposed to know what we're looking for, exactly?" Mcgrath asked.

"I'm kind of hoping that that detail will just come to us," she admitted.

"In the form of a blatant hit by chance?" Mcgrath asked the sky.

Anka glanced up at the bare bulb before looking at her teacher. "So, somehow I think we'll have to do better than hope."

"So... what do we do with these?" Mcgrath held up the chemicals cautiously trying to decipher what they were, neither bottle that he held was labeled and identifying them by sight or smell was seemingly impossible.

"Hm..." Anka glanced around slowly, trying to see if they'd missed anything and then it hit her- literally- a large bowl fell from above and bounced off her head, clattering noisily to the floor, "Mix them?" She muttered wryly.

"That could be dangerous..." Mcgrath cautioned.

"And being trapped in this crazy place for the rest of our lives isn't?" Anka questioned, flipping the bowl right side up.

"Good point," Mcgrath said nervously as the two of them dumped the contents of their vials into the bowl.

There was an explosion that knocked them both backwards as the chemicals mixed and a thick smoke filled the room. As it cleared Anka peered down into the bowl in awe, her stomach growling as she dipped her finger in and brought it to her lips, "Anka, no, that could be dangerous!" Mcgrath exclaimed, too late.

---

"What was that?" Nagi and Nami tensed as a loud rumble echoed through the halls.

"Did something... happen?" Nami worried, biting her lip as she glanced at her cell phone, cursing when she saw there were still no bars.

"Nothing bad, I hope..." Nagi frowned and squeezed her hand comfortingly, "Lets just see what we can find and hope that everything's okay..."

"You know I can't not worry," Nami said anxiously.

"I know, but it'll be fine," Nagi responded soothingly. A thudding sound caught their attention making them both spin around to meet the sound. A random podium had appeared in the hallway behind them. "Think that's our clue?" he asked.

"It's something," Nami commented as they slowly made their way to the podium. The two looked through the random papers finding nothing of importance. "Damn..." she sighed, crossing her arms and turning away from the mess of papers on the podium.

"I've seen this before," Nagi said as he held up a leather bound book.

"Seen what?" Nami asked glancing over her shoulder. "Huh?" her eyes widened as she watched Nagi start to open the book. "No! It's mine!" Nami cried as she grabbed the book, holding it protectively against her chest.

"What is it?" Nagi asked curiously.

"N-nothing..." Nami blushed.

"Oh...kay..." Nagi brushed off Nami's strange behavior. "Some reason you won't tell me what that is?"

"Diary."

"Okay," Nagi shrugged, holding up Nami's scrap book. "Seen this before too," he said dryly, handing Nami her scrap book.

"What the hell?" Nami demanded of the strange room. "Are we going to throw anymore personal things onto the podium?"

"Yeah," Nagi said, holding up a pair of silky boxers. "These are mine."

"Why are our personal possessions ending up here?" Nami growled, turning away from Nagi in embarrassment.

"I was hoping for a hint or two, but I guess not," Nagi sighed in frustration. His cheeks reddened as the mistletoe fell from the ceiling, landing on the podium. The podium and their personal affects disappeared. "Or maybe it is a hint?" he asked as he procured the mistletoe before it hit the ground.

"All of that for the Christmas decoration?" Nami growled, lowering her gaze to the ground.

"I guess it was hoping we'd look up," Nagi shrugged.

---

Puck snickered as he poked his head around a corner. His tiny fairy wings flapped quickly as he watched the school shifting around him. Growing tired of flying around and remaining unseen, Puck landed on the ground panting.

Yaryck poked his head out of Anka's messenger bag having taken a long, refreshing nap. He sniffed the air, his whiskers twitching with his chocolate chip nose. His eyes fell upon the fae and he glowered. Without hesitation Yaryck tackled the tiny creature, pinning him to the floor.

Puck struggled, despite knowing that his strength was nothing compared to the ferret who had pinned him down. He gave in, unable to cast any spells with all of his magic tied up in manipulating the school. "What do you want?" Puck demanded of Yaryck.

Yaryck hissed, baring his teeth at Puck, leaning dominantly over the fairy.

"Okay, if I promise to undo the school will you leave me alone?" Puck asked quickly, flinching away from Yaryck's teeth. Yaryck stopped growling and freed Puck. Puck waved his magic wand and disappeared.

Suddenly, the school was back to normal and everybody was in the detention room as if nothing had happened.

"Wha-" Lulu started. Everybody glanced around, looking for confirmation that something had just happened, yet nobody spoke for a long while.

"Kids, go home," Mr. Mcgrath said firmly, grabbing his bag and sports jacket. Everybody nodded, gathering their possessions, following their teacher out of the room, waiting for the school to change again. When they reached the parking lot and nothing odd had happened they all dashed off in different directions to get home.

---

Lulu dialed the magic shop's number. When the woman answered she asked, "Why does the crystal ball I bought change dimensions around?"

The magic shop lady blinked. "The crystal ball you bought was just a Halloween decoration. It's not magical at all."