“I glanced around at everyone. “It’s going to be bad. Worse than bad, probably.”“We’ll manage it,” Cal said.“Yeah,” Jenna said, smiling shakily. “We’re kind of badass in our own right.”I gripped her hand. “Damn straight.”

“Cal, Archer, Jenna and I managed to achieve something truly impressive: the *four-way* glance.”

“This is bad," was all I could manage to say. "Yeah, I kind of picked up on that too.""No,I mean really bad. Like, to a level I didn't know badness could reach."Archer crouched down near the lip of the crater, the flickering blue light playing in his eyes. "It gets worse.""What,does this put also eat kittens? How much worse can it be?”

“Wow,Cal," I said, feeling a little bit like myself for the first time since I'd walked into this crazy house. "You will be able to have some awesome slumber parties in here.All of the other girls are gonna be so jealous."Cal shot me a half smile, and I felt some of the weird-ness between us dissipate. "It's not so bad," he said. Then he flopped down on the bed, only to sink out of sight in the middle of it. As Cal drowned in a sea of fluffy coverlets and throw pillows, I couldn't help but crack up.Lara looked offended. "That bed originally belonged to the third Duke of Cornwall.""It's great," Cal said, his voice muffled. He gave her the thumbs-up, which only made me and Jenna laugh harder.”

“Archer, Jenna, and I weren’t exactly clutching each other and sobbing, but we were pretty shaken as we formed a little huddle. “Okay,” I finally said. “Can we all agree that this is maybe the most screwed-up situation we’ve ever found ourselves in?”“Agreed,” they said in unison.“Awesome.” I gave a little nod. “And do either of you have any idea what we should do about it?”“Well, we can’t use magic,” Archer said.“And if we try to leave, we get eaten by Monster Fog,” Jenna added.“Right. So no plans at all, then?”Jenna frowned. “Other than rocking in the fetal position for a while?”“Yeah, I was thinking about taking one of those showers where you huddle in the corner fully clothed and cry,” Archer offered.I couldn’t help but snort with laughter. “Great. So we’ll all go have our mental breakdowns, and then we’ll somehow get ourselves out of this mess.”

“Are we all going to high-five now?' Jenna asked after a pause.'No, but I can make up some kind of secret handshake if you want,' Archer said, and for a second, they smiled at each other.”

“You're going to be okay," I said, but my voice was wavering and I was shaking. "It's probably not even that bad, and you're just being a big drama queen as usual.”