PUZZLER (mystery fic)

002. skills.

CHAPTER TWO.

lizzy's pov.
??? , SOUTH DAKOTA.
. . . discovering skillsets ♦️.

WHEN WE'RE all woken up at 5am, they tell us to get ready and then meet in the hall.

It doesn't take me long to get ready, but a few people (alora and jade) take an extremely long time to get ready, and Alora claims that even though she's stuck with us, she still has to look hot.

I head out into the hallway with Selina so we can wait for everyone else, and I find a few of the boys are already out there.

Miles, Silas, Everest and Sebastian. Silas was hesitant to originally let me go with him to this... puzzle thing, but since we'd both received letters (and I'd practically begged him) he eventually agreed and I came along.

As for Miles, Everest, and Sebastian, I hadn't spoken to them very much. I could tell Everest was sorta in his own little world with Jade... not sure what's going on there, but they seem into each other already.

Since I'm the youngest here, I sorta feel like an outcast with the older kids. Sure, I sort of have an automatic in with them since Silas is one, but it still feels odd that I'm 14 stuck in some... place with a bunch of 17 and 18 year olds.

"Hi!" Selina smiles at the group of boys, who all nod their heads at her in acknowledgment. "You guys ready for this first day? I'm excited, I don't know about you."

"I'd rather be asleep, but whatever..." Sebastian mumbles.

A second later, Danielle, Jade, and Brody come out of the rooms at the same time. I see Selina discreetly roll her eyes at the sighting of Brody, which is a little funny to me.

"Hey. Where's everyone else?" Danielle asks, and most of us shrug.

"Still in the rooms, I'd assume." Silas points out.

Well no shit...

Finally, once everyone's out of their rooms, the two guards walk over to us and lead us to the locked room that Selina had mentioned before. The boy unlocks the door and leads us in, telling us to take a seat in one of the empty chairs in the room.

The two guards don't speak much, but I'd like to get them to crack. I go for the girl first, even though her male counterpart seems to be the nicer one.

"Hi, I'm lizzy." I tell her with a smile, and she nods shortly.

"I'm aware, I had to let you in." She answers, her voice void of emotion.

This may be harder than I thought...

"What's your name?" I ask, and she rolls her eyes at me.

"Ariana. Go sit with the other so you can do the damn puzzle, Lizzy." She mumbles, and I take this as a win, walking over to the group and sitting down next to Silas.

When everyone is sat, the boy guard, who I learn is Stevie, sets a letter down on the table that's in the middle of our makeshift circle of chairs.

Danielle grabs it, opening it slowly and reading the words out loud.

"Welcome to the puzzles, players." She starts off, her eyebrows furrowed in a focused manner. "I'm glad you all accepted your invites or their may have been an issue... your first clue will be on the back of this letter, but don't look at it yet.