Reunion at Sea

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The next morning, they were all woken up by the sun shining through the windows high above them. "Mmngh..." Varian rolled over and then blinked before sitting up. "Okay, who's on watch right now? You can sleep now." He looked around and realized everyone was asleep. Come to think of it, when did he fall asleep? He pushed himself up, the blanket he didn't remember draping over himself falling off his shoulders as he did, and he looked around again. "Guys! GUYS!"

They all stirred and he got up and went around to each of them, shaking them awake. He had to quickly move back to avoid Adira hitting him when he shook her, but she quickly moved her hand back when she realized who had been touching her.

"Sorry." She said quietly.

"It's fine." Varian went on to Hector.

"What's going on?" Eugene asked, yawning.

"Well, for one thing, the door is gone. Secondly, we were all asleep. Who was supposed to be on last watch?" Varian started to tug at his glove anxiously.

"Wait, hold on. Back up. The door is--what happened to the DOOR?!" Rapunzel cried in alarm.

"GUYS!" Varian walked over to them. "Who was supposed to be on last watch?! Did anyone notice anything weird last night?!" He paused. "Besides the mirror-people."

"I-I don't know." Rapunzel frowned. "Eugene, did you...?"

"I don't remember feeling sleepy." Eugene admitted. "I mean, I was sitting up reading with Varian and...huh." He looked at the book next to him, which was sat aside neatly with a bookmark in it. "Varian, do you use bookmarks?"

"No, I just memorize where I left off." Varian walked over and picked up the book, opening it to look at the bookmark of a bird left in the book. "...Okaaaay..."

"Do you recognize it?" Rapunzel walked over to him.

Varian sighed heavily and held up the bookmark, shutting the book with his other hand. "...'Little bird'. Lucas is around here."

"What?" Hector hissed.

"Man, that guy needs a hobby." Lance said, shaking his head.

"Okay, so, let's not panic. So, there's a Disciple of Zhan Tiri around here causing trouble. No worries, we'll just...avoid him and find another exit!" Rapunzel looked around. "He must've put us to sleep last night before he...I guess, made the door disappear."

"There has to be a limit to that kooky guy's magic." Eugene shook his head.

"Now, come on, it can't really be gone. I bet it's just invisible!" Lance walked over to the wall and knocked on it before he felt around for any sign of a door. He laughed awkwardly, then started to wail. "It's completely gone! It's no use, we're trapped, it's all over!" He beat on the wall, then hung his head before turning to them. "Okay...what's for breakfast?

--

"Come on, guys, there's gotta be another way out of this place." Rapunzel said as they walked down the hall.

"Is it just me, or is there more doors than yesterday?" Varian frowned. "I know this was a blank wall before."

"Maybe it all looks the same and you got confused. We didn't exactly give a full exploration of the place." Eugene said with a shrug.

Rapunzel opened a door and went through it, then came out another door further down. "Uh..."

"...Great." Varian groaned. "I knew that things were weird."