The game had begun, and Alex had no idea what to do or how to start. Her heart was racing and suddenly she felt like she was breathing through a straw. Calm down, she told herself, before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. With her eyes closed and her ears open, she listened for any sounds of movement above her. Sadly the only thing she could hear was the frantic drops of rain banging against the windows, and the distant thunder of a raging storm.

When she opened her eyes again, she began analyzing the room. It had an old fancy looking fireplace at one end of the room, two tall windows to the side, an antique looking vanity table in between the two windows, an oak dresser to the right of a huge bed, with one of those fancy canopies that covered the whole bed that had two oak end tables at either side, and finally an oak desk to the left of the table, along the wall. Alex began walking frantically around the room. What should I do? she thought. Alex found herself opening the drawers of the dresser and the desk, looking for anything that would spark an idea.

Just then she saw a sort of wardrobe in the corner between the desk and the bed. She thought of hiding inside, however, she denied the idea as soon as she thought of it. He’s searching for me, of course he would look inside a wardrobe. She opened the wardrobe to satisfy curiosity and found some spare blankets and pillows. As soon as she saw them an idea sparked in her brain. It was small, but it was a start. She could use the extra pillows and blankets to make a sort of person looking figure underneath the sheets of the bed. This small idea got the ball rolling. As she crafted her dummy, Alex thought she could also leave the wardrobe slightly open, making it look like she tried to hide there first, or at least making it look like she had been there. Then she could hide in one of the other rooms until he walked into that one, buying her some time to quietly hide in one of the rooms that he’s already checked. Next she could wait for him to be far enough away, before making a quick but silent break for the hall that eventually led to the grand staircase or any other room. At least until she could figure out her next step.

Alex decided to make her dummy look more realistic, so she took off her shoes and neatly tucked them under the blankets where the feet were supposed to be. Alex thought that if she hadn’t made the dummy herself, she would have been fooled by it. She then thought, This ‘game’ of Ezra’s is beginning to seem a lot like hide and seek, or tag. The childish game made Alex realize that Ezra probably played this in his own childhood and knew about decoys and fake-outs. So I will make it look like a decoy and then find another place to hide within the room, one less obvious, she thought as she paced the room again, looking for a better hiding place. She was looking into the low glowing embers of the dimming fire, when she heard slow footsteps, making their way down the hall. Alex’s heart leaped out of her chest as she frantically looked around the room for a place to hide. She could hear Ezra open the door to the room that was on the other side of the hall, the one that was diagonal to hers.

Alex then conveniently remembered something she learned in history class back in high school, something about chimney sweeps and how they would climb up the chimney to clean out the soot. She realized the fireplace was similar to the picture in her history book. Alex closed her mouth and breathed from her nose as she leaned in over the fire, and there, just behind the basket that holds the fire was what she was looking for. Just then Alex felt the ash and soot tickle at her nose and throat. It took every ounce of self-control for Alex to not sneeze or cough. Carefully but quickly, Alex crept behind the low fire. The smell of smoke and ash filled her lungs, making them feel like they were on fire. Alex found a small narrow hole leading down, probably to another fireplace just below her that shared the same flue. She gently squeezed herself into the narrow passage in a sort of sitting position, where her back was against the wall and her knees and feet were against the other wall, and she shimmied her way down so that she was out of his line of vision. Just as she got settled, Alex heard Ezra open the door to her room. She leaned up just an inch to see him enter. She could feel her knees shaking as she tried to breathe shallow ashy breaths. She trembled with anxiety as the sound of her own heartbeat echoed through the chimney, and she hoped that he could not hear her.

As soon as Ezra walked into the room he saw her first “trap”, the wardrobe door was slightly open. He then looked at the bed, which had the shoes that Alex had been wearing, just peeking out from under the covers. To Alex’s surprise, Ezra grabbed the cover and flung it off the bed, sending the pillows and her shoes flying across the room. An amused smile crept on Ezra’s face as he looked around the room.

“Pretty clever love,” he said as he caught sight of the window. Alex watched confused as he opened it and peered out. He leaned out the window slightly and looked down.

“Hmmm,” was all he said before he leaned back in and closed the window. He stood there tapping the window stool with his back towards Alex. Slowly, he began walking towards the door, closer to the fireplace than before. Alex held her breath as walked. Her heart was pounding in her chest and creeping up her throat when Ezra stopped. Alex’s heart beat harder and faster in alarm as Ezra smiled again. He seemed to mumble something to himself and to Alex’s surprise he left the room. Alex wasn’t even sure if she heard his footsteps.

Even when she was sure Ezra had left the room, Alex’s heart beat as if she were running, and she couldn’t seem to catch her breath. Not now, god please not now, she thought as she weakly began trying to scoot back up the chimney. Just then a couple of flashes of bright light lit up the room, and just as quick thunder followed, shaking Ales in the chimney. She curled into a fetal position, with her arms on her ears and her eyes shut tight and suddenly... Alex was somewhere else.

Fear overwhelmed her as she ran barefoot through the darkness, her feet beating against the cold hard mud. The chains and cuffs on her feet kept catching on rocks and roots that stuck up from the ground and were making it harder for her to run. Alex wasn’t quite sure what she was running from, but it drove fear into every cold bone and muscle in her body. Alex’s chains caught on another root abruptly and she smashed face first into the ground. When she looked up a figure stood in front of her, reaching for her. Absolute terror filled her small body as a flash of light lit up the forest. Thunder shook the ground, but when Alex opened her eyes again, she was back in the chimney.

Pain shot up through her knees, elbows, and her back as she choked on the soot that was raining down on her. As soon as she coughed up and spat out the ash and soot that clogged her throat, Alex took a look around. When she had blacked out, Alex had fallen down the chimney a bit. Alex could see the light from the other fireplace closer than the one above her, which was the one she had come from. Slowly and carefully, she shimmied her way down to the room below her. Luckily this fireplace had no fire in it, so it was easier for Alex to crawl out.

Alex’s whole body ached as she stood up in the huge room. First, she analyzed the damage she had done to her body and clothes. Her clothes were covered in black soot, and were completely destroyed at the elbows and knees. The back was a little torn but not too bad, considering she had just scraped it against jagged brick. Her knees and elbows were a bit scraped but fortunately for Alex she was not bleeding. She had read in the vampire book back at Grant’s, that a vampire’s keen sense of smell was really only heightened to the smell of blood. Meaning that if she wasn’t bleeding Ezra couldn’t smell her. He did, however, have his impeccable hearing. This made Alex wonder why he did not see her in the fireplace. Surely he could hear her heartbeat echoing out of the chimney. Then Alex realized he must have mistaken it for her heartbeat coming from another floor. She sighed in relief that it wasn’t this floor, because surely he would have been here by now. Alex took this moment to plan out her next move; she unfolded the blueprints and looked to see what room she was now.

Alex found the fireplaces that connected the rooms and found out she was on the first floor, in one of the many parlors in the mansion. If she was careful, she could sneak out the door, and through the archway that led to the ballroom. There she would have to find a way to creep through the ballroom and the dining room, just to get to the main hall. When she looked around the ballroom blueprint some more she saw a door in the left corner that led to the kitchen. The kitchen was narrower and a most likely easier place to hide while walking through. Then when she would get to the main hall she wondered if she should book it to the door or if she should slowly sneak behind the foyer sets till she got to the door.

Alex took a second and closed her eyes. She listened to hear if anyone was close. As far as she could tell, no one was close enough to spot her. Slowly she slipped out of her room and into the ballroom. The ballroom was huge and quiet and empty. Again, Alex took a second to listen, hoping that if anything was close, it would echo through the big empty room. Nothing. Alex opened her eyes and looked around a bit. The room reached up to the second floor where there was a balcony with more doors. No movement came from the upper level so Alex sneaked around, under some tables and made it to the kitchen doors safely.

Once in the kitchen, Alex took another second to close her eyes and listen for anyone close by. This time she heard muffled voices coming from the door on the other side of the kitchen. Quickly she hid between the long island and the counters, where if someone just walked in they wouldn’t see her. The voices became clearer and burst into words as the door opened. Alex made sure to keep on her toes so that she could flee if anyone walked past. Sure, it had to be Ezra that caught her but they might have tried telling him where she was or something.

“-seems different than any of the other girls to me,” a voice finished. Alex recognized it to be the old man’s voice, Isaac.

“Maybe, but you know Ezra better than anyone. You know he loves his game of cat and mouse, he’s probably milking it. Lloyd did say she was strong-willed; he’s just having fun with her.” Another voice stated. Alex didn’t recognize this one, but it was a young man’s voice.

“Yes, but something about her is… different,” Isaac said as he grabbed something off the counter. Alex could see him now, but he didn’t seem to notice her… until he looked directly at her and winked before taking a tray away.

“Do think this one will make it?” the young man asked.

“If she does, Ezra will keep his word. Even if he really wanted her, no matter what man he may seem to be, he is a man of his word.”

The young man laughed as they walked through the door she just came through. Alex let out the breath she was holding. Isaac saw her there… and didn’t say anything. I guess I’m just lucky he took a liking to me, she thought to herself.

Alex could barely believe it, she was almost there. She slipped out of the kitchen, through the door to the main entrance and hid behind a large couch. Claude was nowhere to be seen. He must have left by now, she thought. Just then, she heard footsteps from above her. Something about the slow confident walk told Alex that it was Ezra. Alex fought the urge to dash towards the door. She knew she couldn’t make it there before he could, at least not at this proximity. She listened carefully as she heard his steps move on towards the room where she had first seen him. When she heard the door close behind him she peeked out from her hiding spot to make sure he had gone in.

Seeing that he was no longer in the room, Alex bolted for the front door. Just before she had reached for the handle Ezra was suddenly right in front of her, blocking the door. Unable to stop her momentum; Alex rammed into him at full force, knocking open the front doors as they tumbled backward. Just before they passed the threshold, Ezra caught and held onto Alex, taking the full force of the fall.

Ezra fell on his back bursting with laughter, the rain running down his face. Alex rolled off of him and on to the floor next to him, closing her eyes and sighing with frustration. Ezra got up first, and then held out his hand to Alex.

“You’re name, miss?” he asked, tilting one eyebrow slightly higher than the other, with that sly grin of his.

Alex sighed again, before smacking his hand away and getting up herself.

“Alexandria,” she said.