Leo walked inside the room, which he could barely see even after he finally managed to light up the candles that he had found on a table next to the door. The room was small and poorly furnished, and the paint had fallen off many parts of the walls. There was a closed window on the opposite side of the door, under which there was a bed with a worn-out blanket. Next to it, a wooden chair served as a bedside table where a jar full of water and an empty glass covered by a saucer were placed. An electric lamp dangled uselessly from the ceiling. Next to the table by the door, there was a chest of drawers that had only one drawer and there was no wardrobe. However, the room was perfectly clean; no speck of dust anywhere, and that was enough for Leo. He tried to open the window, but it was sealed shut and there was no handle. Leo put down his bag next to the bed and tried the mattress, it was surprisingly comfortable, but he truly believed that sleep would be unlikely for him that night with all the thoughts that occupied his mind. He thought about the strange place they were in, how it was inhabited the whole time and nobody ever noticed, he thought about Hozafia, which no longer seemed like a joke, and then he remembered the journey that awaited them the next day. Did they really want to go through with that? He could not decide. Then, practically asleep, he thought proudly about his heroic deed of saving Virginia. After a while, he was too exhausted even to think and he could feel his eyelids getting heavier.

    A strange noise woke him up. The noise was the creaking sound of the wooden floor underneath someone’s feet. It was coming from outside, but with the Rest House’s ancient wooden floors, the creaking sound was loud and unmissable. Leo got off the bed at once and it felt as if it had only been minutes since he had first jumped on it, but his watch showed three-thirty; he had been asleep for two hours. Curious to see who was walking in the corridors at that hour, Leo crept to the door slowly so as not to make noise on the wooden floor of his room, and with every step he took, the sound of the footsteps coming from outside became closer to his door. Leo opened the door noiselessly. Standing behind the narrowly opened door, he peeked outside. To his shock, he saw someone covered from head to toe pulling what seemed to be a sack full of something along the corridor. Leo felt scared and wide awake. He remembered what Erick had told him and guessed that the hooded person was probably another kidnapper, or perhaps the same one, and it looked like there was someone inside that sack.

    He didn’t know what to do. If he jumped on the kidnapper right then, would he be able to save that warrior as he did before? Or was it only luck that helped him save Virginia? He considered waiting for them to leave the corridor and then go wake Erick, after all, the kidnapper was slow and seemed to be struggling with the weight of the sack, but then, Leo realised that waking everyone up would even be better so he pulled the door of his room open just as the hooded person was in front of it.

    ‘It’s you again,’ said Leo as loud as possible. The hooded man didn’t say a word, he just left the sack and ran for Leo, pulled him from his shirt and pinned him to the wall beside his room.

    ‘Hey!’ Leo shouted and shoved the man away, but it seemed that the man was determined to return the punch that Leo had surprised him with on the street, so he re-engaged. With his hood still on, the man punched Leo in the nose.

    ‘Oh God, ow!’ Leo mound feeling his nose, there was blood coming out of it. ‘How dare you, freak.’ Leo was enraged. The hooded man, who was still pinning Leo to the wall, making sure that his hands were, securely, away from his hood, started whispering in a low tone something Leo didn’t understand and could barely hear when a door in the corridor swung open, and a girl, in about Ursula’s age with brown hair braided into two short plaits behind her ears, came out. She stood shocked in her pyjamas at the threshold of her room. She must be one of the other warriors, thought Leo, judging from the look of her non-Hozafian clothes. Then another door opened and a teenage-boy warrior came out. Shortly, a third door flung open and a girl warrior, with a dark complexion, came out. Then two more warriors came out of their rooms. It was clear that the noises had awoken many of those sleeping nearby. When the hooded man realised that he was surrounded, he left the floored sack and ran to the stairs, it was only then that Leo noticed that the hooded person was much shorter than the one he saw earlier. All the astonished teenagers were then looking curiously at Leo’s bloody nose and the sack lying in front of his door.

    ‘What’s happening here?’ came Erick’s voice from the end of the corridor. He came out of his room still dressed in his wide cloak.

    ‘Erick! Why do you always come after the show is over?’ asked Leo trying to cover his nose. Erick glared.

    ‘What happened?’ he asked again.

    ‘We are the ones who are supposed to ask this question,’ said a tall dark warrior, but before Erick could say anything, they heard someone coming from upstairs; it was Alfred with his nephew in their sleepwear.

    ‘What is the matter captain? Why are all the warriors outside?’ asked Alfred, looking extremely alarmed, but then he noticed the sack under his feet. ‘What’s this?’

    ‘There was another attack,’ said Leo. ‘He ran downstairs.’ On hearing that, Alfred’s nephew ran downstairs as well to look for the intruder.

    ‘What do you mean another?’ asked one of the astonished teenagers.

    ‘Shouldn’t we open that?’ Leo suggested referring to the sack. Without another word, Erick knelt to open the sack. Everyone gasped as Erick revealed its content—an unconscious boy of Leo’s age.

    ‘Neil,’ Erick called the boy’s name, and then he looked up at Leo. ‘Did you see him?’

    ‘I didn’t see his face.’ Leo shook his head.

    ‘Out of my way, please,’ a girl’s concerned voice came from behind the warriors that gathered around the unconscious boy, it was Virginia, wearing a long nightgown and a robe. She managed to push her way inside the circle. ‘Neil!’ she almost screamed and knelt next to the boy who was still partially inside the sack. ‘Neil, wake up. Who did this to him?’ She asked.

    ‘Do you know this warrior?’ asked Erick.

    ‘He’s my friend.’ Virginia was crying.

    ‘He’ll be okay,’ Erick assured her.

    ‘There’s no one down there,’ Alfred’s nephew announced as he came back to join them.

    ‘Where is that useless guard?’ asked Erick. Melvin just shrugged. ‘Everyone please, go back to your rooms.’ Erick implored the warriors.

    ‘Are you expecting us to just go back to bed?’ the tall boy countered. ‘We need to know how safe we are in here.’ Erick stood up.

    ‘You will be fine only if you do as I tell you,’ Erick said firmly, and then he spoke in a higher tone to the rest of the warriors. ‘There is no need for you to be out of your rooms. All of you get back to your rooms and lock your doors.’ Erick ordered. Everyone reluctantly obeyed. Leo was a little surprised at the others' unquestioning obedience. He expected some teenage stubbornness—there was none. They seemed to be prone to taking orders; Leo could hardly approve of that. Teenagers ready for the army, he thought. ‘You stay. We need to do something for that bleeding nose,’ Erick told Leo.

    ‘I’m staying too,’ said Virginia decidedly.

    ‘Fine, you may stay,’ said Erick, then he gestured for Alfred to help him carry the unconscious boy after the rest of the warriors had returned to their rooms. ‘How did this happen?’ Erick asked Alfred as they held Neil up together. ‘Are both entrances to the Rest House secure?’

    ‘He couldn’t have come through the tunnels. I closed the gate myself. I am not sure though how diligent Maurice really is,’ said Alfred. ‘If the attacker had come through the wall then probably he’s someone who knows this place very well and how to enter it.’

    ‘Could it be one of the guests staying in?’ Leo suggested. Erick and Alfred stayed quiet as they considered the possibility.

    ‘You have no authority over our guests, they come from different parts of the cosmic world.’ Alfred reminded Erick.

    ‘And by the time I’m able to get permission to interrogate everyone, they’ll be gone, I know,’ said Erick.

    ‘I will stay and guard their rooms myself tonight if you want.’ Alfred offered as they carried Neil to Erick’s room.

    ‘Good. Tell Melvin to stay up too, and make sure to wake up old Maurice. This could be the end of his career here. He’s useless. No one sleeps tonight. I’ll come and join you in a few minutes,’ said Erick.

    ‘Right,’ said Alfred, and after they had put Neil inside the room, the old man went downstairs. Leo and Virginia walked into Erick’s room. It was dark and the only light in it came from the corridor outside. Neil was placed on a couch near the door. Erick’s room seemed to be more of an office; there was no bed, and there was a desk at the other end of the room.

    ‘Is he going to be okay?’ asked Virginia fearfully.

    ‘Yes,’ said Erick as he handed Leo something to dry the blood coming from his nose, then he opened a metal box that was on the desk and took something out of it. ‘Put this on your wound, it will stop the bleeding, it will work also if you smell it.’ He gave Leo what looked like some dried plant roots and leaves. Leo, willing to try anything to stop the bleeding, applied the leaves to his wounded nose at once. ‘Keep them for a few seconds,’ said Erick, then he went back to the desk and reached for something in the drawer. It was a kit full of small bottles. He took out one with a shiny, turquoise, liquid.

    ‘What is this?’ asked Virginia looking doubtfully at the bottle in Erick’s hand.

    ‘Nothing harmful,’ Erick assured her, ‘it’s tiger lilies’ essence. He’s an Aquarius. He loves lilies.’

    ‘Neil doesn’t care so much for flowers,’ said Virginia. ‘How can that help him?’

    ‘Its smell will be helpful in his case,’ said Erick as he uncorked the bottle. ‘I’ve seen this before. He has been put to sleep.’

    ‘He’s just sleeping? But he seems unconscious,’ said Virginia.

    ‘There are many ways in Hozafia to tranquillize a person and they all make them seem that way,’ said Erick. ‘This effect will wear off eventually, but since we don’t know what happened exactly we can never know when. It can take two to three days, sometimes longer. Making him smell this will certainly rush the process.’ Virginia looked expectantly at her friend as Erick put the bottle with the lovely scent to Neil’s nostrils. At first, it didn’t seem to be working. Neil didn’t seem to be breathing at all, but then, he sniffed deeply and opened his eyes. Erick, in turn, breathed out and put a cushion under Neil’s head. ‘He’s alright.’

    ‘Neil.’ beamed Virginia but Neil, who felt too frightened to say anything, was surprised to see her.

    ‘Virginia? What are you doing here?’ Neil asked as she hugged him. Seeing a friendly face made him feel better.

    ‘Welcome back,’ said Erick. Neil looked up, not sure where he was or how he got there. ‘Don’t worry, you’re okay.’

    ‘I had the worst nightmares,’ said Neil.

    ‘Because of the way you were sleeping,’ said Erick.

    ‘What happened?’

    ‘What do you remember?’ asked Erick.

    ‘Someone—came into my room and said something in a strange language that’s all I can remember,’ said Neil, recalling his fear and wishing it was only a dream.

    ‘That person tried to kidnap you. Unfortunately, we didn’t see his face, did you?’ Erick asked hopefully.

    ‘No—I couldn’t. It was dark,’ said Neil trying hard to remember.

    ‘Forget what happened.’ Erick smiled. ‘You’re with your friend now. Isn’t this a nice coincidence? Virginia is a warrior too.’ Neil looked at her in astonishment, she just smiled and nodded.

    ‘This is wonderful,’ said Neil, but he was still shocked.

    ‘There is someone else here I want you to meet. It's Leonardo Donner,’ Erick introduced Leo. ‘Donner, this is Neil Wood.’ Erick went to light the candles in the room. ‘You should be grateful to him, he saved both your life and Virginias’ life earlier tonight.’

    ‘Please just call me Leo.’ Leo tried to smile while pressing the dried leaves to his nose.

    ‘He did?’ said Neil. ‘Wait, did you say?—You were attacked too?’ Neil asked Virginia concernedly. She nodded again.

    ‘I’m fine,’ Virginia reassured him.

    ‘Well, thank you, Leo,’ said Neil. He wasn’t expecting to have an enemy on his first night as a warrior, but he wasn’t expecting friends either and for that, he was truly grateful.

    ‘Don’t mention it,’ said Leo.

    ‘How did you manage to do that?’ Neil asked.

    ‘I just opened the door of my room at the right moment, I guess,’ said Leo.

    ‘And got punched in the nose,’ said Erick. ‘You can put down the leaves now, that'll do.’ Leo removed the dried leaves and seemed surprised when he couldn’t find his wound. Neil was pleased that Leo’s wound wasn’t severe.

    ‘Now that you’re all okay, you can go to your rooms and fear nothing. No one will sleep tonight, we’ll guard you until morning,’ said Erick.

    ‘How concerned for our lives should we be?’ asked Virginia   

    ‘We haven’t even left Curtlane town and already we have enemies in your world?’ asked Neil.

    ‘I’ll explain everything in the morning. Now please, go back to your rooms and have a good rest of the night,’ said Erick tiredly and motioned them to the door. Uncertain, the three warriors walked out of Erick’s room, went back to their rooms and locked their doors.