Chapter Text
“Kevin, shut the fuck up!” Dan shouted. Neil was glad someone had finally said something, because Kevin’s panicked rambling had long since passed the point of annoying and was verging into intolerable. If Dan hadn’t spoken up, Neil was half-sure Seth would have jumped him.
“‘Shut up’? Seriously!? We all woke up in some random room with nothing but a single locked door and no idea how we got in here and you’re telling me to shut up!?” Kevin tore his hands through his hair. “If anything, I think the rest of you should be a lot more panicked!”
Andrew chuckled, his smile carved sharply across his face. “Aww, has itty-bitty Kevie never been kidnapped before?” he crooned. He lounged casually against the wall, arms crossed and half-lidded eyes staring lazily at Kevin’s agitated form.
“OF COURSE NOT.”
Neil sighed as the room once again devolved into shouting. By Neil’s count, they had been here for at least an hour, and the only thing they had accomplished was filling the room with the sound of yelling.
Even before Neil had first opened his eyes, he had known he wasn’t in bed. The floor had been hard and cold beneath him, the slightest shift setting his aching muscles alight. Kevin had been pushing them extra hard in the days since Columbia, now that Andrew had finally given his stamp of approval.
He had kept his eyes closed, trying to assess his situation. Was this his father’s men, finally having caught up to him? But Neil hadn’t been tied up, and was clear of injuries other than his sore limbs. So what else could it have been?
When he had opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the bodies of the other Foxes surrounding him. Neil wasn’t the first awake — Abby and Wymack were huddled in a corner, eyes scanning the room, and Nicky was blinking blearily — but most of the Foxes were still sound asleep, curled up on the wooden floors.
Neil had no memory beyond going to bed the night before. What made it more disturbing was that Neil was always a light sleeper: he should have woken up at the first hint of intrusion into their dorm. His head was clear, no signs of having been drugged at any point. So how had they gotten there?
And why? The last thoughts of his father had been swept away. If it had been his father’s men, they wouldn’t have bothered to bring the Foxes here, especially not with them still alive. Could it have been some crazy Raven fan, kidnapping the Foxes as revenge? Or even the Moriamas themselves — now that Neil knew the truth behind them, he wouldn’t put it past them. But still, these theories didn’t add up. What was going on?
The minute the other Foxes had woken up, they had begun panicking, pulling at the door and shouting at each other. Kevin had been on the verge of a panic attack for the past twenty minutes, Aaron wouldn’t stop glowering at anyone who so much as looked at him, and Matt had paced the length of the room at least 50 times.
Which led to now.
Neil let out a soft groan as the shouting intensified. The soft buzz he had woken with was turning into a fully developed headache, and he had no idea how long the yelling would continue for. Any time Wymack or Abby had tried to intervene, the room wouldn’t stay quiet for more than 30 seconds before erupting once more in noise. The only ones who had been keeping calm were Renee, who was watching the scene quietly, and Andrew, who had been chiming in with occasional quips that only exacerbated the situation.
All of a sudden, Neil heard something from beyond the locked door. A thumping noise. Footsteps.
Neil froze, carefully maneuvering himself to a spot against the wall where he would have a good vantage point of the door. Out of the corner of his eye, Neil saw Andrew and Renee’s heads shoot to the door, and Andrew elbowed Kevin harshly.
The click of a lock silenced the room immediately. Everyone went stiff as the heads of those caught up in the argument snapped to the door. Without the noise crowding the room, Neil could hear a muffled voice from the other side of the door as the handle began to turn.
“—told you, I heard talking coming from inside—“
The man who opened the door faced away at first, but the minute he turned around, Neil’s heart stopped. The strangled gasp Kevin let out told Neil he recognized the man too.
His father’s face stared back at him.
But no, wait. Though this man shared his father’s shock of red hair and bright blue eyes, this man was covered in scars. His skin was tanned and his face was clean-shaven compared to his father’s usual scruff. He was far shorter than Neil’s father, standing at around Neil’s own height. Upon closer inspection, the man seemed to be in around his mid-thirties, almost a full decade younger than Neil’s father.
For a moment, Neil stopped to consider the idea that this was the man who had kidnapped them — no family of his father’s had ever been mentioned to him, but surely they still existed? Did his father have a younger brother, one who had joined forces to uncover Neil once and for all? But the man looked far too shocked for that, eyes wide and mouth slack in a way that was hard to fake. And if the man had captured them, why would he need to fake surprise?
“Uh, Andrew?” the man called, his voice slightly higher. “Come tell me I’m not hallucinating.”
Another pair of footsteps approached, and when the second person reached the open doorway Neil felt his jaw drop to the floor. A quick look around him showed similar reactions from the people around him.
The man who had entered looked identical to the Minyard twins, if they had been about 15 or 20 years older. He had the miniature height, the blond hair, the face and amber eyes… and the name. Andrew. Which meant only one thing.
Neil’s eyes flicked back to the face of his future self.
What had happened to him, to leave him covered in scars and looking like his father? Had his father’s people finally caught up with him? But if that was the case, how was he even still alive?
“Not hallucinating,” the older Andrew — older Andrew! — said, derailing Neil’s spiraling train of thought. Then, turning to the man beside him, “How long? 17 years?”
“I think so. I mean…” At this, Neil’s future self glanced at him. Future Andrew let out a hum.
“I’m sorry,” Nicky said, shaky and bordering a shriek, “but what the fuck is going on!?”
“Andrew?” Abby’s voice was shaky, her face pale.
“Yes,” Future Andrew replied. His face was blank, his typical manic smile nowhere to be seen. Was this what Andrew was like without his pills?
“What, we’re supposed to believe this is some kind of fucking time travel?” Seth scoffed.
“Yes.”
“Prove it,” Dan said, staring straight at Future Andrew.
Future Andrew raised an eyebrow, then thought for a moment. “Columbia. Have you taken Neil yet?”
Regular Andrew, who had stayed silent until now, finally spoke up. “And if we haven’t?” He tsked. “Don’t you know the dangers of changing the past? Oh, Treborn, I thought you’d know better by now.”
Nicky shot Andrew a frown. “Yeah, that happened a few days ago. And what’s that supposed to prove?”
Neil’s future self stared at Nicky disapprovingly, as if to tell him to be patient. As he did so, Future Andrew replied, “Neil snuck out by shoving his clothes down a toilet while pretending to take a shower.”
Seth cackled. Dan’s eyes flickered to Neil as a startled “You did what?” left her mouth. Matt and Allison’s jaws dropped, and Wymack let out a tired sigh.
“He’s telling the truth,” Aaron grumbled. “And the only way he could’ve known is if he was there, so—“
“Wait,” Kevin interrupted, still staring at Future Neil. Neil’s stomach twisted as he shot his future self a glance, knowing immediately what Kevin was about to ask. “So does that mean you’re really N—”
“Abram.”
Neil sucked in a quiet breath as his eyes flickered to Future Andrew. How did he know that name? How close were they in the future? Now that he was looking closer, Future Andrew was standing close to his future self, shifting in front of him in a way that seemed almost… protective?
“Wait,” Nicky said with a frown. “Andrew, how do you know this guy?”
“Hold on, are we just supposed to believe him about this whole ‘time travel’ bullshit?” Allison snapped, having recovered from her earlier shock.
“Well, Aaron said he was telling the truth about the Columbia thing…” Matt answered hesitantly.
“Oh, so just because he was stalking the Monsters—”
“HEY!” Wymack shouted. The room fell silent. “Listen. I know this situation is stressful for all of us, even without this whole—“ he made a vague hand movement in Future Andrew and Neil’s direction. “Thing. But if we want to get out of here, we have to focus.” Wymack turned to the future pair, directing the next part of his speech at them. “Now, the room you two came from. It look anything like this one?”
“Similar,” Neil’s future self — Abram — replied. “This one’s a lot… sparser.”
“Sparser how?” Matt asked.
Andrew pushed himself off the wall and crossed the room. As he approached, the future pair slid aside, allowing him entrance into the room they had come from. “Well?” he called without looking back. “Am I being abandoned to some unknown terror?”
Kevin sighed, then followed after Andrew. The rest of the Monsters followed. Abby and Wymack exchanged a glance before crossing into the other room, with the rest of the Foxes, including their future visitors, following suit.
The room they entered was similar in style and shape to the previous one, but about twice as big. Two large couches sat facing each other, each big enough to fit around six people comfortably, with a coffee table in between them. On either side between the couches were three armchairs, six total, with a few bean bags scattered around the room.
Neil frowned. There was enough room to seat at least 20 people easily, and they only had 14. He supposed it was nice to have the choice, in case he wanted to distance himself from the rest of the Foxes, but it still felt odd.
There were four doors, one on each wall, but no windows. One door, the only one with a lock on it, led to the room they had woken up in, and a quick glance around gave a hint as to what the others led to. The doors had been left ajar, as though someone had looked through them and forgotten to close the door all the way, and through them Neil could see a bathroom, a kitchen, and a hallway with even more doors.
Neil felt a presence behind him just as a voice spoke. “Bedrooms,” it explained.
Neil looked behind him to see Future Andrew staring at him. His hair immediately stood on end, and Neil tensed slightly. But… for as much as Neil didn’t trust the Andrew of his own time, he felt that he could be a bit more relaxed with this future version. Future Neil — Abram, he reminded himself again — had clearly trusted Future Andrew with at least some of Neil’s secrets, if the name and appearance was anything to go by. And Andrew had been protective, earlier, when Kevin had nearly said Neil’s birth name.
Neil allowed himself to untense slightly and gave Future Andrew a short nod and a quick thank you. With a final lingering look, Andrew turned and stalked away, back towards where Abram was standing. Neil watched him go with a hint of confusion.
Neil spotted motion in the corner of his eye, and turned to look. Present Andrew had returned from the kitchen, a bottle of something alcoholic clutched in his grasp. Wymack noticed him and sighed. “Andrew…”
“Yes, coach?”
Neil startled for a moment at the echoing response, then realized both Andrews had spoken at once.
“Okay, this is going to become a problem,” Allison said, glancing between the two of them. “We need a nickname for one of you two.”
“Andy?” Matt suggested. At this, both Andrews stiffened, and Present Andrew’s hand twitched towards his armbands, where Neil knew his knives were hiding.
“No,” both Andrews replied in unison. The two seemed calm, but Neil noticed how Future Andrew’s blank look had become an emotionless mask, and Present Andrew’s smile had sharpened into a knife’s edge. Aaron subtly inched away from Andrew.
“Drew?” a voice suggested. Neil looked over to see it was Abram who had spoken.
Future Andrew let out a sigh, but didn’t protest. After a moment of silence, it seemed decided. Wymack snatched the bottle of liquor from Andrew’s hands and pulled Matt aside, telling him to put it on the highest shelf of the kitchen he could reach. As Matt walked away, Neil turned back to the room.
As he did so, he saw something he hadn’t before — a stack of books, sitting half-hidden in the corner of one of the couches. As Neil looked around, he noticed that some of the other Foxes had already seen the books. Abby, Wymack, and Renee were all eyeing the stack, and while Neil had no idea how long Abram and Drew had been alone in the room, he was sure they had seen it too.
Dan was the next to notice, eyes catching just as Matt reappeared, and she walked over with a small frown. As she picked up the top book, her eyes widened. She peeled something off the book that Neil hadn’t seen; a sticky note, covered in writing. “Hey, guys?” she called, a small tremor running through her voice. “Come look at this.”
The Foxes gathered close to read the note, all other than Abram and Drew, who Neil assumed had already read it. As the note was passed around and they began to read, some of the Foxes let out small noises of disbelief. Neil looked down when the note reached him and felt his eyebrows creep high up his forehead as he read the note.
‘Hello, Foxes,’ the note began. ‘You must be wondering why you’ve been called here. You have been given a rare gift. Within these books, you will find your answer. Once you have finished, you will be returned.’
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean,” Seth huffed as he threw himself back on one of the couches.
“Not much to you, I’m sure,” Nicky snipped back. “I’m surprised you’re even literate.”
“Oh you’re one to talk, you fucking fag–”
“Seth!” Abby interrupted, just as Andrew raised a knife in Seth’s direction. “Andrew!” Abby cried again.
“I warned you.” Andrew’s voice had a sing-song quality to it. “Don’t use that word.”
“Andrew,” Renee said softly. At her voice, Andrew deflated slightly, slipping the knife back into his armband.
“Oh, Saint Renee,” he sighed. “Whatever would our poor upperclassmen do without you?”
At Andrew’s remark, Dan stiffened and Allison bristled, the latter’s eyes sharpening to a glare. Renee remained unaffected, continuing to smile innocently at Andrew. Neil noticed Abram whisper something in Drew’s ear, and Drew huffed softly, something Neil recognized as, to his disbelief, a laugh. Were he and Andrew friends in the future?
Neil tore his eyes away from the strange sight to see Allison grab one of the books left on the couch. “The Raven King,” she read, then flipped it open. Her expression slid into annoyance as she threw the book down on the couch. “It’s empty.”
“It’s what?” Matt grabbed the book and flipped it open. He made a small sound of shock, then flipped the book around to show the rest of them that the pages were entirely blank.
“Don’t you know you’re not supposed to read out of order?” Andrew said. The upperclassmen — other than Renee, of course — stared back at him with confusion and irritation, and Matt slammed the book closed. As he did so, Neil spotted something he hadn’t before.
“There’s a two on the spine,” he announced. Startled eyes flicked to him, and Neil realized this was the first time he had spoken to the room at large.
“He’s right,” Dan noticed. She picked up the book that had been on the top of the stack, the one Neil could see had a one on the spine. “The Foxhole Court,” she read, then opened the book to its first page. “Neil Josten let his cigarette burn to the filter—“
“Excuse me?” It took Neil a moment to realize he was the one who had spoken. He felt frozen with shock and terror. These books were about… him?
“Ohoho, so the rabbit’s secrets are finally being revealed,” Andrew purred. Neil shot him a dirty look.
“Absolutely not,” Neil said.
“There’s no other way to leave,” Aaron pointed out. “The note said we had to read the books, and if there were any other ways out, Abram and… Drew would have told us already.”
“There isn’t,” Abram confirmed.
Neil wanted to protest, but he knew there was no hope. The Foxes were stubborn, and Aaron was right — reading the books was the only way they would be able to leave.
“Well if we’re going to be stuck here reading for who-knows how long, I’m going to be comfortable,” Allison huffed. She tossed herself on the couch next to Seth, with Renee settling beside her. Dan and Matt quickly followed suit, with the Monsters taking the couch across from them. Abby and Wymack settled into armchairs on one side of the room, with Abram and Drew sitting on the other side.
Neil hesitated, torn between the desire to stay and to lock himself in one of the bedrooms Drew had mentioned, but eventually sat on one of the beanbags. At least if he was here, he would be able to know exactly how much they found out.
Abby, who had taken the book some time when everyone was settling down, sucked in a breath and began to read.