I don’t want to know what he means by that. I don’t ask, though, because in this moment, ignorance is bliss.

“How long have you been here?” I ask, trying to concentrate on when Hazel and I might get out…not how long we’ll have to stay.

What could they challenge us to do? How bad could it be? Why do they all appear defeated?

Theo looks into the distance like he needs a minute to think about it. “It’s not easy to keep track of time. There are no calendars, but I’ve been here the longest, about two months. Kevin’s one month. Priya, three weeks, and Lucie is new. It’s sometimes hard to keep track of the date if no one new has arrived in a while.”

“What date is it?” Priya asks, her voice soft and timid.

“July twenty-fifth,” I tell her.

“I thought so. I’ve been trying to keep up with the days.”

“How?”

She looks up. Above us is a small window, way too small for someone to crawl through. It barely even lets in light. “I’ve been tracking the days, making a note of them. I was only a day off when Lucie arrived.”

Wow.

“No!” Hazel snaps. “No way. I’m not watching for the sun to rise to tell me the date, and I’m not staying here for weeks or months!” She pulls her hand out of mine and spins, pounding her fists on the door behind us. “Let us out right now, you sick bastards! Let us out!”

“Shut her up!” Kevin snaps.

I ignore him. Hazel is only doing what I want to do. I’m worried she’ll hurt herself if she keeps slamming the door. I grab her wrist and tug her backward. “Haze, shh. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”

Her legs give way, and we both slide to the ground. Her shoulders slump, and she sobs against my side, gripping my arm like I can somehow protect her.

I hope I can. I wish my confidence, my strength, my stubbornness were enough to break down all the doors in this building.

Why so many doors? And so many locks?

“Are we going to die? There’s no getting out, is there?” she cries.

“Hey.” I grip her upper arms and turn her so she’s facing me. “Hold it together. There is always a way. Always. That’s what you told me when I lost my sister and thought things would never be good again.”

There’s a hard determination to my voice that surprises me.

“You can’t know that.”

“And you can’t know it’s hopeless. There’s a way in, so there’s got to be a way out. Okay?”

She nods, but she looks as defeated as the rest of them here.

Kevin and Theo have been here for so long, and they haven’t found a way out.