The only thing in the empty wooden room is a mannequin in white flowy clothes wearing a blue flower headband, a blue bracelet, and a blue ring.

  Suzanne is horrified at the sight. The ends of her hair begin to tie themselves together as she runs towards the mannequin.

  She places two of her fingers onto the mannequin’s forehead and it begins to glow red. It is incredibly bright, so Sherman Chex decides to look away.

  The room flashes twice.

  Once the light nonsense is over, Chex turns back around and sees a very large man in white clothing. He’s at least twice the height of a usual Columbian. He appears to be very elderly, but in spite of his looks, he's currently hugging Suzanne, lifting her into the air. Additionally, the room appears to have been furnished in the same style as the lobby, with the wood now covered in blue paint. There are two chairs in the corners of the room nearest to the elevator. The man who just appeared speaks very loudly.

  “It's been so long Suzanne!”

  Once he lets her go, she scratches the back of her head. Her hair has untangled itself.

  Chex quickly notices she's missing all of her fingers on her left hand, though they’re slowly growing back.

  “Who's this guy, why's he look like that scary boy?”

  The man in flowing white clothes is clearly referring to Chex. Suzanne has a bland response.

  “He's my new employee!”

  “Hey, what’s with that scary guy? Last time I saw him was before Minister Revels got killed.”

  “Doesn’t matter, we’re sending this new employee to kill him!”

  “I don’t think this boy can do it.”

  Sherman Chex starts to pay attention.

  “Sir, how do you use the elevator? You’re like twice its height...”

  The man laughs, and his laughs shake the room.

  “If you want to kill that orange boy with laughter, you’ve got the right one!”

  Sherman Chex is confused. Suzanne laughs.

  “You call him a boy, but Rich is older than you!”

  “Why’d you come here, anyway Suzanne?”

  Suzanne plants her palm directly into her forehead.

  “Right! We’re here to ask you where the next rumble will put the Burning Spine!”

  “The next rumble? I’m sure I can ask them. Sit down and watch the show!”

  As Suzanne and Chex sit down in the corners of the room, they see Gerome put on a hat that looks like a gigantic blue flower.

  Weirdly, everything blue in the room begins to turn white, as their color moves into Gerome. He’s noticeably much younger, with a full head of dark brown hair, dark brown facial hair, and new eyes.

  Once all the blue in the room has disappeared, there’s a loud noise as Gerome’s hat begins to float and spins around above his head.

  Suddenly, Gerome is gone.

  Sherman Chex tilts his head and asks where he went.

  Suzanne tells him to be quiet.

  Outside, the sky turns to storms. With the dark clouds tossing and turning, and the sky glowing blue, the people of the Burning Spine have decided to go back into their homes. All the blue, from the grass, the buildings, the dogs, the animals, it all gets sucked into the clouds.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  After around 2 and a half minutes, all the blue is back, the clouds are gone, and Gerome’s back.

  He’s back to the age he appeared to be. Very, very old. Steam is coming off of his head, and his formerly blue accessories stay white.

  Suzanne is mildly impatient.

  “What’ve you got, Gerome?”

  “I” He takes a long breath. “Didn’t get anything.”

  “What?!”

  “They just stared at me.”

  “You’re telling me the Voices in the Whitespace were silent?!”

  “They just stared at me.”

  Gerome falls over, exhausted. Suzanne rushes over to him, trying to shake him awake.

  “They were silent! When are they ever silent?! Those damn chatterboxes, choosing now to be quiet?”

  Sherman Chex sits there.

  Suzanne gives up.

  “Let’s go.”

  Suzanne paces around the elevator as it goes downwards.

  “Those yappers chose now to stop talking?!”

  Sherman Chex already knows exactly what she’s talking about.

  They’re back on the ground floor, and they return the lanyards to the attendant.

  “How’s Gerome doing up there?”

  “He’s fine!”

  “That’s nice. Have you noticed the spies staring through the door?”

  She waves at the spies. They pretend not to notice.

  Suzanne turns to the door.

  “New employee, can you get rid of those spies?”

  Chex starts to pay attention. There are seven people in shady numbered outfits trying to sneak around the building.

  “What?”

  “You killed a not-bear, some regular people shouldn't be an issue!”

  “What?”

  Suzanne picks him up and tosses him through the locked door. There’s a hole in it now.

  One of the spies, labeled 2, attempts to grab him by the arm, but he misses, as Sherman Chex is moving too fast. This spy gets knocked away into the ground.

  He slams into one of them, conveniently labelled with the number 3, and gets back onto his feet.

  “That was so rude!”

  Suzanne isn’t paying attention anymore, as she’s busy talking to the lady in the building.

  One of them, labelled 4, takes a knife out of their pocket and runs at Chex. Sherman Chex is mostly unharmed, as stabs don't quite affect dirt as much as they would a regular body. Any slashes only take off a thin layer of dirt, so Sherman Chex doesn't worry and quickly disarms the attacker.

  He picks them up and throws them into the wall.

  Both 3 and 4 are incapacitated.

  1 and 6 attack him at the same time.

  1 attempts to restrain him while 6 tries to spray him with some gas.

  It doesn’t work.

  “You’re all really lousy spies...”

  Sherman Chex blows the gas back at them. Where he gets the air to blow is unclear.

  1 and 6 inhale their own gas and faint.

  5 starts to run away, while 7 is nowhere to be seen.

  A gigantic rock falls onto number 5’s legs. Sherman Chex looks up, but there’s nobody there. Chex runs over to move the rock away, after which number 5 walks away completely fine.

  Sherman Chex looks around for #7.

  They’re nowhere to be seen.

  He picks up the missing piece of the door and begins to walk back towards the building.

  Suddenly, from out of nowhere, a wave of water moves towards him.

  Thankfully, he blocks it with the piece of the door.

  “Shhhh...”

  A person who was completely invisible just a few seconds earlier suddenly appears, index finger over their mouth.

  They’re labelled -1.

  Chex’s eyes open wide in amazement.

  “Oh, that’s so clever!”

  The figure flickers in and out of view, eventually appearing right in front of his face. Sherman Chex takes a few steps back.

  In a voice that sounds like rocks hitting glass and splitting in half, the invisible person says something that makes Suzanne start to pay attention.

  “I’ve got the idea of stealth on my side.”