She called out to the robed figures who came for Otis. Cursed them for ignoring her. What the hell were they supposed to do? She wanted to help Otis but she couldn't. She was beginning to feel rather useless.

What came next was worse. They were forced to wait there, able to hear Otis' screams as they chanted and no doubt sacrificed him to some unknown god. She shivered as her brain filled in the blanks for her. Showed her in horrifying detail the older man being chained to an altar and sliced open. God, this was worse than it happening to just her. What if they took Simon next. She couldn't bare hearing them do that to the kid. "Don't worry, Simon. I'm going to think of something to get us out of here."

She wished she still had her phone. She'd call Yeager and make any deal he wanted if he'd get them out of here. She wondered if he'd come if she merely called out his name. Like Beetlejuice or Bloody Mary... She shuddered again. She'd leave that as a last result. For now, she would just have to wait. Next time someone came for one of them she'd try to convince them to take her first. Then she'd create an illusion to distract them and...

She dreamed up a few other schemes. It all hinged on getting their captures to open one of their cells, preferably hers and getting the keys away from them. She hated not having a weapon or anything. Her illusion ability was the best she could do and that's really all they were. If she made a copy of herself again it wouldn't be able to fight for her or anything. It would just be able to make a lot of noise and confusion. If anyone tried touching it they realize right away it was fake.

Her scheming was interrupted by the appearance of the food trolley and... "Hey, I know you!" She called to the man she'd met earlier that day, when he delivered the package that got her into this mess. She ran to the bars and waved her hands to get his attention. Maybe she could convince him to help her. At the very least, she might be able to convince him to open her cell and then she could try to break out. "We met this morning. Do you remember? You took my picture." She smiled, hoping to jar his memory.

She drew attention to herself and for the first time Miguel really looked at the captives. He rarely did, knowing that he was only suppose to feed some of them, the others had not been around as long.

Recognition hit his features though not surprise that she had been here, he was the one that was sent to her after all. o. “Kristy?” The fact that she was in that cell told him what he needed to know. There were three prisoners and now there were two.

“Tell me you've seen the yellow sign,” though she wouldn't be in that cell if she had. “Then the door has been lubricated in blood … the way has already been paved for the Whisperer, tomorrow night will be telling ...”

His question had given him the inspiration she needed. She schooled her expression into one of a wide-eyed new disciple. "Oh god, yes! I did!" She exclaimed, using all her stills as an actress to sound sincere. "I saw the yellow sign. Yeager showed it to me in a dream and... I didn't understand it at first. I was frightened and I didn't tell anyone. But I understand now. I need to talk to Rachel. Can you take me to her? Please, I have to speak to her before the ceremony is completed."

It was a long shot, she knew but it was worth a try. Her story wouldn't hold up to much scrutiny but with any luck Miguel wouldn't ask too many questions. She really only needed him to trust her enough to let her out of this cell. Provided he had the key and didn't have to go get someone else. Another person would mean another person to convince that she'd actually seen the yellow sign and then another to fight for the keys once the cell door was open. She really hoped Miguel had a key on him and didn't need permission to use it.

So she had seen it, Miguel struck her as the sort that really didn't believe her but wanted to believe. She gathered that the delivery was prearranged some how, Yeager must have been watching her when she first landed in New York and he was on standby until needed.

The address could have been scrawled after the fact when they learned where she was staying and the interior of the box only had numbers that anyone could have jotted down.

It was clear that Yeager sent someone that was familiar with her, it could have been a coincidence though, someone who just loved theater and came to her shows. That wasn't beyond reason though she soon learned that her deepest fear had been a reality. He did not have any keys and slide their food into the cell by the slot at the bottom of the door.

“I will see what I can do.” He had not seemed seemed mad, no one had though Dean seemed off and Otis and Simon seemed to be unaffected.

“What about the boy?” He asked looking over at Simon. After they had their food he departed. He was told to watch them, collect any utensils but really they weren't going anywhere not in the little time that he would be away. He would be gone for half an hour, maybe a little longer leaving Kristy to her cell unless she could come up with something real quick.

When he returned it was with a bit of bad news. “She won't see you. It's already been determined unless maybe ...” He glanced away about ready to just drop it and depart once more.

"Wait!" She called out after him. Hoping to stall him a second longer. "I know the ceremony has to continue but I have new information..." She glanced nervously towards Simon and then lowered her voice and gestured for Miguel to come closer. As though she had a secret she could only share with him. "It's about the boy. I can't talk about it in front of him. He hasn't seen the sign. Yeager doesn't want him. You can't use him in the ritual. It has to be me. Please, tell Rachel."

She was desperate now. She didn't want to be used in the ritual but she was much more worried about Simon. If she could convince the cultists to let the boy go and then she could stop worrying about him at least. She could worry about herself later. Deal with Yeager if she had too, though she really didn't want to.

Miguel paused at hearing her voice turning back. He even came pretty close, not that he had anything to fear but in knowing she wouldn't do a thing to him. He didn't have the key and she would be stuck in that cell regardless of what happened to him. He listened then nodded agreeing to pass along that information..

Though she was still stuck in the cell for what seemed like hours. Long enough to get some sleep but it was a void, no dreams, just one moment she was awake, the next she was asleep and the next she woke up again as a different cultist gave her breakfast the same cultist delivered her lunch, a man she had not seen before who was uninterested in doing much save for delivering her food. Soon thereafter Yeager himself came to visit with two cultists, a woman she did not recognize and Dean. He approached, his mask still the one with a frown though his clothing was different, the same style but she had ruined the tuxedo and the gloves.

“Care to play a final game? It may be your last” The cultists were a ways back, out of range in hearing a whisper but close enough to pick up on normal conversation.

She'd really hoped that her bluff would work. Miguel seemed to have a soft spot for her and she really believed he would try to convince Rachel and the others for her. She would count this as a success if she could at least save Simon from Otis' fate. Her hopes deflated when a different man came to bring them their next meal. She wondered what had happened to Miguel? She hoped they had simply moved him to a different posting. She didn't need another man's death on her conscious.

She began pacing her cell. Their time was running out. It looked like she was going to have to rely on her illusions to get them out of this. "Look Simon, I am going to try something when they come to take one of us next. I'm not sure if it'll work but if it does I'm going to need you to act fast. If you see an avenue of escape you take it, okay. Don't wait for me just run like hell..."

She was cut off by the sound of approaching footsteps. Damn, she wasn't ready yet. She straightened in front of the bars to her cell and tried to look ready. They were coming for one of them this time, she felt sure of it. She thought it would more strangers but was surprised when she saw Yeager coming down the hall with Dean and a female cultist she didn't know. Well, damn, now she knew why no one had bought the story she'd given Miguel. Yeager knew she hadn't seen the yellow sign. She frowned and stepped back from bars when he approached them, not wanting to be too close to him after what she'd seen in the hospital.

“Care to play a final game? It may be your last”

Her frown deepened at his words and she wanted to tell him to go fuck himself but she could see Simon in the cell across from her. She wasn't the only one who would suffer for her defiance. She had to be tactful this time. Maybe Yeager would be willing to bargain for her submission. She forced herself to take a step forward and lowered her voice conspiratorially. "Will you let the boy go? If I agree to play your game, that is?"

Simon nodded, though it was clear to he didn't like the idea but he was quiet once Yeager arrived on the scene. She had Yeager's attention as she understood Dean was part of the cult too, if she, Simon and Otis were singled out then Rachel was probably with them too.

Had the later been given them trouble though? She eluded that there were doors that Yeager could not enter, that he could not get into that room and the very mention that she had opened the door. Did, did Yeager actually show her the door, chasing her and driving her to it or was it all just babble. Yeager was a sea of contradictions and it was tough working out his agenda.

She knew there was something not right about him too, something inhuman. But he glanced to the boy then back to her. “Oh, I have heard from Miguel when he delivered his message on your behalf..”

Either the message got to him or he was there for whatever reason. “He's part of the game actually. Otis gave us all the preparation work we need, the boy was only insurance in the event we had to do the ritual all over again. Easier when you have the sacrifices on hand.

“But I digress, you have just over six hours. Six hours and I would have failed yet again but you'll by me a little time. The Master must be appeased. Then the whole matter starts all over again, I locate someone else, they get me the yellow sign and we're all happy. I know where the sign is but I cannot get it myself.

“The game is simple. We don't need Simon and since we've had difficulties with you we'll leave the sign business to him. He's free to go though you'll stay. If he gets the yellow sign to me in time well you'll survive all this and even get Mike back. But the game is simple. I'm not going to tell him where the sign is and he'll have to find it – oh, and I'll dispatch two of my Hunters to make things interesting.

“At Midnight the ritual will be concluded, how much longer you live after that I cannot say but the deal is good until you expire. Now the boy can abandon you or work to assist you. I rather have the sign to be honest, all this work is getting tedious. If you don't accept though I'll just have to keep him around until this mess is over with. If he's lucky the Hunters won't get hungry before then. Up for a game?”

Kirsty listened as Yeager laid out his game, her eyes narrowed with every baffling new rule. When he finished she looked to Simon, wondering if he had gotten all that too and if it made any more sense to him than it did to her. She returned her gaze to Yeager. "I'm sorry. I'm a little confused. How am I playing this game? It's sounds like Simon is doing all the work. And you are stacking the deck against him when you need him to succeed or you have to start all over again. Is this more Carcosa?"

She wanted to ask more questions. Like why did he need her at all. Why go through the huge production of luring her here from Texas if he didn't need her to find the yellow sign for him. If he just needed another sacrifice for his alter then why not using someone closer to home. It made her head hurt just thinking about it. "I not sure why you need me to agree to play if you are just going to keep me here as a back up sacrifice inside Simon doesn't find the sign in time. You should be talking to him?" Though if the kid was smart he would ditch her the moment they let him go. Of course, the Hunters might just kill him if any didn't put at least a little effort into finding sign. "Simon, you do what you have to, kid. Just remember our agreement, okay?" She didn't say what she waited to say the "if you find a way out, you take it and don't worry about me."

“You've shown signs of not wanting to play so the boy will play on your behalf or not.” He seemed amused. It occurred to her that madness didn't have a plan, though it may have a goal. Why her though? That was the matter that confused her the most. Regardless if she gave her consent the game was going to be played, the alternative was that Simon would be kept in his cell and as twisted as it was it was a means for the boy to get free.

Simon looked away, fell silent for a moment then glanced back in their direction and nodded. Yeager was quick to point something out. “The Hunters won't stop playing their game of hide and seek until you expire, Kristy. Whether the boy decides to help you or not he'd have to elude the Hunters until then, oh, isn't this so fun.

“You have fifteen minutes to give him a clue as to were to look, or not … you've been to the yellow sign already if you realize it or not. But you cannot use words, use words and he dies. Pantomime, gestures, I don't care if you use some sort of Shining. We'll wait.”

He did not check his watch and he and the cultists remained. Provided that she did not use words she was free in all other aspects He did watch her though. After said time Dean and the woman released him. “I'll give him a bit of a head start before releasing the Hunters …. an hour or so, wouldn't want it to be over so soon.”

He had been a bit confusing, he said six hours but her deadline was Midnight judging by her meals she would have guessed it was around noon but couldn't be too sure and Yeager didn't clarify, he just said he had until she took he last breath so if she endured that much longer, managed to last a day or two or longer but in doing that in struggling the game still went on making it much more likely that Simon found the sign or was killed by the Hunters searching for him.

Slowly she realized that she was playing in an odd way. Her will to survive was being tested, did she hold on even knowing that each second she did endangered Simon or did she just give up? He was toying with her and left her in that cell.

Undisturbed for hours her next guest was Miguel with the evening meal or what she guessed was the evening one. Of course, shift changes. He was the evening/night guy and the other cultist was morning/noon she could figure. It was a relief to see that he wasn't killed.

“They took the boy?” He was a bit confused it sounded as he brought her attention to the now empty cell with the shift of his head toward it. If he just got here then he might be learning this for the first time. Was being a cultist like showing up for a 9 to 5 job? She could infer that they weren't all staying where she was held, good for an escape not that there was much time open to her.

Just what were they doing outside of this place she wondered for a moment before she noted his attention was back on her.

Kirsty smiled for the first time since meet Yeager. He thought he was giving her a challenge with the no talking clause. He was wrong. She was an actress and she fucking rocked at charades. The harder part was remembering where she'd seen the yellow sign. She didn't think it had been on the way into town but she did vaguely recall seeing a sign. It wasn't the actual sign though, it was a photograph of the sign. That was it, in Rachel's photo album. It had been in the background in a photo of Rachel and Claire in some kind of amusement park.

She didn't know where the amusement park was though. It was probably better Simon was going to hunt for the sign. He knew the town better so hopefully he knew where the park was. She mimed riding a roller coaster, gripping the imaginary handrail and leaning back, jerking occasionally as there she were in the car being slowly cranked to the top of the first hill. Then she widen her eyes as she shifted to leaning forward, throwing her hands up and silently screaming in delight and she pretended to ride it down. Then she mime drinking from a tea cup, with one hand holding an imaginary saucer while the other lifted the imaginary cup daintily to her with her pinkie extended to imply tea. Then she mimed spinning and getting really sick and dizzy so he'd know she meant the teacup ride and not end up searching the local coffee shop. She hoped it had been clear enough.

Then escorted Simon out of the prison and left her alone to fret over how he was doing. Waiting was the worst part. She wasn't worried about Simon finding the sign. He either would or he wouldn't. Though she hoped that if the latter it would be because he did what she told him to do and ran away rather than because the Hunters ate him. Either way, she probably wouldn't know until the last moment when Yeager or the other cultists returned to take her to the sacrificial alter. She had a feeling that would happen regardless of what happened with the sign. She didn't really trust Yeager to keep his word and let them all go. She needed a plan for escaping at the first possible opportunity.

After a while, she heard foot falls again and was surprised to see Miguel again, bringing her evening meal. She was relieved to see him alive and well. He apparently had not been appraised of recent events though as he immediately asked about Simon's absence. She shrugged dejectedly. "Yes, it seems Yeager found a use for him after all. He sent him to find the sign." She moved forward to take the tray he pushed through the slot in the bars. She noted the cheap metal utensils and got a sudden idea. "Your name is Miguel, right? I'm sorry I was less than honest with you yesterday. I'm sure Yeager told you he didn't actually show me the yellow sign."

She bowed her head as though ashamed of the lie. "I was just desperate to save my friend." She gestured to the now empty cell where Simon once was. "Yeager's punishing me now but making him look for the sign instead of me. It's a little torturous... Waiting here all alone... Not knowing what's going on."

She turned sad eyes on the man, knowing the affect they would have on him. "Do you think you could stay and talk to me for a while? Distract me from worry about Simon? I can eat slowly so you don't get in trouble for being here. You have to stay until I'm finished anyway, right? Please stay and talk to me." She picked up the fork and pretended to frigid with it but really she was testing the strength of one of the center tines. She was trying to get Miguel distracted talking to her while she worked the metal back and forth in an attempt to break off one the the tines. She was banking on Miguel not noticing what she was doing or inspecting the fork to carefully when she returned it. "Tell me about yourself, Miguel, and how you came to be here."

Yeager watched her pantomime. He watched Simon too and gauged how much of it all he processed. He showed signs of getting the roller coaster but seemed confused at first about the tea cups. He himself knew where the yellow sign was and knew what the clues entailed but did the boy reach the same conclusions he wondered. In any case he grinned beneath his mask. Pleased that Kristy was sending him after the actual sign rather than the photo.

While he was able to go to the amusement park there were a few areas he had been forbidden to go. Just what happened now was up to fate. She was left alone for a bit until Miguel arrived. He shook his head slightly.

“There's no need to apologize for it. I would have done the same if it were me facing dire circumstances.” So the boy was gone, he had to wonder about that not that he was truly out of his cell seeing that all of the city was essentially enclosed and therefore a prison itself.

He nodded though, he'd stay. He wasn't going to get in any trouble, no one cared as long as he wasn't trying to get her out of there and his presence ensured that she was right there in that cell where they wanted her. There were no guards on hand though and she was left alone for the most part. He had just assumed she was lonely being isolated, thinking to the future she needed a distraction.

“And yeah, I have to stay until you finish any way.” He stood near the bars. He gazed at her, looking her over though focusing nowhere particular until settling on her eyes for the most part. “My mother's with the cult … Bonnie. Every time Yeager pulls us here anyone that's seen the yellow sign gets pulled in.

“But normally I'm in the Catskills. Just a simple life really delivering parcels. As normal as you can get being that there was no telling when I would be drawn back here.” He thought, thinking. “You're probably wondering about the yellow sign, huh?”

The fork was pretty chincy though it required a little effort she could bend the tin one way then the other. It weakened as she flicked it back and forth trying to keep her efforts unnoticed and thus far Miguel hadn't seemed to take any notice of it, he was reflecting on the yellow sign, debating as to how much of his boring back story he should supply her or whether to spruce it up a bit just to make it a bit more interesting but it was a bit too late to go back on that now.

"Yes, I have been wondering about it. She said with a fervent nod. She was making good progress with the fork but she still had a little ways together before she could snap it free. She needed to keep Miguel talking. "What is it and why does Yeager need it so badly?"

“That I am unsure of. I was real young when I saw it, younger then the boy that was here. I don't really remember seeing it though everyone says I've seen it and I theorize that the older you the greater the hold it has, once you are of age to remember seeing it.

“It has a different effect on all those see it, madness is generated in all that see it though to one degree or another.” He gave thought to some examples. “Some are better at hiding it though, most can still function. Some cannot. Most often someone goes catatonic where nothing else matters.

“It is a key, it has the power to reshape reality, though I am unsure if it just doesn't draw you away to your own place like this and sculpts reality to your will, warps your mind so that reality changes just there or can reshape the world. I guess it's the later, Yeager wants it and already can create this place so I doubt he's after something he an already do.”

The fork was given way as Miguel struggled to make something abstract sensible. He had seen the sign but didn't remember it, thus wasn't effected by it. Did that mean that she might not be? She could already manipulate reality a bit in her dreams but in this place she had been cut off from her dreams, almost …

It was a theory, it made some sense though how much had been beyond her. What if she could not manipulate things as she did here because she was in a dream that wasn't here own? Someone else's reality or nightmare, it was just a thought but it made some sense at the same time it didn't.

Spots he couldn't go … were those portions of their higher brain functions represented by a physical thing or were they places that could lead into a conscious reality. If he already knew where the sign was he could be stuck here but not get to it, the sign could be in the waking world. Hence why the cultists could not get it, they weren't real either. It was a wild notion full of holes too. Like Miguel appearing in her reality to give her the package, the phone call … unless she was dreaming at the time and Yeager could reach out to her in her sleep. But it was her dream and he could not change it much if at all. That was why he had drawn her here, to pull her into his own dream however his gift worked.

Otis and Simon were drawn into it too. Perhaps Miguel was real, it was all a wild notion that she could not really test. Some of it made sense but madness never had to make sense, though it could have a goal reaching that goal didn't have to make sense. The goal was the yellow sign, doing whatever with it. She could only imagine that her gift would help in some way though if Yeager was insane she could have been selected at random … maybe her dreams could work to a degree if she could have them, he was all about playing a game and what better challenge then someone that could change his dream … too many variables.

“It can open the door for the Whisperer. He can do it himself for a little while but the sign allows him to keep that door open indefinitely. The way the others speak about bringing his glory back in full, that Yeager is the key for doing so but an incomplete vessel, he needs more power to regain his former glory, I can only imagine that someone diminished his power, he isn't quite human.”

He did his best to explain and she formed some of her own theories that were probably wrong but the piece of metal came loose snapping off from the fork silently. If it were a plastic fork there would have been a snapping sound but this was more like wiggling a loose tooth back and forth until it finally came free.

She was still confused by parts of Miguel's story. Yeager wanted the yellow sign to reshape reality and open the door to let the Whisper into the world. Who or what the Whisper was she still didn't know and wasn't sure she wanted to. It was no doubt the epithet of one of those eldritch horrors that broke people's brains to even think about. She had a feeling she didn't want to see Yeager's plan brought to fruition but she still wasn't sure how to stop him. She hoped just getting away would be enough. She supposed he still needed her for something. She hadn't seen the yellow sign directly, and hadn't even known about it when she received his package, so that certainly wasn't why she was here.

"Is that why he want to bring back the Whisper?" She asked offhandedly as she secreted the broken off bit of metal into her pocket. "Is he hoping he will be restored to his full power if he can open the door for the god?"

She focused on finishing her food now. Her short-term goal had been achieved now she just needed to avoid raising Miguel's suspicion. She'd continue talking to him, gain whatever information she could while she finished her meal. She continued to take her time eating so that is didn't look like she was rushing suddenly and trying to get rid of him. Once she id finish though she would set her utensils down on the tray, the folk carefully positioned in such a way the the knife and few bits of remaining food bit hide the missing tine before returning it to Miguel.