The room inside was completely dark. Feeling that something was off about this room, Heather and Lindsey continued forward, the large doors shutting behind them and plunging them into complete darkness.
   
    Thankfully, that darkness did not last for long, as around the room dark red candles began to light up, providing a threatening ambiance. The walls of the room were painted in a similar dark red to the candles, so it appeared as though the very lights were coming out from the walls.  The floor was a pure black stone, versus the brown dirt or gray metal that they had thus far been walking upon. In the center of the room was a perfectly circular pit, and on the opposite wall, attached with chains was Spencer, Echo, and Susan. Standing directly in front of the pit, between the two girls and their friends was Scarlett, now dressed fully in a lab coat, her red cascading down her back. “Ah, so glad you could finally make it,” She said.
    “Heather! Lindsey! It’s a trap!” Spencer shouted, struggling against his chains.
    “Well no duh,” Lindsey said, as they heard the door lock behind them.
    “Now, I think it’s about time that we finally get this ritual started!” Scarlett announced, walking over to one of the candles and pulling it down.

    From the pit, a rumbling sound echoed throughout the room. The ground of the room shook as a large circular stone table emerged, sealing the hole in the floor. The edges of the table were etched with strange markings, however most of them were obscured by the figure in the center of the table.
    The figure was a strange combination of every person in the group except Heather. Veronica’s dormant human head sat upon Susan’s torso, with one of Spencer’s muscular arms attached to its right shoulder and Lindsey’s in its left, and Echo’s legs stretched out beneath it. It seemed as though nobody was in control of the body, as it laid perfectly still on the table, not even breathing. “What the fuck!” Heather shouted.
    “Why don’t you figure it out for yourselves? I mean you have that book from Gertrude,” Scarlett said slyly, as a look of surprise passed over the girls’ faces, “Yes, we know about that little backstab. It’s a little thing called ‘Security Cameras’”.
    Heather, knowing the jig was up, took the book out, and quickly searching through the book, found the page on the last ingredient for the potion to bring people back to life.

    ‘The greatest secret the Mercurin’s ever kept was the final cost of the potion. I’ve already discussed how it required massive amounts of natural resources and bloodshed, however the worst cost of all is the final ingredient. Within the ancient texts of the Mercurins, passed down was an ancient nursery rhyme:

    Six magic parts
    To bring back the dead
    A single Body,
    With a taken Head,
    Two wrong Arms,
    A Pair of Legs,
    And a special soul
    Thrown into the dregs.’

    Reading through the rhyme, much of the night began to make sense, as the body in front of them neatly matched all the qualifications of the nursery rhyme. “Don’t you see, we’re so close to having that precious final ingredient!” Scarlett said.
    “I don’t understand thought, why go through all this trouble to collect our parts though? Why not just drug us at the very beginning of the night and steal the parts while we’re all sleeping?” Lindsey asked.
   “Well… That was our original plan. However, after talking with some of the older Mercurin ghosts, they explained to us that parts of that rhyme had been lost to time, specifically the restrictions on the acquisition of the parts. Essentially, all the parts have to be acquired either through a legitimate reason, or given through the free will of the owner.”
    “None of the methods you used were legitimate though!” Lindsey argued.
    “Au contraire. Drake had been searching for a dance partner for centuries, meaning that he deserved to keep his new partner. You lost your arm fairly in a game where the rules were explained beforehand. The head was taken in fair trade for the meal we served. The torso was taken in self defense. And that man’s arm was taken as a selfless sacrifice to save that maiden’s life.”
    Before Lindsey could argue further, Heather spoke up, asking, “What does it mean by special soul?”
   
    “Glad you asked,” Scarlett said, pulling out the strange bone dagger she had taken from the Catacombs, “You see, that part had been stumping us for some time as well. However, based upon what we’ve learned from the Mercurin ghosts and our own research, we’ve determined that this phrase means someone who willingly detaches their soul and takes control of the body for the sole purpose of fulfilling the potion.” She threw the knife at Heather, who instinctively managed to catch it by its hilt before it managed to stab her. Scarlett continued, “So, I’ve been authorized to give you this offer. That knife is probably the most special weapon in this entire house, able to detach a soul and allow it to enter a new host body. If you do this, not only will you basically become immortal, because we’ll bring you back to life with the potion, but we’ll throw in enough cash to have you set for your eternal life, and free access to our finished products.”
    Heather was a bit stunned by the deal being offered before her, but Lindsey wasn’t, so she argued, “And what if she doesn’t?”
    “Well, seeing as how if she doesn’t our contract will be broken with the ghosts and they’ll apparently kill anyone left in this house… We may just ‘forget’ about you intruders and leave without you…” Scarlett said with a menacing grin.

    ‘What am I going to do!’ Heather worried, the weight of the decision pressing down on her.

    What one word describes your ideal Ending?
    1.) Hollywood
    2.) Betrayal
    3.) Redemption
    4.) Sacrifice
    5.) Joke