"There's a lot you don't know about this place, Laren, a whole helluva lot.  Like I told you earlier, this isn't a school -- it's a laboratory, and we're the lab rats.  No one ever leaves, not until they're done with us, and they've only finished a few people, and those people didn't have families or anything, so they had no one that really knew they were here, so they're working for the people that own this place on the outside."
	"Wait a minute," Laren interjected, "this place isn't run by the government?"
	Ashlyn shook her head and continued.  "Over the years, there've been a few escape attempts, but only one of them was successful -- Kyle Monroe got out of this place with her life.  Another guy tried to escape with her, Tim Thatcher, but he didn't make it out alive."  Ashlyn dropped her voice very low and leaned in toward Laren, knowing that even her own powers to affect electrical devices might not guarantee that no one was listening in on them.  "I was in on that escape.  Hadrian, Ridley, and I helped Kyle and Tim -- I watched Tim die."  She looked away for a moment, trying to forget the painful memory of watching the boy she'd fallen so quickly and so completely for die before looking back at Laren and continuing.  "Now that Kyle's on the outside, she's trying to help us find a way to escape.  For some reason, she told Hadrian to bring you in on this.  Maybe because four heads are better than three -- I don't know anymore, but she told us to bring you in.  Hadrian told me, and the card is from him.  That's your card, that's you.  You're the Page of Cups."
	"But why am I the Page of Cups?  There have to be dozens of different cards that would describe me."
	"Because you're innocent.  You know the least out of all of us, and you have the longest way to go.  That's why you're the Page of Cups."  Hadrian had stepped into the room with Ridley on his heels, passing unnoticed by Laren until Hadrian had spoken.  Ashlyn did not seem surprised by their presence.
	Ashlyn motioned to the boys.  "Laren, this is Hadrian Bridger and that's Ridley Davidson.  Guys, this is Laren Mathers."
	Laren looked directly at Hadrian.  "Why are you doing this?"
	He shrugged and sat down on Ashlyn's bed, picking up the Tarot card and tucking it into the deck, which he slid into a silk bag and put into his pocket.  "Because Kyle thinks we should?  Because I have the eeriest feeling that we'll need you?"
	Laren just shook her head and looked away as Ashlyn glanced toward Ridley.  "How'd it go?"
	Ridley shook his head.  "Like Kyle always said it would.  I can't get through the walls.  I don't know why.  Just can't."
	"There's got to be a way."
	"More important, there's a reason you can't," Hadrian said, glaring toward his roommate.