End of Night 1

Genet continued laying out the rules. “Our show will operate over a series of rounds. Each round will have nine days in it. In the first eight days of each round one contestant will be expected to spend the day with the Master. They are scheduled to join him by 1pm, but are encouraged to meet with Richard at any point in the day earlier if they would like. In the first round each of you is responsible for planning your own days with him, but you can work out later how much responsibility you would like him to have.

On your day with him, you can do virtually any activity the two of you are comfortable with, but remember that the point of the show is to develop the harem. The only other requirements for your date day with him are that by midnight you must be in his cottage, and you will be penalized for going to sleep anywhere except for his own bed. Exceptions can and hopefully will be made, but those will be announced as you meet the conditions for them to become available. You are encouraged to bring others into his room on your night, but if they are still there by 10pm, they will be under the same sleeping restrictions you are. Your HH phones should now be displaying the schedule for the week if you’d like to look while I’m finishing up here, and it’ll be displayed for the audience now however they’re currently watching.”

1. Aubrey Conners
2. Hazel Singh
3. Ava Soto
4. Felicia Owens
5. Maeve Petrov
6. Luna Lopez
7. Helena Turner
8. Stella Steward

Aubrey looked over at Richard after seeing that she was first. This was even better than she’d expected. Tomorrow she’d finally have the chance to talk to him, to see him and win him back. She’d wake up with him next to her, not just in a frame next to her bed back in the apartment. This was her second chance, and it was tomorrow. Everything starts tomorrow.

But the host’s explanation continued, independent of the blonde’s inner monologue. “On days that you are not on your date with Richard, you are free to roam the island, save for two restrictions. The temple at the top of the mountain is not safe to go to alone. If you visit I would advise to go in groups of at least two, though larger groups are safer. My office and quarters are above the dining hall. None of you are allowed to enter without my invitation and supervision.

I trust that you all will be capable of listening to those limits, and so I’ll move on to where you will sleep on nights you are not with the master. In addition to the Master’s Cottage, there are four more houses on the island you’ll be sharing. I’ve highlighted the map on your phones to show where you will be assigned for the week. Just like before, the audience will be shown separately your assignments:”

• The Stone Cottage: Dr.Felicia Owens and Dr.Maeve Petrov
• The Pomegranate Cottage: Luna Lopez and Aubrey Conners
• The Trident Cottage: Ava Soto and Stella Steward
• The Arrow Cottage: Hazel Singh and Helena Turner

“Yes, Helena?” Genet called on the stock broker. She’d raised her hand after reading her own room assignment to the Arrow cottage.

“Are we allowed to change our room assignments at all?” Helena asked. Hazel slowly looked over at her, trying to avoid guessing at why her boss and new roommate was asking this.

“What building you spend your evenings in and who you spend them with is negotiable, but only on the morning of the final day of each round. I’d like to actually use that question to transition into my next announcement.

Later that day is the round’s Challenge, in which each contestant has the opportunity to earn or lose Victory Points. A catalog of challenges on past seasons is available for viewing in each of your houses. Does anyone have any other questions?”

There was silence. “With no other questions, it’s getting late. Richard?” He nodded his head to indicate that he was listening. “While they will have their own nights with you, you are allowed to invite any of them to your quarters tonight. Anyone that takes your offer would be able to take advantage of the initiative bonuses offered to those doing something new in front of the audience.” She turned back to the contestants. “For anyone that doesn’t plan on sleeping with Richard tonight, I would recommend heading to bed. I’ll unlock the doors for you all on my way out.”

Genet snapped her fingers, and there was a mechanical clicking that echoed through the little theater. She descended the steps on the side of the theater, her heels clicking on the steps. Everyone silently watched her strut out of the room and swing the door out before it slammed behind her.

***

After she left, the room drove into motion. Helena and Hazel huddled near the scoreboard together, quietly talking. Ava and Stella stayed in their seats the longest, Stella trying to work up the courage and energy to find the Pomegranate cottage together. Maeve and Luna had come from opposite sides of the stage to speak to Richard, who was trying to rub the drowsiness out of his eyes as he spoke to them. Aubrey was at the side of the stage, watching the people that she barely knew gather.

But Felicia didn’t have time to worry about what the others were doing. While everyone else was distracted, she scampered down the carpet of the theater rows. Why did no one else think of this? She thought to herself. Genet had to have limits. Sure, she had been able to take them all here. She’d been able to twist and morph them all. But she could only do it how the audience agreed to. Can she only move at the same speed as them? If so, they could buy time to do something private if they needed to later. So she was running, trying to tail her back to the office.

But it shouldn’t have been her doing it. It should’ve been Ava, Luna, or Hazel. Even before her chest had gone from flat to decidedly not, they’d all been better runners. Even the shortest of those three was still six inches taller than her. But they had their own plans, so she had to be the one to tail the host.

She made her way through the room and burst through the heavy auditorium doors, opening into the plaza that had been displayed on the map. It was bigger than it looked on the map, with a fountain statue in the middle that was hard to make out in the dark. The auditorium sat at the southwestern corner of the plaza, and she could see two of the contestant’s houses to her left on the west side, and Richard’s house on the south side. Two more houses were out on the eastern edge of the plaza, which left what must be the dining hall opposite Richard's house. There were already lights on on the upper floors. So somehow, Genet had gotten up there before Felicia could even get outside. That should’ve been impossible. She wasn’t sure what that meant yet, but that was one more clue

As she was trying to decide whether there was anything else worth investigating before bed, she heard a voice calling out to her: “Did you learn anything?” Turning around, she saw Helena and Hazel looking down at her.

She tried to finish recovering her breath before responding. “She’s faster than she should be, but not always. She went from here to there” She pointed to the second floor window on the opposite side of the plaza. “Faster than she was able to leave the auditorium.”

Helena looked over at where Felicia was pointing. “Interesting. Would you like to work together?

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that half the questions in there came from you. It seems like you’re the one that’s most focused on getting out of here, and I’d like that to happen as quickly as possible. If the three of us are all investigating the cleanest way out, we should be coordinating.“

Felicia looked at the two of them. Helena was looking at her intently, while Hazel next to her was paying attention but obviously wasn’t as invested. “Should we bring in any of the others?”

“Not yet, I’d prefer to see what they do in their first few days before bringing anyone else in.”

She considered it. Ava and Stella were obviously preoccupied, and Felicia needed to figure out how Luna’s transformation had been interacting with her own earlier. “Fine. I’ll see you both at breakfast tomorrow?”

Helena smiled and nodded. “I look forward to working with you.” She and her bodyguard left, heading toward the Arrow cottage. Felicia left for the opposite direction to get to the Stone cottage

***

The Stone cottage was home to a goat. Sure, it didn’t live inside, but there was a sleeping goat penned in next to the front door. So that was another delightful addition to her night. She walked up the stone steps and opened the door. It opened to floor to ceiling granite with electric torches and four doorways, two on each side of the hallway. She opened the first door on the left and there was a small closet filled with her clothes from back home, along with a first aid kit and some of her equipment from her office. She didn’t want to go to sleep in scrubs she’d been wearing for so long, so she just grabbed a set of pajamas and kept moving.

The door across the hall was another closet, this time occupied. Next to the clothes sat Dr.Petrov on the floor with a filing cabinet and thick manilla folder she was writing in. The other doctor looked up, surprised. “Can I help you with anything Felicia?"

“N-no. I’m sorry to disturb you.”

The older doctor smiled at her gently. “That’s alright. I plan on being up for a bit more tonight. I’ll try not to disturb you when I go to bed.”

Felicia closed the door and moved on. The third door was their bathroom. It was nice, certainly bigger than her and Ava’s bathroom back home. She wished it looked a bit more modern, but she wasn’t surprised it leaned into the house’s pastoral theme. She closed the door and went into the last room in the house

The bedroom was about what she’d hoped for. A queen bed sat against one wall in the middle of the room. There were a few leather chairs on the opposite side of the room from the door, and a television set next to the chairs. She got changed and lay in bed, tossing and turning until she fell asleep.

Why did it have to be him?