1 Year Later. 11:11 PM. Salem, Oregon.
The Authors’ Table was in the middle of Umi’s house now.
Used every day. Coffee, drafts, song lyrics, photos, pizza.
No one had seen The Hunger for 365 days.
Lila was 9 now. She called it "the magic table".
Umi: typing
Miri: on piano in the corner
Alex: tuning guitar
Fritz: editing photos on his laptop
Elias, Noah, Theo: also there. It was game night.
knock knock knock
Not at the door.
From under the table.
Everyone froze.
The table shook.
From underneath, 4 voices spoke at once:
"1 year is up. We’re home."
Fritz: "That’s not The Hunger. That’s... more of them."
Miri: "He said 'friends'."
The floor cracked.
From under the house, 4 new tables pushed up.
White. Blue rim.
Each with 4 chairs.
And in each chair: a shadow.
But not their shadows.
New ones.
Table 2: 4 shadows in hoodies. Holding pens.
Table 3: 4 shadows with instruments.
Table 4: 4 shadows with cameras.
Table 5: 4 shadows with sketchbooks.
The Hunger’s voice, from everywhere:
_"You made a table. Cute.
I made 4.
Meet your competition."_
The book on their table flipped open:
_Season 7: The Friends.
The Hunger is not alone anymore.
He brought other Hungers.
Other tables. Other authors._
Umi: "Other authors?"
Voice from Table 2: "We’re the Writers."
Voice from Table 3: "We’re the Musicians."
Voice from Table 4: "We’re the Photographers."
Voice from Table 5: "We’re the Artists."
All 4 tables: "And we’re hungry too."
Alex: "So it’s not 4v1 anymore."
Fritz: "It’s 4v16."
Miri: "Great."
The Hunger appeared at the head of their table. Smiling.
_"New rules.
Every month, 1 table gets erased.
Last table standing gets to keep their world.
First game starts now."_
All 5 tables glowed.
Umi looked at her people. "Then we play.
Together."