The Men in the Maze
- The kids do what they've been told to do when the bell rings: go to the second floor landing and wait there—but when they get there, Constance is nowhere to be found.
- Milligan says she must have gone down into the maze. He can't leave the kids alone, so he has them all grab onto each other's clothes so they won't get separated and follow him down.
- In the maze they encounter two men with strong smelling cologne and expensive watches.
- The men have Constance stuffed in a duffel bag, and it looks like they'll be taking the other kids, too, after Milligan disappears.
- Before the men can grab the kids though, Milligan sneaks up and shoots them with tranquilizer darts. Well played, Milligan.
- Back at the breakfast table, things are somber.
- Mr. Benedict consoles the kids by telling them that the men have been deposited somewhere quite far away and will be unconscious for a while.
- Turns out they were agents of the message sender, who sometimes captures the children he needs for his work. He has them brought to a school called the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, a place that has become very powerful thanks to a phrase which is often repeated in the messages: "Dare not defy the Institute" (6.67).
- Because of this, the Institute has completely escaped regulation, and the kids think it sounds like a horrible place.
- Unfortunately, Mr. Benedict tells them, "to the Institute you must certainly go. You are to be my secret agents" (6.73).