My wings unfolded behind me. I stared at my feet as Luke took in the sight of my wings. As fairy wings go I’ve been told mine are extremely beautiful, but they’re also…different. The pale blue swirling patterns that matched the edges of my wings were what made mine different. No one else had patterns that even slightly resembled them on their wings. After leaving them unfolded for much too long, I snapped my wings back in.
“Wow,” Luke murmured, mesmerized.
“You have to tell me now,” I snapped uneasily.
“No,” he said. “As I recall, I said I’d consider it, so now I’m in consideration.
The door opened before I could pretest and in came a guard.
“Time to go,” Luke said, smirking.
The guard took me back to my family’s cell and shoved me inside. Hard. The Light couldn’t be this hated, could we?
Chapter Four
As soon as I hit the floor of our cell and the door had swung shut, I was surrounded by faces and questions like “What happened?” and “Are you all right?” They flooded out of my family’s mouths so fast I could hardly understand them.
“Guys!” still more questions, “Guys! If you shut up I’ll start explaining.”
Their mouths clamped shut immediately.
I quietly explained to them everything that had happened. I got lots of gasps when I told them I’d shown Luke my wings.
So that’s why you said that. I thought it would be worse, Claire thought. That’s the other thing. If someone thinks a thought that has my name in it or is directly about me and only me, I hear it.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll get sent back,” I said, with a sigh. “Actually, Luke almost guaranteed it. I just hope they don’t take any of you. I know they want information and lots of it and they should only need one of us for that. I really hope Luke isn’t a fraud because, right now, he’s our only chance of escape. He knows and his way around and has access to keys.”
“Leigha,” Alex looked at me with her big brown eyes. “Promise me you won’t tell him your Light name, at least until we leave.”
“I promise,” I said, pulling her into my arms in an attempt to warm her.
“I know this is unusual, since we don’t really need it, but we should probably get sleep. We have a lot of time on our hands and it seems like a good idea to catch up on our rest. Especially you, Leigha,” Cece said.
“Sleep’s a good idea,” I said. For you guys, I thought. I needed to work on a plan.
“You’ll sleep, too, Leigha. I know what you’re thinking and we’ll work on a plan tomorrow.”
I sighed, “Whatever.”
This is going to be hard, I thought, to get everyone out. We need Luke; we have to have him on our side. He’s our only escape right now.
~~~~~
I woke to a guard’s voice, the same one from the day before, saying, “Come on.”
The toe of his boot nudged my back to wake me up. I hobbled to my feet, slightly stiff. Stone floors were definitely not good for your back. Or any other part of your body for that matter.
I followed the guard down the same path we’d taken before. However, went past the office I was in the day before and went to a smaller office with a window. Luke walked in behind me and noticed that I was looking at the window.
“Don’t bother. It’s no use, alarms will go off, you’ll be electrocuted, the works,” he told me.
“Well, that sounds exciting. Maybe I should test the system,” I said, wondering if I could make it before the guards caught me. But it would put my family in danger, and leave them in prison without me.
“How are you?” He asked me slightly sarcastically.
That was possibly the worst question I’d ever been asked. I snapped my head up and looked him in the eye, “Well, you know, other than sleeping on a stone floor and not eating anything, I’m just peachy.”
“I’m sorry,” he snapped back, “but there’s nothing I can do about that. I’m just in training.”
“Oh, you can be trained to be turned into a cop ‘bot,” I gushed, “I thought it’d be kinda difficult to turn someone into a robot, but I guess they are just that mighty and powerful.”
Luke crossed his arms and sat down, “Of course, becoming a cop ‘bot has always been my biggest dream. No, actually, I’m training to be a guard and, after that, an administrator, like my ‘dad’.”
“Like a principal? Oh, that’s great. You can make sure all the guards are teaching the prisoners well.”
“Gosh, you’re hard to talk to,” he replied, smiling brightly.
“Of course! I just have to make it hard on you. You are the one working for the Dark Siders, you know? Anyways, Light name. I think you kind of owe me one.”
“Don’t you already have one?”
“Yours, Luke, not mine,” I said, scowling.
“Actually, I think we’re even. I’ve shown you mine, you’ve shown me yours.” He winked. “If I tell you my name, it’ll only be fair for you to tell me yours. I’m all about an even playing field.”
“How about…no? I vote that you tell me because you’re not a prisoner, so you’re not really in danger of having your name used against you.”
“And you’re so sweet and nice you wouldn’t try something, right?”
He was right, of course. Most of the Light, with his name, would wield it as a tool to get out, but I didn’t need his Light name for the kind of control he was thinking of. I had the power to control him on my own. However, I did need his name to be certain he was who he claimed to be.
“Look, I don’t need your name to use it against you. I need it to prove who you are. If you want me to trust you-“
“How about,” Luke said, interrupting me. “I make you a deal? If you promise to tell me your name as soon as I get you out of here, I’ll tell you mine now.”
“Deal,” I lied, like I’d ever give him my name.
“Alucasem,” he said without hesitation.
He had a real fairy name, but he wasn’t anyone special. His plain, short name told me that. No one could make up a Light name, though, so he wasn’t lying to me. Luke had no traces of magic on him, so this was his real appearance, which surprised me. He must’ve looked so human from being around the Dark Siders.
“So you said you’re getting us out of here,” I finally said. “When?”
“You’ll have to wait at least a week.”
I sighed, “We can’t just leave tonight or something?”
“This is a high security jail most of the time,” he said, but he was about to rattle on and on about how it might be hard to get out.
“Yeah, I get it. Totally high security.”
“We have this thing we call Free Guard Night once every couple of months. One guard in training stays here with five others for the twelve hour night shift: seven PM to seven AM. The next one is next week and it’s my night, so there will be only five other guards to avoid and twelve hours to escape.”
“Since I’m actually thinking about this, shouldn’t we wait until eight and get everyone out by nine. Then, we’ll have time and reassurance that they’re far enough away not to see us escaping.”
“Wait, everyone? As in you plan on taking everyone here?”
“What can I say? I like to help people.”
“It’ll take a while,” he warned.
“No, I thought it would take ten seconds to have everyone out and ready to leave. Of course it’s gonna take a while!”
“It’ll probably take over the hour you have planned,” Luke said, rolling his eyes. “Do you think you can make up a real, plausible plan?
“I was raised for this, trust me, this is a piece of cake. All I need is a map, a list of all the security devices used here, and, eventually, keys.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Do better.”
A guard came in soon after I said that. He roughly grabbed me. I half walked and was half dragged back to our cell. After he shoved me inside I landed on top of Cece.
“Do you mind?” she said.
“Sorry. I have a plan to get us out, though!” I said.
Everyone was instantly filled with excitement about my plan. It took me a minute to quiet them, but, once they were, I began the story. I told them everything, giving a very detailed explanation of how we would escape. We decided to only tell Luke his role and nothing else. Even though he’d proven his trustworthiness we still had to be careful about revealing too much.
“Soon, I’ll have a list of security devices for you, Cece. I’ll also have a map and keys. The other thing I’ll work on is how many people are here.”
“I guess the only thing we have left to do is sleep,” Alex said.
“Yep,” answered Marie.
My family and I curled up together in a sad attempt to stay warm. We all managed to fall asleep, but we did so hungry, cold, and very uncomfortable.
Chapter Five
What I was pretty sure of the next day was that I wasn’t taken to see Luke at the same time as I had been before. At least, that was what I thought, but with no clock or other way to tell time I couldn’t be sure. Two things immediately ran through my head when I decided they weren’t coming. One: Luke had turned on us or two: we had been caught. I’d have to wait and see.
“Leigha, why didn’t they pick you up today? Do you think we’ve been caught already?” Marie whispered.
So I wasn’t the only one worried. From the nervous movements and thoughts I could tell that everyone was at least curious.
“No, sweetie, he probably got the day off or something,” I replied quickly, so it didn’t seem like I had to think too hard about an excuse for him.
But I thought, Yeah, he probably just has the day off, in an attempt to convince myself.
You should tell them the truth, Claire thought. Cece, Claire and I had these conversations a lot, you know, in my head.
Cece was looking at me expectantly, so she obviously knew what Claire had said. I thought to both of them, I can’t scare them. While we’re here we need to be strong, stronger than we’ve been for a while. One little thing could upset the balance of that. Plus, it could be ture, he could just have the day off.
Claire sighed and turned to see Alex. Alex crawled over and held out her hurt arm. Claire’d been working on it because that was her special power, healing. She could feel the seriousness of injuries and sicknesses and help to heal them. She could also tell if you had an excellerated healing rate or if you had a power like hers.
“I hope he’s okay,” Alex said to me leaning over Claire’s shoulder.
“I’m sure we all do, he’s our escape,” I said with a sigh.
“Do you think we’ll get food soon or ever?” Cece asked, having finally sat up. She had been laying down the whole time and I hadn’t noticed. Her straight fiery red hair was tousled around her face and her green eyes looked groggy.
“Maybe, I don’t know if they’ll ever feed us. It won’t matter all that much except for extra strength,” I said, pushing back a misplaced curl.
Fairies can go a very long time without food or water. The longest without food is two months and water is one. We still feel hunger and thirst, but less than humans. Our energy fades eventually, but it can keep us flying, running, or whatever else for days on end if we needed to. It was just one of those things we didn’t do very often.
“Someone’s coming!” Marie whispered urgently. She always heard things first because one of her powers was more advanced hearing than us. However, all of us heard sounds before a human would.
Then, I heard it, too. Someone was trudging up the hall towards us and from the smells I caught, he had food. We all went onto high alert, but everyone was hopeful. There was the sound of scraping metal as the tray of food was slid through a hidden latch. Three loaves of stale bread and a full pitcher of warm water sat on the large tray. I split the bread up between us, giving Alex and Marie the most; they each had their own loaves. The last loaf was split between Claire, Cece, and I. I got the smallest piece, so there would be more for my family.
Everyone attacked their bread. Before Alex and Marie did, though, they saved one of theirs and split the other. I distributed half the water and saved the rest. We might need extra food later. Then, a little while after we ate, we fell asleep again.
I was startled awake by the sound of our cell door creaking open. I didn’t know what day it was, but I knew I needed to be alert. A guard had opened the door and motioned for me to come.
I stood silently and quickly, so I wouldn’t disturb the others. He grabbed me as soon as I was standing and brought me to the smaller office. The man I met the first day sat there, looking quite smug. My body tensed and my hands clenched, prepared to fight.
“Ah, Leigha,” he said. He was prepared to get what he wanted and to torture me to get it. The look on his face and the way he said my name told me that and I hadn’t even read his mind.
“Yeah, that’s me. How may I help you?” I said in a bored tone despite my tenseness.
“Oh, I’m just going to talk to you for a minute. Then, Luke has a surprise for you,” A tight, evil smile took over the man’s face.
I didn’t sigh with relief for Luke even in my mind because something told me we were caught. If he had a surprise…was he going to try to kill me? Or torture me to death? Or get all the information out of me while torturing me? I had no idea, but I didn’t want to stick around to find out.
“Fine,” I spat the word at him.
“I’ll give you one chance at this. Where is the fairy shrine?”
I crossed my arms, “Why should I tell you?”
“Because you don’t know what will happen if you don’t.”
That was true, but that wasn’t stopping me, “I can’t tell something I don’t know.”
“Too bad.”
As if on cue Luke walked in, “I’ll take care of her,” Alex was cradled gently in his arms.
“Good,” the man said, face twisted with evil smugness as he left.
Seeing Luke with Alex made me really look at him, sizing him up. I’d never paid attention to how he looked before, other than to notice he looked like a fairy. With my Alex in his arms I had to look at him carefully.
Luke had shaggy so-black-it-was-blue hair and light blue eyes near the color of mine. He had a tan that made his eyes shine perfectly against his skin. He was tall, taller than me and I stood at five foot eleven. Luke must’ve been at least six foot four. His arms were muscled, cradling Alex in his arms. You could also see the muscles that stood out in his neck. His face was angular and his shaggy hair hung around it perfectly. He seemed to look more like a fairy now than he had the first day, but maybe I just hadn’t been paying close enough attention.
Luke set Alex down as I was noticing this and she ran to me. She stood so she was almost behind me, but could still see Luke. He opened his mouth to speak and I stopped him.
“Don’t give me apologies or excuses or anything like that. I just want to know everything, now. Don’t start explaining how it’s not your fault. You should make it quick, too,” I said through barred teeth. My voice was cold, hard, angry, and full of steel just like the look on my face.
“They want me to torture her until you break,” he whispered, sounding out of breath.
I shoved Alex completely behind me, “If you so much as lay-“
He closed his eyes tightly, looking frustrated. “Don’t worry. We’ll just fake bruises and blood. They won’t guess, but you’ll actually have to work with me. She’ll have to pretend to be in pain by gasping and crying out, they’ll be listening. You’ll have to get mad and say you won’t or can’t tell and to stop hurting her. I’ll just say no matter what you wouldn’t spill anything,” Luke said.
Alex sighed and said, “Okay,” agreeing without me. I crossed my arms and stared out the window, wondering if I could get the two of us out.. I didn’t like this one bit, but I couldn’t leave without everyone else.
Luke gave Alex fake br
uises and some blood. I cried out in anger and told him to stop. I told him that no matter what I wouldn’t give in. All the while Alex whimpered and cried and begged me to tell. I said no loudly and continuously and every time I did Alex screamed and cried harder. It all went something like that and, eventually, Luke sent for the guard to take us back.
“She won’t break,” Luke said, “There’s no way to beat this girl anymore,” he gestured to Alex.
I gingerly picked her up pretending she was hurt. Despite the fact that I couldn’t get away the guard still gripped my arm tightly.
Chapter Six
When Luke first saw her he noticed one thing immediately: the prison hadn’t had the effect on her like it did the others. She still held onto hope and she had a look that warned you not to mess with her. The other thing was the complete effects of her Light beauty hadn’t faded at all as most Lights’ beauty did around Dark Siders. The girl was so beautiful he thought she could’ve been as beautiful as the Queen of the Light.
Her name was Leigha, they told him. She had beautiful gold hair. It looked like it hadn’t been able to decide whether to be brown or blonde, so it was a golden mixture instead. That mixture of gold hung down her back in ringlets that reached her waist. She fidgeted with it a lot, braiding and unbraiding it, but she had nothing to tie it off. Her skin made her hair and eyes stand out. It was a tan color, but her hair or maybe her eyes made it fit her perfectly. Those startling bright blue eyes sparkled when she looked at him. He was sure if he looked closer there would be silver flecks in themm. Leigha was tall, too. He stood at about six foot five and she must’ve been around six foot.
Another thing was that her clothes weren’t grimy, yet. That wasn’t that big of a deal, it was just that, even being here this long, most would’ve gotten some of the dirt from the floor on them. She hadn’t, though; it was as if she couldn’t be affected at all.
Overall, she was stunning for a fairy, especially once he saw her wings.
She had a big wingspan, about fourteen or fifteen feet. She had translucent silver wings that were edged with the same startling blue as her eyes. Unlike most wings, patterns spread from the edges and they appeared to move and change, swirling all across her wings. It completed her look.
After that first encounter when he saw Leigha she didn’t seem to change at all. She still had the fierce look that said she was prepared to fight. She wouldn’t let go easily. Leigha was his only hope.