Chapter Seven
Once I’d set Alex down after we were back in our cell I was bombarded again. Everyone was instantly worried by Alex’s looks. I explained what happened as quickly and quietly as I could in case there were guards outside our cell.
I finished with, “I’ll have to give Luke his instructions tomorrow, I guess. He was able to slip me these, though,” I pulled out the security list and the map, “Here you go, Cece and I thought Alex should look at the map.”
“Oh, thanks,” Cece said with a smile. She loved to mess w electronics. Cece was a bit of a genius with computers and any other electronics.
Alex silently took the map and began tracing things with her good arm. Claire stopped paying attention to us and ran her fingers over Alex’s hurt arm, assessing how she was healing.
“When are you getting keys?” Marie practically whined, wanting something to do.
“I’m sorry sweetie. We can’t get the keys ‘til the day of. The guard who takes me up to the office gets off as soon as he’s done with me. I’ll take his keys and no one will be able to notice until the next day, when we’re long gone.”
When Claire was done treating Alex for the day, Marie and I curled up with her on the floor. Cece and Alex would join us later. For some reason, though, as I lay there trying to sleep I kept thinking of Luke. There was also an old poem that seemed important, like a prophecy, that involved him. It kept drifting in and out of my mind, but when I tried to grab hold of it, it slipped through my fingers. I had to remember it. Something in me really wanted, no, needed me to remember.
~~~~~
I was woken by the sound of metal scraping metal as another, bigger tray of food was slid into the cell. It was a good thing, too, because as I had explained to my family what happened to Alex we’d eaten the last of our food and drank the last of our water. This time we got five loaves, one for each of us, and two jugs of water. They were warming up to us! I wished. But more likely, they’d decided to take another direction: bribery.
I knew we weren’t going to need very much food, so, just in case, I split only one loaf into five pieces. The other four I left on the tray with one pitcher of water. I took the other pitcher and decided we would split a quarter of it. Right after I had hidden the rest of the loaves and the other pitcher of water in a dark corner, my family woke up, one by one.
Claire woke up first. She sat up slowly, bracing herself one the ground and then rubbing her back. “Breakfast?” she asked groggily.
Before I could answer Alex sat up suddenly, using her good arm to push her up
“Yes,” I said, “just wait for everyone else to get up.”
After Alex, Marie woke up. She didn’t sit up instantly like Alex or wait like Claire. She opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling.
“We’re having breakfast when Cece wakes up I suppose,” she said.
“Yes, Marie. She always wakes up last,” Alex said, smiling.
Cece propped herself up on her elbows, not bothering to push back her hair as it fell in her eyes. She smiled, looking exhausted, as always. If she could sleep all the time she probably would.
“I hear you were waiting for me to wake up. Well, I’m up. Can we eat?” she asked.
“Yup,” I said. I passed out the bread, giving the oldest smaller amounts, “Try to make sure you drink only a little of the water, so that we’ll end up with three quarters left.”
Everyone murmured their, “Okay’s” as they ate. I passed around the pitcher of water, so we could all drink our share.
A few minutes after I was done eating Luke walked in. None of the others except for Alex knew it was Luke, but we didn’t make any move to tell them. I made a “What’s going on face” at him and got up.
Once he’d closed the cell door he answered my unspoken question, “I don’t know,” he shrugged, “I think they have some new prisoners their struggling with. They want to kill them, but they can’t catch them or keep them under any control whatsoever. They have pixies, and fairies are the specialty here. They told me just to get you myself.”
First of all, it wouldn’t matter if they were fairies or pixies or any other Creature of the Light. We can’t be killed by humans. Only cop ‘bots and Darks know the method for killing us and even cop ‘bots struggle with it. It takes difficulties that mortals can’t deal with because they don’t have magic. Humans are also way too fragile.
Pixies look like fairies except sharper, more elf-like. They have sharp noses and faces and pointed ears. Their wings all curve upward into a pointed tip and all have the same shape, unlike fairies, whose wings are all differently shaped. The real problem with pixies is they’re fast. If they wanted to hurt them, say with a gun, it’d be near impossible. That was most likely the problem they were having.
“Oh,” I said uneasily. I hated to think of them even trying to hurt any Light.
“Come on.”
“Why do we still have to go to the office?” I asked, a whine creeping into my voice.
“So we don’t get caught. What if they restrain them and find us where we’re not supposed to be?”
I shrugged, refusing to admit I was wrong and we walked the rest of the way to the office in silence. Every couple minutes you could hear the pixies calling out derisively and the guards cursing. As we walked I realized how nice it felt to not have someone tightly gripping my arm. It was slightly sore, something I also realized then. That wasn’t good.
Once we were in the office I explained Luke’s role in the plan to him. I trusted him more, but I still wasn’t telling him everything, so I’d have some leverage.
He stood silently for a moment, and then abruptly asked, “What’s your Light name?”
The promise I made to Alex popped into my mind “Haven’t we already discussed this? You do realize my whole identity is still at risk just by you asking. Just because you’re careless, doesn’t mean I am,” and you would know who I was, I added silently, but the words didn’t leave my mouth.
“I get it. I just thought you might trust me now.”
“When we get out, then I might trust you.”
“Oh, so you don’t trust me,” he said, smirking.
“I do, but-“
“No, no, it’s fine,” he smiled wider and I knew he was up to something. “Just don’t expect me to get you out.”
“Luke-“
“You need me,” he said, his smug smile beginning to anger me. “and you know it, so I suggest we learn to trust each other.
He’d gotten very close to me, his body towering over mine and a small part of me was intimidated by him, because he did hold most of the power.
“Look,” I finally said. “We made a deal and I’ll hold up my end, okay?”
“Okay, I’m sorry.” He put his hands up in surrender.
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes, and I know for sure we can get two sets of keys. There are around one hundred people here, five per cell, and five cells per hallway. There are twenty cells, five hallways and a key for each that opens all the cells. That makes it easy. The keys are also all labeled, which helps even more.”
“So, there will be extra keys?”
“Yeah, for other things, other places.”
“Okay.”
“I guess there’s nothing else, so you’ll be leaving,” he opened a door and a guard stepped in.
He took my arm right where they always did and began to drag me back. The familiar grip reminded me of how it made my arm sore. If he had been a fairy, though, he could’ve hurt me a lot worse.
I was taken back to our cell as always. I quickly explained what Luke had told me. We decided almost immediately to use all the sleep we could get. We ate the rest of the food and curled up. I once again fell asleep thinking of the old poem.
~~~~~
I shot straight up, a cold sweat covering my skin. I’d remembered part of the poem. It wasn’t the beginning and I knew that immediately, but I knew what the part meant.
Raging and hard
, but perfect
That was it. That was all I remembered, but there was certainly more. The poem was about me, too. It was talking about whoever my Soul Mate was. The Creatures of the Light have Soul Mates and there is no one else that fits us as perfectly as they do. We might find others along the way, but once we really find them, it’s magical. It strengthens you. The whole thing, the whole rest of the poem had to be at the place we were going to. I could feel it in my bones.
I fell back into a fit full sleep, the one line of the poem bouncing around my mind. I didn’t know whether to tell my family or not. I didn’t think so. I couldn’t tel them until I was sure of who my Soul Mate was.
Chapter Eight
After finally sleeping for a very small amount of time I heard the cell door open. I was familiar with the sound now, so normally it didn’t affect me. At that moment, though, it sent adrenaline pumping through my veins. I stood and let the guard grab my arm in the same, sore place. I hadn’t realized until now, though, that I was always in the perfect position to take the keys.
I slipped my hand carefully into his pocket, making sure not to jostle my arm or his arm too much. I passed them to my other hand, still not moving my arm much. I slipped them into the pocket of my jeans. He opened the door to the office and shoved me in. Once the door was closed behind him I sighed in relief.
“So, you got ‘em?” Luke asked.
“Yep,” I said with a smile, “I’ll give them to Marie when I get back.”
We didn’t have long, almost like they knew we were planning something. We had enough time to go over Luke’s part of the plan one more time and that was it. When the guard came to get me I laughed silently. These guards did “so much” work guarding prisoners, when, tomorrow, they would have none left to guard.
Once I was shoved back into the cell I handed Marie her keys. She sat down in a corner and started memorizing the look and feel of each key. Once she touched the lock that went with it she’d know the match instantly.
“I got pencil and paper, too. They’re for Alex and Claire. Alex, you know the map, right? I need you to tell Cece and me where to go in a minute. Anyways, Alex you’ll write down the names of everyone and their set ages, Claire, you write down whether they’ve reached their set ages. If they haven’t, write down how much longer they have until they’re at their set age. Also, keep a tally of how many we free and, Alex, next to their names, write down whether they’re male or female.”
The two silently took the papers and pencils out of my hands and began setting up charts.
“Cece, I think you should sleep. Marie, when you’re done, you too,” I said.
“Leigha, the map?” Alex whispered.
“Yes, can you circle where we need to go?” I asked.
“I already have.”
She explained to me where we needed to go and what we needed to do. She had our path outlined, so I wouldn’t forget.
I kissed her on the forehead, “You’re the best.”
She smiled, “I know.”
After Claire and Alex were done, the three of us went to sleep, too. Surprisingly, I fell asleep, forgetting how anxious I was. The poem was still on my mind, though, but knowing how close I was to remembering it made it seem like a much smaller problem.
~~~~~
We were all woken at the same time by a light knocking on the door. We’ve always been pretty light sleepers because we’re always ready for battle. I jumped to my feet, praying it was Luke. I helped Alex up and had Claire knock back twice. There was one more knock from the other side and the cell door opened. I allowed myself a moment of relief that it was Luke standing there and then began barking commands.
“Claire and Alex, Luke can take you to the door. Luke, after you take them there, find Marie and help her with what she has left to do. When you two finish go to the front door. Marie, you can go and unlock, now. Cece and I will screw up the security system and we’ll all meet back at the front,” I told them and we all set out. I’d also be taking control of the guards’ minds, but I wasn’t telling Luke that.
Cece and I went to the control room. On the way, I pulled the cameras off the wall and Cece switched the wires around, disabling the cameras. All the cameras became time bombs set to go off at six a.m. We would be long gone by the time there was an explosion. When I put the cameras back they looked untouched, even though they were no longer cameras.
Once we were at the door to the control room I leaned over. My hair fell into my face as I took a deep breath. I turned the knob and sighed in relief for the second time that night. Luke had remembered to unlock it.
Cece walked past me into the room and sat down in a chair. She leaned over the main computer terminal that controlled all the monitors in the room. I sat down and closed my eyes, feeling for human minds. When I found the five I put them all into a deep sleep. When I opened my eyes I saw “All memory erased!” flash onto most of the screens. There were two monitors left. All the protection to keep us in and rescuers out was on one and all the alarms that told them we were getting out were on the other. At the same time both screens showed the message “All devices shut down!” Everything had been crashed. We would be pretty hard to track.
Cece looked up at me and smiled, “Our job here is done.”
~~~~~
Claire, Alex, and Luke walked to the door. An awkward silence seemed to shroud them the whole way there. The two girls walked separately from Luke and,once they got to the front of the prison, pulled out their papers silently.
Luke unlocked the door for them. “I’m going to find Marie,” he said and he walked away.
Alex waited until she was sure he wouldn’t be able to hear them, even with enhanced hearing. She could no longer hear his footsteps when she began, “I don’t trust Luke.”
“Neither do I. I hope Leigha hasn’t told her Light name,” Claire replied.
“She promised… He’d know who she was if she did. I still trust him more than Marie and Cece, though. They don’t seem to like him at all.”
“I’ll have more trust in him when we’re out of here safely.”
Alex didn’t answer. She could hear more footsteps. They both wished Leigha were there to tell if they were guards or prisoners. They could only hope they were on their side. The owners of the footsteps came into view. Claire sighed in relief; they were the now freed prisoners.
~~~~~
Marie only had one hallway left to unlock by the time Luke reached her. She’d figured out the whole prison pretty easily. Every hallway was labeled by the prisoners held there. Their hallway had been F1, every prisoner there was a fairy. The next was F2, still more fairies. Then was, U1 and U2 for unicorns and P for pegasi. She was on hallway P when Luke came. She was instructing a group on where to find Claire and Alex and what to do when they did.
“There’s a theme,” Marie stated.
“Shape shifters,” Luke replied. “Fairies grow wings, unicorns shift into human form as do pegasi.”
That was the only conversation they had. It only took them a minute or two to get the hall done and then they went with the last group to the front.
~~~~~
Cece and I met up with Alex and Claire before Marie and Luke did. The prisoners were waiting in a group outside for instruction. Luckily, everyone except for the unicorns could fly. They left no footprints, though, and they were great scouts.
I took the lists from Alex and Claire, once Luke, Marie, and the last group joined us. The oldest set age was eighteen and there were only a few. We had released a prison of young shape shifters.
“Leigha,” Luke said, startling me. I hadn’t notice him come up.
Claire and Cece had already finished explaining what we were doing to the crowd.
“I got it!” I heard Marie cry. I hadn’t notice her fly up to the gate, either.
I started to walk towards the front, but Luke grabbed my arm and spun me around, “What’s your Light name?” he asked, smirking again. “Time to hold up your end of the
deal.”
“Take off first,” I said, struggling out of the hold he had on my arm.
We ran forward and leaped into the air letting our wings catch us. I hadn’t had the sensation of wind under my wings since the time that had gotten us caught.
“So?’ Luke said. “We’ve taken off.”
I didn’t want to tell him, everything in me wanted to find another way, but I did, oddly enough, trust him. I had since though moment we first spoke to each other, though I’d tried to convince myself otherwise.
I sighed, “My Light name, it’s…its Luceleighanne.”
He gasped and almost dropped. I was used to the reactions; everyone was astonished by my identity, my beauty, my wings
“Hey, careful!” I shouted.
“Yeah,” he smiled half-heartedly, staring at my face, then my wings.
“I know, I know. I’m the Light Princess.”
He gestured towards my wings and kind of stuttered, “Well, that explains the patterns. So you’re going to save the world.”.”
“I’m going to try.”
“Leigha! You need to come up and help!” Alex said, she’d come to fly next to me.
“Alright, I’m coming.”
I flew up to the front with Alex. I had to help find the Light Shrine. What the First Obliviator had said about every Light being able to find the shrine wasn’t true, only the Light Princess or Queen could find the shrine. I could have closed my eyes and flown or walked there. Once a Light had been there they could get back by the magic pull, but I didn’t need to feel for that. I just had to let my magic steer me.
The building was an old, elegant, large castle. The building had too many rooms to explore and, in the center of the building, was the Queen of the Light’s shrine.
The building wasn’t too far from the prison, for a Light. Without stopping, it would take us about seven hours to get there, not stops. A human going fifty miles per hour in a car with no stopping, slowing down, or traffic whatsoever would get there in about ten hours. It didn’t matter, though because only Lights could see it or feel it. You had to be told where it was by an Light to find it if you weren’t one and even then you had to have magic. Everyone and everything else just saw a random meadow in the middle of the forest.
“Are we close?” Marie asked.