“The... what?”
But the aliens were retreating, moving behind her. She turned as they withdrew, backing into a corridor through an arched doorway that seemed to be made a smooth, rounded stone. Beyond them, elaborate arched hallways with windows high on the walls, like the window in her ‘quarters,’ seemed to honeycomb into infinity, plants and flowers weeping from their bright, open eyes.
It was quite pretty, an erratic thought whispered in her mind.
And then, as though none of it had ever been there, the doorway disappeared, and in its place was a darker stone, which seemed perfectly melded to the stone next to it.
A puff of air escaped her lips, and then she reached for the stone. It was cool and stone-like for a moment, before it began to deliver a terrible sensation to her hand, like electricity. The feeling intensified until she drew her hand away sharply in discomfort.
“What the! Damned door!” she swore quietly.
She stared at her blocked passageway to freedom, frustration building in her chest, for several minutes. Tears threatened to well up in her eyes again, and she impatiently stuffed the feelings back down, before spinning on her heel to take in the new cell she had been placed in.
As far as captivity went—and she felt a bit of an expert in the topic by now—this was the best place she’d landed since her kidnapping. A black and red robe of a silky material was spread on the bed, and she fingered the material for a moment before donning it. She sat on the edge of the bed, and then lay back on it, marveling at its luxuriousness.
She sat up quickly and padded to the window. It was quite high, a few feet over her head. She looked around, and tried to move a small, decorative table toward it, but the object would not budge. She futilely tried to scramble up it to get a view of her new place of captivity but could not pull herself up.
She gave up after a few minutes, and returned to the bed, where she sat down, put her head in her hands, and was just about to begin crying in frustration, when the door hissed.
She froze, fear traveling up and down her spine, but a familiar voice reached her ears at the same time a smell—a delicious, irresistible smell—reached her nose.
Food.
She whipped her head to see Anasi, clad in an unusual garb, holding a plate of what was, unmistakably, even though it was oddly shaped and colored, food.
Chapter Ten
“They are rebels,” Anasiwhispered, his eyes gleaming with excitement, as if he were on a tour of a new exciting place as Realm royalty. Lana ate her food ravenously. There was some kind of bread, which had an odd reddish tinge and looked like regurgitated meat but tasted better than anything Lana had eaten in her life. Anasi was smiling, seemingly at ease with his new lot in life. Lana was primarily focused on her food, and unable to control her ravenous appetite, but secondary to that feeling, she was relieved to see Anasi, and his calmness was soothing to her. “They’re rebels,” he repeated, a twinge of excitement in his voice. “Galleon rebels! They captured the Realm ship.”
Lana stuffed another piece of bread into her mouth. She wondered how long it had been since she had eaten, could not believe the way she was eating like an animal, and now wondered if she should have eaten at all. These ‘rebels’ could be drugging her, poisoning her...
“What do they want?” she mused aloud, between two enormous bites, which Anasi watched with mild criticism.
He looked perplexed for a moment. “Want?” he repeated.
Lana made a face and continued chewing. “Want,” she repeated.
