“You will be taken by the council. They’re looking for you – everyone is looking for you.” The next words after that sounded likeresistance,but I couldn’t be sure because Laous laughed, drowning it out.
“I will have the starslight stone in my possession very soon,” he said. “Two of the four secret keepers are found. Using the blood from the Imperial girl will lead me to number three.”
The Imperial girl.He had to be talking about me.
Realizing I was wasting time – he was talking about using my blood afterall – I went back to my door dilemma. I stretched up as tall as I could in the chair, my hands and arms screaming as I strained them, and gained just enough height to use my chin and mouth to pull the lever down. As long as I didn’t think about how many hands had been on that handle, it would all be okay.
The door clicked and I stilled. That sound had been deafening to my sensitive ears, but Laous and his companion continued talking, so I felt safe enough to hook my free foot into the gap and pull it back, shuffling my chair as I moved. Once the door was open, I realized that the voices had gone quiet. The sudden silence made me feel uneasy, but I really didn’t have much choice. If I stayed, I was dead.
Shuffling forward again, I struggled to get over the edging between the bedroom and the hallway. That small piece of wood might have looked nice but it was freaking annoying when you were tied to a chair.
Eventually I got over, and then once I was in the hallway I looked left and right, trying to decide which way would lead me to freedom. Or my mother. I really didn’t want to leave here without her, but I was outgunned, outmanned, out-aliened. I needed backup.
Making a split-second decision, I moved in the direction with the most light. The hall was plain, nothing in it to indicate what I would find at the end. I was lucky this entire place had wood floors, so far anyway. The moment I ran into carpet, I would be in trouble.
The light grew brighter and was almost painful after so much darkness. It wasn’t the light of the sun though, definitely artificial. My mind was solely focused on just making it through this hallway. No point in worrying about what would come next if I was discovered here by Laous. At least it did feel like my headache was subsiding, making it easier to focus.
The hallway ended abruptly. I found myself in the sort of kitchen that chefs dream about. High ceilings, long stainless-steel benches, multiple gas stoves and ovens, huge overhanging racks filled with every pot and pan imaginable…
I was no cook. I generally burned everything, myself included. My mom, on the other hand, could take three ingredients and turn it into something worthy of a restaurant. I guess everyone had to have some redeeming qualities. On one hand she treated me like the child of Satan, but on the other she could make a wicked omelet.
I had to lift myself up again to scrape across the tiled floors in this room. Tiles turned out to be a real pain in the butt, each of the grout sections catching on the legs, and I almost tumbled over more than once. As I passed some drawers, I wondered if there were knives inside. I could see some high on the walls, but they were way out of reach.
But these drawers…
Just as I was figuring out a way to pull one open with my mouth, a chuckle rang out through the large room. It startled me so badly that I slammed my chin against the partially open drawer, cursing loudly. Laous was standing in the doorway, the one on the opposite side of the room to where I had entered, looking amused, those squinty eyes locked on me.
“I wondered how long it would take you to try and escape. My companion thought I was crazy leaving you in there, but I’m constantly curious about human nature. Fascinates me the way you’ve … dragged yourselves up. Battling with each other. Living so primitively. But you definitely shine as a species when you’re backed into a corner.”
Well, great, he was even crazier than I had originally thought. Disappointment welled so fast within me that it almost was a surprise. For one brief moment I had thought there was a chance I could escape, but Laous had been playing me the entire time.
“What do you want from me?” I said slowly, emphasizing each word. “Surely you could have taken my blood while I was unconscious, so there must be something else you need?”
He straightened, strolling closer, looking completely at ease. “Where is the fun in taking your blood while you are unconscious? Seems kind of rude.”
Damn, I really hoped his sort of insanity wasn’t something you could catch, because it was spilling all over the room. He paused right before me.
“Where is my mother?” I asked.
His happy geniality disappeared in an instant, to be replaced by a dark, stormy expression. In that moment, he was terrifying. My breathing and heart rate both increased, my body reacting even though my brain was calm. Laous closed in on me, leaving only an inch between us. “I will be the one asking questions here, not you. Right now you’re alive because of me. Your life belongs to me.”
Blah, blah. Heard the crazy dictator speech already. My mom was an expert at it, actually.
“Where is my mom?” I repeated.
He paused, staring at me, unblinking. “She’s … fine. Now that I have you, and your blood, I no longer need her to draw you out of hiding. So she’s free to go.”
“Show me her,” I demanded. “If she’s free to go, let me say goodbye at least.”
He did that same pausing thing again, only this time I caught a flicker of … worry in his eyes. The tight press of his lips gave me the same feeling.What was going on?
“Where is she?” I would just keep asking until he answered. “And where am I?”
“You’re in Overworld.”
Those words were enough to almost stop my heart. The sharp pain in my chest started rising toward my throat as I tried to digest the information. “Overworld?We’re not on Earth?”
He shook his head. “No, we’re in a small section of Imperial which is not controlled by the overlord.” He chuckled, and just like that his stormy expression was gone again. “I was smart enough to secure more than one location, knowing that eventually the time would come for Daniel to take his rightful place.”
