In the corner I spotted a bucket and pulled myself up on wobbly legs to check it out. Before I was even able to peek inside, the smell hit my nose and I gagged. “Are you kidding me?” I groaned. They expected me to use a damn piss bucket and didn’t even have the decency to provide me with a scrap of toilet paper. My bladder was already full and it would get painful before too long. I knew I would eventually have to use it, but I was damn sure making it as long as I could without squatting over that nasty thing.
I started pacing to keep my mind off my need to relieve myself. I could hold out. I didn’t need whatever was lurking in that bucket to be anywhere near my ass. My bladder cramped again and I actually considered it for a moment, but a loud pop came from behind me and I spun around.
Staring back at me with the wide-eyed look of a fish about to be devoured was a small, delicate looking creature with wings. Her blonde hair was cropped short and hung down over her dirt-streaked face. At least I thought her hair was blonde, it was hard to tell in this light and with how much filth it looked like she was hoarding in those locks of hers. I was certain she would have been beautiful if it weren’t for her crudely chopped hair and her disheveled appearance.
Her clothing was torn and dirty and what looked as if it once was a green dress hung in tatters on her small frame. Her body glowed with a faint golden sheen that seemed to come from every pore of her skin as she stared at me frightened and trembling. I was just about to say something when she sneezed and disappeared just as fast as she popped in.
I stared at the spot that she had just vacated, not sure if I had imagined her or not. There was no way I had made up the terrified look that had marred her expression, though. The minute she spent in my cell was enough for me to see that she must have been through hell and back. I just couldn’t figure out if the cause was this hellhole or if she had just been brought in here. It seemed odd for a newbie to be brought into solitary and she certainly didn’t seem dangerous enough for that to have happened.
I’d never seen a fairy before, up close like that or from afar, having spent my whole life in the sea. So, I could only guess that was what she was but I always pictured them much different. I wondered how she managed to get through the iron of these walls that kept most magical beings trapped and drained our powers.
While my own reaction to iron wasn’t as bad as many others in the magical community, I still couldn’t pop in and out through iron as if it were water. Merpeople lived far from the concentrated metal, but being exposed to it in small doses during the phytoplankton blooms had us growing semi-accustomed to it. I glanced down at the shackles burning at my wrists, it was still very painful for me, and I did feel a bit drained, but not as much as say a fae or a demon would. I wondered how Calex had survived his stay here when he rescued Eva, it must have been excruciating for him. I suppose being the son of Lucifer had its perks, and I wasn’t exactly certain how it would affect him, to be honest.
I started pacing again as my bladder protested the lack of an adequate facility to use, I was seriously going to lose my damn mind if I didn’t get some salt water to drink or somewhere to piss. As I paced, my mind wandered to Jet and I wondered how he was holding up.
My heart squeezed when I recalled the anguish on his face when he knew that he had to leave me to my fate. The steady healing slashes across his knuckles from trying to free me from the ice felt like they marred my own heart. He tried so hard to save me. I only hoped he had made it away safely before Frost threw a temper tantrum from not finding Eva. For all I knew, he could be down here with me in one of these dank, musty cells.
And damn him for declaring his love when I couldn’t jump him and show him how much I loved him in return! Especially after he had hung around and risked himself for me, even putting himself in danger. No one had ever done that for me before, and if I hadn’t already loved him before that, I would have fallen for him then.
I didn’t know how much time passed as I changed from pacing to sitting in the hay when my legs grew tired again. Drifting off to sleep, only to be woken again by the pain at my wrist, or my bladder shouting for release. It could have been hours, maybe days, I didn’t know, and I didn’t really care. I just wanted to get the fuck out of there.
My stomach grumbled and the pains of hunger joined the pain from my bladder. I could deal with the hunger, but my bladder was going to retaliate if I didn’t relieve myself soon. The sound of keys jingled at the cell door had me standing to my feet. As crazy as it sounded I was actually grateful someone was finally here. My cell door swung open, hitting the walls with a loud clunk that echoed through the bare rock cell and made me jump.
I steeled myself for whichever asshole was about to come in, surprised to see Headmaster Frost stroll in with his lackey guard practically up his ass. I would’ve guessed he avoided down here and stayed in the finery of his office. Interesting turn of events.
“Welcome to my home, Headmaster. I’d offer you refreshments, but it seems I’m fresh out,” I gave a slight, non-apologetic shrug.
He glared at me but ignored my snark, “Are you ready to talk, Una?”
“I already told you, I don’t know anything,” I replied dryly.
“I’m sure there is some relevant detail you are holding back from me. You know something and you will tell me everything,” his menacing voice snapped out across the cell. His unspoken threats were a bit scary. I knew only some of what he was capable of, and from what I had been told, I didn’t want to find out the rest. I wasn’t about to show him my fear, though. No, I would not show weakness in front of this monster.
“We can certainly talk, Sir. I just need a fucking bathroom before I piss all over your lovely floor,” I said in my most charming voice as I swept my shackled arms out to indicate the nasty stone floor.
He wrinkled his nose, a look of disgust crossing his face, “We will stop on the way. Craig will accompany you.”
I didn’t know who the fuck Craig was, but I guessed it was his lackey because a menacing look crossed his face. I groaned, “Craig, no trying for a little peep show when I’m pissing. I wouldn’t want to file a sexual harassment complaint on you,” I shook my head at him with a smirk crossing my face.
Craig said nothing as he stomped over to me and grabbed my arms roughly before shoving me out of the door. I guessed I wasn’t going to make friends with this one. He led me down the long hallway and into a room located right before the stairs.
He pushed me in the room before he entered and closed the door behind us. It was a very crude version of a bathroom, even less accommodating than the ones upstairs. The toilet was metal and rusty in some spots, but at least it was void of other peoples fecal matter. And bonus, there was a tiny bit of toilet paper hanging next to the toilet. I wouldn’t have cared if there weren’t any, honestly. A girl couldn’t be picky when her bladder was about to explode and she had just upgraded to a facility a million times better than the one in the cell.
“Can you do something about these?” I questioned raising my wrists up and jangling the iron cuffs at him, wincing as they rubbed against my increasingly raw flesh.
He grunted, “No. Figure it out.” Then he turned his back on me, crossing his arms. I was thankful for that at least. I wouldn’t be struggling with him watching.
I didn’t want to waste anymore time, just in case they changed their minds, so I shifted and wiggled my skirt and granny panties down inch by inch over my hips and sat on the seat, “Holy King Tritan’s ass, that’s fucking cold!”
“Stop your whining and do your damn business,” Craig snarled over his shoulder.
I sat for a moment, willing my bladder to let loose as the steel warmed against my ass. It painfully suspended between opening the tidal wave of piss I knew was waiting and playing shy. Fucking bladder. “I’m having a bit of stage fright with you in here. Can you plug your ears or something?” I may have no problem walking around naked most times and had gotten used to the lack of privacy in this place, but my nerves were mak
ing it hard to get in that mindset, even now.
To my relief, Craig reached up and covered his ears. I didn't think it was for my benefit, though. He probably didn’t want to listen to some chick take a piss. My bladder got less shy and I was able to do my business and wash up in the equally rusty metal sink.
“You all should do something about this rust. I don’t think I’ve had my tetanus shot. It’s a hazard,” I mused as I finished washing up and then cupped my hands under the stream of water and took a drink to soothe my dry tongue. The water was surprisingly clean and refreshing considering the nasty looking faucet it came from. It wasn’t salty, but it was way better than nothing, that was for sure.
I drank again deeply before turning off the water and straightening. I had no idea what I looked like as there was no mirror in there, but as I patted down my purple hair I found a stray piece of hay that had somehow ended up in there.
“Finally, princess,” the guard muttered before pulling me from the room and leading me up the stairs. I didn’t even have time to protest his nickname as he pulled me along quickly. I noticed Frost wasn’t anywhere to be seen and I assumed he was probably off somewhere washing off the filth from his short stint in the slums of solitary.
I took note as we paused on a landing rather than continue to the top of the stairs. I hadn’t noticed on my way down that there was a random door right there, located on a wall in the middle of the long staircase. I tried to think about how I would mark this spot but saw nothing I could mark it with. I hoped that it was the only random door located on this staircase but I couldn't be sure. As Craig unlocked it, I peeked over the edge of the stairs, estimated the number of stairs, and made a note in my head just in case I needed it.
He finally pulled the heavy door open and we entered a dark passageway. As we wound our way down the twists and turns, I made up a song to remember which direction we were taking. I knew the castle had secrets, I just didn’t know there was a literal labyrinth hidden in the walls.
I was in awe of the amount of passageways we passed that shot off this main hall and I wanted more than anything to explore them. The guard had to pull on me more than once when I subconsciously veered toward some of them on the way to wherever we were going.
We exited into an empty hallway that I recognized as the one that led to the headmaster’s office. It seemed the castle was filled with secrets that I needed to learn while we waited for Eva to come back for us. As we passed the doors I glanced at the nameplates mounted on them. There was a security head’s office, various teacher offices, along with the headmaster’s office, which I expected to be led through but we passed by instead.
Quite a few doors were unmarked and I was curious to know what lay behind them all. It was part of my nature to be extremely curious and want to find secrets. My people were the original explorers and treasure hunters, and it called to my soul. I was one of the few mer that still loved that side of myself and grew to love exploring, eventually gaining a fondness for all things human. My fascination even led to me collecting things that most of my people felt were trash.
I was shoved in a room and stumbled forward as the door slammed behind me. I turned and stared at the closed door. Looked like Craiggy pooh wasn’t inclined to join me in this fun.
“Welcome, Una,” the headmaster’s voice came from behind me, creepy as hell. He sounded like one of those villains from the human horror movies right before they sawed their victims apart with a dull blade. Oh fuck, I was in for some shit.
I was more grateful than ever that I had emptied my bladder as I plastered a smile on my face and turned toward him. When I met his angry blue eyes I knew I would have made a puddle on the floor right then. If that happened, there wouldn’t have been any way to hide my fear.
“Thank you for the invitation, Jack. May I call you Jack? I feel like this whole thing we have is something special.”
He was pretty good at ignoring my sass, I’d give him that much. “Sit,” he commanded as he gestured to a simple metal chair that was the same as all other ones throughout the building. I didn’t know what I’d been expecting, but it sure the hell wasn’t this.
Okay, honestly, I expected the creepy torture chair that Jaxon had told us about. The one his father had used to do so much damage to him over so many years. Sorrow washed through me as I thought of Jaxon. I didn’t really like him at first, and was shocked that Eva had fallen for him, yet that little Frosty had grown on me. I missed him as much as I missed the rest of my friends.
“Where did they go?” Jack Frost started the questioning as soon as my ass hit the seat.
“I already told you I don’t know. I wasn’t privy to that information. I don’t think any of them knew,” I said honestly.
“I don’t believe you, but we will come back to that. Let’s start at the beginning. When was the first time you knew of an escape plan?” his voice had changed back to his slick, charming nature.
“Last night. Or the night before?” I shrugged, not really sure. “Really, Jack, I don’t even know what day it is right now, so I can’t honestly answer that question. It’s not like there are any clocks or sunlight down in the caves to tell me when it….”
I was cut off by the headmaster, “I’ll make it simple for you,” he said between gritted teeth. “Just tell me how long before the incident in the cafeteria.”
“The night before,” I said curtly, refusing to give him more than what he specifically asked for.
“Is that so? And you all thought you could come up with an escape plan in one night? One that would sneak past me without ending up with any casualties?” He quirked his brow at me incredulously.
“Well, no. We hadn’t planned on that cafeteria thing happening.” I replied simply, again refusing to give him more than he asked for.
“Hmm,” he stroked his chin. “So what did you plan on?”
“That seems irrelevant at this point, doesn’t it?” I replied snarkily.
“I suppose it does,” he eyed me curiously. “What moved up your pathetic plans?”
“We weren’t expecting her sister to escalate things,” I stated honestly. If I gave him a little bit of honest information maybe he would chill out and let me go. I laughed a little inwardly, Jack Frost, chill out. That was funny.
“Her sister moved up the time then? That may yet work in my favor,” he mused aloud. “Who made the decision to escape?”
I knew my answer wasn’t going to go over well with him and I enjoyed that I would piss him off. “Jaxon,” I replied, managing to keep the glee out of my voice as I dropped the bomb.
He glared at me, “It seems that my son has betrayed me more than I first thought,” he seethed underneath the cool exterior he struggled to maintain.
“Yep,” I said popping the p. “Sorry, family betrayal is the worst, isn’t it?”
He laughed, “You know all about family betrayal, don’t you, Una? The thing is, unlike your father, I don’t care if my son lives or dies. And he will die when I find him.”
His promise sent shivers down my spine and I was now scared for Eva to come back. If she came back, he would not show her any mercy, nor would he show any toward her guys. I knew she was working on getting stronger and would never try it again if she had any thoughts that she might lose. I wished there was some way for me to get a message to her and warn her.
I was sure Jet and I could figure something out between our two powers. We had access to water at Shadow Isle, and through that we could get something out to the others. I wasn’t sure how the water got here, just that it was, and I planned to use it to our advantage.
It spoke to me, though I had long turned my heart away from its sweet song to keep myself from falling into a deep depression. If we could find the source though, we had a chance of reaching a sea creature to send a message to our friends. Sure, it was a problem that we had no idea where they were, but we might be able to get the sea to help.
I dismissed the plan remembering that when I first arrived
, I had tried that as I hoped to connect with one of my sisters that I was close with. It didn’t work then, and it surely wouldn’t work now. The source of the water in Shadow Isle must be too far from the sea or any water where creatures of the water live.
“Look, I’ve told you everything I know, which isn’t anything that would help you find them. Can I go back to my room now?” I asked, forcing myself to be sweet as my stomach growled loudly reminding me of its emptiness. “Also, some food? The guards down there haven’t given me so much as a scrap of bread.”
“You will not be permitted to return to your cell until we are finished. I think there is much more we need to talk about, and you will give me every single detail, even if we are here all night.” His voice then changed to caring, which I knew was a ruse, “I will, however, have food brought up. I can’t have you collapsing on me before you give me anything useful.”
It was clear Headmaster Frost didn’t give two shits about my wellbeing, though he thought he was coming off concerned. It took everything for me to not laugh in his face. Sure, I spoke my mind, no argument there, but I also knew when I needed to shut my trap and be a good little inmate.
He opened the door a crack and told Craig to go get me a meal. Before he could close the door, I shouted, “And get me some damn salt water, darling. I’m parched.” I could hear the lackey grumble as he left to follow his boss’ orders.
My food was brought in and I struggled to not devour it as it was set on my lap. Frost stared at me derisively as crumbs fell from my mouth, but I didn’t care what he thought. Craiggy pooh had even brought me saltwater as requested and that I drank eagerly following my meal.
When I was finished Craig removed the tray and shut us back in together, alone again. Frost hadn’t been kidding that he was willing to be here all night if that’s what it took. For hours on end, he asked the same questions over and over. He tried to say them in different ways as if that would trip me up and make me slip. Each time I gave him the truth but revealing as little as possible and his frustration grew. At last, seeing that I was not giving anything he expected, he reached his limit of patience.
Oceantide Page 3
