by K. G. Wilkie
He shrugged. "It's simple, really," he explained. "You're here because I want you to be." His tone was patient, like he was explaining the obvious to a small child. It would have been enraging if she'd had her wits together. "You are in grave danger from forces you have no hope of withstanding, so I have done the good and ethical thing and brought you here where you can be kept safe by experts in the field."
"That's ridiculous. Ack!" She finally tumbled all the way off the bed and fell in a heap on the floor. She quickly picked herself up, though, and skirted around to the far side of the room. Once she was a safe distance away she did a once-over and seemed satisfied that she was in her original outfit and turned back to the matter at hand. "I would never go anywhere with you whether you asked me to or not. I can't think of why I'm here. Let's see, I was walking home from school. I remember being surrounded by green, and then.... Wait a second! You must have hit me with some chloroform," she accused and glared at him.
He simply laughed. "So that's how a person's mind works when they've been among humans for too long," he said. He held up his palm and commanded, "Look at my hand." Orange fire, as hot as any bonfire, sat curled as a neat ball in his grasp. He flicked it away and it hit a silk screen in the corner and quickly started to consume it. He gestured at it and it obediently came to heel, abandoning the screen, but still leaving it in tatters. He waved it over to Alyss, and it silently covered her completely without singing a single hair. She stared at it, whacking at her clothes to try to smother the flames, but they remained as stubborn as they were harmless to her.
"That's strange," he muttered. "She used to love playing with the flames. Perhaps it's the shock her polluted human form is prone to?"
Alyss was now on the floor doing her best to emulate the 'Stop! Drop! And Roll' procedure young humans are taught for this very circumstance.
Soon all the flames had been smothered and she was more angry than before. "That's not the point though," she added. "You kidnapper! Why did you do that? How did you do that? That little bubble thing you did. It shouldn't have been possible!"
"Well, I already just showed you," Aeron said.
She shook her head. "No, I don't mean you're stupid theatrics. Obviously, you have a flame torch hidden in your sleeves or something. What I want to know is how you made that weird bubble thing!"
He conjured another to show her. "Just like this. It's not really that hard to do, but I'll admit I'm still glad you're impressed by this," he said. He popped open the wing slits on his back and let them out as well. He did a lazy little loop around the room to show them in action. Surely flight would prove that this was all real and break through her delusions.
She touched the new bubble that was still resting on the ground. Curiosity had apparently overwhelmed her common sense. It gave under her touch, but it didn't trap her. She still pulled her hand back out of caution, however. "How did you do this?"
He shrugged again. "I just used magic. It's pretty simple, really. Any mere human could do it, so I know you could do this spell, too, if you tried. Want me to show you how?" He looked eager at the thought.
She shook her head. "I don't want to play magic tricks with you. All I want, right here and right now, is to go home. Do you think you can arrange that? Maybe use one of your so-called magic spells to send me home?"
His eyebrows drooped. It somehow made him look disappointed. "I'm afraid I can't do that," he said. "It's very important that I get you out of that world and in here where you will be safe."
She protested against his announcement, demanding that she be sent home. Pleading with him to see reason and how terrible being locked up like this felt for her.
He drooped a little more. "It is very unfortunate that you feel that way about this chamber and this world," he said in a small voice. "No matter," he announced more loudly, "I have something more important to see to than this entertainment." He snapped his fingers and all the orange flames winked out of being. He snapped again and disappeared in black flames.
CHAPTER FIVE
Bubbles
Alyss looked around the room. It was rather sparse. There was a long flat wall that was simply painted white, and another side of the room that seemed to be constructed of curved mirror glass. The whole room was bathed in a faintly blue light emanating from a giant multifaceted zinc lantern hanging from the ceiling. There was a bed, a blanket, and a pillow. And that was all there was to be seen.
A flash of orange light from the corner caught her attention. She walked over, ducking down to calmly inspect that end of the mirror. There was a flash of red light again, and a scaly head slowly blinked a giant eye at her. Surprised, she then leaped back in shock.
She ran back to the far flat wall, shivering. The eye blinked once more, then disappeared. It moved out of the way and was replaced in view by a giant reptilian head pressing as close as it could get to her. A scaled arm shoved that one out of the way to show a green one in its place that blasted fire at her. A gray scaled arm moved in to cuff the offender and dragged it by the spikes on its head to the other end of what could now be clearly seen as a giant stadium filled with over-sized dragons flapping about. The glass window, for that's what it must have been, was now once more opaque and innocent. She slumped to the floor, head between her knees.
The sterile room was silent, for all but the muffled sound of sobbing. Alyss was bundled up in a blanket, hiding under the bed frame. The disk-shaped room was filled with soft light, which had turned on at some point, probably in the morning, as it had been dark before then, probably to simulate night time and stimulate sleep. She hadn't slept then or now, eyes wide open and blood shot as she huddled there on the floor.
Her life had been dull and wretched in Florida. The sunny state had left her miserable with her mysterious illnesses and complete isolation at her schools and at home. Things had gotten better, though, near the end there. She'd found Darien and developed a closeness to him she'd never had with another human before. She'd felt comfortable and safe. They'd celebrated birthdays and Christmas and New Year's and all of the holidays together. And Darien was so good at making friends, she'd started to at least have conversations with her school mates, even though she still suffered from being so ill. Then they'd moved, and things had gotten even better. It was a new town, full of new people and new things to do. Her health had been better almost the same day as she'd gotten there, and along with it, she'd made even more friends, closer than ever before. It might even have been possible for her to have made close friends or a best friend in the not-so-distant future.
And now she was stuck there in that horrible place, surrounded by monstrous creatures that insisted on peeking in on here periodically. She had no privacy. She had no freedom. She had nothing here. And how long would she be stuck in that place? Would they let her go in week, or a year, or would she be captive there forever? Even if she were released at some point, her friends would have forgotten her by then and she'd be all alone. She'd have to go through the humiliation of repeating a grade, or maybe even more, after being stuck there for too long. And to think of all the questions her teachers would have, or even the police. How would she answer those questions? She couldn't just tell people she was stuck in some futuristic holding cell surrounded by dragons. They'd surely send her off to a mental institution if she said something like that.
She definitely couldn't point out her kidnapper. She knew Aeron had taken her; had to sit through his gloating over it to her. But how would she be able to substantiate her claims? Even worse, how likely was it he'd let her go if she was just going to turn around and turn him in? Her chances of being released seemed even grimmer the more she thought of that.
She had no way to get out of there, and even if she had, her life would be totally messed up. Basically, she was screwed at that point. She stared at the ceiling and watched the sunlight grow and wane and again light up outside.
Finally, sitting around grew boring. Sure, she was a prisoner, but a person couldn't literally s
it on her bed forever without going insane. She'd have to figure out a way to do something. Anything would do, really. She stood and started pacing back and forth. Figuring out what to do was difficult when she still had absolutely nothing to occupy her time, but she'd manage somehow. She went over to the curved wall to try to find a joint, or a latch. Most windows had a way to open them, didn't they? This one, apparently, did not. She slumped her shoulders and turned away from it to look at the next wall. It was flat. Completely flat. She started poking at the surface and passing her flattened palm back and forth, but she couldn't feel any joints. She knocked on it in various places and didn't have a secret escape door pop up, which was very disappointing. She moved around to the wall on the other side of the room and gave it the same thorough exploration. Again, there was nothing. She tried the door she had come through, the only visible joint on all the walls, but when she touched it the faint seam disappeared and it melted to become a single surface with the rest of the wall again.
She turned around the room, casting for something else to do, and looked at the bed. She'd already spent so much time in it, so it was unlikely to hide any interesting secrets, but it never hurt to check. She shook out the blankets and eventually ripped off all the bedding and found nothing unusual there. She tapped the bed posts and even tried slamming one onto the floor, but nothing of interest was revealed; and the sharp clang sound made her a little nervous, so she gave up on that. She crawled under the bed and saw nothing but perfectly smooth dusted floors. Well, she thought, at least that means someone probably cleans in here. Maybe eventually I'll meet another person. That would at least be something to do. Then the disheartening realization came to her that the room probably was kept clean by something ridiculous like magic, and she lost her enthusiasm. Once again, she collapsed on the bed, now a bare stripped mattress, and just stared up at the ceiling to pass the time in her best attempt at numbness.
The sound of loud static cut through the momentary silence, and the girl jumped to her feet once more. The once flat wall had popped an invisible door open, revealing a contraption that looked like a flat-sided egg. The domed-window wall darkened to become fully opaque, and at last she had privacy. The sound of static repeated, and a woman's visage appeared on the screen. "My name is Veronica. I am your host. It is now time for the nutrition sequence to commence," she said. The door in the wall slid up to reveal the woman standing there. Alyss ran for the entrance and tried to break through, but even though the door was open she couldn't get past the entrance.
"The entrance is only opened to those authorized by the heir to pass through it. Even when the portal is opened, the spell will prevent unauthorized personnel from passing it," Veronica said. The girl tried again but still could not get through. After she'd tried three times, the passage pushed her back in with a strong force. "The entrance is only opened to those authorized by the heir to pass through it. The spell will prevent unauthorized personnel from passing," she repeated.
Alyss turned to face the woman. "I don't care if I'm authorized or not, obviously I am going to try to get out. What did you come here for, anyways? To harass me on his behalf?"
"You are to receive a tour of the prince`s quarters," she said. She hovered in view impassively. "Please wait for your guide to join you."
The woman stared at her, and blinked once. "Cannot process. Action is denied. Commencing nourishment program," Veronica said. She took out an intricately folded napkin in her hands and slowly unfolded it. Each fold she undid released something new. First a table tumbled out of the tiny linen, then a chair, and table settings, and a crystal goblet. Finally the last few folds released a still-bubbling lobster bisque, followed by a less-identifiable meat entree and bacon wrapped scallops.
"I can't eat that," the girl protested. "I haven't eaten a single living creature in my life, and I'm not about to start now," Alyss added.
Veronica blinked twice at her. "Understood. Nutrition program error found. Recommencing," she said. Quickly the napkin that had contained the offending meal was refolded and all the food disappeared. Alyss fell on the floor with a thump after her seat was returned before she could get off of it. Veronica took out a different napkin, a green one this time, and unfolded it. This one came out with even finer, spindly furniture, and unfolded to reveal pasta and salad dishes paired with a squash pudding. "This is the Fey nutrition program. This meal contains no animals. Is this sufficient?"
Alyss tried a few bites of each dish. Her eyes widened and she started to tuck into the meal with real gusto. "This is great. I don't care if it's for Fey or human, this is exactly perfect for me. Thanks, Veronica," she said.
The woman nodded and stood passively by her. When she'd finished her meal, it was taken away by the strange visitor and once again Alyss was completely alone in the room.
Another day passed in loneliness for Alyss. Veronica visited her again. It was always only for just one meal, though, and that wasn't quite enough. And then she'd leave and Alyss was alone in the room once more. Besides, Veronica was such an odd person and wasn't prone to having much in the way of conversation, so having her around hardly counted as being with someone at all. She didn't do much of anything besides repeat her so-called nutrition sequence, either, so she had very little entertainment value as well.
"I just want something to do," she moaned. No one was around so she didn't expect anything to happen from saying it, but it still felt nice to take the time to complain out loud once in a while.
The little screen in the wall lit up and Veronica popped up on it again. "Message has been processed. Proceed with structure adjustment." She blinked. "Schedule has been restructured. It is now time for the entertainment sequence to commence. Starting entertainment program one-two-oh."
The screen grew dark again. The TV--surely that's what it had to be--grew rapidly to cover the entire domed wall. It started growing deeper and expanded closer to her until the edge of it touched the end of her bed. The top of it tilted forward and expanded to take up yet more space. It now left her in a small dome of free space around the surface of the mattress, and everything else was taken up by the screen. It flickered on and lit up the whole space. Pop! Then the screen slowly disappeared and she was instead surrounded by a starry sky. She could feel a gentle breeze on her face and smell the scent of fresh grass and recent rain. She was floored. Alyss reached up to touch the screen and it changed. Now she was surrounded by golden sands stretching across the horizon. The sun was so scorching she could smell the scent of heat. She reached out and again her fingers met nothingness, but it still acknowledged her touch and changed to yet another scene where she was adrift in the middle of the ocean. A mermaid came up to the surface and waved at her there, then she swam up through the sky to beyond the stars. It was a boring scene to watch once the mermaid was gone, though, so she moved on from that one. She flicked through the various scenes for a while, but eventually that, too, became boring. "I appreciate the entertainment sequence," she called out, "but I'd still like to actually watch a show. Or maybe have something to do? That would be great," she said. She might have sounded a bit petty, but having an interactive screen saver was still not that interesting.
The sound of static again announced the communicator popping out of the wall to show Veronica's visage once more.
"You are to receive a tour of the prince`s quarters," she said. She hovered in view impassively. "Please wait for your guide to join you." There was a beep, and then for the space of a breath there was silence. Complete and utter silence.
There was a dignified whoosh as a heretofore invisible door, also sunk into the nondescript wall, swung open. A man in a starchy uniform and cap walked in, each movement jerky. She jumped into the tour right away. "This is the storage wall." She waved at the flat wall. "There are cupboards with food, water, clothing, bed things, and amusements." She waved each location out. "The food transports directly from the kitchen every three hours. Magic makes it 'keep'."
"How come no one showed t
his to me before? I've been starving in between meals this whole time," she said. "Wait, what's going on here," Alyss asked. "Who are you?"
The woman continued out the door without notice, but her movements became even rougher. "Here is the master`s parlor," she said, showing her into a richly-furnished room. There were pillows, silks, velvets, gold chandeliers, and stained-glass lamps. Alyss craned her neck to take in all of the luxury, but the woman in the navy dress steadfastly continued her tour.
Walking out of the door, she revealed a connected room. These walls were bland, and the furniture more comfortable than luxurious. "This room contains storage and seating." She waved at the furniture. "It is to be used by you only with permission." Opening a venting door on the side of the room, she pushed a blue crystal into the wall, triggering it to glow brightly. The new light revealed a woman, curled up in a ball, in a clear bubble. She appeared to be asleep. Alyss gasped at the sight. The maid shooed that ball out of the way, revealing row after row of women sleeping in individual bubbles.
Alyss shrieked at the sight of it. Her tour guide looked briefly surprised. Then Veronica collapsed, arms and legs and parts all jumbled into a pile of destruction. Alyss turned away from the bubbles and tried to fit the pieces back together and attempted to take the woman's pulse and, in desperation, perform CPR. There was no life, no breath. Screaming, she ran back through the rooms until she found a door that led out onto a greater hall.
"There's a woman! On the floor!" she hollered. She found a man in worker's overalls passing by in the hallway and promptly dragged him into the scene of the crime. "There! A body!" She shivered, pointing it out to him.
"Ah, darn it." A lean man with an angular face ran into the room. "I told those bastards she was broken. Why on earth did they feel the need to send this one out when there are so many others," he muttered. He swept the pieces up into his arms, calmly walking back out into the corridor. Alyss looked around nervously, then followed when he gestured to her impatiently.
