by Emma Hamm
Jane sighed and pressed her forehead against the glass. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know until your friend scanned me. And even then, there wasn’t any time.”
“I know. I understand.”
“Do you?” She looked at him then, through the streak her sweat slicked forehead had left and into his eyes. “I didn’t mean to bring any of us into this. I thought…”
“You thought you could save them.” His fingers spasmed against the glass. “I don’t understand why you did it. I don’t feel the same connection you do, but I don’t know them Jane.”
“I made another mistake. I should have known that if he was in the City, he was untouchable.”
Silence widened the gap between the siblings. Though this time, the silence came more from the two of them attempting to catch their breath. Jane’s legs were shaking even though she was propped up against the sturdy wall.
Finally she stirred, her biceps flexing as she pushed against the glass. “Ruric. He mentioned the other goblins, have you seen them?”
Luther shook his head. “I only woke once. I couldn’t even roll over.”
“I have to find them.” She muttered, though the first step away from the glass nearly toppled her. “I have to warn them.”
“Jane.”
She paused to look back at her brother.
“If he knows about them, he already has them.”
“He might not. There might still be a chance.”
“What are you going to do Jane? We’re locked in here.”
Her eyes were already searching the stark room for anything that she could find. “I don’t know.”
There was only the bed in the room. She curled her fingers under the edge and tried to lift it, only to find that the bed was bolted to the floor. Her hands were too weak to bend metal. If she had only been a goblin then maybe… Maybe she might have been able to do something.
In desperation, she turned towards the opposite wall where she could see a corridor.
She flung herself against the wall, slamming her shoulder repeatedly into the glass. Every thump shifted the bones of her shoulder and made pain arch through her neck. She couldn’t sit still and do nothing. She had to at least try.
“Jane.”
Luther’s voice couldn’t seem to break through her madness. He watched as she threw her body against the glass time and again until she couldn’t any longer. Only then did she pause to pound her fists against it. The heavy strikes were muffled. The glass was too thick to even make a sound.
She slid down the smooth surface. Her hands clutched her shins as she pulled her legs towards herself and pressed her forehead against her knees.
There was no sound in this prison. No echoes. No life other than stark white and glistening surfaces. This was a place she could certainly go mad.
“Quite the display of aggression, Miss Penderghast.”
The voice she least wanted to hear was muffled in this room that seemed to dampen all sound. The Doctor, or whoever he was. A man that could be killed just like the rest of them. Jane realized that she intensely wanted to see this man bleed.
Slowly raising her head, she looked towards the sound. A small box was mounted in a corner of the room. It had been white like the rest of the room when she first looked, but now it showed a pale face with slicked back hair.
She said nothing in response to his quip.
In return, he tsked. “Now now, you want to be on my good side Jane.”
“The only side of you I want to be on requires a distance of miles.” She muttered.
The screen in front of her flickered a few times before it realigned itself. It showed a sterile room like her own. The walls were washed white and the sheets were perfectly folded. Except in this room there were three people clustered around a big yellow body she recognized.
Her eyes squeezed shut against the sight. She had caught enough of a glance to see the bright bloom of red that had been slashed across Ruric’s body.
Her heart thumped hard against her ribs. Guilt nearly made her vomit, but also the knowledge that she was unable to stop his pain.
Ruric had underestimated her people. He had thought they would fight against the humans in a test of strength and power. There was no way for him to know that the fight would end swiftly and the only thing left for him would be pain.
“The sight pains you.”
The Doctor’s words seemed to vibrant inside her being. Of course it pained her. She was stuck between two worlds and two people who would never be able to understand each other.
Jane was just an uneducated woman from the mines. She did not know how to intervene in political matters. She did not know how to speak in pretty words so that others would listen. This was why the goblin world had suited her so well. She could find answers in her fists and love in soft touches.
The reserved world of the humans had its merits. There was more technology here, comfort, and knowledge. There were good people here just as there were bad people in the goblin world.
She sighed and shook her head.
“It does not.”
The words shook her to her very soul, but Jane could not afford the Doctor using the goblins against her.
“You are a terrible liar.”
It seemed as though the air froze in her very lungs. Her eyes drifted shut and squeezed hard as she tried to banish the words from her mind.
“I’m not an evil man, Jane. I simply wish to speak with you.”
“I do not wish to speak with you.” She whispered into her knees.
“You have a choice to make now. Speak with me, and I’ll give your goblin friend medicine that will take away his pain.”
Jane said nothing in return. Ruric would prefer her to protect herself and the unborn child inside of her.
“Jane.” The patronizing tone made her grit her teeth. “I can always put Luther on a table as well.”
At that, her eyes flew open.
“Why would you do that? He’s human.”
“There’s always experiments to be done on humans, Jane. How do you think I come up with my miracle cures?”
She could see Luther shifting against the glass. His expression was stern but his skin had paled considerably. When his eyes caught hers, he shook his head firmly. But she could see that his hand pressed against the glass was shaking.
He knew what the Doctor was capable of.
“What is it that you want from me?”
The Doctor laughed. “Oh Jane, you’re too easy. For now we’re going to talk. I’ll be sending someone down the hall to bring you immediately.”
The screen blinked off once more.
“Jane.” Luther said. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“I’m not going to let him experiment on you too.” She stood slowly. Her spine unfurled with a creak as though she had aged years in just a few moments.
“You don’t know him like I do. Jane, there’s something wrong with him.”
“You’re family. I protect my family.”
“He’s going to do the same thing he’s doing to those goblins. But he’s going to do it to you.”
Jane walked over to his side of the glass and sighed. “Do you feel any pity for them, Luther?”
“Of course.”
“Would you release them if you could?”
“Yes.”
“Then why are you so much more worried about me, than about them?”
She could see that her brother was confused she would even ask the question.
“Because you’re family.”
Her hand reached out to touch the glass where his palm was resting.
“Because I’m human.”
His brow furrowed in confusion. “Well yes that too.”
“That’s a problem, Luther. That’s the problem with all of this. With the slaves underground, with Juo being caught, with the Doctor using this as a tool against us. We can’t see each other as the same and we’re repeating the same mistakes.”
“Bec
ause we aren’t the same, Jane.”
“Maybe we are.” She whispered back.
“I know that look. Jane what are you planning.”
Her worried expression had smoothed from her face and had been replaced with smooth curves. Luther felt as though he was looking at a doll. There was barely any emotion on her face, rather a disconcerting sight of calm while her eyes waged war.
She stepped away from the glass. Her hand fell down to her side and brushed against the paper thin fabric that covered her body.
“Jane. Don’t do something stupid. They’ll kill you here.”
“I have to do something.”
They could both hear the striking rings of the guard’s boots against the floor. Each singular sound seemed to be the tolling bell of time slipping away from them.
“Listen to me Jane, you don’t know these people like I do. They don’t care who you are or what they can get out of you.”
“I have something he wants.”
“There is nothing that he wants. He can take anything that he wants Jane. He has the power here.”
“I have my child.”
Luther’s jaw dropped.
“You’re going to give him the baby?”
“No.” She said even as the guard unlocked the door to her cell. “But it’s something I can use.”
“Jane!”
The guard stepped into the cell, holding a syringe in his hand. The needle glinted in the white light of the cell room.
“You don’t need that.” Jane told him as she held both her hands in the air. “I’ll be good.”
The guard shook his head and started walking towards her. She couldn’t see his face behind the helmet he wore. Even he was outfitted entirely in white.
“The Doctor needs me to be aware when we talk. If you give me that, I won’t be. He said he wanted to talk. So let’s talk.”
Only then did the guard seem to pause. Expressionless and pristine, he appeared to be less human than anything she had seen thus far. Even his movements appeared to be carefully practiced as he capped the needle and reached for her.
Jane had yet to be truly frightened of anyone in this place. But as the guard’s cool hand closed around her upper arm and yanked her out of her cell, she realized she was afraid of him. She was afraid of the faceless person who need not feel guilt for causing her harm or her death.
Luther’s shouts echoed in the hallway as a sharp contrast to the muffled sounds of the cell.
She was led into the Doctor’s office which was as pristine white as the rest of the building. Jane shivered even though the room was warm. No matter what she did, she always felt cold while surrounded by white. She missed the blue bubbles of light that had guided her Below.
The Doctor was seated at his desk. His hands were steepled in front of him and his elbows were delicately pressed against the clear glass surface. He was staring at her with an intensity that made her uncomfortable.
As the guard released her arm, she muttered under her breath, “More white.”
Laughter burst from the Doctor’s mouth. Once again, Jane marveled at the red slash. She realized that his smile and his laugh were so disconcerting because the inside of his mouth was the only thing colorful about him.
She would have thought him albino if not for his dark. They were black as the darkest shadows she had seen underground.
Jane was nearly brought to her knees as a longing for black eyes with streaks of color made her weak. Ruric was in pain now. He could be damaged beyond repair and she was seating herself in the office of the man who had ordered it.
“I like white.” The Doctor said. “It’s clean.”
“Everything here is clean.” She said.
“As it should be.” He nodded firmly and then pressed his lips firmly together. “Now, I’m very curious to hear your story.”
“I have no story.”
“Everyone does.”
“I am a nobody who grew up in a mining town. There are very little stories that come from the sands.”
He leaned back in his chair. “No I expect not. I’ve never found your people to have much to say. But you have a story. You were the first to find these creatures after all.”
“Miners have known of them for many years.”
“Is that so?”
“There have been legends of goblins as long as I’ve been alive. Perhaps longer.” Jane shrugged. “They are the stories we tell our children so that they will behave.
“And yet you are the only person who has made a connection with them. Why is that?”
“Why do you think I have a connection with them?”
Jane was quickly realizing that she was going to lose this battle of wits. His words were already making her sore head ache, and she could only dodge so many questions before she was going to slip up. He knew more than he was letting on.
The Doctor leaned forward then, as though he could see the thoughts that were in her mind.
“Because when I tied that goblin we found outside to the table, he shouted your name.”
Of course he did. Jane curled her hands into fists and pressed the sharp nails of her fingers deeply into her palms.
“I have no answer for why.”
“I do.” A few buttons were pressed on his desk and Jane watched as another screen across the room flickered to life. An image of her baby was there. It was a crude scan but she could clearly see the outline of a small life form inside of her.
The Doctor’s blunt finger stabbed towards the image.
“That’s why. That’s why he was shouting your name.”
Her jaw clenched hard but Jane refused to say anything else.
“You have a child inside of you. A hybrid.” He held up a finger as she began to speak. “No don’t interrupt. You can’t tell me that it’s not a hybrid because I can see it in the scan. That’s not a human child. Not in the slightest. Now you’re going to tell me everything I want to know.”
Her bargaining chips were slowly disappearing like sand trickling through her open fingers.
“Not until you show me him.”
“Him?” The Doctor’s eyebrow arched.
“You know who I’m talking about.”
“I’m afraid I cannot show you that, my dear.”
“Then the other.”
“The little one you were trying to spirit away? I’m afraid he’s currently undergoing trials at the moment. I wouldn’t want to offend your delicate mind.”
Her fingers bit deeper into her palms. He made no mention of other goblins. Only that there were two here.
Illyrin and Shusar were alive. They were not in the City, or they hadn’t been caught. Suddenly the game changed once more, and her mind started to spin.
The Doctor hadn’t gotten to his position of power without noticing fine details. He saw her expression change and his eyes narrowed in response.
“What is it that you are thinking.” It wasn’t a question. Instead, it felt as though he was trying to crawl inside her mind.
But in this moment, Jade knew more than he.
She leaned firmly back into her chair, crossing one of her legs over the other. “I don’t have anything for you. I’m sorry, I can’t provide any further information.”
“You’ll tell me whatever I want you to tell me. Otherwise, your family will pay the price.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You doubt me?”
“I don’t doubt you’ll do your best to harm us. But I consider my information to be worth that cost.”
He rose from his chair in a surge of anger. She watched as he raised his hand and brought it down hard upon her cheek. Though she shifted as he slapped her, Jane refused to move farther than necessary.
She did not hold a hand to her stinging cheek. Instead, she slowly looked through the ragged tendrils of her hair that had fallen across her vision.
“You will not do that again.”
“Oh I think I will.” He replied as he raised his hand again.
“You wouldn’t want to hurt the precious experiment you have brewing inside me, would you?”
Only then did he pause. She could see the gears turning in his mind as the Doctor slowly sat back down onto his chair. His fingers steepled in front of him once more and he folded into the exact position he had been in when she first saw him.
“Interesting.”
That was the only word he said. Jane stared at him with wide eyes. She was off balance, nervous, worried, and above all feeling guilt. Once again she was making a choice to cause pain for the goblins, if only to save them from this man.
The Doctor leaned back in his chair and continued to stare at her. For nearly a full minute he kept his eyes locked upon hers before he finally nodded.
“Fine. I’ll have you return in a few days and we’ll see how you’re feeling then. I’ll get you to break.”
She stood slowly. Her legs were shaking and it felt impossibly difficult to breathe. But somehow she had managed to withstand this encounter without revealing too much. Jane had, once again, survived.
She didn’t say anything as the guard brought her back to her cell. The faceless man hardly looked at her. But when she returned to her cell, she collapsed onto the floor and stared at Luther’s shocked expression.
“I don’t know what to do.” She whispered. Jane could only hope that someday she was going to stop saying that and finally have the answers she needed.
A few days past without Luther or Jane’s knowledge. The lights never turned off in their cells and no one walked past them. For a while they kept each other entertained. Luther told her of his time in the City and Jane made them both laugh as they remembered growing up in the sands.
He tried to get her to tell him what had happened in the long months she had been gone. But they were both aware that they were under constant surveillance. Any story she told Luther would also be returned to the Doctor.
She couldn’t allow that to happen.
When she did manage to sleep through the bright lights, Jane was plagued by nightmares. She had no idea what was happening to Ruric and Juo. The guilt weighed heavily upon her heart and made her stomach stick in her throat constantly.
There was little she could do to help them. They had come here to save the other goblins from the humans as well as save Juo. At the very least, she wanted to ensure that the other goblins never came here.
