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I shivered. I was being held prisoner and no one knew where to find me. I released one of the bars and reached for my phone, but my pocket was empty. That’s when I remembered I’d left my phone in my room at Aunt Vivian’s house. I groaned.
The robed figure stopped in front of my cell and extended a bowl toward me, slipping it between the bars. They kept their head down and their face hidden in shadow.
“What is this?” I asked.
“Food.”
I reached for the bowl, trapping their hands under mine and holding tight. The figure’s head snapped up, and their hood fell back just enough for me to catch a glimpse of the face underneath. Piercing blue eyes peered out at me from above a delicate, thin nose and lush, full lips framed by long golden hair. A woman.
“Where are we?” I asked. “Who are you?” If this person was also a prisoner, maybe I could get them to help me. After all, they were at least moving around while I had been locked in this cell.
The woman shook her head slightly in answer to my questions.
“Eat,” she said. Her eyes traveled to the gold band around my wrist, then flicked up to meet mine. I released her hands and backed away from the bars, hugging my wrist against my chest and out of her reach. She said something in a language I didn’t understand. Then, without waiting for a response, she turned and shuffled back down the hall.
I lifted the spoon from the bowl she’d handed me and stirred the contents. The foul odor made me wrinkle my nose, but the food was hot and my stomach was empty. I lifted the spoon to my lips and tilted it onto my tongue. The sour broth made me wince, but I forced myself to swallow and keep it down. I stirred again and scooped another spoonful, bracing myself for the taste. I slurped the liquid off the spoon and swallowed.
By the time I’d finished the bowl, my head had stopped throbbing and my vision had cleared. I set the bowl down just inside the bars and paced to the wall, where I could sit and stare down the corridor, watching and hoping for the woman to return.
The longer I waited, the harder it became to keep my eyes open. Just as I’d let myself begin to drift off, two men appeared, supporting a third between them. They tossed the third man into the cell across from me and slammed the door. They didn’t even spare me a glance as they returned the way they’d come.
“Wait!” I called. “Wait!”
They didn’t respond, and their backs disappeared around the corner.
“Damn!” I picked up the empty bowl and threw it against the wall, shattering the clay and sending the metal spoon clattering to the ground.
The prisoner across from me moaned. I turned to face him, two sets of bars between us. I squinted in the dim light, but they’d thrown him to the back of the cell and his face and body were hidden in shadow.
“Hello?” I whispered. “Hello? Are you okay?”
He moaned again and rolled onto his side. “Eve,” he whispered.
“That’s me,” I said, shocked that this person would know my name. “Do I know you?” I squinted harder into the shadows.
“Must. Find. Eve,” he panted, stopping to breathe between each word. He shifted again, and I saw his matted brown hair.
“Liam?” I grabbed the bars and shook them. “Liam? Is that you?”
He moaned and pushed himself to a sitting position. He raised his head and his hair fell back from his face. I cried out when I saw the blood. “What did they do to you? Are you okay?”
The robed woman shuffled into view between us.
“Shh,” she said.
I turned to her. “Help him!” I said. “Can’t you see that he’s hurt?”
“Eve?” Liam said, blinking at me across the corridor.
“It’s me, Liam. I’m right here. What happened? Are you okay?”
“Hush,” the woman said. She stepped closer to me, blocking my view of Liam. “You shouldn’t talk to him,” she said. “It will only make it worse for you both.”
“Make what worse? How could it be worse?” I shook the bars to illustrate my point.
She placed her hands over mine on the bars, her eyes going once again to the bracelet on my wrist, then shifting up to meet mine. “Hush.”
I grabbed her wrists and pulled her against the bars. “Tell me where we are.”
