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I wished I hadn’t thought of that because the panic started to bubble up again. Bad enough to be in a cave at the best of times, but to be chained up in one, unable to see, and with the possibility that it could be flooded at any moment if the tide came in…
I shivered and tried to be rational. Whoever had taken me obviously didn’t want me dead or they’d have killed me there and then. Why bother to kidnap someone just to let them drown? I had to believe they weren’t just sadistic fiends who’d take great pleasure watching that fate befall me.
Watching… Were they here, with me? Were they watching me right now?
‘Hello?’ I called. My voice was croaky, and I cleared it and tried again. ‘Hello? Is anyone here?’
Silence. Well, apart from the sound of the sea and the distant cry of a seagull or twelve. There sure are a lot of seagulls in Whitby.
‘I’m not afraid of you,’ I lied. ‘Why don’t you just show yourself and tell me what the hell it is you want?’
Nothing.
I wondered how long I’d been there and if anyone knew I was missing. Probably not. I wasn’t due back in Castle Clair until tomorrow so why would anyone look for me? Unless it was tomorrow already. I had no way of knowing how long I’d been asleep after all.
Asleep? Unconscious more like. I tentatively patted my skull, feeling for any cuts or lumps, but it seemed to be okay. So I hadn’t been hit over the head then. Drugged? But how? I hadn’t had anything to eat or drink, apart from a bottle of water that I’d been carrying with me as I walked. I can’t deny I’d been tempted, especially when I went into a couple of the cafés with their delicious smells and tempting choice of beverages, but I’d been determined to press on with my mission. I couldn’t possibly have been drugged.
Which only left one option. Magic.
At the thought my blood ran cold. The only people I could think of who’d want to kidnap me were the Pendragons. But if they’d done that they must know who I really was, and if they knew who I was then who knew what they had in store for me?
You know, Trinity, I don’t think you’re cut out for this magical life. I think you should stick to being an editor in future.
‘Ah, you’re awake!’
I jumped in fright and my heart thudded as a woman’s voice cut into my thoughts. It was a hoarse voice, as if the speaker had a sore throat. So I had company at last. A Pendragon?
‘Why are you sitting on the floor?’
Was she for real?
‘Why do you think? Where else am I supposed to sit? This is where I woke up.’
‘But I sent you a nice comfy sofa for when you woke up. It seems a pity to waste it. Don’t you like it? Or is it some sort of meditation you’re doing?’
The woman, whoever she was, was either crazy or she was taunting me. Either way it didn’t make me feel any more optimistic about my chances of getting out of here.
‘How would I know if I like it,’ I pointed out, deciding to go along with her, ‘seeing as I’m blindfolded and didn’t even know it was here. Wherever here is.’
‘Oh my word, I completely forgot about that! I’m so sorry. Let me get that for you.’
Immediately I felt the blindfold disappear, and I blinked before looking around me. It was pitch black.
‘I can’t see a thing,’ I said. ‘I think I’ve gone blind.’
‘Oh! How stupid am I?’ The woman tutted and suddenly my prison was flooded with light. It wasn’t a cave. It was a room. By the looks of it, a basement. It was pretty dingy, the light coming from a single bulb in the centre of the ceiling, and, apart from an incongruous plush sofa, it contained nothing but an old chest and some barrels. There was a flight of wooden steps leading up to a door above and another narrow wooden door in the far wall. I wondered where that led to.
‘There. So what do you think of the sofa?’
‘It’s, er, very nice.’ I eyed my captor with some astonishment, it had to be said. She certainly didn’t look like the sort of person who’d go around kidnapping people for the hell of it. She was quite small—maybe around my height or even shorter—and had white hair and a wizened old face. Her eyes were extraordinary. Huge and round and such a pale blue they were almost silver. She was hunched over, as if she had something wrong with her bones, and she was wearing a navy-blue skirt, a white blouse, and a grey cardigan. Her appearance hardly rang alarm bells.
She was definitely not what I’d expected to find.
‘What was the point of blindfolding me if all you had to do was turn off the light?’
She considered me for a moment then shrugged. ‘It’s the done thing, isn’t it? In books and films.’
Well, she clearly wasn’t an expert in taking people prisoner, so that was something.
