Young Writers Society

Crystal stared out into the room, through and past all of them as she pressed her forehead against one of the cell bars.

"...Punishment," she said stiffly. "My mother couldn't control me, so she put me in here instead."

Tara watched nervously as CB showed her the memory and explained she was a prisoner. She'd told their group she'd watched them all, and that meant CB had to know everything. Which would explain the bedroom. The thought made Tara's throat clench upp.

"How do we help you get out?"

Colleen walked closer into the room, placing her hand on a cell bar near Crystal, if she could call her by her first name.

"That's really sad, I'm sorry."

How could they get her out of here though, if they're also stuck here?

Crystal looked up to Tara.

"I just need you to open the door." She shifted towards the barred door, which had a latch. "It can't be opened from the inside. There's a magical trigger."

James watched her quietly, trying to figure out if she could be trusted.

Some people who were locked away were locked away for a good reason. Some were victims, and some were criminals, and sometimes the difference between the two was a blurred line of morals and preference. He didn't know if Crystal was even telling the truth, or if all of this was just one big manufactured lie.

Empathy said to trust her, but Crystal - if she knew as much as she said she did - would know his history made him question everything.

He wasn't just going to take her at her word, as cold as that might make him appear.

"Wait a moment," he said. "If she's locked up, then we have some power here."

He put his hands in his pockets and stepped a little closer, looking down at Crystal, who was watching him with an expression he couldn't quite read.

She looked desperate, but something in her eyes looked excited.

Excited at the possibility of freedom? He couldn't know.

"We get to set the conditions on your freedom."

Crystal smiled, just a little.

"I'll do anything," she said.

James didn't like how her words rang hollow. It made him feel cruel, and maybe it was. But to him, he was only being cautious.

He turned to the others.

"I don't think we should release her until we can have a guaranteed assurance that she won't just use her magic to do whatever else she wants with us."

The problem was, he didn't know how they could enforce something like that once she was free, aside from trusting her word. Which, he couldn't.

"I don't think she's telling us everything, and I don't think she will." He then looked back to Crystal. "I don't trust her."

Crystal's smile faded, and she looked to him, then the others with pleading eyes.

"I'm an open book," she said. "I promise."

Fury burned behind Queenie's eyes. She made only the barest attempt to hide it, only the slightest attempt to keep it a secret.

That was, until that bitch spoke again.

James was logical. Smart enough not to trust this situation, not to allow this woman to sell him her first story without a scrap of proof. His skepticism alone made him more trustworthy than any of the other sympathy-filled liabilities in the room.

I promise.

She barked a bitter laugh at that, fury boiling over as she stalked forward and leveled herself so she was eye-to-eye with their captive captor.

"You want out?" she said coldly, not caring what they others saw. They didn't matter. "Beg for it. You claim you've seen my life? Fucking grovel. If you really know me so fucking well, if you know all about my damn life, then plead for your freedom, and make it convincing. This fucking bullshit charade has done nothing to convince me that you're anything but a liar and a trickster."

Odris gave Queenie a look.

He wasn't sure what the look really was. It wasn't anywhere close to disgust, and it certainly wasn't shock. Queenie's reply made sense. James's reaction made sense, too. It was why he had asked why CB was in the cage in the first place. There had been countless times SG-1 had accidentally unleashed a terrible enemy that had come across as someone in need. And while Odris doubted CB was the same kind of galaxy-level threat, he couldn't help be wary.

"I don't think groveling is the answer," he finally pointed out. "Anyone can do that, if they're desperate enough. She could still leave the cage and harm us even if she does beg."

He looked back at CB.

"You brought us here against our will," he pointed out. "You tried to make us comfortable, but in the process you exposed personal sides of our lives to complete strangers. I want to trust you and help you, but it's hard to when you've been so vague and controlling since we first woke up here."

He paused.

"...I'm not sure how you can fix that," he said, "but you have to know how hard it is for us to blindly let you free."

As Queenie spoke, Crystal slumped down on her hands and knees with her face to the ground. Her long hair fell over her face, and her voice started to waver.

"I feel like even if I begged now, you would accuse me of being disingenuous." Her voice cracked, and she sniffled.

"But I understand why you can't trust me. I forced you to come here, and I'm forcing you to stay unless you help me. Nothing's less motivating than a threat."

She kept her head hung low in defeat, and curled up on the floor.

James wanted to pity, but more than anything, he just wanted to go home. He still didn't trust Crystal, and it didn't seem like they were going to get anything out of her that was useful to determine her guilt or innocence.

He drifted back towards the exit. Crystal had proven herself to have a lot of power, even though she was caged. He wouldn't be surprised if she slammed the door shut and forced them to stay caged in this room with her until they decided to free her, but because she seemed at least a little invested in gaining their trust, he hoped for something different.

Crystal was manipulative, and clearly had motives she wasn't revealing, but she did seem to genuinely like everyone in the room, even if it was in a twisted way. And it seemed like she would want to keep them all... safe. More or less.

"I think we should discuss this elsewhere," he suggested. "I can't say CB won't watch us, somehow, if we leave, but it may help us to not have her in the room."

Crystal didn't look up from her cage.

"Let's go," was all he said as he turned and left, walking back out into the main hall. The young version of CB was nowhere to be seen.

Queenie stalked out of the room. She was fuming. Fists clenched at her sides, she brushed past James and strode into the hall, each pointed step an echo of her racing thoughts.

She could stay here. Mercy kill the others and let herself starve. It'd be more pleasant than what was waiting for her back home.

Or they could gamble. Let her out and hope that the bitch would fix what she so maliciously fucked up.

Queenie had never been much of a gambler.

She whirled around once the door had been closed on Crystal and stared the others down, already daring them to challenge her next words. "We're not letting that bitch out of her cage." There was no room for argument.

Colleen couldn’t help but flinch a bit at Queenie’s tone. Despite her own concerns about Crystal Ball, she thought they were being a bit harsh to someone who, if she was telling the truth, was in a horrible situation.

“But what can we do? If she has the power to bring us here, maybe by getting her out she could spring us back to our worlds,” Colleen said, frowning. “I’ve also never really dealt with magic before, though, so maybe I’m still wrong in my thinking.

Tara was torn as she followed the others so they could have a private conversation.

She didn't trust Crystal, but at the same time, she didn't know what other option they had. At the same time, what if she was Pandora? Tara remembered how the myth had gone...

She just wanted to go home. "I don't trust her," Tara said. "But I don't want to be stuck here forever."

"I agree with Colleen and Tara," Odris said. He glanced back in the direction of the room - his gaze momentarily lingering on James. "I don't trust her, but I'm not sure we have any other options. The only thing I can think of doing is calling a friend of mine here, but I'm not sure he'd actually be able to help us get out."

Odris sighed.

"...I just wish she would give us more of an explanation," he said.

James sighed, and adjusted the book under his arm and folded his arms over his stomach. Trying to escape from some magical other-plane dimension prison was above his pay grade, and he wasn't even getting paid. In moments like this, he almost wished he was some whimsical magician from another world so at least he could pretend to be useful, or know something about what was going on. But it looked like everyone in their group - save for maybe Odris - was in the same boat.

He knew Odris was talking about Maahes - but if they summoned Maahes into this place, it could end up being just like Crystal said. They'd get him in, but wouldn't be able to get him out. James didn't want to drag someone else into this prison unless he knew for sure they weren't going to sentence them to eternity spent with Crystal in this windowless mansion.

"Me too," he muttered.

He tried to think through their options, but there only seemed to be one: helping Crystal, or being stuck here forever.

It was at that moment that there was a slight shift in the hallway. Almost like a glitch on a screen, the entire hall flicked in and out of existence for just a moment, and when it came back it took a second to come back into focus.

The wolf from earlier - the one who James had nearly forgotten about - appeared between all of them.

"She won't give you one," it spoke in a deep voice, its words hurried. "But you're right. She's lying. There is another way out. She used a blood-binding spell to bring you here. I can explain more in a moment, but I can't keep this up for very long. Crystal's power is still very strong in this plane, and I only learned how to do this by watching her. Meet me in her study - you've been there before, just not actually. It's to the left, down the hall. There's no door, just an open archway. I can be there in a few minutes. Meet me--" His head spun around as if looking at something behind him that they couldn't see.

"Shi--" was all they heard before the hall flickered in and out of existence again, and the wolf was gone.

James stared for a moment, where the wolf disappeared, wondering if it was just another ruse, or if the wolven assistant could be trusted.

Then he heard a thrashing from behind the door where Crystal was kept, like someone throwing themselves against the bars. Then, a guttural wail.

James felt a chill rush down his spine, and he started off down the hall, running.

He didn't want to find out what caused Crystal to scream, but he chose for a moment to hope the wolf would be able to help them get out of this place.

The wolf hadn't lied about the directions. It was a lengthy trip down the hall, but eventually, they found the open doorway that led into the room they once saw as a simulation - but now, it was real.

The wolf was there, ducking under the table with all of the crystal balls.

"There's a spell you can do," the wolf said in a hurried, hushed whisper. "It can get all of us out of here. I found it in one of her books."

Odris had followed the wolf's directions, but something about this felt off in a way he couldn't quite put his finger on. Maybe it was the fact that Crystal had suddenly yelled from the cage. Maybe it was the wolf's sudden appearance, right when they were trying to decide how they could ever possibly trust Crystal. Or maybe it was how the wolf disappeared and reappeared, just like Crystal had been able to do with her projection.

"Who are you?" Odris asked. He kept his voice quiet, but it wasn't anywhere near the wolf's whisper. Maybe the wolf really was someone like them. He couldn't ignore that possibility. It could also be someone who was responsible for keeping Crystal here. But the theory that he couldn't entirely shake was that this was somehow Crystal's doing, too. They didn't trust Crystal; they wouldn't blindly follow what she would say.

And if she could make herself look younger, couldn't she make someone who looked entirely different?

"And why was there that noise in the prison right before we came here?" he added.

Tara instinctively stepped back when she saw the wolf, and later, heard the scream.

"And how do you we know we can trust you either?" She demanded.

The wolf snarled from under the table.

"I don't have time to explain my life story," the wolf explained bitterly, and quickly. "Look. I want to get out of here as much as you guys do. I was the first person Crystal brought here as a test run for you guys. I'm risking a lot helping you right now. If you want to trust me then make up your mind. It's either we get this to work or I go back to Crystal and grovel. The only reason we're able to talk freely right here right now is because I managed to put a spell on her that more of less deafens and blinds her but it'll only last a few more minutes at most."

He flicked his tail, and hopped up behind the table, tossing a much smaller crystal ball among the others. In it, a live display of the wolf could be seen.

"You guys were lucky she told you at least a bit of the truth of her story. It took me ages to finally find out how she got here - an apparently it's because she almost completely destroyed her known universe and got banished to this plane as a prison. So yeah. Good on you for not freeing her. She's crazy. Anyways. For all of us to get back home we have to each be holding the crystal balls linked to our souls and shatter them simultaneously. It'll break the tie you have to this plane and send you back to where you came from. But we have to do it at the same time. The glass is a lot lighter and fragile than it looks - so you should be able to just drop it if you don't trust yourself to smash it."