Young Writers Society

Chapter 26: In Which Clandestine is Severely Lacking Vitamin D

It was dark.

When Carter wasn't around, Clandestine was left alone in the darkness. The light from behind her would go out, like a curtain passing over it, and the thick steel door would shut, leaving her in total silence. She couldn't hear what was going on outside that door, or beyond the walls around her, and it was a small, small room. And she still couldn't move.

Whenever Carter came and left, he would make sure she was dosed up enough with darknight - that was the name of the drug, which she'd found out eventually - that she couldn't fight back.

When she closed her eyes, it felt just like when she was trapped in that coffin. Locked away in time. Kept secret, and forgotten. Trapped, unable to move or escape, and forgotten. What made this worse was that she was awake for all of it. When Sylva had locked her away, at least she'd been kind enough to put her out, unconscious, so she didn't have to sit in the agonizing silence, stuck alone with her thoughts.

At the moment, she would give anything for a distraction that wasn't Carter and his questions. And his stories. And his cryptic comments about James, who he kept calling Tiberius, just like everyone else who didn't know him.

When he finally let her talk and lessened the darknight dose, she'd wanted so badly to tear into him, and - well, she didn't know. Breathe fire in his face, or something. Even though she'd never done that before.

But when it happened, all she could do was sob.

It had been humiliating.

It was still humiliating.

She had been alone for almost a year until she had met James, wandering through the Isles and the deserts, trying to find something to tie her to this time. Something to live for.

First, it had been Cowboy. Then, it was monster hunting. Then, it had been Lynette - a young harpy, who she'd helped get home. And it was supposed to be monster hunting again because that would've made sense, but she just couldn't picture traveling alone again. Billy had always been by her side, but Billy wasn't the same as a person to talk to, even if he was a good friend. He was still a horse.

When she'd met James, she figured she'd just take a shot in the dark. Find a person, extend an invitation. It wasn't like she knew anybody. The worse he could've said was no, but he'd said yes.

And yeah, things got really messy after that yes, but he'd still said yes. And they'd become friends. Sort of. Almost. They were only really just actually getting to know each other when...

Clandestine swallowed. She'd already run out of tears to cry. She was so hungry, so thirsty, so stiff, and so tired, all that came was a shadow of a feeling. A pit in her stomach.

All of this was her fault, wasn't it? Everyone always left.

Or got taken away.

And now it was back to the darkness, being trapped and kept as someone else's secret prize, even though she didn't understand what he really wanted from her, and what made her so special.

She took in a deep breath. As deep as she could, without it hurting.

The only thing that kept her warm in the cold, stale air of the cell was a fire in her belly that wouldn't go away. When the hunger got to be too much, and when her mind felt like a foggy swamp, she would focus on the fire in her belly, and take deep breaths. Even though she couldn't quite use magic, she could still feel it, on the inside. The warmth would spread from her belly, into her chest, and down to her hands and feet. It would come up her throat and tingle throughout her head, like when you sat next to a fire on a cold, snowy day.

She was getting the hang of it. Breathing in, breathing out, letting the warmth spread, and focusing on where it went, and how warm it got. She could never make a fire, but she could feel it under her skin, ready to escape. It was like what she would try to do before when she tried to make a fire, but this felt more like home. She wasn't focusing so much on making the fire happen as she was focusing on letting it flow through her like the blood in her veins. As natural as breathing.

She wondered if she got the chance - if Carter ever made a mistake in the dosage, or if she could figure out the window of time that it started to fade, just before he'd come by again if she could... try. Try to make a flame. Something.

Escaping was probably never going to happen, but she could settle for surprising Carter with a burn or two.

She closed her eyes again and breathed in, and out.

If James were around, she would've told him she was meditating. Focusing on breathing. That's what the mages at her guild used to do sometimes. When she would sneak through the halls and peek in every open door (and unlocked ones), sometimes she would interrupt guild members trying to focus, and they would shoo her away, annoyed.

Sylva had tried to make her meditate from time to time, but it had never stuck. Clandestine had never been able to stay still, and those practices would end very quickly when she'd get up and run away. Or fall asleep.

And maybe she hadn't gotten that much better at it, because as she breathed steady breaths, she started to drift off.

Until suddenly, she was in a forest.

Clandestine stood with her feet glued to the ground, and she stared down at her hands. She flexed her fingers, and turned her hands over and over, stretched out her arms, turned her head.

She... she could move. This had to be a dream.

She took in a deep breath, looking up at the trees that towered high above her, reaching for the sky with pointed tips and needles that feathered out towards the ground. The air was crisp and clean, and she was standing at the bottom of a slope that arched upwards. Deep in her gut, she knew where she was without knowing it. She was on a mountain near the borders of the Moonlight Kingdom. Or more accurately, she was at the base of it, looking up at its steep incline, and at the bright blue sky above.

She hadn't realized how much she'd missed the sky and the sunshine until she was staring up at it, with tears in her eyes.

She didn't know how much time had passed since she'd been trapped in her cell, but even if this was a dream - and it had to be, it had to be - she was thankful for it.

She blinked, and let tears stream down her cheeks. They felt cold, and the air bit at her skin as a breeze came from her left, cutting through her clothes and making her shiver.

It was in the Moonlight Kingdom, alright.

Finally, she was able to move her feet. She took a step forward, but she hesitated. Something about it felt wrong, like she wasn't supposed to go that way. She looked around, at the patches of snow on the ground, at the piles of dead pine needles and the rocks jutting out from the base of the mountain. She knew she was supposed to go somewhere, but she didn't know where. Dreams were funny like that.

Then she heard hoof-steps from behind her.

Her heart jumped in her chest, and she spun around.

"Billy!" she cheered. But her smile fell as quickly as it came.

That was not Billy.

Clandestine stared wide-eyed at a horse, with a horn coming out of its head, between its eyes and ears. It had long hair, and it was white as snow. Clandestine could see clouds of its breath coming out of its nostrils, and it nodded its head, nickering. It was a unicorn. A creature she'd only ever heard stories about in the guild.

"I..." she glanced around, wondering where it'd come from.

The horse nodded again, pointing to the left with its nose.

"You... want me to follow?"

The horse nodded in what seemed like an agreement.

Well, it was a dream. She might as well.

Clandestine walked up to the horse and rested her hand on its side.

"Can I ride you?"

There was no answer, so she took it as a yes. She wasn't looking forward to riding bareback, but it was better than chasing down a unicorn through the forest. Once she mounted on its back and grabbed a tuft of its mane, the unicorn rushed ahead, carrying them around the base of the mountain. She could feel the cold air rushing past, and the trees around her became a blur in the sides of her vision. She wasn't sure how long they rode through the forest until they slowed down, coming to a low stop in the mountain; a cavern of rocks.

The unicorn stopped before the rocks dipped, and led into what looked like a small cave-like opening.

Clandestine hopped off and looked back at the unicorn with a smile.

"Thanks for the ride," she said.

The unicorn nodded and then pointed its snout towards the cave. Clandestine understood.

She got down on her hands and knees and slid down the slippery slope of a rock until she hit flat ground, where she was able to wind her way to it. The walls of rock around her made the opening narrow, but she was small enough to fit.

Once she made it to through the hole into the mountain, it turned into a jagged tunnel. She had to squeeze and bend to maneuver her way through it, but something was driving her forward.

She could feel the fire in her belly growing hotter. Stronger. The further down the tunnel she went, the more it felt like it was burning. The cold air from the mountain stopped bothering her, and it was like she had her own little fireplace living inside her.

Then, she saw a light, and she rushed forward. The tunnel opened up into something more, and she knew there was something at the end of it--

The light in the room was back on, and Clandestine's eyes shot open.

Carter was standing right in front of her, and he was looking her up and down.

Clandestine was sweating.

Not because of Carter though. Because of the dream.

Clandestine could feel the fire still there in her stomach. Raging, as he walked closer.

"I hope you slept well, Clandestine. You're about to make yourself useful."