The Exchange

Chapter 22

I wake up in a small, dark room.

A cell.

Questions come to my mind. A lot of questions.

How did I get here? Where am I? Who kidnapped me? Why did they kidnap me?

And the most important question; What happened to the others? Do they know I'm gone or did something else happen to them?

My eyes have gotten used to the dark a little, I can now see that it's a small room with nothing in it, except for a little window in the ceiling.

Too high for me to try and reach, and see if that's my escape. A little light comes through the window, but not nearly enough for me to actually figure out where I am.

I decide to sit on the floor, since there is no bed or something else for me to sit or lay on. I start thinking about answers to my questions, and time goes by. I don't know how many time has passed when I hear footsteps on the outside of my cell. They clearly stop right outside my cell, and I hear someone put keys in a lock. The door slowly opens, but I don't bother getting up.

I look op when a figure steps in the doorway. It's a man. Of course. Men these days...

'Get up,' he says harshly before coming in the cell. I get up and he ties my hands together behind my back.

'Walk.'

When I don't make an effort trying to move forward, he pushes me forward, forcing my feet to move. I think to myself that this is not worth to struggle against, so I walk with the man. Maybe he'll take me somewhere where I can get my answers.

I look around and let my eyes take in as much of the building as possible, making a map in my mind. Should I ever find a way out of my cell, at least I know which way to run.

The men behind me sees me looking and stops. Suddenly, he puts something over my eyes so that I can't see. It's a blindfold.

'You're looking way too much. I don't like it.'

Controlfreak.

When he forces me to walk again, I walk with caution. But apparently, that's too slow for him, so the rest of the trip he agressively pulls me with him.

We stop abruptly. I hear knocking on a door, a large door, since the knocking sounds low and heavy.

Then, the blindfold goes off. I squinch my eyes against the light that I suddenly see, and just when my eyes have gotten used to the light, I have to walk again.

We come inside a giant room, which appears to be a throneroom, since there is, at the end of the room, a platform with a single throne on it. One. Someone is sitting in the throne. Probably the 'lord' of this building.

The man takes me all the way to the throne, where we both stop before the platform. I can now see that there is three stairsteps to the throne.

The 'lord' makes a handmovement and the man behind me punches me in the lower back, causing me to fall to my knees.

The man behind me walks to the side of the room, where I see more like him standing. 

'So this is the famous Anna,' the lord begins. My head turns to him.

Famous? What's that supposed to mean?

I open my mouth to ask the question, but he's ahead of me.

'I know what you're going to ask. "How does he know me? Who is this man?" Right?'

'Well that's pretty much the first question I want answered, yes,' I answer.

My voice sounds a bit hoarse, but I'm still audible for the whole room.

'Well, Anna, I'm the lord of this island, and my name is... Not important. You can just call me 'My lord', or 'Your highness'. That'll be just fine.'

My lord my ass. Lord of this island, now that is interesting.

'And your answer to the other question, Beron told me all about you. He seemed... how do I put this, afraid but still 'ready' for you, you know what I mean?'

I guess my eyes already told him that I didn't know what he meant, because he kept explaining. 'Afraid but still not, you know. Like when you're at war. You're determined to win, but still afraid that you're going to lose. That's what Beron was like.'

Beron.

This motherfucker.

I'm going to kill him as soon as I get out of here.

'But let's cut to the point, alright. You're probably wondering why you're here, don't you? Well, let me tell you.

Beron told me you have powers. He also told me that you aren't a Fae, and that you cannot control your powers fully until you become one, right?'

I don't answer. He doesn't seem to expect an answer.

'So, therefore, I have you here for two different goals. My own goals, not to misunderstand. Now, I'm not going to elaborately tell you what goals that are, because that'll destroy my whole plan.'

I notice that the 'lord' is very happy. Excited. He doesn't try to sound intimidating or dark or something.

'But I can tell you this. The goals are opposites. I can't do one goal without you turning into a Fae, and I can't complete the other goal if you will be turned into a Fae. So this means I have to choose, but there's a problem with that. You see, I don't like to choose.' A dark and evil smirk starts to form around the lord's mouth.

'What does that mean for you? Well, that you're probably going through a lot of pain and tests the next couple of days, because you've just turned into my experiment.'

He signes something to the man that brought me here, and the man gets me up on my feet again.

'And what if I don't want to be your experiment?'

'That doesn't matter, you'll still be my experiment. Isn't that exciting?' he says way too excited.

'No,' I say.

The eyes of the lord turn dark.

'Wrong answer, puppet,' he says right before the blindfold is tied around my head again.