House Of Madness

Chapter 3 Yesterday I Was A Different Person

Ivy had dropped the 'whole seeing in the dark thing' by changing the subject, "have you been down here before?"
That wasn't so much of a question because Ivy had already known the answer.
She'd know that he must have been, because of how at ease he was.
She just wanted to see whether or he'll lie to her.
Unconsciously it was a test.
Ivy knew like her he wasn't the type to say personal things about them self so if he lied he wasn't fae.
Ivy was great at telling when people lied to her and at this moment she really had hoped he would lie right to her face.

Ari knew this was another test. He didn't want to answer her because if he did she'd ask 'why?' And he didn't feel like telling Ivy all the reasons he'd been locked in the dungeon before.
He wondered if he should try and change the subject like Ivy had about him being able to see in the dark.
He decided against it and instead decided to answer in a cryptic curt kind of way since lying wasn't even an option for hi, "Yeah."

Ivy didn't know what to do with his, "yeah."
She knew he was telling the truth which was not the outcome she'd wanted.
Ivy debated whether or not to ask another question but decided that it didn't matter because he wasn't fae.
He couldn't be.
Ivy had bad luck but her luck wasn't so bad that the one person semi-nice to her would be fae.
'Which he's not, he was just being nice by answering my questions no matter how cryptic his replies are.'
His replies were definitely not cryptic because he couldn't lie.
"There's only one guard who patrols this place."
'A peace offering', Ari thought since he'd pretty much outed himself as fae twice and he desperately wanted Ivy to like him.
Ivy completely zoned out, "what?"
"The old guard who ran this dungeon died.
An inmate made a shiv out of a chicken bone and rammed it into his neck last week.
There's a new guard, he actually got assigned today and he'll have the key to your cell.
I don't know who it is but I'll find out.
Just give me a week... to find your key.
Just please don't try anything."
Ivy was taken back, she wasn't surprised it took a week to find a new jailer.
The people and fae here were more than messed up; no one wanted the job.
But she was surprised at how easily Ari saw right though her; he had known she was going to try to escape.
As much as Ivy had wanted to get herself out of prison she'd give Ari a week to try, "Thank you."
"You're welcome, you should sleep now", Ari replied.
"Don't you mean we should sleep now?"
Ari had shook his head and once he remembered she couldn't see he said a soft, "no", along with a equally soft, "Goodnight Ivy. I'm glad I've met you." Ari thought he'd gone too far, that it was too mushy for Ivy but he could see a slight smile at the corners of her mouth.
Which made Ari wonder, if a slight smile from Ivy practically gutted him what would a full smile from her do to him?

When Ivy woke he was gone.
She was mad at herself for how disappointed that made her. 'Of course he's gone, he wasn't actually a prisoner, he was just in time out.'
What now?
She'd promised him a week but
what was she supposed to do every minute of every day for a week while Ari looked for the  key to her cell?
Ivy ended up doing nothing.
She had taken a hobby from another prisoner; she counted.
One to one thousand than she would count down from one thousand and than start again counting from zero.
She would do this over and over whispering softly each number.
It became soothing to her like a song a song that made her feel not so alone.
Along with the counting each day Ivy slept and ate the piss poor food; if you could even call the brown wet mush that.
To wash it down she'd had been given a glass of murky water.
Ivy didn't have anything to write with or anything sharp, (since the bone incident with one of the other inmates) so she couldn't keep track of how many days she'd been locked up. Ivy was pretty sure it had been a week since she'd met Ari, meaning it was only a matter of time until he'd show up with what he had discovered.
It was getting darker and Ivy was losing hope that Ari would show.
Just as she was about to give up all hope she heard that same nasally woman's voice.
The who Ivy assumed was Ari's mother, "stop smiling! The stunt you pulled tonight is no laughing matter!"
Shite. Ari felt like smiling but he couldn't believe he actually was.
All week he'd been thinking of the pretty girl with the red-brown hair and dark doe eyes.
Saying he was happy to be going back to the shitty-smelling dungeon was like saying children were happy on Christmas, a huge understatement.
Ari was so excited to see Ivy and tell her everything he'd learned he had practically shut the dungeon door himself!
"Ivy", Ari called knowing damn well she was okay since he could smell her vanilla rose smell from the first set of stairs.
"Here", Ari had appeared entirely too fast at Ivy's cell.
Last week he had been extremely unprepared to meet a human, let alone befriend one.
This meeting was suppose to be better!
He had read every book on humans he could find and already he was failing, acting as human not as fae.
"So..." Ivy was nervous, Ari made her nervous in a way she had never experienced before.
She also wasn't good at small talk, she wanted to know what Ari had found during the week about the guard, the guard whom she hadn't yet seen.
Ari seemed to have picked up on Ivy's silent request, "the guard's name is Felix Brutestin."
Ivy patiently waited for Ari to tell the rest of what he had learned.
When he failed to supply her more information Ivy said, "and?"
"I'll tell you something you want to know if you answer one of my questions.
Than we'll go back and forth until you know everything I know." Ari didn't add, 'until I know everything I want to know about you.' After all he'd purposely come back to the dungeon to see Ivy in hopes of learning everything about her.
Of course he hadn't told her that.
Ivy scoffed, telling Ari anything wasn't part of the deal but she had known she didn't have a leg to stand on.
She had nothing to offer him and if she outright refused like she had wanted to there would be nothing stopping him from leaving. "Fine. I'll play your question game", Ari was grateful it was too dark for Ivy to see him because he couldn't stop the smile that took over his face.
"Where did you get that compass?" Just as Ivy was going to interrupt and say, 'what compass?' He had said, "the one in your pants." Ari had thought it was a first easy question but from the look that had crossed her face he had known almost instantly he had been wrong.
Ivy could feel herself start to sweat.
The fact that they were in a freezing dungeon did not make her feel good.
'Isn't feeling hot a sign of hypothermia?'
Ivy thought.
Freezing to death sounded almost as bad as telling Ari about the stupid pocket watch that he had thought was a compass.
He would think her mad if she told him she had stolen it from a fae for no reason.
"I stole it", Ivy was bating Ari and he had been too curious to know.
Just like Ivy knew he would be.
She knew that saying she had 'stolen the watch' would make him ask more questions which would lead to more answers for her.
Ari took the bait, "stole it from who?"
"Remember a question for a question", Ivy reminded him.
Ari suddenly didn't like the game he had suggested.
"Why could you see in the dark the other day?"
Ivy didn't know why she had asked this question again.
She didn't know why, out of all the things she could have asked why she asked him that.
Ari was too stunned to speak, Ivy was supposed to ask him questions about her mysterious jailer!
She wasn't supposed to ask questions about him!
Let alone a question she'd already asked before!
Ari wasn't going to answer, he was going to say only he could ask questions about her.
Was that fair? No. Of course not but thirteen year old children were never fair especially thirteen year old fae children.
Ivy hadn't expected him to answer, she was supposed to ask questions about getting out of jail! Not about the cryptic boy who could walk out of jail whenever he pleased.
As a result she had been more than surprised when he has answered her, "I could see in the dark.
Actually, I can still see in the dark."
Ari had wanted to punch himself in the face. He had practically just admitted to being fae.
Dreading Ivy's reaction he tried to prepare for her harsh words or worse the fear that would undoubtedly present itself.
However what he was not expecting was nothing, no reaction from Ivy.
Little would Ari nor Ivy know is she had known he was fae the whole time.
"Why did you steal the compass?"
Ivy debated what she was going to tell him.
In all honesty she waited for a good enough reason to come to mind, for stealing something so random and useless to her but she couldn't come up with even one decent reason.
"Because I wanted it." Ari knew humans could lie so surely that's what she had done.
She had lied to him and he didn't like that.
Not one bit!
"You took it for a reason and you know it!"
Ari shouted, Ivy hadn't known why she had taken the watch/compass.
"I don't know why I took it! I saw a white rabbit fae and I wanted it! So I followed him and than I took it! Isn't that stupid!? I signed my death sentence for a stupid pocket watch!" Ivy screamed!
"It's not a pocket watch! It's a compass for the tenth bloody time!" Ivy noticed the louder Ari spoke the more posh he sounded.
"Much help a compass is in here", Ivy said with a smile because it really was stupid.
She was going to die a prisoner and end up being buried in a unmarked grave.
Maybe not today or tomorrow or in a year from now but eventually.
And until than she'll rot in this inhumane jail.
There was a awkward silence, "why did I take the compass?" Ivy was pleading for Ari to answer because she hadn't known why she'd taken it.
They just stared at each other until Ari said, "I don't know I'm sorry." Ari wasn't just apologizing for not knowing, he was apologizing for shouting at her.
That's the thing about children, they forgive and forget quickly.
The spat was soon forgotten.
"My turn." Ivy whispered, "why does your mother send you down here?"
Ari decided that since he told her he could see in the dark, 'what's the harm in telling her anything else? It's not like she's getting out anytime soon.' Ari had said the last part to himself as a joke but even his subconscious hadn't found it funny.
"Whenever I do something that the-", he had been about to say queen, which was how he had always referred to his mother.
It had made him wonder if Ivy had put it together that she had been living in the most prestigious dungeon in all of Skywood?
The royal families dungeon.
He continued, "whenever my mother doesn't approve of something I do I get sent to the dungeon in hopes that I will, 'learn my lesson.'
"And yet you never do", Ivy said with a smile, it had been a fair assumption and a right one on her part.
At that moment, Ivy had thought they were similar, maybe even two kindred lost souls.
"Yeah", Ari felt his cheeks go red for whatever reason.
"How do I get out of here?" Ari had thought he better teach her how to rephrase her wants.
If she ever made a deal with a fae they would use her vagueness as a achilles heal.
'Get out of here', could mean anything.
For example being taken somewhere worse than prison or even out of the land of the living; could be how any fae interpreted the deal.
In hindsight she would most likely end up dead if she ever made a deal with fae.
He didn't hint or tell Ivy about his concern, "I think you already know how", he said gesturing at the compass.
"How does it work?" Ari hadn't wanted to tell her, but he did because that's what friends do, they put their friends needs first, at least good ones do. "There's magic in it but it won't work down here."
"Why?" Ivy asked.
'Because magic doesn't work down here.'
The problem is if he told her that she would ask 'how do you know?' And he would have to say 'because I can't do magic down here, hence why me being here is a punishment and because of all the iron you think is mental.'
Ari ended up saying, "it's spelled." Which is true, if the iron somehow fails the prison is spelled with one extra layer of security.
"So there's really no way for me to get out?"
Ari had felt like crying for Ivy than.
The fragile human girl who was just a means to an end.