The Time Capsule

Chapter Fifteen.

           Nadia's head pounded. It felt like someone had lit her head on fire. She couldn't open her eyes, so all she saw was darkness. Her heart was jumping in her chest. All she heard was the trickling of something... something grainy. In fact, she felt like she was lying on something soft. Soft and lightweight.
              She sat up without opening her eyes, inhaling. Something filled her lungs, and she started a coughing fit, trying to breathe. Forcing her eyes to open, she saw that she was covered in sand, sand was trickling from above and onto her, all around her, everywhere. Nadia stood up on wobbly legs, trying to gauge where she WAS exactly.
             Glass surrounded her, and she finally cleared the sand from her lungs as she took a deep, clear breath. Her pulse quickened, and her subconscious seemed to realize it before it hit her: She was trapped in an hourglass. The sand offered no solace, endlessly pouring slowly and steadily into the bottom half of the hourglass, where she stood.
           "Help. Help me." She croaked, still trying to regain her strength and her voice. "I'm stuck! I need-" Sand dripped down onto her, and she pulled her shirt up to cover her nose and mouth. "Anyone? Please. I need help. I'm trapped!" Nadia started to feel claustrophobia claw at her lungs, her heart, her brain. The edges of her vision went black with panic.
              The glass was mocking her. It almost seemed to say, "You can see out, but you can't escape. Poor, poor, Nadia. Living all this time and just to die by suffocation." What a cruel joke. The irony of being trapped in an hourglass prison did not escape her.
She felt her body fall to the ground, her face tilted upwards as the sand almost fully encompassed her body. Did she imagine it, or did it sound like glass was shattering somewhere nearby?
               Nadia was being carried out of the hourglass. She felt one person holding her arms and one person holding her legs. The two people were arguing about something or other. She couldn't care less. Her eyes were still closed, her breaths shallow, her body weak.
             "Wake her up." She heard a female voice whisper angrily. "Do CPR or something."
           "CPR? She doesn't have water in her lungs!" A male voice shouted back.
           "Fine, then. Let her die." The first voice huffed.
            Nadia felt herself being rolled onto her side. All of a sudden, a coughing fit overtook her lungs, and she hacked up what felt like a gallon of sand. Taking in deep breaths, gulping the fresh air, she blinked rapidly, trying to register where she was.
             Looking up, she saw two faces hovering over her. One had long white hair, whereas the female had short white hair. Both had pitch-black orbs for eyes. "Rosa? Roman? She wheezed, not believing what she was seeing.
              "Are you alright?" Rosamund asked, a flicker of what looked to be worry flashed on her face.
           "Of course she's not alright! That traitor Adelaide disobeyed the High Council. She wasn't supposed to kill her! Just keep her imprisoned in the Time Pit. What an idiot. Now I have to go and write her up for treason, and do you know how much paperwork that takes?" Roman was ranting about the green-haired lady non-stop. Finally, when it got to the part about, "What on EARTH was she thinking of, constructing a giant hourglass to torture and kill prisoners with-"
        "Enough!" Nadia whisper-shouted, her voice still hoarse. Her lungs felt absolutely awful.
         "She's right, you know." Rosa piped up, crossing her arms. "The girl almost suffocated, and all you want to worry about is the amount of paperwork you have to get done? Priorities, Roman."
            "My apologies. I suppose you're right about that. I just hate the idea that Adelaide thinks she can get away with killing Nadia without any repercussions. It's sickening. How many other Loopers has she killed?"
           "I don't know..." Nadia quickly explained what had happened when she had gotten the ladder and everything else. "She told me that she was basically going to imprison me. Not kill me. Why did she change her mind?" Nadia was thinking about this, trying to consider all the facts and spin them around to make sense.
              "I think the first step is figuring out how to get out of this place without causing the Council to arrest us." Rosamund spoke up, examining her nails casually.
              "True... Although I think we can say that Nadia had no part in this, and was imprisoned and almost killed against her will. We can arrest Adelaide and maybe..." Roman was muttering to himself, trying to come up with a better solution.
              All of a sudden, a bright flash of light appeared in Nadia's peripheral vision. Adelaide had shown up, and she did NOT look happy. "You two ruining my plans?" She sighed, crossing her arms. "Do you know how long it took me to build that hourglass?"
              The Keepers' eyes darkened even more, and they stalked towards her. "You better hope you have a good excuse for your treason against the Council." Roman growled.
Rosa popped her knuckles, glaring. Behind them, Nadia was noticing Roman and Rosa's hands. Both people were doing complex hand movements in perfect synchronization. Confusion was written plainly over her face.
        'What are they doing?'
         "Ready?" Rosa whispered. With a nod of Roman's head, they both raised their arms up and then pushed their hands towards Adelaide, two giant balls of light forming. With a scream, Adelaide disappeared.
         "What did you do to her?" Nadia shouted, running over to where the green-haired lady had stood just moments before her disappearance.
           "Don't worry. She's just momentarily... detained." Rosamund grinned widely.
           Nadia glanced over at the hourglass, which was now completely devoid of sand, the glass fixed where it had once been broken. Inside it, however, was Adelaide, screaming as loudly as possible. "YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME. THE COUNCIL WILL KILL YOU FOR THIS. THIS IS TREASON!"
         "Treason? You were the one who committed it first. We're just keeping you there until the High Council decides your fate. Speaking of which..." Roman jerked his thumb backward. "We must get going." With a snap of his fingers, the hourglass disappeared. "We must get going. Time stops for no one. Except for me, of course." He laughed.
               Nadia felt her eyes begin to close. Even more darkness encompassed her. And then... light hit them, beckoning her eyelids open. As she opened her eyes, surveying her surroundings, Nadia realized she was in big trouble: The High Council was sitting at the giant table, all of their gazes directed right at her.