The Universe Rings (A Ringing Purpose)

Chapter Eighteen

Kenneth blinked; an old, grimy, metal ceiling hovered above him and a metal floor chilled him beneath. He felt exhausted like he had woken up from a deep sleep—had he been sleeping?

    Kenneth sat up, brow furrowed. He sat in a small cell outside. Other, identical cells were on each side of his cell, separated by metal bars. The back of the cells had metal walls and the front of the cells had a barred door. One person sat in each cell as far as he could see, most of them looked asleep or unaware of their surroundings.

    Kenneth looked at his hands; old chains were clasped to his wrists, the end of the chains connected to the ground at the back of his cell.

    "No, no, no," Kenneth muttered under his breath, pulling on the chains. He was a captive of the Interitus, and he knew they had nothing good planned. "Crap," he yanked on the chains but despite them being old, they were strong. He frantically looked around for Halo and sighed when he saw her waking up in a cell beside his.

    Halo sat up in her cell and her eyes widened when she saw the chains on her wrists.

    Kenneth crawled to Halo but couldn't quite reach her through the bars due to his chains. "Are you okay?" he asked.

    Halo nodded and crawled as close as she could to him.

    Kenneth asked, "Do you know what happened?" Halo only shook her head. Kenneth glanced around. He saw no Interitus and no way out. Looking back at Halo, he could read her lips and hear her well enough to know she asked, "Are you okay?"

    Kenneth nodded. "No worse than I already was. Does your wound hurt?"

    Halo shrugged. "Only a little," she replied.

    Kenneth's eyes searched for a way to escape. The Interitus probably had the keys to the barred doors. He asked Halo, "Could maybe the pushing spell or the lifting spell get us out of here?"

    Halo slowly shook her head. Kenneth asked, "Would the pushing spell be able to push down the door?" Halo shook her head again.

    Kenneth sighed, annoyance flooding through him. "If an Interitus comes, maybe you could put one to sleep and I don't know...steal a key from him or something."

    Halo said, "No. I won't be able to reach the Interitus to get the keys, and I usually can't get the sleeping spell to work." Kenneth crawled to the metal wall at the back of his cell and pushed his feet against the wall, trying to create enough force to pull his hands out of the chains. He winced when a small spike in the chains dug into his skin.

    Kenneth chewed on his knuckles. They were stuck in cells, their mobility restricted by chains, and who knows if the Interitus would come to feed them. Kenneth tapped his fingers on the cold metal ground as his brain spun for a way out.

***
Halo awoke to a strange sound one night. Her tired mind couldn't comprehend it, but it was ragged, choked and desperate. Halo stared bleary eyed at the grimy metal ceiling of her cell. What was the noise...

Crying!

    Halo darting into a sitting position—wincing as the wound in her side throbbed. Her eyes frantically searched for the source of the crying. A child? No, older. Halo looked to the cell beside her.

    Resting his head on the metal wall of his cell, Kenneth raked his fingers through his tangled hair—his body trembled with choked sobs.

    Halo's heart shattered and she crawled as close to him as she could. She didn't know what to do...She wanted to hug him, protect and comfort him—hold him like she would a small child. Would he even hear her if she called him? His ears were still damaged.