Spy School: The Rise of Gama

Chapter 27: Halfway There

The moment the doors had closed behind the guards dragging off Adela, the room once again filled with the quiet whimpers of fear and pain from the caged children. The whirring of the fans above slows to a stop, lessening the noise in the room only slightly.

Liz wraps her arms around herself, trying to fight the chill of the air. She was dressed for the warm, humid air of the Amazon forest, not this cool, damp air. The cold temperature of the stone floor and the room matches the temperature of the metal cage which surrounds her. The other children around her are struggling with the temperature as well, pulling their arms into the sleeves of their thin shirts in attempts to stay warmer.

She turns to the child held in the cage to her right. He looks to be about ten or eleven. His black hair is dirty and matted down to his head. The clothes he wears are stained and ripped, the blue color is worn and faded.

"Do you speak English?" Liz whispers to him, doing her best to sound friendly. "Can you understand me?"

The boy looks around in confusion, trying to find who Liz may be talking to. When he finally looks back at Liz, he nods.

"Do you know where we are?" Liz looks out of the bars of her cage, nervously scanning for any cameras or guards. None of the other children seem to talk to each other, there may be reason behind it. Maybe that's why they took Adela away earlier, she and Adela were the only ones talking.

The boy's eyebrows furrow as he searches for the correct word. After a few moments, he looks at Liz again and speaks only one word. "Cave."

"We're in a cave?" That would explain why everything is made of stone, and why it's so cold. "Are we under ground?" The boy only nods.

Liz looks around more carefully. This time her eyes search the ceiling and the space where the walls and ceiling meet. If they're below ground, there has to be some form of ventilation. There is no way that the people who run this place would rely only on the fans to allow proper airflow. Then again, this room isn't meant for those people, it's meant for their prisoners, and the prisoners mean little to nothing.

She turns her attention back to the boy. "One more thing. Do you know who these people are?"

He shakes his head slowly then backs up to the corner of his small cage farthest away from Liz. He presses himself against the bars, his eyes darkening with fear. Liz watches him with a confused expression. She had done nothing to scare him, why is he suddenly acting like this?

"Hey, it's okay. You don't have to be afraid of me." She says in a comforting manner, attempting to coax the child forward again. He's her only source of information, as vague as it may be.

The boy shakes his head more rapidly this time. He raises a trembling arm to point at something. Liz turns around slowly in her cage to see what it is he's pointing at only to find herself face to face with a guard who's crouching in front of her.

"O-Oh, hi." Liz squeaks in surprise. "You wouldn't happen to speak English, would you?" She laughs a high-pitched laugh of nervousness, backing up in her cage the same way the boy had.

"If you don't want to end up like your friend, you will stay quiet." The guard says, his words more clearly understood than those of the men that took Adela away.

"What happened to her? What have you done to her? What have you done to Adela?"

"If you're lucky, you won't find out."

~

There's a tense feeling in the air of the small sitting area of the safe house. Everyone holds their breath as they wait for Lyndley, who's seated on the couch with her leg propped up on the coffee table, to react to the news of Adela and Liz's disappearance. To everyone's surprise, she sat through the entire telling without interrupting. Finally, her voice breaks the silence.