Defying Equilibrium: Book II

Chapter 13: Left behind

Unlocking the shackles that kept them bound to the walls was a simple matter of stealing the keys from the guards that she had previously encountered. But Essie soon came to realise that the greater challenge lay in asking them to trust her.

"What the hell?"

This was the first response, from a young girl with silver hair and shocking red eyes. By the looks of things, she was not one to trust easily. And why would she be? If she was here, then she had most likely faced her fair share of hardships in life, so what would she gain from trusting? Essie sighed. She had thought this part would be easy.

There were seven of them, just as her orders had told her. She had no idea who they were, no idea whose side they were on, but her orders said that they were to be freed. So free them she would.

"Listen," she began, "We don't have much time, so I'll cut right to it. I've been sent to help you escape from here. I have it on very good authority that if you stay here, you will be dead within a matter of days. I swear on my life, my intentions aren't to do you any harm. But I need you to trust me." She said this last part uncertainly, as if waiting for their reply of 'no'. But to her surprise, one of the young boys stood up, and regarded her with a smile. He was tall, with long brown hair bound back in a plait.

"Good enough for me," he proclaimed. "I've had enough of this place either way."

The boy beside him, the one with the dark hair and the amber eyes, now had his hands free to slap his forehead and groan. But he stood to, and turned to his friend.

"Dare," he asked. "Do you trust her?"Dare. So that was his name. He nodded, and that seemed to make the other boy's mind up.The other boy sighed. "Well, I'll trust your judgement on this one then." He turned back to Essie, and nodded. "Alright, we'll come with you."

Essie breathed a sigh of relief as the others seemed to follow his lead. There were two girls, they must have been twins, and they stood too. One was supporting the other, who seemed rather weak and faint. They said nothing, but Essie sensed that they were desperate to escape either way. Even if she turned against them, Essie would be the lesser of two evils here.

"Oh, so Oscar speaks for all of us now?" sneered a boy, who remained seated on the floor even though his shackles were gone. He frowned. "When I joined you, did I forfeit my right to an opinion too?"

"Riess," the silver-haired girl gasped. "You're...you're alright. I mean, you're your normal self again."

He laughed humourlessly. "Yes, Dakora, if you'd call going from a catatonic state of near madness to whatever this is normal, than I guess so. I guess my mind had to wake up so I could save myself from the idiocy of those around me."

Dakora scowled. "Definitely back to normal. I just think I should mention that your normal self is an absolute pain in the–"

"Wait," interrupted Oscar. "You said before that Silas is dead. So who are we talking to now? Because you don't sound like the Riess I know. We're talking to Silas now, aren't we?"

Silas rolled his eyes. "I guess so, Oscar," he said sarcastically. "Congratulations on stating the obvious."

Oscar just shook his head. "We don't have time for this now, Silas. Let's just go. Please." He held out his hand to help Silas stand, but he ignored it.

"I don't plan on going anywhere, thank you very much."

Oscar groaned. "Silas, please. I don't speak for you, and I value your opinion, but right now you need to set aside your problems with me and get the hell out of here."