*Pop culture references*

I CHIME IN

Chapter1-I CHIME IN

She lay on her four-poster bed, watching the ceiling of the bed, and thinking, thinking. She thought about all the freedom she had had. And now, this. Back home she could roam the fields. Sure, she had to farm the land and help with chores, but that was light work. And she could leave whenever she wanted. She couldn't leave now. Not yet, anyway. Ah, who was she kidding, she couldn't leave the castle ever again. Her last taste of freedom was her being led by the Royal Guards into the palace gates. She could have left then. She should have left then. But, alas, she didn't .She was too excited about what this new life would bring to even consider escaping. And look at her now. Trapped. Trapped in this palace, which was once all she dreamed about. Trapped in this castle of dashed dreams and cracked hopes. Trapped in this new domain, one of fear and obedience.

Pursing her lips in a grimace, not unlike the ones on the faces of the guards as they had led her through the palace gates, she rolled off the bed and landed on her feet on the heavily carpeted floor. She couldn't even leave the turret room she had been offered. Not that she had had any other choice besides this. It was this room or nothing. Knowing more about it now, she should have picked nothing. But she had been under the illusion that this, this life of captivity was better than her old life. Ha -ha- ha, how wrong she had been. So funny she forgot to laugh. Yet, she knew she could never laugh again. Not genuinely, anyhow.

How many other girls had been roped into a life like this? How many others had been told they were "chosen" only to be locked up in a tower, for God knows what reason? A lot, she guessed, all innocent and hopeful, all once free. All like her. Or at least like she had been. Before. Before this life of imprisonment.

She was interrupted from her tireless moping by a knock on the door of the small turret room. It was a servant .His face was lit up with a knowing smile, like he had seen this all millions of times before. Which, let's face it, he probably had."He wants to see you" He murmured impatiently. She made the mistake of asking who. His face fell. "You'll see." He scowled. She left the room, trailing after him.

When she arrived back into the room, she was in an even worse mood then which she left the room in. This was amazing, considering how bad she was when she had left. Very bad indeed. All she could think about was how many other people were being held captive, like she was. Ten thousand. Ten fricking thousand. That is a lot of helpless innocents, kidnapped, from all around the world. In these very walls. And it wasn't just teenage girls too. It was people of all ages; of all genders .It was horrifying. Simply horrifying. She couldn't even help. Wait..... Could she? She realised that, in her haste, she hadn't even checked to see was the door locked. It probably was –who would forget to lock a door like this one? But, still, she thought she could check, just to be 100% sure. She walked over to the door and turned the handle. It was unlocked?!?! "Haven't you people ever heard of closing the god-damn door?" She whisper-shouted. She opened the door and peered out. Oh. That is why they hadn't bothered locking the door. The bridge over the sheer 50-ft drop had disappeared into thin air. It must've been operated off a key or something. Okay, so there was no way she could escape..... Or was there? Well she didn't know it but there was. Oh, right, yah, spoiler alert.

Anyway she was still moping over that (my thoughts at this time were "seriously, does this girl ever stop moping") when Croissant decided it was a good time to leap out of the closet. And if you have ever had a dog leap out of a closet on top of you, you shall know it is not a very pleasant thing. So unpleasant, in fact, that she fainted. "RACHEL!! Do something!!!!" came two voices screeching in my ear. They were very loud, I can tell you that. I was almost deafened.

"WELL, FIRST OF ALL, IT IS NOT MY FAULT THIS TIME, SECOND, I AM GOING TO DO SOMETHING, AND THIRD, WE ARE USING CODENAMES, REMEMBER? MINE IS FOX." They're not the only ones who can shout! There was some obvious wincing (score for me) but then I remembered- the people in the castle could hear me but they couldn't hear them. Ooops...

"Rachel!" Hissed Sean into the earpiece. "I know, I know" I sighed. "Just go help her" said Coco flatly.

I hopped out of the closet, swiped my scarlet bangs out of my eyes and pushed my glasses up my nose. I strolled over to where the girl was lying on the ground, her straight blonde hair splayed out beneath her. Her cheeks were freckled and wind-blown; her arms were muscled and strong. "Um...hello?" I whispered. "Shake her!" Said Coco in my ear.

Sighing, I picked up the girl by her shoulders and roughly shook her awake. "Urgh! What? Where am I?"She opened her eyes. They were an icy grey, with flecks of green near the centre. "You are pretty much in the same place you passed out in, although, you might have moved a couple of inches, when I shook you awake." I replied truthfully."Wait, who are you? How did you get in here?"She questioned. "The name's McCoy, Rachel McCoy, but call me Fox; because that is the codename I gave myself. How did I get in here? I got in here using the door, obviously. I have been in here since about an hour before you came in, so technically, it should be me asking you the questions. Let's start off simple, what is your name?" She was obviously over-whelmed by my awesomeness (or the fact that I talk so much) (probably the second one, to be honest), because it took quite a while for her to answer. "Lillian Grayfield" She answered. "Cool. Now Lillian, what did you see when the servant took you out?" "I saw...I...saw...uh.... him" "And who is...?" "I...I...don't know? He's tall with pale skin and a creepy smile. He told us we were next. He said, like hundreds of thousands before us, all ten thousand of us were going to be his mutants, his slaves. And he showed us- it was petrifying. Wait how do you know I went out if you were in the closet??" I guess it was time to tell her the truth. "I can sense presences and thoughts" "So, you can read minds?" "You took that way better than most people" "Well, after today, it is kind of hard to face these kinds of things with a sense of rationality. Get what I mean?" "Yep" I replied, because I do know what she means. I have been shocked by so many things it's hard to be shocked at anything. But I still managed to be shocked sometimes. Like when someone says they don't like food or reading. That happens a lot. And I am surprised every time. I mean, like, HOW do you not like that!?

Anyway, back to the story. "Right" She said "Why don't you tell me your story?" "What do you mean, "My story"" I raised my eyebrows inquisitively. "Uh... why were you hiding in my wardrobe, for example?" "Oh...that...well...I am part if a team... we sort of... travel through time and stuff. We are from the year 2016, so, we... are on a mission." "A mission? What sort of mission?" "I know this sounds crazy, but I don't actually know. We were just told to spy within this building until something happens. They think something's up" "Well, something obviously is up! It's kind of obvious" "Yah, yah, I know but our boss seems to have disappeared. So, now we are just going to roll with it." "Roll with it?" "By the way, what year is it?" I said avoiding the question skilfully "2016" "Wait...what? But we definitely travelled back in time. Where is this castle situated exactly?" "Partemuan, a small island near Saudade, which is the village where I was brought up. On the outskirts of Layogene, a country not even on the maps. Why it isn't, I don't know, it just isn't." "Coco, ya hearing all this?" I whispered into the mic "No, I am not hearing anything" "Oh, well..." I explained everything. "This is very odd..."She said. "Are you ignoring me or something?"Said Sean, humour evident in his tone."Oh, I kind of forget you were there." Honestly, I had actually forgotten he was there, in the spur of the moment. "Sorry" I blushed. We discussed options for a moment. Meaning: we had a heated fight over the options that lasted at least half an hour or maybe more. I won't describe the argument, but it involved a lot of whisper-shouting on my part. A lot.

Eventually, we came to an agreement- we would try to get Lillian and I out as soon as possible and then work out a better plan. One that was actually a proper plan as opposed to a goal.