Messed Up Cinderella Story

Chapter 23

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I heard dripping water coming from nearby. The ground was cold on my exposed skin. I propped up one of my arms and slowly brushed the fallen hair out of my eyes with the other, turning my head to get a good look at my surroundings. I was inside a cage of silver metal. Examining the bars it looked like someone, or something, had tried to claw their way out but hadn’t succeeded. In front of me was a narrow hallway, dimly lit by two evenly spaced ceiling bulbs, leading to a tall case of stairs.

I shivered as I sat up, failing to get comfortable since the cold ground and bars made the ground uneven and hard.  I moved my legs and pushed myself up, only to hit my head on something hard. I hissed in pain and clutched my head with my hands, like you do when you have a headache and you think you can just press on your head and it will disappear.

“Hannah?” I heard someone whisper, their voice raspy and hushed. I lifted my head in fright, careful of the bars above my head.

“Eliza?” I whispered back, searching around for her. “Eliza, where are you?”

“Shhhh!” Eliza hissed, her voice low but harsh. “They will hear you.” 

“Who?” I questioned, still searching for her. Who did Eliza not want to hear us? Who was out there?

“The guards.” Eliza whispered, her voice full of fear as she managed to choke out the words. She started to cough and I heard a bang noise before voices in the distance started to laugh, their voices muffled.

“What guards? Eliza what happened?” I asked, peering around. “Where are you?”

“Look up.” Eliza whispered. I did and sure enough, there was Eliza. She wasn’t exactly above me, but her cage was not within reach of the floor.

“Why are you up there instead of down here?” I said curiously. Eliza sighed, rubbing her eyes. She was crying.

“For some reason they want me to suffer, so they made sure I couldn’t touch the ground.” Eliza quivered, her voice shaky and pained.

“Why would hanging you from the ceiling make you suffer?” 

“These cages are made of silver, Hannah. Silver burns wolves and weakens us.” Eliza said, her voice cracking between words. Oh, no wonder.

I stayed silent, anger growing in me even as I knew there was nothing I could do to help my best friend. I was helpless to do anything but watch her suffer.

“Eliza!” I shouted, an idea popping into my head.

“Hannah, not so loud!” Eliza hissed back, her voice hushed and full of warning. I flinched at it.

“Sorry. But I thought of something Ian told me once. You and Oliver have probably made love before.  Don’t you have that connection where you can send him thoughts or feelings or pictures of what you see?” I asked, my voice more quiet now.