In the Middle

Chapter Fourteen

I opened my eyes to stainless steel on all sides of me. When I scanned the room I discovered that this was hardly a room. It was just barely big enough for me to stand up in. It was designed to target my claustrophobia. I wanted to bang my head against the wall repeatedly. Apparently, I can't go a week without being kidnapped. It was so infuriating. I'd only been back from the rebel camp for what? Two, three days? When I stopped being angry I started getting scared. Panic swelled in my chest. Stop. Control you fear. But I couldn't. I started clawing at the walls searching for a way out. Let me out. No one came and the box I was trapped in seemed to be getting smaller. Let me out. Still no one came to save me. Let me out. The sentence repeated itself in my head. I crumpled to the floor of the box. I made myself as small as possible and tried to slow my breathing. I heard footsteps. Let me out! One of the walls of the box collapsed. And there stood none other than Luna. I was getting sick of seeing her face. She grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the box. I bit her forearm in an attempt to make her let go. It worked but she used her other hand to slap me across the face. Luna lost her composure and started hurling ancient Greek curses at me. Soldiers, like the ones I'd seen at the rebel camp, escorted her into another room. I was alone now, free of the box. I looked around the room. The walls were white and there was no thing in it besides the empty steel prison where I was held minutes before. I took to pacing, as there was nothing to examine. I thought about how I would get out of this place. Wherever this place was. Minutes ticked past and I couldn't come to any conclusion. I kept pacing and plotting. There was no way to know what the time was but it felt like I was in the blank room for hours. Finally, the door opened and in came several guards. Fear struck me but I remained collected. On the outside, at least. Two guards approached me and grabbed my arms. They dragged me through several hallways that were just as blank as the one I occupied. The guards stopped when we came to a spacious room. They tentatively entered and seeing there was nothing in it the marched me a few steps in the room and held me there. What was going on. Several more guards entered the room from the opposite side. They were pushing a blonde boy into the room. There were chains linking his arms behind his back. The boy looked up. His lip was bleeding and he had a black eye. My blood turned to ice. That was Lance. I looked at my guards.

"What is he doing here?" No one answered. "What is he doing here?!" I screamed at them. The guards chained Lance to the ground. He kept his head down, never looking at me. "Leave him out of this! Please! Leave him alone!" I was struggling to break fear of the soldier's grip, but they wouldn't budge. A guard stood behind Lance, a sword in his hand. "No! No!" I was screaming and crying and struggling but no one spoke a word. "No!" Lance looked up at me, a deep sadness in his eyes. The boy I had known was not here anymore. "No!" I kept screaming it. I had struggled so much, the guards were holding me by the crook of my elbows. "No!" My screams were high-pitched an unceasing. My throat started to ache but I never stopped yelling. "No!" Lance stared at me straight in the eye and mouthed, "I love you." Tears flowed down my face. I had never cried so intensely before. Now that I had started crying I was afraid I would never stop. "No! No!" The guard stationed behind Lance plunged the sword into Lance's chest. "No!" All the guards left the room immediately. So quickly that at the release of my arms, I collapsed on the cols floor. I quickly got up and ran to Lance. He laid sprawled on the ground. I held his face in my hands. "No, no, no, no, no." A lone tear slid down Lance's cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb. "You've got to tell me what to do." He was the healer. But Lance just started to close his eyes. "No, no." His golden eyes, those beautiful golden eyes were closed. "No. No." I was saying it like I didn't believe what was happening. And I didn't. "C'mon. You've gotta tell me what to do!" Lance's chest stopped rising and falling. "No! Lance! Come on! You've gotta tell me what to do!" The door opened behind me, but I didn't care. "Lance! I love you! Come on! I won't lose you! I love you!" Someone started grabbing my arms from behind. "No! Lance! Lance, you promised! You promised!" The person started dragging me away. I struggled against them, reaching for Lance, a never-ending flow of tears rushing down my face. "No! No! You promised! You promised! I love you!" I was almost out of the door, when two more people grabbed on to me, forcing me to stand. "NO!" I was screaming again. "Lance, you promised me! You promised me!" I was dragged out of the room, the image of Lance's lifeless body imprinted in my vision. I was led into the passenger seat of a car. I looked back to see it was Mavis, Annabeth, and Percy who had dragged me out of the room. "He promised! He promised!"

"I know, Starr. I know." Mavis was helping me into the passenger seat.

"He promised!" I kept repeating it even as we were driving away. I kept repeating it until my voice was hoarse and it was nothing but a whisper. For the rest of the drive, I put my head in my hands and sobbed. No one said a word. I kept thinking about Lance's eyes. They were so beautiful. Like melted gold, warm and soft and accepting. Then the dimming light in them. I would never see him again. Hear his voice or his laugh. Never hear him tell me that he loved me. He would never hear me say it back again. I would never....I made myself stop. I couldn't bear to think about it anymore. So I sat, weeping and numb.