Long Ago

Chapter Five

My prison cell was cold and dark with only a cot and a hole in the ground... at least it wasn't a bucket. I winced as I sat down on the cot. The guards were the opposite of gentle when they had literally thrown me in here. I had hit my side off of the metal base of my cot, and it started bruising after only five minutes. My whole family had been cursed with bruising right away; it had never bothered me until now.

I laid down on my cot and closed my eyes. How on earth did Mark expect me to find this Apollo person when I am stuck in a cell? I sighed sharply through my nose.

"What did you do to be imprisoned?" A smooth male voice echoed through my cell. I shot up, slamming my head on the low stone ceiling. I grunted bringing my hand up to where it hit. "Sorry." The man called out.

I looked around slowly and couldn't see him anywhere. Everything was dark... other than the spotting in my vision causing everything to spin. I laid back down to prevent passing out, shut my eyes and said, "Nothing."

"Ah." He said, he sounded closer now. I felt a hand on my head where I bumped it and I winced. I went to sit up again but he put his hands on my shoulders and eased me back down. "Easy." He murmured. "That's already starting to grow a bump." He felt it again and I whimpered as pain shot through my body. He swore. "It's bleeding." I pulled my hand up to feel but he grabbed my wrist. "Don't touch. You could infect it."

I opened an eye and looked at him through my blurred vision, "And you won't?" I asked, my voice squeaking.

He chuckled and smiled down at me. He had a long dark beard and an extremely thin face. His eyes looked to be two different colors. I couldn't tell exactly what colors because of the black and red spots dancing around everywhere. "Don't worry, Raven, you're in good clean hands."

"How did you know-"

"Sh." He demanded as he pocked at my head. I arched my back as he pushed hard against it. He covered my mouth as I screamed from the pain. He stopped pushing but the pain remained, "I said sh," He scolded. A tear streamed down my cheek and I slowly laid back down flat. And despite the pain, I scowled at him only to find him scowling back. "Listen Raven dear, if this is going to work, you need to listen to me." He began pressing on my wound again, and I tried to hold in my screams. It wasn't that hard, after a minute of his pressing I passed out.

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I awoke in my cell with a faint ache pounding through my head. I grunted as I sat up, careful to not hit my head this time. I pulled my hand up to feel the bump I knew would be there. But there was nothing, no blood, no bump, only a slight ache. The black and red spots were gone as well. "Apollo?" I asked weakly as I looked around. I heard the scrape of fabric on stone as he stood up and walked over.

"Yes?" He said slyly.

I looked at him and frowned, "What did you do to my head?"

"I healed it using my amazing intellect and precision."

I just stared at him, "No, seriously. What did you do?"

He just smiled at me and crossed his long thin arms. Despite him being so thin, he was very muscular. So even though he had been here for gods knew how long, he tried to stay fit it seemed. I turned my body so my feet hung off the cot, noticing that my side was better now too. And knowing he would not give me a serious answer to my first question, I asked, "What's our plan?"

He tilted his head, a smirk plastered on his handsome bearded face, "The plan..." He mused. "The plan is to wait here until tomorrow night, pick the lock, knock out the guards and run."

I gaped at him before saying, "That's an awful plan."

He huffed a laugh, "Let me know if you think of anything better." He shook his head, "I've been here for years waiting for you to stumble in so that I could escape. I think the least you could do is not criticize my plan."