Found at Midnight

Chapter 18

Kellin's POV 

I must have fallen asleep again, but this time I woke up to a surprise. I was in a dark, damp room, and when I tried to stand up, I found that I had been restrained by thick bands of seaweed. I began to struggle against my bonds, but it was to no avail. It seemed that they were attached to the bottom of whatever I was on top of, and they were too thick for me to pull off. I lied back and tried to contain my panic. I didn't even know if I was still in my father's kingdom at this point. I figured this must have to do with the reason why my room was shaking earlier, but I knew that if Vic had saved me, he wouldn't have tied me up. The last little bit of hope left in me that he was coming for me began to flicker. 

Instead of focusing on my fear, I closed my eyes and drew in a deep, soothing breath. I talked to myself like I thought Justin would in this situation. If I was strong enough to survive what happened during my childhood, then I would surely walk out of this creepy room alive. I just had to keep calm and start to analyze what was going on. It wouldn't be easy to find my way out of the seaweed and then out of the room, but I wasn't worried about that with all the courage running through me. My little pep talk was definitely doing its job because I felt the most confidence in myself that I ever had before. I glanced down at my restraints again and then surveyed the room more closely. I could somewhat make out a doorway in the dark room, but otherwise it seemed empty. Then I wriggled around to figure out what I was lying on. I deduced it was a shell table, judging by its texture as my arms rubbed against it. From that discovery, a brilliant idea popped into my head.  

I strained my arms against the seaweed to pull it tight. Then I waved my arms up and down as vigorously as I could, sawing the seaweed against the edge of the table. It was only moments before my left arm was free, and with a bit more sawing, my right arm was too. I did a little dance atop the table in victory, truly proud of being able to do something for myself instead of needing someone to do it for me. The release of my arms boosted my confidence even more as I sat up to take care of the seaweed around my tail . My fins weren't close enough to the edge of the table for me to repeat what I had done for my arms, so I yanked and used my nails to get through the seaweed on my tail. Once I was completely freed, I swung my tail over the side of the table. I took a moment to figure out my next move, but I was drawing a blank. I didn't want to go through the door quite yet, in case I ran into whoever had me tied up here. I decided my best chance would be to figure out what was happening outside that door. 

I hopped off the table and went to the door, pressed my ear against in, and listened carefully.  Any sound that came through sounded like an echo, which threw me off. I couldn't think of anywhere except a cave that would make sounds like that, so I threw open the door to find out where I was being kept. I was surprised to find a stairwell, filled with shouts coming from upstairs. I then remembered my mother telling me that the kingdom was filled with all sorts of secret rooms and hallways, so I figured that I was still in the castle. I listened for a few moments more, but no one ever came down the stairs, so I decided it was safe to go up. I started to swim up when a door opened at the top, and light flooded into the dark room. I froze momentarily, but whoever was coming down stopped to talk to someone. I took that chance to hurry back into the room and find a place to hide. There was nothing in the room except the table, so the only thing I could do was jump back on that and pretend I was still tied up. I laid the seaweed over my tail and tucked it under my fins to hold it in place. I then wrapped the rest of the seaweed around my wrists and held the ends in my fists. I held my breath and listened for the mystery person to come down. I could barely hear the talking at the top of the stairs, even with the door open, but I heard it stop before the upstairs door shut, and the sound of steps rang through the room. I clenched my fists and took in a few more deep breaths before the steps stopped. I

I turned my head and could make out the outline of someone in the door way, holding something. I flinched as they began to press something on whatever it is they had, but then the room lit up. I felt a little silly for being afraid of a lantern, but all of that was forgotten when I saw who was standing before me. 

Wow, I am the shittiest person ever. It's been forever since I have updated this story! I had to go back and read a few chapters to catch myself up on what was happening because it's been so long. I only have two more days of school, and then I promise I will finish this story. As I said before, after this I will probably not be writing Kellic anymore, but I will be writing original stories. I hope you guys stick around for that, and I hope you guys enjoy this very, very late update. See ya soon!