Unexpected relations (COMPLETE)

Chapter 18: Maladies and Maybes

Chapter Eighteen

MARILYN'S POV

My head was pounding.

I opened my eyes, blinking groggily at the ceiling. At the sight of gray, crumbling bricks instead of white drywall, I attempted to sit up, instantly regretting my choice. The world spun quickly, giving me vertigo. I turned to the side and retched. Wiping my mouth, I grimaced as the chain of events came back to me. I was in an underwater dungeon. Taking a look around my cell, with a start, I realized it was circular. Bricks were constructed haphazardly; a few jutting out irregularly. My back was to the wall. Weakly, I ran my fingers across the stones, feeling the rough texture. Moonlight streamed in through a crack in the stone, bathing a thin sliver of my hand in a silvery light. All around me, the water was still. I was dry, underwater, and sick. I groaned.

A pebble landed next to me. I picked it up, furrowing my eyebrows. I lifted my head, seeing that a rusty, iron-barred gate was blocking my way out into the hallway of the jail. Across the way, a pair of blinking eyes met mine. I scrambled backwards, wielding the pebble in my hand like a weapon. "No, don't be afraid," a small voice said from the way. Something rustled, and the thing moved forward. With some degree of shock, I saw that it was a small, human girl. She couldn't have been more than four or five years old, with a mat of brown, dirty hair and dull blue eyes lit by an otherworldly glowing lamp-like stone hanging from a sconce in the hallway. "Me not going to hurt ya, I swear it."

"Who are you?" I said, my voice coming out thick and gritty. Clearing my throat, I tried again. "Who are you?" I tried once more, the words coming out clearer. I studied her carefully, wondering how I must look. Dirty, probably, and tired.

"My name Amelie," the girl said, softly, sticking her thumb into her mouth. "What be your name?" I studied this small girl with pity, wondering what she could have done to end up in the dungeon. Walked the wrong way, probably, displeasing Amphitrite.

"My name is Lyn," I said softly, moving closer to the bars, gripping one with my hand tightly. "How did you get in here? What did you do wrong?" I hadn't the slightest idea what a small, fragile, four-year old girl could do to end up in a place like this. Amphitrite had a sick, twisted sense of justice- and as did her son, as a matter of fact, I thought, remembering Triton's brutal cruelty.

Amelie scooted closer, and to my horror, I saw that her right leg was burnt, shriveled up like a raisin. Bile rose in my throat. I tampered it down with some difficulty, diverting my eyes away. "Me Mam left me at home one day," Amelie said quietly. "I run off to the hammer places. I get nasty burn." Clearly, I thought to myself. I had never seen a burn of that magnitude in my life.

"The hammer places?" I echoed weakly. "Where are those?" My eyes were riveted on that horrible burn. If not for the shriveled leg, Amelie might have been beautiful. If she brushed her hair and saw the sunlight once in a while, I had a feeling she might have seemed a bit more alive.

"They where big man with one eye work," Amelie said animatedly, gesturing with her small, bony little fingers. "They go bang, bang, bang all day long. They like to smack metal." Amelie giggled, sticking her thumb into her mouth again.

Big man with one eye- I thought distractedly. I sat up straighter. "Cyclops?" I said. "Are there Cyclops down there?" I thought back to the legends. Cyclops were the magical forgers of the Greek world. They formed magic items like Hades' helm of invisibility, Zeus' lightning bolt, and, perhaps most notably Poseidon's trident. "Wait. Are you talking about the forge of the Cyclops?"

Amelie nodded. "Byclops. That what Mam said ta call them, but Ty Ty said I call him whatever I want." She resumed sucking on her thumb contentedly, rocking back and forth with her good leg pressed up tight to her chest, humming an off-kilter tune to herself as her bad leg hung limply at her side.