New World

Chapter 9

WARNING: THIS CONTAINS SCENES THAT SOME VIEWERS MAY FIND DISTURBING. PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU ARE UNDER 13. THOSE PARTS WILL BE MARKED WITH AN ASTERISK (*) AT THE BEGINNING AND END OF THAT SECTION.

Paelen saw Katy's look of horror as she watched Paelen stretch out his body. His bones popped and cracked, making her cringe back slightly. She gulped, "Does it hurt?"

"Yes, rather a lot, actually." Paelen said in a high, reedy voice, wincing slightly.

Katy shuddered and averted her eyes. Paelen totally understood, it was not the easiest process to watch. Once he had become thin in enough to be able to slither under the door, he told Katy, "I shall find Charlotte. I shall not unlock the door so the men do not become suspicious. Do not worry. I shall be back soon." He tried to smile but looked more like a grimace. Katy got the message and nodded. "Good luck, Paelen. Come back quickly."

Without another word, Paelen slithered under the door. The last he saw was Katy sinking to the ground with her arms around the knees. She looked scared, and quite rightfully so. Once he was outside of the room, he returned to his normal shape, and looked around. He was in some sort of hallway. Judging from the state of the walls, the building was quite old, and big. He walked silently to the right. He checked the turn before going round, in case someone was there. No one. He tiptoed along and found a narrow, spiralling staircase. He must be on the top floor.

Paelen made his way down them, flinching every time they creaked. He got to the bottom, and found himself by a small, wooden door. He checked the handle. It was locked. Obviously. Instead of stretching his whole body this time, he only stretched out his fingers so they would fit in the lock. He manipulated his fingers so they would replicate the shape of the key that would be used. He bit his lip hard as he twisted. As he slowly removed his fingers, he heard a small snap and pain shot up his hand. He covered his other hand over his mouth to stop himself screaming out. Once he had removed his fingers, he inspected them. His index finger was twisted at a strange angle. He prodded it gently. It burst into a flurry of pain.

'Great', Paelen thought. 'Just what I needed. A broken finger.'

Under normal circumstances, it would heal in under an hour, but with the lack of ambrosia for 3 months and having not had sugar for at least 15 hours, it would take a longer to fix.

After the pain ebbed to a throb, Paelen opened the door. Yay. Another hallway to make it much easier for him to navigate around.

(*)Breaking the silence, he suddenly heard a scream, "NO! STOP!" It was definitely Charlotte's voice.

"CHARLOTTE!" Paelen shouted. He immediately cursed himself. People were bound to have heard him. As quickly as he could, he ran to the sound of Charlotte's voice. A door from along the corridor opened revealing the man from earlier in a dressing gown.

"You." The man growled. "How did you escape?"

"Paelen?" He heard a shaky voice from the room the man was guarding.

"Come to save your little girlfriend, have we?" The man said mockingly. "Sorry to shatter your dreams, kid, but there is no prince charming saving your pretty friend here."

As he said this, he balled a huge fist and lunged at Paelen. Anticipating an attack, he ducked and, with as much strength he could muster, he hit the man in the...you know whats. The man double over, groaning. Running past and knocking him over has he went, he hurried into the room. His eyes widened as he saw the sight. Charlotte was tied to the bedpost. Almost all her clothes were on the floor and she was covered his cuts and bruises. Not having the time for being embarrassed, Paelen rushed to her and undid the ropes.

"Are you okay?" Paelen asked rather dumbly, seeing as she did not look okay. Charlotte didn't answer, she just curled into a ball and wept. Paelen looked at the door and noticed the man had begun to advance back into the room.

"Charlotte, get your clothing and wait for me. I shall deal with this man, then we shall get Katy and get out of here." Charlotte nodded between her sniffs. (*)

"You little weasel." The man attacked Paelen at full force. It took Paelen huge amounts of effort just to block the blows, let alone fight back. He winced as the man struck his shoulder. A sudden surge of anger and energy ran through his body. He caught a fist aimed at his head and yanked it down. He lifted his knee and smashed it into man's nose. He could feel a warm liquid running down his leg. "How..." The man gurgled. Paelen raised his good hand in the air and hit the man hard across the head, causing him to fall the ground, unconscious.  

Paelen gasped for air as he found Charlotte in the hallway waiting for him, now with her shirt, skirt and shoes. She trembled. He could hear the faint sound of footsteps. He gently took Charlotte's hand, "Charlotte, we must find Katy and run. Do not worry, I will help you." Charlotte shuddered and nodded. She allowed herself to be led by Paelen back to where Katy was locked away. None of the other men from earlier seemed to have heard the commotion. They were about to reach Katy's room when shouts were heard from the floor below. Paelen cursed. The man must have woken up.

"No time for discretion." He muttered as he kicked down the door. He saw Katy get up from the door and run into his arms.

"You took so long! There was shouting! Can we get out?" She asked frantically. She saw Charlotte behind him. "Oh God, Charlotte." She whispered.

"We must find a way out." Paelen said, nervous of the voices getting nearer.

Katy looked at him in shock. "You didn't find a way out?"

"I had other things on my mind!" Paelen said defensively.

"Okay, okay, uhh. what floor are we on?" Katy asked.

Paelen shrugged, but Charlotte said in a small, pained voice, "Third."

"Damn. That's too high to jump..." She looked at Paelen. "Paelen...maybe you could use your stretchiness to help us down..."

"It could work..." Paelen replied thoughtfully. "We need a window." He proceeded to open all the doors along that hallway to see if there were any windows. It took a couple of rooms to find one, but when they did, all three of them had a look of relief. Katy closed the door behind them. The room was small, rather like the one Katy and Paelen had been locked in, but without the boxes. The window was quite small, but big enough to fit a person through it. Having heard the voices outside the room, he quickly stretched his arms out. He got Katy and Charlotte to hold onto one of his hands as he lowered them down. His broken finger screamed in pain but he tried to ignore it and focus on not dropping the two girls. Once they were safely on the ground, he climbed onto the window ledge. He looked down. An easy jump for an Olympian. As he jumped, he heard the door open behind him. He landed rather clumsily, but didn't hurt himself him doing so. Without looking up, he grabbed the two girls and ran. He had no idea where he was running to, he just needed to get himself and the others as far away from that place as possible.