Unseen

Chapter 16

"They are brought to their knees and fall, but we rise up and stand firm." (Psalms 20:8)

Ley shook the bars of his cell angrily.

"Come on, scary shadows!" he yelled, "Fight us like real men!"

"Ley, I don't think they're men," Star replied from the cell next door.  "Maybe they're women, or maybe they're genderless?"

Jem was running in circles in the cell next to Star.  She could tell because of the rattling of the bars that sounded every time he came around.

"Jem please stop running!" she shouted, exasperated, "Just hearing you run is driving me crazy!"

She jumped up from the floor and tried to fly up to the barred window at the back of the cell, but the chains on her ankles pulled her down.

"Ow."

"Star, stop trying to escape," Ley called, "It's no use."

"Well, what are we going to do?  Just let those demons eat us for breakfast?" she replied, slumping down on the floor.

"I don't know if there is anything we can do at this point.  We'll just have to pray that Eloise and Kayta weren't caught."

Star doubted praying would work.  She had spent her entire life praying, and God had never answered her prayers.  Why would he answer them now?

"I wonder where they are," she said, switching the subject before Ley could continue.

"Me too."

Star leaned against the wall of her cell.   "There is one thing we can do."

"What?"

"Make as much noise as possible and make those demons regret ever imprisoning us."

Ley chuckled.  "Let's play a song.  I'll use the wall as percussion, and you use your chains, and Jem can run around."

And so they started banging on the wall, shaking their chains, and running around in circles.

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Eloise and Kayta were, in fact, caught as well.  Eloise had been put in a large cell with thick walls.  Very thick walls.  All Eloise remembered was Kayta being pulled away as she was imprisoned.  She had no idea where Kayta could be.

"Milly! Milly, are you there?" Eloise banged on the wall of her prison, but she knew it was no use.  Milly had a mask over her face so she could breathe.  There was no way Milly would be able to hear her, or talk back.

Eloise leaned against the wall, tired.  She was strong and independent, but she desperately needed help.  She wondered if Ashim and Xale had heard Kayta's call and understood what it meant.  She wondered where Kayta was, if she was okay.

Eloise closed her eyes and tried to teleport out of her cell.  But the walls were too thick, it was hard to pass through them.  She felt herself almost making it to the end, but they were just too long.  

"If only about a quarter of it were gone," she thought, "I could escape."  Running calculations through her head calmed her a little.  But in the back of her mind, she knew it was no use.  

"I can only hold my breath for so long."

She tried the door.  Surely the door wasn't as thick as the walls.  But it was.  She tried as hard as she could, but she just couldn't pass through the door either.

Eloise felt her eyes start to flood.  She was trapped, in a room, and she was scared; she didn't know where her friends were, she didn't know what was going to happen to her, and she didn't know what was going to happen to her friends.