The Dark Prison - Chapter 13, Part 1

Instructions

/You good?/ /Yeah, Naomi contacted me./ /Oh! That’s great! What’d she say?/ /She says she’s gonna try and manipulate our dreams or something tonight. Whatever she does, if it works, we’ll get to communicate with the crew back at Welsburry. And she says that she’ll connect you and I mentally. She just needs to know what world we’re in./ /Makes sense. I’m assuming you’ll ask Tobi later?/ As I started writing a reply the bell for free time started ringing loudly. /I’ll ask him now, actually/, I wrote back, then followed the crowd out and into the free hours room. I located Tobi quickly, but yet again, Chaiyn wasn’t behind me in the crowd. I walked over to the Avisian and smiled. “Hello again.” Tobi didn’t return the smile and I hadn’t expected him to. “Hi. Where’s your friend?” I glanced around, looking for Chaiyn. “Somewhere. He’ll show up.” Tobi muttered something under his breath, but I didn’t question it. Chaiyn appeared in the crowd and started making his way towards us. “So, what world are we in?” I asked Tobi, trying to be as productive as possible. “And what are you willing to do to get out of here?” I clearly had his attention now. “Well, we’re in the Shadow Realm. Black crystals can teleport you here, and it’s nearly impossible to teleport here if you haven’t been. And I’m willing to do almost anything that doesn’t get me killed if it means going free.” Tobi’s eyes were lit with a determination I’d rarely seen in anyone’s eyes. Chaiyn appeared at my side. “I heard we’re in the Shadow Realm?” Tobi nodded. “Yes. So, Wolf, what’s your plan?” “Well, it’s not much yet.” I started. “But tonight we’ll get a little further in the planning. If you don’t typically sleep, make sure you do tonight. One of our friends might be able to get us connected via dreams.” Tobi furrowed his brow and titled his head. “I’ve never heard of someone being able to do that before.” “She’s a Memoria. They’re crazy powerful,” Chaiyn answered quietly. Mentioning the power reminded me of something I was shocked that I’d forgotten. “Have you seen Raza or Maya here?” Judging from the look in Chaiyn’s eyes, he’d also forgotten and was equally shocked. “No. I haven’t. But I also haven’t really looked. I’ll be back.” Before I could stop him he melted into the ground. Tobi muttered something under his breath again. “What?” I asked, but he just shook his head. Chaiyn returned a few minutes later and reported that he hadn’t seen Raza or Maya. For the rest of the free hours Tobi, Chaiyn, and I didn’t talk much, though Tobi kept shooting us odd glances. Our time outside the cells ended and we were herded back to our cells like a bunch of animals. Night couldn’t get here fast enough. Chaiyn and I exchanged notes, trying to brainstorm ideas for the third option of Jessica’s demands. I’ll admit that Chaiyn was doing most of the brainstorming, though. I still didn’t think anything we could come up with would work. Finally, it was night and the lights shut off in the halls. I fell asleep quicker than I ever remembered doing before and soon found myself in a misty room. I knew that it was all in my head as the room took shape around me, but it was nice to pretend I was actually there. The room was something like our dorms at Welsburry, which was nicely comforting. People started appearing, their forms slowly going from faded, colorful blobs to solid images of real people. I recognized Naomi first, then the twins appeared, then Calli, then Chaiyn, then Ax. A few seconds later, Dusk showed up, then Ren, and finally, Tobi. Everyone looked around with varying degrees of surprise. Tobi looked the most shocked - he clearly hadn’t expected to be included - and Ren looked indifferent as always. It was Naomi who spoke first. “Well. That worked.” Her voice seemed to break the spell of silence and the room erupted into sound. I was surprised at how loud ten people could be. It was more like six or seven, though, because Chaiyn, Tobi, and I weren’t talking.