The Dark Prison - Chapter 14

Instructions

As the morning bell woke us up, I looked across the hall. Chaiyn was up as well, surprisingly not as groggy as I was. One of the guards - it was quite hard to tell them apart - slid a tray of what was supposed to be breakfast. And I was surprised to find that it actually resembled breakfast: a piece of toast, a fried egg, and a glass of water. Nowhere near the extravagance of the WSoM buffet, but much better than what I heard of Carlos’ prison. Speaking of Carlos, I made a mental note to ask Tobi about the other prisoners - and maybe talk to a few myself. /What food were you given?/ I nearly jumped out of my skin and almost choked on the small bite of toast I’d eaten when I heard Chaiyn’s mental voice in my head. /Jeez, you scared me. I got toast, water, and a fried egg that desperately needs more flavor than it’s got. What did you get?/ I glanced over and saw him smirking. /Same as you. I thought you’d be used to having mental voices in your head with Naomi talking to you so much./ /We don’t talk mentally /that/ often/, I argued. /Only when we can’t talk face to face./ /Fair point. You do see each other almost every second of the day./ /Hey, if you want to go to WSoM, just ask. You’d need money, but it’s not that expensive once you start saving./ /I never said I wanted to go to your school. I was just making an observation./ I looked over at him again, but his smirk was gone and his expression portrayed no emotion. I shrugged slightly and let it go. Once I finished the meager breakfast we’d been given, I tried to see how far I could get with the secret mental connection I had with Shadow. After a few minutes of just kind of sitting in a corner of her head, I left. There was no good information I could find. I wondered if that was how Naomi felt when she was using her power to search memories. I’m not sure if I came out of the mental headspace because the social time bell rang or if it was pure coincidence, but the silent guard unlocked my cell and gestured for me to come out. On a whim, I whispered, “Do you like it here?” The guard didn’t seem to have heard me, just stared at me for a few seconds then went to unlock the next cell. This time I managed to fall into step next to Chaiyn. He appeared to have forgotten about the previous mental awkwardness entirely. “I’ve got a few things we should ask Tobi. Maybe even talk to some other prisoners. Just because we hate it here doesn’t mean that this isn’t a safe place for others,” Chaiyn said quietly. I nodded in agreement. “I can stay and talk to Tobi, and maybe you could try to talk to the crowd? Would your Sight-Seer abilities overreact with that?” He shook his head. “No. I found a way to turn off the auras, so I should be fine. You can talk to Tobi, and if the two of you want to ask the prisoners things go ahead.” I nodded again and Chaiyn filled me in on the things we should ask the Avisian. Tobi looked up as we approached. “Hello.” “Hi,” I said with a smile. Yet again, Tobi didn’t return it. “We’ve got more questions, if you’re up for answering.” He shrugged. Chaiyn melted into the background, and I heard his voice occasionally poking through the crowd. “I’m up for answering as long as I reserve the right to not answer if I don’t want to.” “Of course. I won’t force you.” “Alright, shoot. What do you need to know?” “First of all: how long have you been here?” “I’ve been here for ten years. Next?” “Have you talked to anyone else? What are they here for?” “I’ve talked to a few, mostly little kids. Most of the captives are like me - prisoners who were taken when their home was destroyed. A few others are actually in here for crimes; I guess Jessica happened to be passing by and took them to keep up a charade that this is a good place. Jessica also fights a lot of wars with other worlds and species, so some people are in here for that.” “Why does she fight wars?” “To be honest? I don’t know. My guess is that once her father died she kinda just got angry at the universe and that was her way of acting on it.” “How do you know Cozbi?” I asked. I distantly heard Chaiyn’s voice behind me ask a prisoner, “Do you like it here?”