Prologue
I was surrounded by darkness, standing in a room that was completely devoid of light; not even the slightest crack penetrated the blackness. And it wasn't only my physical environment that was black, my memory was too. Or at least the part of my memory that dealt with things like who I was, where I came from and who my family were. I could remember that the sky was blue, that apples grew on trees and stuff like that, but there were no personal memories to go with those facts. I could not remember looking up at the blue sky, eating an apple, or anything about my life before I found myself in this strange black place. Except one thing. My name.
Jenny.
Jenny what? I knew, without knowing how I knew, that people usually had at least two names, a given name and a family name. But, though I knew my name was Jenny, I could not recall what name I shared with the rest of my family. In fact, I couldn't remember my family at all; I knew they must exist somewhere, but any recollection of who they were or what they looked like had been erased from my memory. I didn't even know how old I was, though something told me I was at the transitional stage between childhood and adulthood. Again, I couldn't say how I knew that; it was just something I knew.
Who was I? Where was I? Those questions and many other circulated through my mind, but I couldn't begin to answer them. All I knew was that I was called Jenny and I was standing in a dark room; I couldn't even remember what I had been doing before I found myself here. Wherever here was . . . The room suddenly jolted, causing me to fall to the floor, as it started rising upwards. Something flashed in my mind and I realised this darkened room I was in was a lift of some sort. A lift, something else I remembered about the world, again with no personal memories associated with it. I closed my eyes, not that it mattered when I was in total darkness, and tried to recall when I had ridden in a lift before. But nothing came to mind.
I wondered where this lift was taking me. It seemed to be taking a long time and I had an uneasy feeling that something unpleasant awaited me when my vertical journey ended. But why was I here? Who had taken away my memories? What was going to happen to me? Huddled on the floor of the lift, I shivered, trembling with anticipation as I rose steadily upwards. Time had lost all meaning; I had no way of knowing if it was night or day outside, no way of knowing what time of year it was. I didn't even know how long I had been here, nor how long it would be until I reached my destination. Did I even have a destination? Or was I going to be trapped in this darkened lift for the rest of my life, forever travelling upwards?
Just as I was pondering this grim possibility, the lift stopped moving. But it didn't open up. I sat huddled in the dark for several minutes before another memory flashed in my mind. Lifts had buttons on the inside, including one which opened the doors. So, if I felt the walls, I should be able to find that button and get out of here. I did not know what awaited me, but it couldn't be any worse than my current situation. Trapped in the dark, unable to remember anything about myself except my first name. Jenny. I was called Jenny and, for as long as I could remember, I had been in total darkness.
A few minutes later, I was still in total darkness. I'd felt all over the lift - all four walls, even the floor - but there was nothing that felt like a button. I began to panic. What if I never got out of here? What if my air ran out and I suffocated? What if someone did eventually come to let me out, only to find my skeleton huddled on the floor of the lift? In desperation, I began pounding on the wall nearest to me, my fists producing a ringing sound as they struck the metallic surface, screaming at the top of my lungs.
"Help! I'm trapped in here! Get me out!"
Suddenly, the ceiling opened up and light flooded in. I screwed my eyes shut - I'd been in the dark for so long by now that any light temporarily blinded me - and listened, trying to work out who had come to release me from my strange prison. Or was I being released? Was I about to be hauled out of here, only to be put to death almost immediately? After all, I couldn't remember anything about myself apart from my first name, so, for all I knew, I could be a condemned criminal about to face the ultimate penalty. But what could I have done to deserve such a fate? If I was as young as I suspected I was . . .
These somewhat morbid thoughts were cut off abruptly as several voices began talking at once.
"Who's this stick?"
"Wonder if this is what that alarm was for."
"Could be. We've been here a month and it's never gone off before."
"What are we gonna do with her?"
More voices joined in; there seemed to be around a dozen people looking down at me, but I couldn't see who they were. So I opened my eyes and, squinting against the light, looked up at my rescuers. My earlier estimate proved to be correct; twelve faces were peering down at me and, as my vision cleared, I saw that all the faces belonged to teenaged girls. There was one with dark skin and hair cut almost to her scalp, another with reddish-blonde hair, a third with light brown skin and long black hair . . . I did not know what I had been expecting to see, but it certainly wasn't this. Who were these girls anyway? And how did they get here? Did they also come in the lift? Had they also had their memories wiped of all personal details except their first names? Before I could ask, the dark-skinned girl with the very short hair spoke. "Better get her out; the Box won't go until it's empty."
The next thing I knew, a rope was being lowered into what I had thought was a lift but which the dark-skinned girl had referred to as a "Box"; something about the way she said the word "Box" made me picture it spelled with a capital B, not that I remembered learning to read and write. Anyway, the rope was lowered and, knowing the alternative was staying in the Box for the rest of my life, I grabbed it, allowing myself to be hauled up. Soon, I was standing in the middle of a circle of girls, all of whom were looking at me curiously. Seconds which seemed like hours passed before I broke the silence. "Who are you?" I asked, my voice sounding strangely small. "And where are we?"
It was the girl with the reddish-blonde hair who answered. "I'm Sonya. This is Harriet," she added, pointing to the dark-skinned girl. "That's Indira." The girl with light brown skin and long black hair. "Then there's Victoria, Flossie, Emily, Marie, Joan, Beth, Harper, Ruth and Tegan." She pointed to each of her companions in turn as she said their names. "And we're in the Glade."
