Chapter Three:

Mora woke up facing a blank wall. It was an ugly white-yellow that probably was meant to be white. A single window was positioned halfway up the wall, too high to reach and blocked by bars. She was lying on a bare cot with a small, hard pillow and an itchy blanket. The wall across from the window was obviously the exit. It was clear, as in Mora could see out of it, but it was easy to see that Mora wouldn't be able to get out through it. The wall crackled with energy, and Mora could pick out the low hum that came with a force field. The ceiling was blank and flat, except for a small skylight. The skylight had no force field or bars that Mora could see. She grinned. Whoever designed the cells clearly was not the smartest person. Who designs a cell for a Sestra with a hole in the ceiling?

Mora glanced outside the force field. There was a guard standing there, but he was looking down the hallways, not inside Mora's cell. Mora tried to spread her wings, judging whether or not they would fit inside the cramped space of the cell. But she didn't have to worry about that. Her wings were being blocked by her shirt. It was such an odd situation that Mora sat back down. Sestra clothes were specifically made with a special cloth. The cloth had unique properties that allow a Sestra's wings to pass through the fabric. It was an easy way to get around cutting slits in all of the clothes that were made. The clothes she was wearing were obviously human clothes. It must be a mistake. There was no other explanation as to why she was wearing human clothes.

She looked at the guard outside the cell again. There was nothing wrong with asking. The worse thing that could happen would be the guard saying no. If that was the case, she would find a way to cut slits in the clothes. Either way, she was going to take advantage of the hole in the ceiling.

"Um, excuse me; these clothes aren't made for Sestras. I can't spread my wings. I'm sure that's a mistake, so could you just get me some new ones?" She said as politely as she could.

The human looked at her and laughed. He said something in reply, but Mora couldn't hear anything he was saying. The force field was soundproof. The guard could hear her, but she couldn't hear him. Or anything else that went on in the hallway. Even the harmless, obnoxious Shrieker could be outside her cell, and she wouldn't even know. She watched the guard for a few more minutes, just in case he was doing as she asked, but eventually gave up and fell on the bed with a groan.

Mora stayed like that for a while, until a buzzer sounded. Mora looked up curiously. A hole was forming in the force field, staying small and close to the ground. The guard outside slid a tray with food into the cell, and the wall closed behind it. Mora carried the tray over to the far wall and sat under the window. There was a bowl of crunchy flakes floating in milk and a loaf of stale bread. Mora ate it quickly, her hunger winning out over the disgusting taste of the meal. She shoved the tray back towards the force field, assuming it would stop when it hit it. Instead, the tray was thrown backwards into the air and fell, with a clatter, a few feet in front of Mora. The metal was scorched and blackened. The guard glared at her from outside the cell. Mora grinned. A hole appeared in the wall, and Mora slid the tray over once more. The guard took it without a word.

Mora dove at the hole in the wall as the guard was retreating, but it resealed before she made it. She was thrown backwards, much like the tray. She landed hard on the concrete floor, shaking from the electrical charge. Her vision swam, but she didn't black out. She clumsily climbed onto the cot and lay down, ignoring the itchiness of the blanket. The guard looked at her carefully, judging her condition from the shock. Mora breathed slowly, hoping he would come in to see if she was okay. She heard the force field retreating, and guessed it was opening to form a door. She rolled over slowly, as if in pain.

But it wasn't the guard that was standing in front of her. It was another human, this time in a white lab coat and black pants. He waved his hand, and the door resealed. His sandy blonde hair was combed perfectly, and his dark hazel eyes were hidden behind round glasses. He sat on the floor and smiled at Mora.

"Hello. I'm Adam. Who are you?" He spoke slowly, as if unsure of whether or not Mora could understand him. Mora didn't say anything. She glared at him from her cot. He sighed. "I know you can understand me. All faeries can. Now either you cooperate, or we could have your rations cut."

"What did you call me?" Mora said angrily. "I'm not a faerie." She spat. "Now either call me a Sestra, or get out." She rolled over so her back was facing him and waited.

"Okay. Sestras can understand me. Now what is your name?"

"Mora," She hissed. She didn't turn around.

"Hello Mora." He said pleasantly. "I know you are not happy about being here, but you should try to make the best of it. Once we trust you some more, you'll be able to get out and about. Of course, you can't try anything like what you just did with the force field. That won't work. Doing things like that will get you nowhere." He pulled a pen out of his pocket and readied his clipboard. "Now, you're from Eton, correct? Or were you just visiting when you were picked up?"

"That was my home." Mora said softly as she turned to face Adam. Something flickered in her eyes, and Adam looked down quickly.

"Okay. You recently got your wings?"

"How do you know that?"

"The primary and secondary feathers are not worn at all. That suggests that either you don't fly often, or you are a recent fledgling." He scribbled something down on his clipboard. "What color are they?"

Mora said nothing. Her eyes took on a steel glint that should have sent Adam running. But he pressed on.

"You are an anomaly, are you not? Your wings are unique. They are blue at the top, but purple at the bottom. Do you know what that means?" He looked up from his clipboard. The way he said it hinted that he knew.

"No, and I don't care," she snapped. "If you know all this, why are you asking me? Can't you just leave?" She said rudely.

"Is this annoying to you?" Adam asked in surprise. "It's standard. It will only take a few moments. The other Faerie – erm, Sestra— that was picked up with you, Ivan, is he your brother?"

Mora jerked in surprise.

"Ivan? Is he okay?" Mora asked quickly.

"He's fine—I'll take that as a yes." He looked over his clipboard. "Well, that's about it right now. Do you want to take a tour of our facility?"

Mora looked at him questioningly. The way he said it, it was almost as if he had to.

"Or maybe later we'll do that later. Do you need anything? More space, maybe? More light?"

"Yea that would be great. So you can just let me go… and maybe Ivan too."

Adam jerked slightly, as if stung. He looked confused for a moment, and then he shook his head.

"I can't do that."

"You can, you just don't want to," she challenged.

"You don't get it, do you? You're not getting out of here, so you should really just give up and accept it. Would you like a tour of the facility, or not? You have to promise not to try anything."

"Fine," Mora said grudgingly. She got up and waited at the door.

Adam rose slowly and dusted off his legs. He spoke into a small handheld device and the door opened. The guard nodded to him as he led Mora out of the cell. Adam took Mora's hand. His own hand was easily twice the size of hers, completely engulfing her hand. He smelled of cleaning fluids and sweat. Humans were disgusting. She immediately shrunk away from his hand, repulsed by his touch.

"Let go of me." She growled.

"It's standard," He said with a sneering smile.

Mora made a face and started to walk forward, but Adam easily kept pace with her. He led her left down the hallway. Mora peered into each cell, looking for Ivan. Not a single face looked familiar. Mora was troubled by this. Many Sestras had disappeared from Eton. Shouldn't they be here?

"Looking for Ivan?" It wasn't a question. Adam knew she was and he was taunting her.

"Where is he?" Mora asked with a hard voice. She did nothing to hide the hatred that filled it.

"We'll get to him. It's not like he's going anywhere." Adam laughed. "He's already been around the facility. He had a little—mishap."

Mora didn't like how he said that—as if Ivan's pain and suffering was amusing. Adam droned on, describing the different doctors and scientists that worked here. Mora wasn't listening consciously. She knew that if she needed the information later, she would remember it, but had more important things to focus on. Like how close the unguarded exit was. It was only down the hall. It was a few seconds if she was flying. But she couldn't leave Ivan here. She would have to get him out.

"What's down there?" She pointed to a hallway completely empty except for a single door all the way at the end.

"That's the operating room." Adam didn't go into details, but Mora wanted him to. He quickly pulled her down another hallway that had more cells in it. Mora was beginning to get the layout of the place. The hallways were designed like squares with other hallways connecting and extending slightly past them.

The Sestras in the cells looked out at her with sad, desolate looks. Each face was hollow and hopeless. They tore at her heart until she was forced to look away. Some called out to her, telling her to run before it was too late. When they did, others just shook their heads and turned away.

"Is Ivan here?" Mora said, not wanting to look anymore.

"No, these are our patients that have already undergone the surgery. They've been here awhile."
"What's the surgery, and why are there no guards in this hallway?"

"You'll find out about the surgery soon enough. These patients will not run away. There's nowhere for them to go; no way to get down the mountain," Adam said.

"Why—" Mora stopped herself. She was getting an idea, and she didn't like it. There was no reason to give Adam an opportunity to confirm it. They came to another intersection. Two of the hallways were full of doors, while one was blank.

"Those two have research centers and offices. This is just a connecting hallway, for convenience." He headed down the bare hallway. It was relatively short, and then they took another turn so they were returning to the hallway that contained her cell. They stopped in front of a cell.

"This is your brother's cell." Adam gestured to the cell. Ivan looked up in shock as Mora stood outside his cell. He looked tremendously sad as he regarded her. Mora turned to Adam.

"Open the door," she said, "let me go in."

"I can't do that," he laughed and shook his head.

"Open. The. Door." Mora spat. Mora felt a tingling sensation around her eyes, and an unbearable burning inside her chest. She felt like she was on fire. At the same time, though, it was a good burning. She felt powerful, as if the world was hers to command. She liked the feeling. If she had been looking in a mirror, she would have seen her eyes become a deep sparkling blue. Her eyes glowed softly as she glared at Adam. Adam stopped laughing and looked into her eyes. The guard behind her smirked, and waited for Adam to punish her. Adam raised his hand, and the guard watched with glee. Then Adam pointed to the guard.

"Open the door," he ordered.

The guard stared at him in shock. Adam snapped his fingers.

"Open the door," he repeated. "Don't just stand there looking ignorant!" He snapped.

The guard fumbled with a small remote at his waist to open the door. Mora looked at Adam once more.

"Let go of me." Adam did so immediately.

Mora grinned. She didn't know what was going on, but it was going to be quite useful. If she could do this all the time, and to anyone in the building, it was going to be an easy matter to escape this place with Ivan. Even if it only worked on Adam, she would think of a way to get outside. That's all she would need. The Humans wouldn't be able to follow her when she was flying. The guard opened the door and Mora walked in before Adam could come to his senses.

"Ivan!" Mora exclaimed. She rushed forward and hugged him. Behind her, the guard was speaking into a black device.

"Mora, what are you doing here?" Ivan said. "You were supposed to get away!"

"I know, and I'm sorry." She looked behind her. The dazed look was beginning to fade from Adam's face. "Look, we don't have much time. I can get us out, Ivan. I can! I can make Adam do what I want. We can go home, to Mom, and to Eton!"

Ivan pulled away.

"Mora, grow up. There's some reason why he let you in here. You're not special, no matter what Mom says. Stop living in your fantasy world. Look around! We're in the Institute! Do you know what that means? Do you know what they do here?" He said harshly.

"Ivan! How could you say that?" Mora cried. Tears sprung into her eyes. "I can get us out. Why don't you believe me? Are you just going to give up?"

"What am I supposed to do? We're experiments here. Do you know what they do?" He repeated.

"N—No." Mora stuttered.

"They study us, and then they—"

"Mora," A voice called her from outside the cell. "Get out of there, now," the voice ordered.

Mora obediently slipped out of the cell and looked at the man that was standing before her. He was tall, even for a human, and was wearing a black suit. His grey eyes glared at Mora, and his mouth was set into a hard line. Adam grabbed her arm and pulled her towards her own cell. He talked fast.

"I don't know what's wrong with you. Can all of you do that, or just you?" He asked. "You might be able to teach us so much more about faeries!" He paused and smiled at Mora. "We'll have to operate soon, before you manage to get out. You'll be under constant watch—with two guards now," he babbled.

Adam pulled her into her cell without stopping. Mora stepped away from him as soon as he let go. She concentrated hard, trying to pull back the burning, powerful sensation she had felt before. It took only a moment. She smiled triumphantly and looked directly into Adam's eyes. Adam saw her eyes and took a step back. But it was too late.

"Let me out of here," she ordered.

"I—I can't. The General will never allow it," he said regretfully, "you will never succeed."

"Don't tell him until I'm out."

"The General sees and hears everything. He is everywhere, in everything." He recited.

Mora was confused. Who was the General? How could he hear everything and be everywhere at once? It was almost as if he was a god. But that was impossible. No god would condone what the humans were doing. It was best to find a different way, just in case.

"Bring me a tool that can cut through anything, and that can't be destroyed very easily," she ordered.

"I will bring it tomorrow. "

"When you give it to me, you will forget you ever gave it to me," she said. Adam repeated her words. "Good," she said. "Now get out. I'm tired." Mora was tired. She was more tired than she could ever remember being. Whatever burning, internal power she had, it was really tiring.

Adam did as she said. He quickly left the cell and said something to the guard. The guard nodded and spoke into his black box. A second guard quickly materialized and stood on the other side of the cell. As if she charm her way through the force field. Those guards definitely knew what they were doing. Mora rolled her eyes and groaned. She ran over possible escape plans in her mind. She could use the tool Adam was bringing to cut through the bars and escape. After that, she could do the same to Ivan's bars. She would use it to cut slits in their clothes, of course. Or she could just cut slits in her clothes and fly out through the skylight. Then she would get Ivan.

Mora stretched out on the uncomfortable bed. She would do that, she assured herself. Cutting the bars away would be too noticeable anyway.

The pillow was hard under her head, and the blanket scratched against her skin. She looked longingly up at the skylight. The warm August breeze didn't want to come into her cell. The artificial air lingered inside her cell, cold and thick. Mora ignored all this. She sunk into an exhausted sleep, her dreams filled with flashes of battles and intense color and things she had never seen.

She slept into the next day, despite the light that shone through the skylight. She slept well, despite her fear and anxiety. She slept deeply, as if knowing what was coming.