Chapter Four
Holly Blue knew she didn't have a lot of time before escape became impossible.
The Crystal Gems were building a cell for her. A real one to keep her in, when they were too busy or too lazy to watch her. There were plenty of cells in the Zoo they could have used, but for some reason, they didn't want to. Instead they were making one super special, just for her.
With how slow and incompetent these Gems were, Holly Blue knew this would take a while, but she still didn't want to wait too long.
It was a good thing she did not have to. It took only a few days before she was given her chance. She was left to the watch of the Peridot and the Lapis. This was a very bad, very idea for many, many reasons.
First: Peridots and Lapis Lazulis were not made to be guards.
Second: they were guarding her in a flimsy 'wooden' lab.
Third: they kept getting distracted and not guarding her at all.
They squabbled, and they joked, and they played, and they watched 'TV', and really, this all just went to show why Gems should stay with their own kind. So unproductive!
Finally the Lapis Lazuli went to lie down with her eyes closed. Finally the Peridot to work on building the holding cell. Soon the place was filled with the clangs, whizzes, bangsand roars of her tools.
Nobody was watching Holly Blue. Nobody could hear her.
In a place so full of equipment, she was sure she would find a way to get free of her handcuffs.
First she tried rubbing her restraints against a post, but they did not fray.
Next she tried cutting them with a knife, but it was too short.
Third she tried breaking them with a file, but that was when the Peridot saw her.
"What are you doing!" the Peridot yelled.
Holly Blue kicked her.
The Peridot was very small, so the kick sent her very far. She went 'oof ' when she hit the wall.
Holly Blue did not wait to see if the Peridot would get up.
She ran.
She ran out of the flimsy lab, past the pool of water, over the hills covered in the tickly grass. She jumped into the warp pad, and disappeared in a whoosh . She warped to the Crystal Gem temple, which was empty. There was no one to stop her, so she ran out of there too. Run, run, run, run down from the ugly fusion statue, run all the way to a Roaming Eye ship, parked on the beach. Get in; fly to the Zoo; fly the Zoo to Homeworld.
That was the plan.
But it was harder than Holly had thought. The sand was hard to run on, so she nearly fell three times. And her hands were tied behind her back, so she could not put them on on the lock-pad. She stood with her back to the ship, wiggling her hands, trying to press them against the lock.
She saw the blue warp beam shoot up from the hand of a big ugly fusion statue. Holly Blue worked faster. The Crystal Gems were coming to stop her.
But it was just the Peridot and the Lapis Lazuli. Phew. They weren't dangerous at all.
Holly Blue felt the lock pad under her hand. Beep!
The spaceship's doors opened. She was in! She could leave!
But before she could, the Lapis Lazuli raised her hand. Behind her, Holly Blue a loud, loud whooshing sound. She looked up, and saw water. Lots and lots of water. A giant wave coming down to hit her, right on the head.
It really, really hurt.