10
Kurt's pov
Man it's cold.
As I opened my eyes I found that I was lying on my back looking up at a round lamp which had one of those light bulbs that have the wire in them. As I thought back on why I was lying on a cold floor looking up at a lamp, I remembered the incident in the ally. Abruptly sitting up might not have been the best idea I though after my head stopped spinning.
Taking in my surroundings I noticed that the room in which I was sitting was barely bigger than a broom closet, there were no windows or furniture. There was the lamp and then there was a sturdy looking door and there was also Raven.
I did a quick double take and there she was, lying on the floor near the corner opposite from me. The girl looked horrible: face pale, hair sticking to her forehead and the headphones were still on her head, tapped into place. By the odd angle her hands were in I'd say that hers were tied to her back opposed to my own which were strapped in front of me with a plastic cuff's.
I wanted to get up and see if I could coax her into consciousness but my gut told me to keep my distance. And my gut is usually right. On closer observation I saw that there seemed to be a circle around the artist. It felt like some sort of feral power was surrounding her, its intent clearly murderous even too me. So I sat down and hoped she wasn't too badly hurt and that she would wake up soon.
A while later I caught myself thinking that I was a little too calm for the situation. I mean me and my guide had been attacked in a relatively small ally, both of us knocked out by air depravation and now I woke up to find that we were tied up in a locked room, because it was locked I had checked before I sat down. But I had a feeling that at the current moment we weren't in immediate danger. I concluded that drawing attention to ourselves by making a ruckus was a stupid idea until I had a better grasp on the situation and before I have the opinion of my cell mate.
And speaking of calm, I hope that Margot and the guy's aren't too freaked out. Though they have every reason to be. We have a concert in three days or actually it could be two, judging by how sour my muscles are I'd say it's been quite some time since we were put here.
I let my eyes wonder around just to have them land on Raven once again. Her face turning into a grimaces. Must be having a bad dream.
Is anybody there! Mother, father. No. My head was full of Raven's voice.
Raven, can you hear me. Nothing.
Hey, it's me Kurt. I tried again. How are you supposed wake up person from her nightmares if you can't even talk to them. Can I go in her head? Is that like invading someone's privacy? It probably is but it's valid if you are trying to help them right?
There was another scream in my head.
Alright I'm going in.
The mind that I found was hollow and seemed to relay more on instinct than reason.
And the layout of her mind didn't make it easier eider. It was like a dark and gloomy maze inside Ravens mind. I kept moving and even if I was trespassing I'm sure the circumstances make a valid excuse. Just as I thought that I felt a presence near me.
Who's there? I heard the voice of a child.
Raven? I asked the walls around me.
I don't know what you are talking about. Stop it. Someone help! The child's voice flew into hysterics. I thought I recognized the voice. Could it be the girl from before?
I made my way towards where I thought the crying was coming from.
What I found had my jaw slacken.
Curled up on the floor was a small girl. Her clothes and hair were drenched and she was hugging her knees shaking. Was this her mind and why was she crying?
Hey, what's wrong? I asked stepping closer.
The girl's head jerked up as she shrieked.
My eyes looked with pure silver ones. I knew those eyes. They were the eyes that had intrigued me in Crystal's and Xav's wedding, first on a girl and then on a man. Eyes filled with wisdom and knowledge beyond their ages, now overflowing with fear.
Raven? I asked the girl, reaching my hand to her face. She flinched away eyes widening.
Stay away. Her lips moved but the terrified voice seemed to be coming from everywhere around us.
What's wrong? I tried again.
Stop it. I don't know what you are talking about. Why are you doing this? Please stop. No let me go. Please. Her words started in screams and violent shakes as she pushed herself farther away from me. Too stunned to react I only watched as a child version of Raven curled into a ball and kept mumbling prayers.
I don't know how much time passed but at one point the cries stopped. I didn't want to send her spiraling back down whatever palace she had just escaped from by asking any questions so I tried another approach.
You're safe. It wasn't a complete lie, but I still felt kind of bad about getting the kids hopes up, even so I went on. I'll look after you. I won't let anyone hurt you. A promise I'm not sure I can keep, but it seemed to calm her.
She looked up at me here eyes glassed over I know you will big brother the words left me even more stunned. Before I could do anything I felt a memory unwinding.
Raven's pov
It was cold.
Why can't I move my arms or legs?
Ah, yeah the people with the weird ties and creepy smiles.
I opened my eyes carefully in case there was a bright light. There wasn't one, in fact there didn't seem to be a single light sores in sight. The room looked like one of those warehouses that drug deals went on in one of Darren's movies.
Looking down I saw that my limes were tied to the chair I was sitting on. This is really bad.
Genevieve? I asked the spirit living in my head.
What have we gotten ourselves into this time? She asked surfacing from my subconscious.
I don't know, I can't remember clearly, there were these guys who asked me to come with them. And I know that it's wrong to go with strangers, but it just felt so safe and…I… and I'm sorry. I wanted to explain myself but it just felt like I was making it worse. I could feel tears starting to form in the corners of my eyes.
It's alright, we are alright. We will figure this out. Genevieve said her voice calm. If she was calm then we could get out of this, I just know it.
There was a clack, like metal colliding with metal followed by footsteps. Then the two guys from before came into view in front of me.
"Well, finally awake are you?" it felt more like a statement than a question so I didn't do anything.
"What, you think that you are too good to answer questions?" the taller guy grunted pending over towards me.
I shook my head. And gathered my courage to ask "Why am I here?" I figured that they would be most likely to answer that question because bad guys don't usually like to give away their identity.
"You're here because your family is made up of greedy bigs" he almost spat back at me.
What do we do? I asked Genevieve.
For now, let's just try to see what they want. And if we figure that out then we can see what we can do about it. She said and I could tell she was trying to read the situation.
"Now we are going to ask you some questions and you are going to tell us all you know. You got that brat?" the shorter guy with glasses looked down at me.
Just nod. Genevieve guided me. So I nodded.
"Where's the Reincarnation stone?" the tall one said in a manner that made it obvious that he expected me to know what he was talking about.
"The what?" I asked back my voice a little sakey.
"Don't play dumb with us kid, we know that you know where it is, so spill it out." The glasses' guy said raising his voice at the end like he was irritated with me.
"But I don't know what you are talking about" I said aloud while asking the spirit in me: does this have anything to do with the stone that mom wore when she was expecting me?
Yes, that's the same one that they are talking about. She answered
"Look kid, we are going to get you to spill at the end anyway so you mind as well tell us before this gets ugly." The guy with the glasses said after taking a deep breath.
"But I really don't know" actually I basically know but I have never been to the shrine so I'm not lying and I don't think that I should tell them. They look like bad people and I don't want my best friend in the hands of bad people.
"If you tell us, then we will unite you and let you go." The tall guy said with a voice that sounded fake happy.
"My dad and brothers will find me if you don't let me go, and then they are going to make you sorry" because they will find me I know I just have to be good until then.
"So that's how you want to play it?" the shorter guy's face turned into a grin "fine by me"
I heard a slap and felt my howl face turn. My cheek hurt.
"You think we won't hurt you only because you are a kid?" as he said that he pulled my face up by my hair to look me in the eyes. There was something in he's that made me feel like he wasn't lying. This man would be happy to beat the answer out of me. "Well guess again."
As he let my hair go I wanted to get farther away from him, I just wanted to run as far as I could. But I couldn't.
Genevieve, I'm scared. I told my inner spirit as the tall guy asked where the stone was again.
I know you are, but we have to get throw this. Someone will have noticed that we are missing by now. They will find us. I'm with you until then. She said like she wasn't with me anyway.
"You think ignoring us will work?" came a voice from one of the guy's.
"But I really, really don't know. Honest" I tried again.
"Stop spouting nonsense, do you want us to go throw your mind to get the answer that way? Because we have a savant on our group as well" he the tall guy said he's voice kind of proud.
I didn't know if these two were telling the truth about their group but I could tell that they weren't savants themselves so I'm not supposed to let them know we exist.
"I don't know what you are talking about" I said hoping my voice sounded confused.
"Oh yes you do. We know your entire family are savants, no need to play dumb." The tall guy started and the other guy went on: "so now that you know what you are up against just tell us where the stone is and we can get this over with"
"I don't know where this stone is that you are looking for. Go try a museum or something" I mumbled the last part because I couldn't keep my mouth shut and I'm sure if I said it out loud they would get even more mad then they already were.
"Oh, you think this is funny, do you?" the short one almost yelled and hit me again. If they keep this up my wobbly deciduous tooth is going to fall out.
I think that we should be silent for some time see if that will make them give away some details about the situation. Genevieve suggested.
So that's what we did.
It only lasted for twenty minutes then the guy with the glasses walked out of my view. Grumbling something about insolence and prat's.
He didn't come back in front of me again for a while, but when he did he had a bucket with him.
"I'm a nice person" he said eyeing the inside of the bucket "so I'm going to give you one more change. Where is the Renegotiation stone?" the voice he used was slow and deliberate.
"I already said that I don't know. Please let me go" my voice sounded kind of like it did when I asked mum to cut the etiquette lessons short.
"Wrong answerer, try again" the man said and hurled the contents of the bucket at me.
The next moment I was cold and wet, my hair sticking to my forehead.
I coughed, trying to make sure that no water got in my mouth, then everything went foggy.
Genevieve's pov
I don't usually like fully taking over the body that I'm sharing but this is enough.
A seven-year-old child should not have to live throw something like this, not when I can help it.
"I still don't know" I said looking up at those two pieces of filth.