I said I couldn't wait to write Chapter 7 but look how long it's taken me to write it!
ASTRID'S POV
Diana and I watched Drake leave the room. Diana was a white as a sheet and I could only imagine how I looked – probably as white as two sheets washed in Persil. "What are we going to do, Diana?" I asked Diana quietly, keeping my eye on the door.
"Believe me Astrid, I'd tell you if I knew." She replied sadly, sighing. I looked around the room, my eyes taking in every little detail. I walked over to the window and tried to open it. It wouldn't budge. "Diana, can you help me?" I asked her, my voice no more than a whisper. Diana walked quickly over and tried to help me open the window. Even with the two of us using all our strength, the window just wouldn't open. Eventually, we gave up, and sat down on the bed, exhausted. "Do you think it's just a coincidence that Drake has put is in the room where the window doesn't open?" Diana asked me wryly. "I don't think anything Drake does is a coincidence." I replied, once again keeping an eye on the door.
I sighed and tore my eyes away from the door. Yet again, I looked around the room, my eyes finally spotting the air vent on the wall just above the bed we were sitting on. A slow smile spread across my face. "Diana." I whispered. She turned her head to face me, and I pointed to the air vent. She smiled too. Then a frown clouded her face. "How will we get it open?" she asked me, pointing to the two screws on either side if the vent. "A screwdriver?" I asked, my escape plan falling to pieces. Diana rolled her eyes. "Can you see any screwdrivers?" she asked. I sighed, and then looked closer at the vent. I saw that one of the screws was very loose – in danger of falling out soon. I pointed this out to Diana and then tried to see if I could pull the screw out. Fortunately, it only took a few minutes of twisting the screw before it fell out onto the bed. Getting the remaining screw out proved to be a little bit harder. I pulled back the part of the vent that was now unscrewed and attempted to pull it right off the wall. I only succeeded in bending the vent back. I sighed. "Use this." I heard Diana say. I turned to face her, and saw her holding a hairclip. I took the clip and put the end of it into the bit of the screw where the screwdriver would go. I twisted it around and groaned in annoyance as the clip snapped in half. Then, to my surprise, the other screw fell out! Of course, as I wasn't expecting this, the vent fell off the wall and bounced off the bedside table – knocking the lamp off – and then landed on the floor loudly. Diana and I both flinched and turned our heads towards the door. We didn't take our eyes off the door for a while, just waiting for Drake to burst in.
When he didn't we decided to take our chance to escape. I motioned for Diana to climb into the vent and then I quickly followed her.
GENERAL POV
Drake heard the loud crash coming from Diana and Astrid's room. He smirked. So they had decided to escape? He wished them luck – they were going to need it. He decided not to bother going through to stop them. After all, he knew where the vent in their room led. Clearly, they didn't.
Diana, followed closely by Astrid, crawled along the narrow vent path. The vent had given them enough room to crawl along, but had very quickly started getting narrower and narrower. Now, Diana felt as though she was going to faint. It was getting warmer in the vent and she felt as though the walls were closing in on her. She was beginning to feel very claustrophobic. After crawling through the vent for another 10-15 minutes, with both girls starting to feel tired and panicky, they reached another air vent – the first they'd come across since they entered the vent. Diana sighed with relief. She managed to move into a sitting position and braced her feet against the vent. She breathed deeply and kicked the vent as hard as she could. The vent flew off the wall and Diana shuffled forward so that her legs were hanging over the edge. She ducked her head down and was preparing to slide down when she felt something grab her ankles. Diana screamed and tried to pull her legs up.
Drake's smirk widened when he heard Diana's screams. He pulled hard on her ankles, causing Diana to slip out the vent. Diana screamed louder when she saw Drake. She cast her eyes up to the vent and saw Astrid's face looking down at her. Astrid's eyes widened when she saw Drake. "GO, ASTRID!" Diana yelled, desperately wanting the other girl to get away. Astrid started crawling backwards as fast as she could, not taking her eyes off the vent.
Drake pushed Diana off the bed, where she landed on the floor, tears brimming in her eyes. They had been so close to escaping she thought dejectedly. Drake stood up on the bed and looked through the vent. "Really, Astrid, do you think you'll be able to get away? I'd have thought that 'Astrid The Genius' would have realised that she'd end up back where she started." Drake said, and then grinned, watching the realisation dawn on Astrid's face. Then his face hardened. "You have two choices, Astrid. You can carry on the way you're going and be faced with a hell of a lot of pain when you get out. Or, you can come here now and…Well; I was going to say 'save yourself a lot of pain,' but the pain will be the same whatever option you choose." Drake told her, smirking when finished speaking. Astrid started at him, fear prominent in her eyes. "Just GO!" Astrid heard Diana yell.
Drake turned to Diana. He jumped off the bed and slapped Diana across the face, hard, once with his normal hand, and once with his Whip–Hand. Diana screamed out in pain. Drake hit her again with his Whip–Hand, and then hit her again. Diana screamed again, and again, sobbing at the same time, her tears mixing with the blood welling up on her cheek.
Astrid heard Diana's cries, and crawled back towards the vent, because, although she knew she would undoubtedly get hurt by Drake, she knew she had to help Diana. Well, at least try and help her. Diana glanced up at the vent and her eyes widened in horror when she saw Astrid. Drake caught Diana looking at the vent and turned around. He grinned and his Whip–Hand lashed out and wrapped itself around Astrid's waist tightly, before dragging her out the vent and onto the bed beside Drake. Drake stood her up and then roughly pushed her onto the floor beside Diana. He jumped down off the bed and towered over them. "Do you really think the only reason I put you into that room was because the window doesn't open?" Drake asked them, laughing darkly.
Diana stood up, glaring at him. "Leave…leave us alone, Drake." Diana said, her voice shaking, tears still making their way silently down her face. "Why are you doing this to us? What have we ever done to you?" she asked him.
Drake rolled his eyes. "In answer to your first question, Diana, I'm doing this because it's fun. As an answer to you second question, your mere existence infuriates me. Plus, because of you, I had to share Caine's power over Coates and Perdido Beach with you, the 'love of his life.'" Drake said, sneering at her.
Astrid rolled her eyes. "So, basically you're jealous because you didn't get all the power? How childish." She said, still lying on the floor. Drake turned his glare to her and kicked her swiftly. He watched with satisfaction as she winced in pain. "You're just making it worse for yourself, Astrid." Drake said, a warning tone in his voice. He grabbed Astrid with his good hand and pulled her to her feet. He gripped Diana's wrist in his Whip–Hand and then hauled the two of them through to their room. He shoved them in and grinned his trademark, shark-like grin. "You can't get out the window and you can't escape through the vent. Just thought I'd let you know." Smirking, he shut the door, deliberately not locking it, and went back into his own room.