Jamie opened her eyes to the dim room around her. She was shocked to see that it was crowded with beds. A pair of voices conversed above her head.
"Gosh, that was so close." The voice was familiar, old and wise-sounding, and definitely female. But she couldn't get their face in her head.
"It's insane! That place has been our most protected hideout for the past fifty years! It has been there since I can remember." This voice was male, young, and filled with fiery anger.
"Come on, Brant," the female said. "No use in waiting around complaining. For all we know, they could be on our tail with this place already."
"The flop house? There's no way they could find it. We're safe and secure here. There's no way."
A sigh, and then footsteps, as the pair walked away.
Jamie looked around. After checking that the room was empty, she tried to get up. She was bound, of course. They weren't that stupid.
She found, though, that she could bend her knees, if she tugged hard on her ankle bonds. She worked with that, to bend her knees, and then stretch then, as far as they could go. She couldn't see the spot where ankle bonds were connected to the bed, but she could feel it with her feet. She bent her knees again, and turned her leg, tugging ever-harder on her ankles, and rubbed her foot against her shin.
She was still wearing her sneakers, the worn out shoes by the door that she had slipped on after storming off from her parents... which now felt like forever ago. How long had it been, really? She'd been drugged a few times. She had lost Coco. She had been captured with freedom at her fingertips. She had watched Mr. Forkle be tortured...
So much had happened. She'd learned so much, and lost so much.
Using the tip of her toe, she slid one shoe off, and then the other. Moment of truth....
Her stockinged feet just barely fit out the metal shackles around her ankles. Excited, and feeling hope rush through her, Jamie twisted herself around, until she was sitting cross-legged in front of her two tied hands. They had been above her head before, but now, with her wrists right in front of her, she was confident she could get them untied.
Her fingers were raw by the time she had one untied, but even torn skin didn't stop her. She got the other undone. She was wriggling her fingers, and wiping some blood onto to the sheets.
Leave a mark, she thought. She sat on the edge of the bed, smiling. She imagined Gisela, stalking in, expecting her to be laying there sadly. But instead she would be long gone, with only a red stain left on the bed.
She grabbed her shoes, when she heard a door handle turning. She fell to the ground, and sprang under the bed next to the one she had been in. In doing so, she smacked her head against one of the support bars underneath the bed frame. It let out a resounding clang, and her head stung. She felt dizzy, so she curled into a ball, and breathed as softly as she could.
"Vespera!" A man's voice called. "Vespera, she's gone!"
Jamie's head pounded in sync with her heart.
"What?!" It was the old female voice again. The name sparked a memory. That time, when she drew the scrambled symbol in the car. The one that had sparked one of the odd planted thoughts. Vespera... so it was a name. Interesting.
"I—I think I head a door slam as I came in, but I'm not sure..." the young male voice was furious and uncertain.
"You were supposed to be checking in on her ever minute! You didn't do your job. At least do something right, and go find her before she figures out how contact the Black Swan."
The anger faded from the man's voice, into nervousness. This older woman, this Vespera, seemed to be powerful. Her tone was commanding, and Jamie heard the other person's footsteps echoing the opposite way they had come in. Verspera's slow soft footsteps barely made a sound. Jamie peeked out and spotted the woman's thin pale ankles in tiny black shoes, with heels on the back. The woman was standing next to her bed, probably examining the bloodstains. Jamie sighed quietly, but when she looked down at the floor, and spotted a smear of blood.
Uh oh... she had probably left it there when she rolled under the other bed. Vespera stepped back, and glanced down at the ground. Jamie's heart sunk, as the woman chuckled softly. Then, all she could see was the lady's skirt resting on the floor, as she crouched. Jamie huddled in her little ball, watching the bit of bed skirt that was hanging down in front of her, the only thing keeping her from view. She watched it with bated breath. Would Vespera pull it up and peek beneath? Would she spot Jamie? Had her bloodied fingers been for nothing.
There was a swish... Jamie closed her eyes. Another chuckle, and she heard something swish again. She opened her eyes to see Verspera stand up.
Oh goodness, was all she could think, as Vespera walked away. Vespera had checked underneath the other bed! She hadn't found Jamie! She was safe, and she was going to get out.
Listening for the distant footsteps to fade, she brushed aside the bedskirt, and slid out from under the bed, rolling smoothly to her feet. Standing between the bed she had been tied to, and the one she had hidden under, she came to and impasse. Where should she go? Down the hall where the younger man had gone? Or where Vespera had left from? She spun around a couple times, surveying the walls. But there were only those two doors.
She smiled as she began pointing back and forth between the doors, reciting a silly rhyme she had been taught to make decisions.
Eenie-meenie-minie-moe. Catch a tiger by the toe. If he howls let him go. Eenie-meenie-minie-moe.
She ended up pointing towards the way the younger guy had gone. If eenie-meenie-minie-moe told her to do it, that meant she should... right?
Well, she didn't really have any other choice—other than standing in the bed-filled room indecisively—so she hurried over, and tugged it open, and slipped through.
The domed stone hallway looked nearly exactly the same as the one she had found when she first snuck out of the first room she had been locked in, though she had been carrying Coco that time.
But this time there were no doors, just a long empty hallway. She could see something at the end of the dimly lit corridor, but she couldn't quite make out what it was. Feet, still without any covering except her socks, she padded along softly—shoes in hand. The floor was perfectly smooth, like concrete, but every little while there were bits of crystal or changes in the rock. It was as if someone had dug out the tunnel, then smoothed it with a nail-file to make it perfectly flat. It would have been difficult to stage the crystals in the concrete like that.
She hurried softly, until a pair of doors appeared ahead of her. She approached them, and put her ear against them, trying to hear if anyone was on the other side.
She heard nothing, and then a crash. She ducked, and felt the doors swing open. She prepared to leap onto the person entering like she had the time with Coco. This moment was strangely similar to that, actually. She stood up, set down her shoes, and lept forward, prepared to strangle him, but the man ducked at the last moment, obviously hearing her. He caught her arm, as she stumbled forward. He drew his hand back, about to punch.
And then he stopped.
   He leaned over her, and she took a moment to stare at him. He had strawberry-blonde hair, and twinkling periwinkle-blue eyes.
Tears came to those eyes, moments later and he hugged her. She stood stiffly. She could have fought back, but something about this was strange... sincere.
"Jamie." He pulled back, and stared into her eyes. "I'm sorry, that was weird. But, I'm just so happy to see you." Though he looked about thirty, maybe twenty-five at least, he had a boyish way about him. "We've been looking for you."
"Woah, wait," she held up her hands. "Are you with the Black Swan or Cloakie Dudes?"
The guy paused. "By "Cloakie Dudes," I assume you mean the Neverseen. The people who are working to gain information, destroy humans, and take over the world. But no, I'm with the Black Swan... an organization which has gone dormant and silent for years, since the Moonlark disappeared..."
He stopped, placing his hand on her shoulder. "Well, we should go, I'll explain more when we get back to the hideout."
"Hideout?" Jamie was surprised. "No, no, no. I'm fit to be an innocent bystander, not part of the action. I want to go home, make sure my neighbours are safe, and go on living happily! No more hideouts. I don't wanna be involved."
The words were cowardly and awfully selfish. But she just wanted to get back to normal life. She wanted Mr. Forkle and Coco back as her neighbours, and she wanted her parents to be happy, and she wanted to be happy. And if Mr. Forkle was involved, he could do what he liked, but she was not getting involved anymore. Enough was enough.
"But Jamie, there's no way. It would be impossible to not be involved. Because you were involved since the day you were born."
He looked at her, taking in her small form. She was only eleven and a half, not even close to being a teenager yet. A flash of remorse crossed his eyes.
"You are the child of the Moonlark, and the most important part of this whole organization. Now that we have found you, we can get back to fixing the world, and maybe someday, you will succeed your mother, and become the next Moonlark."

1674 Words!

So.... that's the last chapter! There will be an epilogue, coming shortly. But I hope you like it!!!

-Wawawa