Muse Song, #1

by Sarah Biglow

  "She's in pain." Erin started forward.

  Pressing my lips together, I shook my head. Defending me wasn’t worth it. Not right now. Dr. Phillips returned to her seat and picked up her pen. "She shouldn't have done that.”

  My vision blurred again and more tears fell when I tried to sit up. I refused to give this woman the satisfaction of knowing she could beat us into submission. Sucking in air through my nose, I forced myself to get to my feet. The room spun and I clenched my hands into fists to have something concrete and real to focus on to keep me upright.

  The doctor pointed to one of the beds. “Sit down right there. Don’t move again until we’ve finished.”

  I couldn’t have argued if I wanted to so I obeyed. Sitting seemed to ease some of the pain.

  We spent another hour with Dr. Phillips. Before she left, she set three trays on the floor with two plates each with ham and cheese sandwiches and bottles of water. She gave no indication of when she would be back. Rosa chugged what little water was left in the bottle clutched to her chest. It did little to bring back the color to her cheeks this time. I didn’t want to think about how awful I looked.

  "Are you okay?" Erin sat beside me and brushed damp hair out of my face.

  My jaw finally unclenched and the coppery taste of blood filled my mouth. Feeling finally returned and I could tell I’d bitten my tongue. Running a hand over my chin, I felt the raised bumps of rug burn. “I’m fine." I couldn’t meet her eyes.

  She wrapped her arm around my shoulders. "You don't look it."

  "I'll recover.”

  Rosa handed me her empty bottle and I managed to spit some of the excess blood out of my mouth. “I just need to rest.” I looked across the room at Rosa. “How are you doing?"

  "I will be okay too. I am very tired."

  “We need a new plan." Erin kicked the nearest chair leg.

  I picked up a napkin and dabbed at my tongue some more until I was satisfied the bleeding had stopped. Rosa motioned for me to wipe my nose and the napkin came away bloodier than before. I could use a trip to the bathroom but that wasn’t happening any time soon. "She was expecting us to try something. And we made the mistake of underestimating her power.” I took several slow breaths. “We’ll be ready next time."

  "Next time?” Erin got to her feet. “You can’t be serious."

  I rubbed the back of my neck. “We need that information. Sure, it would be easier if she just told us or if Glaukos came back with answers but we can’t rely on other people. If we want to get out of here, we need to do it on our own.”

  “But, Abbie, you did not see whatever she did to you.” Rosa twisted her fingers in the hem of her shirt. “I thought you were going to die.”

  “Believe me, it felt that way. I’ve got the bloodstains to prove it.” Strength slowly returned to my body and, in that moment, I knew what needed to happen next. “But I know what to expect next time. It’s all mind over matter. I just have to convince myself not to feel the pain.”

  Erin held up her hands. "You don’t have to do it again."

  "Yeah, I do. She won’t expect me to try it again so I’m the most logical choice.” Getting to my feet, I pushed past Erin’s outstretched hands. “I’ll see if there’s a way out of the next room too.”

  “But she’d definitely notice if you were gone. You have maybe a minute before she notices. Just focus on the book for now.” Erin wrapped her arms around her chest.

  I let out a slow breath through my nose. “Okay. The next time she comes in, I’ll make a break for it.”

  It wasn’t the best plan but it was all we had. I picked up one of the trays and took a few swigs of water. Dr. Phillips had given us enough food for at least another day. Now we waited.

  18

  The rest of Saturday morning dragged. Around noon we sat together in the middle of the room and picked slowly at our sandwiches. I wasn’t a huge fan of ham and cheese but I couldn’t afford to be choosy. I took small bites, letting each one settle before moving on to the next bite. The pain in my tongue had lessened but it was still sore.

  Erin wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. “I wonder why she gave us two plates this time.”

  Looking from our triangle to the wall and back again, I said, “I don’t think she’s coming back until Monday.”

  Rosa set her empty plate back on her tray. “I wonder why.”

  Erin kicked her tray away and stretched her arms over head. “Because she’s crazy.” Her cheeks took on a slight pinkish hue and her lips turned down into a frown at the edges. “I don’t understand why no one’s found us yet. I mean the cops have to know she was seeing all of us.”

  I swallowed the last bite of sandwich. “She’s obviously a good liar. She could convince them she wasn’t the last person to see us before we disappeared or they looked through her office and didn’t find anything.” I downed the bite with a swig of water. “Hey, Rosa, did you read what she wrote earlier?"

  "No. She wrote too fast and her writing is very messy."

  "Next time we should pay attention.” Erin shrugged. “Maybe it will help us figure out what she’s going to do with the play."

  Just what we needed; one more item on our ever-growing list of things to solve. I kept it to myself though. It wouldn’t do us any good to start arguing again about what was and wasn’t important. Besides, I needed to reserve my strength to make a second attempt whenever Dr. Phillips came back.

  “Abbie, can I ask you something?” Erin turned the chair behind her around and settled into it with her arms dangling over the back.

  I shrugged one shoulder. “Sure.”

  “Who’s Liam?”

  Heat shot up my neck and settled in my cheeks. “What?”

  “You told Glaukos to tell someone named Liam that you were okay. Who is he?”

  “A friend.” Closing my eyes, I pictured Liam in my mind. A smile spread over my lips and I opened my eyes. “Okay, so I kind of want him to be my boyfriend. We only really started talking this past week. We have a couple classes together.” A nervous giggle escaped. “He’s really sweet. I think he likes me too. He wants to hang out when I’m un-grounded. I guess that all depends on if we ever get out of here.”

  “Do you think Glaukos found him?” Rosa propped her elbows on her knees.

  “No idea.” I picked at my cuticles. “I probably should have told him to tell my parents that I was okay. But that probably would have freaked them out.”

  Erin let out a snort. “But an owl talking to a teenage boy wouldn’t?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. He warned me to be careful with Dr. Phillips. Something tells me he wouldn’t be too weirded out by a talking owl.” Speaking of weird things, I thought and cleared my throat. “I need to tell you both something.” Inching closer to my friends, I leaned forward. “I’ve been having strange dreams. At least I think they’re dreams.”

  Erin narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

  “It’s like…” Tapping my chin, I tried to remember all the different versions. “I’m in all these different places and bad things keep happening. In one I was in a forest and there were lightning storms and the ground erupted and there was a massive tidal wave. And then there was one with these, like, zombie guys in a field.” I knew it sounded crazy but Erin and Rosa sat without looking away so I kept going. “But I wasn’t alone. I was always with people. And they felt familiar, like family. I don’t know if it means anything but the dreams didn’t start until I got here.”

  Erin’s shoulders relaxed and she let out a breath. “I thought it was just me.”

  “Me too.” Rosa nodded.

  My mouth went slack. I tried to find words but failed. I tried again. “Wait… You’ve been having dreams too?”

  “Those same dreams.” Erin smiled.

  “They have stopped for now,” Rosa added.

  “At least I’m not going crazy or something.” I relaxed a little.

  Rosa ran a hand over the violin propped against her
seat. “What if these are not dreams?”

  Erin leaned back in the chair and the metal squeaked in protest. “What do you mean?”

  “To me, they feel like memories. Ones I had forgotten about until I came here.”

  It didn’t matter what they were. We didn’t really need more puzzles to decipher. The conversation drifted off as Rosa picked up the violin and played a few somber notes. Her cheeks paled as she set the instrument down in her lap. “I hope she does not make me hum again when she comes back.”

  I moved closer to her. “Was it that bad?”

  Rosa ran her fingers along the strings without making noise. “I do not know how to explain. Sometimes, when I hum, I feel sort of like I am vibrating. I make this connection with people like they have a need to let things out. It makes me feel strong. But this time, the more I hummed the weaker I became.”

  I patted Rosa’s knee. “It will be us soon enough. And whatever she does to keep us here when we aren’t trying to fight it isn’t so bad.” I wasn’t really looking forward to the experience. Returning to my bed, I settled on top of the blankets. The little bit of food had suddenly made me drowsy. In my peripheral vision I watched Erin and Rosa follow suit. Maybe we’d share another dream if we all managed to get a little sleep.

  I drifted off but not long enough to really dream. I woke with a start, voices coming from somewhere nearby. Wiping the sleep from my eyes, I looked around the room trying to figure out where the voices were coming from. “Do you guys hear that?”

  Rosa and Erin nodded but didn’t move. I got up from the bed and crouched down by the wall. I pressed my ear to where I assumed the door met the wall, but the conversation remained muffled. If only I was back at home where eavesdropping was easier thanks to actual open doors.

  Rosa scooted closer to the head of her bed. "Can you hear what they are saying?"

  I shook my head. "They're too far away. And the walls are too thick."

  Erin moved to sit beside Rosa. "Maybe they are walking around?"

  "No.” I listened again. “If they were moving around they would get softer and louder as they walked. The volume is the same.” I flashed them a smile. “Trust me. I spy on my mom a lot when she talks to my dad on the phone."

  Finally, after only mumbled syllables, someone walked close enough and spoke loud enough to be heard through the barrier. Dr. Phillips’s voice. "I'll have it ready soon enough. Trust me. You both just need to be patient."

  A man’s accented voice responded. “I think we’ve been patient long enough. Besides, you know we have a schedule to keep. And you said you’d show me the progress you were making.”

  “When I get closer to finishing.”

  “Fine. But you are making progress, yes?”

  “Yes.”

  The man grunted. “I will update our friend on your progress.” Heavy footsteps moved away and a door opened on unoiled hinges.

  Dr. Phillips’s voice rang out. “Oh, you might want to pay more attention to the people around you. I think we might have a spy.”

  Silence followed and I sat back on my heels. The man’s voice sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it. And out of nowhere Liam’s face flashed in my mind.

  Erin stepped up to the wall beside me. “What was all that about?”

  "I think she was talking about the play." I settled on my knees. “It sounds like she’s working with someone else, a man. I think he’s calling the shots.” The overheard conversation only added more questions to our growing list and answers were pretty damn nonexistent. If we didn’t find some soon, we’d be screwed.

  19

  Dr. Phillips didn’t return on Sunday, just as I’d predicted. By Erin’s watch it was after 10:00pm but none of us could sleep. The light overhead remained on. In the silence, I shivered as the realization hit me that in just two days I would have been missing for a week. We’d all gone through the second plate on our trays and we’d run out of water. My bladder was starting to get insistent that it be emptied. Tugging the blankets over my legs, I closed my eyes. I’d fallen into a light doze when soft clicks like nails on tile caught my attention. I didn’t move. "What was that?"

  “See for yourself,” a familiar voice said in my head.

  I opened my eyes to face the middle of the room. Swinging my legs over the edge of the bed, I found Glaukos perched on the seat of the nearest chair.

  "You came back." Erin got up from her bed and sat on the piano bench.

  “I am afraid it is a short visit.”

  "She’s torturing us.” A shiver wracked my body. I moved to take the seat in front of the organ. “I tried to get to the books outside this room, to find information like you told us, but she stopped me.” I wrapped my arms around my torso to ward off a chill. “I thought I was going to die. It was like I was being ripped apart from the inside.” Even without a mirror I knew I still had dried flecks of blood on my top lip.

  Rosa joined the group in the middle of the room and pulled her feet under her as she sat down. “All she cares about is this stupid play she is writing.”

  Glaukos let out of soft hoot and inched to the end of the seat. “I am so very sorry she is mistreating you. We are doing what we can to nudge the police in the right direction.”

  Erin drummed her fingers on the edge of her chair. “Haven’t the cops questioned her yet?”

  The bird inclined its head in Erin’s direction. “I am afraid I have not been able to follow the investigation very closely. But I can assure you that others are still working to rescue you.” Glaukos’ lamp-like eyes shone in the pale light. It blinked twice. “Now, tell me about this play.”

  “We do not know much.” Rosa shrugged. “She will not tell us what it is about. But she is making us use our abilities.” A single tear ran down her cheek. “It is painful.”

  “I warned you to be careful.”

  “We don’t exactly have a choice in the matter”—I glared at the bird—“unless we want to end up unconscious from the pain.”

  Glaukos swiveled its head in my direction and clicked its beak. Looking down at my hands, I couldn’t help feeling like the bird was scolding me. “Sorry.” I rubbed my eyes with both hands. “It’s just … there are so many things we don’t know and we aren’t any closer to figuring them out. About all we know for sure is that all of this has something to do with Ancient Greece from what you said about Athena and what she said about Greek plays but that’s all we’ve got to go on.”

  Erin nudged my leg with her toe. “And the dreams.”

  “What dreams?”

  Exhaling, I explained. “We’ve been having the same dreams since we were put here.”

  “They feel more like memories, long forgotten ones,” Rosa added.

  Erin titled her head in the bird’s direction. “Do you know what they mean?”

  Glaukos gave another soft hoot. “Perhaps. I will see what I can learn. I must go now. Be strong. We have faith in you.”

  Jumping to my feet, I held out a hand as if it would keep the bird from taking flight. “Wait! Did you find Liam? Did you give him my message?”

  Glaukos spread its wings and flapped once. “Yes. He was happy to know you were all right. He wanted me to tell you he is sorry.”

  "I think I hear something outside." Rosa moved to the sealed doorway and pressed her ear close.

  I joined her but couldn’t hear anything at first. Then footsteps—muffled though they were—sounded just beyond our prison. I turned back to look at Glaukos. “Someone is definitely out there.”

  Glaukos launched into the air. “I’m sorry, but I can’t stay longer. When you discover your reading material, remember that everything has its season.” The owl disappeared in a puff of feathers, leaving no proof that it had even been there.

  I returned to my bed and pressed my back to the wall. These little visits weren’t helping at all. Why couldn’t the owl just come out and tell us what to look for? The minimal amount of food and water made my brain fuzzy when I tried to puzzle ou
t the bird’s latest offering about the seasons. There was one thing that gave me hope; Liam knew I was alive and he was happy about it. But I had no idea what he had to be sorry about. Erin and Rosa returned to their beds as well. The footfalls had grown fainter and disappeared almost the moment Glaukos pulled his disappearing act. In the quiet, I turned my attention to finding a way to trick my mind into ignoring the pain in my body. I would be ready next time.

  20

  Sleep eluded me again on Monday morning. By quarter after five I was out the door and speeding off toward school, under cover of darkness, determined to catch Mr. McManus before classes started for the day. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm didn't take into account that the school didn't actually open until quarter after six. So I sat on a bench near the entrance to the cafeteria for fifteen minutes until I spotted a janitor walking by inside. Leaping from the bench, I pounded on the door to get the man's attention. The janitor approached and pushed the door open.

  "Thanks.” I squeezed by him and took off before I could be questioned.

  The halls were eerie in the semidarkness but I made it to Mr. McManus's classroom without a problem. Trying the door, I found it locked with no sign of the teacher inside. Backtracking to the hallway that led to the teachers’ lounge, I took a chance. I eased the door open and spotted Mr. McManus sitting on a sofa by the window. I couldn’t make out who the teacher was speaking with. "I've given them a push in the right direction but we have to trust that they can work out the truth on their own." He nodded and rubbed his chin. "If it were that easy, we would do that. But this time around things didn't work out that way."

  My sneaker squeaked on the tile floor giving me away. Mr. McManus looked up and I saw the cell phone pressed to his ear. "I have to go. I'll talk to you tonight."

  I opened my mouth to apologize and then stopped. No, I wasn’t sorry I’d overheard the conversation. It was more information than I’d been able to get out of Mr. McManus so far. He ended the call and set the phone on the edge of the sofa. "I should be surprised to see you, Liam."