Puck slept the rest of the night, and I listened.

The guards walk past ever four hours. They take someone with them and return them to their cells four hours later. They work in order. Systematic. Door one, then door two, door three, door four.

When they complete a full rotation, I will know how many of us there are. In this corridor at least. A ship this size could have upwards of four times what is in this block. More, if they are comfortable keeping some of us together. I see no evidence of that being the case. These soldiers are well trained, paranoid, and terrified. If their charge so much as twitches during the transfer, they do everything in their power to subdue them.

I've hear the crackle of electricity, and the meaty blows of battons.

They don't call us by our names. I'm not sure they even bother knowing our names.

That is their first mistake. Many of us have literature about us that has a basis in fact. Knowing our names would give them more access to pain points and more leverage.

There appear to be four shifts of guards. It is logical to assume there might be four sets of scientists or interogators as well. No one besides the same guards appears, which means we are being segrigated from the rest of the ship's crew, or the ship is stationary and has no crew. But by the vibrations in the floor, I would assume we are simply being hidden and hte ship has close to a full complement on board to run her.

I'll know for certain when they take me from my cell. That close, I should be able to smell enough from them to give an order of magnitude estimate.

From what I can tell, the dragons were thorough in their betrayal. Each of us is held in a cell specifically modified to prevent escape for a specific race. Puck said there was a phoenix aboard. Which means its cell, these corridors, and whatever room they take us to are designed to prevent both teleportation and fairy portals.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

We will have to find a way to break the warding to escape.

The problem is, there are two types of warding they could use: physical and magical. The simplest physical ward would be painting a layer of salt on the walls. I doubt they went that route because it can easily be scratched off. Another option would be to line the walls with alternating layers of iron, plastic, and salt. This would prevent tampering, and make the area both portal and teleportation proof. It might also obscure seeres sight and prevent scrying. The only way to sense us is if a child of one of the beings on board gets close enough to sense them.

Which means there is no one coming to save us.

We have to save ourselves.

Whoever was in the cell next to me was taken around three hours ago. They should be back soon and then I will know what angle I need to use to get out of here.

"Loki?"

"Puck. You are awake! How are you feeling?"

"Better than I have in weeks."

"Does the rotation ever change?"

"No, they just add new people to it as they get them."

"Then it looks like I'm next. Do you want to tell me what I can expect?"

"They will take you to a room with two scientists. There are always two. One to run tests and one to watch and take notes. The guards will be watching you the entire time. If you make any move to resist, they will hurt you."

"How intense should I expect these tests to be?"

"They start slow. Blood, saliva, hair, baseline building. Then they get increasingly more invasive."

"How long have you been here?"

"Just over a month."

"I'm sorry."

I hear footsteps coming down the hall, it is time. The cell door next to me creaks open, they throw someone through it and the door slams shut.

The door to my cell opens, grunt number three walks in "Get up vamp!"

I stand up and do everything I can to cooperate. There is no sense in getting injured prematurely. They flank me as we walk down the hall.

Show time.