Steve awoke inside a small, rectangular room, his head still aching. He sat up and looked around to find that Nadine and his dad were in there, too. All three of them had been forcibly changed into identical white linen clothing.

“Finally, you’re awake,” said Eric, moving over to help him to his feet. “I’ve been trying to rouse the two of you for twenty minutes with no luck. You always did sleep like a log, though, so it’s not really that big a surprise.”

“Where are we?”

“Imprisoned somewhere,” said Eric. “If I hadn’t seen those Elves, I’d think we were in ancient Japan. Look out the window.” Steve did so, and, although there were bars on the window, he could clearly see a city beyond it, surrounded by trees. They were apparently in a forest somewhere. However, the city’s architecture was more distinctly Eastern than the medieval Western-style cities of Robertston and Callista.

“Now I know how Hannah felt when she was trapped in Miseran,” said Steve, balling his fists. “Angry. Why did they take us anyways?”

“How should I know?” Eric asked. “You know more about this place than I do. The only person who knows more is her.” He and Steve both looked at Nadine, who was curled up next to a wall still passed out.

Steve cracked his knuckles and declared, “I’ll get her up. Just give me a minute.” He walked over to her and got down on his knees to prepare. First he lifted her up and propped her against the wall, so she looked to be sitting cross-legged. Then he took a deep breath, shuffled off to the side so he wouldn’t be right in the way, and shouted, “Hey, look, there’s free pizza!”

Nadine, whose favorite Earth food was cheese pizza, sprang up so fast it was like someone had set off a bomb. “Where? Where?” she exclaimed excitedly, still disoriented.

Eric gave Steve an incredulous look as Nadine slowly took in her surroundings. “Uh, where are we? Where’s the pizza?”

“Elven jail,” Steve said quietly, after a moment of hesitation. “No pizza.”

“Curse those Elves,” Nadine responded, looking very annoyed. “If they were going to lock us up, they could’ve at least given us pizza!” She shook her head as she slowly regained her bearings, still a little groggy from being woken up so suddenly. Then her eyes went wide as she realized what she’d said. “Oh! That was a terrible thing to say! I’m so sorry!” She shook her head violently, trying to wake up more. “Again, curse those Elves! First they cut off all contact and kick our diplomats out, and then they start patrolling the border more and more. By doing this, though, they’ve crossed the line.”

“Perhaps we could find out why,” Eric suggested, in an attempt to calm her down. Steve had secretly told him before what happened when Nadine got really, really mad, and he wasn’t willing to trigger it any more than Steve was, although since he hadn’t experienced it himself he likely didn’t fully understand the danger.

“From inside a cell?” Nadine asked in surprise.

“I am a police detective,” he reminded her. “I do have investigation training. It can’t hurt, right? There should be some guards around I can talk to. Nadine, you know more about the Elves than us, so could you tell me their history with Humans?”

“Uh,” said Nadine, taken off guard. “I suppose I could try, but I don’t know much. The Elves and the Callistian Empire have always been on bad terms, since part of the Empire used to be Elven lands. That area is Marisia now, for the most part. Queen Rebecca restored relations with the Elves, and we reached an understanding. It was with their backing that we were able to secede to begin with. A few years later, though, something happened that made them hate us and cut off all diplomatic ties. No one knows what exactly happened, and that’s scary.”

Eric nodded, then walked to the door. “Hey! Open up!” he demanded, banging on the door. The two teens stared at him with wide eyes, not understanding what he was up to.

A guard appeared swiftly and banged on the door in response, adding the rattling of metal armor to the clamor. “Stop that noise!” he demanded, glaring in through the small window in the door.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“I demand to know why you’re keeping us here!” Eric responded, continuing to bang on the door. “Let me speak to your superiors!”

“Back away from the door before I go in there and hurt you!” the guard shouted back, taking out a small dagger and holding it threateningly. The noise from the banging was deafening, and Steve hoped it wouldn’t draw the attention of the other guards.

Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. “What’s all the racket?” a voice called out. The guard outside the door shut up immediately and backed off. Eric did so as well.

“Commander!” the guard exclaimed. “One of the prisoners was being obnoxious and demanded an audience, so I was trying to quiet him down.”

The commander waved away the guard and looked in at Eric. “What do you want?” he asked stiffly.

“I want to know why we’re in here,” said Eric politely. “We were abducted and thrown in jail with little explanation.”

“Ah,” the commander said in understanding. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small scroll of parchment, which he unrolled. “The charges are thievery, spying, political manipulation, and magical exploitation.”

“Well, considering none of us have been here before, I doubt those charges will hold up,” said Eric, staring him down.

The commander looked a little impressed by his brashness. He put away the scroll and said, “Those are the charges, Human, so don’t bother us again about them. Any disputes can be brought up when you…” He was suddenly interrupted when Nadine joined Eric at the window.

“I would suggest you let us go soon, since otherwise my father will hear of it, and he will declare war,” she told the commander. “Believe me, neither of us wants that.”

The commander didn’t look too intimidated, but he didn’t laugh. Instead he began speaking with her in a rather patient tone. “Young lady, you are trapped in a cell, so your father won’t hear of this until we decide it’s time for that.”

Nadine waved her hand and a stream of sparks flew from her fingertips. “I can use magic, so I can contact him whenever I please. Now, let us out and we’ll forget all about this.”

The commander looked startled. “You Industrians can use magic? You!” He addressed this last part to the guard from before. “Bring me some magic dampening potion! Quickly!”

“Do we have a potion that is safe for the Humans?” the guard asked. The commander froze, realizing the guard had a point.

“Ask the potioneer if she has any,” he responded. “Actually, I’ll go. You keep guard over this cell and call for assistance if they try anything, no matter how insignificant. Use all necessary force if they try to escape magically.” The commander made himself scarce, leaving them alone.

After he left, Steve turned to Nadine. “Way to show them our hand. Now what are we going to do?”

Nadine, who was NOT calm at all, retorted loudly, “Yeah, well, that’s what happens when I get trapped in small, dark places. You know I hate being cooped up. I like my freedom, thank you very much.”

“So…you’re saying you’re going to be a hippie?” Steve responded rudely.

“I…don’t know what that is,” she responded. She looked confused for a moment until her face took on a eureka look as Steve’s knowledge that she’d obtained told her what it was. “Oh, that’s what they are? No, thank you, that sounds crazy.” She sat down next to a wall and hugged herself tightly, trying to keep herself from hyperventilating from panic.

Eric was looking between them with a look of alarm, so he changed the subject. “If that commander guy is going to give you two a potion that blocks magic, I suggest we send out a message before he comes back. That’s how it works, right?”

“Yeah, more or less,” Steve confirmed. “You can receive telepathic messages without magic, but you need it to send them. We can contact Rachel telepathically and tell her what happened. Once she knows Nadine is here, she won’t stop until we’re freed.”

“Remind me who Rachel is again,” said Eric.

“Princess Rachel of Marisia, my closest friend that’s like a sister to me,” said Nadine. “I kind of don’t want to involve her, though. If she comes here uninvited, it might start a war.”

“Right…I knew that,” said Eric, facepalming.

“We could fight our way out,” said Steve. We could overpower the guards and get a sword.”

“I’m…not really a fighter, Steve,” said Nadine. “I thought you knew that. I carry a knife for self-defense normally, but that’s it. No swords and limited archery, but pretty good at magic. That’s me.”

Steve gave Nadine a disbelieving look. He’d seen her fight before, but that was when she’d been super-mad, and it had been with both magic and her knife. So she could’ve been telling the truth. “Well, if we can’t escape ourselves, we need to send a message for help,” said Steve again.

Nadine looked ready to throw out another idea, but she gave up. “Fine, I’ll talk to her,” she sighed in defeat. “Actually, you’d better talk to her; I don’t feel up to it right now.”

Since she still looked distressed, he didn’t argue with her about it. He went to try to mentally communicate, but he realized he’d never actually sent a message before. Normally someone else started the conversation and he just went along with it. He concentrated hard, focusing on the connection he’d made with Rachel with all his might. Since it was long distance, it took a while to connect. “Time to go for it,” he thought as he made contact.