Natalie didn't remember much from the encounter in the dust. She knew that she had felt like she was dying, unable to breathe, much less speak… or scream, as she felt herself being dragged away by her ankle. It was almost a relief when the blackness dancing at the edge of her mind consumed her entirely, and she fell into unconsciousness with a fragment of thought telling her that at least she wouldn't be awake when she's eaten.
From the darkness, an image appeared to her, one of Dominic and Corey standing side-by-side. While Natalie watched, they slid apart, until long bus could have stood between them. As one, they reached out to her, their expressions growing into ones of fear and dread. She heard them screaming, their words an incoherent jumble, with one word standing out among the rest.
Help.
The word was repeated over and over, until the background noise faded and it was as if with each heartbeat, her friends screamed for her help, and she was paralyzed with fear.
The next thing she knew, her lungs, throat and eyes were on fire, as life giving air pushed its way through her system. When she once more feel unconscious, she rested in pace, undisturbed by nightmares.
Natalie awoke wrapped in softness. It wasn't like the stories always described, there was no moment of confusion, she didn't think that she was back home or that the last few days had been a dream. She knew she was Below, and that she was safe, hearing the low times of Corey speaking to someone and trying not to disturb her rest. It was difficult to raise, and her lungs protested every breath she took, but the fact alone that she could still breathe was a wonder to the girl.
Somehow her friends had pulled her out of the disaster, and she owed them everything for it.
Cracking her eyes open, Natalie could see that she was in a bed, the covers a deep emerald, softer than anything she had felt before. And the pillow! It made the pile of odd clothing in the tent seem as bad as the stone floor, when in the moment, it hadn't seemed so bad. The bed itself was an older style, made of wood, with head and foot posts.
Turning her attention from the bed, Natalie saw that she was in a house of the same sort of wood the bed was made out of, and there were three more beds besides her own, all full sized, and two doorways on either side of the room, with Corey's voice coming from the right. Sitting up, Natalie realized that someone had taken her shoes and socks off, and she couldn't see them anywhere in a casual glance around.
Her bare feet were silent on the warm wood floor as she stood, wincing when a glance at the bed let her know that she was still covered in bright white dust. Wobbling slightly, she stood and made her way towards the open doorway where Dominic's voice replaced Corey's, his louder tone making it easy for her to hear him.
"She wouldn't have left us if it wasn't safe. Don't be so paranoid, weren't you listening? The creatures and the Dunvirin can't get into these cottages. We could stay here forever if we wanted!"
"Well we don't want to stay here forever!" Corey retorted.
"Then where are we going?" Natalie asked, startled by the sound of her voice, raw and scratchy as she joined them in what could only be the dining room, a table big enough for eight dominating the space, although at the moment there were only four chairs, and her friends occupied two of them.
Corey leaped up, hurrying to her side to provide some support as Natalie shuffled to one of the free chairs, before sitting down again. At some point, he had washed up, with no trace of the dust that still coated Natalie in patches, and had new clothes on that looked like they were a couple generations out of fashion. Both looked at her with concern that neither had the guts to voice.
"I'm not dead, so stop looking at me like I am," she glared at them both until they broke the contact, unaware of the redness in her eyes that was the main reason they looked away, "Really, Corey. Where do we go from here, if leaving isn't an option?"
"We don't know that for sure," Corey argued stubbornly, "Just because Victoria said it doesn't mean it's true."
"Oh, so we don't listen to the person who has been here longer than us, knows how to kill monsters, and saved our lives?" Dominic shot back with an irritated glare at his best friend, "That's a good way to get killed. Or caught!"
"He's right," Natalie cut in before Corey could respond, idly running her fingertips along the polished arms of her chair, "I didn't like her either, Corey, but I'm betting we wouldn't have made it out of that mess if it weren't for Victoria, and we owe it to her to not call her a liar, at the very least."
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"Even if she's not a liar, she's hiding something from us, and whatever it is, it's important enough that she wants to keep us in the dark!"
"Whatever it is, it can't be worse than the things she's already told us, so I don't know what you're so upset about!" Dominic's voice was getting louder, making Natalie's head pound unpleasantly, "You have secrets, Corey, why are you being so dumb to the fact that other people do, too?"
"Because her secret could be the difference between life and death!" Corey roared back, standing with enough force to send his chair toppling over with a crash. "Her secret could mean that we're not ready for the next monster that pops out of the ground, or falls from the ceiling! Her secret could mean watching each other die, until there's only one of us left, and if I can get it out of her before that happens, I'm going to!"
Both Natalie and Dominic stared at Corey in silence, shocked by the outburst from their normally soft spoken friend, and neither knew what to say in response. Corey seemed to realize just how aggressive he looked as his cheeks flushed with shame, and he turned away, fixing his chair and sitting down with a slouch, rubbing his face before muttering, "You almost died, Nat. That thing almost pulled you right out of my hands, and there was nothing I could do. Any one of us could die down here. We're just kids…"
"So we learn," Natalie finally found her voice again, rough and incoherent as it was, "Victoria's coming back, right?" she glanced at Dominic for confirmation, continuing after he nodded, "So when she gets back, we get as much information from her as possible. But we'll respect her privacy, too, Corey."
The boy could only nod acceptance, his shoulders still slumped with guilt. "That still leaves the question, though. Where do we go from here?" Natalie looked between her friends as she asked the question, "We can learn everything Victoria had to offer, and still be trapped here, unless we risk leaving. But do we keep wandering, trying to find a way out? Or do we go deeper, and hope that we can beat the odds and make it to the soul thing?"
Pausing for a moment, Natalie brushed a hand over her hair and grimaced when it knocked lose a puff of dust. "I'm going to find something to wash up with. I know what my answer is. You guys can talk about it if you need to."
Dominic pointed back to the bedroom, "There's a bathroom on the other side of the bedroom. It has a wardrobe with towels and new clothes. They're a little…" he glanced at Corey, before smirking slightly, "outdated. But it's better than putting on dirty clothes."
Natalie answered with a small smile of her own, before raising and shuffling for the shower. Whoever had designed the bathroom was genius in the art of extravagance, she decided upon entering. Not only was the tub the size of a hot tub, it looked like the shower was actually a section of the room on its own, with a couple dozen tiny nozzles on the ceiling to provide the water. Fluffy red rugs sat at each "entrance" to the shower and tub, and there was a bench beside the wardrobe that Dominic had told her would be there. Most exciting, though, there was an honest to goodness toilet, something that Natalie had never in her life anticipated making her so very happy.
An hour later, Natalie was dressed in a pair of brown pants and an off-white button-up shirt in a style that the girl had seen in her grandmother's childhood pictures. Even if it was outdated, the outfit was still comfortable, and better than her dusty old clothes that had been worn since the day their… "adventure" began. Leaving the bathroom, Natalie's nostrils flared as the smell of cooking food reached her, and her mouth started watering. Real food!
With hurried steps, Natalie left the bedroom, and only stayed in the dining room long enough to see that there were two doors from this room, besides the one to the bedroom, and the smell was coming from the door to her right, leaving the one directly ahead unexplored, as she followed her nose with single-minded purpose. Entering the kitchen, Natalie found Corey passing Dominic spices, the smaller of the two standing over a stove with a skillet and pot atop it, the source of the incredible smell growing stronger so close to the source, being some sort of red meat in the skillet.
Dominic grinned, seeing Natalie lock eyes with the steak. "Victoria said we should help ourselves. I guess the owner can restock pretty easily."
"How?" Natalie asked, envisioning a herd of cattle stampeding through the narrow passageways they've seen.
Corey shrugged, "How does magic work? On this, I don't feel much need to ask questions, if is real food, then that's good enough for me."
Fair, Natalie thought, inclined to agree on that point, after days without a quality meal, something that Dominic seemed determined to provide. It wasn't long before the smaller boy was telling them to set the dining room table, his glare daring them to try and say no after all the work he put into cooking. Wisely, the pair scampered, and Dominic brought out the meal. For all the fanfare of cooking and preparation, the trio of friends wasted no time on manners or conversation after their plates were filled, devouring the meal with ravenous enthusiasm.
It was the best meal Natalie had ever eaten, and when she'd done everything except lick the plate clean, she leaned back in her chair with a sigh of contentment. Yawning, she closed her eyes and leaned her head against the back of her chair, murmuring, "We can't leave. Not right now. We'll die if we do. When Victoria gets back, we need to learn as much from her as we can. Then we go from there. Just because no one's ever heard of it happening, doesn't mean no one's ever escaped after a week. Maybe they're the people who were smart and sane enough to not talk about it so people wouldn't call them crazy."
"I don't know about all that," the deep voice came from behind Natalie, soft and soothing, "but I can certainly assist in your education, without you needing to keep Victoria prisoner with your questions."
Somehow, Natalie wasn't at all alarmed by the appearance of a complete stranger, as her eyes popped open and she turned, looking at the well muscled, dark skinned man, who smiled at the wide-eyed trio. "My name is Thomas. It's a delight to meet you."