And that’s how life was, really. Repetitive. But one day something different happened.

- Gabriel, Arabelle, please stay inside the house. I have also unlocked some rooms where you can have fun. I need to go meet a friend; I’ll be back soon. Today. Probably.

It was the first time he had left the house, let us know and didn’t leave us with a specific activity to do. This friend seemed very important for Grum. But I didn’t really have the time to focus on that; I decided to explore the rooms to see if they were new ones or ones, we had already visited. Also, I had a chance to explore my options of escaping… not that I had many ideas, or that it was urgent, but it’s always better to have an option to leave in case Grum decides to capture us again.

- Gabriel! Brother! What do you want to do????? Oh, we should totally play tag! It’ll be so much fun! Or maybe hide and seek? But please, do not go and look at books all day, you have the time for that when Grum is here…

My sister quickly rambled as soon as she couldn’t see the elf anymore. I didn’t really want to do anything she told me to, but I knew she wouldn’t keep quiet or leave me alone even for a moment unless she was forced to. I didn’t really mind her being with me, I thought we should stick together, but I also wanted my daily dose of peaceful silence.

In that way getting my own room was a gift, but learning languages was not. Before, when we were living in the wild, my sister or “the terrifying Arabelle”, the only way she wanted to be called now, made much simpler noises or words which were much better than this barrage of questions and commentaries that continued even while I was thinking about this.

- I have an idea, why don’t you search why the name Arabelle is supposed to give so much fear to others while I search for something that we both can do together. I’ll tell you when I’ve found something.

I finally gave a reply to her, probably not what she wanted, but it was at least interesting enough that she would actually search for a bit before she insisted for us to do something together and I’d have to compromise, or else, I’d actually suffer more than if I actually spent time with her. But at least for now I would get a bit of time to explore the place. At first looking at the room names, walking in “triangles” I realized that some rooms were missing. A whole hall of them.

They were rooms which I had only seen when I was with Grum. It was probably magic! Then he looked at the hole in the sky. One couldn’t figure the shape of the building by walking through it, but maybe one could realize the shape when getting teleported as the clouds would change. Unless Grum had accounted for that. Which he did and didn’t.

In actuality the hole in the sky wasn’t showing the clouds that were right above the building, instead it was a portal that let them look to a completely different part of the world, changed in such a way that made it seem like a triangle.

But Gabriel couldn’t give up on his square theory, especially now that he had found some proof that supported him. So, he went to the middle of the garden, thinking that looking right up there would show some inconsistencies, which would work, except that it was in an infinitely small spot and a tree with a big trunk was placed there, on purpose. Grum wasn’t a dumb elf after all.

Feeling defeated Gabriel decided to rest for a while, first exiting the elf-made forest with curious-looking plants. Observing them he felt attracted to a specific plant, which sent him some form of pollen and made him hear voices. Well just one.

- We meet again fellow inmate! How has your stay been? I see you’ve been busy trying to exit, huh? Well, I know a thing or two about this place. Oh, also tell me how the outside is, please. I realize that you were very young when you got in, but you still probably know something.

Gabriel was stunned for a moment as he didn’t expect a talking plant and even less such a talkative one. But it seemed to be useful for Gabriel, although it still could be a spy of Grum, so he simply answered his questions one by one in a manner that wouldn’t make Grumbonk unsatisfied, but still more honest with what he’d tell him directly so that if it was a spy Grum would think that Gabriel doesn’t want to escape but if it weren’t a spy then it should understand that he actually wants to escape. It was complicated.

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- It’s been OK; better than what I expected at the beginning, but it could be better. And yes, I do indeed want to see the outside, as I don’t like being forced to stay in one place and the hill that we go to is always the same one, so it doesn’t satisfy my exploration and discovery urges. And well information from the outside…. I was born in a small village from some Rakshnurians, and it got raided by some humans afterwards. We got saved by one human who didn’t say where we were hiding, so I’m grateful to him, as maybe we’d have been caught and my actions would have been quite… limited… But anyways, who’re you?

Gabriel answered, stopping sometimes to choose the right words to accomplish his objective. While he was talking the plant was carefully observing him, making Gabriel believe even more in his spy theory.

- Oh, me? I’m just a plant-elf hybrid. My name is David. Or was. You see I was an assistant of Grumbonk but accidentally left one of his experiments escape which caused chaos inside his research building, so he captured me and after torturing me while I was still an elf, he turned me into this. He doesn’t know that I still have a consciousness, I made sure of that, so with you being here won’t make him suspicious. Well unless you make it too obvious, of course. Don’t be dumb and everything should be fine.

It did seem that this David was trustworthy, but Gabriel wouldn’t give away all his hard-earned information away for free.

- So, what do you know? You said you knew a thing or two about this place, so speak.

- Aha, right to the point. I think I like you. So, here’s the thing…

While David and Gabriel were learning from each other, Grumbonk was busy with his own conversation.

- I’ve taken good care of the two of them, I think they’ll end up being quite the big help.

Grum was talking to a grey-robed figure. It didn’t seem to move or even breathe, yet a voice came off of it.

- I suspect you’ve taken care of the ones who were in charge of you for the last twenty-four years already, right? Wouldn’t want them knowing what you’re doing, right?

The robed man warned Grum, both of them knew of the consequences of this knowledge getting into the wrong hands.

- Way ahead of you. I did so as soon as they fell into the trap, not giving them a chance to report to their superiors. Even so I’m being careful, every night I change the placement a bit. Still in the zone I was given, but it’s never too bad being too careful. Also, I made sure to leave all magical items far behind this, near a lake, so that I have a valid alibi, just in case. I don’t believe they’ll send people immediately, even if they sent news of the little children getting in. I haven’t done basically anything in the last two decades and they have too many people like me for them to spend too many resources on me.

Grumbonk explained. He had really made a foolproof plan so that his actions remained hidden. Well, hidden for the people he wanted to hide it from. Not from his old friend with whom he was talking now.

- Anyways, how are things going over there in that elvish city?

Asked Grum. Even though he didn’t care too much what happened to the other elves he was still curious about their situation and big events that happened. Who knows, maybe he’d get pardoned and could go back. But even the Grum wouldn’t. He had experienced enough and was happier to invest his attention, knowledge and ideas to people who’d appreciate them. One of them was the person with whom he was talking at the moment.

- So, here’s what has happened in the last three years…

While Grum was getting to know the main events from David’s “mouth”, Gabriel was feeling more and more hopeless. It seemed that this place was simply inescapable and the only way to get out was with Grum. Gabriel and Arabelle weren’t the first beings to get captured by Grum and gotten carried in his building, they were the fourth group that David had seen.

Two of the other groups had been taken away not too long after being found, staying at most a season, but one of the previous groups had also stayed for a longer period of time, about three years to be exact. David didn’t know what Grum had done with them, but that group had gone through a substantial change during their stay.

David warned Gabriel about some form of mind-manipulating magic that may have been used, advising him to learn more about this subject. Without Grum knowing, of course.

After those last few words David “vanished”, in the sense that the hallucinogens had lost their effect, and Gabriel decided to change his focus. He would learn more magic before escaping, because it seemed like a very useful skill. It could turn people into plants, make portals that unite one place and another seamlessly or even control the mind.

- Unbeatable

The almost silent words came from Gabriel’s mouth.