Lina decided to keep up the princess act on a little bit
longer, just to see if she could wheedle a bit of information out of
Barbra about her past. Unfortunately though, she was unsuccessful.
Lina was sort of glad about that though, because that meant ditching
the perfect hair, flouncy dresses and sparkly headbands.

No more dresses meant a completely different wardrobe.
T-shirts, tank tops and half-cut shirts with no sparkles along with
shorts and jeans. Tennis shoes and untreated hair included. When
Barbra first saw her, she was shocked, but when Lina handed her all
the dresses she had owned, Barbra nearly fainted. Lina had really
hoped she would faint, to give her an easy escape, but sadly Barbra
didn't faint and would not let Lina give her the dresses. She also
decided to keep an annoyingly close eye on her. So close in fact,
that she installed video cameras all over Lina's room and an eye
scanner for the lock outside the door.

Lina spent hours of her day just writing in some
notebooks, trying to brainstorm ideas on how to get out of the
horrible prison she was in. Storm was constantly meowing at her feet,
apparently feeling the stress Lina was now under.

“Okay, you can do this.” Lina told herself. She was
holding a makeshift rope made out of clothes she had, most of them
still fluffy dresses. She was opening the window, ready to lower it
down. She secured the rope and threw it out the window. It fell in a
straight line and stretched all the way to the ground like a long,
multicolored snake; her ticket to freedom, however dangerous it was.
Lina double checked everything, then climbed onto the window sill.

Lina shuddered as she looked down. The ground seemed to
be getting farther and farther away the longer she looked. Bracing
herself, she let her legs dangle over the edge of the window sill.
With the walls of the building scratching her legs, she pushed
herself off, clinging to the rope for dear life. Lina tried to lower
herself down to the ground as fast as possible without falling, but
it was harder than it looked. She had to hold on tightly or else she
would fall, but if she held on tightly, it would take her longer to
get down. But Lina decided to be safer. After all, what was the point
of breaking a leg and not being able to do anything before she even
got outside the cliffs?

Ever so slowly and ever so carefully, she slid down the
rope as fast as she could (which wasn't very fast). She was ten feet
away from the ground when a hot pink dress with sequins ripped in
half. Lina fell onto the ground, completely out of energy and too
exhausted to keep moving. The rope fell on her as she lay there,
tired and aching, the sparkles landing gently on her cheek as she
tried to ignore the pain.

But she was finally free. Lina could smell the grass
underneath her. She could hear the river beside her. Oh, it was
amazing to her! With all the birds singing in the trees, the bees
buzzing around small patches of flowers, the raindrops falling gently
on her face . . . It was wonderful.

Lina managed to push herself up and look around. There
was the small, out-of-place boulder in front of her. She suspected
that it was the way out. Lina grunted a little as she stood up and
pushed the boulder aside with the rest of the strength that she had.
Leaning against the boulder, she peered past it into a tunnel with a
light shining at the end of it. The exit.

Lina was about to venture inside the tunnel, when a
firm hand grabbed her arm and pulled her away. She had been so close.
“What do you think you're doing!?” Barbra said, sounding afraid.
“You could be killed! Why do you even bother?”

Lina knew she didn't have enough strength to push
Barbra off her, so she just said “Because here, I have no purpose.
Better dead than stuck here the rest of my life.” Barbra huffed and
dragged her back inside.

She got onto an elevator, bringing Lina along with her.
There were seven buttons. She pressed the number five button and the
elevator went up. It made an annoying ding sound when the doors
opened again. There was a small room with nothing but a table against
the wall and a door with no handle on the other side of the room. An
eye scanner was placed on the wall right next to the door. Barbra,
still clutching Lina, looked into the eye scanner and the handle-less
door slid to the side. She walked Lina back into her room and left,
the door sliding back into place behind her.

Lina
shrieked and kicked at the wall. She was so close! But Barbra had
caught her. How was she supposed to get out with Barbra watching her
all the time? It couldn't be done. But it had to be. She was getting
too restless. She might die of boredom. She had
to
keep trying.

A bucket of icy water was perched, barely balanced,
over the door. It was connected to a thin, yellow rope, the end of
which Lina was holding on to. Storm looked at the rope intensely,
crouching down and flicking his tail from side to side. Lina didn't
notice. She was straining to hear outside the doorway for any sign of
Barbra's footsteps. But all was quiet. . .

For a while.

Suddenly, Storm pounced with a growl onto the yellow
rope in Lina's hands. Lina gave a shout and let go, examining the
deep scratches on the back of her hand for a split second. But when
she looked up at the bucket, water streamed out of it, cold and
dreary, into Lina's face. The bucket fell over Lina's head, blocking
her vision, and she fell over onto Storm, who made a sound Lina
didn't know cats could make, somewhere between a scream and a yell.
To top it all off, Lina heard the door slide aside and Barbra came
through the doorway.

Barbra laughed hard as Lina lifted the bucket out of
her line of vision. Lina's face contorted with rage at the sight of
Barbra and the fact that she was soaked to the skin.

It happened in a split second, so fast that Lina didn't
know it happened. One moment, Lina was on the floor, feeling angry,
and the next, Lina was up with Barbra was on the floor at Lina's feet
and a bucket on her head. Lina looked down at Barbra, who was
struggling to take the bucket off her and stand at the same time.
Lina laughed mercilessly as Barbra continued to struggle. It felt
good to be rebellious.

Finally, without Lina's help, Barbra stood up and took
the bucket off her head. Her face showed both surprise and anger all
over it.

“No meals for a week.” Barbra whispered. Lina
shrugged as Barbra hobbled out of her room, closing the door behind
her.

Lina glared at Storm, who meowed innocently and began
licking his fur. “Thanks a lot.” she grumbled.

After that incidence, Lina refused to brush Storm for a
week, and made sure he had a bath every morning before he got his
food. She only gave him a bath to annoy him, but Lina gloried in
every scratch she got when Storm was in the bathtub.

Lina had been hiding in her closet for an hour. Barbra
was bound to come to her room soon. Lina was trying to hide from
Barbra in hopes that she would go on a frantic search to look for her
and give Lina her chance to escape. But Barbra still hadn't come,
like she knew what Lina was doing. Just like the other times. It was
almost as if Barbra was constantly watching her. Then again, there
were video cameras everywhere. Lina had had no choice but to come
out.

Lina kept trying all of these crazy weird ideas to
escape, but they were always ruined by either Barbra or Storm.
Barbra, of course, caught her in the middle of her escapes many
times. Storm was no longer fun and quiet, just obnoxious. Lina
bribed, hid, ran, jumped, climbed, pleaded, yelled, ran again, cried,
raged, screamed, threatened, slid, but nothing seemed to do any good.
She tried everything, but no success.

Lina's dreams were getting just as crazy as her escape
ideas, and her parents were always involved. One time, Lina dreamed
of a many-colored stone, floating in the middle of a dim room with
her parents standing behind it. Another time, Lina dreamed her
parents were running away from that dark voice that now seemed
stronger than ever. A random teenager with black hair and sallow skin
was appearing in the background of most of her dreams, but Lina
didn't really care about him; it was her parents she was worried for.

Sadly, the dreams weren't helping her escape the pink
prison she was stuck in. In fact, they seemed to be depressing her
more than she already was. Her parents needed her, and she couldn't
do a thing to help them. She would have tried pushing it out of her
mind, but her dreams wouldn't let her forget it.

But one day, something came along to occupy Lina's
mind. Barbra had given Lina her basket of meals for the day and was
leaving in a bit of a rush. Lina ignored her as she heard the door
slide close. She looked at the doorway to check that Barbra was gone,
but saw something glinting on the carpet.

Lina got up off of her bed and walked towards it. The
thing that was glinting was a key. A small, golden key with tiny
rubies lining the edges of it and a carving of fire burning without
wood in it's center. Lina picked it up and examined it. Why would
Barbra need a key? Lina's room only opened when Barbra looked into
the eye scanner now. What use would a key be?

Just in case, Lina went into the bathroom and lifted
away the mirror. Behind it was a secret compartment inside the wall,
where a few little trinkets were hiding, a book, a mini telescope and
her mom's necklace. Lina gingerly set the key with the other things
in there and placed the mirror back on the wall.

For the next week before her birthday, Lina began
trying to find more things Barbra had, whether by bribing her or
sneaking it out of her back pockets. Unfortunately though, Lina was
unable to find anything that proved of use to her. Barbra had nothing
but a yo-yo, a rubber band, a key card and a paper clip. Lina was
about to use the paper clip to unlock the door when she remembered
that the door had no lock, much less a handle. Lina sighed loudly.

Lina tried hard to escape, harder than usual. Her
birthday was coming up soon, and she was ready to get out of her
wretched prison. She used the “it's my birthday” tactic to try
and get Barbra to bring her outside, but Barbra hadn't trusted Lina
since she had put a bucket on her head. Lina kept trying.

But in vain.

On the eve of her fourteenth birthday, Lina was still
in her room. She was sitting on her bed in her pajamas, looking at
her mother's necklace worriedly. Instead of trying to go to sleep,
Lina was trying to stay awake, as to not have any more crazy dreams
before her birthday. Warm August wind rustled the curtains and gently
brushed Lina's face, making her sleepy. The red numbers on her alarm
clock read “one o' seven”.

“Don't worry mom.” Lina said aloud, looking at the
necklace. “I'll find you somehow. Even if the dreams are fake, I'll
find out for sure. But I feel like they are real, and that you are
giving them to me. Please mom, help me to understand. Help me. . .”

Lina's eyes drooped tiredly as she fell on her pillow.
Her grip slackened on the necklace, and in one quick moment, she was
asleep.

The next morning, a full-on storm was raging outside.
Lina jolted awake when a particularly loud clap of thunder sounded,
with the bright lightning following right after it. Storm was perched
next to Lina, watching her with his head tilted slightly. He seemed
to be almost. . . curious. A basket was sitting on a nearby table,
probably filled with the day's meals. Barbra had been avoiding Lina a
lot more than usual lately, but Lina didn't mind. In fact, it was
actually nicer to just be by herself.

Lina sat up and realized that she was still holding the
lightning bolt necklace. It was a good thing that Barbra didn't find
it when she brought the basket of food. She would have taken it away
instantly. Barbra didn't want Lina to have anything that her parents
had given her, supposedly so that she wouldn't be sad. Lina looked
down at it and saw that the amethyst was glowing.

Wait, glowing? What was that about? Lina checked the
necklace for any buttons or something that she might have pushed in
her sleep. Nothing. Lina's brain screamed at her to drop it on the
floor, but her instincts told her to put it on. Lina looked at the
necklace for a moment, trying to decide what she should do. But
instinct, overwhelming instinct told her that it was okay. She put
the necklace on.

Immediately, the glowing light inside the necklace flew
out and formed a round, purple ball that floated in the center of the
room. The light seemed to be waiting for Lina to do something. Lina
was curious, so she walked up to it and put her hand right next to
it. The aura around the ball was so warm, so comforting, Lina never
wanted to step away from it. She was about to grab the light when she
remembered; she had to get out of her room. There was no time for
looking at silly lights.

Right after Lina had that thought, the light zoomed
towards the handle-less door and rammed into it. The door broke from
the wall and fell, leaving the way clear for Lina to leave. Hmm...

Lina quickly put on some clothes before going back to
the light. She put her hand up next to it again, relishing in the
warmth it gave.

Come
back into the necklace Lina
thought to it. The light zoomed towards Lina and slid back inside the
necklace. The necklace turned purple again and stopped glowing when
the light went in.

“This could be useful.” Lina said aloud. She tied
on her shoes and climbed over the broken door into the next room.
There was nothing but the table. But this time, the table had a key
on it. Why would Barbra need a key?

The key was small and not very fancy. It was gold with
lightning bolts carved in the middle and tiny, purple amethysts
lining the edges. It looked a bit like the key that she had stolen
from Barbra. Lina ran into her bathroom and lifted away the mirror.
She took out the “fire key” and went back out as fast as
possible, pausing only to pick up the lightning key and put it in her
pocket. With one last sweeping look around the place, she strode
confidently to the elevator.

Storm meowed longingly from the doorway. Lina had
almost forgotten about him. She turned around and gave him one last
pat on the head.

“Sorry Storm.” Lina said to him. “You can't come
with me. You might get lost or hurt out there in the real world.
Plus, I still haven't forgiven you for knocking over the bucket.”
Lina looked at the healing scratches on her right hand, then turned
away again.

“Oh I don't think that you'll be going anywhere
anytime soon.” someone said, it's voice echoing around the small
room. Lina's eyes widened as she whipped around. No one was there,
just Storm.

“Stay here and I will cause you less pain.” the
person (Lina thought it was a boy) said as Storm retreated back into
Lina's room. Lina turned to face the elevator again. Nothing was
there.

“Who are you?” Lina asked at nothing.

“Your worst nightmare.” the voice said. It seemed
to be coming from Lina's room. Cautiously, Lina turned around again.

Where Storm was a moment before, a teenage boy was now
leaning against the doorway casually. His jet-black hair was swept to
the side, revealing black eyes and a handsome face. The boy would
have been handsome, but he had sallow skin that shone like moonlight
and a permanent scowl etched on his face. He was wearing a black
leather jacket and black jeans that seemed slightly too big for him.
Strapped around his waist were two, jagged daggers that Lina guessed
were, more often than not, used as threatening devices. The boy eyed
Lina with interest. Lina could have sworn she recognized the boy from
somewhere, but what scared her was that she was attracted to him,
like they had some kind of bond.

“I'm afraid that I can't let you leave.” the boy
said, pushing off the wall to face Lina. Now that the boy was in full
view, Lina recognized him as the boy in her dreams. “You see,
you're very valuable, and we can't have you running off somewhere
when we need you most.”

A spark of anger ignited within Lina. “Don't you know
how long I've been trying to get out of this horrid place?”

“You weren't even trying until about a month ago.”
the boy said, stepping closer to Lina.

“I've been wanting to get out of here my whole life
you nitwit.” Lina snapped back. “I didn't try before because-”

“It doesn't matter, you're not going out.” the boy
interrupted. “Now we can either do this the easy way, or the hard
way. Your choice.”

Lina fell silent as her eyes were drawn to the daggers
around the boy's waist. She was pretty sure she knew what the hard
way was, but how could she just give up now? Now, when Barbra wasn't
there to stop her? Lina stood there for a moment, then started to
back up slowly towards the elevator.

“Alright then, the hard way.” said the boy. In a
flash, the boy whipped out both of his daggers and ran at Lina. She
barely managed to dodge his strike by stepping aside. He was still
running forward, but he lashed a dagger out to the right and sliced
across Lina's side. He hit the elevator lightly as Lina let out a
cry. Her side was stinging, but no time to look at her wound. The boy
was already running at her again.

Lina dodged again and ran over to the table. She held
it in front of her like a shield. And just in time too; a dagger shot
through the middle of it less than a second later, missing Lina's
chest by an inch. She threw the table toward the boy, sending him
crashing into the wall.

Seeing her chance, Lina ran towards the elevator as the
boy wrestled the dagger from the table. He ran at her before she
could press the button. Lina dodged him and grabbed a dagger from his
hand. The boy turned around, furious that she had managed to take one
of his weapons. He lifted his remaining dagger above his head and
sliced down. Lina managed to deflect the shot, but he changed
direction and swung at her arm. Another blast of stinging pain, this
time on her left arm, making Lina stagger backwards into the wall.

Lina's back hit the button on the wall. She began to
hear a quiet humming that indicated the elevator was moving up. The
boy roared in frustration and ran at her again. Lina sidestepped and
brought the hilt of the dagger down, hard, onto the boy's shoulder.
He crumpled to the ground in a heap.

Lina was shaking. Her legs felt like jello and her
wounds stung horribly. She dropped the dagger and leaned against the
wall in amazement. The elevator made a ding sound, and it's doors
slid open. She walked into the elevator, her wounds throbbing
painfully. The doors slid close and Lina motioned toward the number
one button, about to press it.

But then a memory came back to her, a memory of a white
dove, and pale hands closing a window in the rain above her. Lina
made a split second decision and pressed the button with a number
six.

As the elevator rattled up, Lina looked at her wounds.
Her shirt was ripped where the boy had slashed at her, and both
wounds were bleeding heavily. Lina pressed a hand down on each wound,
trying to stop the blood flow and herself from screaming in pain.

The elevator halted to a stop. Lina, still holding her
hands on her wounds, stepped out and found a room with nothing but a
table, just like hers. A key was sitting on the table, completely
out-of-place in the empty room. This key was gold like the others
Lina had found, but had a swirl design carved into it's center and
clear diamonds placed around it's edges. Lina left it where it was
and moved on to a door on the other side of the room.

This door had a handle, so Lina, feeling a sudden rush
of excitement, quietly unlocked it and peeked inside.