Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Hanna jumped up, drew her sword, and rushed toward EDJ, hitting the glass wall as hard as she could with her blade. It did nothing. She smacked her fist against the wall. EDJ placed his hands behind his back and strode up to the ledge in front of the cage, an evil smirk on his face. 

“What is this?!” Hanna demanded, seething with anger. 

“Ultra-reinforced plexiglass,” EDJ answered calmly with a smile. “It can’t be broken by even the strongest warrior, let alone a trapped little bird like you. It’s shatter-resistant, crack-resistant, bullet-resista-”

“I get the idea,” Hanna interrupted, fuming. “You tricked me.” 

“Tough luck,” EDJ said, tone indicating her predicament was her own fault. “You should’ve paid better attention to your surroundings.” 

Hanna growled and slammed her fist against the wall again. “This is suspiciously the same kind of cage I was planning to put crazy people like you in… How did you find out about it?” she asked, completely frustrated at the turn of events. 

EDJ tilted his head. “I talked to your friends, didn’t I mention that? Lui was particularly helpful.”

EDJ kept his tone lighthearted, but carefully watched Hanna’s reaction. 

“He… he told you?” Hanna asked, frustration melting into doubt. 

EDJ nodded. “Ah yes, I think I remember him mentioning something about a plexiglass cage when I tortur- er… I mean… interrogated him.” He smiled when Hanna’s eyes widened. 

“You hurt… and you threatened Lui?” Hanna asked, eyes turning to the side. “He didn’t tell me that…” she whispered. 

EDJ continued talking. “It’s amazing how persuasive threats against loved ones can be, you know. He sang like… well, like a canary. All I did was tell him that your life was in danger if he didn’t talk…” 

Hanna’s head snapped up to scowl at EDJ. “Monster,” she whispered before instantly raising her voice to shout at him. “How dare you use me against him?! As soon as I get out of this pathetic trap, you will pay for this! I can promise you that!”

EDJ grinned, happy to watch her fury from the opposite side of the glass. “Are you ready to wave that white flag yet?”

“Never!” Hanna flew back as far as the plexiglass box would allow and rushed forward to attack the wall again. Once. Twice. Three times.  

“You don’t know when to quit, do you?” EDJ asked with a chuckle. “I was not expecting this much fire from a cryomancer.” 

“LET! ME! OUT!” Hanna shouted, smashing into the wall over and over again with the exact same results as she had the first time. The wall remained intact.

“What’s with all the screaming?” EDJ asked with a raised brow. He took a breath and raised his hands apologetically. “You know what? It’s been a long day. I can see you’re upset and not thinking clearly. I’m gonna leave you alone in the icebox to cool off for a bit. Okay?” 

Hanna stopped when she realized the cage was lowering into the floor. “EDJ!”

“It’s taking you to the dungeon,” EDJ quickly explained, watching the cage descend. “I’m going to have some of these nice guards meet you down there. You’ll be fine. This is for your own good. We’ll talk again when you can be civil.” He smiled and waved at her. As soon as the cage lowered far enough, the panels in the tile floor came back up and slid into place, covering the hole. EDJ’s smile dropped and he turned to head back to the control room. “Clean up this mess,” he commanded to the guards as he walked past the red on the floor. When he entered the control room, he looked around. The AV tech was nowhere to be seen, but he spotted the tech’s assistant. “Cassidy,” EDJ said, calling her over. “Where’s Chris?” he asked when she stepped forward. 

“Uh, I think he stepped outside,” she offered. 

EDJ nodded. “Go see if you can find him. The timing was off by five seconds.” 

“Ohhh, he… uh… he said he didn’t think anyone would notice,” Cassidy said with an awkward grimace. 

“I noticed.” EDJ frowned. “He’s not coming back, is he?” Cassidy shook her head. “Whatever. You’re the lead AV tech now. Enjoy your promotion.” He sent her away with a wave and plopped into his large chair. He leaned to the side, resting his chin on the back of his hand. Not really thinking about it, his fingers reached for the thin chain around his neck. He sat in thought, watching the screens. 

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It was dark on the way down to the dungeon level. Too dark for Hanna to see anything. Too difficult to tell how far down she was. The platform came to a stop the way an elevator does, with an uncomfortable lurch. Hanna waited. Movement, light, voices, anything. When nothing else happened, Hanna sheathed her sword and pulled out her flashlight. Shining the light through the glass walls, Hanna could tell she was in some sort of dungeon with similar plexiglass cubes. All the other cages were empty. Shining the light up, whatever hole in the ceiling this cage came through was already covered. Hanna huffed and sat with her back against the glass in the corner of the cage. She pulled out her phone, but was not surprised to see it had little reception and the battery was almost dead anyway. She thought about texting Lui, but then remembered EDJ still had Lui’s phone. Frowning, she put the phone away and realized she had something else in her pocket. Hanna pulled out a crumpled napkin and stared at it. She smoothed the crumples out until it regained its origami swan shape. Her shoulders sank the longer she stared at it. With a sigh, she put the swan back in her pocket. She turned off the flashlight, wrapped her arms around her legs, and rested her head on her knees. 

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-Hybrid Hero Project HQ; Ukraine; May 11th, 2009-

Mariah sat at the kitchen counter staring at her phone. “Anything from Hanna?” Kandi asked as she rolled out a ball of dough on the table. 

“No,” Mariah answered, putting the phone away with a frown. “Last I heard, she was going to Everest.” 

“Where’s that?” Kandi asked, rolling the dough into a large rectangle shape. 

“Another place far away from us,” Mariah said with a shrug. She folded her arms on the counter and buried her face into an elbow.

“Don’t worry,” Kandi said while brushing melted butter over the dough. “She’ll be okay. She always is.” 

Mariah lifted her head just enough to look over her arms. “One day, she won’t be.” 

“And that’s why she has us!” Kandi said cheerily, pink apron coated in flour. “Stop worrying! Either go help her or stay here, but quit moping about it!” 

Mariah blinked at her, fox ear twitching. “I guess you’re right.” She sat up and smiled. “I guess I should stop worrying. Hanna always comes back, even if it takes her a while.” Kandi nodded with a bright smile, sprinkling cinnamon sugar over the dough. “I guess I’ll go train then.” Mariah stood up, grabbing her bow and quiver from the seat next to her. She watched Kandi gently roll the dough into a log. “How long till those are done?” 

“Like, two more hours,” Kandi answered, carefully slicing the dough into rolls. “They have to rise again.” 

Mariah rolled her eyes as she walked away. “Baking is such a long process.” Kandi giggled in response. 

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-Mysterious castle; Mount Everest; May 11th, 2009-

Lui stared up at the castle with big eyes. “Woooooaaaah.” He turned to DJ. “This castle is huge! Iul built this?!”

“Looks like it,” DJ answered, giving the open doors a suspicious glare from the rock they were crouched behind. The only sound was the wind. There were no guards and the doors were wide open. Everything in him screamed “trap”. He turned to see Lui staring back at the castle, mouth agape in amazement. “Let’s go.” DJ stood up and moved back the direction they came, away from the castle “We need to find another entrance.” 

“But the door’s open,” Lui said, pointing back. “Maybe it’s already been cleared.” 

“And maybe it’s Iul trying to be one step ahead of us,” DJ answered. “I’m not taking that risk. We find another way in.” Lui followed DJ away and around the castle. What exactly they were looking for, neither could say, only that they would know it when they saw it. “Get down!” DJ suddenly dropped into the snow with Lui close behind. They sat still for a few seconds before DJ raised his head. 

“What is it?” Lui whispered, lying two feet back from DJ in the snow. 

“Guards,” DJ whispered back. “Five of them. Looks like they’re on break.” He patted a few pockets before turning to Lui. “Did you bring any grenades?” The way he asked made it sound like a completely standard and reasonable question. 

Lui’s eyes widened. “No,” he answered, with a face that indicated the request was, in fact, not standard or expected. “I can throw a rock and clap really hard,” Lui offered in consolation. DJ stifled a laugh and turned back to watch the guards. “They’re moving,” he said after a moment. He watched all but one guard leave and go through a camouflaged door in the castle wall. The remaining guard stood watch alone. “Ok, there’s one guard left. I think we can take him.” DJ glanced back at Lui with a wide grin. “Ready?”

Lui grinned back. “Ready!”