Chapter 23

Ember jolted awake, groggily blinking away the last of the anesthesia as she took in her surroundings.

'A cell,' she thought to herself, 'Not surprising…How long have I been asleep?'

Her eyes quickly adjusted to the dim lighting. Walking towards the rough iron bars Ember leaned forwards and peered through them.

'No sign of Autumn…'

A soft growl of agitation escaped her throat.

'Panicking won't help. I need to figure out how to get out of here and find Autumn.'

Despite their friendship being abrupt and completely out of the blue, Ember had enjoyed having a companion with her as she traveled. Autumn's presence was something she couldn't imagine being without.

Ember scented the air, gagging as she took in the stench of blood, waste, and an overload of poor hygiene.

"Urk-" Ember gasped, "I bet they've never heard of bathing."

"You've got that right," a voice chuckled from beside her.

Recoiling, Ember narrowed her eyes at the cell beside hers. "Who are you?"

"Some days I'm Xay, other days I'm Alp…but you can call me Khrona."

"You make no sense," Ember huffed, turning her back towards him and examining the door of her cell once more.

"I can help you get out," Khrona chirped up.

Ember's eyes widened, her attention caught. "How?"

"That's not how it works! Not how it works," Khrona broke off laughing.

"What do you want then?" Ember hissed, "I'd prefer if you hurried because I'm looking for someone."

"Who is it? Let me guess…your parents? A sibling?"

"I don't have time for this," Ember muttered, "You probably don't even know the way out…"

"Oh! Oh! It's a friend, isn't it?"

"Wow, I would have never guessed," Ember answered sarcastically.

Khrona stood up, walking to the bars that separated him and Ember.

"Golden hair…golden eyes…miss, are you rich?"

Ember rolled her eyes, exasperated. "No, I'm poor. I have no gold, no silver, and no coppers."

"But you do," he insisted, "Your hair is gold, and so are your eyes. I could get a months worth of bread with them."

Ember turned towards him, her mouth itching to scold him. Her voice caught in her throat.

"You-you-what happened?" She choked out.

The boy, his name Khrona, or was it Xay? Alp, perhaps, grinned. "What's wrong? Is it my face?"

"Your eyes…" Ember whispered, "they're gone."

Khrona leaned forward, his head only coming up to Ember's shoulder. His face, as normal as could be, yet where two crystalline eyes should've been, was just a void of nothingness.

"You shouldn't be able to see. How do you know what color my hair is? Or my eyes?"

"I shouldn't? But I can. Who's job is it to tell you what you should and shouldn't do?"

"No, it's not possible," Ember insisted, her skin prickling with goosebumps.

Khrona laughed, his voice suddenly eerie and echoing through the corridors, "But I can. I can. And your friend? Maybe she can too."

"What about her?" Ember growled, "Don't speak in such a roundabout way."

"She's not okay, or maybe she is…the future is merely seconds away, who knows?"

"I've wasted enough times with your little games. Tell me how to get out of here or I'll assume you were lying." Ember narrowed her eyes, glaring at where the boy's eyes should've been.

"Me? Lying? I'm not lying." Then, as if to prove his point, Khrona approached the door of his cell and clicked it open.

"Wha-how did you do that?" Ember demanded.

"How? What do you mean? I opened the door. Unlocked the lock, walked out of the cell?"

"You-nevermind," Ember sighed, "Open my door too."

"Why? You can open it, so why do you not?"

"It's locked," Ember snarled, "Must I state the obvious?"

"Then unlock it. Is that much not obvious?" Khrona mimicked.

"Help. Me." Ember said as she glared daggers at the boy.

"That's not how it works!" Khrona laughed as he pranced back and forth in the hall.

"Then how does it work?" Ember took a deep breath, attempting to calm herself down.

"You tell me," the boy nodded, his eyes wide and blank.

"There's a deeper meaning to everything, so why don't you interpret my words how you like?" Ember sighed, defeated.

"Haha! Your funny when you try to act like me. I'll let you out, most would not be so nice to me if I had fooled around with them for so long."

"So you've admitted to fooling me? And what part of me was nice?"

"It's your own fault for being fooled," Khrona answered as he pulled open the door of Ember's cell.

"That door was locked a moment ago," Ember swore, glaring at the crisscross of metal.

"You should know not to ask. But, your friend needs you, does she not?"

"She does. I'll thank you for your help, however much delayed it was…but if any harm has come to her I'll have your head. Or whatever remains of it, anyways."

Ember sprinted down the hallway, anxiously peering through the cells in search of a familiar face.

"The master will be angry…again…" Khrona remarked as he retreated to his cell once more. "Oh dear, not my fault. Or was it?"