And now she was stuck there in that horrible place, surrounded by monstrous creatures that insisted on peeking in on here periodically. She had no privacy. She had no freedom. She had nothing here. And how long would she be stuck in that place? Would they let her go in week, or a year, or would she be captive there forever? Even if she were released at some point, her friends would have forgotten her by then and she'd be all alone. She'd have to go through the humiliation of repeating a grade, or maybe even more, after being stuck there for too long. And to think of all the questions her teachers would have, or even the police. How would she answer those questions? She couldn't just tell people she was stuck in some futuristic holding cell surrounded by dragons. They'd surely send her off to a mental institution if she said something like that.
She definitely couldn't point out her kidnapper. She knew Aeron had taken her; had to sit through his gloating over it to her. But how would she be able to substantiate her claims? Even worse, how likely was it he'd let her go if she was just going to turn around and turn him in? Her chances of being released seemed even grimmer the more she thought of that.
She had no way to get out of there, and even if she had, her life would be totally messed up. Basically, she was screwed at that point. She stared at the ceiling and watched the sunlight grow and wane and again light up outside.
Finally, sitting around grew boring. Sure, she was a prisoner, but a person couldn't literally sit on her bed forever without going insane. She'd have to figure out a way to do something. Anything would do, really. She stood and started pacing back and forth. Figuring out what to do was difficult when she still had absolutely nothing to occupy her time, but she'd manage somehow. She went over to the curved wall to try to find a joint, or a latch. Most windows had a way to open them, didn't they? This one, apparently, did not. She slumped her shoulders and turned away from it to look at the next wall. It was flat. Completely flat. She started poking at the surface and passing her flattened palm back and forth, but she couldn't feel any joints. She knocked on it in various places and didn't have a secret escape door pop up, which was very disappointing. She moved around to the wall on the other side of the room and gave it the same thorough exploration. Again, there was nothing. She tried the door she had come through, the only visible joint on all the walls, but when she touched it the faint seam disappeared and it melted to become a single surface with the rest of the wall again.
She turned around the room, casting for something else to do, and looked at the bed. She'd already spent so much time in it, so it was unlikely to hide any interesting secrets, but it never hurt to check. She shook out the blankets and eventually ripped off all the bedding and found nothing unusual there. She tapped the bed posts and even tried slamming one onto the floor, but nothing of interest was revealed; and the sharp clang sound made her a little nervous, so she gave up on that. She crawled under the bed and saw nothing but perfectly smooth dusted floors. Well, she thought, at least that means someone probably cleans in here. Maybe eventually I'll meet another person. That would at least be something to do. Then the disheartening realization came to her that the room probably was kept clean by something ridiculous like magic, and she lost her enthusiasm. Once again, she collapsed on the bed, now a bare stripped mattress, and just stared up at the ceiling to pass the time in her best attempt at numbness.
The sound of loud static cut through the momentary silence, and the girl jumped to her feet once more. The once flat wall had popped an invisible door open, revealing a contraption that looked like a flat-sided egg. The domed-window wall darkened to become fully opaque, and at last she had privacy. The sound of static repeated, and a woman's visage appeared on the screen. "My name is Veronica. I am your host. It is now time for the nutrition sequence to commence," she said. The door in the wall slid up to reveal the woman standing there. Alyss ran for the entrance and tried to break through, but even though the door was open she couldn't get past the entrance.
"The entrance is only opened to those authorized by the heir to pass through it. Even when the portal is opened, the spell will prevent unauthorized personnel from passing it," Veronica said. The girl tried again but still could not get through. After she'd tried three times, the passage pushed her back in with a strong force. "The entrance is only opened to those authorized by the heir to pass through it. The spell
