Chapter Text
I woke up shivering. My whole body felt sore. The ground below me was hard and almost jagged. Groaning, I sat up, opened my eyes, and almost immediately regretted it. I was in a dark stone cell, with thick metal bars for one wall. I scrambled to my feet and pressed my face between the bars. Through the dim light, all I could see was a nondescript stone hall.
"Hello!? Where am I? Hello?" My voice echoed horribly. With no response, I started grasping at the bars, trying to find the door or some mechanism to escape. A sudden pain in my foot made me realize I was barefoot, and I looked down at myself. I was wearing a loose white tank top and similar pants. I could feel my hair braided down my back.
My hair was long, but… what color was it? What color was my hair? My eyes? Suddenly horrified, I pulled my braid forward and stared down at it. Startlingly, it was pink. I dyed my hair pink. When did I do that? I stared at it in horror as I tried to think back and found nothing. No memories at all. Not even my own name.
"Oh, god. Oh, god…" I fell to my knees, wincing when I hit the stone. I let out a sob, my face in my hands. I had no clue who I was, why I was trapped here, I barely even knew what I looked like. Dyed hair and pale skin was all I had to go on. I don't know how long I sat there and cried, trying desperately to pull anything out of the void of my own mind.
I was only shaken from my misery by a sound. One that didn't come from me. I looked up but didn't see anything new in the hall. "Who's there?" I called. I could hear soft movement. I couldn't breathe, fear freezing my whole body.
"Hello?"
I gasped. Someone else was here, and it sounded like a child. "Who is that? Are you okay?"
"Who are you?" The little voice shook. "Where am I?"
"I…" I had no answers. "I don't know. Are you okay?" I repeated. I knew something about myself, now - I must be a mother, or maybe a big sister, because the sound of that young voice filled me with fierce, all-encompassing protectiveness.
"Y-yeah."
"Okay, what kind of room are you in, honey? Can you see anything?"
"It's just rocks. And big bars. It's dark…" The kid's voice was shaking. I frowned at the bars in front of me. They were too close together for me to wriggle through, but not by much.
"Okay, do you think you can get through the bars?"
"I dunno. I'm scared." I heard the kid - a girl, I thought - start to cry.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. You're gonna be fine. Can you try to squeeze through for me?" I said gently.
"Then you find me?" she asked, tone hopeful through her tears.
"I can't get out of mine, honey, you gotta come to me. But I'm right here, okay? You have to try."
"I'm scared," she sobbed. "It's too dark."
"I know. I know, but you've gotta try, okay? I'm right here. You can do it." Truthfully, I didn't know what I'd do if she made it over here, but I'd be able to see her and know that she was safe, so that was something.
"O-okay." I could hear the child struggling.
"Good job, honey, you're doing great. Keep trying."
"I'm out!" Suddenly a little girl with dark skin and a pile of coils atop her head came from the lefthand side of the hall, looking around frantically. She was wearing the same plain outfit I'd found myself in.
"I'm right here, hon, look!" I stuck my arm out and waved. She rushed over and grabbed my hand, her little face streaked with tears.
"Where are we?" she asked. "There's fire on the walls."
"What?" Fear shot through my heart. "Fire?"
"Yeah, in little cups. See 'em?" She pointed to a wall I couldn't see, but I could tell that what little light there was was coming from that area. My breathing slowed with relief. Just wall sconces, torches maybe.
"Okay. Can you see anything else? Keys, or anything?"
"Uh, yeah, there. But I can't reach." She frowned.
"That's okay. Point at them again, okay? Show me where the keys are," I coaxed. She pointed to a spot not far from where my cell ended, but definitely too high for her.
"Right there. Can I come in with you?" Her lip was wobbling, and her grip on my hand was tight.
"Wait a second." A plan was formulating in my head. "Okay, I'm gonna let go of your hand so I can move over that way, alright?" She was clearly hesitant, but she nodded and let go. I went to the front left corner of the cell, closest to where she'd said the keys were. She followed me closely. I stuck my arm through the last gap between bar and wall and began to feel around outside.
"It's higher," she said, pointing.
"Okay, good. You've got the idea. Am I close?"
"Um, further away," she mumbled.
"This way?"
"Yeah, you almost got it!" Her little voice was excited now, making me smile. Finally, I felt the thin pieces of metal against my fingers and tugged them down.
"Yes!" I cried. "Okay sweetheart, do you see a lock on these? A little hole?"
"Um…" Her face was screwed up in concentration, scanning the bars. "Oh! Yeah, there!" She ran to one bar in the center and grabbed a spot a few feet up. "Right here!"
I followed her. "Okay, good. Do you know how to use a key?"
"Um, I think I can." She held out her hand and I passed the keys through the bars to her.
"You've got this, sweetheart," I encouraged, earning a shy smile. She took a while, fumbling in the dark trying a couple different keys until there was a loud click.
"Oh! It worked!" The girl pushed on the bar, revealing a well-hidden door as it squealed and ground against the stone. She darted through the opening and leapt into my arms. Surprising myself, I didn't lose my balance at all, adjusting to her weight automatically.
"Hey there, honey. You did so good," I told her. She tucked her face into my neck and let out a sob, her arms and legs wrapped around me in a vise grip. "Shh, it's okay. I've got you." She kept crying, and I couldn't blame her. I'd probably still have been crying if I hadn't needed to put myself aside and help her. I sat down against the wall and held her and petted her hair and told her she was so smart and so strong until her breath slowed.
"Hey, what's your name, hon? Do you remember?" I asked.
"Um… no. I dunno," she mumbled. Figures.
"That's okay. Feel up to exploring?" I changed the subject quickly, hoping to avoid another upset.
"Go 'splorin'? Yeah!" The girl grinned.
"Good to hear." I smiled back at her and stood, supporting her with one arm. "Wanna walk?"
The little girl actually glared at the floor, making me giggle. "No!"
"Okay, okay. You still got those keys, honey?" She nodded and pressed them into my free hand. I took a deep breath and stepped out of the cell I'd woken up in. The first thing I noticed were the torches the kid had described, at various intervals on the walls, which seemed to stretch on forever in the limited light the fire provided. I chose a direction at random and started walking, staying close to the stone wall. At first all I found was a dead end, after the cell my new friend had woken up in. I turned back and scanned the hall. It really struck me then what a strange place we were in; There was nothing at all here except the hook where the keys had hung.
"Where we goin'?" asked the girl.
"Just looking around, hon. Let's keep going." I set off past the two cells and walked down the hall, scanning for anything at all. I hummed a mindless tune for the girl as I walked, wincing occasionally when I stepped on a loose pebble.
"Woah!" I stumbled back in surprise - I'd been walking in the dark for so long, I almost hadn't noticed the hall ending in a large wooden door in front of me.
"Door!" The girl pointed. "We can leave!"
"Yeah, I hope so…" I murmured. I tried the doorknob, finding it surprisingly unlocked. I began to pull it open, but the girl started wriggling out of my arms.
"Wait, lemme!" she squealed. I chuckled.
"Okay, okay." I set her down and let her open the door. Outside was a huge circular stone room, with three more doors at ninety-degree angles from each other and a wooden table with eight chairs of varying sizes in the center and an enormous metal candelabra hanging from the ceiling. The dozens of candles glowed brightly, straining my eyes that had just begun to get used to the dimness. As I rubbed my eyes, the girl ran towards the table. "Hey, wait!"
"Look! There's words on here!" She pointed at the edge of the table. I followed her over and touched the dark wood of the table, running my fingers over the carved letters in front of her. "What's it say?"
God, she was too little to read. I hadn't even realized. "It's a name, I think: Oriel, O-R-I-E-L." I spelled it out for her, pointing at each letter, without even thinking about it.
"Huh. What's this one?" She pointed to the name to the left, right in front of the smallest chair - although the one next to it was taller, but it was clearly a high-chair for a really young child. Was there a baby here? The thought filled me with anxiety. "What's this say?" The girl repeated impatiently.
"Oh, sorry. It says… Juniper, J-U–"
"That's my name!" she yelped, cutting me off with a look of wonderment.
"Wait, really? You remember?" I gaped at her.
"Yes! I'm Juniper! My name's Juniper!" She jumped up and down in excitement.
"Wait, does that mean…?" I moved past the little chair with her name and the baby seat, to the biggest. It looked to be just my size. "Je–" I gasped in recognition as soon as I read the name. It was mine. "Jezebel! That's mine!"
"You're Je… Jeb--Uh, Jezbel?" Juniper tried.
"You can just say Jess," I chuckled.
"Jess," she agreed. "Who's the rest?"
"I don't know…" I looked around at the other doors. "Maybe behind those."
"Can we go see?" Juniper asked, already inching towards the nearest one.
"I guess." I was wary of venturing further into this strange place, but it's not like there was anything worth staying around for.
"Pick me up?" Juniper lifted her arms towards me. I smiled at her and scooped her up.
"You bet." I went to the door and tried the handle, but this one was locked. I fumbled one-handed with the ring of keys for a minute before finding the right one with a satisfying click . I opened it and found more darkness and a hall exactly like ours. "Hello?" I called.
"Help! Please help!" Before I'd even fully processed the faint words, I was running into the dark, holding Juniper tightly.
"I'm coming!" I called out. The hall was long and plain, but at least I didn't have to choose a direction; Eventually, I got to the source of the voice.
"Please help," said the boy, holding up an honest-to-goodness infant whose little face was red from crying. "I don't know what to do with it. Where even are we?" He was maybe a young teen, fairly tall but with a sweet, round face. The baby was wailing and kicking its little legs.
"Hop down, honey," I told Juniper, who obliged. She inched her way between the bars while I tried different keys in the lock. It was interesting that both kids were in one cell - like whoever had trapped us here knew it wouldn't be safe to leave the baby alone.
"I'm Juniper," she told the boy, who frowned confusedly at her.
"You know your name?" he asked.
"You'll find yours too, I promise," I told him just as the final key clicked in the lock. I swung the door open. He approached immediately and offered me the baby.
“Please, take it.” His voice shook. “I don’t know what to do with a baby.”
“That’s okay, hon. I’m sure you did a great job.” I took the little one in my arms and did my best to calm them, bouncing and shushing as I led the others back out. Juniper had taken a shine to the older boy, who seemed bemused by her taking his hand. Once we were back out in the main area, I showed him to the table. “Your name is here somewhere. The little one must be…” I moved to the high chair. “Xander, huh? Is that your name, little man?” He babbled at me in response, making Juniper giggle.
“Juniper… Oriel… Angel… Thorne! That’s me!” The boy gasped. He ran his fingers over his name on the table over and over, as if he could pull meaning from the letters.
“Nice to meet you, Thorne,” I said gently. His chair was fourth from last, making him one of the oldest of us, I supposed.
“Th–thanks. Which are you?” he asked, scanning the last three names.
“Jezebel, or Jess if you like. Will you stay here with Juniper, Thorne? I’m gonna go check the other doors,” I said.
“No!” Juniper ran to my side and grabbed my leg. “I wanna go!”
“I don’t think we should split up either,” Thorne said uneasily.
“Alright, we’ll all go,” I acquiesced. We went for the door next to Thorne and the baby’s, and I gave him the keys since he had both hands. He got the right one the first try, and pulled the door open.
“Is someone there?” he called as we walked into the darkness.
“Yeah!”
“Back here!” Two boys’ voices this time, one sounding much older than the other. We rushed down the hall and found another two cells. As soon as he saw us, the older boy, who looked almost as old as me, darted forward and grabbed the bars, his face streaked with tears. “Where’s my sister?”
I looked back at him in shock while Thorne worked on the younger boy’s door. “Your sister? You remember a sister?”
“I don’t remember my own damn name, but yes, I have a twin sister, and I have to find her!” he said desperately. “Please, have you seen her?”
“Not yet, but I’m sure we’ll find her, okay?” I laid my hand over his. “Are you two okay?”
“He’s fine,” he said, gesturing to the other boy who was out now and talking to Juniper, “But I am not gonna be okay until I find my sister.” His voice was rough and raw. How long had he been shouting for her? I’d realized by now that this was clearly planned: Juniper and I were the only ones who could get out on our own, and we had to go around and free the others. But had they been awake as long as us? Longer? Who had planned it like that? Finally, Thorne got the older boy’s door open, and he stumbled out. “Do you know where my sister is?”
“If she’s here, yes. Follow me.” I didn’t have to tell him. He broke out in a sprint down the hall, leaving the rest of us behind. I looked to Thorne. “Thorne, stay with the kids. I’m gonna get him to his sister. Trade me, okay?” I held out Xander.
Thorne gave me an anxious look. “Are you sure?”
“Quickly, Thorne. I’ll take him back as soon as we’re back together. Give me the keys.” He nodded and we made the trade-off. “Get the little ones to the table and stay there.” Then I ran off after the oldest boy, catching up with him in the round room.
“Is it this one?” he asked when he heard me at his side, tugging at the final locked door with tears in his eyes.
“Yes. Let me get it,” I offered, but he grabbed the key ring from my hand and tried to get the door open himself. His hands were shaking too badly to go quickly, though. “Please, let me,” I repeated gently.
“Fine,” he ground out, handing them back. He covered his face in his hands and let out a quiet, rough sob while I worked. Luckily, it was only the second key, and when I tapped his shoulder to let him know he was off like a shot again. I followed him, scanning the walls for anything new while he shouted for his sister, though oddly he didn’t remember her name, either.
“I’m here!” A female voice screamed back, echoing against the stone and making my ears ring.
“Me too!” cried a younger girl.
“The keys! Please, bring them here!” The boy shouted back at me, and I handed them over as soon as I got to him, then went to the next cell where the younger girl, probably a preteen, was standing.
“Hey, honey. We’re gonna get you out of there, okay?” I took her hand through the bars. She was even paler than me, with a freckled face and two long red braids. She was worrying at one of them with the hand that wasn’t in mine.
“Okay,” she whispered, clearly terrified. I stayed with her until the siblings reunited, then took the key from the boy’s free hand, the other one being wrapped tightly around his sister. They really were twins - I only saw the sister’s face for a second before it was pressed into her brother’s chest, but it was like a mirror of his, with the same pin-straight black hair. I unlocked the last girl’s door and led them all back out to the round room. Thorne rushed over and handed the baby back, who was crying again.
“We're all here,” he said proudly. “The other boy is Oriel, and those twins are Rowan and Raven. And you must be Angel.” He smiled at the girl, who gasped.
“Yeah! That’s my name! How did you know? I didn’t even know that!” Angel fired off one question after another, her pretty face twisted in confusion. Thorne led her to the table, where Oriel and Juniper were sitting next to each other already. Rowan and Raven, hand in hand, were making their way towards the two identical chairs to the right of mine. I followed them over with Xander.
“Jess!” Juniper scrambled out of her chair when she saw me and ran over to hug my legs.
“Hey, honey. Doing okay?” I mussed up her hair affectionately.
“Yeah. Ori’s my new friend!” she said excitedly.
“Glad to hear it.” I took her hand and walked the rest of the way to the round table, where the others were exchanging names and what little information we had.
“Why are we here?” asked Raven. “Does anyone know?”
“No. This is all we know,” I said, gesturing to the table in front of us.
“How did you have the keys?” Rowan turned to me.
“They were on a hook outside Juniper’s and my cells. I couldn’t see them, but she was little enough to get out through the bars, and then she showed me where they were. We’ve been running around finding the rest of you since,” I explained.
“Why can’t we remember anything?” Thorne turned to me too. That was the thing about being the oldest - Everyone assumed I must know more than they did. That was a familiar feeling, too.
“I don’t know, Thorne.”
“What are we gonna do?” asked Angel in a small voice. Everyone was looking at me now, and the feeling of responsibility for this strange band was overwhelming, especially since I had no idea .
“Well…” I looked around, casting about in my mind for anything helpful, but the only feature of this place besides the cells and the sparse lights was that table. “Wait, maybe that’s it; The table, with our names, that has to mean something, right?”
“The chairs are all the perfect size for each of us, too,” said Raven thoughtfully.
“It’s like assigned seats,” added Oriel. “You know, in school?”
“You’re right!” I nodded at him. “Maybe…” I trailed off, staring at the table and its arrangement of chairs.
“Sit in ‘em?” Juniper suggested.
“That seems too easy,” said Rowan, frowning.
“But maybe it’s not - Maybe we’re supposed to figure it out, like a test!” said Thorne. We all looked at each other, thinking, before they all looked to me again.
“Well, nothing else to do. Find your spots, everyone,” I said, trying to sound certain. We moved in silence except for Thorne pointing out Juniper’s seat for her and the fussing of the baby when I placed him in the high chair. I was last, taking a deep breath and looking into each of their faces before pulling out the tallest chair and sitting down.