Girl Apocalypse

Trapped Soul

They both look up, faces covered with a mixture of dirt and blood. Gus’ face breaks into a relieved grin. He whispers to Ellie, “see? What did I tell you?”

                Something warm washes through me at the thought that his reassuring whispers had centered around me. I hope I don’t disappoint them.

                “stand back,” Josephine orders me, and I jump out of her way as she places her hands flat against the lock of the cell. Now we’re not doing normal servant stuff, and evidently the guards have noticed. The tooth-picker heaves himself off the wall and starts toward us, boots clumping as he comes, “herr, now,” he says gruffly, “what are you two up to?”

                I stand in front of Josephine, hyper aware that I haven’t got anything on me, no swords, no daggers. Only a black diamond that was slowly infecting the world. What exactly was I going to fight him off with? “the empress wants these two…er…bathed.” I managed to squeak out.

                Toothpicker looks confused. His bushy caterpillar eyebrows shoot up all the way to the brim of his dirty cloth cap, he repeats the word as though he’s never heard it before, “bathed?”

                “Yes,” I speak loudly, hoping to drown out the sound of Josephine muttering her spell to break the lock, “can’t you smell them? They’re disgusting! The smell offends the high empress very much! She has decreed that the prisoners must smell like…um, lavender. At all times.”

                “Lavender?” Toothpicker scratches his head through his cap, looking completely perplexed. Behind me I heard the ping of metal unlocking and say loudly, “Yes! Have you two had your lavender bath yet?”

                Now his furry brows creep down, creasing together in concern. He’s clearly wondering if he’s missed something, some important talk they all had without him. I have to keep myself from grinning, “you didn’t get the memo? Oh…wow, you had better get up there. She might be really mad.”

                For a moment I think it’s going to work. He’s going to turn on his heel and run upstairs and demand to know about the lavender bath he missed, but then he leans to the left and peers over my shoulder, just in time to see Gus and Ellie slipping out the open door of the cell, and something registers in his face. He knows he’s being duped. I brace myself to run at him, trying to decide if I should go for the head but or punch him in the stomach. I’m just bracing myself for the stomach punch, when the tooth-picking guard’s eyes roll up into the back of his head, and he falls over backwards with a resounding crash.

                “Go!” Josephine’s voice rings through the passageway, “he won’t be out for long!”

                Before I turn, I see the sleeping guard start to stir at all the noise, and then I’m pelting widly down the tunnel, following close on the heels of Josephine. We zig zag left and right with the tunnel, panicked gasping and echoing footsteps blending together, hearts beating wildly. I imagine one set of footsteps must be the guard, and I wish Josephine would run faster, imagining a blade suddenly piercing my back.

                Suddenly there’s daylight, blaring in my face as Gus flings open the door in front of us. We stumble out one after the other, plowing into one another’s backs like dominos. I turn hastily, shoving the door shut as hard as I can in case the guard is still chasing us. A dull “thunk” reverberates through the surface of the door, signifying that he was indeed. I can’t help a little smile in spite of everything, picturing him running his ugly face right into the thick oak door.