Cross

Book 2 Chapter VI - From Bad To Worse

Chapter 16 - From Bad To Worse

Dani wasn't sure how long she sat on the windowsill, staring at the forests surrounding the place and the courtyard below. Wherever she was, she could see the country (whatever country it was) for miles around. And wherever she was, there were a lot of people here; the courtyard was full of them.

Where on Earth am I?

She was snapped out of her thoughts by footsteps and voices outside the door.

"And he's taking me to see the Colosseum and St. Peter's Basilica and the Circus Maximus..." a distinctly female voice said excitedly as the footsteps passed the door, fading away in the distance as whoever was speaking continued down the hallway.

Dani let out a breath she hadn't realised she was holding and thought about what she'd just heard. Someone was taking someone else to see places with weird names. Right. But she'd heard of the Colosseum before, in Geography - it was some Roman (or was it Greek?) thing. So unless the person whose conversation she'd overheard was going on holiday, she must be in either Greece or Italy. Now, if only she could get in contact with her parents or someone who could help, she'd be able to give them somewhere to start looking for her.

She got up and ran on tiptoe over to the door, even though there was no one around to hear her (that she knew of), and tried the handle. It wasn't locked, and opened onto a hallway lined with doors on one side and windows, paintings and bookshelves on the other.

She mentally debated trying to find a way out, but decided against it. She'd tried that last night (or so she thought; she had actually been asleep for a whole day because of how strong the drug was), and look what had happened. Besides, the people who had kidnapped her were here, and she didn't want to meet them...

Kidnapped. Somehow, that word and its implications sank in now more than it ever had before. She had been kidnapped. She had been taken somewhere far away from her parents, her family, her friends, everything she knew. She might never see them again.

With a strangled sob, Dani pulled the door shut, ran across the room, and threw herself face-down on the bed. Images of her parents, her brothers and sister, the triplets, Gareth, Steven, Lacey and Jackson whirled through her mind and she began to cry. And cry. And cry.

After a while - thirteen minutes, to be precise, though to Dani it could have been anything from half a minute to half a day - her crying stopped, and she became aware of two things. One: she had cried so much that the pillow was soaked. Two: someone was knocking at the door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

She sat up, startled and rather frightened. Was it Terror? Would they go away if she didn't answer? Should she answer?

Knock! Knock! Knock! Whoever was there was getting impatient.

"C-Come in," she said, stuttering slightly.

The door opened and an old man entered, carrying a plate of about twelve sandwiches, which he set on the table by the door.

"Your breakfast," he said, by way of explanation. She noticed at once that he sounded German, or something similar.

The girl looked at the sandwiches suspiciously, half-afraid that they might be poisonous. "What are they?"

"Tuna and sweetcorn. Your favourite food."

Dani stared. How had anyone here known that what sort of food she liked? How much did these people know about her?

"T-Thank you," she said at last.