found

Chapter Nine

Lyndsey lifted the spoon to her nose and sniffed it. It smelled like soil with a kind of pungent tang that she couldn't put a name to. If she had had a choice, it would not be going anywhere near her mouth but she knew if she refused then her aunt would find some way of making her eat it. Screwing up her eyes Lyndsey put the spoon into her mouth. It was not as bad as she had been anticipating, in fact as she swallowed she could feel warmth filling her tired body. She ate up quickly, not hesitating as she moved onto the other bowls which contained more odd-coloured food: a dark green pulp that tasted only of salt but eased the pain in her aching muscles and some pale yellow beans which were dry and crunchy and filled her with some of the energy that had deserted her the previous night.

"Good." Lilith said when Lyndsey was done, calling back the maid to remove the now empty tray. Lilith stood up to leave but she paused by the side of the bed. "You are to remain in bed do you hear me?" She said in a low voice. "If I hear you have been out of bed again when we have explicitly told you not to there will be consequences. Do you understand."

"Yes Aunt Lilith." Lyndsey said on instinct, sinking back against her pillows. She knew that no matter what she said, her aunt would have the final word. Lilith nodded and left the room

Lyndsey shut her eyes and slept a little while longer but she awoke again in the early evening. Not being allowed to get up, she lay back, put her hands behind her head and stared up at the ceiling. Dark clouds covered the sky outside meaning the light in the room was dim and soon Lyndsey started to day dream.

"Let me out! Can someone hear me? Please!" The voice screamed into Lyndsey's head louder and clearer than ever before. It was so loud that, in the delicate state she was in, it almost hurt her to hear it. She let out a cry and pressed her hands over her ears. Though the voice didn't come again it had seemed to leave a mark on her. She could feel the desperation, pain and anger of whoever it belonged to. Something awful was happening to her. And it definitely was a her. She knew it was a woman's voice now and something inside Lyndsey told her the woman whose voice it was, was close. She needed to help her.

Opening her eyes and following her instinct, Lyndsey leapt out of bed and ran out of her bedroom. It did not matter what her aunt had told her, she needed to go. She didn't notice to cold tiles under her bare feet or her hair streaming out behind her. She didn't even care that she was only wearing her nightdress as she heaved open the front doors. The heavy door swung open easily and into the garden she ran. She had barely set foot onto the grass when someone grabbed her from behind and spun her around to face them. It was Lilith and she looked furious.

"What on earth are you doing out here?" She demanded. An emotion Lyndsey couldn't place was making Lilith's usually quiet, soft voice sound like it was somehow made of iron. "You were instructed to stay in bed and rest and yet here you are outside in this weather and only in your night clothes. What do you have to say for yourself?" Her light eyes seemed to darken as she glared down at the small pale girl. Footsteps behind them indicated the arrival of Oswald and Simeon.

"I heard someone." Lyndsey cried, a slight gasp in her voice as Lilith's grip on her wrist was very tight. "A voice, in my head. It was a woman. She needs help. She's trapped and she needs to get out." She struggled with all her might to pull her hand away but Lilith only held on tighter. "Let me go!" Lyndsey shouted. "I need to help her!" She pulled and pulled but Lilith's grip remained strong. Lyndsey fought desperately until she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see her uncle there. He crouched down beside her and spoke in a quiet, measured tone.

"Lyndsey can you please stop struggling." He said, keeping his eyes on hers. It was as if in that moment the desperation drained out of her. She became still at last, her breath coming in short fast pants. "Thank you." Oswald said.

"What about that woman?" Lyndsey asked again, her voice cracking just a little. "We need to find her and help her."

"We do not." Oswald ran an anxious hand through his hair. "The woman you have heard does not need help. She is angry certainly and would like nothing more than to be let go, but you need to know that it would be a terribly bad thing if you were to let her out." Oswald could feel his wife's gaze burning into him. He knew this was a significant issue that would take a lot of his work to resolve, but right at that moment the priority was getting Lyndsey calm. "The woman is in what you might call a prison. She is very powerful and not far away, so in the state you are in I can understand why you heard her. Being able to communicate using only our minds is a gift of the Esa you see, though you cannot usually hear someone who is not in your line of sight. She is trying to use you to let her out. You must not do that do you understand?"

Looking around at the faces above her, Lyndsey wasn't sure what to think. She was sure this was the same voice she had been hearing for years. Could it be that she had been in this prison the whole time? Lyndsey rubbed her eyes with her free hand and closed them for a moment as she tried to make sense of what she was hearing.

"Do you understand?" Lilith's harsh voice made Lyndsey open her eyes once more. She decided just to nod and allow herself to be led back to the house. She was taken directly back to her room and Lyndsey got the feeling that her aunt might just have thrown her in bed if she had had less self-control. Once she had obediently got back into bed, the three adults left her. As soon as the door was closed Lyndsey got up again, her mind racing.

She put her ear to the door and, hearing nothing, she slipped out into the hall. Walking as quietly as she could and listening for anything, Lyndsey made her way through the quiet corridors. It wasn't long before she picked up the sound of angry voices. She followed the sound to another door and pressed her ear against it, listening hard.

"The situation is more serious than any of us suspected last night." The accent of the voice told Lyndsey she was listening to Simeon. "The child is stronger than we could have anticipated. I need not remind you just how important she is. I will report back as I am bound to do and you will hear from him in due course."

"I understand the gravity of the situation Simeon. But we all need to remember she is still only a child and a very confused one at that. We must be careful and not scare her with anything that is going on. Scared and powerful is a combination that could cause all sorts of problems." Oswald spoke quickly, almost grovelling it seemed. "You both saw tonight what she is potentially capable of." There was a moment of silence.

"Don't tell me you've become attached to the girl." Lilith scoffed, speaking for the first time. Her voice maintained the hard edge it had had earlier. "We brought her here for a purpose. One she needs to fulfil. I believe we should go ahead as planned though a few more precautions will of course be necessary given what we now know. We should really have expected it really given who her parents are." Lilith sneered and Lyndsey felt anger flare inside her in a way she hadn't felt since she left school. She of course knew very little of her parents but she bristled with anger at hearing them spoken about in such a way.

"We need to look after her and nurture her. She will not respond I think to what we had planned." Oswald spoke again but Lyndsey was barely listening. Her mind which had been racing before was now doing somersaults. Did this mean her family did not really want her? And what was this purpose she needed to fulfil? What would happen if she couldn't do it? "I implore you to tell him my views Simeon. The girl has abilities we cannot yet predict. I know of no-one who could have heard what she did tonight." Oswald continued to plead his case.

"How could that woman have even managed to get a message out for the girl to hear in the first place?" Lilith snapped. "I thought you had taken care of that some time ago."

"I thought I had bu-"

"Cleary you hadn't." Lilith cut him off. "I will go there tomorrow and take care of it for myself. You need not worry about that happening again." Lilith continued. Footsteps told Lyndsey they were heading for the door and she fled back to her room, but not before catching Lilith's last words. "Simeon, please send my regards to The Sultan. Let him know he can have faith in me to do what is necessary."