Before the Sky Fell

[ 17 ] Finger Painting

"Does this place have access to outside?" Charlotte was interrupted by muffled moans from other captives farther down the hallway.

Sonora moved her head from left to right, eyeing each end of the hall. "I can't." Her knees cracked when she stood.

"Please. You don't have to live like this anymore."

"There's no other way. They would kill us both if they saw me talking to you. You don't know these monsters like I do."

"They'll eventually kill us anyway."

Sonora shook her head, grabbed the mug and spoon from the floor, and turned to walk down the hallway. "I'm sorry," she whispered as her touched the floor without a sound.

Charlotte slumped downward in defeat. The floor chilled her bare flesh, which was exposed by a slit in her dress. "If Whik could only see me now," she said to herself, dropping her hands to the floor as if all muscle control had been expelled from her body.

Sonora froze in her retreat.

I need her. I need her to come back. "I had always told Whik that if he didn't tame his desire for adventure, he'd end up in a cell. And now I'm the one behind bars."

Charlotte expected Sonora to return to her swift stroll down the cell hallway and perhaps return a few hours later, but Sonora just stared at the wall with her back to Charlotte.

"Whik talked about you, you know? He blames himself. For letting you go. He said something about a game. Hide and find, I think it was." Sonora turned, looking at Charlotte like she had seen a ghost.  Just let me out. "He said you always won. That he resented you for that, then he resented himself for resenting you. That boy loved you. Was it just a game to you? Is that what you're best at, Sonora? Hiding?"

A tear fell from Sonora's cheek.

"Sonora, you can change things. You can help me. You can help Whik. You're not one of those monsters. You have to see that."

"How? How can I help? The city is full of Larks. They'll find us."

"Where is the key to outside? Do you have it?"

"No. It's in the jail master's chamber. He's been drinking all day. That's all he ever does."

"You can have a normal life again," Charlotte told her. Sonora released the faint signs of a chuckle. "And if not normal, at least you'll be free to feel anything but suffocation. We have to get that key."

Sonora stood. Her hands shook. The spoon clanked against the mug. If the girl walked away, so too would Charlotte's chances of escaping. The sound of footsteps bounced off the walls. A deep voice rumbled down the hallway. "Where are you slave girl?"

Sonora's eyes doubled in size. Charlotte grasped the bars and attempted to look down the hall. "It's him," Sonora said. She reached down, hid the mug in some shadows, and held the splintered spoon behind her back.

"What are you going to do?" Charlotte asked.

Sonora turned once more and said, "I'm going to train a dog."

The bloated figure that stumbled down the hallway looked less intimidating than the Larks that Charlotte had seen before. He walked with a clumsy stagger, bouncing off the walls like a skipping stone.

Charlotte sat still. He knows our common tongue.

"What do you think you're doing slave girl? What have I told you about talking to the jail rats?" The Lark pushed Sonora against the cell bars and Charlotte heard her back crack. "What good are you? You're nothing to us now. You birthed a monster. You think Strinsil will take you back after that? You're no one anymore, Snow."