Labyrinth of White - The Moon Trilogy - Book #1

Chapter twenty-six:

The sudden change in the lighting made Clarity temporarily blind, and she stumbled to a stop. The only thing that she could see were two dull orange rings that were completely unexplained. She thought that they were rather pretty, but the longer she was in the darkness, the more defined things became, and she didn't think they were very pretty anymore. In fact, they looked disturbingly like eyes.

There was a metal table in the middle of the room, just like there had been in every other room. The almost non-existent light gleamed off of its shiny surface. There was someone on the table, but it was too dark to make out who it was. By the size and shape, she guessed that whoever was on the table was a woman.

She didn't think she could manage loosening straps in the darkness, so she took out her trusty laser and groped along the side of it for the knob, which she turned as soon as she'd located. She hoped she'd successfully turned it to the lowest setting, or she would definitely end up hurting someone.

She pointed it at the ceiling just to be safe and pulled the trigger. The red light emanating from the laser was dull, and it hardly helped light the black room, but at least it wasn't dangerous.

She stepped closer to the table. By the very faint light of the laser, she was able to make out more of the person's features. Besides the orange eyes, the woman on the table looked very normal. She had an average build, and as far as Clarity could tell, she didn't have any wings.

Clarity thought there was something strange about the woman's hair, but she couldn't put her finger on it. But that seemed to be the only thing amiss. There was no reason to be afraid—hopefully.

She scrambled to unfasten the tight bindings in the dim light. The glowing orange rings tracked her progress. There were no more screeches.

When she had loosened every strap, the woman dropped to the floor with a soft groan. She clutched her arm to her chest as if it was hurt.

But then she recovered—faster than Clarity had anticipated—and before she could see what happened, the strange woman was standing and out the door.

Clarity turned around. The group had formed a half-circle around the door, and now the woman that stood there. They must have been watching the whole time, no doubt wondering why Clarity was taking so long, and why the room was dark. The newest—and probably the strangest—addition to their sizable group stared right back at them all. Her hair was gold, or at least seemed to be, and it shimmered in the much brighter light of the hallway.

She hadn't even seen the woman get up, so how had she gotten into the hall without Clarity noticing? She brushed off the confusion. She still had work to do, and standing around, gawking at a woman with golden hair wasn't helping her. She could gawk as much as she wanted when she wasn't in danger.

She pushed through the door. The group stayed where they were, transfixed by the golden-haired woman. Clarity again noticed how she seemed to be holding her left arm close to herself, almost sheltering it with her other hand. There was no doubt about the fact that her arm was injured.

Clarity searched for another occupied room once she'd pushed her way through the staring crowd. She didn't have time to wonder why they were all so shocked.

The only one that she could see was right next to the elevator doors, and she started towards it.

An uneasy murmuring started from the group behind her, putting a pause in her stride. She turned to see that the golden-haired woman was gone.

She tried not to let her mind go off on thinking about the odd woman, or why the group was reacting the way they were, or why... no, she had to keep working. She typed in the rest of the code.