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Lila
THE NEXT FEW DAYS PASSED by, but not much changed. It felt like we were all in some sort of limbo. We had our routine: wake up, make breakfast, watch TV and play board games, have lunch, go outside in the courtyard, tend to the garden, and then come back inside, make dinner, watch more TV and go to sleep. The boredom I felt made me long for home.
If I was back home, I would have been going to the pool or the lake with Sean and all of our friends. Krista, Juniper, and I would have been having sleepovers just about every night. My mom and I would have gone shopping or out to lunch. I wouldn’t have been stuck inside, bored to death.
The worst part about it all was that Sebastian had been acting different towards me and I couldn’t figure out why.
He still hadn’t drunk from me yet. I was sure that he must have been drinking from the other girls, but no one announced that he’d drank from them and no one asked, either. I also didn’t see him come for anyone, which I assumed meant that he’d been doing all his drinking at night.
It wasn’t like I didn’t see him at all. He still came to the Slave Chambers to check on us at least once a day, but it felt like he didn’t even want to look at me. When he did look at me, there was a hollow look in his eyes. At first I thought he was mad at me, but it didn’t seem that way. There was a look of indifference in his eyes when he looked at me—almost as though he was looking past me but not at me.
I wasn’t sure what had changed, but only one theory seemed to come to mind: he regretted showing me the secret passageway.
That was the night that he’d changed, after all. But I couldn’t figure out why he would have shown me in the first place if there was even the slightest chance he thought he would regret it later on. It’d felt like we’d had a real bonding moment, but now it felt like he was having second thoughts about it. It just didn’t make any sense.
I wasted so much time thinking about it, overanalyzing the situation from every angle, that I knew I needed to find a portal and fast. I needed to find a way out of this place. Regaining my freedom felt like the only way I’d be able to keep my sanity. It felt like I was already beginning to lose it.
It was over dinner one night that I blurted to the other girls, “Have you guys ever thought about trying to escape?”
Tossing her blonde hair over one shoulder, Hannah let out a laugh. “You’re funny.”
“Yeah, downright hilarious,” Lexi chimed in. Judging from the look in her eyes and her tone of voice, she didn’t seem to be too amused. “I hate to break it to you, but that’s just not possible.”
“How do you know? Have you actually tried?” I challenged.
“I haven’t been here for as long as Lexi has,” Natalia began. “But I have been here for about six months—long enough to know that there’s no way of escaping this place.”
I got the feeling that Natalia must have at least entertained the idea at some point. “Why?”
“Well, for starters, there are the guards. You’ve seen how often they watch over us to make sure we don’t try to escape.”
She wasn’t wrong there. The guards stood post in the hallway at all times to make sure we didn’t try to leave the Slave Chambers.
“Even if we did somehow figure out a way to get past the guards, we would have to figure out a way to make it through the woods alive,” Natalia went on.
“Why wouldn’t we make it through the woods alive?” I raised my eyebrows.
“Hasn’t anyone told you? The woods aren’t safe,” Marjorie said, shaking her head.
I thought back to how quiet the woods had been and how there hadn’t seemed to be any animals in them. It had felt like there was some sort of danger in the woods, but nothing had happened to me. “What’s in the woods?”
“Vampires who are so thirsty they’ll kill the first human who crosses their paths,” Hannah explained. “They’re the vampires who are unable to afford slaves when they’re put up for auction but who still need blood in order to survive. Their thirst is so bad that it drives them mad.”
If what she was saying was true, why hadn’t I encountered any of those vampires in the woods? Something wasn’t adding up.
“Have you girls actually gone into the woods?” I asked.
“None of us are that stupid,” Lexi spoke for all of them.
“If none of you has ever been in the woods, then how do you know these bloodthirsty vampires who supposedly lurk in the woods actually exist?”
“The vampire who put me up for auction warned me,” Natalia explained.
“He warned me, too,” Rachel chimed in. I noted that she’d been quieter than the others, probably because she was so new around here. Escaping was probably something she’d been thinking about herself.
“And me,” Marjorie agreed. Then, pausing, she glanced over at me. “Didn’t he warn you?”
Sebastian’s words from our first meeting filled my mind. Since your odds of survival in this kingdom are slim, considering how dangerous the forest is, you figured that if you pretended to be Lila, I’d let you into the palace.
“Prince Sebastian is the only one who gave me any sort of warning about the woods being dangerous for humans, but I have a confession to make.” I glanced at each of them. “I don’t believe him.”
“Why wouldn’t you believe it? That’s just foolish,” Lexi said.
“I don’t believe it because I’ve been in the woods... when I escaped from the vampire who owned me first.”
I felt a twinge of guilt about lying about the specifics, but I knew it didn’t change the overall point I was trying to make. “And I can tell you that nothing happened to me. I mean, I’m not going to lie. The woods are a little creepy, but I didn’t see any vampires there. If there were all these crazy, bloodthirsty vampires out there, don’t you think one of them would have hunted me down?”
“Well... yeah,” Hannah agreed.
“Did you guys ever consider that maybe, just maybe, there aren’t really any vampires in those woods?” I went on.
“Of course there are,” Lexi insisted. “No one would say there were if there really weren’t.”
“Or would they?” I asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t believe it.”
“The idea does seem a little far-fetched,” Marjorie admitted. “But what if she’s right?”
Lexi shook her head and folded her arms across her chest. “She can’t possibly be right. It doesn’t even make sense.”
“Actually, it makes perfect sense. Maybe the whole reason slaves are warned not to go into those woods is because vampires want us to fear them. They figure if we’re afraid of the woods, that means we won’t go in them. Most of us wouldn’t dare.” I glanced at the girls pointedly. “Think about it. These vampires had us kidnapped and brought here to be their slaves. What makes you think they won’t lie just to keep us here?”
“She has a point,” Natalia said, glancing at the others.
Hannah, Marjorie, and Rachel all nodded their agreement.
“I don’t know.” Lexi didn’t look entirely convinced, but she looked defeated. “I guess it’s possible.”
“So, what are you saying, Julia? That you think we should try to escape?” Hannah asked, raising her blonde eyebrows at me in question.
I nodded. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”