Escape

Isabel sat, curled on the couch of the underground vault, watching the screen on her lap. She skipped through a few channels, but before she could look through too many, the news flashed across the screen, with warnings glaring up at her. A small picture in the bottom right corner showed that the Palace Guards were positioned everywhere - there wasn’t three meters of the palace that didn’t have a guard station. As Isabel studied the picture, small words glided across the bottom of the screen. Leaning forward she used her thumbs to zoom in.
Once the words were bigger, Isabel read the warning: SEVEN MAGES BEING HUNTED - STAY INDOORS.
Isabell had been locked in the underground prison for twelve years, but it was the only home she had ever known. She came to earth when she was just four, but had no memory of where she was from. A nice family of miners had taken her in and secured a mining vault for her, bringing preserves every month. Isabel had no connection with the humans, only news feeds.
In the vault, for twelve years, she had been planning how to escape and find her power source - a source that would give her the powers she had been mentally training to retrieve ever since she had come to earth. The vault was a setback, but at least Isabel was still functioning properly.
Isabel knew it was time to get out and do what she had been sent to do, so she could somehow go back and find her family - if they were still alive. If she even had a family to go back to, she certainly wanted to meet them.
Sighing, Isabel started packing the things she might need: food, water, and the little amount of clothes she had been given. Her mind was rushing with adrenaline, but she couldn’t let her emotions mess with her mission. She had to escape, as quickly as possible.
Scanning, the room, Isabel couldn't help but wonder if she was prepared for this, if she was ready to go and see the world. Gathering her courage, Isabel went to the tiny door on the east side of the vault, only t remember it only opened from the outside.
Isabel first tried to shove the door open, but she had done this before, and as she predicted, but all she got was a shoulder ache. Next, she aggressively knocked a wooden chair into the wall, the crash echoing around in the metal room. Grunting with the effort, Isabel swung again, and again, but nothing happened. Discouragement seeped through her, making her feel foolish for thinking that she could find a way out.
Isabel slumped down, sitting on the freezing floor, hope draining out of herself. She was just a girl, one that had no experience with talking to people and had horrible communication skills. How could she ever get out? She heard a thumping, like the sound of footsteps, and they were coming closer to the vault. Confused, she checked the date on the screen that she had left on the couch, and sure enough, it was the day provisions were coming.
As the footsteps got louder and louder, and Isabel’s thoughts ran rampant. If she could just get into the storage compartment….
She opened the mini-door that was connected to the north side of the vault, and shimmied through a dusty corridor-like space. It was barely two feet tall and not even a foot wide. When the dust collided with her nostrils, the sudden urge to sneeze overtook her thought process, though she dared not; the footsteps sounded like they were just feet away.
Isabel squirmed uncomfortably when she had to go around a tight corner, and as she did, she heard two disembodied voices. One seemed astonished, and the other’s voice acted as if he were speaking to a misunderstanding child.
“No! What?” the first man asked.
“I already told you, the fifth one ended up in France. This is the sixth,”
There was a pause, and Isabel worked to keep her breathing unhearable. “But why - how?”
“I don't know, but boss said to keep this one in here, and that is what we are doing,”
There was the sound of a door being unlatched, and a light filters through a hole Isabel hadn’t realised was above her. She looked up into it for a second, before shifting so that she was able to crawl up into it. When she had done so, she was relieved that the voices’ owners had their backs turned.
Using an old wooden chair to pull herself up, Isabel took in the room. It was grander than she would have thought. Screens on the walls made it look like they were in an old ballroom from the first era. She smiled as she remembered all of the stories she had read about ballrooms like this. Looking across the room, where she guessed was West, two men stood, in red coats with gold embroidery, gazing at the very chair she was leaning against.
Their eyes seemed to double in size as they saw Isabel leaning against it. She stumbled slightly, and ended up sitting in the chair, expression as surprised as the two men.
“I…” Isabel started, but couldn’t form any words that would make since.
There was a blinding light emitting from the chair, and the men turned their heads away as an attempt to shield their eyes. Isabel stared in shock as the light reached up to her, filling her hands and legs with strange, warm energy. She felt adrenaline shot through her veins, her head seemed to feel lighter.
Isabel gasped when she realised what had happened. Her powers were just returned to her. She can go back home, where she will find her family. Elated, Isabel started to stand, but she couldn’t. Instead the chair moved up, so that she was floating above the ground. Fear sliced its way through her mind, taking over her thoughts. The chair began to descend back to the ground.
Once it was on the ground, Isabel jumped off and sprinted to the doorway as fast as she could. She shoved past the two men, still standing with their jaws hanging open, and rushed out into the light, a new hope burning inside her.

Author Notes: This was inspired by one of Harris Burdick's many amazing pictures. (If you can guess which one you are amazing!!!) please comment/review and rate! -Kaleigh

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