The Little Star

Prelude

It was dark.

Always so dark.

Though after the years the occupants of the cells had grown use to it. The smell was just as bad, musky, stale air, mixed with the smell of human excrement. But the worst scent in the air was fear.

“Psst.” A sound came from one of the cells. Fragile hands moving forward to wrap around the bars of the door, the faint light in the hallway glinting off the tiny silver band wrapped the pale wrist of the occupant.

“Psst.” She called again, trying to get the attention of the woman across from her. “Please, can you just tell me where we are? What is this place?” Tears could be heard in her young voice, and the woman in the opposite cell felt her heart contract at the innocence there. She couldn’t be more than a child.

“I don’t know. None of us do.” She answered, her voice rough from seldom use.

“You don’t know?” The newest occupant of their little dungeons of hell cried out.

“We all ended up here the same way. We blacked out and woke up here with a dampener on our wrist.” The woman answered, holding her hand through the bar to show the younger woman. Other hands along the hall pressed out of their cell doors as well, showing silver bands wrapped around their wrists like a second skin. Only one was different, made of gold instead of silver.

“What are they? Why is yours different?” The girl asked, her tone saying she’d given into the tears.

“Power dampeners. They keep our abilities at bay, so we can’t use them or reach anyone outside this place.” The older woman answered, leaning her head against the bars with a sigh. “Mine is different because I am a Lycan. Everyone else here is of varied species. Sphinx, Fae, werewolf, Vampire, dragon; you name it, there’s one down here.”

“You, you’re a Lycan?” The poor girl stuttered.

“Yeah, not that it does me any good down here. What are you?”

“I’m a unicorn.” She whispered, her hands pulling away from the bars to wrap around her arms.

“Really…” The older woman muttered, her long fingers wrapping around the bars, pressing her face towards the light. “How did they get you? I thought Unicorns were pretty well hidden?”

“I left our territory. I just wanted to go to the human town and see them, how they lived. I didn’t make, I was grabbed on the town boarder. And that’s all I remember.” She began to sob, someone so young and innocent getting their first glimpse of the darkness that lived in this world.

Once she’d calmed down, she moved back towards the cell door once more, sniffling. “What are they going to do with me? What happens down here?”

“We’re left along for the most part.” Another voice from down the hall spoke, her Irish accent thick.

“They feed us, bring water for drinking.” This time the voice was soft and sultry, a Spanish accent.

“They don’t… touch you… do they?” The newcomer asked again, the fear in her voice speaking volumes. Each of them had carried the same fear at one point.

“No. They aren’t allowed. That doesn’t mean they don’t threaten it though.” The Irish woman spoke up, she had a brisk and matter of fact way of speaking.

“They like to look though…” The second woman spoke softly.

“What is your name?” The first woman asked, not wanting to upset the girl anymore for the moment.

“Emma-Jean.” The unicorn answered.

“The lovely Irish lass down there is Niamh.” A pale hand waved a few cells down. “The sweet Spanish senorita is Elisa.” Another had waved from the next cell, though her skin was a few shades darker than Niamh’s. “Next is Anya, she knows little English. Then Li Na, she knows a little English, but she’s pretty quiet. Last, but not least, is Jessica. In order they are, Siren, Sphinx, Dragon, Witch, and Werewolf.”

“And your name?”

“Celeste. Celeste Slade.”

“You’re the Lycan queen!” Emma-Jean gasped in surprise. “They’ve been looking for you for over three years! I can’t believe you’re still alive. They’re going to be so relieved when they find us.”

Everyone else kept quiet, letting her words sink in.

“Oh no, they’ve been looking for you for years and you’ve been here the entire time.” Her voice broke, and the others knew she was crying again. “There’s no hope is there.”

No one said a word. They’d all lost hope of rescue a long time ago. All they could rely on was escape, which had proven to be impossible for them to plan with the power dampeners in place. They were enchanted to act as a second skin, sealed to their flesh.

“How long have you all been down here?” Emma-Jean asked once she had control of her emotions once more.

“I was first, and as you said, I’ve been missing for three years. Though I didn’t realize it had been that long.” Celeste whispered the last part, unbelieving so much time had passed. “The others came in after me after varying degrees of time. Others have come in as well, but their gone now.”

“Gone?” The young woman asked hesitantly. “Did they… did they die?”

“We don’t really know.” Niamh answered honestly.

“When girls go, men say sold.” Li Na answered quietly in her broken English.

“Sold?” Emma-Jean exclaimed. “This is a human trafficking ring?”

“More like supernatural trafficking. Though who we are sold to or for what we don’t know.” Elisa said, bitterness soaking into her words at the lack of control of their lives they had.

“Why have you all not sold?” Emma-Jean asked.

“We don’t know.” Celeste responded with a shrug of her shoulders, though the other women couldn’t see the action. “Certain species have sold faster than others.”

“Which ones?”

“Vampires, Witches, and Fae are gone pretty quickly after getting here, so I guess they sell the fastest. Next are Sphinx and Werewolves, not as many in but once they are, they don’t stay too long. There’s been two or three Sirens, they stay for extended of periods of time. Anya is the only Dragon that’s come in while I’ve been here. I’ve been the only Lycan, and you’re the first Unicorn.”

Banging down the hallway caused all the women to get quiet, moving away from their cells as they listened. The sound of heavy footsteps ricocheted against the walls. It wasn’t a mealtime because they’d just been fed before Emma-Jean woke up, which meant this visit wasn’t scheduled, and that never bode well for them.

Shiny black boots stopped in front of Celeste cell, kicking the bars as if to get her attention.

“Well, well, well, your highness, looks like you’re finally going to be someone else’s problem.” He sneered, the black ski mask they all wore blocked his features from view, but she could see the flash of yellow teeth and the reflection of the faint light off his eyes.

“I’ve never been a problem, Saul, and you know it.” She laughed, picking a pebble up from the ground beside her and throwing it at the bars.

“How many times do I have to tell you my name isn’t Saul?” The guard growled, wrapping his hands around the bars.

“Always once more, always once more.” The movie reference was wasted on the oaf.

“This time tomorrow you’ll be gone, and we won’t have to constantly be looking over our shoulders for one of your kind.” Saul grumbled, kicking the bars for emphasis before turning and stomping back down the hall. “Should have never taken that job on, too much heat to keep her here.”

What did he just say? Celeste thought, jumping up and running to the bars, but the guard was gone.

“Did you hear that?” Celeste asked the other women anxiously. “He implied I wasn’t just picked up at random, someone wanted me locked away until they could come back and get me.”

“Holy crap, some betrayed you!” Niamh stated.

“What are we going to do without you?” Elisa cried, soft sobs punctuating her words.

“Don’t worry girls, I got a plan. We’ll all get out, I promise.” Celeste declared, turning from the bars and the other women’s questions as she worked on a plan to keep her promise.