The Cultivated Girl

Chapter 4 - Escape from Sanctuary

                                                                                                                                                   

The story so far...

Amira tells Lady Elizabeth Kjallman, Simone's mother, that her daughter has disappeared. Elizabeth is angry so Amira tells her that Simone drank the flying potion and has been called by the Goddess to Sanctuary. After the call Amira texts someone a single word, "Newgrange".

What is Amira up to? Why is she lying and who exactly is Simone's mother?
Follow Simone as she tries to find out where she is and what's going on.

                                                                                                                                                      

Simone found herself in a long, wide passageway, hewn out of more of the marbled rock. She could still hear the pale girl's snickers echoing behind her. Plush tapestries with tiny figures and scenes covered the floor, padding her escape. Abstract designs scrolled across some of the walls, fading into nothing as if their journey was spent. The curved ceilings were high enough to hold pulsating chandeliers that looked like living lava lamps. She moved cautiously under the round pits they nestled in, keeping a wary eye on them in case they pounced. After this morning's events, she was leaving nothing to chance.

Which way to go? After every third light or so, more tunnels branched off both left and right. Some were marbled in different colours, with curious boulders obstructing most of the throughway. Simone had read about terrorist organisations hiding out in mountains, hundreds of them living in the giant smooth snake holes left by long dried-up, underground rivers.

She'd also read a dogeared old copy of the Hardy Boys Survival Guide and the freshly minted What's your Zombie Apocalypse Plan? That's the thing about being a diplomat's only child, you got a lot of reading in, in between schools, in between countries and in between tutors.

Right now Simone didn't know what to believe. She followed the Hardy Boys' advice, her skinny legs repeatedly taking the left tunnel every time there was a choice while her thumping head figured things out.

"I've got a couple of options here," she muttered, giving herself a mental shake.

"Option A, I've been kidnapped by an infidel cell so that Mum is forced to stop whatever diplomatic intervention she's in the middle of. Ooh, that has merit, although Mum is probably going for team pedicures with the president's daughter, she thought bitterly. Then laughed at the image of snooty Elizabeth hanging with a teenager. Not in this lifetime.

"Moving on to lucky option B, I somehow forgot that I drunk Amira's whacko concoction and am suffering hallucinations and torment in some hospital. Possible...

"Option C, all of the above - Amira drugged me and handed me over to the infidels."

Simone felt cheerier. She could see herself as the dashing heroine, flipping the finger at her captors and arriving home in the nick of time to prevent an international incident. No Simone, no ransom. Except that until this morning, Amira had been like a big sister to her. She really couldn't see the au pair handing her over without a fight.

Gosh, I hope Amira's ok. She pictured the slender student lying still on the floor, dusky cheeks pale, blood trickling from a head wound. The thing about reading a lot - it breeds an overactive imagination.