PANACEA-Book One-By Hell or High Water

11. Cellar

I felt an instant panic when I woke to cold, hard stone under my body.

I don't know why my body didn't register it sooner. It had to have been a while, because I felt like I had been sleeping for years. My eyes were heavy, and took their time adjusting to the dark. I could feel someone's back pressed against mine. There were many things wrong with this situation. I had been across the room from Edmund and Corbin, and I had been in a bed.

I sat up abruptly, turning my head quickly before my eyes focused on one thing. On the floor across the room, was three of the smaller flasks we had picked up earlier that day. We had gotten plenty, varying in size. Why were they here? Where exactly was here?

I felt the person behind me sit up, and my heart leaped. I turned to see Edmund. Upon further inspection, I saw Hero further away. He was near a shelf that stretched to the ceiling.

Edmund got up shakily, and nearly stepped on my hand. "Why are we in the cellar?"

Cellar? It wasn't exactly helpful that the information I was being given wasn't registering in my brain.

Hero suddenly sat up, looking around wildly in the dark. "E-Ed?"

"Look behind you," Edmund replied. When Hero caught sight of him he seemed to calm back down completely. Edmund walked across the room, and I lost sight of him in the dark. After a moment of silence, light came. It was small, and didn't quite cover the room. It was from a chunk of wood Edmund held in his hand. I could see a stack of wood at his feet. The same wood he had cut yesterday. There was more than that, though. It was piled high to the ceiling, much like the shelves I could see. I watched the firelight flicker upwards as Edmund climbed a ladder. I saw the same door he had dumped the wood through. What was a cellar? A place to store wood? No, not just wood. I could see jars on shelves, baskets, boxes. There were many things down there. Edmund was pushing on the door without much to show for it, before he climbed back down.

"It's blocked from above," he muttered.

"How did we get here?" Hero asked him. Edmund shrugged, which seemed to be his favorite way to respond.

"Well we didn't come down here on our own, so I'd assume someone put us here."

Hero was quiet from his place in the dark. "Can you make more light?" he asked quietly. Edmund brought two bigger pieces of wood to the middle of the room and dropped the smaller chunk on them. A bigger light was soon burning, and I could see all around the room. There was a huge metal tank near one wall, with pipes and faucets. That aside, the rest of the room was just shelf upon shelf.

Hero moved up to be closer to the fire. "Where's Corbin?"

Edmund sat down in the range of the light. "I'm not sure. Whoever...did this may have put him somewhere else. Or maybe..." He shook his head. "Nevermind. I don't know."

Hero pouted and gripped his clothing. Edmund only then realized what he said wasn't very reassuring.

"If he's nearby, he'll look for us soon."

As they spoke, I began to think. This couldn't be as out of the blue as it seemed. It just couldn't. Did anything make sense? Anything at all?

You could keep a person down there for months and they'd survive.

"What if Corbin is the one who put us down here?" I said without thinking.

Both of them were quiet. What I had just said could have offended them. It was basically confirming I didn't trust Corbin.

"Why would he?" Hero asked me quickly.

"I don't really know," I said. "You did say yourself he hasn't quite been himself." I paused. "Edmund? Do you maybe remember the conversation you had with him awhile ago? Something about there being enough."

Edmund looked to be thinking for a moment. "I asked him if there was anything else I needed to stock the cellar with...?"

"And what did he say?"

"That I didn't need to?"

"There's plenty. Enough that if one of you got trapped down there by accident you'd be fine for months."

Edmund looked surprised. Even in the warm glow of the firelight I could see him blanche. "That's exactly it."

Hero was staring at both of us with wide eyes. "Why would he, though? I don't understand."

I thought again. "It has to do with what I told him. The place I described? He also seemed to recognize that rod--" I stopped and pulled at my short ringlets. "This is my fault, either way."

Hero and Edmund exchanged looks. Whether they wanted to admit it or not, that was the truth. Corbin had obviously been trying to keep something from us these past few days, and clearly he was willing to go to great lengths to push it beneath the sand.

"I wonder what he was weaving," Hero said.

"Why did he need all those other things to hold water?" I added.

Edmund poked the fire with his foot. "I hope you're jumping to conclusions, Shauzia."

"How will we know?" I asked him.

Edmund bit his lip, kicking the fire slightly again. "It's not as if we can really leave to find out. We'll just...wait to be let out."

"He said months, Edmund. There has to be someway we can get out. If he didn't lock us in here, we can't just wait around. Whoever did may be trying to hurt him."

That resonated with the two of them. All three of us were soon up, taking turns trying to push the cellar doors open. Just as Edmund had said, they were blocked by something heavy. I slid down against the wall, panic settling in once again.

"This is stupid," I said to myself. There must have been something I could do. Did I have any power that could help? I wouldn't know. The only times I had ever known them to set off was when in contact with water. I looked at the tank. That was probably where the water came from. What if it was just another useless vision? Would it even help?

I saw Edmund standing over me, holding out one of the baskets that had been on the shelves. It had dried fruit in it.

"You should eat. I'm sure we'll think of something."

Authors Note: I decided to post two chapters today, since I'm so ahead. Here you go! I hope you enjoy!

~Andesite Lyacon