Breaking Free: A Zodiac Story

Chapter 15: The Escape

With no access to natural sunlight, nobody had any idea how many days had passed. They could only count seconds and guess.

Taurus poked at his cold food. It wasn't like they were treated badly, aside from the cells - the food was actually good, and they were allowed to talk to each other.

"Hmm." he repeated for the fourth time. He concentrated on his powers again and tried to direct them at his wristband, but all it did was give him a small shock.

Taurus didn't really know how Leo managed to get his wristband off. He'd claimed that he'd melted his - but how would that be possible if the wristband was supposed to stop you from using your powers?

He sighed and glanced over at Leo's cell - Leo himself was restlessly shuffling around his cell. Since his wristband had melted, Virgo had lent Leo a simple silver bracelet that she had kept in her pocket to act as a replacement. Hopefully, the guards wouldn't look too closely at their wristbands.

"I'm bored..." Taurus muttered, leaning against the wall. Thankfully for them, the shackles had been removed, but they were forced to keep the wristbands.

"Then sleep." Capricorn replied. Taurus could hear the earth elemental pacing his cell restlessly as well.

"But it's not night yet."

"How do you know?"

"I... dunno." Taurus shrugged, then sighed. "Why won't they even let us walk around outside? It's not like we would escape."

"I would." Sagittarius pointed out.

"That's the point." Capricorn sighed again. "They can't keep track of twelve kids. In fact, it's probably good they haven't taken us outside, otherwise Leo would've been caught."

"How did he even melt his wristband anyways?" Sagittarius asked, half to herself. "I'm going to need to ask him once we get out of here."

"If we get out of here." Capricorn corrected her. "We might fail."

"We haven't failed before." Sagittarius replied confidently. "I'm sure we won't fail this time!"

Taurus felt slightly better about their chances of escaping. "Are you guys... good at running away?"

Sagittarius burst into laughter. "The best in all of Zodiax!"

"Because nobody's ever had to run away..." Pisces joined the conversation. She seemed to have recovered from the initial terror of having the wristbands on again.

"Or we've never heard of them." Cancer muttered, clearly pessimistic about the situation. "They could've died."

"Relax, Cancer!" Sagittarius said, shuffling over to the opposite side of her cell. "I'm sure we'll be fine. Here, let me give you a virtual hug."

Cancer laughed softly. "A virtual hug, huh...? Well, I guess, thank you, Sagi... here, have a virtual hug too."

"Virtual hugs for everyone!" Pisces exclaimed, earning a chorus of chuckles or giggles.

The door swung open. All sound immediately died down.

"Glad to see you're all getting along!" King Terrest chuckled as he strolled through the doorway. "I'm just here to tell you all that I've contacted all the kingdoms and Firea has sent back their reply... they want their fire elementals back. I'm sorry to split you all up; I'll give you today to say your goodbyes, then you'll be sent back by tomorrow morning."

The stout man exited the room while whistling a merry tune.

"Well, that's our cue." Aquarius muttered.