Asylum

Tonight's the Night

Sarah Lewinski

The day after we decided to escape, Leo and I got to work on making an escape plan with the occasional appearance of Ren. It's been about three days and I've been hard at work with crafting multiple versions of the floorplans of Asylum. From the lower party levels to the upper courtyard, I've got it all. I made a set for me, Leo, Ren, and an extra in case Kya decides to join.

"The courtyard fencing seems like the most important part of this whole thing," Leo throws in. "And not the fencing we see, but the ones beyond this. The courtyard gates open as gates past them do. I heard the thoughts of the guards as they brought in Ren. How are we supposed to plan for what we can't see?"

Shrugging, I stare at a copy of my blueprints. Particularly, I stare at the white space beyond the courtyard gates. What possibly could be out there? "That's the point, Leo."

"I say we blind 'em," he suggests, crossing his arms over his chest.

"How could we do that, Leo?" I doubtfully inquire, waiting for a bizarre answer.

And a bizarre answer is indeed what I receive. "We go in naked."

"That might work," a husky voice says as a door opens. Whirling around, I see Elektra. Rapidly, I hide the blueprints and flip to the watercolor of Ren I was working on.

"Elektra," I greet. "What brings you here?"

Elektra's presence fills the room with tense silence. She's the most intimidating girl in Asylum. No, scratch that – she's the most intimidating person here period. For her to be here is extremely odd and scares the crap out of me. Elektra doesn't have a friend in anyone at Asylum, let alone in this room. The only reason she could possibly be here is that she found out about our plan. What will be our punishment?

Taking a deep breath, I look at my hands to avoid eye contact with her multi-colored eyes. That's when I see a few scars peeking out from beneath my white cardigan and remember what I can do. Mustering up some kind of Superman courage, I take a deep breath and level my lavender eyes with her light ones with spears of dark blue. I reach out to her with my mind. My power feelers connect to hers – our nerves conjoining. If she's going to take us away, she'll have a tough time doing so.

"Guards caught wind of an escape plan. Thought I'd check it out," is her short answer.

Leo and I make eye contact before returning our gaze to Elektra. "Okay..." Leo fills the stiff air.

"There are twenty snipers total that watch the gates when they open – ten on each side of the gate. Only two are loaded with real bullets and they're the ones closest to the doors. On the other side of the courtyard, there's an electric fence with starving dogs on the other side ready to rip you to shreds for a meal. You chumps won't make it two steps out there," she promises, a deathly stare trained on me.

"Okay..." Leo repeats. "You tell us this for what, exactly? I mean it's not like I don't appreciate your...frightening presence, but I'd like to know exactly what you're going to do to us now."

Casually, as if our future doesn't rely on her answer, she shrugs. "I'm going to help."

Exaggeratingly, Leo sticks a finger in his ear to clean it of wax. "I'm sorry...I think I'm a little clogged up. What was that?"

"I told you information, you let me in on the plan. That's how deals work, right?" she sarcastically inquires, flipping her dirty blonde and sapphire hair to the side.

"I mean..." I flip back to my blueprints and start filling in fences with ferocious dogs. Curiously, I peer at it when I make the deadly look beautiful. "...yes. We were looking for someone on the inside, after all."

"Yeah, but we had Kya for that!" Leo protests, voice getting shrill like it does when he's nervous or uncomfortable. "Elektra doesn't even like us – she doesn't even like anyone!"

Elektra rushes in on Leo and grabs his shirt. She pulls him up to where he's on his toes. Both of her hands ball into fists. "Get out of my mind, kid. Or this won't end well for anyone."

Leo looks from Elektra's death grip on him and to her. "Okay, agreed. So, can you put me down?" With a grunt, she releases the Latino. He tries to smooth his shirt out, but it's useless. "Oh, come on!" he aggravatingly complains. "You know," he points at Elektra accusingly. "All my shirts are stained. And now you've gotta go and wrinkle the crap out of 'em? Lady, that is just classless."

I focus on Leo and elbow myself in the ribs. He flinches and holds himself. "Ow," he mutters.

"You're in," I approve.

Leo grunts. "I'm out," he growls. He goes to open the door when Elektra puts a hand on a metal AC pipe in the room, which connects to the metal on the door handle. Once Leo touches it, his hairs raise and he steps back. "Stop that!" he shouts, animated as always. "Can everyone take a break from abusing me for like, five minutes?"

"Ignore him," I grunt to Elektra. "He's just upset because you being with us means we probably don't have to do anything naked."

Elektra's face construes into something of disgust and confusion, which she throws at Leo. "Uh-uh," Leo says, holding his hand out in a "stop" position. "Don't give me that attitude, girl."

"Do you have any ideas?" I inquire, eager to get this show on the road.

Triumphantly, Elektra smirks. "In fact, I do. Tonight, we're breaking out. Round up the gang as fast as you can."

Surely, I nod. "Let's do this."