Chapter Eighty Eight

Coryn was successful in keeping his parents occupied at the spring festival late into the evening, and it was well past his bedtime when he persuaded Nik & Dory that they couldn't leave without a photograph to remember the day.

By that time, the school ball had finished and Elenie had come out into the light of the full moon to find Taliesen waiting for her.

The ball had been wonderful, she had been crowned queen of the ball despite no-one knowing her and even better, Ieaun had kissed her and asked her to go out with him!  It had been the best night of her life.  As she mounted Taliesen, ready to leave, Ieaun gave her last minute directions on how to find the secret refuge.

As he finished, the world seemed to fall away in a flash of greenish-blue light and when the light cleared Elenie found that she and Taliesen were at the back of a large building.

She struggled to climb down from Taliesen's back, almost falling as she did so.  Looking around, she spotted the set of stairs Ieaun had told her about and turned back to Taliesen, suddenly nervous now it was time to leave him.  

"Go on, there's no time to waste, you need to be safe down there and I need to be away from here so no-one can track you.  Besides, there's a surprise waiting down there for you..."

Taking the stairs down, Elenie found herself in an odd vault, with flaming torches around the walls.  Looking around she spotted Jewel, sitting there with a complete lack of concern and washing herself as she waited.   Walking over to the far wall, Elenie pulled on the torch furthest from the stairs.

As she pulled on the torch, a section of the wall seemed to move forward slightly and she pushed against it.  It seemed to take forever, and Jewel stayed well back out of the way as she pushed, but eventually the wall swung out to reveal a long passageway.  

As she walked down the passageway, Elenie remembered Ieaun's instructions and, once Jewel had joined her, pulled on each of the torches along the passageway until the door behind her swung shut, sealing itself invisibly as it did so.  Further down the passageway was a small plaque which read "Enter and welcome those who seek refuge, use whatever you need."  

Somehow, the very act of reading those words seemed to trigger something and the wall at the end of the passageway cracked open to reveal a well furnished room behind it.

In one corner of the room was a beautiful double bed, and next to it, a wonderfully carved wardrobe.  Elenie found a nightgown in the wardrobe and, after putting it on, she and Jewel curled up to sleep and dream.

The next morning, Coryn was playing in his bath hoping all had gone well the previous evening when he heard Nik shouting downstairs.

Slipping out the house, he called to his mother, telling her he'd been asked to collect some stuff around town as a school assignment.

In the kitchen, Nik was shouting and ranting at Ug-Laruka.

"Where is the brat?  You were supposed to keep her here and miserable and she's disappeared from under your very eyes!  You worthless goblin!  One simple task and you can't even manage that!"

As he ranted and raged at her, he also flung fairy spells in punishment, causing pain and binding her to do his will.

"I'm sorry master, I was watching the other one, the old biddy, you said to watch both & keep them away from each other.  I thought I could see the girl all the while but this morning her image faded away as if she were an illusion."

At those words Nik's temper snapped still further. "Out!  Get out!  Go and hunt the little brat down and bring her back!  Don't you dare come back until you've found her or I will make what I just did to you seem like a pleasure!"

With Ug-Laruka out looking for Elenie, Nik knew that it was time to confess his failure to Morgana.  As he summoned her image in the mirror, he cringed, knowing that she would be furious and dreading what punishment she might choose to inflict upon him.  

"You've done what?!"  her image screeched, "How did you lose one measly little brat?!  All you had to do was keep her there and break her spirit so she'd come willingly with me when I chose and you've lost her?!  You'd better find her or your punishment will be told to fae children for centuries!  I will chain you in my throne room and whip every inch of skin from your flesh!  I'll break every bone in your body so you can't stand upright and don't think you'll escape me through death either, I'll keep you alive to suffer all of it and you won't be able to use your magic to heal yourself, you'll have to do it the slow way!  And that's only the start of it... Now get out there and find her or else!"

On the other side of town, hidden away in her underground refuge, Elenie awoke confused, for a few moments she couldn't think where she was or why she was in a bed, but then she remembered the previous night's events.

Looking around the room she saw a small but fully stocked kitchenette and a dining table with two chairs next to it, getting out of bed to investigate she found it fully stocked and prepared herself a plate of pancakes.

After eating, she investigated the room further and found an exquisite bathroom behind a door near the bed.  Everything in it was ornately carved and Elenie enjoyed a long bubble bath, the first she'd ever had.

Later on, Ieaun slipped into the refuge, carefully sealing the door behind him.  The two of them did their schoolwork together and then spent some time just chatting together.

After a while, the conversation took a more intimate turn and the two teens spent a while flirting and holding hands.

Soon enough though, it was time for Ieaun to leave if he wasn't going to accidentally lead anyone to her hiding place and as he began to collect his stuff, Elenie screwed up her courage and gave him a shy kiss goodbye.

Once Ieaun had left, Elenie checked that he had sealed the door properly behind him and made herself a quick salad, delighting in her ability to enjoy her food without someone shouting at her to clean or cook.

That being done, she checked out the laptop computer which she had found conveniently placed on the desk.  Investigating the settings on it, she found that it had full internet access which was even hidden behind proxies and the like to keep anyone from tracing anything back to the machine.  Feeling reassured, she used it to upload her completed schoolwork and download her next assignment.

She then proceeded to investigate the rest of the room and in particular the bookshelf.  She found some fascinating old tomes on potion making and, selecting the simplest looking one, she settled down to read while Jewel curled up in the other chair to sleep.

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Out-take/Pet spam

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Challenge Notes:- Whilst in story terms Elenie has run away/escaped, she is in fact still part of the active family but I am keeping her in a small purpose built tomb underneath a community lot in the town.  Curfew is turned off to keep her from being dragged home.