I awoke in a dark room. The walls and floor was made of stone and there were no windows. My hands were chained above my head and my feet were chained below me. I was shirtless and shoeless. I was also in a standing position and my arms were burning from being suspended for this long. How long has it been exactly since I’ve been here? I wasn’t sure. Rats scurried along my bare feet and nibbled on my toes. I tried to kick them off but barely made any success. All the while I hoped April was safe.

I pulled on the chains to test how strong they were and dam, they were strong.

“Hey! Helllooooo? Is anyone there?!” I yelled into the black abyss in front of me.

There was no answer and my voice echoed back to me. A few seconds passed and I heard the whine of an old door opening.

"Hello? Hello? Who are you? Where am I?” I yelled more, trying to gather as much courage as I could.

A candle was lit a few centimetres from my face and a small girl, perhaps only 15 years old stood in front of me. She stared at my face, assessing me, as I did the same to her. She had messy black hair and the greenest eyes I’ve ever seen. Her face was smudged with dirt and she had ‘rags’ for clothes. She was human. Maybe she was another prisoner?

“Who are you?” I demanded. “And where the hell am I?”

“This is Alesteria and they call me Ratty girl.”

Such a strange nickname for a beautiful girl.

“Alesteria? And I do not believe that is your real name.”

“Alesteria, realm of the Faeries and the ones who own it. Ratty girl is my name as my mistress commanded it to be.”

She started to dab my face with a wet cloth. The coldness felt like a small slice of heaven.

“Who is your mistress?”

“Mistress is the mistress. She knows all, she sees all. Mistress rules Alesteria along with her brothers and sisters.”

“Why am I here?”

“Mistress brang you here, Ratty dosent know. Abandon all hope, only Faeries can enter this world and leave it.”

“Well tell your Mistress I want to see her.”

“Oh no, no, Ratty cannot do that. That is not Ratty’s place. If Ratty speaks out of line, Ratty will pay for her crime. Mistress will see you soon.”

She stopped dabbing my head and threw the cloth in a bucket.

“She would what? Punish you for speaking? Who the hell would do that?”

She quickly covered my mouth with her hand.

“Please don’t not speak of such things. Mistress punishes those who disobey. You speak of her kindly, do what she says and she will not punish.”

She took her hand away. Only then did I realise that her middle finger on her left hand was missing.

“Did your Mistress do that to you? Did she cut off your finger?”

Ratty looked at him in shock and panicked.

“Ratty must go. Ratty must go. Has much to do for the Mistress.”

Before Michael could add another word, she raced out of the room and locked the door behind her.

Well at least I got some answers.