After the sarcastic guy (that’s what I decided to call him) left, nobody else came. I yelled and screamed until I was hoarse, but nobody answered. My fists were sore and red from beating them on the sides of the Plexiglas, but it didn’t so much as make a scratch in the smooth surface. Eventually I settled on sitting at the edge of the box, pressing my nose to the plastic, trying to see through the murky surface to the boxes on the shelf opposite me.

There was something in the other boxes, I could see the dark outlines, and I knew that at least one of them held something alive, since I could see the shape shift from time to time. So why had no one answered me? Couldn’t they hear me through their cages?

Minutes passed, or maybe it was hours. It was impossible to tell. Time seemed to stretch out into something impossibly long. Was it day outside still?

I half wished I’d been carrying something on me to tell the time. Jotun didn’t usually carry watches, we could simply look up at the sky and see the time, or glance over at one of the sundials in the garden. Technology never did very well in Jotunheim, it tended to fail. But now I would give anything for a clock. Just to watch the minutes tick by, just to see that I wasn’t frozen here, stuck in time while the world passed by outside.

There was a loud clicking sound, and I jumped as my cage was plunged into darkness.

“Hey! Hello?”

Nothing. No answer. No sound.

Maybe the lights were on an automatic timer. Maybe there was no one here at all, and the sarcastic guy had gone home for the night. I think even he would have been good company right about then, I was feeling desperate.

Finally I curled up in the corner, hugging my knees to my chest. Was I supposed to sleep without a mattress? Without a blanket or a pillow?

The darkness pressed in around me, and I shut my eyes, trying to pretend I was back home, in my room in the servant’s quarters. Picturing it helped. My small bed with the hand sewn sheets, made by my mother. The little rock salt lantern that burned orange on my bedside table, making the tiny room look warm and inviting. My books were always there, stacked on the set of shelves above my bed, waiting for me to crawl between the sheets and read until I fell asleep.

What was my mother thinking now? Would she sound the alarm? Would she send the warriors out to look for me? I was just a servant, so it was unlikely the king’s guards would be out there scanning the woods, but maybe a few of the common guards would arrange a manhunt. It had been hundreds of years since the forest had taken one of the Jotun, we were good at avoiding deadly wildlife, and we knew where to step to avoid landslides and swamps. So what would they think had got to me? Certainly not the wolves, we had a treaty.

Thinking about the wolves made me wonder about Fiske and Kalda. Where were they now? I’d yelled for Kalda repeatedly, until my throat was sore. I was sure that if she’d been able to answer she would of. I tried to push the thought aside. She was probably just in another oom. Who knew how many rooms of these crates there were. The idea was chilling. Were the crates all full of people? Maybe there were Jotun in all of them?

No, that was impossible. We would have noticed if that many of us had disappeared. There weren’t enough of us that we wouldn’t notice “misplacing” a few hundred. The idea was ridiculous.

In fact, I was sure that the palace would notice, even if it was just Kalda and I that were missing. And the wolves would probably wonder where Fiske had gone, even if they gave him a hard time. Fenrir was a good pack leader, he kept track of his brothers.

I kept my eyes shut tight and told myself the same thing over and over: They’re coming for us.

A heavy sounding clunk jerked me awake, and then light flooded my cage, making me scramble up to my knees, shoving my body into the corner, holding one shaking hand over my eyes. It was blindingly bright, and I could hear the florescent lights hum.

There were footsteps coming towards me, and I flung myself forward, cracking both hands into the plastic wall. “Hey! Let me out! I can hear you! I know you’re there.”

            The footsteps didn’t falter. Whoever it was didn’t answer.

            A rasping noise above me made me look up, and then the top of the air vents in the cage popped open a crack. A gasp escaped my lips, and I stood up so fast my head spun, reaching for the crack, reaching for freedom. A piece of plastic was shoved through, falling onto my head. It hit me in the face, scratching my cheek.

            “Ow—hey!”

            The crack slammed shut, leaving me staring at the spot where it had been, heart beating in my throat, tears collecting in my eyes. There was a door there of some kind, but now that it was shut it was invisible again. I couldn’t even see a seam there.

            The plastic square that had fallen on my head was now at my feet, and when I bent down to pick it up I noticed it had a dotted line along the top. We didn’t have “fast food” in the palace, but I recognized it as some sort of ration pack. The guards from one of the safe houses had brought some back to show us once. I looked down at the square of foil in my hand. It didn’t look appetizing, but just the thought of food was making my stomach rumble. Ripping the package open I peered inside. It was split down the middle. One side held some kind of see-through gel substance, and the other was filled with yellow flakes. Wrinkling my nose, I stuck one finger into the gel and licked it cautiously with the tip of my tongue.

            It tasted like…nothing.

            Water, if I had to guess, in some sort of weird form that I’d never seen before. I regarded it suspiciously, before plucking out a handful of the yellow flakes. The flakes tasted grainy, a little like cereal. I shoved another handful in my mouth and then discarded the package in the corner. I wasn’t thirsty enough to try the weird gel-water yet.

            “You should finish the entire thing.”

            I jumped. That voice again, the same haughty British voice as before. This time I could make out a blurry shape in front of my cage. Rocketing forward, I slammed my palm against the Plexiglas hard enough to make it rattle. The figure jerked back, obviously startled.

            “I don’t want your disgusting food.” My words came out in a feral snarl. A sleepless, terrifying night had been enough to send me over the edge. I was ready to escape, to do the unthinkable and use my powers on someone if they came near enough. I half wished whoever he was would be foolish enough to try something. Maybe I could make him angry enough that he would try to stick his hand inside the cage.“What did you do with my friends, you coward?”

            “I? I did nothing with them. I have nothing to do with your abduction.” His voice was amused. “You think I’d dirty my hands with that. With touching one of you lot? Please.”

            Narrowing my eyes, I squinted through the plastic, wishing I could curl my fingers around his throat. Whoever he was, I hated him. “Tell me where my friends are.”

            “God, you’re like a broken record. Your friends are fine.”

            I could practically hear him rolling his eyes.

            Still angry, I pressed up against the surface of the cage. How did I know if he was telling the truth or not? “What is this place? Tell me.”

            “So demanding,” the voice said mockingly.

            He wasn’t going to tell me anything about my friends, or where we were being kept. The silence stretched out for a second, two seconds. Three. I couldn’t let him walk away and leave me on my own again. I had to get him talking somehow.

            I sat back, forcing myself to be calm, to make my voice smooth and even. “Who are you then? What’s your name?”

            Another pause, but this one was accompanied by him shifting. I could see his silhouette move closer. “Why do you want to know my name?”

            “What else do I have to do?” I snapped. For a second I regretted my tone, thinking he would turn away. Instead the silhouette moved closer.

            He laughed, the same dark chuckle that had given me the shivers yesterday. “Cain. That’s my name. Does it entertain you? What else do you want to know? My age maybe? What bands I like to listen to?”

            “I don’t know about bands,” I said. “I don’t care about them. We have little use for your technology in Niflheim.”

            Another dark laugh. “Yes, I guess my ipod wouldn’t work in your palace of ice and snow.”

            I stiffened. What did he know of the palace? “There’s—you cannot know…what do you know of it?”

            “You’re getting boring again,” he said, voice full of warning.

            Frustrated, I ground my teeth together. He wasn’t going to tell me anything truly useful. “Fine. Tell me what you look like. I cannot see your face through this stupid plastic cage.”

            He actually laughed, and the sound was less sinister this time. “I’m strikingly handsome, just imagine me that way.”

            “I doubt it.” The words were out before I could close my mouth on them. Instead of growing angry the shadow boy laughed again.

            “And you,” he said. “What do you look like? All I can see is a blob through this plastic.”

            “Ah.” So he didn’t know what I looked like. I took a moment to digest this information. That meant he didn’t have anything to do with bringing us in. Perhaps he was only a janitor of sorts, someone who came by to feed and water us. Still, talking to him could only help. Maybe he’d let something slip. “I am hideously ugly. If you looked at me you’d surely turn to stone.”

            Another laugh. “You wish.”

            “So what bands do you like?” I said mockingly. “Let me guess…Britney Spears and Blink 182.”

            The shadow tipped his head back and laughed, a full laugh this time, one of true amusement. “So the Jotun aren’t as cut off from the world as they would have everyone believe.”

            “Not nearly so.” My heart was beating hard in my chest. He demonstrated some knowledge of us then. Enough to know about the palace. Enough to know we scorned technology, and that it didn’t work well in Jotunheim. He had been there, but the extent of his knowledge made it seem as if he’d been in the palace, or at least had access to someone who had. The thought made my stomach drop. Maybe it was information that he’d tortured out of someone. Well, not him personally, his people, whoever they were.

            “You humans have terrible taste in music.” I made sure to keep my voice light, the same tone I’d been using. Hopefully he wouldn’t notice where I was steering the conversation, or that I was slowly mining him for information.

            “Yes but you Jotun are missing out on some excellent movies.”

            So he was human. Or at least, not telling me anything if he wasn’t. “Tell me your favourite then,” I said. “I used to sneak out and watch movies, I’ve seen a few.”

            “What, My Fair Lady?” His turn to sound mocking.

            “It’s a classic.” I said firmly, and was rewarded with another laugh. Maybe I could break down his walls. Get him really talking, about something serious.

            “You know, I never thought I’d say this, but it’s a shame.”

            “What is?” My skin was prickling with alarm. His casual tone had disappeared like someone flipped a switch. He was dark again. Sinister even. “What’s a shame?”
            “That I have to do this.”

            A hissing sound made me jerk my head up. It was coming from the vents above my head, a thin stream of white gas. I gasped, then clapped my hands over my mouth.

            “What is that?” My voice was muffled through my fingers, high with panic.

            “I really am sorry, you seem fun.” He didn’t sound sorry, he sounded bored again. “It’s nothing, you’ll be fine. Well, it’s sleeping gas, and I mean you’ll be fine for now.”

            My head was spinning suddenly. In spite of that, I threw myself into the Plexiglas, crashing into it with my entire body, striking both fists on the walls of my prison. “You bastard!”

            “You’ll calm down in a minute.”

            My eyelids felt heavy. They were drooping in spite of my efforts to keep them open. I was so angry, I wanted to keep hammering on the plastic walls, but my fists weighed a hundred pounds each, like they were caked in cement. My knees gave way and I slumped to the ground, curling up on my side while the plastic walls swam in circles around me. Finally my eye were shut, and the darkness was pulling me in. Struggling against sleep, I swore to keep my eyes open. No, my eyes were already shut. I thought they were open.

            Darkness…soft laughter…and then….nothing.