The Queen

PART SEVEN

Anise sat on the floor and tried to collect her thoughts; she had been taken from the Macandrews' house with Ruth to the big grey thing.  (It was in fact an Immortal slave freighting ship), where she had been put into a little cold grey room by herself and then into this small room in a strange square building and kept there for a few hours. She had been taken there by a strange lady who said Anise would be sent to the capital at 4:00 B. At the aforesaid time Anise and a group of other prisoners were put back on board the ship. They soon reached their destination and were given uniforms to put on. When they had finished dressing they were marched through a hanger into a lift and through some gates. As they went on the sun sank lower and it began to get cold and dark. Ahead lights began to appear. As they reached the first very large building they looked back to catch a last glimpse of the setting sun.

Anise felt sadly that she might not be seeing the sun again for a long time. There were more lights and now and then a vehicle passed. Soon they reached a reasonably large building where they stayed until the 1^st 3:00. then they were marched into a truly enormous building where a large group of soldiers was waiting in the largest room Anise had ever seen. As they neared the group Anise saw with horror that the prince was there, near the middle of the group, standing behind a tall lady with a gold crown on her head.

Anise had never been so scared in her life. She was sure that whatever they did to her it wouldn't be something nice, seeing what the prince had done last time. When they reached the group the prince, who didn't look the least bit interested in anything going on around him, straightened, put his hands behind his back and whispered something to the lady who told something to the guards.  Two of them came forward and dragged Anise roughly toward the lady who stared severely down her nose at her.

“Do you know why you are here?” 
Anise took a deep breath. “No.” she said with some effort. 
The lady raised an eyebrow, “Your name is Anise isn't it?” 
“Yes.” 
“And you are fourteen and were in an aeroplane crash when you were three?” 
“Y-yes.” 
“Do you know why it crashed?”  
“no.”  
“Do you know where?” 
“yes.” 
“Do you know who I am?” 
“n-no.” 
“I am Queen Devo of the Immortals and you are all My slaves.”  The Queen turned to one of the guards, “Take this girl to floor N5 room 17 and send Ivis to guard her. Captain, take the other prisoners to floor N3, rooms 26, 27, 28 and so on, then go to floor P6 and wait for further instructions. You may go.”  They went. 
Anise was marched by the guard through a door and into a lift which took them down to floor N5. It was dark and everything was black and shining in a very unfriendly manner. Room 17 wasn't much better.  On the floor was a hard mattress and on the black shiny wall was a black shiny box with glowing lights and numbers on it. There was no blanket or pillow. Behind a screen was a very small bathroom with no bath or towels. When the guards had left Anise sat on the floor and cried quietly. She felt completely and horribly alone.  She wondered unhappily what had happened to the rest of the Macandrews and if they were still alive and if she'd ever see them again. She felt cold air blowing on her legs and knew what was happening. Before she lost consciousness she thought of everyone at the maid school and knew at the back of her mind that she would never see them again.