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our home soon enough,” she explained. She stood and walked toward the door. “You haven’t had anything to eat. Do you have an appetite yet?”
    “You expect me to eat? Are you kidding ? I want to go home,” I begged. My eyes nearly swollen shut—my emotions raw.
    “We ’ve been over this. My answers will not change. I’ll get you something to eat and have it brought here. You can choose to consume it or not. I’ll be back.” She left and the door closed.
    I ran to the door and waved my hand all over the wall. Nothing. Locked. Dammit. Knowing the only way out was this door; I went back to bed and crawled in. I need to think. I need a plan. Maybe I can gain their trust and they will let down their guard. Then I’ll escape. Feign compliance .
    Lily returned within a few minutes with a tray. “Here, I have some spirulina algae mixed with purple dulse seaweed. It’s not what they have in the human world, but is what we eat here. You’ll enjoy it.” She handed me the tray. It had two bowls on it, with a tall glass of water. The bowls had the most awful-looking mush in them I’d ever seen.
    “No offense, but this looks vile ,” I complained. I won’t eat that crap.
    “I’ve spent a bit of time in the human world. I understand this is different for you. But I promise , it’s not as bad as it looks.” She took the biggest bowl, spooned out a bit, and offered it to me.
    “You can’t be serious.”
    “It’s the purest form of nutrition we have. We eat for fuel, to feed our bodies. This is good and it’ll taste good to you. It wouldn’t to a human, but our taste buds are different, more sensitive. We appreciate flavors a mere human wouldn’t detect.”
    I rolled my eyes at her , hoping she would offer another option. I pushed her hand aside and pulled the covers over my head as I turned my back to her, taking a fetal position with my arms wrapped around a pillow. Yes, I was being a brat, but at the moment, I didn’t care.
    “I can see you need your rest after exploring. I’ll leave the tray here for you and check in on you later.”
    I didn’t respond despite being able to feel her staring at my back, uncertainty permeating the air. Clearly, she didn’t anticipate my escape attempt today.
    Is she afraid to leave me alone?
    The door clicked shut as she left the room.

Chapter 5
    I jumped up and ran to the door to check it. Locked. Damn . Returning to bed, I hung my head in defeat. Rest for now. Gain your strength.
    T he aroma coming from the food she left made my stomach growl. To go without eating would make me weaker. I had no choice.
    Relenting , I brought the tray to sit on my lap. Picking up the first bowl, I inhaled. It didn’t smell as vile as it looked. My stomach growled again in encouragement, but I ground my teeth in resistance. I don’t want to eat it.
    Cautiously , I lifted up a spoonful and opened my mouth. After rolling it around on my tongue, examining the texture and taste, I admitted to myself she was right—it wasn’t horrible after all. Hungrily, I shoveled the rest in, taking bite after bite. Anything would have been good at this point.
    A cautious blooming of trust swelled within my heart. Maybe they meant me no harm. They did save my life, after all.
    Stop being naïve; trusting too easily got you into this mess to begin with. Don’t trust them.
    A surge of energy rushed to my head as the nutrition fed my now too-thin body. I felt better and my anxiety lessened.
    When finished, I set the tray back on the table, and pulled the covers up tight around me, curling back into a ball.
    My vacation with David had started out a fairy tale, and ended with me banished to the depths of hell.
    Haunting images of the last moments of my life filled my head. My mind wanted to trick me, but I knew in my heart this wasn’t a hallucination. Denial tried to take over again. David’s cold, expressionless face as I fell to my death flashed before my eyes.
    What had he felt?
    Does he feel any