Glancing about, Alice found herself alone in a dimly lit room. It was deathly cold and there was a draught that grasped at her bare ankles and sent chills through her body. She sat up, rubbing her hands together, trying to shake off the icy stiffness that had settled in her bones, and looked around. In the flickering torchlight, she could make out the walls of a small, cramped space. One wall, the one directly in front of her, was made from thick metal bars, and the three other stone walls and floor were damp. There was the sound of dripping water on stone in the distance that echoed through the hollow room and the passageways beyond.

This is not a room, she realised. It’s a cell.

She felt around in the dimness for her cloak and her travelling bag. If she crouched beneath one of the torches, she might be able to find out some information from her tarot cards. Her stomach dropped when she realised that she had none of her possessions in the cell with her, and her cloak was missing too. She heaved a helpless sigh, her breath swirling into the cold air in tendrils of white.

Just as she was beginning to believe that she had been left down in the cell to freeze to death, she heard hurried footsteps coming closer. She pushed herself back to the darkest corner of the cell, hoping to hide from whoever was coming for her. The dragging and clanking of the chains that froze her ankles were a definite giveaway that revealed her return to consciousness. The figure came closer and Alice saw that it was hooded, tall, and carrying a large bag. Keys jangled in the lock and the wall of metal bars creaked open with an ominous groan. To Alice’s surprise, the figure bolted forward and fell onto her knees in front of Alice, removing the hood and throwing her cloak around Alice’s shivering shoulders.

‘Are you all right? How are you feeling? Honestly, I told them … I bloody told them, it isn’t necessary to keep you locked up down here, but they insisted. They said that until they know how dangerous you are, you need to be kept here. Ridiculous, if you ask me—’

‘Hold on,’ Alice interrupted, completely overwhelmed with this girl’s chatter. ‘Where am I? What on earth is going on?’

‘Ah, shit. Sorry! You have no idea who I am.’ She held out her hand, but Alice didn’t shake it. The girl let it drop to her side, shrugging. ‘It’s me who’s been making sure you’re safe and comfortable on our journey. Things will all make sense soon, I promise.’

‘You’re the one who got that bag off my head, right?’

‘I certainly am.’ The girl winked.

‘Then you can tell me how to escape then, yes?’

‘Well, I … I… That won’t be possible. I wanted to escape once too, when I first came here. But … you’ll get used to it. It’s good to be amongst others, others like us. We’re able to be our true selves here and once you get used to that, there’s no going back to life before.’