There was silence for a few moments after Illeana left.  Elle stayed silent hoping that Illeana would be gone for good.  She didn’t know why the others were silent.  After a minute or two, Kyuhyun walked across the den and wrapped Elle in a bone-crushing hug. 

“As happy as I am to see you, I really wish you weren’t here, Elle.”  He whispered to her in Korean as he held her.  It seemed more that he was glad to see someone he recognized from before he vanished than he was to see her in particular, but that was to be expected.  He and Elle never had a chance to get close before he disappeared.

After a long moment, he let her go.  The other girl, Cammie, smoothed the front of her designer jeans and cleared . 

“Apparently, you two do know each other.”  She had a clear, confident voice.  It was the kind of voice belonging to a person who knew what they were about and inspired others to know the same.  “Well, you might not want to broadcast…that,” she waved her hand knowingly in their direction, “in front of Illeana.  There’s a reason she had to pick two new favorites.  She wants us all to get along, just not too well.” 

Kyuhyun took a step back from Elle and sighed.  “I know, you’ve said as much before.”  Elle’s mouth dropped open in surprise.  Kyuhyun’s English was perfect.  He didn’t even have an accent.  They had spoken in English some before, and he had always had a rather thick Korean accent.  Where did it go?

He noticed her looking at him.  “What?  Oh, my English?  Illeana didn’t like my accent, so she fixed it.  Don’t ask me how, I don’t know.”

Elle just stared at him.  Cammie sighed.  “Of course you know how.  I told you:  magic.  It’s how she keeps us here, how she gets us to do what she wants, how she finds us in the first place.”  She turned to Elle.  “She’s been watching you for several months now, trying to decide if you’d make a good playmate or not.  But, you’d better watch yourself.  You’re a Favorite now.   If one of the others gets on her bad side, they merely die.  If we get on her bad side…well, let’s just say that I don’t even want to imagine what she’ll do to us.”  Her tone was dead serious.

“Wait.  Where is here, anyway?  And who exactly is Illeana?  What are these rules she mentioned?”  Elle looked from Kyuhyun to Cammie and back again.

“Aren’t you full of questions?  I guess that’s why you’re in academia.”  Cammie held up a hand, forestalling more questions.  “Yes, I know what you do for a living.  Illeana has been talking about you nonstop since she decided that you would be her newest Favorite.  As for where we are, no one knows.  No one has escaped and lived to tell the tale.  Illeana is…well, she’s complicated.  Why don’t we come back to her later?  The rules are simple.  We are Illeana’s Favorites.  She only ever has three Favorites at a time.  The others in the castle are her playmates as well, but she hardly pays any attention to them.  They mainly take care of castle upkeep and act as her servants.  If you look outside the window in your room, you will see a large stone wall.  The wall goes all the way around the castle.  You must stay within the area enclosed by the wall unless Illeana herself takes you outside.  Oh, and Illeana is our master here.  Show her the same respect we did or you will find yourself removed from the castle in a manner that is markedly less than desirable.”  Cammie paused to let the information sink in.  “Those are the official rules.  The unofficial rules are the following:  Illeana keeps us to make her happy.  If we don’t make her happy, she will get rid of us.  That means we have to act like we’re happy to be here any time there’s even a chance of her hearing or seeing us.  Also, while she doesn’t discourage relationships with the others, the Favorites should avoid being too friendly with them.  She has set us above them and is not above punishing one of them for any perceived slight to us, however small.  So, it’s best to just not interact with them as much as possible.  For their sakes.  Understand?” 

Elle nodded, apprehensive.  This place must be some twisted way for some wealthy guy to keep his daughter happy.  That was the only explanation Elle could think of that made any kind of sense.  But Cammie had mentioned magic.  What kind of magic?  Like Harry Potter, or Lord of the Rings?  Or like the witches in Supernatural or some other paranormal show?   Wasn’t this taking a LARP way too seriously?  But what other explanation was there for Kyuhyun’s accent?  There’s no possibly way he could have removed his accent in the span of a few months.  Her mind raced trying to come up with any plausible explanation.

“Elle, this is a lot to take in all at once, but it’s important.  Your life depends on it.”  The look Kyuhyun gave her was indecipherable, but his tone was gentle. 

“Well, Illeana’s going to be gone for a few days, so I guess she doesn’t have to absorb everything right away.  Why don’t we show Elle to her room and let her settle in?”  Cammie smiled reassuringly at her and Kyuhyun nodded. 

“Come on.”  He put a hand under Elle’s arm and led her to the door that had been to her left when she entered the den.  The door swung open on silent hinges when he turned the knob.  “Do you want some company?”

Elle shook her head.  This was just too much.  She needed to be alone to work through what had happened.  After all, she had been kidnapped just last night.  Or was it last night?  How long exactly had she been out?  Were her parents worried that they hadn’t heard from her?  Did anyone wonder why she didn’t show up to teach her classes?  Did they even know she was gone?  What about her students?  She was supposed to give an exam today.  Did someone proctor the exam for her?  She shook her head again.  She had been spirited away to some castle in the middle of who-knows-where and she was worried about whether or not her students got to take their exam.  They were probably ecstatic that she didn’t show up. 

The door closed behind her as she stepped in and looked around her new (well, new to her) room.  Along what must’ve been the outside wall of the tower, there were floor-to-ceiling windows giving a gorgeous view of the surrounding mountain range.  To her right was a beautifully carved, dark wood four-poster bed with sheer silver curtains tied at the corners that would enclose the entire bed if she let them loose.  A drafting desk stood in the corner of the room stocked with her usual brand of chalk pastels, paper, colored pencils, markers, sketch books, pencils, pens, etc., all unopened in neat piles next to it.  A door along the wall opposite the bed revealed a large, luxurious bathroom, complete with a huge garden tub and wide shower big enough for three people to comfortably stand side-by-side enclosed in frosted glass.  It was the kind of bathroom that many people, Elle included, dreamed of having one day.  A smaller door leading off the bathroom led to a large walk-in closet filled with all manner of clothes and shoes in Elle’s size.  There was even a section containing enough jewelry to stock a small jewelry shop, and it definitely was not costume jewelry.  Apparently, Illeana liked to keep her Favorites well dressed and comfortable. 

Elle stopped in front of the full-length mirror in the closet.  Someone had changed her clothes to a fashionable maroon sweater and a white knee-length skirt that flared out quite a bit at the end, probably helped by the petticoats that were part of the skirt.  She kicked off the black wedge heels that must’ve cost a fortune and debated what she should do with the new clothes.  Her old clothes were nowhere to be found and everything in the closet looked just as expensive (or more so) than what she was wearing.  Deciding that her skirt and sweater were comfortable enough to lie around in, she walked into the bathroom and washed her face.  Whoever had dressed her had also done her makeup.  She took a moment to appreciate the fact that it looked professionally done before she scrubbed it all off.  She didn’t want to look good at this particular moment.  The shock must’ve been wearing off.  She was finally starting to feel anger about what had happened; not just to her, but also to everyone Illeana had had kidnapped to amuse herself. 

She walked back out into her bedroom and lay down on the bed.  Cammie had mentioned magic, and as skeptical as Elle was about the actual existence of magic, it would explain Kyuhyun’s accent.  And there was also the matter of the danger Elle felt coming from Illeana.  There was definitely something off about her, but Elle couldn’t put her finger on it.  Illeana being a witch of some sort might explain that, but Elle didn’t think that was it.  Even if she did allow for the possibility that magic was being used in the castle, Illeana didn’t strike Elle as a witch.  No, there was something else wrong with her.

Elle lay motionless on her bed long enough that the light streaming in from her windows turned from the white light of early afternoon to the reddish yellow light of the time just before sunset.  A knock at the door followed by Kyuhyun’s muffled voice brought her out of her musings.

“Elle?  It’s almost time for dinner.  At least come eat something.”

She sat up and straightened her skirt.  It was extraordinarily wrinkled from being crushed for so long.  Maybe food would help.  She walked to the door just as Kyuhyun opened it.

“Oh.  Sorry, I just thought you might be asleep and I didn’t want you to miss dinner.”  He had the grace to blush lightly. 

“It’s okay.  I was just…” she trailed off, not quite sure what to say.  She didn’t understand much of what was going on. 

Kyuhyun smiled.  “I know. It’ll get better.  I was like that too, at first.”

“Actually, I was surprised at how well he took it.  It’s been a long time since I’ve seen someone come to terms with this so quickly.”  Cammie peeked in from behind Kyuhyun’s shoulders.  “I’m really curious to see what she did with your room.  Illeana has each of our rooms decorated to our tastes.”  Her eyes lingered on the art supplies and blackout curtains hanging open around the windows.  “Huh, Illeana didn’t mention that you were an artist.  She told us you were a professor of some kind.”  She didn't mention what she thought about the blackout curtains.

“I teach mathematics, but I also like to dabble in the arts.”  Elle glanced at Kyuhyun.  His face was open and curious. 

“You never told me you’re an artist.”  He sounded almost accusing. 

“Well, you never asked.”

“What?  So, I have to ask the right questions to find out any information about you?”  He was very clearly teasing her, his way of trying to put her at ease, she guessed.

“Of course.  I’m not going to just spill everything about myself to a total stranger.”

“Ouch.  I didn’t expect that to hurt that much.”  He made a pained face, still joking with her.  Elle was surprised to feel her face soften into a smile.  Kyuhyun smiled back at her, glad to see that he had accomplished his mission. 

“If we’re going down to dinner, we might as well go on.  I don’t like to make the others wait on us.”  Cammie gave them a pointed look and hurried down the stairs. 

Kyuhyun sighed.  “Alright, let’s go.  I’m starving.”  He took her hand and led her down the stairs.