"It cannot be lost!"
The voice spoke in the darkness. It was all the voice said.
"It cannot be lost!"
Those same four words, that same sentence over and over. What did it mean?
"It cannot be lost!"
The voice began to fade as the darkness faded. It was replaced slowly with the light.
Jon once again regained consciousness. This time he remembered. He remembered struggling with those men and being drugged.
He tried to think back and he could remember it all - the stone, the DTH, travelling with... ...Karyn. Jon understood that whatever they'd been injecting him with was messing with his memory. Last time he thought his memories were dreams. This time he knew it was real but he had to concentrate to remember details.
Whatever was affecting his memory was becoming less effective. He wondered if he was building an immunity to the drug. He hoped so. If he was then he could make an effort to get out of this mess.
He looked around slowly. It looked like the same room. It was just like the last time apart from a few notable exceptions. Firstly each of his hands was cuffed to the bed. Whoever was holding him here didn't want a repeat of what happened last time. Secondly it was Karyn in the chair not his mother.
"You're awake!" she said. Jon looked at her. Unlike his mother who hid her fear, it was obvious Karyn was terrified. Perhaps because she was younger or perhaps she was given more to fear, if the discussion the two of them were about to have, didn't go as intended. She made an expression that could barely be described as a smile.
Jon noticed there was something wrong. It took a few seconds this time for Jon to work out what it was. She had red hair. This Karyn was unmodified by a wish. The stone didn't exist here and Jon's captors didn't know she should be any different.
Before responding Jon gave the room a careful inspection. The best inspection he could while shackled to a bed anyway. This time he spotted the camera watching him. It was hidden behind a ventilation grill low on the wall but just about visible in the dimly lit room.
He spoke quietly and hoarsely. "Hi. Can you come a bit closer please."
Karyn stood up, lifted the black plastic chair. She put it down closer to the bed.
"Closer, please. My throat is very sore." he told her. Again she lifted the chair and put it down. The new position was ideal for Jon's purposes. Karyn sat down. From her current position the camera's view of the top of the bed would be obscured.
Jon smiled. "You don't have to answer me or respond but I know you are doing this against your will."
Karyn didn't move but Jon saw a single tear run down her cheek as she tried to contain her emotions.
"We don't have much time. They are going to get suspicious if you sit there for too long. Please nod occasionally so it looks like we are having a conversation."
Karyn nodded.
Jon started considering his options. In his head he heard those four words repeated once again. "It cannot be lost!". Jon knew what it meant now. It was obvious as the drugs were becoming less effective. At a subconscious level his drugged mind had been trying to give itself a message. It was referring to the DTH. The wish used to create it, specified it couldn't be lost. If it wasn't lost though where was it? There was only one logical place.
Jon looked at the cabinet next to the bed. "Karyn, without leaving the seat, please slowly and quietly open the cabinet and give me whatever is inside."
As instructed and without saying a word Karyn opened the door on the front of the cabinet. What Karyn saw inside, sitting on a shelf, was something resembling a Game Boy. She was confused. Why would they let Jon keep something like that when there was nothing else in the room that belonged to him.
She picked it up and placed it in Jon's right hand. Jon was happy he was right but knew he had to contain his excitement. Skillfully Jon started programming the controls with his single hand.
"Are we at ground level?"
Karyn gave a confused look but eventually she nodded.
"I know this going to sound crazy but have you met another person who looks like me today?"
Karyn nodded.
"Do you know where he is?"
She nodded again.
"Tell me quietly."
Karyn moved her left hand and then tilted her head to the left indicating a direction, she spoke only two words. "Three doors." she said.
"Thank you."
Jon activated the DTH and disappeared.
The empty handcuffs made a clinking noise as they fell against the metal sides of the bed.
