"Why are you here?" I asked her.
Mindy began to serve herself food.
"Lots of reasons. I suppose." Gia began to serve herself as she spoke. "They called me an arsonist."
"Arsonist? What did you set fire to?" Robin asked.
Gia paused. "My own house." Then, in the coldest, most matter-of-fact tone I could imagine, she added. "Almost killing my baby brother."
The three of us sat staling across at her.
"You'd better eat." Mindy urged. "They'll be back very soon and whatever you've eaten will be it."
Robin dipped the serving spoon into the mashed potatoes and dropped a glob on the table. Then she took some vegetables and some chicken and did the same.
My stomach churned both with disgust and with hunger. I quickly copied her. Reluctantly. Teal followed and the three of us ate like dogs over a table, gobbling the food, drinking some water, and staring blankly ahead. All the food tasted bland. The chicken had been boiled until it fell apart when touched, and there was no salt or pepper or any seasoning on anything.
"The chef has to be a reject from some fastfood joint," Teal said.
Sooner than we expected, the buddies entered and announced dinner was over. Mindy and Gia rose immediately and left the table.
"The kitchen sink is right through that door," M'Lady One told me, and pointed.
I gathered Gia's dishes and Robin picked up the silverware and Mindy's bowl and dish. Teal stood there watching us.
"That table better be gleaming when we return," M'Lady Three told her.
Teal followed us into the kitchen and found the sponges and cleaning liquids. "I never cleaned anything." she moaned.
"Oh, give me that already." Robin snapped, and took everything out of her hands. "You just dry the dishes Phoebe washes, I'm tired and I want to get out of here."
She returned to the dining room and Teal stood beside me while I washed off the pottery.
"Don't you want to try to run away with me? You can't want to stay here a moment longer than you have to." Teal urged.
"I do. but I'm afraid. I've lived in the city all my life. I wouldn't know a poisonous anything and I'm so tired. I don't think I'd get far anyway."
"Maybe we just have to follow the dirt road out. Maybe they're lying to us and we're not that far from a town?"
"You see any lights out there at night? And what if they're not lying? You have any doubt that they wouldn't bother to came rescue us? I don't."
"I won't make it through another day like this." she moaned. "You'll make it."
"I don't deserve this. My parents were just very upset. My father and mother will take me back if they know I'm sorry. I've just got to be able to call them and tell them," she said, nodding at her plan. "Maybe. maybe I can sneak in here during the night and use the phone in Dr. Foreman's office."
I raised my eyebrows and looked at her. "And if you get caught? That's the Ice Room for sure. I bet."
"And I bet there isn't even such a thing. Its just something they say to keep us terrified."
I tilted my head and looked at her. "Do you want to be the first one to find out if there is or isn't?"
She started to shake her head and raised her hand too quickly. knocking Gia's dish out of mine. I was just about to give it to her to dry. It flew up and away, shattering on impact with the floor, the pieces exploding in every direction. For a moment we both stared in disbelief. I felt the blood draining from my face. Teal's eyes bulged and her mouth dropped open. She looked at me.
"Why didn't you wait until I saw you were handing it to me?' she cried.
"Wait until you saw? Why didn't you watch how you were swinging your hands wildly?"
"I wasn't. I..."