"We did the best we could, Samantha. If we try anything else he might kill us."
"Do you want to be a baby again?"
"No, but at least I'd still be alive."
"What good is living if you can't read or sing or play? What's the point of being alive if you aren't free?"
"The point is to be alive."
"Fine, you lie there. You may as well get used to it since that's all you're going to be doing for the next year. I'm going to find a way out of here." Samantha got to her feet and started to feel the walls for any weaknesses she might be able to exploit. None of the bricks moved or chipped no matter how hard she pounded against them.
Next she tried the door. She searched for a crack that might allow her to pick the lock on the outside. The door was made of solid metal without any imperfections. She threw herself against the door until she tired herself out and collapsed onto the floor.
Tears came to her eyes again as she thought of the people she had let down. Poor Miss Brigham who had to go through a second adolescence for saving Samantha's life. Helena and the others who had to suffer the pain of losing their parents again for listening to Samantha's stories. And of course Rebecca, Wendell, and the other children she had promised to help but couldn't now. What would happen to them?
Prudence put an arm around her shoulder. "It's going to be all right," Prudence said. "It won't be that bad to grow up again. You and I can be best friends from the beginning this time. You might not be so skinny this time and I might not be so fat. We'll get to start over again."
"I don't want to start over," Samantha said through her tears. "I've already lost my memory and my family once, I don't want to have it happen again. I don't want to forget the friends I made and the good times we had. I don't even want to forget Helena making fun of me."
"I know, but there isn't anything else we can do."
"No, there has to be something. There has to be something we can do." Samantha took the clay fragment from her apron and ran over to a wall. She furiously clawed at the stone, trying to chip away the brick until the clay shard broke in half.
Samantha stamped her foot against the floor in disgust and felt the brick tremble. She stamped her foot again, this time as hard as she could. The brick shifted beneath her feet. "The floor here isn't stable. Jump on it with me."