This could be the chance she needed, the girl thought, the chance for escape! She would tell her mother and father, show them the marks. Surely those would wake up her parents and indicate what kind of hell-hole this place was!

"Secure her, just like the others," the woman said dully.

Lisa peered to the right from under one slitted eyelid. She could see book shelves lining a wall, all very medical-looking volumes. A window to the left had been heavily shaded for her benefit, Lisa thought. Lisa tried hard to think of the date. How long had she been out? She felt a ravenous hunger start to gnaw at her stomach.

"Well, we have a new arrival," she heard the woman whisper as the men left the room, closing the door behind them. "I wonder if you'll be more cooperative than the others."

Lisa put every ounce of her being into staying still, breathing slowly while watching as best she could what was happening. The head matron was walking around her. Her voice came from one side, then the other.

Lisa tried to roll when the woman pulled the coarse blanket from under her. She felt hands pulling and tugging at her. Lisa cringed at the clammy touch. But the matron didn't appear to notice. This had to be a special table, Lisa thought grimly as she felt the woman putting her hands together above her head, then shackle them to something hard and cold.

Lisa winced again, the cuffs burning into the spots where the leather thongs had cut. For a moment the girl wondered why her feet and ankles were left untied. The cold table under her rolled toward one of the walls she hadn't been able to see. The matron was breathing a little more heavily now. And then Lisa felt the table tipping. Her head rose. The pivot was apparently near the small of her back. She let her eyelids open a whisker's width. She was facing a narrow wall, blank except for a small picture depicting some country scene. The table reached vertical.