Kasandra awoke with a jolt and sat straight up, which she regretted when her head throbbed. She glanced around. She was sitting on a small white cot in the corner of a blue painted room, the cold black tile ground had many cracks and dents which made her wonder what had stayed in this room.
Then realization hit her.

Those men must have brought her here, she looked frantically around for a door, there didn’t seem to be one she noticed, and no windows either. She slowly got up despite her body screaming at her not to. She then looked down.

The dark purple dress she had worn for dinner had dirt splattered over it, and the bottom was ripped and torn. “Great.” She murmured to herself. The black converse she wore were covered in dirt and mud but she was used to never having clean shoes. Quickly she scrabbled toward the walls and tried to discover some kind of hidden door.
After half an hour of scanning the walls and calling for help Kasandra finally gave up and lay down on the cot. Her body was exhausted but she struggled to relax. She tried to focus on some kind of plan to have when someone came and got her… if someone came to get her.

All of a sudden, part of the wall opened up and a man stumbled through and slammed the door shut then collapsed on the ground. Kasandra was in shock and despite her common sense to see if the door would open she ran over to the bloody man on the ground. Deep scratches and gashes covered his arms and legs. The man’s black jeans had been shredded and blood gushed onto the tile, the sleeves of his matching shirt had dark stains that were slowly growing larger. Kasandra reached out, forgetting about everything, and gracefully turned the man on his back. His dirt and blood covered blond locks sprawled in her lap; they were a sharp contrast to his perfectly tanned skin.​

Immediately she shoved off her shoes and took her long socks off. Tearing the fabric into strips she tied two pieces to the bad cuts on his legs then she moved to his arms, carefully she pushed up his sleeves, revealing tons of cuts and bruises. Finishing up tying his wounds she went to grab the one pillow that she was supplied with and gently squeezed it under the man’s head.
Even with the blood and cuts, the man was beautiful. His blemish free face was perfect and she suddenly had the urge to wake him up just to see what color those eyes were. Without thinking she began to run her fingers threw his hair. It was silky where there was not clotted crimson. ​
​
Thoughts tumbled inside her head. “Who was this guy? Did he work for the same people who kidnapped her? Would she ever be let out? What would happen when he woke up?" The man stirred and her full attention was on him.
​
His perfect lips twitched and his eyelids fluttered. Curiosity and excitement coursed through her veins as she imagined what mysteries lay behind those eyelids. But what she saw didn’t fit her expectations. The outer circle was the normal black but they encircled golden orange irises that looked as if they harnessed the rays of the sun, streaks of brown shot out from his pupil and sliced through the gold. He blinked at her and she realized she had been gawking at him.
​
“Oh my god, I’m sorry. Here…uh,” she gently pulled him into a sitting position. Every time he grimaced she felt immediately sorry and went slower.
 
 
Tyson lay back putting all his weight on his arms. Pain engulfed his body and every movement scorched through him sending entirely new pain. The mystery girl’s hands on his lower back felt cold (and good) against his inflamed skin, even through his black battle suit. She looked at him with such piercing green eyes he swore they were the most beautiful color he had ever seen. Her luscious dark brown hair fell in perfect waves, despite the stray hairs that seemed as if someone had rubbed their hands on the top of her head, down her shoulder and to her mid-back. She opened her mouth to speak, and then decided against it.
​
He decided to help her out, “Uh, hi.” She seemed startled for a moment then regained herself, “Hi, are you okay?!” Her worried tone and expression moved some part of him but he ignored it. Glancing down he remember the raptor and how he had barely managed to dart inside the building and into this room. His legs and arms had thin white strips tied to them and small little red dots were starting to show. His brow furrowed.
​
“Oh I bound your wounds so you wouldn’t loose so much blood,” she looked at the liquid starting to seep through, “Although doesn’t look like it was much help.”
​
“No thank you it helped.” He touched her hand and his vision switched from him and her in the quaint room to a dark street.
​
Gun fire?
​
No he quickly knew that wasn’t the sound he was hearing, he looked around and saw the back of a girl running down the street, her feet smacking the rough pavement. He couldn’t make out her features but her shape seemed familiar. She stopped and breathed deeply then reached for her pocket. The figure froze and her attention was then directed down the road. Tyson quickly followed her gaze and froze himself. The “cleaners” van was parked at the end of the street and Nathaniel and Garret were leaning against the side. He tried to run to the girl knowing that if she could see them then as soon as they knew that, she would be taken, but his feet wouldn’t move. Looking down he realized he was hovering above the asphalt and then he knew.
​
He was having a vision. A past one. And when he looked up again and saw the girl sprinting toward him with Garret aiming a shock gun at her, he realized it was a past vision of her.
​
It was the girl who he met in the room.
​
The gun roared and he watched as Nathaniel shoved a knit sack over her face. Next, he was snapped back to present.
​
His eyes slowly refocused and the image of the girl staring down at him with her arms wound behind his back. ​
​
“Are you there?”
​
“W-what?”
​
“You collapsed when you touched my hand. Are you OK? I caught you before you hit your head on the tile.” She stared at him waiting for a response.
​
“I…I…I need to lie down,” he stammered. All the events tonight had worn his body and he felt the creeping nearness of his mind closing in on him forcing him to catch up on sleep. The girl, he still didn’t know her name, carefully pulled him to her and dragged him up to a barely standing position. She took him to the bed placed in the corner and placed him onto the white fabric. He looked up at her and watched and she caressed his legs and pushed them up onto the cot. ​
​
“Thank you,” he got out right before he was plunged into the awaiting darkness.

Kasandra sat leaning against the wall across from the stranger. Who was he? How did he get here? Her questions were answered with the bleak silence of the room. The man’s deep breaths were the only sound.​
​
Thoughtlessly she strolled over to him, hoping he would wake up soon, she needed answers. She sat graciously on the end of the cot that wasn’t occupied by the man’s body. She smiled at the beat up gray Converse, her old shoes used to be denim but after about a month of them surviving her treacherous lifestyle; of always running and climbing threw random dirt trails just to see where she ended up, they faded to a worn down gray. Her mom had made her throw them out because she claimed that when she walked they “talked” to her. Kasandra smiled then the smile was replaced by a deep pang in her stomach.
​
Her mom. ​
​
They would come looking for her! The relief she felt was short lived. Where ever these people took her she doubted it was anywhere that could be found on a Garmin. Regret poured through her, she was stupid for running out on them. She had known that her father wasn’t going to suddenly change his whole view on her just because she had been accepted into a gallery. Yet… when it happened it seemed that any glimmer of hope she had ever held onto that one day he would accept her shattered as if someone flung a metal bat against a mirror. Kasandra pulled her knees to her and laid her head down. Her mother had always told her that you should never leave someone on an argument, “You never know if that will be your last moment with them, why would you want the last thing you said to someone be something you regret,” those words had been drilled into her brain since she was a little girl. And now, sitting in a closed off room, with no idea where she was or what was going to happen to her, she realized how true those words were.
 
 
Tyson awoke to find the girl asleep at his feet. She had her head propped up on her knees and her lips slightly parted. A stray hair had fallen across her face and he had the sudden urge to brush it behind her ear. He shook his head. What was he thinking? He didn’t even know who she was.  
​
Collecting himself, he got up from the bed. His brain then flooded with questions. Why was she in a storage room beneath the building? But the most important question was; what was she even doing here? She’s definitely a human, he knew that for sure. Humans were never allowed here. Maybe someone brought her here to work for the boss as an intern or someone to get his coffee in the morning.
​
He was still puzzled though. Her being a employee would have been a logical explanation; however there was still the fact that she was in a storage room off of one of the extra escape tunnels not to mention the vision he got from her. Did they bring her here? But why didn’t they just dispose of her. He silently cursed and shook his head. If it was Garret and Nathaniel they might not have been smart enough to know what to do.

Why did he even care? She wasn’t his problem. He needed to go check in and let the boss know that he was back and then head over to Sally and get his wounds healed. He headed for the door, and pushing a couple spots on the wall and watched the door swing out. With one last glance at the stranger girl, he was off.
 
​
He wound his way, in and out of the tunnels until he finally found the staircase that led him up to ground level.
​
“Why can’t we fit in with society and get damn elevators,” he sighed as he started his way up the hundreds of winding stairs.
​
About half way up his mind began to wander back to the girl. He wondered if she had woken up yet… to find him gone. His stomach lurched. What was she going to think now? He knew she hadn’t been in that room for too long since a couple days ago he had ran through the tunnels when he had to escape from a pest, just like today. She must be so worried and what if when he had come stumbling through that he had given her hope of getting rescued. Although he wouldn’t have saved her; she hadn’t known that. Plus she had helped tie up his gashes. He felt ashamed. He knew what it was like to show nothing but kindness to someone and they just spit in your face like you mean nothing.
​
Those memories that he always suppressed came flooding back like a dam had suddenly burst open. He gripped the railing of the stairwell.
​
“No.” he spoke to the air, “I will not let that over come me again. I will not let that make me weak!” Forgetting all his thoughts, he began sprinting up the stairs, intently focusing on the sound of his shoes slapping the metal instead of those haunting memories.  
​
He flung open the stainless steel door at the top of the steps. The familiar first floor layout lay before him. This levels purpose was for the humans. There was a receptionist’s desk in the middle of the room with assorted chairs and couches lining the walls. Two 50’ flat screens were placed in the middle of the green walls on either side of the sliding glass entrance door as to occupy the humans when they waited for their chance to have a job here although none of them really knew the real purpose this business had.
​
As usual Susan, the receptionist, was the only person in the room and she had kicked back in her chair with a salad on her desk, (although everyone knew she never ate it, she always snuck to the restroom and shoveled down a bean and cheese burrito) her messy blond hair shook as she bobbed her head up and down to some loud  metal music coming from her iPod nano. Her leopard print high heels clicked the top of the mahogany desk in an irritating gesture that made Tyson want to scream.
​
The moment he stepped through the door she jumped and shoved her feet to the floor (which he was thankful for) and yanked her headphones out. He smirked.
​
“Uh good morning sir,” she attempted to act like she had been paying attention. He waved her off and headed down the hallway to his right.

He ignored the doors on either side of the hallway and headed straight to the end. After opening the beige door, he was faced with another staircase but this one was not nearly as long. Sighing, he climbed the stairs. After two bends he came to a stop and entered this door, from there he paced down that hallway, turned then finally found the elevator doors. He’d never been so happy to see those steel doors. Once he got inside he leaned casually against the cold way, letting the cold engulf his body. It was then that his injuries decided to remind him of their existence. The pain was so great he almost collapsed right there but he tried to push the pain away for just a bit longer. Gradually he felt it slip from his mind. Tyson was thankful of the lessons he had taken to learn that valuable skill, it definitely helped given his profession.

The elevator beeped and the doors opened with a rush of cool air. Taking a deep breath he pushed off the wall and stepped into his boss’s room.

The floor-to-ceiling windows let in the afternoon sunset which cast a shadow on Boss man’s furniture. The glass table top desk was in the center of the massive room topped with three computer monitors surrounded by mounds of papers in neat stacks. To the right, there was a pool table, surrounded by plush red sofas, which contrasted to the black wooden flooring. To the left were enormous black book shelf’s filled brim-to-brim with many different pieces of literature. Circular, no backed, chairs were placed in front of the book cases. He turned his gaze back to where his boss sat.

The bulky man was in his rolling chair behind the desk. His dark tanned face was hidden by his dark midnight black hair, which also shielded those dark eyes that seemed as if he had no definition between his pupil and his iris. His freshly ironed gray suit bent as he picked up a pencil and jammed it into the automatic sharpener beside his keyboard.

“Ah, you have returned. How was your outing?” his deep, smooth voice echoed off the windows. It irked Tyson how he called his missions “outings” as if he had to simply pick up bread from the local Albertson’s.

“It was successful. I was able to kill the raptor that was threatening humans safety.” Tyson replied.

“Good. Good. I knew you would not fail on such a simple task. See to it that your wounds are healed in case I need you again soon. You are dismissed.” Boss man’s voice boomed.

Tyson nodded and retreated from the room. Once he was safely in the elevator he let himself relax. (As best he could)

When he reached the floor that Sally was on he nearly sprinted to her office. Sally was the nurse her at their organization. She was a kind, gentle woman who made you feel completely at ease in her presence. She was almost forty although if you asked her she would say, “Boy, I stopped aging at twenty three,” and then smile at you with her light brown eyes. Her red short cut hair was always a little frizzy and you could bet that she would be wearing some kind of scarf. He immediately felt relieved when he stepped into her office. She turned to him and her soft face creased with worry as, without saying a word, led him over to the bed by the far wall. She immediately set to work on gathering supplies she needed.

He watched her as she did this and smiled. Sure enough, she was wearing a vibrant green scarf with red polka dots over a red shirt and green slacks.

She came back to him with a tray of gauze, a few ace bandages, Neosporin (her favorite antiseptic) and a syringe filled with some purple liquid. She knelt down beside him and began her work.

“So dear, what got you all banged up this time?” She untied the strips from his legs, which brought back the memory of her.

“A raptor this time,” he grimaced as his skin pulled up with the fabric refusing to let go like a toddler refusing to leave their parent. Sally frowned.

“I hate that Mr. Boss man just makes you kids go out there all by yourself to stop these creatures,” she began her usual tirade, “yes, yes, I know you kids are all special with your abilities and strength but your still just teenagers in the end.” She had removed all the fabric strips and was now cleaning the gashes.

Tyson smiled. He loved that she cared. Sally was the closest thing he had to a mother and he cherished the motherly love. She even treated the other fighters and him as if they were just stubborn teenagers that she needed to keep an eye on. Unlike everyone else, who just thought of them as weapons they used to clean up the streets. Hence the organizations name, KSS. It stood for “keeping streets safe.” Sally placed squares of gauze on the bloody parts of his right leg and wrapped an ace bandage around it and fastened it. She moved on to do the same to his left leg. The organization was founded by Boss man about eighteen years ago, that’s how old Tyson was, when he had come across some other kids and Tyson in a forgotten mine when he had been hiking in the mountains. When he was searching through the ruble,“You were all just sitting there, innocent and young as can be.” is what they were told when anyone of them asked where they had come from. Boss man had taken the 15 or so children in and fed and clothed them. Then he discovered that the children were not ordinary kids, like himself. Each child had amazing strength and their own power. Apparently, this began the idea of Boss man opening up an organization that used these kids and their powers and strength to fight the creatures that had started to terrorize civilians. From then on KSS became a reality and boss man started to train the kids. He bought up an abandoned hotel and with the millions of dollars he had in his bank account he brought the building alive. When the people began to wonder what the buildings purpose was, he claimed that he was starting an organization where kids volunteer to clean up beaches and streets, which was pretty much true although what the citizens didn’t know is that the kids were cleaning up more than just liter and trash. Boss man was having these kids fight and destroy creatures that tried to kill the humans. Luckily, these monsters only come out at night so it’s easier to keep the children and their real purpose a secret. Boss man knew that humans couldn’t handle it if they knew what the children could do. They would be cast out of society or murdered because others refuse to believe that people can be different. To keep their work a secret he invested in a research lab. He presented them with the task of creating something to shield people from the view of others. Once they came up with a capsule, about the sized of a softball, that a person could activate and it would shield them from other people seeing them for about fifteen minutes, the business Boss man had created finally took off. He manufactured these capsules and hired men that would use them. See, when the children began fighting these creatures they were almost caught and they often broke something. So to fix this problem, he had ever child carry fifty capsules with them at all times and hired the men to clean up anything that got broken during the children’s fights. And now, years later, KSS is thriving and its secret identity is still safe.

Sally had finished his legs and done the same for his arms plus she injected that purple liquid into him.

“That serum will help your cells heal faster, honey. I think you’re all done now,” she smiled at him sweetly. Tyson slid off the bed slowly, “Thank you,” he felt fifty times better than he had a couple minutes ago.

He started to go but then stopped. He could ask her about the mystery girl. Sally always heard and knew everything that went on and Tyson could always come to her when he needed information. Although you could trust her with any secret you wanted to tell her to, she was one of those rare people.

“Hey Sally?” she turned from restoring the leftover materials to their rightful positions in the cabinets.

“Yes hon?”

“When I came back, I went through the bottom tunnels and I had stumbled into one of the rooms. I expected it to be empty but…” she watched him; he could tell by her expression that she was intrigued. She looked like someone waiting to hear an exciting ending to a story, “there was a girl in there. She was just sitting in there. So… I was wondering if you knew why she is down there?”

Sally thought for a moment, “I heard Garret talking about some girl earlier, but I figured that he was just interested in another poor girl.”

“Oh, so it was Garret,” Tyson whispered mindlessly. I knew it, he thought to himself. Well great, what were those guys planning to do with that girl. He shook his head. What was he going to do?

“What was that darling?” Sally questioned.

“Oh nothing, what do you think I should do? As in, should I help her, because she doesn’t deserve anything those guys are planning.”

She raised her eyebrows at me and smiled, “I think you should do what your heart tells you to do.”
​
Tyson stared at the ground. He hated when she answered questions like that.
​
“Honey, when you can’t stop thinking about something or someone,” she smiled mischievously, “then they were most likely meant to be there.”  He thought about that.
​
“I have to go.” He started toward the door.
​
“If you need my help, feel free to call baby,” Sally called after him. He had barely heard her, his mind was too focused on the girl. He knew what he was going to do. It was something he knew he should do from the beginning.
​
He was going after her.
​
But why? He thought about the answer to that on his way back to the tunnels.
 
 
Kasandra woke sprawled across the bed. She immediately jumped out of bed and looked around.

“Where is he?” she asked aloud. Glancing around her heart sank.

He was gone. She fell back and landed on the cot. She laid on her side and hugged her knees to her chest. Instinctively, she reached up to move her hair from her face and realized that she was crying. She shoved her face into the mattress.

How could she of been so stupid? He wasn’t going to stay willingly… or save her. She shouldn’t have fallen asleep.

 “I am such an idiot!” She screamed releasing the fury inside her. She felt like a pot starting to boil over. She curled up tighter and for once she let her tears flow. This happened very rarely. Ever since she was a child she never let herself cry. Crying showed weakness, that’s what her father told her. But there had been a few times when Kasandra had let her tears out. The first was when she was 8 and her best friend went into a coma. The second was two years later, when he dog, Brownie, who had been with her since she was born, got hit by a car. And that was where the list stopped. Now, she didn’t care. She missed her family, her body ached, her dress was torn, and the sliver of hope she had when the man showed up had shattered into a million tiny shards that were ripping her insides up. So Kasandra hugged herself as hard as she could as if she could pretend nothing had happened and she was back inside her bedroom at home. But sadly, it wasn’t enough because she knew the truth.

She began to sob and she smuggled her face in the not-so-comfortable pillow.  

Then she heard the familiar swoop of a door opening. She spun her heard so fast she heard the wind whip around her face.

There he was, all bandaged up and beautiful. The bandages weren’t the sad job she had done with her socks either, they were actual wrappings.

“What’cha crying bout?” He said it so casually that instead of Kasandra being grateful she was immediately pissed off.

“What am I crying about? What am I crying about! I got abducted by these men and dumped here! Which I don’t even know where here is! Then, I think that I might have a chance to escape, then I wake up to see that chance gone and then you just come back here and act like you just went to go get some coffee like it’s a normal thing!” She screamed.

“There was no coffee…” He smiled at her. She was furious! But then she broke down and she ran to him. As if he was her knight in shining armor, she wrapped her arms around his back and hugged him as she still sobbed on his shoulder.
 
 
Tyson was shocked when she hugged him. One minute he walked in to find her crying (which made him want to run to her and soothe her) then she starts to yell and now she was pressed against him leaving him breathless. Her body radiated heat as she squeezed him, leaving him in shock. He carefully entwined his arms around her back. It felt nice, to have her close to him. To have anyone close to him. It had been so long. He tried to secure the memory of every detail of this moment. The way her hair smelled like lavender, how soft her skin was, the way her tears felt hot against his skin as they seeped through his shirt, how he wanted to rip someone’s head off just for making her cry, the realization that it may have been his fault, the regret he felt for causing her that pain and how she hugged him with all her might as if she needed someone to hold and he just happened to be the lucky person. He wanted to remember this moment since it would most likely never happen again.  They stayed like that for a while, him embracing her and her just letting out all her tears as she gripped onto him.  When she pulled away, he was reluctant to let her go.

She looked up at him, her red eyes gleaming into him. Her cheeks were smeared with dirt and tears streaks. He wiped her face, without thinking about what he was doing first. She looked shocked but didn’t move away. He stared at her and he knew he had made the right decision to come back to her.

“Why did you come back?” She asked him weakly.

“I… I couldn’t just leave you down here,” he turned away. “Grab your shoes; we need to get out of here. I don’t know when someone’s going to head down here to get you so we need to be quick”

She did as he told her but continued with the questions, “Where are you taking me? And how do I know if I can trust you?” He looked at her.

“Not entirely sure yet, and you don’t. But would you like to stay down here in this room waiting like a trapped rabbit for someone to come for you. She acted like she was thinking about her options but he could tell by her eyes that she already had made up her mind. “Fine. Let’s go. But just so you know I know karate if you try anything.”

“Oh really? Never would have guessed you knew any self defense considering you’re locked up in a room.” He chuckled. She gave him a pouting face and he laughed. He pushed the familiar places above the secret door and waited for it to open. He stepped back and grabbed her hand, heat rushed up his arm. He led her out of the room then stopped, “Hey wait what is your name?” he let the door close behind them as he waited for her answer. “Oh uh, it’s Kasandra. Yours?”
​
“Tyson, OK lets go. Follow me and don’t stray.”
​
“If I didn’t know better, I would think I was your dog,” She rolled her eyes. He smiled as he began to jog. He had two choices. He could take her to his house or he could take her to Sally’s. Sally’s would probably be best he decided.

Tyson ran through the winding tunnels trying glancing back every now and again to make sure that Kasandra was keeping up. Sure enough she was always a couple steps behind. He silently hoped that they wouldn’t run into any complications.

But just as he thought they would be fine he heard faint foot steps. Immediately he stopped, which caused Kasandra to slam into his back.

“Oh my gosh, I am so sor…” he cut her off.

“Shh.”

The slim hallway was silent. Still, Tyson listened intently. Sure enough, the faint steps came back. They sounded far but he knew that what you think is far can come up behind you in the blink of an eye. He took her hand, and for the moment he ignored the shivers that ran up his hand and through his arm. Slowly they moved along the wall, afraid that one movement would give them away. The steps were progressively getting louder. Thump, thump.

They reached the end of the narrow tunnel; gracefully he peaked around the corner and whipped his head back. Kasandra was looking at him, her eyes pleading that nothing was there. He frowned at her. What was he thinking? He should never have brought her down here. This was no place for a girl like her; she wasn’t used to his kind of world. So he was shocked when she reached out to his belt and pulled a knife out. Gripping it tightly, she gave his hand a squeeze and nodded. She looked ready for anything. Tyson laughed inside, but looked around the corner once more.

At the end of the tunnel, to the left, was an Ogre, about a foot taller than Tyson. Looking back, he nodded at Kasandra.

“You stay here, only come if I need some help.” He knew she wouldn’t listen if he told her to stay there the whole time but compromising with her coming if he needed help was fine since he knew it wasn’t most likely going to happen.

He silently stepped into the hall, carefully creeping closer towards the monster. The Ogre had his back to him and was patrolling father down into the tunnel. Tyson stopped. Maybe they wouldn’t have to fight it. He watched as the Ogre retreated down the hall, farther and farther.

He waited until the thumps of the creatures footsteps was nearly gone before he rejoined Kasandra. He pocketed both their weapons.

“Did you even know how to use this?” He laughed pointing at the long curved dagger she grabbed earlier.

“Psht! Yes!” her eyes wouldn’t meet his and he knew she was lying.

“Whatever you. say little warrior,” He laughed again and grabbed her hand as he lead her down the right corridor.

“What was that thing?”

“An Ogre.”

She was silent for a moment, “Wait really?!”

“Yes, did you think I was joking?”

“Well, yeah. Ogres aren’t real; they are just a wise tale.”

“So what we just saw was a story?” he turned to look at her.

“I… I guess not. But still! Ogres are real?!”

“Yes missy they are. I thought that would be pretty clear considering we were almost attacked by one merely a couple minutes ago.”

She was silent.  

After another turn they raced up a staircase and found the door to outside. Once Tyson opened the door, they were hit with cold air. He breathed it in; the fresh air was like drinking liquid heaven. The city lights were blanketed with the darkness of nightfall. In front of them was a parking lot, however, with no cars it just looked like a mess of black asphalt and worn away white lines. Kasandra gasped, Tyson’s head whipped around so fast you could see the air ripping away to make room for the different mass. But he relaxed when he saw that she was just happy to see the outside world.

“Come on, my car's around the corner.” Grabbing her hand, he led her out of the parking lot and around the tangled filth of dented cans, food leftovers, and miscellaneous wrappers that were scattered around the quaint little shops. He shook his head and the un-kept building fronts. It was sad, he thought, how these things passed for businesses. Down the block and to the right lay his car.

“There’s my baby,” He smiled, his black 2010 corvette stingray staring back at him. He ran his hand over the hood.

“Nice car,” Kasandra interrupted the little moment, “I’m kind of surprised that its still in perfect condition considering the neighborhood that you parked it in.” She said looking around as if some lunatic would jump out and choke them to death.

Tyson looked confused, “I put a… lets just say, an invisibility shield over it so she’s hidden from human view.”

“Why can I see your car then?” she asked as she opened the car door. Tyson got inside without answering.

“Oh how I missed you,” He murmured putting the car into drive. Kasandra couldn’t help but laugh. They sped out of the lot as Kasandra’s mind began to whirl.

“Where are we going? How do I even know that I should trust you? Who are you anyway?” He gave her a droll stare.

“Are you going to be like this the whole way?”

“Well sorry for being concerned after I get kidnapped then left in a room and suddenly some hot guy comes in, leaves, then comes back and says he can save you,” she glared, “Plus I want to see my family. I bet their missing me.” She sat back annoyed.

Tyson smirked and raised an interested brow, “A what kind of guy comes in?” Kasandra realized her mistake. She had been rambling when she was talking and hadn’t thought about all the words she chose. She shook her head.

“Don’t flatter yourself, doesn’t mean I’m interested in you. Plus I’m sure you’re that type of guy that very well knows he is attractive.” He faked being offended which almost caused Kasandra to laugh.

Almost.

"Plus you cant see your family sweetling, not until we find out who locked you in that room and why."

"I can tell you that sorta. Well the first part."

"Let me hear." He knew that he already knew but thought it might not be wise to demonstrate that little tid-bit plus her version might have a few more details, mostly as to why she was in a deserted street so late at night.

When she was finished relayed what she felt happened Tyson sat back. She didn't have any clue about why Garret and Nathaniel snatched her. Poor girl, she stumbled into something she shouldn't of because of a simple family feud. He sighed.

"Are we at least almost to this torture house that you'll most likely dump me at for me to die of starvation." She spoke up glaring at him.

Kasandra had thought of trying to temporarily daze him and jump out of the car but there were two problems with her plan. 1: There were no locks on the doors that she could unlock, or at least none that she could see and 2: Tyrone or whatever his name was, was freakishly buff and she knew she didn't stand a chance and hurting him so she sat back waiting to get where ever they were going to she could maybe escape when they got outside or something.

"Yes."

"Whoa."

That was all she could say to the magnificent mansion that stretched to the dark sky in front of her. The house, if it could even be called that, was placed back on two mile long driveway that was encased by trees, shrubs, and most likely every flower known to man. A golden an black gate stood as a dark warrior protecting the home from any unwanted intruders that Tyson swiped a card into a hidden slot that caused the iron bars to slowly slide away allowing them passage. He grabbed her wrist and led her through.

Water cascaded down the walls of the mansion and splashed into the twinkling pond that came out at least twenty feet with a narrow strip of marble leading through the crystal clear liquid to the large French doors. Kasandra noticed the many dark squares peaking out from behind the waterfall after careful observation she realized they were windows.

"How is that possible?" Tyson followed her gaze, "there is a clear wall surrounding the house that keeps the water from actually touching it." Kasandra stared at the waterfall surrounding the house and formed a O with her mouth.

"Come on. Lets get inside." he claimed even though he had hold of her wrist.

If she thought the outside was beautiful the inside was just as breathtaking. The front door opened to a living room as large as her house, eighty inch televisions were mounted on the glass walls surrounded by the plushest cream couches that just begged for her to lay on. The black glass-top table shone her reflection back at her, making her inwardly cringe.

Sheesh. She looked worse then how she did after a “normal” day for her that consisted of trudging up mountain trails, searching through bushes and trees looking for new places that have yet to be discovered. Her hair was knotted and so astray she swore it looked like a bird could make a nest in it. No not just a bird, a whole family of birds and all there aunt and uncles.