Kathryn

3

Hours passed. I watched cracks of sunlight stream through the trunk and glint off the taillights and then disappear as night fell. I was hungry. No, starving was a better word. So much so that my stomach ached and spoke up loudly in protest. We all were if the growls from my trunk companions' stomachs were to be believed.

And my throat and mouth were full of sandpaper. The thirst I felt went deeper than the hunger. I once heard you could go seven days without food, but only three days without water. I'd barely gone a full day and I was ready to fight for a bottle of water. Anything to relieve this horrible thirst.

When the car began to slow, we all tensed. It came to a stop and we waited for them to pop the trunk. Only they didn't. Not right away.

Instead I heard voices.

I heard Bastien's voice.

If he was here, then Neely had to be close by. Maybe even in the trunk with me. I'd heard no other cars pull up next to us, so she had to be here. I refused to believe anything else. To believe she wasn't here meant I had to believe I might not ever see my best friend again.

And I wouldn't think like that.

Thinking like that would cause me to give up hope.

Hope kept you believing and fear kept you alive.

If you were afraid, it meant you could still feel, that you were breathing. And if you were breathing, there was still a chance.

All my dad's sayings kept repeating back at me on a loop. All that advice I'd scoffed at was giving me something to hold onto right now and I was so grateful to my daddy. When I saw him again, I'd tell him just how grateful I was for everything.

Please let me see my daddy again.

Footsteps came closer and then I heard the trunk latch pop. I blinked when it was raised and a light shined down upon us all. It hurt after being in total darkness for so long.

"De o'ders have been delivered, oui?"

"Yes," Bastien replied. "These are the last of them."

"De pick of de litter, eh?"

The guy sounded sleazier than most.

"They are the strongest of the lot, yes. It's why I'm here, Henry. Niko wants them cared for as they acclimate."

"We were tol' to expect you wit' dem."

More footsteps approached and then arms were reaching in, collecting girls out of the trunk. They struggled as best they could, but the way we were bound made it impossible to do much.

When I was lifted out, I saw Bastien standing next to another man who was just as handsome, only this one had orange red hair and piercing blue eyes. Bastien looked bored, but this one? His gaze was sleezy as it roved over all of us. Shuddering, I glanced away and tried to find Neely.

None of the girls I saw were her, but several were ahead of us and I couldn't see them clearly. I only hoped she hadn't ended up in another car with a different destination.

I strained to see the area around me, but the way I was held made that impossible. I could only see what was right in front of me. Two very large guards stood outside the front entrance. The wide double doors were open into a large foyer of sorts. A staircase was directly in front of me with closed doors on either side of the foyer. Nothing decorated the area. It was plain jane.

Possibly to deter any of us from thinking we could find something to help us escape.

We were taken to a door behind the stairs that led down another set of stairs into a darkened area I assumed was the basement. I could see clearly even though it was dark. We ended up in one wide room with about a dozen tiny cells the lined the wall opposite me. Not rooms with doors. No, this was set up more like a prison cell block with iron bars for walls and a jail cell door. It was here we were taken. Each of us got our own. A sink, a toilet, and a bed occupied each tiny space.