The next moment I found myself waking up inside another cage. My head was killing me, and I gently touched my eye and could tell it was swollen. I looked around to see only empty cages around me. Then I could hear yelling that echoed through the air. I couldn’t make out any words that the person was saying but I could tell they were upset. I sat up and noticed then my arms had random burn marks. “Damn it.” I bite my lip as I realized I had burned myself with my own flames. I looked at my palms to see they were still red but not burnt like my arms. “He grabbed me as though I was just a rag doll and I never got a single shot in.” I thought to myself, “Sasha was calling for me and I could do nothing.” I slammed my fist against the side of the cell.

I could here footsteps approaching then from my left. I put my back against the back of the sell and stared in the direction I could hear them, till a younger male appeared in front of the cage. He stood in front of me and glanced over me a few times.

“Can I help you?” I finally asked as I stood up and came closer to the bars.

He put his hand over his head and took a deep breath. “You look way more beat up now that you are awake. The saying if you play with fire, you can get burned turned to be true for you.” He glanced in the direction he came and then back at me. He unlocked the cage and opened it. He then put his hand out towards me. I looked at it for a moment till he finally just grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him. At that moment, I noticed quickly he was a White Match user. It was another special ability a Black Match user had. I looked him up and down for a moment before he shoved me in the direction he had come from, “Come on. Boss does not have patients.”

“Are you one of them?” I asked quietly, unsure how he would react. I was still sore for the previous hit I had taken from the other guy.

“No.” He continued to push me alone until we got to an old man with a little girl holding his hand. Her face was hidden behind a sun hat as she just stared straight. The old man looked over me one more time.

“Since you damage her, I want some of my money back.” The old man demanded as he looked at me more closely.

“Sir, like I said on stage, all sales are final. She engaged on our men and we had to take a small action to make sure no harm came to others or that she escaped. It is better you have her slightly beat up then not to have her at all.”

The old man went to touch my face, but I quickly backed away. He didn’t seem to show any emotion and looked back at the other man speaking, “Fine. Fine. Tomas, take her to the car. I have a few more words I have to have with this gentleman.”

The younger man nodded and looked at me then, “Come on.” I looked at the man, I had seen on the stage and made a fist. The younger man must have been reading my thoughts as he got in between the man and I. He leaned closer, “Lets go. You now work for Mr. Jones. Anything you do will reflect on him and if I have to, I will break every bone in your body to teach you to do as you’re told.” His eyes burned into mine and I could tell he was serious. He walked past me, and I fought my body not to shake from fear. I turned and began to follow behind him. As we walked through the warehouse I noticed most cages were empty.

“Cloe?” I glanced over to see one of the original missing high school students. He had bruises that covered his body. He was one of the Unmatched in our schools who use to be a Blue Match user that lost their Match ability in middle school. I looked Tomas to see he hadn’t noticed me stop. “Please, they are going to kill me.” The boy got closer to the bars, “Please…”

I looked back down the path to see the two men and the little girl were gone. I got closer to the cage to see just a simple lock on it. I walked closer to the lock and before I could put my hand on the lock, I felt a hand grab my shoulder.

“Are you stupid?” Tomas sneered.

“He’ll die if I don’t help him.” I glared at him as I put my hand on the lock. I lite my hand on fire and watched as it melted the lock. Without waiting the boy shoved open the door causing me to stubble backwards. Tomas pushed me to the side and grabbed the boy. Before the boy could react, I could hear bones crush as Tomas gripped tighten. The boy let out a cry and collapsed to the ground holding his arm.

I took this as an opportunity to strike from behind while Tomas was distracted. I charged at him hoping I could knock him into the small puddle near us. I wasn’t the best with Blue match abilities, but I knew how to lock someone in place using water. Before I could strike him, he turned around and lunged at me. I tensed up and before I could defend, he struck me in the gut. I coughed trying to catch breath and felt my legs give from under me. I could feel his arms wrap around me and throw me over his shoulder. I could still hear the boy crying as we walked away from him.

“Run!” I managed to yell in between trying to catch my breath.

“He wont and if he does he will be killed on the spot he’s found.” Tomas said coldly.

“But he will die if he stays!” I cried as I began to struggle.

Tomas stay silent and I noticed a few others appear and start to pick the boy up. I watched as he struggled and watched as one of the people near him take a step back and pull something from his side. I watched as they raised their arm and pointed the object at the boy.

“No!” I cried as a loud gun shot echoed through the building. I suddenly felt numb inside as I stopped struggling and went limp on Tomas’s shoulder. Tomas opened the door and I felt a cool breeze brush my body. He set me back down on the ground and I continued to stare at the ground. He walked around me opened a vehicle door.

“Get in.” I turned to see I was next to a black limo. I glanced around and noticed we were in some sort of harbor. There were tons of shipping containers around us. I could see a few boats sitting at the docks. Tomas put his hand on my back and pushed me forward.

“You bastard!” I yelled and turned towards him. My fist lite up in flames as I swung at him. He caught my fist and began to crush it. I let out a cry and fell to my knees as he released my fist. I felt tears drop down my cheeks, “Please…I just want to go back to school.” He crouched down and flicked my forehead. I glanced up to see him looking out at the sea.

“The life you use to know. Forget about it. The more you fight the change, the worse you will make your future. The academy taught you nothing.” He got back up. I glanced up to see a grin on his face, “I feel bad for all the Black Match users they imprison inside. Look at you. Look at how weak and pathetic you are. You can’t even land a hit on a White Match user. You should be licking the dirt off Mr. Jones’s shoes for even giving you the time knowing you come from such a pathetic school.”

“Shut up! How dare you speak so…” Tomas leaned closer to my face to the point our noses almost touched still grinning.

“If it was up to me, I would break every bone in your body right now, just because you are wearing that school uniform. I want you to know, I went there long ago and was kicked out. Apparently, I lost my temper to easily.” He then leaned closer to my ear, “Now get in the limo, before I have to explain to Mr. Jones how you tried to run and to stop you, I had to crush both your legs.”

“He’s insane…” I thought and felt my body tremble. He stood back up and reached his hand out. I felt paralyzed in place until he grabbed my arm and lifted me to my feet. I turned back towards the limo and climbed inside to see two long black leather seats on both sides and a large red light down the middle. I could see a small bar in the middle of one of the sides that had a few wine bottles but, also a glass bottle of what seemed to be milk. I sat down, and Tomas shut the door. I watched as he stood outside the car waiting. I replied in my head my classmate getting shot in front of me. A classmate that asked for help, that I couldn’t give. I thought I was strong but, it seemed as though I was actually pathetic. I didn’t understand it. I glanced at my arms and the pain from the burns reminded me that none of this was a dream. I lite a small flame in my hand up and stared at the fire that crept across my hands.

“Please do not burn the leather. I recently had to replace it.” I looked up and the flame vanished. I saw the older man, Mr. Jones, from earlier climb inside with the young girl behind him. He sat down across from me and Tomas and the young girl sat down on the seat that sat in front of the trunk. “My Name is Mr. Jones,” He put his hand out towards me and I shook with.

I looked him over and noticed he had a gold ring on his left hand and two silver on his right hand. I also noticed his hands were somewhat wrinkled and now looking at his face I noticed his milky white eyes. His hair seemed to be a fluffed but neatly parted down the middle. No stubble was see able on his face and he had crow’s feet under his eyes.

“You were not cheap, but I can tell you will become a strong Black Match user. Look at those two. Brittney seems like she is a little girl, but she is older then you. Tomas is her White Match. They are now my body guards now.”

I glanced over to see Brittney asleep on Thomas’s arm who seemed to be staring out the window.

“Did you buy them too?”

The man chuckled, “No, no. I picked them off from the streets. I can see you will be interesting one though. Look back at your school you attended. You weren’t allowed to leave campus, be unaccounted, and attend classes you were told to take. That to me sounds like you were already owned.”

“They do those things to protect us from people like you. People who kidnap and use our abilities to benefit themselves. People who will kill us if we don’t obey. For example, what will you do, if I refuse to cooperate with you? What would you do if I ran off?”

A smile crept across his face as he leaned closer towards me, “I guess you will have to see but, I suggest you don’t try. You see, I don’t want you to see yourself as a slave but, I will make it clear to you that I did buy you. You are nothing more then an expensive pet to me.”

He leaned back and grabbed a small cup from next to him. He grabbed one of the wine bottles and pour a little bit out. He leaned back and looked out the window as he took small sips. I turned to see we were now on a busy street. I hadn’t been off campus since middle school. My parents had given me to MUA when I was three. I saw them a few times through out my school years but the end of my elementary, I told them they didn’t have to force themselves to visit me. They had had another child who was an Unmatched. I found this out around the same time I told them not to force themselves to come. I never saw them again and I didn’t regret telling them. It was sickening to me when they visited me because they seemed rush to leave. I didn’t know what I would do after I graduated. I hadn’t ever thought about it before. I glanced over at the two in the back. I had never seen them around the school before and wondered why they listened to Mr. Jones. I glanced back out the window. I could see people outside walking on the side walks and watched as cars passed us. Some of the stores we passed has bright flashing lights and some has people dressed up outside advertising. In the outside world, no one could tell what Match anyone was. It was a different concept to me. At school, you would just look at someone’s shoulder and see but everyone walking down the street had jackets of all colors and looks or hoodies with jeans. The limo drove for a while and I took in all the sights. By the time the limo came to a stop it, the sun was already setting.

I noticed we had stopped in front of a large gate. I looked to see both Brittney and Tomas were sleeping now. Mr. Jones was on his phone and was chatting to someone else about money transactions it seemed. The large gates opened in front of us and the limo drove inside. It drove for a few more minutes till a giant house appeared.

“Wow…” I mumbled.