The men charged at me with a clear goal in mind. The natural reaction when said scary men charge at you, is to run in the other direction. Every time.

I ran down the dirt road as fast as I could. Weaving in and out of people that crowded the busy streets, my mind went haywire. I thought about what they said. “There’s the other one”.

Did they already have Colin? That’s why I can’t find him, isn’t it? They caught Colin because I got distracted by that bird! Why am I so stupid sometimes? My heart started to work in double time as I rounded the next corner. I knew I was panicking, but there wasn’t time for it.

I could transform, and escape with the attempt of flight. No. It was too crowded and who knew how long I could stay up in the air with no one helping me steer. The Phoenix on my shoulder flew up, off my shoulder.

“Wait, come back!” I yelled at the phoenix. It didn’t even look back as it flew off. So much for that mistake.

In my moment of distraction, I ran head first into a beefy muscled man. I fell backwards on my butt and groaned. I felt like I had just run into a wall. The men chasing me quickly entrapped me, and I knew there wasn’t much hope of getting out of this.

“Hey, now, could we talk about this? How about some human money?” The color drained out of my face. I tried for a weak smile. There was no reason to worry. They would take my money and be on their way.

“Kid thinks we’re mugging him!” The man I bumped into mocked. They laughed like a bunch of drunken sailors. Trying to use this moment of distraction to my advantage, I scrambled to my feet. The taller man had other ideas though. He simply grabbed my collar and pulled me back. I fought against him, but the effort was fruitless.

“Don’t struggle. We just want to talk, that’s all.” He set his hand on the back of my neck and squeezed.

He guided me a little ways down the road that I had already been running down. Turns out, I had just spent all that time running in the direction they were already going to take me to anyway. The men lead me into what appeared to be a deli shop. It smelled like fresh meat and vegetables that were perfect for a good sandwich. I highly doubted that after this experience I would ever come back for a sandwich though.

The man took me into the back of the kitchen and pushed me into a chair. My eyes glided over to Colin sitting in the other corner of the kitchen. He was barely conscious. His body gave off the impression of numbness. His eyes were fogged over, and didn’t make any notice of his current surroundings. I wasn’t even sure he knew I was here. Colin’s face was badly bruised and blood dripped from his chin. I could barely look at him without feeling guilt swole up in my stomach.

My blood boiled. Every part of me screamed in anguish when I looked at Colin’s face. If I hadn’t just run off without him, he would still be okay. I fought against the man holding me down as another man tied me to the chair.

My skin started to turn red and scaly, and my claws were sharpening. I was going to change, and then I was going to get them for what they did to Colin.

“Enough of that. You don’t want to upset Warlocks, do you?” The man in charge threatened. The threat he made against me was only mellowed out by the appearance of his nasty yellow teeth. He was in desperate need of a dentist.

“You’re little friend already gave us plenty of trouble. First claiming he was the Zodiac, then using what little magic he possessed to attempt an escape. Pathetic, really.” The man grumbled. Colin did all of that? He put himself at risk to protect me. Those bruises and cuts on Colin’s face hurt me even more than before.

“What do you want?” I spit out my words individually to give them more emphasis. I was a puppy trying to look like a full grown bull dog. The man raised an arm to slap me with the back of his hand.. I closed my eyes, and was relieved when the hit never landed.

“Right to the point. I like it.” The man’s temper flare had dissipated, and he lowered his hand back down to his side. The breath I was holding slipped out in shakey relief. Memories of middle school came to mind, back when I had gotten bullied. The same shaky breath I had been holding back then was back now.

He held out a picture a few inches too close to my eyes.

When the blur adjusted, I saw Alalai. He was much younger, and even skinnier than he was now. Dirt covered most of his body, but the dirty white scarf was still around his neck. He never took that scarf off it seemed. Alalai was holding a shovel and standing in a three foot hole. His pose mocked that of a hard-working superhero, with one fist on his hip, and the other was leaning on the shovel. The hand holding the shovel sported a metal band. The picture was of him from his years working for warlocks.

“Where are you hiding him?” The man shoved the photo closer to my face. It didn’t matter how close he shoved the picture, I wasn’t going to say anything. My eyes met the warlock’s and we battled it out in silence for a few minutes.

“Why?” The defiance in that word, and the anger in my voice told the man all he needed to know. I wasn’t talking. He didn’t hold back this time, and punched me in the gut.

The air in my lungs was punched out of me. I was sent sideways in the wooden chair, and gasping for breath. The warlock seemed to have shoved my stomach up into my throat because I had the intense desire to vomit it the rest of the way out.

“He’s not serving his sentence with us, yet.” Spit flew from the warlock’s mouth as he growled out every word. The men behind him raced to sit me back up right. Fantastic, now he could have free range to hit me again!

“Yeah, he is. Find someone else to bully!” I yelled at him, and this time he punches me right above the cheekbone. That’s a definite bruise. Blood oozed from the inside of my cheek. He had punched me so hard that my teeth punctured the inside of my cheek. It was going to be hell to eat food now.

I prepared another insult to spit out at the warlock, but my mind fell back to Colin. His bloody lip, the bruises, and the puffy eyes. The thing that unnerved me the most was the glassy, fogged over expression he wore. I shivered. The angry mask I was wearing fell and hiding under it was the overwhelming fear of never getting out of this situation alive.

“He owes us at least another ten years of his life. He might also earn a few more years by practicing that witchery!”

“Do what you want to me. I’ll never tell you where he is!”

I had to get out of here. Even if they beat me within an inch of my life, I had to make it to Alalai. I owed that little girl a favor. She asked me to tell him “hi”, and even if it kills me, I’ll do it.

I have to.

“Guess that leaves me no choice.” He rolled up his sleeves ceremoniously. The grin he sported made the warlock look like a psychopath. He swung his fist and hit me in the mouth. I felt my teeth cut into my bottom lip. I spit out blood that pooled on my tongue. The taste of rusted metal overwhelmed my tastebuds. My lip was split and already starting to swell.

The warlock flexed his fingers before punching me in the stomach again. I doubled over in the chair. The ropes were so tight I struggled to breathe. He grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up. I fought against the ropes as my breath escaped me. I hated drowning, and now I hated being strangled.

He dropped me from a few feet in the air. The chair tipped mid-air and I landed on my side. My ribs crunched from the impact with the kitchen floor.

My throat burned like bile was rising up from my stomach. This is not a good time to vomit, I told myself. If I vomit, that’ll totally ruin my street cred as a Zodiac. I am so off topic right now!

The hot smoky feeling in my throat rose as the man set me back up in the chair. I felt it like a burp. No. No, no, no way! Do not vomit, Sam! I mean it. Swallow that bile! My mouth opened uncontrollably and the fire erupted from my throat.

I- I did not see that coming at all.

The man in front of me screamed in pain. Luckily, the warlock wasn’t right up in my face at the time. He had been about three feet away, so it barely burned him. Probably. He really didn’t anticipate flames spewing from my mouth, that’s for sure. The residual fire burned the ropes tying me to the chair. I untangled myself from the chair, and sprinted at Colin. The man in front of me was writhing in agony, but that didn’t stop the others around me from chasing after me.

Colin was still tied to the chair, and barely conscious. I didn’t have time to untie him, or wait for him to wake up. I grabbed the entire chair and lifted him above my shoulder. God, would it kill him to lose a few pounds?

The men were close behind me as I broke out of the back of the kitchen like a wild animal. The chair attached to Colin dug into my shoulder and I stumbled over the uneven brick of the road. I couldn’t keep this chase up for long.

“Get back here!” They yelled from behind me. I turned the corner into a shallow alleyway, and a hand grabbed me by the collar. The hand pulled me through the door it came out of.

“Hide behind my counter,” the voice said urgently. My eyes followed the voice to its owner.

A young troll girl stood in front of a store front counter. The girl appeared to be about fifteen or sixteen. She had white paintings decorating her face. They swirled and danced in the same happy way that Mia’s did.

I held my breath from below the counter as the men ran by. They yelled and cursed at me. When they were a safe distance, I let out a sigh of relief and ran my hands through my hair. I set the chair Colin was tied to upright, and untied him. He slumped into my arms limply.