Ashton sat very calmly, his rusty white button up made with the simple dress black pants that had a few blood red speckles on them. The people they had gotten these clothes from people how were not dead, just knocked out in a dark alley somewhere. He was slightly worried that they would wake up soon and then he and Tes charade would be over faster then they would like.“ Wanna bet when they will figure out that we are not poison people?” 

“Ashton!” Tes yelled receiving looks from the other poison people. She got quieter and attempted to adjust her turtleneck, instead resorting to pulling the sleeves over her hands. Then her blue grey eyes went to Ashton’s.  “ That isn't something to bet on. If they figured that out it won’t go down well.”

“Oh come on, have a little fun,”  Ashton said in a kidding way as he lightly bumped Tes’ shoulder , grinning at her  slightly. 

Tes rolled her eyes and looked back down at her hands and then across at the poison bringers. “Fine, hopefully never,’’ she said as if it was a second thought , but she truly did mean it. She could not go back to where she had been before and Tes had the feeling that neither could Ashton.  They both heard yelling from over by the door of the wagon with bars on the said. Tes tensed, worried it was because they had been found out, but instead her eyes went to a young girl with mint hair shoulder length light mint green as she struggled against a guy in the usually white jumpsuit with a small poison in green cursive on the chest where an emblem usually would be. He held her arms behind her as she dug her feet down deep in the dirt. Her eyes had tears in them. Tes felt bad for her but if she stood up for help, Tes’ cover would be blown. Tes looked to the small wagon that was where the girl with mint colored hair was struggling & bleeding. these workers did not  have the emblem on their clothes or on the wagon. Tes thought it must have only been on the clothes of the people who worked in the main building or at the so called school they owned. The emblem which was a viper black snake wrapped around a red dark apple  with a dagger piercing its thin skin. Tes had known what the emblem was since she had been old enough to walk. Even when she was just a baby, she saw the sign placed around town and knew that if you saw one of them, to run and hide. When caught, most of the children they caught would never come back from the mental hospital where they were sent. All of this made Tes even more anxious but Ash seemed fine. he He just sat there calmly, as if he had done this a million times.  

“Hey, you two! Are you new? I don't recognize you”, one the poison people demanded he seemed not to be that old maybe in his twenty with a couple grey hairs that stood out in this white uniform. 

“Yes sir,” Ashton spoke steadily , lying as if it came easy to him. He wondered sometimes himself how it was that he was good at lying since he  usually did not lie unless it was a dire situation. 

“ Fine, then I assume you are fairly new because you don't have your uniforms on. Well we have an assembly for newcomers, lucky for you it is this week. So you are in charge of the young witch.’’ Over his shoulder, he added, “ This one is a feisty one by the way so you should watch yourself,” then he walked towards a black car that reminded her of a hearse. He hopped into the front seat and the  door slammed with a loud thud Tes though she heard the hushed words of another language coming from the  car.  

Tes got up from her sitting place on the ground, standing above Ash. Ashton stood as well, walking past her to the wagon. They hoisted themselves up to the front seat and Ash gripped the rails tight. Tes wondered if he knew how to drive, getting her answer when the black car drove off  and Ash steered the wagon forward behind them.  “Was that necessary?” said Tes in an annoyed voice , as she tried to flip her hair out of her face. Laying her back back on the cold wood. Tes got no answer from Ash so instead of starting up a convention she looked out to where they were heading all she saw was  their small hometown behind them & fields in front of her. Tes placed her hands in her lap, as her eyes turned to the wagon they were moving forward to a place where none came back from. Tes wondered what would happen to them when they got there, so far no one had questioned them. behind her. Her thoughts were interrupted by banging from the cart behind them. Tess figured it was the girl with mint hair. Tes wondered if she should respond to the banging, but decided it was best not to, as she heard the yanking & the rattling of chains. 

Tes ignored it again and saw Ash hit his fist hard against the thin wood “Stop that!” he yelled at the girl. Tes supposed he was acting but wondered why he chose not to leave the poor probably scared girl alone. This girl probably knew she was being brought to her death. 

“ Who’s gonna make me!” yelled a small voice back as another thunk of chains came from the back. in the small wooden box of a prison cell hold with one small window metal bars lining  that would cause a nasty shock if you got too close.  

Ash did not answer and Tes had a feeling he did not know the answer. Tes sighed and looked ahead towards a decrepit building with all mustard colored and moss lined the outside. A black mental gate hung in front of them , an ominous feeling to it. The small sign on a chain that was sticking out of the ground read House for the Insane and Unhelped. The black foreboding gates opened, splitting their snack apple dagger emblem in half. Tes got a sudden feeling that Ash and her would not be leaving this place alone. Tes heard the snap of the reins as they lunged forward, following the black car with the other members of the poison bringers cult. Tes breathed in a cold and sweet breath of air that made her lungs sting. As they went through the gate and the house turned to the left then turned slightly in a circle so that they could face towards the gate.Tes jumped down from her seat as Ash pulled on the reins, bringing the wagon to a stop. She landed on her feet, causing the bruise to hurt & the scratches that she had gotten from jumping out the window to open again, but she did not care as she saw Ash out of the corner of her eye. He jumped down himself and patted the auburn colored horse’s back before heading back to the doors of the wagon. 

Tes saw a boy about Ash’s age in all black and a silver watch dangling from the pocket of his pea coat. As he moved quickly down the steps to this mental hospital, a young girl came behind him. Her steps were not as hurried as if she was dancing a slow waltz.  Tes heard the door slam of the black car & her head turned towards the sound, her eyes caught on the men in white that had brought them here. She noticed the leader had grey strands of hair among the more prominent lighter ones. A boy with blonde hair so bright it reminded Tes of sunlight and the most cycliste blue eyes she had ever seen slid out of the car, straightening his white trench coat. Next to him was a boy with auburn hair. He caught Tes’ eyes and winked at her, whispering something to the other boy. A third boy appeared, with ink black hair and silver glasses that shined as the midday sun hit them, making his dark black eyes appear blue. He hit the auburn haired boy on the shoulder almost as if saying stop that. Now that she looked at the lighter haired boy more closely, he had a thin silver tin in the pocket of his white trench coat. Tes felt the other boy's eyes on her as she looked at the small tin trying to see it better. As Tes watched the black haired boy with ink as hair, she noticed how his silver glasses that shined as the midday sun hit them made his dark black eyes seem almost a light ocean pool water color.  Tes saw his dark lips curve at the side. a shiver went up her body and Tes quickly looked away. She turned her head back to Ash as he made his way towards the back of the wagon.

Tes’ legs were still stiff from the bruise running up her leg. As Tes moved past the left side of the wagen, she saw a dirty thin hand with chipped nails holding onto the steel bars as the electricity ran up them. Tes’ eyes caught the electric waves sparking off the fingers. It made Tes shiver and she was about to go and unlatch the fingers from the heating bars when she remembered this was not her old victorian house anymore. This was not her territory anymore.   Ash went to open the back door of the wagon, where a silver lock hung loosely around the handle of the door. Tes watched at his back, nervously tucking her hair behind her ear, waiting and waiting to see if he would find a way to open it. All the sudden  she heard the sound of boots trudging towards her. It sounded as if the boots  had been through some things or maybe it was the person attached to the boots that had been through the difficult times since it was clear by the sounds that the person struggled with something as easy as walking. Tes was about to turn when she heard a voice. It  was soft and  sweet,  but instead of smooth like honey, it was thicker, more like molasses.  

“ Darling, tell your friend that he doesn't need to get the sickly girl out of the cage , our “intacters” will do that,” said a young man dressed head to toe in black head except for his pocket watch with its silver-laced chain that stuck out of his pocket. 

Tes did not say anything, she knew this boy's type: the type that called girls Darlings, a scholten, a heart breaker. Tes had seen a few in her day that would leave roses at her window or call up to her drunk as the gods on their nectar. All Tes did was watch him with her eyes , surprised that his eyes were not a sticky dark color but instead they were blush red. There was a hint of playfulness that Tes suspected his freckles gave him,  but this boy in front of her did not seem like the playful type. He seemed like the bruises and cuts that sting type instead of the playful teasing and sweet kiss type. 

“ You're not much of a talker, are you darling?” The boy with the molasses voice said. His dark blue hair in one part seemed to look dark turquoise. As he knelt down bending his knees, his wrist rested on the end of his knees. His tan hands hung off the edges of his keens, a grin to his lips. He rolled his eyes, looking up at the girl with pale blonde hair with light blue streaks.  “Good luck with that one, Ivy” the girl he was talking to just rolled her eyes.

This girl had a sense to her and there was something of a sternness to her like she had been trained to break people’s hearts. Unlike the boy she was in plane colors not white or one color. Tes would explain Ivy style as Victorian meets new age.  

“Leave  my girl alone and deal with your boy sergeant. We would not want another 102 case on our hands, would we?” her voice sweet as lavender.  She went to go fix her brown leather gloves that went up to her elbow and had buttons tracing the side. Tes wondered why this girl who seemed so harmless would be wearing leather gloves usually for protection. But then again it could be a whole siren situation, where the girl is tragically beautiful but then would send you to your death. Tes watched the boy in black take Ash by the waist across the field. 

Tes noticed that the girl Ivy had an  evergreen right eye and a white left eye. “His bark is wise than his bite, now come on, best get you into a proper outfit now that you are a poison bringer or assistant to a scientist that works with poison.”  Her blonde hair almost seems a whiter up against her Victorian button up shirt Ivy turned, finally meeting Tes’ eyes.