It’s the middle of the night, and Marie just woke up from a bad dream. She sat up by the wall and looked around the poorly lit room, cramped up with other girls like her. 

Scared as a mouse in the presence of a cat, she hugs her legs tightly. Her eyes become watery about to paint her face with tears. How she ended up here is a mystery to her, the only thing she remembers was going out to hawk snacks for her mistress, on the street.

She looked around the dungeon-like candle lit prison trying to grasp the situation. Confused and overwhelmed, she feels a palm caress her shoulder. Shocked, she turns abruptly and lifts her head. Her eyes meet with a slightly older girl smiling down at her. 

“Pat?” She exclaims hugging her tightly as she cries softly.

Marie was relieved to see a familiar face. Pat is Marie's foster sister, they’ve been surviving together since Marie lost her parents. Separated by circumstance, Marie found herself in the care of another family with the condition that she would work, so as to enjoy a roof over her head.

“What’s going on, where are we?” Marie asks, trying to get a grip.

“I don't know” 

“Have we been kidnapped? Are they going to kill us?” she asks, remembering the conversation she overheard from her mistress about the recent kidnapping of young girls in the neighbourhood.

“Shh… don’t worry about that. I'm here now, everything is going to be okay.” Pat said calmly, pulling Marie closer. 

“Are you sure?” Marie asked looking up to Pat’s face who was also sitting on the floor with her.

“Definitely” she says, smiling reassuringly at her.

Noticing that Marie had begun to calm down, Pat turned around to survey the place. She had recognized the tattoos on the guards that brought them in. The crest symbol with a flame at it's center belonged to the popular gang, The Flowkis. All the henchmen who worked exclusively for them had it tattooed on them.

The Flowkis ran the biggest cartel in the city and were connected severally to some unconfirmed dealings in human trafficking. Despite their deep connections with various crime syndicates, the police were never able to pin any of those crimes on them; they always cleaned their tracks.

Aside from being one of the most powerful crime families ‘Allegedly’, the family’s shared flame ability was unrivaled. For a very long time, they have been known to be one of the strongest ability users and this power gave them an edge over some major organizations including the government which constantly turned a blind eye to their activities. 

Anyone who stood in their way or opposed them would inevitably draw their last breath that very second; they were invincible.

Pat knew there was no hope for them. They’d be lucky to be killed off somewhere and have their bodies tossed in the water but that was rarely the case. 

Surviving this meant they would have to endure the horrors that await and God knows what despicable things they would be made to do for the rest of their lives. Death was truly the kindest outcome.

Having all these thoughts cross her mind, Pat held on tighter to Marie; Marie reciprocated by leaning into Pat’s chest. All they could do now was hope.

“I wish I could trade places with you once more” she pondered “I’m sorry” holding Marie while the little droplets of tears in her eyes twinkled at the flames of the candlelight. 

As both girls embraced each other, Marie suddenly perked up as though she had seen a ghost. Pat pulls Marie away slightly, 

“What’s wrong?” she asks

“what’s that?” Marie’s quivering voice responds pointing toward the wall behind Pat.

“What?” Pat answered, looking into Marie's eyes.

Marie’s gaze was fixed on the wall behind them. Pat immediately turned around to see what she was staring at and was shocked by what she saw.

“Are the shadows… moving?” Pat thought to herself. 

She quickly moves in front of Marie in an attempt to shield her from the unknown. 

There was pandemonium. By this time, the locomoting shadows had already caught the attention of all the girls. Everyone slowly backed away, some screaming and some crying, scared for their lives. The guards outside ignored the screams yelling “shut up” and “be quiet”.

The shadows eventually formed a door-like shape. 

Pin drop silence filled the room as two figures emerge from the door-shaped shadow. Their faces were barely visible but there was enough light to illuminate their outfits.

The first in a black loose-fitted T-shirt, blue baggy jeans and white trainers; His long black lustrous hair held up in a ponytail. The latter in a dark blue top, a pair of khaki pants with a beanie and a blue scarf that complimented his outfit 

The panic continued, some girls ran to the dungeon door in an attempt to bring it down, others held on to each other and wept. Marie crouched behind her beloved elder sister while Pat spread her arms out like a hen protecting her chick; They were all petrified.

The first man who had stepped out of the shadow furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. His expression practically screamed ‘what the hell is going on here?’. 

The second stepped out with a grin but it slowly faded as his gaze captured the view of cowering girls backed up into the corner of the gloomy candle lit room. 

He glanced at his companion and then back into the room. The girls stared back at them wide-eyed and scared.

However, there was a peculiar girl in the crowd who stared keenly; not scared, just surprised. Her expression grew even more as both the men walked into the light. Suddenly, she drew back and hurriedly covered herself up with a scarf. 

“Please don’t hurt us” begged one of the girls from the crowd.  

“Hurt you?” Ben responds

Ben looked swiftly at Ares, eyes wide and very confused.

“Ares, Uhh… what's going on here?” He whispered

“How should I know, we walked in here together didn't we?” Ares responded

“Well you brought us here”

“Me? Last time I checked you said you wanted a dri-”

“Are you the authorities?” The voice of a little girl echoed from behind another interrupting Ben and Ares’ conversation.

Ben begins to walk over

“Stay away” Pat yelled as Ben approached

“It’s okay… I'm not going to hurt you. My friend and I were looking for something and that's how we got here. Please can you tell us what’s going on, why there are so many of you here and why you all look so scared like you’ve seen a ghost?” Ben said as calmly as he could possibly be.

Pat noticed Ben didn't have a tattoo, this gave her a bit of relief, she eased up a little.

“Please mister, you have to call the police. We have been kidnapped; my sister and I and everyone else here. We are all being held against our will. You have to hurry, these people are very dangerous.”

Ben turns to Ares. For about a minute they stare at each other, communicating with just their expressions. When they had reached an agreeable conclusion, Ben turns around.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get you out of here.”

“Ben, Someone’s coming,” Ares interrupted.

Ben gave the girls a light nod to reassure them as he stealthily walked to a dark corner.

The wheel handle of the door turned gradually as it opened to reveal two men who appeared to be intoxicated. One had a dagger attached to his waist by a cloth belt, the other with a pistol wedged between his waist and belt. 

“Aye girls, What's all the noise about?” yelled the guard with the pistol from the entrance.

The guard noticed the girls were acting strange, stranger than usual that is but shrugged it off. He carelessly walked in whistling a happy tune before pointing at Pat. 

“Hey you! Come forward”

Pat threw her face in the opposite direction. Observing her reaction, The drunk guard licked his lips lewdly and cracked his knuckles before letting out an evil chuckle. Suddenly there was a thud outside the prison. 

He swiftly turned around, all he could see was his companion out cold on the floor. Standing next to him was Ben, with a sour expression all over his face.

“Hey… You! How did you get here?” the guard asks, raising his pistol.

Suddenly, a spear forged from shadows whistled through the air and struck him in the shoulder the force pinned him to the wall.

“What the heck Ares? They are kids here!”

Ares exited the Shadow he had previously permeated.

“And they are all safe,” he replied sarcastically.

 Ares made his way towards the groaning man on the wall

 “Things could get worse for you right about now; So you better start talking”

“How much more of you are they?” 

“umm… 6 maybe”

“Don't guess”

“I'm not guessing, I promise” the man said, scared out of his mind “there’s 2 by the truck, 4 guarding the hotel and the 2 of us down here”

Hearing this, Ares turns to Ben.

“Ask him where they keep the drinks,” Ben said whispering into Ares’ ear.

Ares rolls his eyes but fulfils Ben's request reluctantly.

“The drinks are currently being moved to the storage room. There’s a door by the lounge that'll lead you straight to it”

“You happy now?” Ares asks Ben who is clearly holding back a smile.

Ares then dismisses the spear and knocks the guard out.

Ben takes the gun from under the guard and looks over to the girls. 

“I’m going to need you all to stay calm, we'll find a way to get you out of here. Okay?”

The girls were still stunned by the turn of events and weren't able to process what's happening.

Meanwhile the other girl who had been watching Ben and Ares with a suspicious glare since their arrival suddenly stepped out.

“Special agent Fleur here” she said waving her badge at Ben and Ares.

“I’m going to need you both to step away from the girls.