Chapter 2

“Get away from the door!” I hear a muffled voice shout. “This is the police. We know you’re locked down there.”

I scamper to a corner and crouch down, covering my ears.

Wham! WHAM!

The police must be trying to kick the door in; guess it was locked. Figures. I hear muffled shouts, counting “One, two, three.”

WHAM!

The door busts open. Three or four flashlights shine into the basement; the police officer slowly climb down the stairs, making their way over to me.

“Are you okay?” one of them asks me. “Is your name Serafina?”

“Yes!” I cry out, instinctively. My name is Sophie, but Serafina is close enough. I have to get out of this room. Carefully, I walk around the glowing, silver marks on the floor, ignoring what they might mean, and greet the officers. “Thank you, but how did you know I was here?”

“You’ll have to come with us, miss,” a tall, burly officer informs me, pulling a pair of handcuffs off his belt. “Please, put these on.” Behind him, two other officers stand there with their hands on their hips, like I’m some kind of criminal.

“Wait, what is this? What’s going on?” I can’t bring myself to mention William’s name. What did William do to me? Did he call the cops to pick me up?

“Please, miss. This is for your own protection,” he whispers. “Boss’ orders.”

“Who’s your boss?” I can feel Thunk in my pocket, weighing my shirt down. Maybe he gets heavier the angrier he gets? Maybe I should get angry. “Look, I don’t know what this is, but all of you seem very interested in a girl that was locked up in a basement.”

The officers looked at each other as if I had just told them the world was ending and I was going to save it.