5.

"Dearie, your time is up."

I'm strapped to my chair, glaring up at shadowy form of Dr. Agarius.

"If you don't, you'll regret it."

I vehemently shake my head no.

He snarls. Suddenly, he lunges forward, bony hands reaching for my throat. I try to scream, but I can't and I can't move, my body's not responding...

I jerk awake with a start. I'm drenched in sweat and I'm panting, horribly overcome by that dream, that nightmare...

I receive a soothing feeling, one that calms down my nerves and makes me feel sleepy. I blearily glance over at Aspen, but she's curled up in a ball at the corner of the cell. Rissa's sprawled in the middle of the cell, dozing. So who sent me that feeling...

More of it comes, calming me, like a drug. I turn and focus on the shadowy form of Tansy, who's awake and is concentrating hard on something, her brow furrowed.

Thank you, I say into her mind.

She jerks up and some of that feeling fades away. She smiles and makes a gesture I take to mean as, "No problem."

But why would you do that for me?

She shrugs and opens up a memory to me. Of Tansy, being overwhelmed with a sense of despair, of a feeling that she'll never get out of this mess...

...And me, me calming her, opening up a feeling of friendship. And, I realize, giving her a sense of hope. Hope that she'll get out of this.

I understand. Thank you. Again. I promise – I falter. What can I promise her in this prison?

I'll try my best to keep that hope.

She smiles. Finally, I flop to the floor and let myself drift away. But before I can, I sense something. A movement, a shadow in the corner. Suddenly, I'm up and awake, stiffening and curling up.

I send the message to everyone in the room.

He's here.

The effect takes place. Rissa twitches, as if a horrible thought has entered her slumber. She jerks up, her eyes wild. Aspen doesn't move, but her eyes flicker around and settle upon a spot in the prison. Tansy isn't moving, still propped up against the wall, a glimmer of white teeth emerging in a snarl.

Dr. Agarius advances into the cell. "Hello, dears." He smirks as he leisurely strolls past Rissa and Tansy's cell. He bares his teeth in what is supposed to be an encouraging smile at Rissa, but is really a twisted grimace. "How are you and your green-haired friend?"

Rissa shifts and mouths something at him, and Tansy makes a rude hand gesture. I'm pretty sure I got the gist of it. And, so did he.

He snarls and moves on over to Aspen's box. "And," he says silkily. "I'm sure I can make great use of you."

He said the wrong thing. Even I flinch as Aspen hurls herself at him, her eyes blazing and furious, hands extended and turning into claws. Just as she's about to reach him, she's thrown back by the force field, landing in a crumpled heap at the floor. Her eyes are still deadly, but she makes no move to get up.

Suddenly, a girl with dark, glossy feathered wings throws herself at him. She's screaming incoherent words, her wavy black hair flying behind her, her armor scraping against the force field, spitting sparks.

He laughs, throws his head back and really laughs, screaming at the ceiling and clenching his fists. "How do you think you can defeat me, Enhanced?" he mocked.

"Call me by my real name!" she yells at him. "Raven."

He spits and turns to me, Rissa, Aspen, and Tansy. "We're going on a field trip," he says, his voice high and singsong. "Oh," he says, his red eyes darkening to maroon. "And we'll bring along that winged Enhanced, she'll not want to miss the fun."