I am moved into a cell block just three days after I awake from the surgery. I stayed in the same hospital bed for all three days, the same endless ceiling, the same thin mattress, the same counting. A lot of the time I spent mourning the scarring of my flawless tan skin I was always so proud of. They had taken off the bandages at some point to change them, and I finally saw the awful burns that they had patched over. Some of the injuries were on my left arm and leg, and a little on my torso, but the worst of it was my shoulder. The burnt area wrapped around from my collarbone to my shoulder blade, and the whole thing had to have skin added in the surgery. Where previously the skin had been smooth and unbroken it was now torn, uneven, and just scarred looking. I was disgusted with myself. I couldn't even look at it.

My whole body just stings and burns, but they moved me to the cell anyway. I'm sure I needed more time in the hospital (boring as it was, the morphine kept my pain to a minimum, and now I'm only on pain pills) but I'm just so afraid of the wolf-men and what they can do to me I do whatever they say. So when the doctor came in and told me to walk, I did, my arm in a sling and my leg screaming in pain every time I bent it.

My cell is shaped like a regular room for the most part, but one wall is made of bars. There is a thin cot in one corner and nothing else. That is all I have. I can't even tell where in the building I am, because although I know we never stepped outside, they blindfolded me on the way here. From what I can tell, either the hospital has a jail, the jail has a hospital, or I'm in some kind of commune that has both a jail and a hospital. Maybe this is the base of whatever odd, supernatural organization that kidnapped me. Or perhaps the wolves were the byproduct of some sort of genetic experiment? I don't know, and I don't care. I'm never going to get out of here anyway. Unless my parents realize I'm missing and call the police or something. If they care enough.

Anyway, most of my thoughts circle around self-pity and depression until I hear a metal clanging sound and the door to the prison block opens. I hear the shuffle of feet and a female-sounding laugh. Someone's here.

With some difficulty I sit up in my cot and swing my legs over the edge, looking out the barred wall. I wince and let out a muffled groan as the fabric scrapes against the site of my injuries.

"So, sister, welcome to your new home," a woman says. "You'll be staying here for just a little while, only until your interrogation. Gabriel requested to supervise it himself, you know? It really is a privilege."

Through the bars I see two woman progress down the hallway, one blindfolded and handcuffed, the other following cheerfully behind her like a guard. But I don't see any weapons. I recognize her as one of the people I saw at Haven's house, right before the blast. She was the leader, I think. . .

The lady in chains is as dark skinned as the woman behind, her back as straight as an arrow, a calm, serious expression on her face. She doesn't seem to be worried or afraid, despite her current situation. I wonder what she did to these people. Was she just an innocent bystander? Or did she do something to tick them off?

"You know," the guard whispers. "It would be so much easier for you if you gave up, told us what we wanted to know, and joined Gabriel in his quest for revenge. You could have everything you've ever wanted: money, power, fame. You could be a queen in the new world my Lord is going to create. We are the new age, Margot. Born from the ashes of a past one. I'm going to be a queen, you know." She smiles like a happy child. "A queen over my own country. No, my own continent. I wouldn't have to be a low-life, the second choice of a man whom was first in my heart. I'm going to be free, finally. No more hiding, no more undercover jobs. And all I have to do is what Gabriel says. It's as simple as that."

The other woman, Margot, stays impassive, not responding to her words.

"You could have it all, too, you know? And all you'd have to do is join us. Join us, and we can rule together." She pushes Margot into the cell across from mine, closing the door and reaching through the bars to remove the handcuffs and blindfold.

Margot calmly open her mouth and says, "on the backs of my neighbors? My relatives? My friends? No, Vanessa. You don't understand. The Gifted and the humans? We're the same. We share the same blood, the same land, the same communities. You cannot blame the humans for their fear of what they do not know. They mean us no personal harm. We killed ourselves off. In the end, we're all just a scared bunch of people."

Vanessa lets out a giggle. "Oh, maybe you're right. Maybe we are more similar than we think. I mean, we do breed together, like dear Brandon and that filthy human scum Gail."

What? I think. Gail and Brandon? That's Haven's parents! What the Hell do they have to do with any of this? I think back to when Haven was talking about her parents and that woman named Katherine.

"But it's our turn, Margot," Vanessa continues. "It's our turn, and how else will I get my hands on Brandon? I loved him. I loved him so much. So now, I'm going to kill him. I already took out his wife. Of course, I meant to kill Haven, but these things have a way of working out, you know? Haha. You should have seen Gail's face! We were going to interrogate her. I know that the daughter knew nothing, so she was useless. But then you had to show up. Pity, too. I hate that child as much as Gail herself."

Haven?! This woman got her hands on Haven?! But that means. . . Oh God no! Mrs. Cross is dead? She. . . She can't be! I've known the Crosses since we were little kids! And why does Vanessa hate them? How does she know them? I don't understand. I don't know how to deal with this.

"Vanessa, my little sister. You could never let anything go. Gabriel has made you rotten. Sister. . . No. You are not my sister anymore. My sister died long ago."

Vanessa just laughs. "I don't think that you're in any position to be disowning me, sis. I think that's the longest string of words you've ever said to me. You know what your problem is? You never speak up. You can believe all you want, but without action, you get nowhere."

"That's where you're wrong. I will fight you by doing just that: staying silent and doing nothing. No matter what you do and what you say, I will never tell you anything." She says all of this with a passive, aloof expression on her face, like a statue carved out of marble. She is like a boulder that never moves, and never changes.

Vanessa grins, her eyes lighting up. "We shall see. You will find that the techniques Gabriel uses can quite. . . persuasive. Being Gifted does have its advantages." Then she turns on one heel, waves over her shoulder mockingly, and calls, "goodnight sister dear!" Before passing out my field of vision and leaving the room.

We stare after her for a second in silence. I want to ask her about Haven, but I'm almost afraid of what she'll say. I'm not good with people in general, anyway. But this is definitely a special case.

"M-Margot?" I ask. "You're. . . Margot, right? I'm Amber. That woman, she said something about Haven. She's my friend. Have you seen her? Is she okay? Please, do you know who these people are?"

Margot looks at me with a sad expression on her face. "You're human, aren't you?"

"Um, yes? I mean, you aren't?" I'm confused on this front. They kept on talking about humans like they weren't themselves. But that's impossible. They have to be talking about something else. Maybe it's a code word?

She closes her eyes and sighs, long and slow, before sitting down on the edge of her own cot. "I see. I'm so sorry. We have a lot to talk about."

*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•*•

An hour later my head is reeling with the implications of a sub-race of people living among us. Human, but not human, as old as us. And Mr. Cross is one of them? I can't even fathom it. Every logical theory is set against it, and everything I've ever believed in has been irreparably shattered. There's just. . . No way. I can't handle this, I don't understand. And Haven's involved now, flying across the country with this counter-Gabriel group of supernatural people? I just can't believe that.

"I know that you won't believe it at first, Amber," Margot says, her voice as soft and reserved as it was the whole time she told me the story. "But I swear that I'm telling the truth, even if you don't believe me."

And something about her eyes makes me want to, even if I don't now. But it hardly matters now. I don't care what goes on around me anymore. I just want to go home. I want to go home and lock myself in my room, and tell the rest of the world to go to Hell, because I shouldn't have to deal with it. And I don't want to.

We spend the rest of forever sitting in the dim lighting, neither of us saying a word. There is no time here, just how it was in the hospital room. There is no point of reference, nothing to hang on to. It could be noon or midnight for all I know. And my sense of timelessness only gets worse when I sleep.

Sometimes someone will come in and give the two of us food. But they never say anything, and never do any more than slide the two trays through a foot-wide break in the bars near the floor. I eat some of it, but it tastes awful, and I would almost rather starve than eat food I hate. I'm ugly, trapped, in pain, alone, and the food sucks too.

"Never give up, Amber," Margot says after a long, long time. "I know you want to, but trust in Garret. Maybe, just maybe, he'll be able to get us out of here. But don't give up."

I don't reply.

A short while later, they come for her. Two guards dressed all in black walk up to her door with a pair of handcuffs. Margot stands at attention at the front of the cell, as calm and collected as ever. She holds her hands through the bars obediently as the cuff them together and blindfold her once more. Then they open the barred door to let her out, silent and efficient, like robots. Each one stands on one side of her, once again weapon less. I guess they are the Gifted Margot told me about. But I don't believe that, do I?

The three of them start towards the door, not a word passed between them. But as they pass out of my vision, Margot pauses. She turns towards me slowly, and her hidden eyes almost seem to see me through the black fabric as she says, "Garret will save us. Believe, and don't give up, Amber."

Then the guards grab her forearms to lead her out of the room, passing my cell and leaving me alone once again. The door makes the clanging sound of metal on metal as it closes, taking my only ally in this place far away from me, to wherever Interrogation is. Whatever they do to you in Interrogation.

And I hope that I never have to find out, because after those doors shut, she doesn't return.

Hey! So, I'm pretty happy with this chapter. Maybe you will be too! I know that only half of you actually read Amber's povs. Shame on you. Anyway chapter 20! That's great! More Haven to come!

-iambibliophilic