Let me get this out of the way: yes I did something stupid. Quit thinking I knew what was going on, you would've done the same. Anyway, Ivy and I are trying to work with her powers while Snapdragon keeps lookout. We figure out how to teleport, that part is easy. She only has to snap her fingers and think of where she wants to go, and you think she's never done this before? Think again. Like, a lot of fucking agains. Apparently one day she was thinking about being at the beach and snapped her fingers saying, "Now that would be nice!" She had gone to the beach for a second but she hadn't quite done it right so she came right back. She assumed she had hallucinated but she really hadn't. Luckily, nobody really noticed so it wasn't on the news or anything. Anyway, the one thing we haven't figured out about the teleporting is doing it to or with other people. We already tried thinking, holding hands, everything we could think of, but nothing. The one good thing is that her dog, Ginger, has the magical dust (or whatever the fuck it's called) in her fur and is in full control of her power. Soon after, I hear Snapdragon.

"Fuck! I see Cassandra!" I look at Ivy and the look on her face suggests she's as scared as Snapdragon and I. Snapdragon and I find the nearest bathroom sinks and hide under each. One person under each sink. This house has shitty hiding places. But Ivy doesn't bother hiding, she figures her teleporting can save her, and Ginger will be fine too. As we hear knocks on the door, nobody goes near it, but when we hear the door slam down, two voices are clearly heard.

"Grab everyone in the house," Cassandra says and I begin to panic. I hear the faint noise of Ivy teleporting as well as Ginger. Snapdragon and I are alone. Soon after, we hear the noise of someone going up the stairs and going down a hallway.

"Check all the doors," Cassandra instructs. We begin to hear doors opening and closing until Emira sounds like she's really close. We pretty much stop breathing and listen.

"This sink cabinet is partly open," I hear Emira say before opening it. I hear a screech and an attempt to make a mad dash. At least it wasn't mine. But it was Snapdragon's, just as bad, I think and continue to stay still. Soon the screech stops and only muffled noises remain. I don't dare to peek out of the cabinet. Then I hear another cabinet door open and I see light.

"Mk uh n fr i," I hear a tied up Snapdragon say from under a gag that was hastily put on, definitely not permanent. I don't need to understand her. I know she's saying to run (make a run for it to be precise). So I do, faster than ever before and going past all of the houses as fast as inhumanly possible. Normally I'm not too fast compared to the rest of my family, but pressure brings out the best in you. Once I hear a sound like the wind I know it's gotten bad. On my right is Cassandra and my left is Emira. I think for a split second and stop, and luckily they aren't expecting it. I run around the nearest corner and stay still, behind the flat boxes in the alley. I watch the Savvy twins keep going, but they quickly stop once they realize I'm not there. Looking behind themselves they begin to search, and I don't need to be watching to know I don't stand a chance. I close my eyes and play dead. I hope that they won't bother to pick me up if they think I'm dead. Then I hear Cassandra's voice, not too close but audible.

"Here. Take this, sis. This knows where the last one is, when she touched the painting it put a tracker in her finger, it's only luck that we found the others," Fuck is what I think. They've bugged me. All because of that stupid fucking painting. I really wish that touching that fucking painting hadn't affected anything, but the past is unchangeable, unfortunately. I don't think anyone on Magicae can. I don't move, (what else could I do, I'm serious, tell me in the comments) and await Cassandra and Emira. My hand rests on the family mark on my ankle, a winged foot.

"She's dead," I hear Emira say. My first thought is that she fell for it and while that may be true, Cassandra is the smart one of the twins while Emira is more about physical stuff, and a lot more idiotic.

"She's not dead, you fucking idiot!" Cassandra says, and for once, I agree with her opinion on her sister, "She's just pretending, honestly, how stupid can you get?" I contemplate my options: Run or keep pretending. Neither is a good idea. I have a split second so I decide to just keep pretending, and I wonder if it's the right choice. I don't think there even was a right choice. With only my thoughts to comfort me-not that they were comforting me, since my thoughts are extremely bitchy-I wait for Cassandra to deliver the verdict.

"Alive."

Fuck I think and I feel the ground come out from under me. Earthquake?Slowly I open my eyes, knowing it doesn't matter if I play dead or not anymore. The first things I notice are that I'm gagged and tied and touching nothing. Unless air and ropes and gags count, but that's not the point. The point is that I'm screwed. I see Cassandra throw her little teleportation gadget and the vortex appears.

"Haw-yi. yoo er mos-ly o-kuh,*" I look around and see Snapdragon being levitated and gagged as well.

"I m ad oo er mos-ly o-kuh**," I respond. Cassandra and Emira jump into the vortex, and I grab Snapdragon's leg. She grabs a nearby lamp post and we hold on for dear life. I watch as my hands slip and her hands do as well, the pull of the vortex too strong. We fall through the vortex, and end up in the throne room of Evie's palace, except it's kinda sorta Leila's now. Queen Bitch's palace. Doesn't roll off the tongue so well. The gags fly off of us and we're greeted to Leila.

"Where's that bitch of a princess!?" Leila snaps. I'm about to state that Ivy is not a bitch, but Snapdragon knows what I'm doing-she's known me for what seems like forever-and she subtly tells me to shut up through movement. Instead I say something different.

"She teleported somewhere. How would we know?"

Leila smirks at this and I panic. I know she's got something I don't want her to have. She pulls a lever conveniently located on the control table in front of the throne and a lot of gagged people come down, all tied to the same pole that just so happens to hang over lava. Leila points to a button, "One mistake and I'll press this. Killing them all," she menacingly hovers her hand over the button as if to press it and I stare, terrified because of who is tied to the pole. Our parents! I recognize Ally's, Lily's, Lana's, Snapdragon's, Nari's, and mine! There are four other people, two of which I assume are Ivy's adoptive parents but I don't know about the others. I look over at Snapdragon and she seems to be sharing the same look as I have. "Now that you have that in mind, allow us to escort you to the dungeons," Leila continues. I attempt to roll away and, without realizing it, I'm rolling towards the lava! I hear Snapdragon roll over and just as I fall over the edge she grabs my ropes in her teeth, since the rest of her was tied up. I feel Snapdragon start pulling me upwards but she can't do it while tied up and only using her teeth so I just hang there.

"Oh, how sweet," Leila says in a fake-sweet voice as she holds a creepily heart shaped object, and when I say heart I mean the one in your body, not the one little kids put on valentines. Oh how I wish it was one of those hearts. I feel ourselves going down as Snapdragon slips and her teeth become tired. Luckily, Leila levitates us both out.

"We'll need...persuasion for the princess. Emira, go deliver this note to the princess's house, and Cassandra, I need you to escort these two to meet their friends." The twins nod and after Leila hands Emira a note she leaves through her portal gadget and Cassandra begins to levitate us down the hall to the dungeon. I start to struggle but it does nothing, seeing as nobody is actually holding me. Soon Cassandra reaches a door and pauses to unlock it. I take this as an opportunity to kick her-even though my legs are tied together. So I do. Hard. Cassandra reaches up to the red and bloody spot on her face and stares me down while grabbing my neck.

"The last person who did that was almost strangled. It was your little friend. Don't make the same mistake she did," Cassandra says in a fake-sweet voice equal to that of her mother.

I begin to sweat in fear but obviously can't do anything as Snapdragon and I float down the stairs and down the hall that was behind the door. We go down the hall and I stare at the bones and flesh and blood of people who've died down here and gulp. That could be me! From the look on Snapdragon's face, she's thinking the same. Once we get to the end of the hall we begin to see people, one of them pretty much dead by this point but his chest still heaves up and down suggesting that he's breathing as he lies motionless on the floor. The next cell contains a man in rags, chained to a wall as he begs for mercy, but Cassandra shows none-which was very unexpected-sarcasm very much intended. He looks at Snapdragon and I and sighs, as if every person captured brings our planet closer to destruction. Now there are two more cells and I assume we're going in one. In one of the cells there's a woman in a praying position, but her face shows a scared person, unmoving and grey. Stone grey to be precise, and from the joy on Cassandra's face it seems like the woman was petrified. That's not unsettling whatsoever. Cassandra seems to be focused on the other cell and I turn to it, seeing my friends and one other girl all chained to a pole. Cassandra opens the cell door and levitates us onto the pole, untying our ropes a little bit but keeping them tight enough that we don't escape as she ties them to the pole. Cassandra stands in the doorway and says.

"About your food, it's right here." She snaps and some icky glop appears. What's in that? I wonder as Cassandra magically puts one bowl in front of everyone.

"Open your mouth if you want food," she says and everyone does, it seems like the others haven't eaten in at least a day-especially Lily, Lana, and Ally, who seem the most excited for food-and I don't want to know when the next meal is. The bowls fly above each person and tilt so that about half of the glop falls into our mouths while the rest falls onto our faces and ropes. Once each bowl is drained Cassandra tilts them back and snaps her fingers, making them disappear. She locks the door and leaves, but not before saying,

"You'll eat again in two days!" I'm horrified. Two days! I can't wait two days! That's forever! I'll get revenge, you bitch, someday. If I ever get out of here. I swallow the icky glop and it's just as revolting in taste as in looks.

"So. Who's the new girl?" I ask, wanting to get that question out of the way.

"I'm Jade. Jade Ohara," she says.

"I'm Holly. Holly Sparks," I say, trying to reach out my hand to shake before remembering that I can't.

"I'm Alarya. Alarya Zaniki, only everyone calls me Snapdragon, you can do that too," Snapdragon says.

"Okay, also, where is Ivy?" Jade asks and everyone else seems to be listening.

"Uh," Snapdragon starts, unsure of how to put it.

"C and E came and she teleported. Away. We don't know where,"

"C and E?" Lily asks weakly.

"Cassandra and Emira," I explain.

"Do you know where Ginger is?" Jade asks hopefully.

"And you want to know because?" Snapdragon asks, as confused as I am.

"Ginger goes everywhere with Ivy. If you know where Ginger is, you know where Ivy is."

"Oh. We don't know about Ginger either. She teleported as well," I say for Snapdragon.

"Oh. At least Ivy will come to rescue us eventually, right?" Jade says, starting to cry.

I can't really hug her or anything so I say, "She will. We'll just have to stay safe until then. Only, one small issue,"

"What?" Lana asks a little worriedly.

"Leila, she has our parents," I say, "I saw all of ours and four others, two of which I'm assuming are yours, Jade, and the other two being Ivy's adoptive ones," we all gulp.

"They're hanging over lava," Snapdragon adds and I glare at her, although she can't see.

"Not helping!"

"Okay, so if we do one little thing wrong the parents...die?" Ally asks, almost to the point of tears, but everyone's about to cry by that point.

"Y-yes," I stutter as the first tear drips out of my left eye.

Everyone begins to sob so we sob for a few minutes, but Lily speaks up, eyes still wet, "Once we get out of here, we can get down, I still have my ladder!" She's using the little enthusiasm she has left and everyone cheers up a little at the sound. The sound of hope.

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*Holly. You are mostly okay

**I am glad you're mostly okay.