Kai had to bite his tongue to keep himself from skittering back over to Chase. Luke was still bleeding, so Kai had to remain where he was. Shintaro, however, jumped to his feet, wobbling only for a moment. He dashed over to his son and knelt down beside him, his face a mask of confusion and worry.

He's just as confused as we are, Kai thought. What is happening to Chase? He shook his head and looked back down to Luke, who was beginning to twitch. His face twisted into a pained frown, then his eyes opened slowly. 

"Hello," he said sluggishly. 

"Hey," Kai said back, smiling as best he could. He pushed a little harder on the wound, and Luke gritted his teeth with a wince. "Sorry," murmured Kai. His shirt was almost completely red now. Kai was hoping that Luke would be alright.

"Nope, don't do that," Linda said sharply and suddenly to Luke, and Kai realized that the man was trying to sit up. "That's not something you should do right now. Especially since you've lost so much blood. I'm assuming you're pretty dizzy already." 

Luke sighed, nodding, then leaned back without saying anything. He closed his eyes again and tried to relax as Kai pressed his hands a little bit harder. Then he opened his eyes again and looked around him groggily. "Where are we?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

"None of us are sure," Shintaro said from across the room. He had propped Chase's shoulders and neck on his lap, hoping to make his son more comfortable, Kai assumed. "We all woke in here." 

"I didn't," Kai said quietly, so only Luke heard him. 

"You didn't?" he repeated, and this time everyone heard it. 

"No," Kai said, feeling suddenly embarrassed for an unknown reason. "I... We weren't in here at first. I woke up to one of the men talking to a woman. I didn't open my eyes to look. I didn't want them to know that I was awake and listening. The woman made sure all of us were here, then she said something creepy. She's going to do something to us, but I'm not sure what it is." Kai was careful to leave out that he would be the first one. He didn't want the others to get worried about him and try to protect him. That always ended up with someone getting hurt. 

Luke suddenly surged to sit up, all sluggishness vanished from his body and voice when he spoke in a frantic, fast tone. "What did she sound like? How did she speak? What was her demeanor? Smooth, sly, and commanding? Like she owned everything?!"

Shintaro raised his hands, gesturing to Luke for him to lie back down. He also hushed him firmly. "Lie back down, idiot! You're hurt and still bleeding." 

Kai's hands had been jolted off Luke's leg when the man had sat up, so he was left there holding a bloody shirt. He stared at Luke before scooting forward again and putting the shirt back on Luke's leg. "Um," he stuttered. "Yes. She did. How... How did you know?"

"SCRAP!" Luke said loudly, and Shintaro shushed him again fiercely but didn't say anything. 

"What?" Kai said, his voice shaking as fear washed over him like a wave. Who was this woman? How did Luke know her? Was she a big threat? Did Luke know what they were in for? 

"That's..." Luke said, his voice quiet again. "She calls herself Moon, and I don't know her real name. She likes how the name sounds, because the moon is big and powerful. It hides for a while, then comes back out shining. She... Is a very clever person, and threatened m - Thorn when he was leader." He shivered a little, his eyes falling. "She has many ways of torture, but there's one she really loves that I can't remember. She is really dangerous and will kill just for the fun of it. Though, she doesn't do that much. She just calls everyone her 'playthings' and has them go through anything that she can call a game. I hate her." He shuddered again. 

Shintaro was sitting stiffly as he listened to what Luke was explaining, Kai couldn't look up at Luke, Abby had her hands on her mouth, Linda was frowning so hard Kai thought her face might get stuck that way, and Gabriel was staring at Luke with his mouth hanging open. When Luke finished, Abby squeaked and scrambled over to her father for comfort.

Kai felt a small rush of jealousy, but he crushed that down with anger. Shintaro was her father. She had every right to do that. 

"That's..." Gabriel said, but trailed off when he couldn't even find a word.

"Terrible," Linda said for him, thought Kai figured that word was hardly anything to the adjectives that were normally used for someone so wicked. 

Then again, that was all he could think of right now. It was like his brain had stopped at a red light that wasn't turning green at all. His mind just kept going back to that favorite thing that she liked to do and what it was. He wanted to know so he could prepare, but he also didn't want to know because he knew he would be too terrified if he did. 

Abby nodded slightly beside her father, her hands never leaving her mouth. There was a small moment of terrified silence, but it was quickly thrown away when Shintaro said fiercely to Luke: "LIE BACK DOWN YOU DUMMY."

Luke sighed shakily, but did as he was told. Kai lifted the shirt away so he could and felt a shiver run down his spine, even though it wasn't cold. Moon sounded like someone he had to be wary of. He had to be much more than that. He had to be careful and expect the unexpected. She seemed like an unpredictable person.

Abby must have seen him shaking, because she was suddenly behind him with her arms around his arms and her chin on his shoulder. "It's okay. We're going to get out of here. You promised, remember?" 

"That was for Thorn's place," he whispered back, his voice shaking shamefully.

"I think this is Thorn's place," Abby said quietly. "I think this is just a spare room, the one without all the blood." She squeezed him tighter. "Besides, you usually keep your promises even until afterward. That's what I like about you. You always keep us assured and you make me feel safe."

"I - I do?" Kai said, maybe a little too loudly, because Linda glanced in his direction. He already knew Shintaro was watching him, but he could tell that the father wasn't glaring at him, just watching.

"Yes, silly," she giggled quietly. "I think you do to everyone." She hugged him tighter, making Kai tense a little. He liked the hug, but she was embarrassing him greatly. Finally, when she didn't say anything for a while, he relaxed and sighed in relief.

~ 

Here's the next chapter!! I'm super excited to give you guys these next few chapters... I'm totally insane and you WILL find that out when you read them...

Oh, Moon is another one of my sister's ideas! If you start to like her, go tell my sister what a great job she did of thinking of her! I was super happy when she introduced this character and told me what she did to torture people. 

... 

That sounds terrible.

I'm sorry.

Anyways, go give my sister a big thank you for helping me with these characters and this book! I'll do that too! Thank you, my dear sister, Fan_FictionGirl1 !! Love ya!!!

Peace out, bois!!!~~