I did not wake up in my bed, though I was certain I had fallen asleep there the previous night. I could feel the cold, harsh concrete below me, and I could not move my hands. My eyes felt like there were stuck together, and it took great effort to pry them open. When they were finally open I wished that I had kept them sealed. The room looked dimly lit and appeared to be some kind of basement. My heart pounded against my ribcage as two silhouetted figures stood in front of a glowing fireplace, chatting as if they did not have somebody tied up in their basement.

I tried to shuffle my hands out of the rope that bound my hands together but it was no use; its texture was only scratching and blistering my skin.

"Was tying them up really necessary?" One of the figures asked. It was too familiar, sending a cold shiver through my body as my eyes adjusted to the light and I realised that it was the boy I had sat on a roof and stargazed with not 48 hours before. He ran a hand through his hair in stress, something that he had done a lot around me. I always thought it was adorable, but now I wasn't so sure. 

He had said 'them.' As soon as the thought registered I acknowledged a series of whimpers coming from a shuddering Anna who was tied up next to me. On the other side of me was Michael. Fear jolted through me at the sight of his wide eyes. He was afraid. That meant that I should be afraid too. The emotion was too overpowered by the feeling of betrayal, though. Ashton was working with somebody - who I realised to be Matt as I allowed my eyes to focus again - and he had three of his own coven tied up in some dirty old basement.

My mother and the fortune teller had been right. They were trying to warn me, but it had been too late. It seemed like they had been planning this for months; they must have been if they had snatched us in our sleep.

"Don't worry, I won't harm your precious little girlfriend," Matt mocked, smirking at me as he realised we were conscious. "Speak of the devil."

My brain could not comprehend what was happening. Why had Matt and Ashton tied us up? I looked at Michael desperately, but I knew there was nothing he could do.

"What's going on?" I asked shakily. "Why are we here?"

"I thought you said she was smart," Matt teased. Ashton looked at me, his lips carved into a thin line and his eyebrows knitted together. Matt walked towards me at a painfully slow pace before crouching in front of my curled up body, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. I was breathing so heavily I thought that I might have passed out. "It seems your boyfriend here has not been very honest with you."

Matt's dark eyes glimmered with menace, and I suddenly didn't want to know why I was here. I hoped for the darkness to engulf me again, but it didn't. I looked up at Ashton with wide eyes, but he only shook his head in despair. He wasn't going to help us, because he was the reason we were here.

"Look, just please let us go. We'll give you whatever it is that you want," Anna pleaded, tears rolling down her face at an alarming pace.

Matt simply stood up and walked back to the fireplace. Ashton tried to mouth something to me, but I refused to even look at him. I knew that I could not trust him from the night we shared in the storm, yet I had convinced myself to do so anyway. I cringed at my own stupidity. 

"Lilah," Mikey whispered hoarsely from beside me. Sweat glistened off his forehead as he watched to see if Matt had heard us. He hadn't. "Hold out your wrist. I can use my electricity."

I obeyed quickly, my hands shaking uncontrollably.

"Listen," he said urgently. "As soon as the rope comes off, run. The others will figure something out. Just run, okay?"

I nodded anxiously, squeezing my eyes shut as the first spark of electricity shot from his hand.

"Just don't make a noise if it catches you, okay?"

I inhaled the scent of copper as a light blue fork of electricity bounced from his fingers and onto my rope, causing it to sizzle slightly. I winced as I felt a shock go up by arm and bit my tongue to suppress a cry. My skin tingled as the rope fell from my wrist and onto the floor. Before even thinking about it, I was running towards a set of stairs in the corner of the basement. I wasn't fast enough, though.

Unbearable pain surged through my whole body, and I fell to the floor, screaming as I writhed on the floor in agony.

"Stop!" Ashton shouted over my shrieks. "You're hurting her! Stop!"

My lungs burned and I couldn't breathe. I could taste something metallic in my mouth as I bit my tongue, desperate to clench onto something. I had read that after a certain level of pain, your body would shut down, but mine stayed conscious. I remembered thinking that I would rather die than endure this.

"My force field isn't working," Anna sobbed frantically.

"Stop!" Ashton repeated in a hysterical voice.

I could not see what happened next. I could not bear to open my eyes in fear that the pain would get worse. I guessed that Ashton had stopped it, as the pain subsided to a dull ache. My body shivered violently as I cowered towards the wall.

Matt was brushing himself down, Ashton glowering at him with his hands balled into tight fists. I had never seen him look so threatening, and it sent a wave of fear through my body.

"You told me you wouldn't hurt her!" He barked in Matt's face, but Matt did not appear to care. He chuckled and walked over to me again, grabbing my wrists roughly. I whimpered at his touch.

"You told me that you didn't have feelings for her. We both lied," he muttered, his icy breath hitting my forehead as he pulled me up and put me back in between Michael and Anna. He tied me up again before scattering what looked like dust around Michael's body.

"Don't try that again, or I will kill you. Understood?"

I nodded, tears streaming down my face. I had wanted to appear brave, but my tears betrayed me, showing Matt how weak I really was. He seemed pleased with himself.

As he walked away, Ashton replaced him, kneeling before me with eyes full of concern. He grabbed my hand and I pulled away, sniffling slightly.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know he would do this," he said softly. He looked helpless, having no idea how to comfort me. I didn't believe any of his concerned façade. He was a liar. I wondered if any of what we had shared was real. "I'm going to get you out of here, okay? I promise."

"I don't believe you." My voice couldn't hide the sobs erupting through my aching body.

Before he could respond, another figure walked in. I recognised him to be Josh, somebody who worked with my mother at the hospital as a trainee nurse. His blonde hair always appeared dirty, and his light blue eyes were something that most of the girls in town would swoon over. So he was a part of this too.

"I'm surprised you didn't use your powers on me," Matt turned back to me, ignoring the fact that another person had just arrived.

"She doesn't know about them, I told you," Ashton spoke through gritted teeth, standing up to face Matt.

"How unusual," Josh finally made himself known, his low voice holding malice. "Maybe she needs a bit of a push."

I didn't know what he meant by that, but I didn't want to find out. His hooded eyes caught mine and he tilted his head to the side, like a snake sizing up its prey.

"No," Ashton answered firmly.

I was completely bewildered by what was happening, and Anna was too. Her body was still trembling aggressively, almost in rhythm with mine. I wanted to comfort her, but there was no way to do so with my wrists bound together and my voice box betraying me.

Josh rolled his eyes. "Call me when something interesting happens." With that he silently travelled back up the steps, and I felt slightly relieved. Of all of the people here, he seemed the most dangerous.

It occurred to me that they didn't quite know what it was that they were going to do with us. If they wanted something from us, they would have gotten it by now. Maybe their lack of plans could be used as an advantage.

"Josh can kill you with one look, so if I were you, I wouldn't want to try to escape again," Matt broke the silence, turning to the burning flames in front of him.

I wished that I could watch the blazing fire without the feeling of betrayal weighing down on my chest like an anchor on a ship. I wondered if I would ever be able to look at flames again without being reminded of the boy who smelled like cinnamon and pine.

*

It did not happen in slow motion, as it does in the movies. In fact, everything passed by in a blur.

Matt had lost concentration, only for a minute, but that was all that it took for Ashton to pick up a loose plank of wood and beat him over the head with it. Michael instantly got to his feet, his hands still strapped together with a bloody piece of rope. He pulled Anna up as Ashton quickly did the same for me. I felt weak after the pain Matt had put me through, but adrenaline coursed through my veins and Ashton pulled me forward. I stumbled up the stairs and found we had been in the basement of an old, abandoned warehouse. I recognised it to be one in the forest. I tended to avoid it on my ventures, as it always seemed eerily desolate and it reminded me of some kind of horror movie setting. It was draughty and I couldn't stop myself from shivering as we continued to run through the woods, coming to a stop at Ashton's car not far from where we had been trapped. 

He pushed me inside quickly, putting his keys in the ignition before Michael had even shut the door in the backseat. I flinched as he untied the rope at my wrists, wishing that his warm skin did not have an effect on my cold fingers, wishing that I did not feel sparks run up my arm from a simple stroke. His touch lingered on my skin, and I longed for his hand to be in mine, but I knew that it could never happen again. Trust was like a piece of paper that you had crumpled up and then straightened out again; you could still make use of it, but it would never be the way it once was. I would never be able to trust Ashton the way I had before.

"We need to talk to my father," Anna stammered, her face contorted into shock. "He'll know what to do."

Ashton asked for her address, already driving through endless roads of green and brown. The sun was setting behind the trees, which meant we had been there for almost a day, at least.

"I swear to God, I didn't know that he was going to hurt any of you." His tone was full of guilt and anguish. "He told me he wanted you to join his coven, and that was all. Next thing I know, you're tied up in his basement."

"You lied to me," I whispered through chattering teeth. I was exhausted, but I knew that whatever this was was far from over.

"If I knew he was going to hurt you like that, I would never have agreed to it." Ashton's voice was no longer light and playful when he spoke to me. Instead, it was thick with tears and regret. I would have felt sorry for him if I believed a word he said.

"How do we know you're not taking us somewhere where they can get to us again?" I challenged, my body leaning against the cold leather of the car so I was as far away from him as possible.

"You don't." His knuckles were white with tension as he gripped the steering wheel, driving at an immeasurable speed. "But I swear, Lilah, I care about you. I never want to see you hurt like that again."

"I don't believe you." I had a bitter taste in my mouth, and my breathing was still erratic. Anna and Michael were quiet from the back-seat as I repeated what I had said earlier in the basement. I felt sick to my stomach just looking at the boy who had deceived me so easily.

"I know. But I will do anything that I can to protect you. That's a promise."

I wanted to believe that what Ashton was saying was true, but I was too tired to even consider for a moment that he was being honest.

I supposed that this is what happens when you touch a burning flame; your fingers get burnt.

AN: HIIII OMG IM AT 200 READS AND 50 VOTES AYYYY THANKS GUYS!!! I KNOW IT'S NOT A LOT REALLY BUT IT MAKES ME HAPPY SO THANK YOU

DID U LIKE THE PLOT TWIST LOL I WISH I COULD HAVE WRITTEN THIS CHAPTER BETTER TO MAKE IT MORE SHOCKING AND EXCITING BUT IDK I DON'T THINK I HAVE IT IN ME LIKE I KNEW HOW I WANTED IT TO GO BUT I JUST COULDN'T GET IT TO GO THAT WAY IF THAT MAKES SENSE

ANYWAY I'M SORRY I HOPE IT'S STILL ALRIGHT LOVE U BYE

P.S. SHES KINDA HOT MUSIC VIDEO?!//!>?w> OKAY

ASHTON SITS ON A ROOF IN THE VIDEO AND LILAH AND ASH SAT ON A ROOF IN CHAPTER EIGHT COINCIDENCE I THINK NOT THAT IS ALL