Nora peered into the adjoining hallway and her eyes went wide with surprise, right there, at the end of the hallway was the door that led to the outside, she could faintly make out the dark starry sky from her crouched peeping position, after confirming that the dark hall was empty, she gestured to Phoebe and the both of them burst into a sprint for the door.
Just as they were a few steps from the door, that nasty gut feeling that had been bothering Nora materialized into thoughts.
'This escape was way too easy, we didn't lose anyone and there were no guards in the hallways, we were even able to defeat those guards with guns without them shooting anyone, isn't that a bit too sloppy for a group of people that had managed to abduct twenty two girls without the authorities discovering it by now, something's absolutely wrong somewhere"
As if her thoughts were the trigger, she heard a loud sound like someone hit a drum then in an instant everywhere went blurry and the next thing she knew, she, and the other girls were back in the same room where they had been held captive.
The only difference was that this time, there was no door, there were only stone walls all around them.
The shock and spontaneity of the teleportation tremendously disoriented everyone as many of them stood still with a dazed look in their eyes while the rest of the girls flopped to the floor and began to weep as their only chance at escape had just been wrested from their fingers.
As soon as that happened, KK sat on the floor with her knees hugged to her body, and began to sob softly.
"I failed…failed…. I'm a failure"
***
"Put more energy into your arm!"
Grandpa Matt screamed with enthusiasm and vigor as Steve repeatedly slashed the air vertically during training.
Water and sweat trickled down Steve's bare body and soaked his trousers as he slashed repeatedly while standing in a fighting stance. There was a mild drizzle when they started their training very early that morning and it had persisted till then. He felt very cold and tired as he practiced shirtless under the drizzle, his teeth chattered noisily and his hands felt very weak and fatigued because he had been doing the same move for the past two hours, his slashes suddenly started becoming weaker and slower and before Grandpa Matt could dish out his orders, Steve flopped down on the wet grassy floor with his arms beneath him while panting heavily.
"No more Grandpa…no more"
He said weakly with a tone that sounded as if he wanted to cry.
Grandpa Matt shook his head slowly and squatted beside Steve,
"My boy….. you're aiming for success in a contest where you will compete against pure talent and skill, anything below exceptional hard work will take you no where….
...We live in a world where few people have the power to make things right and you, my boy are blessed to be among these few people. You and I know fully well that if we keep silent about this and act like it's none of our business, a time shall come when these fiends will take our lives, we are Heracles and we are born to save ourselves and other people but to do that, you need to get stronger. I want you to steel your resolve, get up from the ground whenever you fall and work hard for your strength. That is your most reliable bed rock for success…..
…..so get up my boy, and make me proud".
Grandpa Matt's heart rousing speech sprouted fire in Steve's heart as he clenched his fists and grabbed a handful of dirt and grass.
'hardwork….success…..fiends…Heracles…..Mana….. I'm…tired but…..I still want….I still want to fight'
These thoughts tumbled in Steve's head as he looked up to his grandpa and said
"I'm tired Grandpa ….but if i really want to succeed, I need all the training I can get….help me Grandpa…help me become even stronger than a Mana swordsman"
"hahaha, that's a little far fetched but the determination is there, let's do this boy"
Grandpa Matt thought as he helped Steve to his feet.
"Help!, Help!"
"Huh?….. who's that?"
Steve asked as he stood upright in the rain and looked around.
"What?"
Grandpa Matt asked
"Help!, Help me!"
"Can't you hear that?"
Steve told his grandpa,
"Look!, Over there!"
He said as he pointed in a direction across their training ground, towards the outskirts of the city.
A young lady was stumbling forward in their direction, she was crying for help as she came forward slowly.
"Help!…"
Grandpa Matt turned and looked in the direction where Steve had pointed and before he knew it, Steve had already begun to run towards the girl.
The moment Steve reached and held her, she said,
"Help…they're still… there"
then she fainted in Steve's arms.
"Who's still there?"
He asked
"This face…. I've seen it before"
Steve thought as he held the strange girl who uttered four clueless words before losing consciousness. He took her to Grandpa Matt and lay her down on the wet grass.
"Pale skin, purple veins on the skin…. it's magic"
Grandpa Matt observed her as she lay unconscious on the ground.
"We better get her to the hospital before it's too late"
Grandpa Matt said and looked at Steve, a glint of excitement was in his eyes and Steve could see it too.
"Grandpa?, By any chance, do you know what caused this?"
"Magic…..this young girl here seems to have natural magic resistance but, for her to lose consciousness like this, it means that her resistance must've been overwhelmed. it's a miracle that she's still alive so the wisest thing to do right now would be to get her to the hospital first and contact her family"
Grandpa Matt replied as he helped Steve to lift the girl on his back to give her a piggy back ride to the hospital.
***
The gloom and despair that hung in the atmosphere in the room was so thick and heavy that Nora thought it would suffocate her. All the ladies in the room there wore sad looks on their faces like they were widows who were mourning their dead husbands.
Nora was unusually calm in contrast to the others, she seemed to have come to terms with the reality that whatever supernatural force that had brought them there would not let them go easily.
The room no longer had an entrance door, when the masked men came in that morning to give them their breakfast and their bathroom break, they just walked in through the walls and to their chagrin, they came in with a portable bathroom and toilet for females, that meant they would have no reason to leave their capture room.
She looked over in KK's direction and felt pity for her, she was sitting on the floor with her shoulders slouched and her knees hugged to her chest as she rocked herself slowly and gently, her beautiful blue eyes were dull and swollen probably from too much crying, Nora shook her head slowly and turned to look at the other girls.
'Wait!, Someone's missing here!'
It was then that Nora remembered the full events of the last night,
'Phoebe isn't here, does that mean that she was able to escape?…..wait, now that I think about it, she said that she knew who kidnapped us, um…what was that name again?….Gretel?…no?….Golden?….no..that's close….Gordon?, Yes…Mr Gordon…Ah!, I remember Mr Gordon now, from the movie agency….I remember that night, I was suspicious about him and then I suddenly met him at my avenue, he told me to get into his car and then that was it….I can't remember anything after that…Fiona was wrong about him, that man is a villain!. But Phoebe….how was she able to remember when none of the girls here were able to….she also didn't return to the room when we all returned, hmm…maybe she may have a kind of resistance to this mumbo jumbo going on here…. Phoebe…I hope you're okay'