𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕒𝕣𝕔𝕙𝕖𝕣 |𝗲. 𝗺𝗶𝗸𝗮𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗼𝗻|

𝗋𝗈𝗌𝖾

𝗟𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗻, 𝗝𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘆𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗮 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝘂𝗴𝗲 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲, judging by the presence of dust and cobwebs found in different crevices. Looking over, she sees that Elena was also regaining consciousness. But before she could say anything, the Saltzman girl suddenly heard a voice.

"How's the girls?" a woman's voice asks.

"Still passed out." responded a man's voice.

"You didn't touch either of them, did you?" the woman asks.

"Give me some credit. So, you called him?" the man says.

"No, I called one of his contacts. You know how this works." the woman responds as a matter of fact.

Now noticing that Elena was fully conscious, the two girls got up off of the sofa they found themselves on to quietly try and make their way out of the house.

"Did you or did you not get the message to Elijah, Rose?" the man asks in an impatient voice.

For some reason, when Josephine heard the name 'Elijah' a feeling washed over her. It was almost like she felt safe, even though she and her friend had just been kidnapped.

"They say he got it." the woman, Rose, responds.

"Wonderful, and what?" the man asks, almost in a tone of excitement.

"So that's it, Trevor. He either got it or he didn't. We just have to wait." Rose says to him calmly.

"Look, it's not too late. We can just leave them here. We don't have to go through with this." the man, Trevor, says in a tone that would tell anyone listening that he was scared.

"I'm sick of running!" Rose exclaims.

"Yeah? Well, running keeps us from dying!" Trevor argues back.

"Elijah's old-school. If he accepts our deal, we're free." Rose states as if trying to reason with her friend. Just after she says that, Elena steps on a creaky floorboard causing Josephine to gasp.

"You two!" Rose snaps, looking in the direction of the two girls that were trying to escape their captors. "There's nothing around here for miles. If either of you think you're getting out of this house, you're both tragically wrong. Understand?" Rose says as she comes face-to-face with both of the girls.

While Elena slightly nods, Josephine looks at the woman and asks, "Who's Elijah?"

Rose looks towards the Saltzman girl, while also sneaking a quick glance down to the mark on her left wrist, before answering, "He's your worst nightmare."

Then she walks away from the two as they take in what they were just told. For some reason though, Josephine felt that what was just said wasn't entirely true but she couldn't understand why.

↢✩✩✩↣

"Why are we here?" Elena asks.

"You keep asking me these questions like I'm going to answer them." Rose says in annoyance.

"Why won't you?" the Gilbert girl asks watching as Rose walks over to a window, dodging the incoming beams of sunlight.

"That's another one." Rose says as she lifts an old painting to the window to block the sunlight from coming in.