Prologue

(No one's POV)

Two men stand over a teenage girl's prone body. If it weren't for her ragged breathing, she would seem dead. One is holding what looks like a phone, and is watching the minutes pass.

"Why the **** isn't she dead yet?" Haven't we tortured her enough?" The one asks his tone sarcastic. His partner replies.

"This girl is one that Master told us to find. We're supposed to stop the four from ever learning what they're meant to do. Master says 'the prophecy must never come true.'" The second sneers.

They banter back and forth until the first looks back at his watch.

"Why can't she just ****** die already!? She's too annoyingly determined for her own good." His partner continues looking at his watch.

"Two minutes to go." He announces, and though neither of them could hear it, the girl gives a raspy sigh.

The last beating had been the worst, the one she wasn't supposed to survive. They'd been beating her off and on for the last two weeks, testing her limits. Her limits for pain were much higher than an average girl due to her father.

When he got mad, it always seemed like her sister was the one he would go after. He had killed her mother a few years back, so now, she was the only thing between her father and her sister, Skylar. Her sister mattered more to her than anyone else.

She would do normal things now and then, but she always took Skylar along. She was the lead singer of a band, but they always practiced at her house. They did concerts, but her sister always came. Everyone always asked why she brought her sister along, but she never told them. Never showed them the bruises that littered her chest, arms, back, ect.

If her father didn't use his fists, he used whips, which were even worse. He made sure that they had slivers of glass imbedded in them, and never let her go until blood ran down her back in streams.

Because of that, she'd never let anyone else touch her, and she never screamed, cried, or pleaded. The only thing that had gotten her through the last two weeks was her sister. Although the wounds burned at the slightest motion, she left the 6-year-old lean against her, and never showed how much it hurt.

Two weeks before, the two men jumped her and her sister. She'd quickly worked out a deal with them. Two weeks of their worst, and if she survived, they'd let her sister go. Her sister had screamed at her not to do it, but she hadn't listened.

If I had, I wouldn't be here, but Skylar would be dead. I won't let that happen. She thought weakly. If it weren't for Skylar, she would've given up already. She finally turned her attention back to her torturers.

"30 seconds." The one with the watch said. The girl couldn't help, but be relieved. 10 more seconds, and then if she gave up, it wouldn't matter as much.

Suddenly, the one jabbed something small into her chest. A small wooden screw. She could literally feel the small hole in her lung where blood was suddenly pouring in. She panicked, gasping as she desperately tried to survive for the last few seconds.

"10…"

Blackness…No, stay awake, just a little longer.

"9…"

Can't…breathe

"8…"

Come on, Steph, just a little longer!

"7…"

Won't make it

"6…"

Have to

"5…"

Must

"4…"

Skylar

"3…"

Won't let her die

"2…"

Will survive

"1…"

Not that long

The last words she hears are "Time's up."

The thing neither of them sees is the moon shining down through a small sliver in the ceiling. It's a lunar eclipse, so the light golden light touches her eyelids, seeming to sink through them. Her hair is in the shadows, but it's darkening to a glossy raven-black.

A/N IGNORE TIME MESS-UPS, This is seriously confusing, I know, just follow along as well as you can!