"Run! Now!" Maria screamed at her brother. "Get out before they see you! You must leave!" Maria was standing in a dark, musty wood with her brother Paul. "Paul. Leave." Maria choked.
"No, Maria. I won't leave you here alone." Just then a booming cackle echoed through the mist.
"Paul! Run! Get away while you have the chance!"
"Maria, I can't just leave you here! Do you have any idea what they would do to you?" Tears ran down Maria's cheeks and the rope burned her wrists. Suddenly a big gust of wind came from in front of Maria.
"Paul! Behind you!"
"Ah, Maria. I see you have brought a friend! So nice to have some company!" A voice that sounded like nails on a chalkboard sounded from behind Paul. A big flash of light, and Paul screamed a scream that could have caused an avalanche. Good thing they were in the middle of a forest far away from mountains and snow. About the only good thing happening for Paul and Maria. Paul's knees hit the ground and everything went black.
Maria woke in a place she didn't recognize. It was cold, damp, and dark. She shivered and sat up. Where was Paul? Where was she? How far away was she from home now? "Paul?" She whispered. "Paul, where are you?" Then she knew exactly where Paul was and exactly where she was sitting when she heard the scream.
Memories shot into Maria's head as she remembered the day she was interrogated. It all started when she and her mom were somewhat normal. While sitting at a table in a Starbucks coffee shop uptown, talking about the cruel girls at school who liked to write mean things about Maria's hair and clothes on the bathroom walls. When things like mean girls were actually a problem. Those were the days. Maria was sipping her latte like any other fourteen-year-old girl in the world, when the power went out in Starbucks.
When the power came back on Maria was sitting in a cold metal chair in a cold metal room with cold metal handcuffs around her wrist.
"What do you know about the Golden Ring? Tell us or there will be serious consequences." A large, harsh looking man, that was stooped over and looking all too big for the black chair he was sitting in, leaned over the desk and talked to Maria with a horribly deep voice.
"I…I don't know anything. Sir." Maria answered. Of course she knew something. She knew everything there was to know about the Golden Ring.
"YES YOU DO! You are lying, girl! Tell me!" He leaned closer over the desk, and Maria could smell his horrid breath. "Tell the truth, girl, or there will be serious punishment."
"I told you already, I don't know… anything."
"Don't push me, kid. Tell me what you know and no one gets hurt." The big guy breathed. Apparently Maria had pushed his luck.
"Sir, I told you already that I have no idea what this Emerald Ring or Golden Belt or what ever you want, I don't know where it is! I just want to go home!" Maria stammered. The giant man lifted his hand slowly and started to chant some odd words in a weird language.
"Ok, ok, I'll spill!" Maria said. "The Golden Ring is somewhere in Brazil. I don't know where. I heard it was transferred there a couple of years ago. I don't know anything else." Of course the Ring wasn't in Brazil. It was in her dad's basement. Who would think to look there?
"Come with me." The big guy got up from his chair, knocking it over. Did he really believe her Brazil fib? He grabbed her arm and dragged her down a narrow corridor. At the end of the corridor they went through a door into another corridor that led to a row of cold, metal cells. Maria was thrown into the cell at the far right and the door was locked behind her.