Chapter 1

Maria McClelland was just going about her usual hassle of getting her 12 year old daughter off her laptop and into bed, before midnight. Marcus, who was 14, was playing guitar hero upstairs, and if Maria didn't get him to shut up, the neighbours would start complaining again.

"Mark! Quiet Please!" She knew Marcus would be more willing to cooperate if she called him Mark.

Despite the subtle yet harsh comments she got from other mums from the school gate about how spoilt her children were, she loved them dearly, and only wanted her little misbehaving angles to be happy. She went to great lengths to give them the best lives they could, without their father.

"Sasha, please put your laptop away before I confiscate it. I will, you know! You have 20 minutes to get ready!"
"But mum..."

"No 'buts' please. Do it now."

Sasha laughed at that; she loved it when her mum said, 'buts'. It almost made her happy to do what she asked. Almost.
"Ok, mum, I'm going, but you have to make Mark shut up too, or it's not fair. How can I sleep with that racket in the next bedroom?"

"Right. Mark! Shush now! I'm going to take that thing away from you if you don't have it turned off in the next 30 seconds!"

Mark groaned. He so loved to make as much noise as possible with his guitar, it made him feel noticed, powerful. He switched it off anyway, even though he knew his mum would never take it off him. She wouldn't want to upset him. He climbed mechanically into his pyjamas, and raced to the bathroom, just beating Sasha. She moaned and banged on the door, but Mark didn't feel guilty, he took half the amount of time she did.

"Sasha! Stop banging that door!" yelled her mum, "He won't be long." The same thing happened every morning and evening, without fail. She would have to invest in a new bathroom at some point. It wouldn't take a huge chunk out of their sizeable bank account.

Finally, a lot later than midnight, Maria settled herself into bed, knowing that her kids were safe and happily asleep in bed, and that she could get a good night's sleep before the normal chaos of the Wednesday morning to follow.

Just before she drifted off to sleep, a small thought whispered at the back of her head, and she wondered if she had locked the door...

Rose-Alicia crept quietly around the back of the McClelland house, her walkie-talkie secured on her left hip. Fear racked through her, she had never done anything like this before – she was only 16, why was Dean making her do this? She didn't want to kill Sasha, she even knew her brother from school, and he was nice, for a spoilt 14 year old... I don't have to do this, she thought to herself as she made her way shakily towards the unlocked back door.

But no, she did have to. Or she would be in serious trouble with Dean... No. That was just selfish. She couldn't kill Sasha McClelland. She would withstand whatever Dean did to her to keep her alive. She couldn't allow someone to die just to save herself from a little beating from her master. No, she would do her best to keep Sasha quiet, but alive.

She opened the door as quietly as possible, making sure to turn off her walkie-talkie so it wouldn't bleep and ruin everything. She crept up the stairs, and opened the first door; no, just Marcus. Not him. The second door; no, just Maria. Must be the third door then.

It creaked slightly as it opened, and, although it was dark, Rose could see the outline of Sasha in bed, opposite the door, right by the front window, where the curtains were open. Damn. There was no way Rose could capture Sasha and gag her right by the front window! She would just have to try and reach across to close the curtains. Yes! She managed it.

She placed her hand gently on Sasha's shoulder, trying to wake her up gently, so she wouldn't scream. She was so young, with beautiful white-blond hair flowing gently over the pillow. There was no way Rose could kill her. Her job was to kidnap her, bring her to Dean, where he would take information from her, then Rose would offer to take her home, and once she had her in the car, she was supposed to kill her, so she couldn't tell, and ruin Dean's plans. But she wouldn't. She would hide her and keep her prisoner if necessary, to keep the young girl alive.

Sasha moaned and turned over, towards Rose. She opened her eyes briefly, and muttered something under her breath.

"Sasha," Rose whispered, "Wake up, please. I need to talk to you."

"No, mum, it's not morning yet..."

"I'm not your mum, Sasha, I'm Rose, and I need you to come with me."

"Why...?"

"Don't worry about why, just come."

So Sasha came, clambering out of bed and slowly pulling on a jumper.

"Why aren't you afraid?" Asked Rose, who was quite bewildered by Sasha's calm and willingness to come with her.

"No need to be afraid." She said simply. Rose and Sasha crept as quietly as they could around the house and to the car Rose had driven in. Sasha climbed into the front seat. Rose looked across at her when she was seated. She was completely and utterly confused.

Why aren't you trying to escape? I've kidnapped people before, and it shouldn't be this easy..."

"It won't be"

"Oh. So, you have some kind of plan? Because if it's going to work, it would have to be a good one."

Rose reached across and felt the pocket of Sasha's hoodie, and checked that she didn't have her mobile, then she brought out some handcuffs, and tried to place them on Sasha's wrists, but that was when Sasha finally showed some real rebellion.

"Ow!" yelled Rose, because before she could get the handcuffs on, Sasha had slapped her clean across her face.

Sasha reached for the door handle, and tried to escape, but Rose had been smart enough to lock the doors. Sasha turned round and hit Rose again, but this time Rose grabbed her wrists and managed to get the handcuffs on.

"That plan didn't work then," Rose said smartly to Sasha.

"Hmm, that wasn't my original plan, just a spur of the moment decision."

For a twelve year old, Sasha was brave, and quite smart. She had lulled Rose into a false sense of security, but she knew better now. Probably so that she wouldn't put her family in danger, not that Rose wanted anything to do with them.

Rose pulled out of the drive, and made her way down the road far faster than she should have been in the dark, and as a newly qualified driver. She kept glancing nervously over at Sasha, just in case she tried something dangerous. She wasn't very confident behind the wheel, and she sensed that Sasha had noticed that, she jumped at every set of headlights coming towards them, and turned her corners in a jagged way.

Then Sasha reached both her hands across and grabbed the steering wheel just as a tight corner neared the car, and they went veering across the road, and into the opposite hedge.

That was the last thing Sasha remembered.