I'm woken abruptly as two meaty hands grip my shoulders. I scream on instinct.

'LET ME GO!' I yell.

'Calm your farm, princess. We're just taking you to the other gals,' a nasally voice chuckles.

'Just over the road,' another person says in a scratchy voice who sounds like he is just a few feet away from me.

I blink my eyes hard and look around. A scrawny man with crooked teeth is grinning as he pushes a girl along forcefully. It takes me a second to register that girl is Teresa. She's struggling in the man's grip, her hair flying all over the place as she tries to shake herself free. I look behind me and see the man handling me. He's large and muscly with a small head but an exceptionally large nose. They push us out the door of our room, and pretty soon we're out of the building. I almost call out Newt's name, but I stop myself. I almost instantly start to sweat in the intense heat outside. Although it's dark, I can feel we're walking on sand. What is this place, a desert?

'Have you there in a second princess,' Big Nose laughs a menacing laugh.

I stop trying to wriggle out of his grip. It's no use, I'm not going anywhere this guy doesn't want me to. I look over at Teresa and see she's also given up. Her guy is a lot smaller than mine, but I guess he must be really strong.

'How are they gettin' the boys across?' Scrawny asks loudly.

'Dunno, but they said theirs was gonna be pretty formal,' Big Nose replies.

They guffaw as if he'd just said the funniest thing on the planet. Teresa and I exchange a look.

'What's your name, princess?' Big Nose asks and shakes my shoulders.

I consider not telling him, or giving him a fake name. But I decide to tell the truth.

'Emma,' I say, and I'm surprised to hear a tone of confidence in my voice.

'And you?' Big Nose moves slightly behind me, so I assume he's nodding towards Teresa.

'Why should I tell you?' She says, putting emphasis on the last word.

Bad move, Teresa.

Big Nose stops abruptly behind me and I turn my head quickly to see if Teresa's okay. Scrawny has drawn a knife from his pocket and is holding it up to Teresa's chin.

'That's why,' he drawls.

'Te-Teresa,' she stammers and gulps.

'Good,' Scrawny sneers as he slides the knife back in his pocket. Then he and Big Nose continue pushing us along. Even in the dark of night I can see we're approaching a large building.

'You'll fit in here much better than Aris, Tess,' Scrawny says to Teresa.

'And you'll be a lot nicer to have around than that Michael kid, Emmy,' Big Nose says to me.

At that I almost scream. How dare he call me what Newt calls me! My heart pangs when I think Newt's name.

I look over at Teresa and see her eyes tightly squeezed shut. She must be trying to reach Thomas in her mind. She usually closes her eyes when she talks to him, and I can tell the tighter they're closed, the louder she's calling. Then Teresa's eyes fly open.

'He's gone!' She gasps.

'Who's gone?' Scrawny questions.

'Um… no one.'

I have to admit, I'm surprised she got away with that.

What does she mean he's gone? How is Thomas gone? Can she no longer 'feel' him? That can't be good.