Allen had almost reached the end of the path that led to the orphanage, when the black carriage he'd seen earlier nearly ran him over.

"Holy-" the boy jumped out of the way, swearing at the vehicle as it drove by. "The hell is goin' on today?"

Having a sudden bad feeling Allen quickly got to his feet and started walking once again. Faster this time, not even stopping when people tried to greet him. When he arrived, the boy saw that the door to the shop was smashed in and the windows broken.

"Mana!" Allen burst through the doorway, looking around frantically trying to find any sign that his guardian and the Hamlets were there. But found none.

Suddenly excruciating pain shot through his left arm, making him cry out and fall to his knees.

"Wha-what the hell?" he gasped, then lost consciousness.

Siren watched as Karie stood in the doorway, shock clear on her face as three of Leader Man's goons walked past her "What the hell is going on?" she tried to glare up at Mr. Saxy but flinched at his hostile gaze.

"Oh nothing" said Leader Man sarcastically "Just a tea party. Like to join?"

"Karie run!" Elfy groaned.

The curly haired girl's eye's shifted to her demonic friend and she gasped, "Shit! Elf!"

Anticipating what what Karie was going to do, the little elf yelled for her to flee again, but her companion ignored the warning and made a run for the two girls.

"I don't think so" Wanna-be-cool said grabbing the child by her waist.

"Let go of me you motherf*cking-" He then moved one of his hands to her mouth to silence her.

"No!" By some miracle, Elfy managed to get to her feet and launch herself at Karie's captor, using her abnormal strength to tackle him to the ground.

"Agh, you little bitch." Wanna-be-cool let go of the curly haired girl to slam his fist into the side of Damon's torso over and over, making her grip on his shirt loosen. He then picked her up by the collar of her dress and threw her with all his might against the wall on the other side of the room.

Siren and Karie watched their friend hit the wall. Watched her fall to the floor. Waited for her to get up, but knew she wouldn't.

"Well..." the two horrified girls looked to Leader Man "That was a bit of overkill don't you think Jessie?"

Wanna-be-cool simply shrugged "She attacked me first."

"Uh-huh..."

"It's not like we could use her anyway."

"You bitches!" Siren yelled, tears running down her face.

The men only laughed.

X

I was standing in front of a church that stood at the edge of a forest. Looking behind me I saw that the trees went all around the building and a large graveyard, hiding it from any overly curious busybodies.

While taking it all in I noticed that one of the graves closest to the woods had not one living thing near it. The trees were rotted, and the grass yellow and dead.

As I walked towards it I started to hear crying. Walking faster I soon came to the gravestone and saw that I'd been wrong, there was something living near it, a little girl that didn't look any older than two or three. She was dressed in black which explained why I hadn't seen her.

"Oi?" I called.

She jumped and whipped around to look at me. With a jolt I realized that the kid was a younger version of Elfy.

"Who are you?" she asked, rubbing the tears from eyes with her sleeves.

"I'm Allen... Who're you?"

Eyeing me with that suspicious look a her's she slowly said "Trinity."

Trinity? So she was lying when she said she didn't have a name...?

"Ah... What's wrong?" god this was awkward...

"My head and my belly is huwting a lowt" She whimpered.

When I looked closer I saw that her clothes were soaked through and she was shivering "Well maybe if we go inside, where it's warmer they'll stop hurting."

I held out my hand.

She took it.

And we walked back towards the church.

But just as I reached for the handle on one of the huge double doors that led into the narthex, Trinity ( I knew her as Damon) tugged at my hand. I looked back and standing there instead was the presant ten year old girl I knew to be my foster sister.

"This is as far as you go Allen." She said in a soft whisper.

"What do ya mean?"

"I don't know how you got here, but I don't want you to see what's behind those doors."

"I don't get it, what are you talkin' about?"

"This place" she waved all around us, "is inside me mind."

"So, wait. You're sayin' we're inside your head?" I stared at her in disbelief.

"Yeah."

"How the hell is that even passably?"

"Like I said, I don't know. But listen Allen, Father Grimms isn't the 'God lovin' man' we thought he was-"

"Well thats a given" I interrupted, which got me "The Look" women always get when annoyed.

"He's actually a slave trader and he's sending his goons after you, Mana, and the Hamlets."

I snorted "Well unfortunately this warnin' is too late comin', they already got 'em"

Damon swore. I was about to say something else when the world around me seemed to move, making me sway. "What the...?"

Elfy grabbed my shoulders to support me "Are you ok?"

"I..." I tried to look at her but was too disoriented to focus.

"Allen! listen very carefully. I'm pretty sure that Siren, Karie and I are in Mr. Sexy's office with him and some other slave drivers. If Mana and the Hamlets are going to be brought anywhere I think it will be there. But you have to be careful. These guy's are no amateurs."

"Pretty sure?" was all I could manage.

"Well I'm unconscious at the moment so I don't know if they've moved-" I didn't hear her finish before I was plunged into darkness.

X

Allen shot up from his place on the floor like a rake that had had its prongs stepped on, only to be plagued by a sudden dizziness and fall over.

While looking at the ceiling, he thought about the crazy dream he had just had. About the church, and the graveyard, and the weird grave that was surrounded by dead plants, and about the little girl, Damon, or rather 'Trinity'. Why the hell had he seen her there? And were was 'there' in the first place?

With all these confusing thoughts swirling around in his head he contemplated going back to sleep. But that was when the full force of what had happened earlier that day hit him, and hit him hard.

His father and sister were being held captive by Mr. Sexy!

Allen had never trusted him. But he never imagined that he would be this bad. Secretly stealing money from the funds for the orphanage, maybe. But human trafficking? That was much worse.

The boy got up again, more slowly this time, and headed for the door. Testing his left arm as he did so. It didn't hurt anymore, but it still tingled.

"Crap" He said, looking outside. The sun had already began to set, he had been out for at least a couple of hours.

Racing down the sidewalk and back to the road that led to the St. Kenoth, being careful not to bump into anyone, Allen muttered "I don't think we're gonna get out of this mess to easily."