The three strange girls rushed forward, and the street light illuminated their faces. They were all very pretty - dark hair, brown eyes. The tallest one, the one who had black hair knelt down beside me.

'Its OK. It's OK. You're safe now. We wont hurt you.'

But I still didn't trust them. How many times had I heard Him tell me that I was safe, before he beat me around the head, or locked me in the basement for days without food?

The girl reached out her hand, but I jerked away from it. Somehow, I managed to find my feet, although I still needed the wall to keep my balance. Once again, my breaths were coming in short and sharp bursts, while my mind screamed confused, wild thoughts at me.

'St- Stay away from me!' I screamed with much difficulty. The three girls exchanged worried looks, before the tall girl took and uncertain step forward. I gasped and stumbled backwards.

'You keep away from me!!' I yelled, 'Don't come - don't come any closer! I'm warning you!'

From somewhere deep inside of me, I felt a pulse of adrenaline. It gave me strength, and I was able to stand strongly again, without the help of the wall. I took one last frightened look at the girls in front of me, then turned and took off down the empty street. I didn't know exactly where I was going. The truth was, I no longer had anywhere else to do. But I didn't care. I had to keep running.

'Wait, where are you going? We can help you!' One of the girls shouted at me. But I still didn't stop running. I passed quiet buildings and empty cars. It was lucky no one was out at this time of night. I was just starting to feel the familiar pain that was a stitch in my side, when something made me stop running abruptly.

In front of me, about a meter away, a bright blue light was swirling around, getting stronger and brighter. Terrified, but fascinated, I stood and watched the blue light for perhaps a second. It was extremely bright, and It hurt my eyes to look at, but I didn't dare look away.

A second later, the swirling light faded and the tall, black haired girl materialised before me. I gasped, and took a quick step backward, but before I could run, the girl grabbed my wrist. I screamed, and struggled to break free of her grip, but she was surprisingly strong.

'Let go!! Let go of me! What do you want!! Let go!!' I was starting to panic.

'Calm down! Calm down, we wont hurt you! We're here to help, trust us!' Pleaded the girl. Her voice was calm and soft.

'Trust is earned!' I screamed back, still struggling franticly to break free.

'We just saved your life! We got rid of the bad man who was trying to hurt you!'

I stopped moving and looked up into the girls dark brown eyes. She was right. Maybe they were trustworthy after all?

'Paige?' I spun around. The other two girls had followed us at a run. They were slightly out of breath and they looked worried.

'Its OK,' Paige told them, still holding on to my wrist. 'She's OK for now.'

At once, my mind exploded with a million questions.

'Who're you? What happened to Him? How did you find me?'

One of the girls behind me, the shortest one with short dark brown hair, stepped forward.

'Relax sweetie. We'll explain everything once we get back home. Paige, can you orb us all back to the manor?'

Paige nodded once, while another million questions burst forth from my mind.

'Orb? What're you guys? What's going on? I don't - I don't understand. Where are you taking me? I don't understand.'

'Ssh,' said the last girl softly. She had very long, very dark brown hair. She was the one who had somehow gotten rid of Him.

'We'll answer all of your questions soon, ok? But right now we have to get out of here, this place is still dangerous. You'll be safe with us. Now, Paige, Phoebe, we all need to join hands ok? '