We seemed to have been driving for hours when the van finally halted in front of a store-house-like shack. The short man was the first to speak. "Kevin, get her out and take her to the pool," he said.

So now I knew that blue-eyed man's name. Kevin. It sounded nothing like a kidnapper's name, but what did I know? Then my thoughts focused on where they were about to take me. A pool? Like a swimming pool? Why would they take me there?

This time, when Kevin lifted me out, why did it feel like he wasn't so rough? Maybe it was just my imagination getting the best of me.

The place they took me really was a swimming pool, if you could call it that. This pool looked like it had never seen the bright light of a cleaning machine. It was overflowing with dead bugs, mold, moss, and some objects I couldn't identify. My stomach started doing somersaults at my first glance of it. As soon as we were inside, the short man bolted both of the doors, and Kevin set me on my feet. As soon as I got my stomach to function again, I started inching backward, away from the pool.

The short man was suddenly in front of me, ripping off the cloth that gagged me. As I turned to run toward the door, a blow struck my chest, knocking me down toward the edge of the pool. I threw my hands out to prevent my head from colliding with the hard concrete. My hands hit something odd, lumpy and wet. I turned around to see that I was closer to the pool than I had thought; my hands grazed over a lump of dead crickets, moss, and dirty water. I grimaced at the sight and smell, attempting to upright myself, when a foot came down hard on my back. I suddenly realized that I had the gift of my voice again, and I started screaming at the top of my lungs. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! I'VE BEEN KIDNAPPED! PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP!" The man chuckled. "We're isolated out here, sugar. Nobody can hear you.

Now, there's only one way you can get out of this. And that's if you tell me where the rest of your family is. You bring me to your Mom, brother, and sisters, all of you get out unharmed."

"If you're going to let us go, why do you even want us?" I heaved, trying to breathe with his heavy foot on me.

"I don't want you. I want your father. He needs to learn the meaning of family. That everybody has one, and that each family is just as important as the one before. I am going to kill your father."

"NO!" I screamed. "My daddy, I WON'T LET YOU!"

"I doubt you can really stop me."

"What did he ever do to you?" I cried.

He just smiled. "Later, I'll explain. Now, I am the one asking questions, and you're going to be the one answering them. So, number one: where is your big sister? Emily, right?"

Emily. My big sister in London. She was seven months pregnant with twins, and happily married to a businessman. Steve traveled a lot, so most of the time, Emily was at home alone with the maids and her girlfriends. Now, it looked like she was at last going to have company. Oh, no. I couldn't let this happen. I pressed my lips in a tight line and didn't answer the question.

"Okay, if that's how you like it," he said casually. Then his foot was off my back. I took a deep breath, finally being able to fill my lungs up freely again. Then the man's hands pushed against the soles of my feet, and I toppled into the disgusting pool. My ankle hooked onto the edge of the pool, and twisted as I fell. I gasped in pain, and my mouth filled with grimy water. While I tried to spit it out, I realized that my lungs were beginning to protest for air. I tried pushing up, but something was pushing down on my back. I realized that it was the short man's hand, grabbing onto my shirt and pushing me down. I knew I could barely hold on longer. Then, suddenly, I heard a voice that I'd never heard before. It was Kevin. "Jacob, this is enough. You're going to kill her!" Suddenly, another hand, a stronger, determined hand, was pulling me out of the water. I gasped and spluttered, coughing out the disgusting things that had flown into my mouth during the torture. Kevin kneeled down beside me. "Are you alright? I am so sorry. Do you need help? Here, come with me; I'll get you a change of clothes." He grabbed under my armpits and lifted me out of the swampy pool. Jacob looked like a mixture of different things. I saw anger, confusion, and even a hint of embarrassment on his face. I leaned onto Kevin, limping off the foot that had gotten twisted when I fell. Jacob seemed to regain himself and looked up at Kevin. "I'm gonna get us some food for the night. We can't starve her or ourselves if we want to get anything done. We'll spend two nights here, and then we'll follow Miss Peterson's directions to her sissy. We will have those directions, won't we, Kyla?"