0. Prologue

Cleo was rocking on her chair, quiet tears rolling down her cheeks. Lewis had put his arm on her shoulders and was trying to comfort her, trying to keep himself as calm as possible. Bella had put her head on Will's shoulder crying. Will was patting her on the back, still trying to assimilate things. He was staring at the wall trying to make sense to what had happened. Zane was the only one who couldn't sit still, so now he was pacing nervously forward and backwards, whispering something to himself. His whispers were quiet still the others could make out what he was murmuring. "She'll be ok. She's the strongest girl. She'll be ok".

Lewis, Will and even Bella were so concentrated to keep themselves together as much as possible, that they almost jump when suddenly Cleo spoke up.

"We didn't notice!" She said, her voice shaking because of the tears. "She was our best friend and we didn't notice!"

The words – though they were painfully true – hurt the others when they heard their own thoughts being said out aloud. Nobody knew how to respond.

"Are you here for Rikki Chadwick?" They heard a voice and turned around while standing up. A doctor had come to them.

"How is she?" Zane asked without responding the question.

The doctor gave him a sympathetic look, making him shiver and his heart fell.

"I'm not going to lie to you; she's in a very critical condition. Her body is too exhausted of the long lack of food and water and of all the molestation that was done to her. Her heart is barely beating because of a massive blood loss and she's on a controlled respiration. What I'm saying is she's in a coma and the chances of her coming out of it are too small.''

Cleo's legs gave her up but Lewis caught her on time and helped her to sit down on one of the chairs again. He tried to comfort her, but he himself was too shocked to think and act straight.

Bella fainted and was caught by Will, who put her on one of the chairs. He sat next to her, staring at the wall again; he couldn't believe that someone so full of life can…"No", Will said to himself shaking his head, "She will live, she has to live!".

Zane was just staring at the doctor, frozen like a statue and lost in a speechless denial. He moved a bit like a zombie, sitting next to Lewis and ran his hands through his hair. He then suddenly jumped off his seat turning to the doctor again:

"Where is she? I want to see her!"

The doctor told him what room Rikki was at and he ran at that direction, followed by the others. They ran into her room and suddenly stopped on their places, shocked from what the view before them.

She looked like a porcelain doll that was going to break if you touch it. Her usually alabaster skin was now even paler, colored in the lightest shade of white, and it looked almost achromatic like the skin of a dead man, at the dim light in the small hospital room. Her face and hands along with any other visible parts of her skin were covered with wounds (some old, some not so old) and with numerous bruises. Despite that she still looked beautiful. Her hair was covering the bigger part of the pillow, yet it seemed to have lost its usual volume and shine. Many tubes with different size were coming in and out of her body, one really big coming right off her throat in order to help her breathe. Her heartbeat that could be heard through one of the special devices for medical observation was so slow almost like it would stop beating at the very next second.

Cleo turned to hug Lewis and burst into tears on his shoulder. Bella started shaking uncontrollably and Will helped her sit on one of the chairs in the room, sitting down too by himself. Zane walked to Rikki's bed like a zombie; not knowing what to think, nor what to feel. He gently fondled her hair and pressed his lips on her forehead, immediately getting even more paranoid of how cold she was.

"Hey, stranger. You had me worried sick, you know?! But it's ok, now." He whispered in her ear. "I'm here with you and I won't let anyone hurt you and cause you pain anymore".

One tear threatened to fall off his eyes, but he only gulped and blinked clear his eyes. He fondled her cheeks, refusing to let the tears fall.

Rikki was the best thing in his life and wouldn't let her go. He couldn't.

Darkness.

It was all Rikki Chadwick could see and feel. It was all her life had turned into at the last few months. Cold, deathly darkness that was swallowing all the surroundings at the place she's been kept like a prisoner.

Even the slightest movement was causing a great amount of pain to spread in her whole body, because of the constant abuse. So much time had passed that she had no clue what day it was and didn't even remember the last time she ate or had something to drink. She had no idea if she still had her powers or could grow a tail, because the last time she had them was a little too long ago. The only thing she knew was she had to get out of there and run away.

Suddenly a sharp pain pierced her body. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Not now, just not now", she thought. Seconds later the pain came back again this time even stronger. It seemed whatever was at that syringe with the big needle the man with the mask had injected her with, had started working. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, but the pain was coming back stronger and even more often. She closed her eyes, trying to think for anything else, just to free her mind and slow down the process.

And then with a blur vision she saw someone running to her, before another sharp pain followed and everything went black…again.

The monitor that was displaying her vital functions' graphics started beeping a little faster. The same happened with the one for the graphics of her heartbeat.