“What happened?”

“You don’t remember?”

“I … something hit me hard, I think. Ugh, I can’t think right now. It’s too much.”

“You’ll be fine.”

“No, I don’t feel fine. What is going on?” She pressed her hands to her face, and still nothing became clear.

“Do you know your name?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“Why are you asking me so many questions?” She didn’t want to think right now, or focus, or do anything.

Kidnapped.

This was what happened in movies to really popular girls that were nothing like her.

“I need to know you’re okay.”

She licked her dry lips, staring at him. “Skye. My name’s Skye Carver.”

“How old are you?”

“Eighteen.”

“Who am I?” he asked.

“No, I know who you are. You tell me.”

“Noah King. I’m eighteen years old, star of the football team, and you’re my tutor. I’ve been flunking in English and science, all of them. You’ve been helping me. What is the last thing you remember?”

“I don’t know.”

“Please, Skye. We need to keep our heads right now. I need to know everything, and so do you. We were both hit pretty bad.”

“Okay, fine. I remember the day at school. Derek stole my soda and ran around the cafeteria. You asked me to meet you out by the brook.” She paused. “Why did I have to meet you out by the brook?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the studying.”

“Yeah, you wanted to quit and have me do all of your assignments. We got into an argument—”

“And woke up here,” Noah said.

“That’s it. That’s all I remember.”

“Me too. I woke up a few minutes before you.” He held up his cuffed wrist. “You’re on the bed, no cuffs, nothing. I’ve been nominated to be chained to a wall.”

She crawled off the bed and headed toward him, determined to get to him.

Her body wouldn’t work the way she wanted it to, and she had no choice but to grit her teeth to keep on going, to keep on trying.

“Drugs,” Noah said. “Clearly to keep us sedated as long as possible.”

She got to where he sat and touched the cuffs, following the link to the wall. There were bolts on the wall. She gripped the metal chain, putting her feet to the wall and starting to pull.

As she let out a cry, the metal dug into her hands, and she released a sob.

“It’s fine. Don’t hurt yourself.” Noah captured her hands, holding them in his. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Stupid? Noah, look around. We’ve been kidnapped. We’re somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I’m trying not to freak out right now and totally failing.” She sniffled. “I’m scared.”

“I know.” He gripped the back of her neck, pulling her in close. The small movement made pain explode behind her eyes, but she didn’t tell him to stop. “We’ll get out of here. I promise.”

“We don’t even know where here is.” She lifted her head up and glanced around the room. A single light lay in the high ceiling. No window in sight and only one door. The room had one bed, a toilet, and that was all. Not even a sink.

“It’s got to be out in the sticks somewhere.”

“Noah, we don’t even know how long we were out. For all we know we could be in a foreign country or something.” She rubbed at her temples. Getting to her feet, she touched the wall.

“What are you doing?”

“I don’t know.” She moved to the door and tried the handle. “Hey! This isn’t funny. We’re just kids. Let us out.” She slammed her hand against the door, wanting to leave, to be free.

“Don’t do that, Skye. I mean it. Don’t.”

“I just want to go home. I want to go back to where everything was normal.”

She heard movement behind the door, and she jumped back in time before the metal door hit her in the face.

With the sudden rush avoiding the door, she caught herself off balance and fell on her ass.

Scrambling back from whoever it was, she went to Noah. Looking up, she saw three men.