Page 1 of The Villains We Make

1

OPHELIA

Pain.

It’s the only word I know, the only conscious thought.

I hear sounds around me, and a voice I recognize. I’m not sure he’s talking to me, though. I’m not sure anyone is talking to me. The woman, maybe? Hers is the voice that soothes, that doesn’t terrify me.

“Why isn’t she waking up?”

It’s Silas. He’s angry. Furious.

The woman says something in Spanish. Between basic Spanish at school and time spent with Esmerelda when both Dad and Tonia were away, I can understand a little bit, but not this. It’s too fast.

My mind wanders to Esmerelda. She’s gone now.

A man’s face hovers over me. It’s blurry, like I’m looking through dirty glass, a lake frozen over. I reach up, but my fingertips only brush ice. I’m trapped beneath that ice.

“Give her some space,” a man whose voice I don’t recognize says. It sounds gentle, though. Then I hear Silas again, but he sounds farther away.

“Look at this,” the woman says, cool fingers at my throat.

“What is it?” Silas asks.

“A needle, perhaps. Whoever injected it was careless.”

“She’s safe here. Come with me, Silas.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“We need to get supplies.”

“I will take good care of her. Please,” the woman says in a coaxing tone.

I hear Silas groan before I fade away. My mind is a collage of blurred images and words all meshing together until I can’t tell what is past, what is present. What is real and what is a dream.

A nightmare.

I’m in that car with Ethan and the stranger. What was his name? Chandler. Chandler Carlisle-Bent.

Who was he? I wrack my brain, my memory foggy.

My uncle. He’s my uncle.

I have an uncle and a grandfather. They’re both living. Searching for me. Ethan said…

Ethan.

Pain.

The woman’s soothing voice is there again, blanketing me. “Shh. It’s just a dream. You’re safe.”

What had he said? What did he tell me?

Daughter of Oil Tycoon Kidnapped.

I don’t understand the words.

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