Page 1 of Taken By the Devilish King

CHAPTER 1

AYLA

Whose bright idea was it to let me walk to set on my own in the middle of the night with my only company the stars above?

You'd think after three movies they'd treat me better, but no, I still have to fight for basic things. As if I haven't brought them billions upon billions of dollars in the box office.

At least it's nighttime, although at the moment I can't decide if that's better or worse.

Better, because my feet aren't burning in the scorching sand. Worse, because it's nighttime. In the desert.

Why are they so obsessed with deserts? Isn't this franchise supposed to be about galaxies? Why do they picture every planet in every galaxy as the Sahara Desert?

At least we're almost done. Three more days of shoots and then I'm free. Until the next movie.

I have to get my agent to renegotiate some terms because I'm not going through that again. The disrespect for their female lead is abysmal. And money. If I'm going to suffer through another trilogy of abductions in bikinis and kissing every kind of alien warrior out there I need to make it worth my while.

It's not often a plus-sized actress gets to be a hot romantic lead and I'll be damned if I don't milk it for all its worth. If not for me, then at least for the millions of women out there trying to love themselves as they are.

I stop and catch my breath. Where the fuck is the fucking set?

I squint and look around me but it's no help. I'm lost. I'm fucking lost in the middle of the night in the fucking desert where reception is patchier than some of the male actors’ hairlines.

It doesn't mean I don't try to reach the AD. I wait for the beep beep sound, but my phone stays quiet.

"Fuck!"

Whose bright idea was it to let me do this on my own? Should I keep going or stay put and hope they come looking for me soon?

"Ayla, are you sure you want to walk on your own? Pick-up will be here any moment now," my PA had asked me before I decided to go out for a think and a smoke. Something I don't do often except in certain circumstances, like the end of a production, when everyone is stressed and nervous to get everything done within the time constraint and budget.

So, in short, I have no one to blame for this, but myself. Well done, Ayla. You went and got yourself lost.

I sigh and try my phone again.

Nothing.

"What am I going to—" I stop when a light blinds me. "Oh thank God. They found me."

I shield my eyes and try to find my rescuers but as I adjust to the brightness I realize it's not coming from ground level but up above.

"What the—" I look up and see a disk floating a few feet above me, a searchlight aimed right at me. Suddenly, I feel lighter.

The ground under my feet vanishes and when I look down I don't find sand anywhere near me. No, instead I'm floating above it and the more I stare the higher I soar.

What the fuck is happening to me? Have I fallen down a sand dune and hit my head or...

Am I being abducted by aliens?

Either way, I do what any person in my position would do.

I scream.

And scream and scream until everything goes dark.

I take a deep breath and stretch my limbs.

Okay. Cool. I still seem to have all my hands and feet intact. And my head. Which kinda helps with the whole staying alive thing, I guess.

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