The Fire Inside

30. Kidnapped

A/n:

Yeah...so I just made this chapter a two part thing. What they saw wasn't anything huge—for a teen. For an 8-year-old it'd be pretty big though! Get ready for some new character introductions! And a few connections!

Continuing...

They walked towards the back of their house and was surprised to see what their dad had laid out in front of them. There was a jungle gym with swings, monkey bars, slides, and even a seesaw.

"Did you make this!" Dakota screeched before forcing herself out of her dad's hold.

"You bet! Happy birthday to my little eight year olds!"

Dakota and Julien exchanged looks. They had forgotten about their birthday but more than that they were focused on what their dad had said.

"Dad, we're nine..." Julien said slowly trying not to hurt his old man's feelings.

Their dad looked at the twins in shock and crouched down to bury his warm face in his arms. Dakota laughed before patting her dad on the back.

"It's ok dad! We don't even know your age so it makes sense for you to not know ours!" Dakota reasoned.

"You're right! You're absolutely right! How can I remember both of your ages! There are two of you!" Their dad slyly answered.

After the excitement, Dakota and Julien had dinner and went to sleep. Neither of them knew what could potentially happen the next day because if their day was filled with excitement and surprises, why should they think otherwise?

The next day Dakota ended up waking up first. She tended to sleep longer than the rest of her family, but a sudden pain from the cuts woke her up. She whimpered as she rolled around in the bed she shared with her brother. Groaning, she got up and out of the twins' shared room. She walked outside and saw the sun struggling to get up over the horizon.

"Me too, sun. Me too," Dakota grumbled while yawning.

She stopped mid yawn when she watched the sun through its rays across the sky in blinding patterns and colors. She gasped in awe at the beauty of the foreign view. She made a mental note to wake up earlier in the future. She walked towards the fields where she and her friends loved to play. Looking around she spotted a man in a brown coat. She ran over to him and sat down facing the vibrant sunrise.

"Isn't that pretty!" She squealed.

When she got no response she tried asking again. Still no response. She turned to him to ask and noticed that he was in fact asleep.

"Hey mister! You can't fall asleep here! You'll get cramps in your neck!"

Dakota tried to move the grown man, but being the tiny nine-year old girl she was, she couldn't lift him at all. A low groan sounded from the presumably asleep man. She looked at him closely as he opened his eyes.

"Bring me home," he demanded.

"Are you hurt? Do you need water or food?"

The man glared at her before getting up. Dakota laid him back down before noticing what was wrong. She ripped off the bottom frills of her dress and wrapped it around the man's thigh which had a clear gash. She smiled back up at him before freaking out. The man had gotten up and grabbed her arm, twisting it behind her to hold her in place.

"Didn't your parents ever tell you to not talk to strangers?" He growled.

Dakota should've answered. She should've said that because of the kindness of her village there were never issues from outsiders. So yes, she was never told to be wary of unknown people. She could've said that, but she was in a situation that made it almost impossible to move or even think, since he had whipped out a dagger and was holding it threateningly in front of her neck. She let out a whine before yelling at the tightened hand on her arms.

"We need someone who can help us out like you. You're coming with me."

The man roughly picked her up before shoving her towards the woods.

"Let's go," he ordered the young, terrified girl.

Dakota was lost. She didn't know what to do! She wanted to go back to Julien and her parents but knew that if she tried anything, the man could easily kill her. They walked for about half an hour. Dakota was done. She was tired, hungry, exhausted, and would do anything to go back home and curl up next to Julien. She plopped onto the damp forest floor and pouted. The man hadn't done anything to her yet so she decided it'd be ok to complain a bit.

"I'm tired. I wanna stop walking for a bit."

"Get up."

"No! I'm only nine years old and it was my birthday yesterday! You can't tell me what to do! I'm still little so I get tired easily."

The man sighed before grabbing Dakota. Dakota screamed and pulled back earning a slap across her cheek. She held her face and bit her lip in a futile attempt to stop crying. Just then she heard a whistle of something go past her and a groan from the man. Looking at the grown man, she noticed that he had an arrow lodged in his chest. She screamed again, thinking she was going to die. She felt a pair of hands around her arms and freaked out even more. She flinched and slapped whatever her hand came in contact with.

"Hey! Hey! Calm down! We're not gonna hurt you!"

Dakota stopped and looked behind her at three young men. One had dyed red hair and held a huge sword that made her more nervous than the dagger. The one with blackish-blue hair, seemingly youngest, whispered something into the redhead's ear that made him drop the weapon and run over to Dakota. He grabbed the sides of her face and forced her to look into his eyes.

"I'm really really sorry for scaring you! I promise you're safe with us ok?"

Dakota just nodded. She looked behind the two and noticed one more man, clearly older than the other two, holding a bow and arrow. He must've been the one who injured the brown coated man. Remembering him, Dakota looked towards him and saw that he had gone unconscious.

"Come with us," the redhead said giving her his hand.

After leading Dakota a little ways from the body, he turned around to the eldest and said something that Dakota heard as 'Dispose of the body.' She shivered at the thought of what these boys—or men—were planning on doing with her. Sensing her uncertainty, the redhead smiled and ruffled her blond hair.

"We won't hurt a hair on your head. I promise. Instead, we'll give you a home ok? Come live with us! We'll help you grow and become stronger."

Dakota just nodded not fully understanding what the boy was saying.

Laughing at her innocence, the boy continued, "Don't worry about it. I'm Ethan. The shorty with raven hair is Ezra. And the weird tall one over there is Casper. What's your name?"

"Dakota."

"Cute! You'll fit right in! We'll bring you home! You'll love it! It's been there for ages but no one's ever gone there due to some random rumors about it being haunted so kids have basically taken over. Right now it's just the three of us though."

"Right. So I can get strong?"

"Yup! You won't have to worry about getting kidnapped again," Ethan said with a laugh.

"And my family?"

"I don't know to be honest. Maybe when you get strong you can reunite with them, but after being with that man, I doubt you wanna go back right away. Get stronger first, ok?"

"Ok."