Fall Down (Stray Kids Seo Changbin)

Forty-three

She was awoken to a bright light shining in her eyes and voices around her. At first, she imagined herself in her room back in Ireland. She felt a sense of relief, thinking everything from the past few days was a dream. But once she focused on the voices, she felt her heart sink.

Paige sat up slightly, instantly regretting it as a pounding headache ran through her forehead. She winced but decided to just play it off.

She gazed around the room and found Kyla and Lily having an argument about something her brain wasn't quite ready to make sense of yet.

In another corner, she saw Minho and Changbin tied up, all beaten up and bruised. They were awake but only barely. Paige tried to run towards them and pull against her restraints but to no avail. It did, however, catch Kyla and Lily's attention.

"Looks like sleeping beauty finally woke up. Enjoyed your rest? For a secret agent, I expected better," Lily spoke.

"How long was I out?" Paige asked.

"About a day."

"A day?" Paige shrieked.

"I did say that, did I not? Now, I was thinking: should I be reasonable and tell you about the Rebellion, or should I just mark you as one of our members? I chose the latter."

"What?"

"Look at your wrist, sweetheart."

So Paige did and to her utter horror, she found a tattoo with the Rebellion's famous symbol.

"You can't do that!" She shrieked. "You can't force me into the Rebellion. I'm a Society member!"

Lily chuckled.

"The tattoo is already there. What are you going to do about it?"

"Kyla!" Paige screamed. "I can't believe it! You of all people betrayed both Janey and I!"

"You think I did this? That twit of a girl did it! I came to reason with Lily," Kyla shouted, offended.

Paige didn't even need an explanation. Cassidy was the twit she talked about.

"Where's the rest? Where are you keeping them?"

"The rest?" Lily laughed. "They ran off. I told you Linc was a liar. He traded you for Nicholas's freedom."

"Lies! I won't believe it!"

Kyla sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"She's telling the truth, Paige. After you were captured and he got Nicholas back, he aborted the mission. When we told him you were captured, he still drove off. Changbin, Minho and I ran away late at night to get you back. Then we got caught."

Paige shook her head.

"I don't believe it... I won't believe it. Linc wouldn't-"

She stopped mid sentence to bite her lip in frustration, trying not to cry.

"It's alright, Paige," Kyla comforted her. "We'll get you out."

Lily scoffed.

"Will you? Will you really?"

Kyla glared at her.

"Give her a chance, Lily. Janey promised good things about her."

"Good things? Which good things?" Paige asked, glancing between the two girls, confused.

They shared a look.

"I can't tell you exactly," Kyla explained. "We need you to prove it to us."