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ALEX WOKE WITH A RAGGED GASP FOR AIR. She was in a small room. The floor beneath her was cold and slightly damp. Bare concrete. There was a makeshift cot opposite her and the fourth wall was made up entirely of long, vertical bars.
Her stomach cramped and churned. She had a moment's notice before she lurched to the side and wretched. The minimal contents of her stomach forced their way out of her body before she could make sense of what happened. Alex tried to spit out the lingering taste of bile before she pushed herself to her feet. It was then that she noticed she was barefoot. She was still in her dress from the party, but her watch and phone were gone.
"H- Hello?" she called out as she approached the cell door. Her hands wrapped around the wrought iron bars and her voice echoed down the dimly lit corridor.
"Hello!?" Her throat was dry and yelling hurt, but she did it all the same. Alex refused to panic. Not yet at least. With a surge of energy, she tried to pull and shake the bars. The metal groaned and protested, but didn't budge.
"Hey! Is anyone there?!" Only silence followed.
"Give up," a voice in the cell opposite suggested gruffly and took Alex by surprise. The faint rattling of what Alex assumed to be, shackles rang in her ears and the stranger stepped up to their own cell door. The air in Alex's lungs disappeared. It was a boy no older than she was. His face was a mosaic of bruises and cuts. He had soft, tawny-blonde hair and golden-brown eyes.
"Oh my God - are you alright?"
"It looks worse than it is. Don't worry, they only do this if you don't obey the rules," he joked sharply and Alex's heart sank for the poor kid across from her.
"How long have you been here?"
"Beats me. I lost count after a couple of weeks. All the days roll into one, never-ending blur. You'll get used to that." A sour taste settled in Alex's mouth as she moved to the right, to be closer to the mystery boy in his cell only a few feet away.
"What's your name?" she questioned softly as she rested against the cold, steel bars.
"I used to be Ben..." he mused with a nostalgic smile.
"What do you mean 'used to be'?" Alex frowned and the boy just chuckled harshly.
"They change your name after... They call me Icarus now," he stated with a bitter sting to his words. Alex tried to piece together what it all meant and make sense of the information she was being told.
"Who's they? What did they change your name after?"
"Wow, you sure do ask a lot of questions for someone that just got kidnapped," Ben scathed and Alex shrugged it off, "They are the people that run this place. You get to keep your name until you develop your powers, then you get your new name." His explanation made Alex's blood run cold in her veins.
