“I’m sorry, Ava,” Michelle said in a smallvoice, opening one eye and staring at her friend. “I know you getnervous about these things.”
Ava sighed. “It’s okay. You’re right. Withoutyou we would have missed out on a ton of stuff.” Ava managed asmall smile. “Maybe I’ll take a nap, too.”
“That’s the spirit,” Michelle said, relaxingonce more as her eyes closed. Figuring she might as well make themost out of their short-lived down time, Ava leaned back in her ownseat and quickly felt her eyes get heavy. Deciding to rest for justa few minutes, she closed her eyes.
Disoriented, Ava opened her eyes, feelinggroggy. She was in a moving car, but she couldn’t quite rememberwhy. Then she remembered; she and Michelle were going to dinner.But something wasn’t right.
Ava bolted upright. It was dark outside.
Pitch black dark.
Frantically, she looked at her watch andtried to register the time. It had been only five in the afternoonwhen they had left Milan and Michelle had told her it was aforty-minute drive. Ava’s watch said it was nearly eight. Cold fearwashed over Ava and she tried not to panic. Part of her wanted tobang recklessly on the divider and start screaming for the driverto let them out. Instead, she anxiously shook Michelle awake.
“Michelle!” she whispered. “Michelle! Wakeup, dammit!”
“Hmm?” Michelle asked sleepily, half openingher eyes.
“Wake up!” Ava hissed. “We’ve been in the carfor nearly three hours.”
Michelle sat upright as if electrocuted andAva saw the fear in her friend’s eyes.
“No! You have to be wrong!” she said,fumbling with her phone.
“I’m not. It’s dark outside!”
Michelle finally found her phone and gaspedwhen she saw the time. Before Ava could stop her, she beganpounding on the divider, yelling in Italian. There was no response,as she continued to yell and pound even harder.
Ava knew it was no good and she quicklygrabbed Michelle’s phone from her hand, only to see that she had noservice bars. Ava quickly pressed her face to the glass and sawthat they seemed to be in a heavily wooded area.
“Fuck,” she breathed. She felt the car roarunderneath her as if it had shifted gears and she felt thesensation of moving up a steep incline. Squinting through thedarkness, she realized that they were ascending some type of largehill or mountain.
“Think!” Ava commanded Michelle, who was nowcrying next to her. “Where could we have gone in three hours timethat is this steep? A mountain or something?”
“I don’t know,” Michelle sobbed, shaking herhead.
“Think!” Ava urged. “You’ve been to Italy.You have family here. What is three hours distance from Milan?”
“Ummm,” Michelle bit her lip, trying toconcentrate. “We went to Salzburg once and that was about fivehours in the car.”
Ava nodded encouragingly, trying to keep herpanic at bay.
“We could be somewhere near Vipiteno. Youknow, North Italy or Southern Austria. Up in the mountains. I don’tthink we would have had time to go into Germany.”
Ava sank back in her seat. They could be inan entirely different country now. Somewhere north in themountains.
Where there was no cell phone service.
The car continued to climb higher, snappingAva out of her fear.
“We have to do something,” she said. “Maybewe try to jump out of the car.”
“Jump? Are you crazy?” Michelle’s eyes werewide.
Ava pressed against the door handle, only tofeel it locked firmly in place.
“It’s locked,” she moaned.
Michelle began banging on the divider again,shouting in Italian. The car began to slow down and Ava was grippedwith fear. The outside of the car was so dark that she couldn’ttell the difference from the car’s interior.
“Okay, Michelle. We have to keep our selvestogether. The first chance we get, we run. We stick together and werun. The trees will offer us cover.”
Michelle nodded, her face stark white.
The car came to a crawl but it was senselessfor the women to look out the windows. They knew they would seenothing.
The car finally stopped and they heard thedriver’s side door open and close. Suddenly Michelle’s door openedand the man reached in and pulled Michelle out by her arm. Hereached in, sneering, as he grabbed Ava by her arm and pulled herout too.
“He’s going to love you,” he whispered toAva, his Italian accent thick. Ava shuddered. She didn’t know whomthe man was referring to but she didn’t like his tone, regardless.Another man was standing outside the car and he gruffly tiedMichelle’s hands together while the driver bound Ava’s hands.
“I’m Marcello,” he whispered seductively toAva and she wanted to gag. The men led the women through a thickgrove of trees until they came to a small clearing. They were atthe base of another large hill and at first Ava didn’t understandwhy they were there. Then her eyes began to adjust to the darknessand she saw a large, ominous castle built into the side of thehill.
“Welcome to Valanya,” Marcello sneered and hepushed Ava forwards. The man leading Michelle was quiet and forsome reason Ava felt that he did not want to be there. His postureconveyed discomfort and it was Marcello who sneered and pushed thewomen onwards as they continued their trek up the darkmountain.
The hillside was slippery and more than onceAva and Michelle lost their footing. Ava’s feet were killing herand she knew she should have worn more sensible shoes than herstylish boots. Michelle was doing no better in her cargo shorts andheels.
“What do you think, Franco?” Marcello askedin a pompous voice as they continued climbing uphill. “Don’t youthink The Overlord will love this one?” He gave Ava a little pushto indicate he was talking about her. Franco turned around to lookat Ava. His face was vacant, yet his eyes burned with someunidentifiable emotion. He quickly masked his face back to one ofindifference. He turned back towards Michelle and shrugged.
“Oh stop feeling sorry for yourself,”Marcello snapped.
“Fuck you,” Franco spat and both Ava andMichelle stumbled at his angry outburst.
Marcello let out a wicked laugh. “You shouldbe honored The Overlord chose her,” he said with reverent passion.“I would gladly give The Overlord my wife! It would be anhonor!”
“Then add that to the long list ofdifferences between us, Marcello.” Franco’s voice was bitter andhard.
Marcello laughed again, the sound highpitched like nails on a chalkboard.
Ava’s mind raced as she tried to process whatthe men were saying. The women were being taken to someone namedThe Overlord and Franco had a wife who apparently he had beenforced to give to The Overlord. Ava felt a knot of fear in herstomach as she thought of what The Overlord was capable of.
Clearly Franco and his wife had not beenreunited and Franco did not look or sound hopeful. Before Ava’smind could think any more they had reached a structure near thebase of the castle. Up close, the castle was frightening with steeptowers and pointy spires. The building screamed evil and Ava didnot want to know what lived within its walls. Three large, uglygargoyles stuck out from the front and Ava had the eerie sensationthat the crumbling statues were watching them.
Marcello pulled out a thick and ancientlooking key ring and opened the enormous wrought iron gate in frontof them. The women were ushered inside and suddenly a wave of noiserose up to greet them. Howls, cheers, grunts and screams met theirarrival and Ava instinctively tried to cover her ears before sherealized again that her hands were bound.
Michelle moaned with fear as they moved alongthe dirt floor. They came to a large platform of some sort in thecenter of the room and the girls studied it in horror. It was crudeand made of wood and it was roughly the size of a large bed. Herheart froze when she saw the thick iron shackles and she knew nogood could come from such a setup.
As they moved further through the structure,Ava guessed that they must be in a dungeon. Suddenly the roomfilled with the light of dozens of candles along the walls andAva's guess was confirmed. Cages lined each wall and what wasinside them made her head spin and her stomach turn. She had toblink to see if her eyes were seeing clearly, and unfortunatelythey were.