Days turned into weeks, weeks turned into months, and counting those months added up to six long months having passed since Hakyeon and Taekwoon had been kidnapped. Summer had turned to fall and soon they had to return to some type of normalcy but returned to the cabin once winter break came around. Tori and Aerin hadn't returned with them but they stayed contact. Elliya couldn't help but feel as if they were never going to find them. Even with the others now on board it didn't seem to help as they hadn't gotten any closer to finding them then they had the day they were taken.

And boy was that fun trying to explain to her brothers that she wasn't crazy. Of course, they had to believe her once they saw Wonshik and Tao for themselves. Not that, that stopped Hongbin from wanting to check himself into a mental hospital at first as he didn't want to believe what he was seeing. Slowly yet surely they came around in a quick enough fashion that they could really concentrate what was important, finding the others. Not that the extra help seemed to do them any good as they were still lost as ever.

So much for Tao's supposed plan which had also included Krystal's mate Kai. They found out that he had the ability to teleport wherever he wanted which led one to wonder then why have they gotten nowhere for the last six months? Well besides the fact that the white haired male with the insane red eyes was just that, insane, he had also been kept medicated to a point where he couldn't teleport anywhere. They would only flush his system only enough to allow him small distances so even if he could remember where to teleport to he probably wouldn't have the strength to teleport all of them. And he clearly couldn't go it alone in the state he was in because of years of captivity and torture not to mention the painful time away from his mate, knowing what she would still be going through.

Elliya could only imagine and fear that Hakyeon might be sharing in the same fate. That gave her even more reason to want to find him as fast as possible. The girl sighed as she rolled over onto her back to stare blankly up at the ceiling until she heard her name being called. With more then a little reluctance to get up she did so in hopes there was finally some good news for a change.

“This had better be worth it” Elliya mumbled as she came down the stairs to see that she was no longer the only female in the group now. The tall, slender, long black haired girl that was joining them on their makeshift rescue mission was a girl named Victoria. She was a wolf hybrid as well as a contortionist so it'd be easy for her to maneuver her way around tight spaces without being seen if need be. She also happened to be Tao's mate and considered Krystal and another girl, Luna, another naiad, to be her sisters despite all of them being of different species.

Frankly, at this point, she would take all the help they could find to get them back. And if there was one other person who could break through Kai's madness besides Krystal, it was Victoria. With her help he could become more or less coherent and sane enough that they would be able to come up with a working plan. Hopefully, it would be enough for a successful rescue. It would have to be.

But as Elliya sat on the porch step outside, a scarf wrapped tightly around the bottom half of her face but not so tight that she couldn't drink the mug of full of hot chocolate she held in her ungloved hands she couldn't help but worry it wouldn't be. It was Victoria who soon sat down beside her, a mug of her own in hands as well.

“We'll get them back.” she assured.

“I hope you're right.” Elliya replied taking another sip to keep warm from the frigid air.

“Trust me, when we're done there will be nothing left but ash.” Victoria replied with a knowing smile.

Elliya raised an eyebrow, staring at the girl as quietly drank her hot chocolate. “What? Do you know someone who can control fire?”

“It's possible.” she said smiling and the two left it at that as she took another sip of the warm, sweet liquid as did the girl beside her.

t6t6t

Though he couldn't be sure of how much time had actually gone by since he had seen a clock or a calender in some time now but Hakyeon knew that it had to be months since he had last seen his family and his hope of ever seeing freedom again was dwindling quickly. Over time he had gotten to know both Krystal and Luna and even some of the others. Both Krystal and Luna were sure Tao and their sister, despite the three of them being of different species he found out, Victoria were working on a plan to get them out. He knew planning took time especially ones that weren't half-assed like the previous one had been but he was getting impatient. Not to mention he just didn't think he could take being here for much longer.

Their captors were ruthless and sadistic in the way they were treated. Barely given decent meals, drugged into being complacent. The naiads were repeatedly kept out of the water for longer periods and only put back just before succumbing to dehydration completely. Taekwoon would be especially difficult for their captors which would sometimes earn him electric shocks while in the water but he never broke.

One of the few new faces Hakyeon had met while his time there kept growing infinitely longer was a fire mage name Chanyeol. They kept him drugged just enough that he give a decent fire performance but not enough that he could use his powers do any real damage like Hakyeon knew he wanted to do. They would even use him from time to time to act like a ing dolphin and splash the water to put out the fire or jump through a god damned flaming hoop. It was not only extremely degrading but they never really kept the “performers” safety in mind.

In fact Hakyeon had just finished one such forced performance that got the mage severely burned. Luckily, there was a healer, Lay, that he could turn to later. For as kind and as good a healer mage he was, what their captors forced him do was the worse out of all of them in his mind.

They would torture the others in front of him and their just as sadistic audience then force him to heal whatever injuries they had inflicted on the person. Whether it be knife wounds, gunshots, electrocution, hanging till the person almost died or whatever else those sickos could come with, Lay was forced to watch it all. How he was able to still keep a positive attitude after all he had seen still amazed and confused Hakyeon. The only answer he ever got from the healer when asked how, was that without him there they would have died. But sometimes even with Lay there some still died. Mostly killed outright just to spite him in that he didn't have the ability to bring the dead back to life.

When he wasn't a forced show animal for humans they put him back in his tank with Taekwoon and Luna. Krystal and Chanyeol also shared their cages with them. Though what little chance they got to talk to the others out of water was rare, their captors trying to avoid conspiring, he could still communicate telepathically with his brother and Luna while in the water. Something they were still able to keep to themselves.

Both Hakyeon and Luna talked whenever they could for as long as they could about anything and everything. He told her about his other brother Wonshik as well as Elliya. Not one day had gone by without him ever thinking of her and all he was really hoping for at this point was that Wonshik was keeping her safe. Luna at first had found his relationship with a human, of all species considering they were the ones who had captured them in the first place, to be very strange. But the more he told her about the human girl the more she came around to accepting it and wishing him luck in being with her again. Even wishing she could have someone to call her own too.

'I think we should start coming up with a plan to escape from here.' Hakyeon told both Taekwoon and Luna when they had one of those rare days to finally be able to rest. Of course his brother was all for trying to escape but Luna looked at him like he had finally lost his mind.

'You saw how well that worked the first time and all the times that happened after when someone tried to fight back. They'll kill you.' she replied.

'The ones that tried to escape tried doing so on their own. If we all plan something together there's no way they can fight all of us. We can't just stay here until they decide to just kill us for the fun of it or if we lose value to them!' He countered back.

'I'd rather die fighting then just simply wait to die.' Taekwoon added.

'But will we be able to communicate with the others when we're barely able to be out of the water and they won't be able to understand us otherwise?' Luna asked still unsure of the idea.

'Simple,' Hakyeon grinned back at her as he and Taekwoon both slowly yet surely moved the lid to their watery prison off enough that they could slip out but not so much as to be noticeable should someone come in before continuing to speak, 'we get out of the water and talk to them.'

Luna began to protest out of fear, 'they'll see the water if you get out though!'

'Then we'll just pop our heads out of the water to talk. It'll be alright Luna. Something is better then nothing and if the others find a way to get to us they'll need our help.'

Though she was unsure about how successful their attempt at escape was going to be she was also scared of what would happen to everyone should they be found out or fail she eventually conceded that doing nothing to better their situation was just as bad if not worse for them in the end. Luna decided she would join in to help knowing that despite her fear she wanted to escape from this hell just as much as everyone else.

It had now become that either they would escape or they die trying.