It happened on a Friday.
Aarav was walking home from school when his phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
"She's at the old warehouse. Sector 17. Come alone, or she dies."
His heart stopped.
He called Kavya.
No answer.
Called again.
No answer.
He ran.
The warehouse was exactly where the text said it would be.
An abandoned building on the edge of the city, surrounded by empty lots and broken fences. No lights. No signs of life.
But Aarav could feel minds inside.
Three of them.
Cold. Focused. Hungry.
And one more.
Faint. Flickering. Afraid.
Kavya.
He didn't think.
He walked through the door.
The inside of the warehouse was dark, lit only by emergency lights that cast everything in sickly yellow. Crates and machinery created a maze of shadows.
"Kavya!" he called.
No answer.
But he could feel her. Somewhere ahead. Getting weaker.
He ran.
And walked straight into the trap.
They came from everywhere.
Three figures in black, moving with practiced efficiency. Before Aarav could react, they had him on his knees, arms twisted behind his back, a hood pulled over his head.
"Let me go—"
"Quiet."
The voice was cold. Male. Unfamiliar.
"Where is she?" Aarav demanded.
"Safe. For now."
"What do you want?"
A pause.
Then: "We want what she has. And now... we want you too."
The hood was ripped off.
Aarav blinked in the harsh light.
He was in a different room now—smaller, brighter, filled with equipment he didn't recognize. Screens. Wires. Machines that hummed with a frequency that made his teeth ache.
And across the room—
Kavya.
Tied to a chair.
Unconscious.
But alive.
"Kavya!"
She didn't move.
"Don't bother," the voice said. "She can't hear you. We've sedated her. Her ability is useless for now."
Aarav turned.
The man standing in front of him was ordinary. Medium height. Medium build. Unremarkable face. The kind of face you would forget five minutes after seeing it.
But his eyes—
His eyes were cold.
Empty.
Like there was nothing behind them at all.
"Who are you?" Aarav asked.
"I'm the person who's going to offer you a choice."
"What choice?"
The man smiled.
It didn't reach his eyes.
"You can help us. Or you can watch her die."