"To hear the phrase "our only hope" always makes one anxious, because it means that if the only hope doesn't work, there is nothing left." -Lemony Snicket 

'~-Emily-~'

July 27th, 2021

Waking up in a dark room with no recollection of how I got there kinda started to feel like routine.

My first thoughts weren't "oh no, I've been kidnapped" or "I'm scared". They were something like: "here we go again".

When a man, who I didn't recognize, stepped into the room, I wanted to mouth off about how lousy of a job he did at tying me up. I was suspended just above the ground by my wrists.

Stupid gag.

His eyes met mine with a certain curiosity as he lowered the cloth from my mouth. He had dark hair and bright eyes, which contrasted the dark circles under his lids.

'Why do men?' I thought to myself.

"Hello, Amelia." The guy smirked at me, his eyes no longer looking at my face.

"You're an idiot," I stated, tugging at my restraints. They were definitely not the type of binds made to hold back a Divine.

He said nothing as he pulled a syringe out of his pocket. It was filled with a slightly murky, translucent liquid.

I squirmed as he pressed the needle to my neck, a cocky smile still present on his face.

I felt the serum worm its way through my veins, curses slipping from my mouth. It felt like fire- it was scorching my body, and it caused me to convulse rapidly.

"Where's your confidence gone?" The man asked, watching intently as black-colored blood spilled from my lips.

My body felt heavy, and I struggled to keep my eyes open.

"Do you even know how much you're worth?" He chuckled, running his hands along my torso. I shivered.

"A couple bucks, probably." I spat dryly, a tiny smile tugging at my lips.

"You got a mouth on ya." His hand rested on my jawline.

"That's what he said." I swiftly brought my legs up and connected them with his crotch. The man doubled over as I carried my momentum up to my wrists.

"What did I even do to you?" I asked while I began to un-tie my restraints.

"You and your kind don't deserve to be here!" He growled just as I freed myself and landed on my feet.

Suddenly, pain shot through my head, and I collapsed onto the ground. The man stood over me with a metal bat clutched in his hands.

I felt my ribs shatter with immeasurable pain as he struck me twice more. Tears escaped my eyes, and blood spurted out my mouth as I screamed in pain.

Finally, the world turned dark with one more swing.

'~-Spencer-~'

"Again?"

"Yes, again. We suspect a human organization this time." I had just heard the news of Amelia's capture.

"That's odd. If whoever has taken Amelia is human, then she should be able to escape. She can teleport."

"Stop speaking for me," Matt joked, pacing in circles. We were discussing how to find her in the Council's room. The Council, along with Amelia's siblings, had joined our conversation. They were good friends with Amelia.

"How do we find her this time?" Jordan spoke up, clearly worried.

"Well, Humans are way easier to track than Magi are. I do it all the time in my work."

"And yet, we can't employ your team without risking both your life and their lives." Aiyanna, the blond who had been quiet for most of the meeting, finally interjected. Amelia had told me that she was wise beyond her years.

Her voice still rang clearly in my head. "Aiyanna and I have this running joke-" She would say. "-where we would talk about marrying each other for the fun of it- though neither of us are into women. She is so much like you- sometimes I think that you two are long lost siblings or something."

"We, unfortunately, have to wait until someone claims to have taken her. Too many humans hold grievances against Amelia."

That was the sentence that ended the meeting. The crowd split into groups of three and four, while I stayed in the corner on my own. I assumed that they wanted to give me some space since we were dealing with the kidnapping of my wife... again.

"Hey."

A hand lightly gripped my arm- Matt's.

Being friends with him for over twenty years, I instantly recognized his touch.

"Hey, Matt," I replied, tears beginning to form in my eyes as my voice cracked.

"Finding her will be much easier this time, I promise."

"It took us seven weeks to find her last time. How is this time going to be different when we don't even know how they're keeping her there?"

"Tell me, Spencer," Matt gripped my hands with his. "Our unsub is narcissistic. Why do we know that?"

I paused, combing through the information that we knew. "Because they kidnapped the queen of the magic web. You need confidence to do something like that- or stupidity. The crime scene suggests a sophisticated unsub, so I would go with the former."

"Okay, and how does a narcissistic unsub help us find Amelia?"

"They tend to contact the media to display their work," I responded, though I was not relieved by my answer.

"See?"

"Yes, but what if they don't contact anyone until it's too late?"

"Spencer, you can't worry about the 'what ifs'. You will drive yourself crazy!"

"How, though?!" I didn't notice the whole room's attention was turned towards me. "How do I stop worrying about what might happen- about every single possibility?! I might never see her again because I'm sitting here WAITING FOR HER TO DIE!"

My breathing started to shake violently. I clamped my hands to my hair, my grip deathly-tight. Tears streamed down my face in quick succession of each other. Everyone was staring at me with wide, pitiful eyes- as if they were looking at a wounded kitten who had been abused by its owner.

I heard ringing in my ears as I realized that the whole room's eyes were on me. I backed up against the wall, frozen in terror as the attention from my outburst overwhelmed my senses. Slowly, my body slid down the wall of its own accord so that I was sitting with my knees curled up to my chest. I choked on air as I tried to- unsuccessfully- calm myself down.

My eyes shut tight, the world around me a dizzyingly black color. The only thing I could hear was the sound of my own heartbeat pounding in my throat.

"Spencer," A voice cut through the drumming of my heart. "It's me. It's okay. I'm here."

Matt.

I felt his presence beside me, his breath on my neck, and his hands prying my hair out of my grip.

"Do you remember that song that Amelia taught you? The one that she knew by heart- even before it came out?"

Yeah, I remembered it. Not that I had the choice to forget it.

"Do you remember how it starts?" He asked. 

My frantic breath began to slow.

Music had always been a staple in Magi culture. The Divine family were no stranger to it- one of Amelia's uncles was a famous singer on Earth. 

So, Matt's talented voice didn't surprise me at all, though I had never heard it before.

"Have you ever felt like nobody was there?"

I leaned against him, letting his vibrating chest soothe me.

"Have you ever felt forgotten in the middle of nowhere?"

I could hear Amelia's voice joining with her brother in song.

"Have you ever felt like you could disappear?"

"Like you could fall, and no one would hear?"

With those final words, I fell into a more peaceful state of rest. 

August 31st, 2021

Our initial profile was right.

Five weeks passed before the media was contacted by an anonymous group- though, through JJ, they weren't exactly "anonymous". She had traced the caller back to an abandoned warehouse that belonged to a well-known human trafficking ring that the government had been trying to take down for a while.

"If they're being that reckless, then why haven't the government found them yet?" I had asked my daughter.

"The IP address was encrypted and had a firewall. Crazy, right?" JJ spun around in her chair, a grape-flavored lollipop in her mouth.

"It took you three minutes to trace them."

"The call was only three minutes long. And besides, I don't really think they planned on someone as good as me existing." She bit down on the sweet, a crunching sound emitting from her mouth.

"You're like my personal Penelope Garcia!"

"Yes, but better- I'm a princess." I laughed at her remark, apparating away to check on the rescue team we had put together.

"Spencer," Matt saw me and immediately encased me in a hug. "Are you ready to go?"

"I am," I replied, morphing into more suitable clothes in a flash.

"Then let's head out."

Night fell as the team of Magi exited the compound. The sounds of the forest ceased as we teleported to the location. We made sure to stay hidden behind the abandoned building complex as we began to move in.

Minutes of silence fell between the group as we spotted our destination. Nobody seemed to be out at this time of night, so we stuck to the shadows and hovered outside.

"Breach." The whisper came from Dusk. We simultaneously broke into the complex, taking down the guards as we breached deeper into the warehouse.

Finally, we made it to a central room, where men were frantically discussing something.

And in the middle, my wife was on display, chained by her wrists to the ceiling.

Amelia looked exhausted, and there were fresh cuts littered around her torso.

She wasn't wearing much.

There was a man who had previously stepped towards her, a blade in his hand and pressed to her exposed side.

This is why I didn't hesitate to pull the trigger and splatter the blood from his head onto the ground.

Yells and gunshots echoed from around me, but tunnel vision plagued my eyes.

All I could see was her.

I ran to her and melted the chains that secured her so that she dropped into my arms.

"FIFTEEN SECONDS! LET'S GO!" Michael shouted, to which all Magi responded. 

We teleported out of there in time to watch the building explode with those horrible people in it.

"We didn't find anyone else being kept there. It looks like this was just for her." Matt told me, but I was barely listening.

Amelia was back in my arms, but confusion riddled her features.

We appeared back at our home. Nova spotted us and took Amelia in their arms up to our room. There, Nova set her down and hooked an IV into her arm.

"You're home. Everything is okay now." Nova rested their hand on Amelia's shoulder.

"What do you mean?" She asked, clearly starting to freak out.

"Amelia- or, whoever- you are now home. You're safe."

Amelia- or whichever alter was fronting- seemed to process this information for a moment.

"Are you my new owners?"

I was terrified for a moment. It had only been five weeks- how could she not remember us?

Nova seemed to process this faster than I did.

"Your name isn't Amelia, is it?"

The alter slowly shook her head.

"My Master called me 'Doll'. He said that was his name for me."

I scoffed involuntarily.

"Well," Nova began. "If that's what you're comfortable being called, then that's your name. Welcome to the Divinity System."

"The what?"

I interrupted to explain the concept of the system to the new alter.

Doll slowly began to understand.

Well, to the best of her ability.

"So, you're my new Master?" She asked, to which I turned very red. Nova laughed at me.

"N-no, I'm just married to some of the people in the system. You and I are just friends for the time being."

"So, you're not going to chain me up?" Nova laughed even harder at this, and I sighed with embarrassment.

"No, Doll. You'll live with me normally." 

"I... don't really know what's 'normal'."

Nova replaced her torn clothes with fresh pajamas.

"I'll help you, don't worry. I'm sure that JJ and Jason will love you."

"Who are they?"

"Your biological children." I smiled, thanking Nova as they headed out.

"I think I could get used to this, Master."

A laugh escaped my lips. I definitely wasn't going to get used to this.

"My name is Spencer. Please just call me Spencer."

Doll nodded with a yawn. Her eyelids began to droop.

"Get some rest, okay? I'll be downstairs since I've had coffee, and there's no way I'll be able to sleep."

With that, I exited the room and closed the door behind me.

Now, there were nine. 

It was my duty- my obligation- to protect them.

But at what cost?

"Lies and secrets, Tessa, they are like a cancer in the soul. They eat away what is good and leave only destruction behind." -Cassandra Clare