Syd rocked back and forth, their feet in front of them. The girl was still unconscious on the floor. It had been six hours, none of them had ever stayed under this long. Getting her out had been far more difficult than even Syd had anticipated, and they had anticipated it being nearly impossible. If it weren’t for the twins, none of them would have made it out. Syd glanced from the girl to the twins both leaning against the wall. They were chatting like nothing at all was wrong, which did little to calm Syd’s nerves. 

Syd glanced back down to the girl still unconscious on the floor. “Should it be taking this long?” 

Both twins startled at the sudden outburst from silence. “It can take a while Syd,” Lilly said giving her best reassuring smile. “And it was her first time. It can be pretty messy the first time. But she’s still breathing… so she’ll come out of it.” 

Syd glared for a moment before looking back down. She looked different than what Syd had expected. Out of her dream scape, and out of that place the girl looked so much smaller and younger than before. They wondered if she was much younger than Syd was now. 

“If we went to all the trouble of getting her out, only for her to die from your energy suck, I’m going to be pissed.” Syd grumbled. 

“Hey I didn’t even want to do it! I said it was dangerous! You were the one yelling at me to do it. You know sometimes its hard to control how much I take.” Lilly crossed her arms and pushed herself off from the wall, only to be pulled back by her brother. He gave her a look and glanced towards Syd once again. Syd couldn’t help but scoff, they still acted like their thoughts were private, even though Syd wished more often than not that they were. 

“Syd, she’s going to be fine. I promise. The entire day was probably just a lot for her, you said yourself that leaving that place would probably be pretty jarring for her. So that coupled with the energy suck probably just did a number, but she’s okay.” 

The young man in the corner finally moved and stepped towards the girl clearing his throat. He nodded his head towards her and Syd watched as the girl slowly blinked her eyes open. 

“You’re awake.” Syd whispered. 

The girl blinked a few more times before sitting up and staring at Syd, cocking her head to one side. “You came back.” The girl whispered groggily. 

“I’m here,” Syd whispered back reaching for the girl to help her to a sitting position. 

“Do you have more questions to ask me?” The girl crossed her legs. 

Syd stared at the girl for a moment before smiling. “No, you’re not dreaming anymore. We found you, we got you out.” 

The girl seemed to think for a few minutes before her eyes got wide and just as quickly she began having a panic attack. Her breaths coming in short bursts then not at all. 

Syd reached forward, putting their hands on either side of the girls face. “You’re okay. Listen to me… look at me.” The girl met Syd’s eyes, her dark brown eyes frantic and filled with tears. “Take a deep breath. Do it.” 

Finally the girl did. “You’re going to be okay, do you understand?” 

The girl took another slow breath in before nodding. Syd let go of her face and leaned back again. The girl looked around the desolate shed, it didn’t seem that she had registered the other people in the room. 

“All of that really happened then?” The girl finally asked. 

“It did.” Syd said slowly. They glanced towards Marco who immediately pulled himself off the wall and walked towards the door. 

“I’ll explain everything to you, but for now we need to leave, okay?” 

The girl shook her head, “Why do we need to leave?” 

“They’re trying to find you. We need to keep moving.” Syd said. 

“Who? I don’t understand.” the girl said. 

They were all quiet for a moment. Syd turned towards Marco, who was staring at the girl. 

“Don’t.” Syd finally said. 

The girl looked over and was almost startled to see another person in the room. “What’s going on?” 

“Go get the van started. Jer go with him.” Syd ordered. 

Jer stood up and walked out of the shed as well. 

“Alright, time to go. Lil.” Syd said. Lilly was still fuming at Syd’s accusations, but got up none the less grabbing the girls arm. 

The girl flinched at her touch. Lilly looked at Syd for guidance. 

“It’s okay, she’s just taking you to get some different clothes.” Syd tried reassuring. 

The girl eyed Syd for another second before following Lilly to a far corner of the room. 

“This isn’t going to work.” 

Syd could hear Marco’s thoughts as if he had spoken them directly. They met eyes and Syd gave Marco a once over. 

“You don’t know that,” 

Marco’s eyes were pained as he watched Syd from the edge of the shed. A hand wrapped around his shoulder as Jer appeared. Jer glanced between the two of them, never removing his hand from Marco. 

He smiled nervously and met eyes with Syd. “We’re all ready boss.” 

Syd nodded as the girl was escorted back with Lilly. She was in jeans and a hoodie now and looked far less out of place amongst the rest of them. 

“We’ll need to nick a new vehicle.” Jer added going to stand next to his sister. 

Syd nodded and grabbed the girls arm, pulling her back towards the van. The girl hesitated once again and stared at Syd. Syd watched her for another minute before sliding their hand into the girls and pulling her along. The girl finally followed and climbed into the van. There were no seats beyond the drivers and passengers. Jer climbed into the drivers seat, meaning Marco was in the passengers seat. He leaned his head against the window and they all drove in silence. 

“Where are you taking me?” The girl whispered. 

Syd wasn’t sure how to answer that. “We’re going to keep you safe from the people who did this to you.” 

The girl was clearly confused by that answer and looked every which way. “You mean the master?” 

Syd flinched and tried to reach for Marco, but he had already turned his rage onto the girl. 

“Don’t call him that!” Marco’s voice was harsh and filled with uncontrolled pain. “He’s not your master. He was your captor.” 

The girl recoiled away from him. 

“Marco,” Syd warned. “Don’t.” 

“She deserves to know what happened to her Syd.” Marco raged. 

“What does he mean? What happened to me?” the girl asked barely above a whisper. 

Marco met Syd’s eyes. “Are you going to tell her or should I?” 

The girl met Syd’s eyes and they looked so sad and so scared. Syd took a deep breath. “You were an experiment of the government. They take kids with gifts and run tests on us and expand our powers in an attempt to use us to their advantage. The place we got you away from is a one of the facilities created to keep gifted children like you prisoner.” 

The girl looked confused. “Prisoner? But the master said that was my home.” 

“He lied.” Syd said, making sure to still hold the girls eyes. 

The girl shook her head then glanced towards the others in the van. “That’s not true. He said I was special and that there was no one else like me.” 

“What was your number?” Marco asked.

“Marco.” Syd tried warning again.

“My what?” the girl cried.

“What were you called?” Marco said. 

The girl thought for a moment. “They called me Number ninety-nine.” 

Syd’s stomach dropped and it was all they could do not to vomit. 

“Fuck…” Marco whispered leaning forward and clenching the dash. 

“I don’t understand, what does that mean?” The girl asked. “Please I don’t understand!” 

Syd took a deep breath. “It means you were the ninety-ninth child they stole. It means they haven’t slowed down.”

“But they told me I was the only one. They told me I was special.” The girl’s eyes started fogging over and Syd could feel her drug induced panic and haze taking her body. 

“Look at me. Look at me.” Syd grabbed the girl by the back of the neck trying to get her to focus. “Stay with me. You’re going into shock. They’ve hard wired you to pass out if your heart rate gets to high. You need to breath.” 

“I can’t… I can’t.” the girl was looking in every direction. 

Syd looked towards Marco who was already climbing out of the seat. 

He reached over and pressed one hand firmly against the girls shoulder, and with the other he leaned her head forward. The girl threw up almost immediately. 

“Shit,” Lilly scooted out of the way. “Is she okay?” 

“She’s going to pass out.” Syd said as the girl slumped forward. Syd guided her back and leaned her against Marco who kept perfectly still. 

“I told you not to push her.” Syd rounded on him. 

Marco said nothing, just stared at her with lifeless eyes.