With its tail rising high in the air, Saad’s private jet remained at rest at the end of the estate’s private airstrip and well out of sight from the narrow window in Eshe’s room.

At that moment, the girl was staring north, studying the deep blue of the overhead sky painted with faint wisps of white cloud above a horizon not far from the shores of the great Mediterranean Sea.

But to Eshe, there was no beauty to be seen in the boundless sky outside or the lush green trees surrounding the rest of the giant estate.

There was something wrong.

Something very, very wrong.

Unlike the other children, she was no longer filled with a sense of joy or adventure, but rather a gradual and terrible feeling deep inside her stomach telling her that things were not as they seemed.

After landing the night before, all six children had been escorted over the giant estate’s grounds to a row of buildings, stopping at one that housed several private rooms.  They were clean and empty, well-decorated—and sterile, with the unmistakable feeling that hers had been cleaned very recently.

Just for her.

There was a bed, a dresser, a lamp and an empty closet, even a desk with paper and more colored pens.  The furniture was nice but somehow portrayed a sense that not only was Eshe and the others not the first to stay here, but that none of the previous inhabitants had stayed very long.

Her deep feeling of dread only added to the sickening fear she’d had since getting off the plane.

It was the change in the doctor’s demeanor.  The withdrawal of all communication outside of simple instructions and commands while being shown to their rooms.

Now very worried, she gently tiptoed across the room without making a sound to try the door handle.

It was still locked.

She jumped when someone suddenly began screaming outside from the hallway.  There was a shrill, terrifying scream followed by a loud scuffle.

It sounded like a boy screaming in fear of something that was happening.

Immediately, Eshe ran and jumped up onto her bed, scampering over the covers and into the corner, where she brought both knees to her chest in a ball.

Outside, the screaming continued, the boy’s words muffled but recognizable.

No!  No!  Please!  I don’t want to!

Eshe knew the other children were sensing something was wrong too, just like she was.  She curled tightly into herself as her bottom lip trembled with fear.

It was bad.  Whatever it was, it was bad.

The voice she was hearing was from a child who had been in his room long enough to know that none of the children taken ever came back.

***