“Listen to me, Tessa. You have to listen. They are going to kill you.” The graying, burly detective sitting across the table from Tessa was gripping his hands into a fist, his face turning red. Tessa marveled that somehow he thought she didn’t understand the gravity of the situation. How could she not? She’d seen first hand what these people were capable of. She’d just testified against them. She knew they were going to kill her!

They were in an interrogation room, though Tessa wasn’t being interrogated. The room was kept dark with only a weak fluorescent light hanging overhead. One wall was covered in a mirror. She’d watched enough TV to know that it was surely a one-way mirror and that people could stand on the other side and see in—watching suspected criminals fidget and squirm, analyzing every word and every movement. For all she knew, someone might be standing there watching her, though she couldn’t imagine why they would bother.

Tessa twirled her long strawberry blonde hair around her finger—something her mother would have reprimanded her for. Her mother was always controlling her. Tessa was certain that it was because her mother’s life had become so messed up that she needed to control something. Tessa was the lucky victim by default. She’d spent years and years “cultivating an image,” as her mother called it, and now she was here and being told to throw it all away.

“I’m seventeen years old, Detective Foster.” She tried to keep her voice calm—this was no place for a breakdown. “I’m booked for concerts across the country for the next six months! I’m a… a prodigy.” She stopped. She actually hated the word “prodigy.” It was one of those buzzwords—the kind that made her want to strangle someone. But she needed this cop to understand who she was! She was important! She was a star! “Do you have any idea how many universities begged me to attend their schools on scholarship? My life is finally what I want my life to be. And you…” She allowed her voice to crack. “You want me to leave it all behind. Become someone else. Let everyone I care about think that I’m dead.”

Detective Foster would have been tempted to roll his eyes at her little diva-style outburst, but he understood that her whole life had just been turned upside down. She had seen things that no one should ever have to see, most especially a kid. “If you stay, you will be dead,” he said softly.

He was right, of course. She absolutely had to go away, and she knew it. But her head was swirling. How could she decide this right now? With all that had happened in the last few days! She was being asked to choose what amounted to a death sentence, or choose to start a new life—one that may or may not turn out to be better than death.

Tessa closed her eyes, but that was the wrong thing to do. Her mind immediately flooded with images of blood, anger, screams, and, finally, the limp body sliding to the floor. She forced her eyes back open and allowed the tears to flow freely now.

She took a deep breath and stood. “Okay. I’ll do it.”

“Good!” the detective said, slamming his hands on the metal table. He began to speak, but Tessa couldn’t hear him. The room was spinning and suddenly everything went black. She could feel herself falling, but she couldn’t stop, and finally she heard the thud of her own body hitting the ground. And then… silence.