Five days prior to the entrance exam I found myself studying past eleven under candle light. The light bulb in my room casted shadows over my study table, hence I resorted to candles. There was always something reassuring and comforting about the yellow light, even if it seemed to always flicker. That is why I didn't notice it when our household had a blackout. It was Henry who knocked on my door. When I opened it, he stood outside, panicked while holding a flashlight and blaring it over my face. It took me a while to notice how dark the corridor was.

'There is a blackout. I will go with the butler to check the circuits. Could you check on Christopher? Take him to father's study, mother is there.'

I nodded, my hands groping for my flashlight on my book shelf. Henry left as I made my way towards Christopher's room. It was a bad day to have a blackout. Both father and Charles were on duty. It was customary that at least one male in the family, except Christopher, remained on the premises. When we were young, father never left mother alone with us. When Charles grew old enough, he left the duty to Charles when it was necessary. And so on to Henry when he seemed self sufficient enough. All three of them were soldiers, so at least one of them remaining in the premises was reassuring. I made my way to Christopher's room. It was past bed time, so I had to wake him up. He followed me out, rubbing his sleepy eyes as he did so.

'It's just power cut,' he said.

'Hush,' I said. I took hold of his hand which he tried to shake off, 'Stop that. No one can see us.'

I dragged him towards the staircase. I heard noise from the ground floor, probably the guards and the butler trying to figure out what to do. Mother was probably contacting father thought the telephone. The last time there was a blackout, a burglar sneaked into our house. I guess he didn't actually research who the inhabitants were. Father was at home that day. It didn't end well for the burglar. Father is intimidating as he is. He is scary when he is serious.

The house grew silent quickly. Christopher and I stopped. I could feel Christopher, finally being alert. Blue light filtered through the window next to the staircase. The silent was so innerving one could hear the soft breeze that blew outside.

'Come-on,' I said.

Christopher didn't move. There was a sinking feeling like as if we were not alone. It was different from the feeling of someone staring at you. It was as if someone was targeting you, as if someone would appear in front of you any second. Maybe Christopher being an esper made him more sensitive to things like that. Just to expel our fear, I flashed the flashlight behind us, back towards the dark long corridor.

That's when saw the shadows. Shadows that like wisps of dark soot that gradually concentrated into silhouettes. Christopher screamed first, letting go of my hand as he bolted towards the stairs. I could not help but watch the silhouette become a man, a man dressed entirely in black and a woman behind him. I turned my back to them to run downstairs. I heard Christopher yelp and heard someone tumble down the stairs.

He must have forgotten that he didn't have a flashlight.

I wasn't fast enough to reach the stairs. Someone caught me by my elbow and pulled by backwards. I tried to scream as my back bumped onto a body. I could feel a sleek body tight material behind me. Long blonde hair fell over my face as a gloved hand pressed over my mouth. I tried to scream. By the hold was strong. I would tell from the body behind me that it was the women.

'Found you,' the woman purred.

Light shone from below the stairway. Christopher must have warned someone. I struggled more and saw the butler run up with a rifle, followed by Henry. But the dark cloud of black dust that I saw earlier entered my field of vision. Like a rapidly overgrowing creeper burying us under the earth, darkness engulfed us. The last thing I saw was Henry's horrified face as he yelled something; must have been my name.

My nose caught the smell something strong and I fell unconscious.

Chloroform.

How typical.