WPOV

My mom and Bellona watched the interactions through the two-way glass. I'm sure they noticed that they left the door open, that I was listening in, but I guess they didn't care.

Mars was frustrated. After two hours, he gave up, leaving the girl in the interrogation room and joining the other cops. "She isn't even acknowledging me in there. I asked her if she wanted a lawyer, and she still wouldn't give me an answer."

"What do you expect?" Bellona asked, sifting through a folder. "She's obviously a minor and a victim of sex trafficking. She's scared. I mean, she doesn't know what's going to happen to her."

"What do we do then? If she's not talking, it's hard to get the information we need."

"Try again. If it doesn't advance, take her to a holding cell and we'll try again in the morning. She'll talk to us eventually. What's been happening to her is illegal - her pimp needs to pay for it. At least cells are safe."

I opened the door a little wider. Even I could see that they were chasing their tails.

Despite the fact that I wasn't supposed to be listening, I spoke up. "She's not going to trust a bunch of adults with guns. What type of people do you think have been abusing her? She doesn't care that you're cops. She doesn't think you guys are going to help her at all."

"Will, you aren't supposed to be over here. I told you to wait outside." My mom said, sighing.

"But you're wasting time. You really expect her to talk to Mars?"

"Hey! I was being nice to her!"

I rolled my eyes. It honestly didn't matter how nice he was acting, Mars was still the most intimidating person I had ever met.

Bellona cut her eyes to me, sizing me up. "Well, what would you suggest?

"Let me talk to her."

Mars laughed at that. "Really? You're a seventeen-year-old with no training. Letting you in there would be too many code violations. We could lose our jobs."

"How bad do you want the information?" I insisted. "She's a lot more likely to trust me than she is to trust you. You can still see and hear everything through the glass, just pull me out of the room if I do something wrong."

"Are you crazy? I should've already called your father and asked him to take you home. Absolutely not-"

Bellona cut her off. "You get thirty minutes. No more, no less. Don't make me regret it."

My mom set her jaw, but didn't argue.

~

She looked about my age, with black hair and piercing blue eyes. The dress she wore tightly hugged her curves, and the makeup dramatized her already gorgeous features. She didn't look up from the table when I walked in and sat across from her.

"Hi, my name is Will. You told the police your name was Stephanie, right?"

She still didn't look at me. I awkwardly cleared my throat.

"Are you scared?"

Her eyes met mine. She acknowledged me with the tiniest of nods.

"You're safe here. These people can help you." I was trying to convince the both of us.

Hades' theory wormed its way into my head and filled it doubt. I couldn't reassure her, not when there was the possibility of a traitor.

The girl was good at reading my emotions. She whispered, her voice soft and sad and reminding me of silk. "You can't promise me anything, especially since you don't believe your own words. The reality is that I'm not safe. The longer I'm gone, the more trouble I'm in."

"This is bigger than the two of us. There's a man named Kronos who's been kidnapping kids and-"

"And they're all as good as dead. Why do you even care?"

I pulled the picture Percy gave me out of my pocket, put it on the table, and pointed. "Kronos ripped Nico away from me. He's been missing for over a week, and ever since he's been gone I've been losing my mind. He isn't the only one, either. Kronos has probably stolen hundreds of people away from their families.... But I'm sure you already know that much, don't you?"

Her eyes scanned the picture, then my expression. The fact that she recognized Kronos' name was enough, and I could tell by the way she was tensed that she knew exactly what I was talking about.

I cut a glance to the mirror. This was the first connection that could lead somewhere.

She eventually spoke. "You guys are cute together, but I've never seen him before in my life. I can't help you."

"Then help yourself. You don't have to go back there. If you tell the police everything that happened to you, they'll be one step closer to putting Kronos and his thugs behind bars."

"You don't know that! You have no idea what they're capable of!"

"Nico is gone, and who knows how many others. You can't tell me that you don't want justice for what's happened. You know enough that can at least give us a chance at finding them. Please."

The girl ran her fingers through her hair. She weighed her options quietly.

Everything was suspended in the air. She could easily refuse to talk and leave us with nothing to work with. There was nothing stopping her, we had no leverage.

"Do you love him?" She asked, studying the picture again.

"Yes."

"It's incredibly stupid for me to do this, but I'll tell you everything you need to know. For starters, my real name is Selena Beauregard."

A/N ~ She's alive! Originally she was supposed to stay dead, but I have zero impulse control so ༼ つ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° ༽つ