“Come on. Follow me.” Said the man which Fred had never got the name of. Fred nodded and followed after Rodrigo moved alongside him. ~It might be a good idea to curry favour with this man. After all, he owns me right now. HA!~ A sardonic grin graced Fred’s face for an instant.

“I never got your name.” Said Fred, the man turned his head to Fred in surprise.

“It’s nathaniel.” Said Nathaniel. ~Good. We’ve started a conversation.~

“So. What are you going to do with us?” Said Fred as they walked. The man raised his brow as he looked back at Fred.

“Sell your ideas. Why else would you buy someone?” He said as if it was obvious. ~If there’s a seller there has to be a buyer. But who would purchase ideas so prolifically that all everyone is interested in doing is selling them?~

“If it isn’t too rude to ask.” Said Fred while bowing his head slightly. “Who are you even selling to?” The man’s lips curled into a steely scowl.

“The man. The one untouchable being.” Fred looked up at Rodrigo who had been strangely quiet this whole time. His eyes were unfocused he had bitten a deep furrow into his lip.

Fred was quiet for the rest of the walk. Nathaniel chose not to speak as well.

….

The inside of the manor was drab. With sparse furniture everywhere and cobwebs on the windows. It looked like a house that no one had ever cleaned.

“Daddy!” A girl no older than fifteen ran towards Nathaniel, immersing him in a massive hug. “You’re back. What interesting people did you get this time!” She said while hoping up and down a childlike grin on her face. Fred looked at her in befuddlement ~Isn’t she too old to be acting so excited?~

Nathaniel weakly pointed in Fred and Rodrigo’s direction. “They’re right over there.” She bounded over to them, her grin looking slightly more intimidating than it was a few seconds ago.

“Where are you two from!?!?!?!” She yelled at them. Rodrigo didn’t show any response. Fred’s lips curled like he had swallowed a lemon.

“I’m right here you know. You don’t need to yell.” Her face went blank for a moment.

“I COMMAND YOU! TO TELL ME WHERE YOUR FROM!” She yelled Fred swore he could feel himself being pushed back by the noise.

“I’mfromearth!” Fred belted out so fast that the words melded together.

Stolen novel; please report.

“Oh really. What’s earth like? I’ve never heard of it before.” She said.

“Earth is a plan-” Fred was cut off.

“WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP! DADDY HAS WORK TO ATTEND TO!” Yelled Nathaniel while pointing his finger accusingly in the girl's direction.

The girl bowed her head and sulked out of the room. “Good.” Nathaniel waved his hand. “Now follow me.” He said.

…

He led them into a pristine white room. In the centre of this room was a cube that had four towers rising from the corners.

“Touch one of those towers. Not both at once though, that will fry the machine.” Said Nathaniel.

Fred looked up at Rodrigo. He hadn't lost his unfocused expression. “You want to go first Rodrigo?” Without responding he walked towards the square and put his hand on the tower.

“*Eighty thousand wish stones earned. Cash out now?*” Nathaniel smiled.

“Eighty thousand. And only for the first harvest. Not bad, definitely worth the hundred thousand cost. Okay.” Nathaniel pointed at Fred. “You next.”

Fred walked over to the square placing his hand on the tower.

“*Two hundred wish stones earned. Cash out now?*” Nathaniel fell onto his butt his eyes wide and his face pale.

“What! TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND WITH THE FIRST HARVEST! I’ve. I’ve never seen something like this.” Fred Furrowed his brows. ~I am from another world…….. Do you get more wish stones for selling an idea that is new or unheard of? But the idea of being from another world isn’t all that New. It could also be because I've experienced the pain of death before. But people should have experienced pain at least close to that before.~ Fred came to the conclusion that he did not know enough to come to a conclusion.

Nathaniel jumped to his feet. With similar ferocity to his daughter he bounded in Fred’s direction. He put his hand on his shoulder. A business smile on his face.“I’ll put you in one of the senior cells. You’ll have a bed, your own bathroom and one book of your choosing to read each month.” Said nathaniel. Fred smiled. ~Regardless of the reason. It seems he’s given me some privileges that I can abuse.~

“Could you also give my friend Rodrigo a senior cell.” Said Fred Nathaniel scowled for a moment, before lifting his expression back into a business smile.

“Sure. But it won’t be anywhere near yours. Don’t want you two scheming.” Fred grit his teeth. ~He has us magically controlled by collars but he’s still so paranoid. Escaping may be harder than I thought.~

…

Nathaniel blind folded Fred and Rodrigo for the rest of the trip and led them by holding both their hands. The only information that Fred was able to parse from this scenario was that after Rodrigo was dropped off it took four hundred seconds to get to his cell and there were four turns.

As soon as Fred was pushed into his cell he took his blindfold off. His cell was made from a white granite like brick. He had a low to the ground cot with a book on top of it on one side of the room. And a door that he assumed led to the bathroom on the other side. The room had no windows.

Fred walked over to the book and picked it up. As he expected. There was nothing but little scribbles on the title page. ~I shouldn’t hope against hope. But maybe the title of this book is just weird and I can read what’s inside.~ He opened the book. Inside were just more scribbles. Fred closed the book and threw it over his back. ~The spoken language might be the same. But the written one isn’t. Shit.~ Fred sat down on top of his cot.

“Well. What am I gonna do now?” The room did not answer. He was stuck. He was trapped.