Of all the many ways Ellie could have imagined spending her eighteenth birthday, waking up in the back of a moving van with a bag over her head and hands tied behind her back was not one of them. She's not sure what happened, who her captors are, what they want, or even how many of them there are. The last thing she remembers... she was at the store, maybe? Then, abruptly, here.
Well. That part about not knowing what these people want might be a lie. Over the past couple weeks, Ellie's discovered that she can- do things. Sparks, lights, an odd kind of telekinesis- little tricks, but. Not things that should be possible. Her best explanation is that it's some kind of magic. Which means that her kidnappers might be representatives of the masquerade to keep things quiet, or government stooges disappearing her to some dank vault to cut her open and experiment on her.
Neither of those options is really appealing. If she's lucky, she'll get a chance to escape at some point. She'll keep her eyes open for that, as it were.
When they stop, she's hustled out of the van and into some kind of building. Sounds like there's too many people around for her to make a move, all talking in some strange language she's never heard before. She's sat roughly down in a chair. Best she can tell, it's in a small room and her back's to a wall. Most of the footsteps leave. Perfect.
Flexing her wrist just so, claws pop out of her fingers and she begins sawing at the knot keeping her bound.