Antonio's POV
"Damn it, why isn't Crystal picking up my calls." I gritted out.
Crystal was supposed to meet us after classes but she ditched, then when I went to meet her at the cafe Gabrielle informed she didn't show up to work either. And now she is not picking up my calls.
"Maybe Jay and her are on a date." Raygen chimed in from her seat.
"And why would they be on a Date.." I asked.
"Don't tell me you're so oblivious to the sparks flying between them." Raygen wiggled her hands in the air.
"Or maybe you see too much." I mocked.
"Are you jealous?" Raygen jumped out of her seat to come and stand in front of me.
"Shut up. I am not jealous, just concerned about her."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever floats your boat." Raygen waved me off, taking her seat.
I rolled my eyes at her assumptions before dialing Crystal's number again. A distressing feeling settling into my stomach.
"Am going to Crystal's house." I exclaimed, slipping into my jacket.
"What? This late." Raygen looked at me, alarmed.
"I feel something is wrong." I replied, the feeling intensifying by the minute.
"I'll come with you." Raygen started grabbing her coat as well.
I gave her a confused look "We don't want her to get suspicious. And visiting her this late alone isn't a good idea either." She added. 'I don't understand what she means.'
I nodded at her, not wanting to argue further. I closed my eyes and pictured the porch of Crystal's house, opening them I found myself in front of it. 'Teleportation really saves time.'
'Phwoo phwoo' Raygen whistled, "Your powers are getting better."
"It's called practice." I stated.
The door suddenly flew open as a scared, worried and tensed Gabrielle stood in front of us. With her unkempt hair and sullen expression, her eyes were on the verge of tears.
"What's wrong?" Raygen asked as she approached her.
"Crystal.." Gabrielle said as her voice staggered.
"What happened to her?" I asked as my body turned rigid.
"She...she hasn't come back." Gabrielle stammered.
Raygen turned to look at me, alarmed. 'Something was definitely wrong.'
"Don't worry, I'll find her. Ray stay with Gabrielle and if you hear anything about Crystal, let me know ASAP." I ordered her as I took off to Jay's house.
Jay wasn't at his house either. Acting upon my instinct, I went to visit the campus, since it was the last place we believed them both to be.
I found Jay's car parked in front of the Arts Department. The car was locked. On inspecting the area further, I found a small dart on the ground a few inches down the exit of the building; the potent smell of anaesthesia hit my senses. Further down there were also a few drops of blood. 'Was Crystal kidnapped?' The idea of her being hurt sent a pang of sadness to my heart.
I called Raygen "Gen, meet me at the campus near the Arts building." She took a minute to appear in front of me, all confused.
"What happened? Did you find Crystal?" She asked.
I shook my head in denial. "Both Crystal and Jay are missing. Jay's car is still here, and I found this lying around." I said, pointing at Jay's parked car and producing the dart.
Raygen took hold of the dart and sniffed it. She stumbled a little as the potent smell hit her. "So.." She trailed off.
"They are kidnapped." I solemnly stated. 'But who would do that? They didn't have any enemies that we could think of. Or was it them?'
"Do you think....?" Raygen seemed to think the same.
"I don't know...." I wasn't prepared for this, we never assumed them to be this quick; 'But no matter what happens, I won't let them hurt Crystal. Even it costs my life.'
"What now?" Raygen asked, breaking my chain of thoughts.
"We find them." I said, looking at the drops of blood.
Raygen has a gift of finding the location of the person from the blood or scents. The drops of blood here have to be Crystal or Jay's, or of the kidnapper. Raygen inspected it for a while before she spoke:
"I need something that has Jay or Crystal's scent." She pulled out her car keys before scraping the blood off with it.
I went to Jay's car and unlocked it with magic. The car was filled with Jay's scent, but we needed a tangible object with his smell. Searching around Jay's hoodie in the back seat caught my eye. Pulling it out, I brought it to Raygen. She nodded in approval after seeing it. With a mission in mind, we both returned to the mansion.
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I sauntered around the mansion as I waited for Raygen to locate Crystal and Jay. As the time ticked by, the feeling of distress grew in the pit of my stomach, my mind placing vivid images of Crystal being hurt. The constant fear of Dad finding out about the situation didn't help either. When Jay first brought Crystal upon accidentally finding out she was the Princess, Dad had erased her memory of that day. He wanted to wait for her 20th birthday when she could fully control her chi properly.
The responsibility of protecting her was given upon me, and I had failed. I failed to protect the only hope of our people, but I am determined to rectify my mistake.
"An...to..nio." Raygen called out as she doubled over, catching her breath.
"I.....I found them." She declared. "They're in the Forbidden borders." She added.
"So it's them." I worded out for Raygen to nod firmly.
"Let's go, we can't waste anymore time." I said, making my way to the armament room.
"Shouldn't we bring a few others with us." Raygen suggested following me.
I opened the doors revealing the shining metallic weapons enclosed into glass cabinets ranging from knives, machetes, daggers, swords, shurikens, crossbow, claws and camouflage jackets. I threw a camouflage jacket towards Raygen, before slipping into one myself. Pocketing a few knives, and shurikens, I turned to Raygen who pocketed a dagger and a claw.
"We can't let anyone know." I referred to her earlier statement.
Raygen extended her hand for me to take, I held onto it and closed my eyes as she chanted. My body seemed light as I felt myself float. It took us approximately five minutes to reach the clearing that marked the start of the Forbidden borders.
"We need to be discreet, can't let the werewolves know of our presence." Raygen spoke, inspecting the area of any danger.
Casting a spell to mask our scents, we stepped into the borders. As Raygen meandered through the fallen leaves and tall trees, as she followed the scents. She paused at an intersection.
"What?" I asked.
"The scent...it's lost." Raygen replied.
"Lost?" I was now more confused.
"They masked it." Raygen stated.
"Let's separate then." I stated with no other alternative available.
Raygen turned to look at me worriedly "You sure?"
I firmly nodded "We don't have any other option."
"Be safe."
"You too."
Raygen took towards the right as I made my way to the left. The surroundings slowly changed, the area grew dense as the floor looked muddy. A track of wheels appeared in wet soil. Following them, I came face to face to a worn out warehouse. A guard stood alert at the entrance. I pulled out a knife and threw at him, clearly hitting near the heart. The body fell onto the floor with a thud. I waited a few seconds for any movement.
I walked up to the door, and I dragged it open. My footsteps echoed through the empty warehouse. There wasn't a single soul around. 'Is this the right place?' I was contemplating turning back when a series of pleadings caught my attention. They were coming from behind a door down the hall. I slowly made my way to it, nearing it, the voices grew clear, and I recognized it as Crystal's cries.
My blood boiled at her antagonizing cries and pleads for someone to stop. Pulling out a knife, I kicked the door open. The noises ceased as two pairs of eyes stared at me. I looked at Crystal's tear stricken face as she sat there tied down to the chair. Her eyes red and puffed from the crying. My heart broke at this.
"Aha, we have company." The man chuckled, I turned to look at him. He stood in front of an unconscious, beaten up Jay hanging from a pole. This fueled my anger further.
"You're dead." I exclaimed before throwing the knife at him. The man dodged it.
I lunged myself at him throwing a front kick to his abdomen making him stumble backwards. He threw a punch at me, steading himself. I easily dodged the punch, throwing one back at him, hitting his chin. A satisfactory cracking sound filled my ears as I threw another punch at his face. The man fell to the groaning, grabbing this opportunity I sat on his chest and continuously threw punches at his face. The man went limp from a last punch to his head.
Lifting myself off him, I turned to look at Crystal who looked at me dumbfounded. I went towards her and untied her legs and hands. She hugged him tightly as soon as her hands were free as she broke into a fit of cries. I patted her head.
"Shh..shh..everything is fine. I am here now." I soothed her.
"Let me get Jay and we can leave...ok." I said breaking the hug.
She nodded as I went to untie Jay. Jay was badly beaten up, his jaw swollen as a bruise formed under his eye. I slowly untied his legs, then moved to his hands. His unconscious body fell into my arms, his breathing slow. I carefully laid him down. I need to use teleportation. Carrying Jay back in this condition would be very difficult.
"ANTONIO..." Crystal's loud cry resonated throughout the room as a bright blue light enveloped the room.
I turned to look at Crystal to find her eyes glowing a bright blue. A light purple glow surrounded her body as she stood there, her hand outstretched. I looked behind to see the man from earlier laying on the ground with a glowing orange pattern on his chest. Astonished, I turned to look back at Crystal. She was now heaving heavy breaths as the glow slowly dissipated. 'Did she just summon her chi to protect me?'
She let out a bone piercing cry as the purple light swallowed her again. The light slowly disappeared as if her body was swallowing it. Her body swayed as I rushed to catch her. Her body fell limp into my arms as I held her close to me.
As my hand came in contact with her body, a sudden realization dawned upon me, shocking me to the core.
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A/N : Yesssssss, a double update. Enjoy reading.
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