Stones

Part 4

“Well... What can I say? You’re stalkable!” We both cracked up and laughed for what seemed like hours. Eventually, we walked back to join everybody else, still laughing about the same stupid joke. Everyone looked at us like we were crazy.
We stopped laughing when we saw a man (I recognized him as one of the guys who’d kidnapped me), with a knife up to Jason’s throat. Now, we all hated Jason at times, but none of us wanted him DEAD! Israel was nowhere to be found, Gage was tied up on the ground, Victoria was trying to get reception on her cellphone so she could call 911, and she was clinging to Ezra who was knocked unconscious. I didn’t see Gabe anywhere, either. I saw Victoria running around, every time a guy tried to grab her she vaporized the appeared in a different place. I just stood there, frozen, until I heard an ugly voice whispering in my ear. It was another one of the bandana-kidnapper guys. He was telling me not to make any sudden sounds or movements, or he’d put me with the others. Others? Israel and Gabe!
Using my newfound karate skills, I punched the guy in the face, hoping it would knock him out. But it didn’t. He grabbed me by the throat, using some very colorful language, and bashed my head against a rock. The next I knew, I was in a dark room, with Gabe, Gage, and another quite handsome man.
“Hello there, Alex.” He said with an evil smile. “I’m Gale. A.K.A., the Dark Lord. And I believe you’ve met my Shelby.” Shelby, the head vampiress, appeared out of thin air. “And these are my minions: Gage, Gabe, and Charles, Mitch, and Harry were the ones who brought you here, to my domain.”
“Alex, run.” Gabe whispered to me. “Just go.” I didn’t. I couldn’t. I just continued staring at Gale, with his shiny dark hair, his enchanting green eyes, his devious smile. And his loyal, pretty girlfriend wrapped around his arm. I was so mesmerized by all that had happened, that I didn’t notice Gabe growing big, black wings! I screamed and tried to run for my life, but he caught me. He pulled me close, and we flew through the dark underworld (I had figured out by that point that it was an underworld).
“Gabe! What are you DOING?!?!” I shrieked.
“Saving your life.” He replied. “You’ll thank me later.”
“What are you talking about?!”
“You’ll see, or not.” It was so cold in the underworld. He noticed I was shivering, and pulled me closer. “Let’s hope not.” He flew for another few hours, I could tell his wings were getting tired, and it was getting dark. I fell asleep in his arms. I woke up the next morning in that crappy barn, alone. The sun was rising, and I could hear birds chirping outside. I had to get ready for school! I ran home and got dressed. I was about to walk out the door, when I stopped to look in the mirror. My scar was gone! My mother walked in and saw my excitement.
“Sweetie, what’s wrong? Oh look at the time!” She pointed to the cheap wall clock. “You’re gonna be late for school! Go! See ya after school.” I had taken about two steps when she said, “By the way, if I hear that you skipped class again, you’ll be grounded for the rest of your life...” At school, things were different. Jason wasn’t there. I didn’t bother to ask anyone why. Israel and Amanda left early to walk down to the waterfall again, and they told us not to follow. Victoria, Ezra, Gabe, and Gage kept looking at me and not saying anything. Eventually, I had to break the silence.
“So, what ‘special powers’ do pucks have?” I asked curiously. I had been wondering that for a while.
“Well,” Victoria answered. “You can’t fly. Hmm.... You can read minds. Er, some minds.” Exciting. Not. “And... You have a certain charm... You can make people fall for you against their will.” Okay, now we were talkin’!
“Yay! Really?”
“Well, sometimes. Some creatures are resistant. Like angels of darkness...” We both turned to Gabe. “In fact, they’re forbidden from being with any creatures not working for the Dark Lord....” A lightbulb went off in my head.
“Is that why you told me not to mention to Shelby that we’re dating?!” He nodded. “And WHY couldn’t you just tell me the truth?!?!”
“‘Cause I didn’t want to scare you away.” I knew he was right. I would’ve been scared away if I found out that my new boyfriend was violating the rules of his master, the Dark Lord, in order to be with me. Wouldn’t you be? He saw that I understood. “So, you won’t let Shelby or Gale find out, will you?”
“Nope.”
“Not even if they threatened to kill you or me?” I thought about this for a second.
“Nope, ‘cause I know you wouldn’t let that happen.” Good answer, right? Later that day, in science, Megan was giving me an evil look. I averted my eyes. Victoria told me that Megan and Regan were also angels of darkness. As Ms. Gopher was lecturing us on ecosystems and junk like that, my phone went off. Luckily, it was on vibrate, and it was in my boot. I checked and saw that I had a text from Gabe. It said: Emergency. Waterfall, come quick. Amanda... U’ll see. I told Ms. Gopher I had to go to the bathroom, and ran out of the school as fast as I could, almost forgetting what my mom had said this morning. I didn’t want to be grounded for life....
When I got to the waterfall, Gabe was hiding behind a tree, where I joined him watching Israel. Israel was sitting on the ground, staring at his hands, cleaning a knife, and crying his eyes out. In the water, I noticed a red blob of what looked like raw meat. Gabe took out his phone and texted me: Amanda. Oh god. Israel had lured Amanda out here, and stabbed and beat her to a bloody pulp. Oh god. I thought about calling the cops, and maybe an ambulance, but what good would it do? She was dead, and I had a feeling Israel would gladly do the same thing to a cop. Despite the fact he’d just murdered one of my few friends at my new school, I kinda felt bad for him. Seeing him with tears pouring down his face made him look so helpless and scared. I slid out from behind the tree, just as Gabe texted me: Don’t. Not safe. Pleez. It was too late. I walked up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder. When he turned around quickly, I half expected him to stab me, but he didn’t.