Destiny Rising

Chapter 18

My blood ran cold as the line went dead. Jasmine was my best friend, almost like my sister. No way could I let this happen to her. I quickly threw on the clothes I was holding, then bounded down the stairs and out of the house. Frantically, I called Michael as I went.

“Sapphire, what’s up?” he asked casually when he answered

“Jasmine. Dante has Jasmine.” I managed to gasp.

“What? When? Where?” He asked frantically.

“This morning. She called me, but Dante must have caught her because he took over her phone. He said Port Burwell Provincial Park, if I come, she’ll go free.” I said quickly “I’m on my way now, but I’ll still be 45 minutes to an hour before I get there.”

“No, don’t go. Just let me handle this.” He demanded.

“No, I’m going. Jasmine is my best friend. I have to help her.” I shot back.

“Sapphire…”

“I’m not arguing with you over this. I’m going and that’s final.” I interrupted and hung up amidst his protest. I switched my phone to vibrate and shoved it down into the front pocket of my jeans, cranked the radio, and tried to ignore the persistent vibration coming from it. By the time I reached the park, I was breathing hard and sweating despite the chill from the air conditioner. As soon as I parked, I was out of the car like a shot and running towards the cliffs. Carefully, I scrambled to the base, my sneakers slipping and sliding on the wet rocks as I went. I came to a standstill when I saw Troy, of all people, standing at the mouth of a cave about a mile down the shoreline.

“Troy? What are you doing here?” I asked cautiously as I stopped a few feet from where he stood. But he didn’t reply, instead a slender pale arm wrapped around his neck from behind. A gasp escaped me as I took a step forward.

“Well, well, well. It’s about time lil miss perfect showed up.” Darci said, stepping from the shadows behind Troy “Daddy’s been getting impatient.”

“Darci, I’m here. Now please, let Jasmine and Troy go.” I responded, trying to sound strong.

“Awe, but what fun would that be?” She giggled. “And I’ve been having a lot of fun.”

“It’s me your father wants. Now please, let them go.” I said as calmly as possible “They have nothing to do with this.”

“You’re lying.” She sang, and slowly a smile spread across her face at something behind me. I started to turn, but all I saw was a flash of dark red hair as something hit me over the head. The last thing I saw was Troy walking towards me, then nothing but blackness. Something wet was dripping on my cheek. Blinking my eyes open, I couldn’t see anything beyond my nose. From the feeling beneath my palms and the hardness against my back, I had to be carried into a cave. When I turned my head to try and get a feel of the space, a sharp pain shot right through my skull. I moved my hands up to probe the area with my fingers. There was a large bump there, but also something wet and sticky. Blood, I could tell by the coppery smell, like pennies that have been sitting in the warm sun. Suddenly, a vibration ran down my right thigh and made me jump at the suddenness of it. My phone! Nobody had noticed my phone in my jeans pocket. I scrambled to pull it out before anyone could notice it lighted up the surrounding darkness. Glancing down at it, I noticed a million, or what seemed like that, missed texts and calls from Michael and, oh joy, my parents. All different variations of asking where I was. According to the time on my phone, it was just after 3 pm. I did some quick calculations, which meant I had been unconscious for around 5 hours. Ignoring the texts, I accessed the flashlight app on my phone and used its light to look around.

“Jasmine!” I gasped when the light landed on her slumped-over shape. “Oh my god! Are you okay?” I asked as I scrambled across the cave floor to her side. But the only response I got was a moan from her. I did a glance around the cave to make sure I was alone, then went over Jasmine for any injuries. She seemed mostly okay, except for a cut on her right eye, a golf ball-sized bump on the back of her head, and what appeared to be a broken arm. There was a lot of blood from the cut and bump, which explained why she said there was so much blood because head wounds bleed a lot.

“Come on Jas, you have got to get up.” I pleaded, trying to get her to wake up. I lifted her gently, so her head was resting on my lap instead of the cave floor. “We need to get out of here before they come back, so come on.”

“Sapphire?” she moaned after a couple of moments. “My head hurts.”

“I know. I’ll get you something for it as soon as we’re out of here.” I replied as I shoved my phone back in my pocket and managed to lift her into the sitting position.

“Where are we?” She asked, groggy, no doubt from her head wound.

“In a cave at Port Burwell Provincial Park,” I answered and finally was able to hoist her into a standing position. “But we need to get out now.”

“Okay.” She replied weakly.

Sliding my right arm around her waist and using the left to hold her left arm across my shoulders, we began to slowly move along the cave corridor. Jasmine may be a cheerleader, but she was not light when I was supporting her weight and stumbling across the uneven ground myself.

“How do you know we’re going in the right direction?” Jasmine asked after 10–15 minutes of stumbling along. “Cause for all we know, we could be going deeper into the cave.”

“Just trust me, okay,” I replied, moving along towards the sound of the water flowing in the lake. After what seemed like forever stumbling through the darkness, we finally saw a light appear at the end of the corridor. We were so close to the exit, when a man appeared, backlight from the sun, I couldn’t quite make out his features. But that didn’t matter, I had a pretty good idea who was blocking our path.

“Let me get Jasmine to a doctor, and I’ll go willingly.” I managed to get out while supporting Jasmine’s and my weight.

“Not going to happen, my dear. Because then the Earth would be gone and only 3 would remain. I couldn’t allow that to happen now, could I?” Dante leered.

“You’re crazy, I’m the only one here.” I lied, trying to get Jasmine away from here was my number 1 priority.

“So young and foolish.” He tsked and snapped his fingers and five figures stepped into view. Troy had his arm around Michael’s neck in a chokehold, while Kiara was there with Bianca in the same position. Darci was the fifth figure, and she held a gun in her hand, she had it pointed directly at Jasmine.

“Let them go, Dante.” I gasped at the sight.

“Hmm, how about…no,” he responded lightly and pulled a dagger from the holster at his belt. The dagger looked like it was something from the Medieval Times, but the blade was shining silver and looked brand new. “How about I kill your boy here?” He asked as he strolled over to where Troy stood with Michael and grinning at me, plunged the dagger into Michael’s stomach.