Higher Education

Kidnapping!

Sebastian was late. Sky knew he was going to be late, which is why she made sure to remind him to set a timer to pick her up for prom, and yet here she was, standing at the top of the stairs in a light blue frilly dress, waiting for her movie entrance level walk down the stairs as he rang the doorbell. He'd walk in after her Mom answered the door, and see her walking down the stairs and... Well now it wouldn't matter because her Mom and Bridget left already for their date, and she was stuck waiting at the top of the stairs wrinkling her dress in her hands.
Sky sighed and walked down the hall to her room, checking her reflection in the mirror. She had let her wavy orange hair down rather than keep in a headband as per her usual style, and bright blue eyes. She looked into the glass and sighed. Maybe she was being too hard on him. It is prom night, and his house was across town, meaning he had to go through downtown's endless spew of traffic, so he did have an excuse for being a little late.
She looked at the clock on her desk. "Twenty minutes is a bit much though," she huffed to herself.
Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Finally!
She rushed down the stairs, nearly tripping on her dress hem, and threw open the door. Standing there was not* in fact Sebastian, but two people she had never met. One was taller than her, wearing a strange, lined black suit, and glasses with a thin metal rim. The other, who was a bit shorter than the boy, wore a long, pitch black lacy dress, that trailed off in the back and parted by the bottom to showcase heels that made her already long legs seem longer. Around her neck was a black choker with a fiery emblem in the center. The boy had brown hair with matching brown eyes, and the girl had half brown half black hair, also with matching eyes; one brown, one black.
"Oh, hello," Sky said, stepping back a bit.
"We are here to collect you." They both said simultaneously.
"Excuse me?"
They both fell silent for a moment and looked at each other. The boy shrugged and jerked his head at her, and the girl nodded. They each reached toward Sky and grabbed an arm, causing Sky to yelp, pulling.
Despite the fact that there were two of them, they did not manage to get Sky out. She shoved them both forward away from her, causing them to fall down. "Are you trying to kidnap me?" Sky asked, incredulous.
"You suck, you know that?" The girl said, standing and brushing off the back of her dress. "We rehearsed that 'we are here to collect you' bullshit so many times for this, and yet noooo." At the "no" she waved her hands.
"Can you please just come with us?" The boy said, also standing. "We really don't have much time here."
"Oh yeah, I'll go with the two creepy strangers who already tried to kidnap me on prom night." Sky said, raising an eyebrow.
"Really?" He asked with a hopeful face.
"Hell no." She slammed the door on his hopeful face, before beginning to walk up the stairs.
Halfway up, she heard another knock on the door. "You gotta be friggin kidding me..."
"Look man, I—" Her breath was knocked out of her as a strong gust of wind slammed into her back, knocking her out the door and sending her flying forward, and into a large young man's arms. She tried to move to shove him away, but she was caught in a bear hug with her arms pinned to her sides.
"Sorry miss," the man said, "you should've gone with us the first time."
Sky looked at the new person. He had long, light brown hair, hazel eyes, and a handsome face. "Put me down!" She screamed.
He raised an eyebrow. "Are you gonna run?"
Is he serious? "No...?"
"Okay." He opened his arms, and dropped her. Despite originally being at eye level with the man when he caught her, she was now much shorter than him, coming up a little lower than his shoulder. When her feet hit the ground she bolted towards her house, pausing to turn and stick up her finger.
Suddenly, he was in front of her again, catching her wrist before she could reach the house. "What the fu—" before she could process how fast he'd moved, a cloth was shoved toward her mouth.
She clenched her teeth tight and jerked her head away. "C'mon, just open your mouth and this'll be over." The man said.
"Hell no!" Skylar screamed, and clamped her mouth shut again before he could shove the cloth in.
After a minute of wrestling with the cloth, the man gave up. "I'll stop if you don't scream." He promised.
Sky weighed the options in her mind.  She could try screaming one more time, but she didn't see any point as no one heard her last one, and this guy was weirdly fast. At least this way she could talk. "Fine."
"Thank you." He pulled the rag away from her face and set her down, leading her over to a long limo where the two people from before stood, along with another tall man wearing a stark white tuxedo. The boy with the funny suit was no longer wearing the suit, instead he wore a cloak made up of long strips of fabric, which seemed to be moving randomly around him. Underneath he wore simple jeans and a sweatshirt.
"Wasn't he wearing a suit beforehand?" Sky asked, pointing to the boy. There was no way that he'd changed fast enough for them to kick down her door, nor was there any reason to change. Just as she said it, the strands of the cloak shot up, and wrapped around his body, reforming the lined suit she'd seen before.
"Who?"
Sky's eyes were wide as saucers. "N-nothing."
The man raised an eyebrow but stayed silent.
When they reached the limo, the man in the white suit opened the door for them. Sky had yet to get a good look at him until then, and her breath hitched. He had rich brown hair, which was cut slightly short and spiked up. His black eyes bored into her as she stepped into the limo, and his jawline seemed sharp enough to cut diamonds.
"Thank you, Elijah." The girl with the black dress said as he helped her into the limo, and she pet his shoulder as she passed. Once she moved out of the way, Sky caught a view of Elijah's blushing face and she grinned, raising an eyebrow. Someone's got a crush... Ugh, wait. Why do you care?*
The boy wearing the strange suit moved into the limo next, followed by the Elijah and Jawline. The two moved to either side of the limo, positioning themselves between Sky and the two apparent leaders of the small caravan. "Okay Sky, you are probably confused as all hell," The girl began.
"Am I gonna be—"
"We aren't gonna do anything bad to you, so if that's what you're asking you don't need to." The boy interrupted quickly.
"We're just here to take you somewhere safer than your house, I promise." She gestured to herself, "My name is Aria," to the boy next to her wearing the cloak/suit, "this is my brother Nico. The man to the left of you, wearing the tux, is Doon, and the man to your right is Elijah."
"My house is already safe." She quipped. If they weren't gonna hurt her she could be as rude as she wanted to them right now. "Also who are you people? What do I need to be saved from?"
"Okay first of all," Nico said, holding up a finger, "your house is not safe. We just kidnapped you without any problem. Second of all—"
"You don't need to know the answers to the other two questions yet." Aria snapped. "We just have two more houses to go to, so bear with us if there's trouble. Whatever you do, stay in the car."
They drove for a few more minutes in uncomfortable silence before arriving at an old, worn down apartment building. Aria and Nico stepped out of the car and through the doors of the structure, while the two other men stayed in the car.
Sky schemed on how to get out of the limo in the time that she had. She could see some bottles in a small cooler that she could grab. If she could knock out Elijah, who seemed super strong since he could carry her with just one arm, then she should be able to stab Doon and threaten the driver to turn around.
Okay, on three. One... two... She leapt up and grabbed the nearest bottle, smashing it into the side of Elijah's face, and knocking him out cold. Before she could turn to Doon, he'd already jumped up, tackling her to the ground and straddling her waist before pinning her arms above her head. His black eyes seemed to be glowing softly.
"Do not test me," he growled, breathing heavily. "Next time I won't be as gentle. Now sit down and do. Not. Move." He stood, allowing her to stand and sit back down in her seat.
She felt slightly bad for Elijah, since he seemed to be nice, but dismissed those feelings as Stockholm Syndrome setting in early. She crossed her arms and frowned, disappointed that her escape attempt failed, and sat in silence with Doon.
After a few more minutes, she heard Doon mutter, "What's taking them so long?" Under his breath.
As if summoned by his words, a huge boom sounded off above the limousine. Doon frantically opened the limo door and grabbed Elijah, ushering her out of the car. He rushed them across the street, and looking up at the building, Sky could see a huge hole in the side that was leaking smoke. Out of nowhere a scraping sound could be heard from the drivers seat, and the entire top blew off releasing a jet of lightening and flame. Two creatures shot out and directly into the smoking building.
"What the hell is going on?" Sky yelled at Doon, who was still panicking and shoving her forward.
"Don't look back, just run!"
Suddenly, something slammed into the ground in front of them, creating a small crater. After a moment, Sky heard enraged screaming coming from inside, and flames began to lick the edge of the hole. Aria shot out, wreathed in flames. The side of her body where she once had black hair was covered in deep purple fire, while the side with the brown hair had a white inferno. At her back was a pair of gigantic flaming wings, and she rocketed back toward the building.
"Holy shit." Sky breathed, shocked. She looked back toward the building in time to see another fiery explosion, before a massive bolt of lightening shot out of the side. The clouds began hide the once clear night sky, and sheets of rain began to quickly fall. "What was that?"
Ignoring her, Doon lifted Sky onto his shoulder, cursing profusely as he sprinted away. "Lux!" He screamed into the rain.
A streak of light appeared before the three, fading to reveal a majestic white stallion wearing a saddle. Resting on it's forehead was a sharp, pearlescent shining horn. Oh my god it's a friggin unicorn. She gazed at the majestic creature in awe.
The unicorn touched Doon's forehead with it's horn, and they all began to glow. As the light shone brighter and brighter, Sky felt something thin and firm grab her ankle.
"Doon?"
"I'm kinda busy, what do you need?" He answered through gritted teeth.
"I think something grabbed my—" Whatever had grabbed her yanked. Hard. Sky flew out of Doon's grasp with a shout, and into the dark rain. The light of the unicorn faded, along with Doon's alarmed scream. All Sky could see in the rain was an occasional streak of fire, flashes of lightening, and inky blackness.
Shadows danced in the dark. Sky thought she saw a massive hound, bounding at a dragon, but it was swallowed up by darkness before she could get a good look. A streak of fire shot into the rain above her, followed by a bolt of lightening.
She kicked helplessly at the thing gripping her ankle, but it wouldn't let go. The pavement dug into her side, ripping up her blue dress, until a tall figure appeared. He stood with his arms behind is back, and a shadowy dog paced at his side. Half of his face was obscured in fire-like shadow, his eye glowing purple, while the other half seemed relatively normal. He smiled as she was dragged closer. His canines were oddly pronounced, and flashed white whenever lightening occasionally lit up the area. His tousled, wet black hair blew in the wind, and what remained of a slashed, thin polo shirt clung to his muscular frame and dark, tanned skin. As she was dragged closer, he leaned down, tilting her chin up towards his face.
"Hello." He said. His voice was rich and deep, like caramel despite his fiery exterior. "I'm guessing they tried to kidnap you, too?"
"I think I'd rather go with them than with you." Sky squeaked.
"Oh, c'mon. Do I really look that bad?" He asked, seemingly disappointed. "Those twins are the ones that blew up the building."
"You should've gone with them when they asked the first time." Sky said shakily, quoting Elijah.
He laughed deeply. "I have a sister in that building that wouldn't survive without me. I couldn't leave. Besides, like I said, they tried to kidnap you."
Sky opened her mouth and closed it again. The man was making some good points as to fight them, but "Did you tell them that? About your sister?"
He opened his mouth and held up a finger, and paused. Just before he could answer, his dog barked and the man looked up and into the fog. A streak of flame rocketed toward them. He cursed and waved a hand, summoning a wave of darkness around the two of them. Just before it could fully envelop the two, lightening sparkled in the fog, ramming into the dome and dispelling the shadows.
Nico stalked out of the fog, the strips of his cloak lashing out around him. He raised a hand and the rainwater began to gather in front of him into a large sphere, and with a flick of his hand it began to crackle with electricity. "Hands off Zach."
"You can't just take people from their homes and expect them to be okay with it!" The man, Zach apparently, yelled over the rain. "It was prom night, she was probably waiting for someone!"
"She would've been killed if we didn't take her." Another voice resonated through the sheets of rain. Aria appeared wreathed in fire. Whenever rain got near her, it hissed and turned to steam. A great pair of wings were still spread on her back, and the twin colors of fire cast dramatic shadows over everyone present. "You will be too if you don't stop fighting. We don't want to hurt you, but we will."
Zach scoffed. "You couldn't hurt me if you tried! You haven't been able to yet!" His dog growled in agreement. At that, the Aria seemed to grow angry, the flames around her spiking.
"Aria can we just knock him out already? He isn't gonna come willingly." Nico called out to his sister.
"He's starting to piss me off." Aria agreed. She began to sculpt a searing hot growing ball of heat in her hands, both colors of her fire swirling together.
In response to their attacks, Zach had formed a vibrating nexus of darkness in his hand, and slammed it into the ground. A shockwave of darkness pushed outward, cracking the concrete beneath them and rocketing out toward the twins. Nico lazily tossed the swirling ball of water and electricity into the oncoming wave, and Aria simply flicked hers into the blast. Both orbs slammed into the sides of the shockwave, instantly breaking through and streaking toward Zach and Sky. Just before the orbs hit, light surrounded Sky and she felt herself floating. She reformed into existence, dropping into Doon's arms.
Through the rain, Sky saw a blast of light, and then a gust of air which caused Doon to take a small step back. He sighed and looked up at the sky as the rain began to quickly, and suddenly, fade. "That was overkill, even for them. He's lucky they held back."
Sky looked at the smoking hole where Zach's charred, sopping wet body lay. He was still breathing, though both he and his shadowy dog were knocked out cold. I'm in deep shit.