Pleasantly Raising Cain

Lost Soul (Part 3)

The Dead Girls rushed into the room, and Aibhlinn ran straight over to Bella. She dropped to her knees, putting her hands on the dark haired girl's shoulders.

"Bella?!" She said, visibly shaking. Blizzard joined her. Aibhlinn grabbed the knife, about to yank it out when Blizzard stopped her. She put her hand over the older girl's wrist.

"No Aibhlinn. Calm down, do it gently. We don't want to hurt her any more."

Aibhlinn took a deep breath and nodded, and swiftly brought the knife out of her friend's back. Bella made no sound.

Ruby stood near the door, her mouth hanging open in shock, and Kalani had tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Is she alive?" Ruby choked out. Blizzard felt for a pulse, and looked up. She nodded.

"Bliz, Ruby, help me with Bella. Kalani, call Skulduggery," Aibhlinn told them. The girls all nodded. Aibhlinn had gone into her big sisterly mode, and had taken charge. Somehow, she always knew what to do, even in the toughest of situations.

Ruby, Blizzard and Aibhlinn all carried Bella, while Kalani pulled out her phone and started scrolling through her contacts.

"Guys I don't have Skulduggery's number," she said.

"Do you have Valkyrie's?" Blizzard asked. Kalani shook her head. Blizzard froze, and then pulled out Bella's phone from the back pocket of her pants. She threw it to Kalani, who caught it with both hands.

"Her password is Karma," she told her, no emotion in her voice at all. Kalani fought back tears and unlocked the black iPhone. She started looking through Bella's contacts, and breathed a sigh of relief when she found Skulduggery's number.

"I found it," she told them, hitting the call button. She followed the other girls back out through the hallways where they'd come in, and held the phone up to her ear.

"Bella?" Came Skulduggery's velvet voice. Kalani sighed.

"Skulduggery, it's Kalani."

"Kalani? Why do you..."

"I'll explain later. Right now, Bella's hurt."

"What?!"

"Karma's turned into a psychopath. She tried to kill her, well, Tate did."

"Kalani!" Aibhlinn called from ahead. "Don't complicate things! We can tell him all that later!"

"Right!" Kalani replied. "Sorry, but right now we need you. We have no way of getting back unless we walk."

"No," Skulduggery said. "That will take too long. Wait outside the house."

"Okay."

Kalani hung up, and tucked Bella's phone away in the pocket of her jeans.

"Skulduggery said to wait outside," she told the others, jogging to catch up with them. She opened the front door, and the Dead Girls stepped through. The cool night air blasted them in the face, and Ruby's blonde hair went nuts around her head. She stepped away as Aibhlinn and Blizzard gently placed Bella on the ground. Ruby winced as she saw the blood continue to flow. She didn't care that it had stained her own clothes and turned them crimson, all she cared about, was that Bella survived, and Karma died...

***********

Karma smirked as they appeared back in Roarhaven, directly outside Bella's house. Tate and her ducked behind cover as they saw the Bentley pull out of the driveway, and screech away.

"They've called Skulduggery," Tate whispered as they watched the Bentley disappear around a corner. Karma's eyes were locked on the house now.

"Only him, no one else was in the car," she said. "Sophie and Valkyrie are still in the house."

***********

The Dead Girls were all shivering against the cold. Kalani rubbed her arms, trying to warm herself up.

"Is she still alive?" Ruby asked Blizzard, and the brown haired girl nodded, earning sighs of relief from everyone.

"Skulduggery better hurry," Aibhlinn spoke up, her teeth chattering. She wouldn't be surprised if everyone got hyperthermia soon...

"Where do you think Karma and Tate went?" Kalani asked.

"I have no idea," Blizzard replied. Murmurs started up from the group again, but abruptly stopped when a black Bentley came speeding  around the corner. Blizzard and Aibhlinn jumped to their feet as the car screeched to a stop in front of the abandoned house. Skulduggery jumped out, slamming the door so hard that the side mirrors shook.

He sprinted toward them, and Aibhlinn and Blizzard stepped away as he dropped down beside Bella.

"Get in the car," he told the rest of them, scooping his daughter up into his arms.

The Dead Girls did as they were told. Ruby, Kalani and Aibhlinn scrambled into the back, and Skulduggery placed Bella on their laps. Blizzard hopped in the passenger side.

"Seatbelts," Skulduggery ordered, and as soon as the last person clicked theirs into place, his foot slammed on the accelerator and they were speeding back the way they'd come.

**********

Meanwhile, Karma was smirking at Tate.

"You're going to go in there aren't you?" He asked. Karma snorted.

"Of course I am. They need to pay. All of them."

She leapt up from cover, and raced up to the front door, energy already cracking in her palms. Tate sighed, and teleported inside, ending up in the hallway. He watched as Karma snuck into the kitchen, and that's when he heard a loud scream...