Mark Of The Ultimate Chosen

Chapter 5 - Looking Out For Sky

Stella practically jumped on her cell phone when it rang.

"Hey, Stella. I'm safe. There were some crazy people who thought they were ninjas but they dropped me off at the house and I'm safe now."

"Oh, that's wonderful. We'd better call everyone and tell them. They're all out looking for you!" Sky loved how Stella didn't even acknowledge the fact that there were crazy ninjas after her.

" What? Who's everyone?" Sky asked, surprised. It's not like they knew a lot of people.

"The whole family. Everyone in the whole family was out looking for you!"

"Even Dad?"

"Yes, even Dad."

"You're kidding, right?" He was probably just trying to make himself look good, either way.

"No. I have to go now. I have to call everyone." Click. Stella disconnected and began dialing.

Sky dialed her mother.

"Hey, Mom. Stella told me everyone was out looking for me."

"We were worried sick about you! Where have you been? What have you been doing? Why didn't you call me? Better yet, why didn't you call the police?"

" I was...uh...with some guys...they..uh...they dropped me off." Sky didn't want her mother to know she'd been kidnapped by ninja-wannabes.

"Your sister told me you were kidnapped by some guy who said you were The Chosen One? What's that supposed to mean? Were you kidnapped by some kind of cult member? You better avoid those cult members. It's those guys you date. You never did have very good standards."

Darn that Stella. Sky was going to get her for this.

"Don't worry about it, Mom." Sky said and clicked off the phone. She shoved it into her pocket. No way was she calling her father.

Her father had popped in and out of her and her mother and sister's lives since she was a child. He would leave Mom and then he would come back. Say he was sorry he left. Sorry he'd hurt everybody. When it was new it was painful. After the fourth or fifth time it was the norm.

Sky was convinced that if her father had really loved her mother he would have either stayed gone and spared his wife's feelings or he would have stayed at home and worked it out. Sky used to have to restrain herself from jumping with joy when he left. Every time she prayed it would be the last. That he would stay gone.

But no, he would walk in and out like the life he had made was optional. He would stay gone long enough that Sky would become adjusted to not having him around. She was put in a role of authority without him, minding her little sister.

Then he would come back again and Mom and Stella would be overjoyed. Sky stayed away. She knew better. She wasn't going to get attached. Because she knew that just as she would get used to the idea of him staying, that's the moment when he would leave again.

Sky didn't visit home much because she knew there was a possibility he would be there and her parents would be in the on-again part of their unusual on-again, off-again relationship. Sky had no interest in dealing with her father whatsoever. She liked to pretend that he was a piece of history and not a piece of the present. Stella didn't have any hard feelings where their father was concerned but Sky never wanted to see him again.

***

Sky woke up with a start. It was still dark but the clock announced that it was six forty five.

Scratching noises? Why did she hear scratching noises? Someone was outside her house. Sky suddenly found herself wishing she had a dog or an alarm or some sort of protection. At least a lock on the door that wasn't faulty.

She pushed her blanket aside and tiptoed toward the bedroom door. Sky wasn't the shy, scared type. She was confident. Outgoing. She was Sky Karma Deskarga.

Sky Karma Deskarga is not afraid of anything. At least that's what she told herself as she tiptoed out of her bedroom and looked around at each window and door to check for a latch turning or an unusual shadow. Rustling came by the window and Sky thought she made out a shadowy figure.

She grabbed a flashlight, if for nothing else to bean the person standing outside her window. And it was a heavy flashlight so it would do the job. That would give her a chance to call the police. She pushed the curtains back slowly and peeked around. Nobody there. She walked to her front door and unlatched it. She stepped outside and onto the porch to look around.

The next thing she knew she was was hostage to ninjas. She was passed from ninja to ninja until she finally came to the tallest ninja. He put her over his shoulder and then the ninjas took off. Headed to wherever they were going.

"What the hell?" Sky yelled involuntarily. Who are these people? The same guys from yesterday? If they weren't crazy why were they kidnapping her?

What if they weren't the same crazy people who had abducted her the day before. They could be rogue ninja wannabes.

"Put me down!" Sky yelled. She slammed her fist down on the back of the ninja who was holding her. He didn't flinch. Said nothing. Sky screamed, hoping a neighbor would look out a window.

But she was quieter after a moment when she thought how embarrassing it would be to be rescued from a pack of rogue ninja wannabes. She bit her lip and repeatedly hit the guy who was carrying her.

Finally he spoke, "If you don't stop that we're going to take a detour and chuck you off the nearest cliff."

Sky stopped squirming. She didn't want to be chucked off a cliff. She just wanted to go home.

"What is the meaning of this? If you don't put me down on safe ground right now I'm going to call the police. Then you're going to have a lot of explaining to do." Sky informed him.

"It's time for ninja training and since your skills are obviously lacking, you need to start as soon as possible. And I'm not setting you down. You would just run away if I do. This is too important. You don't really have a choice in the matter. Sorry about that."

"Ninja training! I've been abducted from my home at six in the morning for ninja training! I'll be damned if I don't have a choice. You put me down this instant!" She was yelling now. "Are you all out of your minds? Put me down!

One of the ninjas shook his head. "Nobody believes in us anymore. It's so sad."

Sky's heart sank. These guys really were out of their minds. That meant probably, all hope was lost. If she got home she was going to adopt a big, scary looking dog.

And it was going to sleep in her bed with her. Then she wouldn't have to worry about being kidnapped anymore. If it's a girl, Sasha. A boy, Liam, she thought to herself, keeping her mind distracted. Thinking of tomorrow always raised her hopes and confidence in a seemingly hopeless, no-way-out situation.

She wondered if they would have bothered her if she still worked in the office. She got the note on the same day she got fired. That was when her world had been turned upside down. Now here she was, over the shoulder of some guy who called himself a 'ninja', being carried off to doomsday. You could argue that that's not necessarily what was going to happen but the truth was Sky didn't really know where she was going. Maybe she would be a sacrifice, she thought, filled with horror.