After the shopping spree the girls went to, most of the girls stopped hanging around Mae. They met their goal and decided to leave her alone.
However, two girls decided to stick with her. These girls' names were Haley and Katrina and they were the closest with Mae out of the whole group.
Katrina was was always questioning everything and was greedy for more knowledge. The three amigos were together most of the time and now, Haley and Katrina could understand most of Mae's suttle movements or word choices and what she was feeling without using her expressionless face.
Asher wanted her to enjoy her time with her new friends and thus he announced that he would take a break from challenges to focus on his studies.
No one could have predicted what was about to happen and even if it wasn't dangerous to her, it could prove much more complex to deal with.
While Mae was walking to the bus after school one day, she was still immersed in the book she was reading while walking.
She had spent a few hours reading with Haley and Katrina in the library after school and she was the last to leave.
This was the reason why nobody was around. If Mae could go back in time (which she couldn't *cough cough* yet) she would slap herself for not just teleporting immediately.
Her brain must still have been thinking about the book and after seeing that she missed the bus, she instictively started walking.
It wasn't near a suspiciously dark alleyway or anything, but that might have been better so she could realize there was someone else there as well. Instead, it was in a quite crowded street where everyone was rushing to get home before dark.
A stone was stuck on her back and she felt it trying to block her ME, and felt a needle inserted into her neck. Her thoughts were those of,
"I guess this is the part where I close my eyes and pretend it worked?"
Her body was caught by the person behind her as she fell and she just kept her body slack. As far as she could tell, the person who was currently trying to kidnap her was a kid himself.
She could feel his ME and it was by no accounts small, in fact it could really be praised. She could tell that he bad worked hard and was gifted. He was around fifth stage and still her age.
She felt him lean her body on his shoulder so it looked like a concerned friend was helping her. She was really curious if she knew him, so she split her spirit from her body to have a look at him.
He had fiery red hair that was curling slightly at the points and grey, blue eyes. He wasn't bulky, but he couldn't be described as on the petite side.
He put her in a car and climbed in next to her. He closed the car door and called one word to make them go on their way.
"Move."
Mae went back into her body, why would she move as a spirit if she could spare energy by lying in her body?
The boy didn't talk, nor look at her so it seemed he didn't want her directly. The only other person he could want would be her brother and it seemed most likely he was the boy her brother was talking about.
He sure looked like it, pale, red hair that was quite rare in the area and constantly looking hella angry. If she remembered correctly, he was from another country and moved into one of the schools in the area.
She silently sighed. Well, she would take any sleep she could get. Even if it was when she was being kidnapped.
Her brother should know that she'll be fine and he wouldn't come to look for her and after realizing that she had no advantage to give, this guy should let her go.
And so she casually fell asleep in some unknown person's car with that same unknown person in it without a care in the world.
When she woke up, she stretched her body relaxededly. (Is that even a word? Anyway) She looked around her calmly and found herself in a plain plastic box with breathing holes at the top.
It seemed that he had put suppression crystals all around the plastic room and the only object in the room was the soft mattress that she was currently lying on.
Other than than that, there was a boiling red headed boy standing just outside the box she was in. The moment their eyes connected, he started shouting.
"What the bloody hell, I almost thought you were dead from how long you slept! You are even pale enough to pass as a corpse!"
She huffed at his insult and in her heart a voice screamed,
"Aren't you just as pale?!"
Of course all he saw was a very delicate looking doll looking back at him without saying anything.
"Ah jeez! Have you broken already? I wasn't going to harm you, I just want a nice fight with your brother. So sit tight and don't die. Okay? Jeez, with a body as thin as yours I'm surprised you can walk."
She just tuned out after that, it seemed he had quite the word vomit. The clanging of a metal plate landing on the floor brought her back.
A plate of food lay in front of her, she had no clue how it got there... but who questions food? As long as it's there right!
She leaned down and basically inhaled the food and after she was satisfied, she saw that the redhead was still ranting.
She climbed back on the mattress and almost wanted to thank the redhead for kidnapping her. Now she could sleep all day.
She had a small smile on her lips as she fell asleep and a distant sound was heard.
"Hey, are you listening to me? Are you kidding me! You're gonna sleep again! What is..."
The cycle continued on for a few days. She would eat three times a day and sleep the rest of the time. Whenever the redhead talked, she nodded her head or answered with a nonchalant "mm"
Sadly, she knew the end was bear. Redhead was starting to ask if her brother really didn't care for her or was a coward for not coming to get her.
She just smiled, because she knew he was worried, but knew better than to come looking. This was like a vacation for her.
"Seriously, if he doesn't come by tonight I'll return you and go look for him at his house!"
She was going to smile again, but it slipped off when she saw the figure of her brother enter the building.
She wanted to curse and shout profanities at him! What the hell was he doing here?
It would have been fine if she was the only one that noticed him, but this redhead was really on a much higher cultivation level than the kids their age.
She sighed and wanted to facepalm! Why now brother, he was so close to letting me go! She was basically crying on the inside and scolding him with her eyes at the same time.
He flinched and knew he would get an earfull from her later. He signaled that she should swap them. She really did facepalm then.
No shirbet Sherlock, but how was she supposed to switch their clothes and positions without the overly enthusiastic boy noticing. Plus the ME blocking crystals, she would have to break them to do anything outside the box.
She shrugged her shoulders. Asher glared at her in a "why did you het caught in the first place" kind of way and she rolled her eyes "what was I supposed to do? Hey, um, so this is kinda awkward, but these kind of tricks don't actually work on me. So better luck next time?"
The redhead was oblivious to the siblings' quarrel and proceeded to do as any good antagonist. You know, the usual...
"Now that you have come, I Jan Cotze will fight you."
Followed by the typical...
"Try to entertain me as long as you can."
Kind of thing.