When I woke up I was laying on Jake's mattress. He must have moved me once I feel asleep and I didn't even notice. Thank you Granny, right now I really do need help, and he is good I can feel it. I just hope we can pull off what we have planned for today, well at least half way planned. Really we don't have a plan passed following Julie back to Aidan. Not the best plan but better than nothing, and according to Jake, a lot better than me just letting them kidnap me. Where is he anyway? It can't be more than six maybe seven. "Jake? Jake are you here?" Nothing, huh, better check around.
A note: Kenna went out to get some breakfast, didn't figure you would really be that hungry when you meet with Julie. I will be back soon; do not under any circumstances leave the house. Jake
Well great, stuck in this dang house, wouldn't be so bad if the man owned a damn TV! Nothing else for it, I guess I should just lay back down and see if I can get back to sleep.
And that didn't work; I laid here for another hour just staring at the ceiling before Jake finally showed back up, back soon my butt, took him long enough to get breakfast. "It took you long enough, what happened to be back soon? Did you have to go catch a chicken to get the eggs?"
"I was only gone a little over an hour, and I honestly figured you would be asleep the entire time I was gone. You didn't get a lot last night."
"You got even less, I must have woke just after you left then, because I have been up for an hour or so now."
"Sorry, I did bring you breakfast though, and not McDonalds, I stopped and actually got you homemade biscuits and gravy with bacon and hash browns, I even brought you some coffee."
"Oh Coffee, do you have cream and sugar?"
"Already in there, just how you like it."
"Huh, we'll see." Of course it is just like I like it. Really if this wasn't already stressful enough I would really think him knowing this was creepy as hell. "Ok, you win. It's perfect. Come on I will make a little picnic on the floor and we can eat and try to work out today a little better than we have already."
Breakfast was great, but we really weren't any farther in creating a better plan by the time Julie called. I was expecting the call, but I about jumped out of my skin when my phone rang. Am I really ready for this? Well I guess I am going to have to be. Ok, let the acting begin, "Hello."
"Kenna? Kenna, is everything ok? Where are you, I have been worried sick!"
"Huh, oh Julie, yeah everything is fine, still sleeping. Give me a sec." Stay calm, you can do this girl.
"Kenna, I went by the house and you weren't there, are you sure everything is alright?"
"Oh yeah, you and Aidan weren't around last night so I went out . Aidan was suppose to pick me up at the airport, what happened?"
"Sorry about that, we were ah having a romantic ah day and completely spaced it out. Sorry girl."
"No worries, everything is ok though right? I still haven't heard from Aidan."
"Yeah, we went to dinner and a movie last night and as late as it was he decided to stay at my place, he went to school first thing this morning."
Yeah sure he did, cause he would totally forget to pick his sister up from the airport, and forget to call her or text her to let her know what was going on! Calm down Kenna, you can do this. "Oh, I tried calling him last night, but he never answered."
"His ah phone died yesterday, and he left it here this morning in his hurry to make it to class on time."
"Well, hopefully he did, I know how important his studies are." Seriously Julie, shouldn't your lies be a little more thought out than this?
"So Kenna, where are you?"
"Um well, ha-ha I really don't know. Kinda got a little drunk last night and I woke up at this guy's house."
"You what, Kenna you need to tell me where you are right now!"
"Don't worry he is really nice. When I woke up he was sleeping on his coach and I was fully dressed. He told me I couldn't remember my address last night, which makes since because I can't remember it sober. So he let me crash at his place."
"Well where are you, I will come get you."
"No that's ok, I kinda like him Julie, he was nice enough to let me use his shower and he already called a taxi to come get me in about an hour anyway."
"Kenna, I would feel a lot better if you let me come get you. You don't even really know this guy."
"Julie it is fine, I am 25 after all. I will wait for the cab."
"Are you sure girl, it is no problem for me to come get you."
"I am sure, no worries. Hey shouldn't you be at school this morning?"
"Ah my classes don't start until 11 for me, so I thought I might take you out for breakfast."
"That sounds great, I can just have the taxi dropped me off somewhere, where did you want to go?"
"Ah, I was thinking of going down to the café just down from Aidan's, you know the one he always goes to?"
"Oh yeah, so meet you there in an hour?"
"Ok, that will work, see you soon."
Oh thank God that is over. "Whew Jake, I did it; I don't think she suspects anything."
"Good, this is still going to be very tricky Kenna, please don't do anything to put yourself in harm's way. And we need to get there before she does. If she beats us there I am sure she will have a drink waiting for you and try and drug you or something, and don't let her talk you into doing anything. Ok let's go." Jake is nervous, there are so many things that can go wrong. Please let this all work out.
Thankfully Jake's place is just a block from Aidan's so it didn't take us five minutes to get to the café, and Julie is nowhere in sight. I sat down and ordered another coffee, I just hope I doesn't have to pee to soon, no doubt there would be someone waiting to drug me if I went into the bathroom. But I promised Jake that I wouldn't go to the bathroom no matter what.
I am stalling, I really am, but Julie keeps insisting on taking me home. There is no way I am going to get in a car with this woman, shit! "Julie really it's fine, I like the walk and Aidan's isn't that far from here. Besides I already told you, I promised that guy I met last night we could do lunch together. Oh Julie he was so great, such a gentleman. Just think, if I get together with this guy I will probably stay here instead of going home." I have her with that; if she strays from her wanting me to live here she blows it.
"That would be great; you know Aidan and I would love for you to stay here, but really some guy you met in a bar. I still don't trust this Kenna. There are a lot of creeps out there."
Yeah, like the one sitting across from me? "It wasn't a bar it was a club, and I told you he was great, didn't even try anything with me."
"At least let me give you a ride home."
"Really Julie, don't worry about it. I was actually thinking about stopping by that boutique on the corner, they have some really cute sundresses and I was thinking of getting something great to wear to lunch. And it is already 10:30, you have class in a half hour, and no way am I letting you skip class for me, school is important and I will not be to blame for you missing classes."
"Fine you win!" I knew I had, I left her with no option but to leave me at the café, "but how about dinner tonight?"
"Ok, maybe you, me and Aidan can go to some place nice tonight, and depending on how things go with this new guy, maybe he will join us too."
"Yeah, that would be great!" There is worry in her eyes. I made her loose her footing, she isn't sure what to do now. Good, I need her as much off balance as I could get her.
"Get going girl, you will not be late for class, I've got breakfast. Just need to finish up my coffee and go find the perfect dress."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, Julie go."
"Ok, see you tonight."
"Have a great day." She actually left, I actually did it. Wahoo to me! Ok, Jake said that chances were if this worked Julie wouldn't actually go far. The others were probably around somewhere and they were going to watch me for a while. So I am to sit here finishing my coffee then go look at dresses, huh not a big fan of shopping anyways, but doing it by myself even worse!
Hey that is my phone maybe Jake got something. It is a text: 'Kenna, Julie is sitting in a van just around the corner. You are going to have to go look at some dresses. Go to the boutique you told Julie about, then I can go in and meet you, so when they finally leave we can follow. -Jake' So off to the dress shop for me yippee.
You know it is pretty creepy to be shopping and know that right outside people are just watching you, puts you a little on edge.
"Hey."
"Holy shit, Jake you about made me jump out of my skin."
"They are watching us, so you need to act like I am asking you a question, you know pretend to laugh, touch my arm, make it look like we are flirting. Hopefully they will get bored and leave soon, if not you are going to have to buy one of these dresses."
"Yeah, but I can't try them on, I mean what if they somehow get into the dressing room or something."
"I know just look at a few, find one you like and get it. I am already here so it doesn't make since to change anyway, then we can walk somewhere for lunch."
"Right, um if your already here then why do I have to buy a dress exactly? It isn't like I am going to get to wear it."
"True, but we need to waste some time here, so go look around, stay around the windows so they can see you. I am going to sit down, and look like I am waiting for you, those chairs right over there give me a great view of the van, and they can't really see me."
"Ok." We are good, the entire time we were having this serious conversation any onlooker would think we were just flirting and it is a normal day. Hopefully the guys in the van are buying it. It seemed like forever before Jake said it was ok for us to go to lunch, I did buy a sundress, maybe when this is all over I will actually get a chance to wear it.
The van is still there watching us, so Jake had us just take a walk, he didn't want them to know what he drove. We walked about three blocks before the van finally turned off to the right, maybe Julie is finally giving up, but Jake's car is three blocks behind us. Or so I thought, the minute they turned he pushed me across the street and onto a side street and there is his car, he really is good at this.
"Ha, I didn't want to be parked back there, it would be too easy for them to spot my vehicle once they saw me, and I figured we might have to take a walk. So, I thought this was the best bet."
"Well, thanks for letting me know. If we are going to pull this off we have to have better communication skills."
"Agreed, get in the car, we have to hurry if we are going to find them." And he is right, we almost missed the van. They were actually circling the block, looks like they decided to keep following me after all, and are now looking for me, it's a good thing we hurried. Jake is really good at this tailing thing too, I am more and more impressed by my protector. Granny chose well when she picked his family. We followed them to some warehouses on Silver street, they all look vacant, but I know my brother is in one of them.
"Hello Aidan, how was your morning?"
"Where is she Julie, I swear to you if you so much as touch a hair on my sisters head I will kill you with my bare hands."
"Whoa, what happened to the love, I know you Aidan, you could never harm anyone, it isn't in your nature."
"Yet you think I have something from a demon inside me. How ironic."
"I told you this isn't your fault it just is."
"I don't want to hear it again. Where is she Julie, where is Kenna."
"Because of what we have I won't torture you. She actually isn't here."
"What we had! We don't HAVE anything anymore. I am suppose to believe you that you don't have Kenna?"
"She wasn't at the house when I got there this morning. She stayed the night at some guy's house, and then met me for breakfast. Then she had a lunch date with said guy. But it is only a matter of time, we are suppose to have dinner tonight, so I will get her then."
"Don't you think she will start to worry if she doesn't hear from me?"
"Oh I already thought of that, I will just send her a text from your phone, she won't think anything of it. Don't worry, you will see her soon. I am not here to talk about Kenna anyway, Aidan you really need to tell us everything. After Kenna is here they will use you guys against each other to get you to talk. And they will make you talk. Please, I really don't want to see you hurt."
"Julie you are wasting your breath, nothing you say can get me to tell you things that aren't there. And after seeing what you are really like, you can't get me to tell you anything ever again."
"I am sorry you feel that way Aidan, I really am sorry about this." Finally she left, and she even left the door cracked a little. She must be distracted with Kenna getting away, which reminds me I better make sure she is telling me the truth.
"Kenna, Kenna, can you hear me."
"Yes Aidan I can hear you. We followed Julie to some warehouses, we are waiting outside now."
"Thank God, Julie told me she wasn't able to get you, but I wanted to hear that from you. Kenna do you have any idea what you are going to do to get me out?"
"I don't know yet, but we are going to wait until dark to make things easier, any idea how many guys are in there?"
"I have seen five including Julie, but I don't know if there are others I haven't seen."
"Ok, We will think of something, you just sit tight."
"Kenna, I really don't want you to do this, get out of here while you still can, before they know what you can do."
"Aidan I won't leave you, and nothing you say will change my mind about that. I just found you, I am not going to lose you!"
"Please please be careful, I will try to help you as much as I can from this side."
"Hold on Aidan, we will be there soon."
"Ok, Jake what are we going to do?"
"Yeah still working on that one, in a perfect world when Julie goes to get you for dinner they would all go with her, and if there are only five maybe they will, and we could just walk right in there and get Aidan. But we can't count on things being that easy."
"Why not, this isn't a movie where they have to hype up the action to keep people interest. That could totally happen, and it would be perfect."
"Yes it would, but we have to be realistic. Besides as far as we know there are five people, but there could be others, so we have to be prepared for that."
"Ok, you're right, I just, well my brother is right there and I can't get him. It is frustrating."
"I know, we will get him back," God I hope I am telling her the truth, because if we don't get Aidan back Kenna would be crushed. "Right now as hard as it is going to be, we need to sit here and wait. We have time to come up with something before Julie leaves, and if we are lucky no one will be left in that building but Aidan, but we will come up with a plan and we will get him back."
We watched as Julie left the warehouse, I figured I had about 20 minutes before she called me wondering where I am, but only three of her goons went with her, so if Aidan's count is right then there are still at least one guard there to watch him. "Aidan?"
"Kenna."
"Julie just left, that leaves me 20 minutes before she wonders where I am, so at the most we have a half hour, and only three goons went with her so there is at least one in there with you."
"There is more than one, Julie didn't get my room door shut when she walked out and I can hear people talking, so there are at least two still here."
"Shit, ok well we can still make this work, numbers weren't really a factor anyway."
"Kenna, what are you talking about?"
"Our plan to get you out is well, have you tried to start a fire in there Aidan?"
"Of course not, that would be crazy. Despite what Julie and the other believe I am not ok with burning people alive!"
"Well, I need you to try and let me know how it works."
"Ok, because I trust you, but I still think this is crazy."
Man the waiting is horrible, hopefully Aidan can start a fire that would be great. But we will get him out no matter what.
"Hey Kenna this is really weird, I can't start a fire, I tried to burn a whole in the wall and the walls won't burn."
"Shoot, they came prepared, they are probably fire proof walls. Hopefully the whole building isn't done that way."
"What do you mean hopefully?"
"Ah, well we have a plan, and you really aren't going to like it, but your part of it is just to sit tight in that room. Don't worry about the rest."
"Kenna? Kenna?"
"Ok Jake all set?"
"Ok, I am going to check out the building, I haven't seen anything but the security camera out front, but you never know how long they had to prepare this place."
"And I am suppose to what? Just sit here and wait for you? Somehow I really don't see that happening."
"Fine, you look over the left side of the building and I will check out the right, and we will meet up in the back, do not get yourself caught do you understand me?"
"Yes dad, thanks for the vote of confidence."
"Just go Kenna."
I started over to the left side of the building, the nice thing is a lot of the lights are out, so the shadows are our friends right now.
I feel like I am in a damn video game or something. This really shouldn't be my life, sneaking around an old warehouse trying to rescue my brother from the crazies that have him in a cell inside. Where is my easy life with the animals at the aquarium?
Damn, this warehouse is cold on my back, there are windows on this side, but they are really high, there is nothing for me to use to get up and look inside crap. This side seems to be clear though, to the back to see if Jake found anything.
"Jake, Jake where are you."
"Over here by the dumpster, I found another door into the warehouse, but it is secured pretty well. We are going to have to find another way in. It doesn't seem like they have a security system yet, they must have just thrown this together when Julie told them about Aidan."
"That doesn't really make me feel a whole lot better, but it is something."
"We are going to have to use this dumpster to get a better look inside. Be careful let me help you up."
Jake gave me a boost, but I can barely see through the window by standing on my tip toes. "Jake this isn't going to work, we still can't see a dang thing and we are running out of time. What do we do now?"
"How good are you with your air element?"
"What? No I have barely been able to make myself float."
"What choice do we have, do you have a better idea? All these old warehouses have doors on the roofs, our best bet is to get up there and come in from the top, if what we have seen is any indication they haven't secured the top yet because it isn't a top priority."
"Ok, ok you win I will try, but I have never done anything like this before. I have no idea what will happen, but no matter what does happen we both have to remain silent."
"Agreed, now get to it and get us on the roof."
"Ok, maybe we should really think this through, I have only ever lifted myself. So I can honestly say I can probably get myself to the roof, but then what?"
"Good point," he just started digging through his pack, seems to take that thing with him everywhere, "if you get yourself to the roof find something to tie this rope off to and I will climb up."
"Ok that could work."
Ok focus Kenna, see the air, deep breath in and out. Focus on the space around yourself see the particles. There it is, keep calm and focused. Lift gently lift higher and higher. You are almost there, shit I lost it.
Ok deep breaths, you only fell about a foot, and you didn't even scream, bravo for you! Knock it off girl, we have stuff to do! Ok higher, higher, the ledge is right there, almost. Whew that was difficult, but I did it, I got myself to the roof ! Happy dance Happy dance.
Oh Jake oops, drop the rope down, he is one hell of a climber. Glad it is him and not me, I am not too sure I could do that. He is like a monkey climbing up here.
"Seriously Kenna, you tied the rope off to a loose pipe? What if it had come the rest of the way loose?"
"It worked didn't it! We don't have time for this."
Talk about huffy, he just shoved his rope back in his pack and marched to the door, we squatted down and listened for any sounds on the other side of the door, but we couldn't hear anything. Quietly Jake reached up and tried the handle, and I about squealed when the handled turned.
Jake quietly opened the door and again we listened. We can hear voices now but they are faint, farther down in the warehouse. He signaled to me we are heading down.
Quietly we snuck down the steps, it seems like the upper part of the warehouse is office space or something. Probably where the manager used to watch over everything from above. But that works to our advantage, we can see everything down below through the windows of this office, and from the dust everywhere I would say they haven't been up here much. There is only one set of boot prints in the dust, one coming in and then heading right back out.
We tiptoed over to the windows and took in the rest of the warehouse, it is empty except a room in the middle of the floor, a little cell they must have had made just for Aidan. Now come the tricky part, to get the three of us back outta here.