Lily and Kelly ran out of the apartment, knocking into Tori, Casey and Blake.
"Kelly?" Tori frowned, seeing the red head.
"Who else?" Kelly smiled, hugging her friends.
"You're okay," Blake beamed.
"For the most part," Kelly said. "I'll tell you about it later. Right now we have to get Kalea."
"Where is she?" Casey asked.
"Um... I want to keep my head," Kelly said, running down the flight of stairs.
Tori turned to Lily and growled, "Where is she?"
"Dad took off with her," Lily explained, turning to run. Casey caught her arm and pulled her back.
"I don't sense your cheetah," he told her.
"That's because she's with Killer," Lily said, "Now come on! We have to hurry!"
---
"Why are you wunning, daddy?" Kalea asked as she was pulled down the street by her father. She had asked him several times if they could stop for a bathroom break, but he ignored her and ran.
"Shut up, brat!" Jacob yelled, jerking her arm forward. Kalea nearly tripped, but Jacob held her up. When he realised she was holding him back, he picked her up and continued to run.
"I'm not a bat!" Kalea frowned. "I'm a princess, and Aunt Kelly's going to be one too when I get home."
"You're not going home, princess," Jacob told her, turning down into an alleyway.
"But I want to go home," Kalea said, crossing her arms. "I don't want to play wunaway anymore."
Jacob put her down and slammed her against a wall.
"Listen brat," he growled. "You are coming home with me, got it? You're going to stay out of my way so you don't drive me up the wall, and as soon as your twenty-one, you're mysteriously going to disappear."
"A magic twick?" Kalea giggled, clapping her hands.
"DIE!" Jacob yelled. "You are going to die, Kalea! And when you do, all that money tied to your name is going to go to me!"
"I don't want to die," Kalea shook her head and tried to run, but Jacob held his grip on her before throwing her over his shoulder. He opened the metal door and ran down the stairs to the basement. The door slammed behind him and locked as he turned on the lights.
"Daddy! I don't want to die!" Kalea yelled, hitting her father's back desperately before he threw her into a cage, locking it up. "I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!"
Kalea repeated these words, as if they were going to change her fate.
Jacob ignored her screams and walked over to a control panel.
"Shut up brat! You still have nineteen years to go!"
"I don't wanna die!" Kalea yelled.
"SHUT UP!" Jacob yelled, throwing the metal chair at the cage. The chair connected with Kalea's prison and knocked it over. Kalea fell back with the cage and slammed her head on the metal bars.
She held her head in her hands and began screaming in pain, repeating her mantra several times as the tear flowed down her face. She shook madly, realising her desperation.
"I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die..."
---
After hours of searching, all the Rangers met up in the middle of town. Killer and the cheetah spirit joined them, exhausted from their search.
"Did you find them?" Lily asked her spirit. It shook its head sadly, before returning to her body.
Dustin looked over to his best friend and sighed, "Tori, I'm so sorry..."
"Shut up," Tori whispered, wiping the tears from her eyes. "Please... just shut up."
"She's gotta be around here somewhere," RJ assured the water Sensei, putting a hand on her shoulder, "My wolf's an awesome tracker... maybe he can help."
RJ called his wolf, sending the violet creature out. He asked it to locate Kalea, handing it her baby blanket. The wolf smelt it before putting his nose to the ground. He picked up Kalea's scent, ready to go after it, before a flash of white light shone all through the town. The Rangers covered their eyes before a piecing screamed filled the air.
"I DON'T WANNA DIE!"
Those words were repeated several times before dying suddenly, along with the light. When the group could see again, they turned to the wolf.
"Find her," Lily told it. The wolf sniffed the ground again, before lifting its head and shaking it sadly.
"What do you mean?" RJ asked.
The wolf growled softly before tears appeared in RJ's eyes. He turned to Lily and Tori, taking their hands in his. He couldn't believe he had to give them the news.
"Animal spirits have the ability to sense other humans and locate them," he explained. He could feel Tori start to shake as she dreaded his next few words. "The wolf said he can't find Kalea anymore... he can't sense her... that could mean one of two things."
RJ took a deep breath, letting go of the girls' hands. He could barely look at them at the moment, never mind hold their hands in a comforting manner.
"What does it mean?" Tori asked.
"It could either mean Jacob's done something to erase Kalea from existence... or she's dead," RJ sighed. "Either way, getting her back now is going to be impossible."
Tori's lower lip started to quiver, before a whimper escaped as she collapsed to the ground. Blake and Kelly were instantly by her side, holding her gently as she cried.
Casey moved over to Lily and pulled her in a hug.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered.
---
When Tori and Lily got home, they told the others they wanted to be alone. The others respected their wishes, telling them they would be at Storm Chargers for when the girls needed to talk.
Inside the house, Lily refused to talk to her Aunt as she ran upstairs into Kalea's room. She picked the cheetah toy up and held it to her chest as she cried.
She curled up on what was at one point her little sister's bed, resting her head on the Winnie the Pooh pillow.
"I'm sorry Kalea... I let you down," Lily whispered, hugging the cheetah close to her heart. "I'm your big sister... I'm supposed to protect you from this... but I chose Kelly over you... if you can hear me... p-please... please... forgive me."
Lily broke down crying, shaking madly and allowing her cries to rock her to sleep.
---
Tori sat in her closet, surrounded by Erica's stuff. She was leaning against the wall, holding a picture of Erica and Kalea in her hands. Her tears had dropped onto the picture, staining it.
"I failed you, Erica," she whispered. "I couldn't take care of Kalea... You trusted me and I let you down... I'm so sorry."
---
"I don't wanna die," Kalea whispered, rocking back and forth in her little cage. "I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die..."
---
"I don't wanna die... I don't wanna die..." three years later, Kalea was still in the same position, repeating her mantra over and over again. Her now brown hair was stained with blood from the recent beating she received from her father after she refused to shut up. She was dangerously thin and frail. Her blue eyes were fixed on her father as he sat on a chair and watched her. He would spend most of his days sitting there, glaring daggers, waiting for the day she turned twenty-one, so he could claim the money attached to her name and kill her.
He knew that by now, Lily must have claimed her share of the fortune. She had turned twenty-one in April of that year. Kelly had certainly told the others why he was after the girls. He knew the others must have known she was alive, seeing as that was the only way he could claim the money, but he also knew that Kalea had been erased from existence. There was no way anyone could ever find her.
The building above them had been torn down a year and a half ago, leaving only the basement standing. No one knew about the basement, seeing as the roof was several feet below ground. The only way someone could find Jacob's hiding spot was if they knew where it was.
"I don't wanna die..." Kalea continued to chant. Jacob smiled happily. He had broken her. She was willing to do anything he asked her. By twenty-one, she would, without question, go claim her money and hand it over to him.
Kalea looked at her father desperately. She wanted to get out of the cage that held her prisoner for three years now. Food was passed through the bars, maximising her time in the cage. The only time she was allowed out was to go to the bathroom. Only then, Jacob would allow her to leave if he didn't feel like watching her suffer by sitting in her own feces.
"I have to go," she whispered.
"You can hold it," Jacob told her.
"I really have to go," she whispered. Jacob groaned in annoyance.
"One or two?" he asked.
"One."
He rolled his eyes. If he let her go in the cage, the liquid would leak out and get on the floor. He got off his chair, grabbing a dog leash. He stuck his arm through the bars of the cage and hooked the leash onto the collar around her neck. When he unlocked the door, he pulled Kalea out.
"C'mon," he said, walking with her to the bathroom. "You have one minute."
After Kalea finished her business, Jacob walked her back to the cage and threw her inside. He locked the door, then took the leash off, leaving the collar on.
"Can you take it off?" Kalea asked, tugging at the material around her neck.
"If I do, and you run off, I might not be able to identify you," he smirked, tapping her cheek. "You only have sixteen years to go, brat, suck it up. This life isn't that bad."
Kalea nodded, curling up in a ball.
"I won't run away, I promise," she whispered.
"Kalea, I said no."
"Please... just once," Kalea begged. Her father groaned, unlocking the cage and pulling her by the collar.
"Remember what happened last time you tried to run," Jacob warned her. Kalea's eyes went to the belt, hanging on a hook by the computer.
"I remember," she whispered.
"Good... but just in case..." Jacob grabbed the leash attached it to the collar. He held the leash in his hand before placing a bowl of food on the ground.
"You go back in the cage in five minutes," he told her. "Eat up, because the food stays here."
---
"Lily... wake up," Tori whispered, shaking her niece gently. This was the eighth morning in a row she found Lily sleeping in Kalea's old bed. Lily wouldn't normally sleep in Kalea's room, but every year, around Christmas time, Lily would miss her little sister and she could only find comfort in Kalea's room.
Lily opened her eyes and looked up at her aunt, "Tori... I can't do this anymore..."
"I know," Tori smiled, pulling the blankets off her niece. "That's why we're going after her."
"But RJ said it was impossible to find her."
"Impossible is nothing," Tori said. "Take anything you need, "We're not coming home until she does."
Walking by myself I know
This lonely road's becoming my new home
But I don't stop
I just keep moving on, and on
Ain't no need to dry my eyes
I haven't cried in quite some time
Every day I fight it,
You know it's possible
Kelly Clarkson: Impossible (All I ever Wanted, 2009)