Chapter Three

Tommy

Tommy threw his backpack to the floor of his bedroom. After talking further with his friends at the Youth Center, he had walked home with seemingly thousands of thoughts in his head.

At the very top of the thought pile was Kimberly. Because of course she was. Hearing her voice had shaken Tommy more than he could tell the other Rangers. He had kept that part of the story out when going over what had happened again. They all had questions, but he kept Kimberly's part of it to himself.

Tommy stared at the phone on his bedside table. He needed to call. He had to. Whatever happened out at the park couldn't be ignored. If Kimberly was in danger, Tommy wasn't about to sit by and not help. He would do that for any one of his friends.

Because that was what they were now: friends.

But that didn't matter. Tommy would help Kimberly no matter what.

He picked up the corded phone and sat down on his bed. His hand was shaking as he dialed the number he had called hundreds of times. Tommy slowly brought the receiver to his ear.

He heard a ring. Another ring.

"Hello?" came a panicked sounding female voice.

"Uh." Tommy said, recognizing that this was not Kimberly. He gathered himself and said, "This is Tommy Oliver. I'm looking to talk to Kimberly?"

There was silence on the other end.

"H-Hello?" Tommy asked, wondering if they lost the connection.

"What took you so long?" was the response. The voice sounded angry.

"What?" he replied, confused.

"I...no one called you?"

A sudden tremor struck Tommy. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

"No, I haven't gotten any calls. Who is this? Where's Kimberly?" he was beginning to dread what he was about to hear.

An annoyed huff. "This is Eloise. One of Kimberly's roommates."

Tommy waited for her to go on. When she did, a lump formed in his throat.

"Kimberly is missing. She hasn't been seen in days. Since last Wednesday. Her mom said that she was going to call you..." Eloise trailed off, her words etched with more sadness as she went on. It sounded like she was holding back tears.

"What?" Tommy exclaimed, standing from his bed in a swift movement. "What do you mean she's missing? What happened?"

"If we knew that than she wouldn't be missing anymore, would she?!" Eloise shouted, pain and fury evident in her voice.

Closing his eyes, Tommy lifted his hand and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger to settle his mind. "Are the police involved? Is there any evidence left behind that could point in some helpful direction?"

"Look, Tommy. I know who you are and I know how much you mean to Kimberly. I was honestly wondering why you hadn't come down here to help with the search. The police are involved, but they haven't had any luck finding anything."

Gritting his teeth, he asked, "What about her new boyfriend? Has anyone talked to him?"

Silence.

"Hello?" Tommy snapped. If this guy did anything to Kimberly, he would be in a great deal of trouble.

But what Tommy hadn't expected was Eloise's response.

"What new boyfriend?" she sounded genuinely shocked. "Tommy, what are you talking about?"

For the first time, Tommy was speechless.

"I would say that if you knew something that we don't know, you need to go to the police." Eloise said, her words fast and filled with hope. "Any piece of information could be crucial. That's what the cops said, anyway."

He shook his head to snap out of the shock. "All I have is a letter from Kimberly that...she said...she broke up with me and said that she had found the guy she wanted to spend the rest of her life with."

"What?" Eloise snapped, "No...that can't be. No way."

Tommy took a deep breath in through his nose and exhaled out through his mouth. All he could think to say was, "Explain it to me."

"There's no way that she could have found another guy and we wouldn't have known. I mean, she lives with us, Tommy. I see her everyday at our apartment, at the gym, in our classes. All she ever talked about were you and her friends back in California. She missed you all. We were actually wondering if she was maybe thinking of leaving the program and giving up on the Games to go back."

Tommy felt like the floor was disappearing beneath him.

Kimberly hadn't been seeing another guy? What did that mean? That the letter was somehow a lie? A forgery? He thought back frantically to the letter and its contents. The handwriting was a dead ringer for Kimberly's. He never once second guessed that it hadn't come from her.

Tommy's mind was reeling. There were so many questions.

"When did you get the letter?" Eloise asked, sounding for once reassuring and kind.

He thought back. "I got it...last week." he said. "I was at the Youth Center and…"

It was like a massive weight collided with his chest and he felt his heart skip a beat.

"And?" Eloise prompted.

"I got the letter at the Youth Center. It was the first letter I had ever gotten at the Youth Center. Kimberly always wrote to me and sent the letters to my house."

"Oh, goodness." Eloise breathed.

"But I know her handwriting!" Tommy exclaimed. "I would know it anywhere…"

"Let me get this straight," Eloise said slowly, "Your girlfriend of several years wrote a letter breaking up with you. Then she said in that letter that she had found the love of her life here in Florida. Then that letter was mailed to a public place that was not your house?"

It all sounded so crazy now. Tommy had been so focused on what the letter said that he didn't question the possibility that something was off.

That it could be a lie.

Which meant that Kimberly hadn't broken up with him at all and someone else had written the letter.

And now his girlfriend was missing. He was a week behind in being there in Florida to try and find her.

"Tommy?" Eloise asked.

He couldn't focus. He shook his head to clear it again. "I need to call the police. I need to get in touch with Kim's parents. Do you have their numbers?" He grabbed his backpack from the floor and unzipped it for some paper and a pen.

Eloise told him to hold a moment while she got her phone book diary. Tommy waited silently. His heart was railing against his ribcage. He felt awful. Why hadn't he questioned that stupid letter? Why had it been sent to the Youth Center at all?

He felt like he was going to be sick.

Eloise got back onto the line. She rattled off the numbers for Kimberly's parents and the local police station. Tommy quickly wrote them down.

"Thank you, Eloise. I'm sure I'll be seeing you soon. I've got to get down there." he said fast, ready to slam down the phone.

"Yeah, you do." she agreed. "I'm sorry, Tommy. I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just...so worried." Her voice trailed off and Tommy could tell that she was crying.

"Yeah." Tommy grit out. "Me too."

Kimberly

Kimberly was silent as she followed the lady attendants through a labyrinth of hallways. Her heart was still palpitating but she tried to calm herself by looking at the walls as they walked by. Gold gilded frames contained paintings of varying style and artistry. There were gaslit golden lamps that lined the walls, as well, along with more dark wood moulding carved in intricate designs of many different animals. Kimberly was dumbfounded by the opulence.

Clearly, she was in a place with quite a large amount of wealth involved.

After some time, Kim was brought to a stone spiral staircase. Wherever they were going, they would be far away from where her suite had been.

After what seemed like ages, Kimberly was finally lead to a large stone chamber that was filled with people. The room was larger than her suite, but there was no luxury in design here. The tall gray stone walls were bare and windowless. The worn wood paneled flooring had seen better days. The ceiling towered above them and there was a medieval-looking chandelier that was lit with broad white candles. It was the only light in the space.

When Kimberly had walked in amongst the ladies, they hadn't gotten any glances from the multiple people in the room. She noticed that they were all dressed much like Rory had been when she saw him the night before: doublets or tunics, breeches, tall boots. Both the men and women standing around were dressed similarly.

Kim was suddenly self conscious about her gown.

You are a prisoner here. Who cares what these random people think? She thought to herself, trying to keep her annoyance honed. Focusing on her anger would help keep her knees from shaking.

"Bring the Lady forward." came a booming voice towards the back of the room.

The men and women standing before her and the attendants quickly turned to look back at them. Kimberly gulped as they all seemed to stare at her right away.

"Excuse us." the oldest attendant murmured.

There was a pause. Every face Kimberly noted had a look of wonder or surprise. The ages of the people seemed to range a great deal: some as young as in their twenties, others as old as in their sixties or more.

After another beat, the voice from the back said, "Let her pass."

Instantly, the people parted right down the middle to let them through. But the other ladies with Kimberly stayed at her side, not moving forward through the new open path.

Kim blinked, glancing from face to face. There was a long pause before she realized that she needed to walk forward.

With as much strength and confidence as she could muster, Kimberly walked between the crowd at a quick pace. She wouldn't dare let them see how nervous she was feeling.

At the end of the group of people, which numbered around thirty to forty from what Kimberly could guess, there was a stone dais with two plain wooden thrones. Sitting on those thrones were a man and a woman, both in regal attire.

A king and queen? Kimberly asked herself.

She stopped several feet away from the man and woman on the dais, noticing the two heavily armed guards that stood to either side of them.

"Lady Hart." the man said with a small smile, "Welcome to my Kingdom. We are grateful for you to be here."

This ticked Kimberly off. "Yeah, well. It's not like I ever had a choice. What do you want from me?"

There were audible gasps and murmurs amongst the crowd behind her, but she didn't care. This was not a time for politeness.

The smile never left the King's face, but his blue-green eyes became sharp. "You have come here because I am in need of assistance with my special forces. As a Power Ranger you have the exact skillset that I need."

"Ex." Kimberly snapped.

"Pardon me?" the king asked. He was growing more annoyed by the second.

"Ex-Power Ranger. I haven't been a part of the team for months." she explained. "So if you don't mind, I would like to be sent home. I'd rather not get squashed by an another boulder flying into the room."

"I'm afraid that is not possible." the Queen said softly.

When Kimberly's gaze drifted from the King to the Queen, her mouth almost dropped. Dark hair and those same electric green eyes…

And suddenly Rory was there, grinning like a cat and standing behind who had to be his mother and father. He must have walked forward from the crowd when Kimberly wasn't paying attention.

The Queen's words brought Kimberly back to herself. "How is that not possible? You brought me here, now send me home."

The muttering of the crowd was becoming louder with every word Kim said. Clearly they were not a fan of her disrespect to their Royals. But again, Kimberly didn't care. She would do whatever it took to get out of there. Maybe if she was rude enough they would just get tired of her and let her go.

"We have a power that will aid in your commitment to us." the Queen said, now smiling. "A new power that only a former Power Ranger could tame."

"This is too weird." Kimberly said. "And can we get back to the boulder through the building thing? Is it even safe to be in this room?"

"This room has been a part of the stronghold of my castle for centuries. It is near impregnable." the King explained, a bit of pride shining through.

It felt as though Kimberly was getting no where with these people. A new power? Training 'special forces'? Why? To what end?

"Lady Hart, our country is at war. It has been now for decades. All of my children no nothing but war." the Queen said. "It was my idea to bring in a Ranger to help our cause. Someone strong, agile, and wise. Someone who knows how to win not just a fight, but a war."

"I never won any extensive battles alone! I always had my team to back me up. On my own...on my own I can only do so much. And this sounds like too much." Kim said extending her hands, beseeching. Maybe it was time to beg.

"That is why you will be the leader of a new team. A new group of Rangers who use the powers of my Kingdom." the King said. He then stood, making all of the crowd sink down to their knees before him. One man remained standing: he was dressed in all white robes and he had short white hair with a full white beard to match. His eyes were a startling shade of violet.

"Your Majesties, I bring forth the jewel you requested." the old man said, his voice quaking from age. He stepped forward carrying a small mahogany box in his gnarled hands.

Kimberly's racing heart slowed. Her breathing steadied. That box...something about that box...she needed to see what was inside.

She needed to have it.

Kimberly watched as the elderly man brought the box up to the dais and handed it to the King. Her line of sight never left the box.

"Lady Hart, what I have here in my hands is the power that only you can possess." the King said loudly for all to hear. "It is yours if you agree to my terms."

I mean, of course she would take it. She had to. Kimberly felt an overwhelming possessiveness for whatever was in that box. It was hers. It called to her…

"Where do I sign?" Kimberly joked with a grin, but her eyes stayed locked on target.