A Tale of Two Torrents

By Dixxy

Chapter Thirteen: Where is Sara?

(Cye)

Considering I had just learned that years of school dances, block parties, and chick watching were worth a nice warm cup of zilch, I think I slept fairly well. Many nights nowadays my sleep is plaqued by nightmares- I think Sage and Kento will agree with me. With maybe the acception of Ryo, who was nearly killed so many times during our first war, the three of us went through the most. Kidnapped, tortured, turned to stone, kidnapped again and held prisoner for close to a year in the hands of a mad woman who dealt out even more torture, I think I have every right to say that. Heck, all that plus a multitude of other things. Naturally my dreams will be haunted by nightmares.

Sometimes, if I want to, I can go into other people's dreams, but I don't like to do it. It's an invasion of privacy. This is what a person is THINKING. Their subconcious. Yes, Kento and Keisha use telepathy all the time, but they choose what the other can and can't see. With dreams, I can open up any head I want to like a book.

Sometimes it frightens me.

Some of the powers we have are pretty frightening. Kento's told me numerous times he's scared silly about his own power- that is, being a seer. He tells me it's mind boggling to have premonitions, sometimes visions, of what will happen in the future. Oh yeah, a lot of times he justs sees spilt milk or something, but sometimes he sees worse things that he can't do anything about. Then there are prophecies. He HATES those, and I think I would, too. He tells me he just blacks out and suddenly he can't remember was happened for the past minute or so. It only happened once, but it sincerely scared him.

Sam's scared of what she IS, never mind was she has. She knows what her father's people had done in the past. The Amazons weren't exactly a race of people you just went up to with a big, friendly smile and arms wide open for a hug. They were vicious killers. She's afraid that she'll become like one of them. Like her father. Sage and Anubis are helping her with that, training her meditation and what not- heck, Sage's carefree nature as a Flitteree helps out, too.

I woke up the morning after we returned to find it still dark. I heard a ring in the background and blinked. What was that? Another ring. My mind registered the word "telephone". I looked at my digital clock. Just after seven. Who would be calling at that hour of the morning?

I heard a click and knew our answering machine was going off. I stood up and walked into the living room, listening to the familiar recording Anubis and I had left for any incoming callers that happened to call when the two of us weren't home. A beep sounded and the caller left their message.

"Cye! Anubis? Please wake up! Please answer the phone!"

"Mrs. Lewis?" I said aloud. Why would she be calling at such an early hour of the day? Something must be wrong. . . oh no. . . Sara! I quickly picked up the phone and turned off the answering machine so I could speak to my friend's mother. "Mrs. Lewis, is everything all right? It's me, Cye."

"Cye, she's gone! Vanished!"

"What?" I said, my eyes widening.

"I went to look in on Sara when I got up this morning and she wasn't in her room! Her mattress, pillow, and blanket were all gone, too! Cye, I'm scared! Where is she! I want to know where my little girl is!" From there, the frantic woman began to wail over the phone.

"Calm down, Mrs. Lewis! I'll be right over!" I said. "Just stay put and don't touch anything in that room! Anubis will probably want to give it a run through with the Staff! Don't worry, though, Mrs. Lewis. Sara's a strong girl- I'm sure that wherever she is she's still all right."

Sniffles. "Thank you, dear."

"Not a problem. We'll be over there in a jiffy."

After a brief struggle to wake Anubis up that ended in a lovely ice water spell I had mastered a while ago, the two of drove to the Lewis household. When we got there, Emily and Mr. Lewis were up along with Mrs. Lewis (Trevor was sleeping over at a friend's house, I guess). Mrs. Lewis was still in a bathrobe and curlers, her face in her hands. Rythmic shudders came over her body, each accompanied by a new wave of tears. Emily looked worried, and Mr. Lewis was consolling his sobbing wife.

Emily (who had also let us in) led us upstairs. "It's really weird, Cye," she said. "Pillows, mattress, blanket, Sara, all gone. I can see what even a Dynasty dipwad would want with Sara, but her bedding? Her MATTRESS? What's the point in taking all of that? It just doesn't make any sense!"

"You are correct- it is a bit strange for such items to disappear with a person," said Anubis. We stopped infront of a door with several painted wooden fish nailed to it. A small sign with pink, cursive writing announced that this was "Sara's Room". Emily nodded, and nervously, I placed my hand on the doorknob and turned it.

Sara's room was done over in lots of blue with a definite tropical touch to it, especially the carpets with large pink and yellow flowers printed on. A large pile of stuffed animals sat between was light brown desk and a small black TV with a PlayStation hooked up to it. A tall bureau and a clear fishtank sat next to the bed, which, just as Mrs. Lewis and Emily said, was devoid of any beddings, mattress included.

"Was there anything else missing? Old jewelry in particular?" asked Anubis.

Emily shook her head. "Nuh uh," she said. "The most expensive piece of jewelry Sara owns is in our parent's room- mom's jewelry box has a lock on it so she keeps everything in there so robbers can't get to it." I mentally commended the woman for doing something very smart, but then concentrated back on the task at hand.

"Did you call anyone besides us?" I asked.

"Nope again," said Emily, shaking her head. "You two were the ones Mom thought of first because you're her partner in arms or you have the Staff of the Ancient One. She thought that you two would have the best luck figuring out where she went." She frowned. "Is Sara gonna be all right?"

"I'm sure she will be," said Anubis, giving her a reassuring pat on the back.

I walked further into the room, nervous about where I was going. I was no stranger to girls' rooms- I was always in and out of my sister's room as a kid- but Sara was so. . . different. Now that our relationship had changed so greatly, being in her room just felt weird.

I saw a shiny object on a small pillow on a dresser next to the bed. I walked closed and eventually recognized what it was. A tiny blue marble. I picked it up and held it up to the light. The symbol for "Trust" flashed before my eyes. My eyes widened in shock. "Oh, shit."

"Cye!" said Anubis, giving me the parental "stink eye" that he had been working on since he learned about our relation. He placed one hand on his hip and tapped a foot impatiently. "What have I told you about swearing! Missing Chosen Mate or no missing Chosen Mate you-"

"This is Sara's armor orbe!" I said, pointing at the marble. "Wherever she is she's unarmed!"

"Oh, shit!" said Anubis, more loudly than I had. He turned to Emily, who was now frightened. "Call Mike's house and get a hold of Kento. Tell him to try and locate Sara with his crystal ball. When you're done with that, call Sam and have her and Ella use their Amazon senses to try and track her down that way. Sage can probably help them. Get a hold of Ria to have her get Tiger Lily on the trail, too. Have Keisha get to Mike's house and help Kento if she can. Tell Rona to. . . help wherever she thinks she'll be most useful."

Emily nodded, then ran down the stairs to fulfill her orders. I looked at Anubis, who was looking at me as well. Both of us were filled with worry and fear. Wherever Sara was, she was alone, unarmed, and probably very, very frightened. "Anubis, try to see what magical energies you can pick up here with the Staff."

Anubis nodded and summoned the Staff. It appeared out of thin with a resounding "pop" sound and the clinking of the rings as it fell into his waiting hands. He closed his eyes, held the Staff onto before him with one hand, and held his free hand out with his fingers straight and his palm open. Then he began to chant.

Not sure what else I could do, I left the room and went downstairs. I passed Emily, who was making phone calls on a telephone that happened to be located in the hall (I thought it was an odd place for a phone, but that wasn't the time to ask about it). I found Mr. and Mrs. Lewis right where we'd left them. I sat down across from them on the coffee table. Mr. Lewis looked up, expecting an answer from me. Mrs. Lewis also looked up, her eyes bloodshot from stress.

"We still don't know where she is, but we're doing everything we can think of that we're capable of doing to get her back," I said quietly. "Emily is calling the others right now to enlist their help. Don't worry- we'll find her, and she'll be just fine. I promise you that."

"How can you make such a promise if you don't know where she is?" asked Mr. Lewis.

I narrowed my eyes, then calmed them. I placed my hand over my heart. "I can feel it right here that she's all right," I said. I half smiled. "I just can't explain the feeling, but I just know she's okay. I don't know where she is, but at worst she's only scared." I looked up at them. "All of the armors are connected. Mine happens to be very closely connected to hers. I can just sense that she's going to be all right."

Mrs. Lewis wiped some of her tears away. "She told us about. . . you two."

I cleared my throat. "She did, did she?"

"Yes," said Mr. Lewis. "She did."

I wasn't all that sure what to say to that. "I don't know what your view on that whole situation is, but. . . that's not what's important. What's important is that she's missing and we need to find her as soon as possible. You know that we're reliable people- we've saved the world several times and finding one little Senshi shouldn't be all that difficult."

Mr. Lewis nodded. "All right. Just bring her home safe and sound, you hear me?"

I nodded. I looked outside. How could I help find Sara? She and I were linked by our armors and the whole Chosen Mate thing. All of Anubis' ideas were good, but I had a funny feeling SOMEONE was testing me. Toying with me to see just how powerful the Child of Destiny really was. I needed to figure out how I was going to find her.

I closed my eyes, thinking over the past few days events. To my knowledge, my powers as the Child of Destiny were purely offensive and destructive- if I could do anything I'd have to ask Anubis. Well, what else was there? Termini was dead, and I didn't think he'd bother trying to help me even if he WAS alive.

My eyes widened. The Jewel of Hope. . .

I made a bee line for Mike's house.

Three near car hits and one bike crash later, I was in front of Mike's house. I bolted inside, where Kento was leaning over his crystal ball. He looked briefly up at me, then shook his head miserably. "Sorry bud, my crystal ball is playing games with me today. It's showing me- hey! How'd I get such a perverse crystal ball!" he said, shaking his fist at it. He then proceeded to yell at it in Chinese. I recognized some of the words as words that had earned Kento soap in his mouth or a verbal beating from his parents.

I saw Sue Lee was sitting on the steps, hugging her knees. I just about ran over to her. She looked up at me, a small pout on her face as her eyes grew large and watery. She sniffled. "I'm worried about Sara. Is, is she gonna be all right, Cye? You're gonna save her, aren't you?"

I nodded slowly. "Do you still have that Jewel of Hope that Sara made?"

Sue Lee's eyes widened. "Yeah! It's up in my room with Dash!"

"Dash?" I asked. "Who's Dash?"

"The Gruff," she said. "He runs really fast, even if he DOES only have two legs!"

I rolled my eyes. Dash, huh? I guess it's better than nothing at all, I silently mused. I followed Sue Lee up the stairs and through a white door into a room done over in a bright mixture of purples. The Gruff was sitting in a dark purple mat by a purple and white polka dot bed spread. It looked up at me and yipped, bounding over to give me a good morning kiss.

"Not now, Dash!" I said, seeing if he would respond to the name. Luckily, he did, and he backed down, looking behind me, his head looking from left to right. He's looking for Sara- hey! There's an idea! "Sara's not here right now," I informed the creature. He looked at me, one ear dropping as the other stood at full length. I bit my lip, seeing that the drooping ear had the top third or so bitten off, the upright ear having a bite taken out of it as well.

Sue Lee poked me in the arm and dropped the new talisman into my hand. "Here you go, Cye. Do you think it'll help find Sara?" she asked. I nodded. "But, how are you gonna do it? Sara's the only one who made it work before, remember? It, it used to hurt you. What if it does it again?"

"It won't, Sue Lee," I said. "Sara purified it, remember?"
"Right," she said.

I looked at Dash, and smiled. "May I borrow Dash?"

"Sure, go right ahead," said Sue Lee. "Just bring her home safe and sound!"

I nodded and turned to the Gruff. "All right, boy, we're going to head outside into the backyard. I'm going to see if I can sense Sara through our armor link and you're going to help me get to her. Sound good to you?" The Gruff nodded, holding a paw up. I carefully took it, minding its rather large claws. "We can find her. I know we can. All right?"

Dash nodded in response, adding in a yip for good measure.