Sara stared at the cell phone as she sat by the table and sighed heavily.
"Where is he?" she said out loud, "I should have heard from him by now" she sighed again and looked up at the clock.
Then she placed her head onto her hands since her elbows were propped up onto the table.
"I haven't heard from Tsukasa either. What is going on?"
(Next Scene)
Tsukasa panted a little with Stephanie as his side with an angry frown. They were now located somewhere in the center of the maze and had experienced a very rough time.
"What kind of stinking maze is this anyway?" he grumbled, "All these traps. They could kill somebody."
"Kaye told me about it once" Stephanie replied feeling her forehead a bit, "Seitarou put it up during the time Kaye and the others came to rescue me to prevent them from getting too close at first."
"Yea. Well I think it did the trick" Tsukasa stood up straight and clenched his fist angrily, "Between the weird scythe like machines and the arrows we had to dodge, it's any wonder that your boyfriend made it through this thing at all. But I'm not giving up. I know there's got to be a back way out of this place underground. We just have to find it. You still with me?"
"Of course" she nodded sweating a little but he grinned and then the two of them began their dangerous trek once more.
As she walked Stephanie could feel her feet slip slightly. She didn't know why but she felt dizzy all of a sudden. But it wasn't in her nature to give up so easily. However as she moved it became quite clear that she could no longer go on.
"It's gotta be here somewhere" Tsukasa said stopping and looking around on the ground, "A trap door or something."
"Tsukasa" she replied in a strained whisper.
"Hmm?" he looked back.
"I" she fell forward and he rushed out to catch her.
"Whoa! Stephanie? Are you all right?" he asked as he panicked, "Speak to me" he felt her forehead, "Oh no. She's got a fever" he thought, "Why didn't you say something?" he asked more worried than angry.
"I'm sorry" she managed to say, "I didn't want to slow you down" she added before she completely passed out.
"Oh no" Tsukasa thought, "She's really bad off. I've got to do something. I've got to find that exit and now" he thought shouldering her onto his back with all the strength he could muster and carrying her through the next part of the maze, "Don't you worry Stephanie. I'll get you out of here" he said, "I have to keep my promise after all."
"Katsuya" she whispered feverishly.
(Next Scene)
Meanwhile Reiji Sohma grumbled a little as he walked beside Takara. In front of them were Hitomi, Krysta, Raiu, Naoko, Angel and Daisuke who were all laughing excitedly.
"I don't understand why I had to be the one to take you guys" he replied in a huff, "I've got a date this afternoon."
"So you can go do that after you drop us off at the park" Takara said back cheerfully, "Sophie's meeting us there. We've been planning this for a week."
"But I don't understand why you wanted to go to the park on a day like today. It's supposed to rain this afternoon you know."
"We're only gonna stay for a couple of hours. Look we're almost there!" she pointed running forward since the other Sohma children had already done so.
"Okay" he nodded but then glanced around at the emptiness of the place, "You know for a public park this place sure is deserted. Probably because of the chance of rain" he looked up.
(Next Scene)
A scream sounded throughout the Sohma main house and Rika ran to the outstretched arms of Kagura Sohma who was also white with shock. A few minutes later Kandis found them and they were taken to Akito and Hatori as the thunder began to crash overhead.
(Next Scene)
At the park, as the kids played a little bit of tag waiting for Sophie to arrive a small black van pulled up and before they knew what was happening several men in black suits jumped out. Reiji saw them first and at once warned the others who were frightened instantly. But before he knew what to do he felt a pain on the side of his neck and as he reached up and felt the dart, he collapsed.
"Reiji!" Takara yelled.
At the same time as the other kids were being attacked in the same manner Sophie was arriving at the park and saw all the chaos.
"Huh? What in the world?" she thought but then saw the men and gasped as she saw Raiu and Hitomi fall to the ground the same way their cousins had done previously. She shouted and dashed forward.
"Raiu!"
"Run away Sophie" he urged her before passing out, "Run away."
Sophie took a step back as one of the men as ordered started to chase her. She ran as fast as she could barely noticing that the bodies of the Sohmas were all disappearing into the van one by one. She tripped by a nearby tree as the man was closing in on her. Just as he was about to grab her she closed her eyes. But a sharp kick came his way, making him stumble back.
"Hey back off jerk!" the boy shouted to which he ran back towards the van and Sophie reopened her eyes surprised at who was now standing before her.
"Stephen" she cried.
"Sophie" he knelt down in concern, "Are you all right? What the?" he said as heard the screech of tire wheels, "What's going on?"
"Raiu" she said through her tears that were sliding down her face, "Takara."
"Sophie I can't understand you through all that blubbering."
"I'm sorry" she wiped her face, "They were taken. All of them" she broke down in sobs.
"What?" Stephen replied shocked standing back up, "Come on Soph" he lifted her up onto his back.
"Where are we going?"
"To tell their parents. I'm sure they're gonna want to know" he carried her towards the main house as the rain began to fall.
(Next Scene)
Tsukasa pulled the heavy latch behind him, shutting the trap door. It had taken him another twenty minutes to find the exit but now out of breath he removed himself from the stairs and crouched by the unconscious girl in the darkness.
"I found it" he thought breathlessly, "But we're still not out of the woods yet. I hope this thing leads to the outside. Hmm?" he pulled out his cell phone from his back pocket, which was the only source of light he had available, "I'm gonna need some help" he dialed a number quickly, "Hopefully this won't get traced" he said aloud as the person on the other end picked up, "Sara. It's me."
"Tsukasa!" she exclaimed, "Where have you been?"
"I'm sorry. We hit a couple of snags. I managed to find an exit but it's gonna take me some time to get back to the apartment. Plus Stephanie's sick."
"What do you mean she's sick?"
"She's got a high fever. Personally I think she's worn out from everything. But I need you to get a bed and some cold water ready for me when we get there."
"Okay. When will you be here?"
"If my calculations are correct I should be there within the hour."
"All right. I'll wait for you."
"Okay. I'll call you as soon as I get close enough."
"Wait Tsukasa" she stopped him from hanging up, "I thought you were gonna have backup on this thing?"
"That's the weird part. When we got out of the mansion Sakura and Katsuya were no where to be found."
"That is weird. Reiji didn't come either."
"What?"
"We were supposed to meet today but he never showed up. He didn't call or nothing. It's not like him to be so inconsiderate."
"Hmm?" Tsukasa paused thinking.
"Tsukasa?"
"We'll worry about that later. Right now I need to get her out of here. I'll be there soon."
"Okay. Be careful," she added as he hung up.
(Next Scene)
In the main hall the Sohmas were gathered after hearing Kagura and Rika's story. Akito moved forward and cleared his throat.
"Is everyone here?" he asked.
"We're still waiting on Kyo, Tohru, and Yuki" Shigure answered with a shake of his head.
"What's going on?" Haru demanded as all the adults began to ask questions at once.
"All in due time Hatsuharu" Akito replied firmly, "We have to wait till everyone's here" he stared at his wife in concern as the rain began to pour even harder outside and the dark clouds hovered overhead, "Then maybe we can find the answer to all our questions."
(Till Next Time)
Authors Note: Hey guys! I know it's short but you get two chapters today instead of the usual big one. See you all later!
Next Chapter: It All Comes To Light
The cure of the curse is at last discovered by reading Yotaro Sohma's journal. What will it be and will the three potentials be able to carry it out? You won't know unless you keep reading!