Chapter 21

My stomach suddenly dropped, an eerie feeling invading my insides.

Immediately I knew something was wrong. Looking around, I also noticed that Rose was nowhere to be seen.

She couldn't be in danger, I was just dancing with her a few minutes ago.

What if Nick came and took her? No, I would've seen him, wouldn't I? Deciding to see if Rose was really in danger or not, I weaved my way in between dancing students to look for her.

"Hey, man!" My friend Chris greeted me.

I merely lifted my chin up and down as a response, still searching for her.

Where could she be?! She has to be here somewhere. The feeling in my stomach became worse.

I was getting more frantic by the second, dodging people as I looked for her.

Calm down, Darren. You're being irrational and paranoid. She's fine, she's safe.

Maybe she wasn't dancing at all, maybe she was hanging around the edges? She said she was going to look for Jimmy and Alex. Come to think of it, I haven't seen them either.

I finally came to a hallway leading to the bathrooms. And what I saw made my mouth drop open.

I cleared my throat once I overcame my shock.

Jimmy seperated from Alex, their hair was mussed and both were panting slightly. Alex's lips were red and slightly swollen. Kind of reminded me of when Rose and I kissed. Speaking of which...

Their eyes were wide as they regarded me.

"Look, I don't care about whatever it is you two have going on. Have you seen Rose?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

"I thought she was with you," Alex managed a reply.

"She was but after our dance she went to find you guys." I chuckled, "maybe she's washing her eyes out with soap."

Jimmy rolled his eyes, "Ha. Ha. But we haven't seen her."

"No wonder, you two didn't even notice me until I cleared my throat," I grinned.

"Shut up," Alex glared. "Look, is Rose missing or something? I swear if you hurt her-"

"Why would I hurt her, then ask you guys where she is?" I snapped sarcastically.

"I don't know, you can be a real jerk," she answered.

I breathed in annoyance, "listen, I can't find Rose, and you two haven't seen her either. You don't think she left, do you?"

"No, she would never leave us," Jimmy spoke. "She's gotta be around here somewhere, I'll call her."

He took out his cell phone from his pocket, tapped the screen a few times, then pressed the phone to his ear.

Jimmy's eyes slowly enlarged. He gulped.

"Rose, we can't find you, you didn't leave, did you? Call me back when you get this, bye."

He replaced the phone back in his pocket.

"Shit," I cursed.

"Relax, she'll call back in a few minutes," Alex said. "She always does."

We waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"It's been ten minutes," Jimmy whispered, looking at the time on his phone.

"Are you sure you looked everywhere?" Alex asked me.

"Yes!" I snapped, "I looked everywhere! I can't find her, I have this bad feeling in my stomach, she won't answer her phone-" I was on the verge of a panic attack at this point.

"Don't get your boxers in a twist, Rose has to be here somewhere. Why are you making such a big deal out of this, what could possibly happen to her?" Alex questioned.

I rubbed the back of my neck, "Rose is very...special."

"Aww, how cute," Jimmy rolled his eyes.

"You don't understand," I shook my head. "She's obviously not here; no one has seen her and she hasn't answered or phone or called back. She's in danger, I know it."

"What kind of danger?" Alex spoke.

"Really bad danger," I answered gravely. "I might know where she is..."

"Where?!" Jimmy shrieked, wanting to know.

"She may have gotten kidnapped, and taken to the Dark Realm."

"The what?" Alex rose an eyebrow.

"The Dark Realm; it's in the Magic Realm, but only dark witches and wizards live there. They're consumed by black magic, basically they're evil. Think of it as the Outlands from the Lion King," I replied.

"Oh," Jimmy let out, understanding dawning. "So let's go get her!"

"I can't," I moaned in anguish, shaking my head. "Regular magic doesn't work there; I'm not that powerful yet to overcome the boundaries. I'd be useless if I tried to rescue her."

"Ooh, I...wait, never mind," Jimmy spoke up, then lowered his head.

"What?" I asked.

"Never mind, it's not of any use to us," he shook his head.

"Tell me," I growled, taking a step closer to him.

"Well, my Mom has this stone necklace. She said it helped the Chosen One with her magic, but it doesn't work on regular witches and wizards-"

"The Crystal de Caballero?" I whispered in shock, "it can't be. The Council said that it was lost years ago."

"Well, my Mom has it; she showed it to me," he replied. "But listen, it's useless-"

"Where is it? At your house?" I interrupted, grabbing Jimmy's arm and Alex's.

"Hey!" she protested. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm tele-transporting us to wherever the crystal is, where is it, Jimmy?" I asked again.

"But I told you, it's useless unless you're the-"

"I am the Chosen One!" I growled, "now answer the damn question!"

He swallowed nervously, "it's in my parents' bedroom-"

Without waiting for another word I tele-transported us to his house.

A/N: The link to Rose's Winter Ball gown is on my profile!

tierrayaoi: Considering I invented them, thank you :)

xDreamingAtMidnightx: That's alright, I hope you're okay and feeling better!

delightisadream: As a writer, I'm honestly glad I could get you scared like that XD Lol your spoon tho!

angelcreature13: Cliffhangers keep the readers around ;D

shadowhunter167: Hmm, we'll see if he can...

lovethatignites: A mini Jemma XD And yes, he was XD Thanks for liking the song choice! "...you've got a full-grown string bean in a paintball vest waiting to whoop yo ass." I cried X'D Thank you for the lesson ;)

multishipper123: Nope ;)