I realized that I should probably comment on something here: in the story, Jamie just calls her coach by her last name, Castelli. I call my coach by just her last name so that's where that came from. It was natural for me to not put Mrs. In there so I didn't. and Merry late Christmas or which ever holiday you celebrate! and to Chance (yeah, you know who you are *death glare*) if you think about quiting writing again i will write you out of my story. yup i have that power. so by golly KEEP WRITING!

Chapter 8

I scurried across the floor by the wall and came up next to the kidnapped girl. I had no way of telling her not to freak out so I made due with just licking her knee. If it's even possible, her eyes got even wider when she saw me. I ran back around behind her and started gnawing on the guard tape that bound her hands. I could tell that the tape had been done tightly by the color of her hands. She started wiggling her fingers, trying to get feeling back in them. Using my little rat claws I climbed up the back of her dress and chewed threw the tape covering her mouth. She reached her hand up and pulled off the tape the rest of the way. Discreetly, she pulled her skirt up to reveal her bound ankles. I jumped off her shoulder and ran to her feet and undid those as well.

"Brother!" the girl Ghost cried as she tried to beat the flames off her dress. Her apparent brother appeared next to her and ripped the bottom part of her skirt off and threw it away from them.

With the Ghost siblings occupied, the kidnapped girl grabbed me around the waist and ran out the door. She didn't stop till we were far away from the gym. She ducked into an empty bathroom and set me down on the sink counter. Well, know what do I do? She's gonna want to take me home as a pet.

She bent down so that I was eye level with her. I saw her face change to a look of confusion as she noticed my scars. "I was just saved by an average sewer rat? Is that really all you are?" she said more to herself than to me. I stared back at her with my beady little rat eyes. I wanted to nod and assure her that yes, that all I was, but that seemed like it would be counterproductive. I did the only thing I could think of and ran for it. I couldn't change back into a human if she was watching me so I had to find a place by myself. I ran for the door and squeezed under it and around the corner of the hall way before she could get out the door.

I changed back into my normal form when I was sure she was far enough away. The smoke around me was thicker up high and I was starting to have a hard time breathing. I ran out the nearest door to the outside. All the guards at the competition were waiting outside while the fire trucks pulled up to put out the fire that had spread to other parts of the building. I looked down at myself and saw that I was covered in soot.

A fire man rushed over to me and asked if I was ok. I was exhausted. I had never tried to stay in a different form for so long. He repeated his question and grabbed hold of my arm. I gave him a half nod and half "what the hell is going on here?" look. As he led me down to the medics that were setting up oxygen tanks, I realized that even though I saved the girl, I never found Jade. As I stumbled along I tried to tell him she was still missing, but was too tired to form any words. I was sat down in the grass and handed an oxygen mask. As they were taking my vitals Mrs. Castelli ran and knelt down next to me. "Jamie! Where have you been? Are you okay?" she asked, she wasn't mad, just concerned. Then she realized, "Where's Jade?"

I looked up at her and shook my head.

She ran over to the fire man that had helped me over and told him Jade was still missing. After we watched four firemen run into the building she came back over and squatted down next to me.

"Jamie, tell me what happened," Castelli said gently as she put her hand on my shoulder.

I pulled the oxygen mask away from my face, "I went to go look for her and…." I had to make sure I didn't mention turning into a rat. Luckily Castelli took my pause as just being out of breath.

"It's okay, take your time."

"I went to the gym to look for her and found the Ghost siblings, the girl they kidnapped and someone called Tempest in there." I took another breath from the mask. "They fought. And I think the girl escaped somehow. I had to leave because of the smoke, but I couldn't find Jade anywhere."

"It's ok Jamie, we'll find her. They're looking for her now."

"What about the girl that got away? Did they find her?"

"I'll find out." She stood up and walked over to the nearest fireman to ask. As she was walking over I saw the door I came out of open, and a fireman was carrying the girl that I had freed in his arms. She was conscious but looked a little more singed than I did. She brought her over next to me and set her down. She was handed an oxygen mask and asked various questions like I was.

"You okay?" then realized that might be taken like I knew something, "I saw them grab you."

She just nodded. I could see that she was shaking. I looked down at my hands and realized that I was too. Castelli walked back over, still looking worried, "Is this the girl you saw before?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am."

She knelt down in front of her. "Did they hurt you?"

"No, just tied me up," she replied back very quietly.

"What's your name?"

"Marie."

"Ok, Marie, you need to tell that man over there, "she pointed at the police commissioner, "everything that happened, okay? He's going to get a hold of your parents and try and find the people that grabbed you. Tell him everything you can remember no matter how small a detail."

"There you are!" I heard from behind me.

I turned around and I dropped the oxygen mask. Standing there behind me was Jade. She had both her bags and mine slung over her shoulder. She didn't have any soot on her so she had to of gotten out of the building with everyone else. I jumped up and ran over to her. She set down the bags and stuck her hands on her hips.

"Where the hell have you been Jade?! I searched everywhere for you!"

"I got out with everyone else I assumed you would already be out. But then I couldn't find the rest of the guard. Then I saw you sitting over here so I came over," she said with a shrug.

"I ran around a building that was on fire trying to find you, you idiot!" I wasn't mad, but all the relief and exhaustion was flowing out of my mouth and it didn't seem like my filter was on. "I saw the Ghost siblings fighting some flying, fire shooting chick named Tempest and saw Marie tied up in the gym!"

"You saw all that?"

"Yeah and I…. Yeah I saw all that," I caught myself before I gave anything away.

"And I think those Ghost siblings you mentioned are called The Ghost twins by the way."

"How do you know that?"

"I have a hobby of researching various superheroes and super villains," she said like it was totally beside the point.

"You were supposed to find your partner, Jade. Me, I'm your emergency partner. Why didn't you try to find me?"

Jade just stuttered, not sure of how to reply to my question. "I… I was… I mean I had to…. I tried." She looked down at the bags that were on the ground around her feet.

"You went to get you stuff instead?"

"It was close."

I started to walk away then turned back around and grabbed her arm and dragged her over to Castelli. "Here she is," I said as I pulled her up next to me so Castelli could see her then walked back over to get my bag.

I felt like I wanted to cry, scream and sleep all at the same time. The pressure in my head was like someone was trapped inside my skull and trying to push their way out. I walked around till I found the rest of my guard who were all sitting in small groups, not saying anything, just sitting being around each other. I sat off to the side a bit and pulled Wilson, my purple rabbit pillowpet, out of my guard bag, along with my iPod. I was sitting cross-legged leaning over Wilson so that I was lying on top of him and turned my music on, tuning out everything around me and fell asleep.

I didn't just absolutely love this chapter. It wasn't as upbeat as I prefer but whatever right? A little diversity is good. A change of scene if you will… a change of scene if you won't, too.

But hey if you're curious about anything just put it in the review that I know you are going to give because you love me and I have posted every weekend for you because by golly I'm good like that.