So to catch up on what's happening: Something is officially wrong with Mr. Highes but they don't know what, they have their daily broadcasts to worry about, and Tori has just been kidnapped.

Oh boy, this can't end well can it?

CHAPTER 16 -DAY 11 continued-

Jade's POV

"Come on, Cat, you can look at the fish later." We attempted to get back to our table from both the bathrooms—which Vega was in neither of—but Cat kept wanting to look at the paintings on the wall or the little statues and fountains, and now the gigantic crystal tank of fish like the ones in the Asian markets.

"Ooo, this fish is so pretty Jade," she told me, pointing to a lively one.

"Well, that one's going to end up being someone's dinner at some point, so let's stop bothering their last few hours on Earth and get back to the others," I said pointedly.

"What?" Cat was aghast. "People eat these fish?"

"Yes!" I exasperated. "What kind of fish did you think we were going to be eating? Tofu ones?"

Cat looked like she was about to cry. "But they're so pretty," she whispered, her eyes big and shining. She touched the glass tank in a dramatic way, and I rolled my eyes, grabbing her hand and leading her away.

"Let's go. We can mourn for them later, okay?"

She sniffled so loudly and wiped her now runny nose that I was getting worried some people would think that had I hurt her or something, which was certainly not the case. In front of everyone, I took off my sweater, balled it up, and shoved it in Cat's face so her sobs wouldn't be heard, nor her face seen.

We arrived at the table, all eyes on us.

"Did you find Tori?" André looked way too hopeful as Cat and I slid down next to Beck.

"Well, Cat found some fish," I smiled sarcastically at the girl rubbing her face all over my nice sweater. Maybe next time I'd tell her to just suck it up. "But other than that, no. Vega's obviously left the restaurant or something."

"What's wrong, Cat?" Robbie asked, genuinely concerned for her.

"I saw some fish and they were really pretty but then Jade told me that they would be someone's dinner!" she blubbered.

Robbie shot me a glare that was almost terrifying. Of course, I gave him twice as scary and he shrunk back to patting Cat on the head and holding her hand from across the table.

"Hey, can we focus on Tori, please?" André interrupted.

"Fine. What about her?" I growled.

"Where could she be?" he asked.

"Maybe she went back to the hotel," Beck supplied, putting his arm around me, maybe thinking that I was cold because Cat had my sweater, but I was quite the opposite.

"Why would she do that?" Sikowitz wondered.

"I don't know. Maybe she was just bored of hanging around you guys and wanted to get a break," I suggested.

"No, she was probably just sick of you," Robbie said.

The table went silent as I stared at him. Oh no, he did not just say that. Robbie slumped down in his chair, obviously regretting his comeback. I pulled my hand back to reach over and slap him, but Cat caught it before I could and Beck held my waist firmly to keep me from getting up.

"Okay, guys, stop." Sikowitz waved his hands to take order. "Where's Mr. Highes? Maybe he knows—"

"Did someone say my name?" Mr. Highes appeared out of nowhere on Sikowitz's right side. Our teacher jumped in his seat, hands waving like windmills. He grabbed his heart, staring at Mr. Highes in absolute shock. I grinned slightly, until I set eye on the billionaire.

His eyes were blood-red, hair tussled, and drool was drying in white streaks on the corners of his mouth. A woman was holding onto one of his arms, trying to pull him away, but he wouldn't give in.

"Hello, sir," Beck said in a sucking-up manner.

The assistant spoke before Mr. Highes could.

"I'm sorry to say this kids, but Mr. Highes needs to go. It's a very urgent matter and—" She pulled on his arm as he was starting to touch Cat's hair, who was completely oblivious, "—he would apologize himself if he were in a state to do so."

Mr. Highes was standing right next to her, and he had just spoken a few seconds ago. What the heck?

"What's going on?" Sikowitz asked, voicing my thoughts.

"Show 'em, Nancy," Mr. Highes slurred. He rolled up his sleeve, revealing a series of bright red cuts, some oozing blood. It was extremely fascinating how a sixty-something year old man would cut himself, but no one else found it amusing.

Nancy slapped his hand and pulled the sleeve down, but it was too late, as we had seen everything.

André stood up, alarmed.

"I'm so sorry, but there's no time to explain," she said breathlessly, trying to drag the man away from us.

"Leave me be, woman! I am Jeffrey Highes, a proud billionaire of Vegas! I go when I want to, and I stay if I choose!" Mr. Highes boomed, seeming to snap out of his trance.

Nancy said nothing, using both hands to control him.

"Hey! Sonny, sit down! I am trying to speak!" Mr. Highes's eyes rolled and he pointed furiously at André. Another man came over and grabbed onto his other arm, placing a hand over his mouth, and together, they took Mr. Highes out of the room.

Everyone sitting at the tables was silent.

"Someone tell me what just happened!" Beck demanded, standing up and indicating to the crewmembers. No one moved or even whispered a word to each other.

"It's all right, sir. Sometimes Mr. Highes cannot control it," a mustached man told Beck calmly.

"Can't control what?"

"Okay, we'll talk about this later," Sikowitz interrupted. The mustached man fell silent upon Sikowitz's stare. Things were getting pretty serious right now. "We need to find Tori."

"Sikowitz—"

"No more questions, Beck." Sikowitz almost looked angry. Beck sat down, but André remained standing.

"So maybe she's at the hotel," Robbie said quietly, trying to break the awkwardness. "We should go and check it out."

"But I want to try out the food," I whined.

"Then you can stay. But I think I'll need to go, seeing as I am the 'responsible' chaperone after all," Sikowitz said, getting up.

"I'll go with you," André volunteered.

"Me too," Beck said. I gasped as he stood up, tugging on the bottom of his shirt to get him to sit down again.

"What are you doing?" I whispered frantically.

"I'm going to find Tori with André and Sikowitz." But it was obvious to me that he just wanted to ask Sikowitz more questions about Mr. Highes. Don't get me wrong, I wanted to know what was up with the psychotic billionaire too, but for some reason, this didn't seem like a great time to say anything.

Sikowitz stared at me, his eyes full of guilt. "Take the limo back when the party's over," he instructed us. "We'll text you guys if we find her."

I watched almost tearfully as Beck grabbed Andrés shaking shoulders and led him out of the room. Sikowitz nodded curtly to the staff and crewmembers before going after the boys, leaving me with Cat and Robbie.

It's amazing how one little vacation can turn out to be a nightmare and threaten to tear apart relationships.

"Oh, where are they going?" Cat had finally stopped crying and lifted her tear-stained face off of my sweater. I could not believe she missed all of the action.

"Nowhere important," I muttered, staring after them.

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Beck's POV

Jade looked pretty upset when I left her with Cat and Robbie. I don't think she was very happy with me right now. But no big deal, she always acted like that when I went to help Tori out, although there were multiple reasons for me going with Sikowitz and André.

We took a taxi back to The Royale. Sikowitz was in front with the driver, while André was with me in the back.

"So," I said causally, "Sikowitz, do you want to tell us what's wrong with Mr. Highes since you didn't let that other guy tell me?"

"No."

"Why not?" I hated being naggy, but this was serious. And I didn't want to have to be scared of that billionaire anymore…not that I was now.

"I'm surprised none of you figured it out yet," he replied.

"What? So this guy has serious mood swing problems, cuts himself, and that's it, right? He just sounds bipolar to me."

"Maybe, maybe not." That was the last thing Sikowitz said about the subject.

We arrived at the hotel, and Sikowitz paid the driver the fee and we piled out, running towards the entrance.

"Are we going to split up or anything?" André asked.

"Yes. I'll go up to the rooms, and I want you two to ask the hotel staff if maybe they saw her or something, okay?" Sikowitz replied. "And later, if we still don't find her, which I hope to God doesn't happen, we'll have to phone the Vegas and tell them what's happened to their youngest daughter."

"Roger that," André said.

We broke apart, me in the lead as we went over to the main counters. We were at the back of the line, and thankfully it wasn't too long. I tapped my foot impatiently and André popping noises in his mouth and slapping his thigh like a beat boxer.

When we got to the front, André said quickly, "Have you seen a girl that looks like this?" And he pulled out his phone and showed the lady a picture of Tori.

The woman thought for a moment. "No, I'm sorry."

André was obviously trying hard to keep his emotions in. "All right, thank you. But if you do see her, could you tell her that André is looking for her?"

"Will do," the woman replied, although I don't think she really meant it. She turned to the next people in line as we shuffled away, heads held down dejectedly. We sat down on some of the red plush couches in the reception area.

"So now what?" André asked.

"We wait here until Sikowitz or Tori show up," I responded, picking up a newspaper and opening it up in front of me.

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Tori's POV

I woke up in a black van, lying on the cold floor, my hands, ankles and mouth still taped up. My head hurt just slightly, but it was tolerable. I looked around, seeing the intimidating shadows of my captors in the front seats of the vehicle. I slapped the ground with my hand since I couldn't speak.

"Oh, look who's awake," I heard Mr. Right's screechy voice. "How are you doing dear? Just in time, we're at the hotel right now."

The van came to a jerky stop and both men left the front, circling around and opening the back doors. Mr. Lowes picked me up, and I got a good view of where we were. We were in a nearby alley that was littered with trash and smelled disgusting.

"Floor thirty, room C is that correct?" Mr. Right repeated.

I didn't know if I should nod or not.

"Answer me, girlie," Mr. Right said, and I nodded, fearing that he was going to hurt me or something.

We came up to a door that had camouflaged itself with the brick wall. Mr. Right wrenched it open, allowing Mr. Lowes with me to step through. The room turned out to be a giant, dimly lit staircase, one that I didn't even know existed.

Mr. Right reached down and pulled the tape off my ankles. "You'll be walking dear," he said at the same time. "Walter, keep an eye on her. I'll be waiting for you both on the fifteenth floor, okay?" He stalked off to take the elevator, but by himself, I wondered why.

"It's all right, Miss Jade Vega," Mr. Lowes said calmly, looping one arm around mine and pulling me up a few steps. I was trying to be as uncooperative as possible. "Only a few hundred steps and we'll be up to your room. Mr. Right doesn't want us to take the elevator, you see, because he doesn't want anyone to see you."

Oh, well that would explain it.

"Come on now, it's not that far," he tugged at my arm, while I remained as motionless as possible. Finally he sighed and pulled out his gun, which I forget he still had.

I was up and walking within an instant.

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I panted pathetically hard around the tape on my mouth and we were only on the fifth floor.

"What's wrong now?" Mr. Lowes asked, noticing that I was losing speed.

"Mmo maarr," I gasped, "moo miiredd…"

Mr. Lowes tapped his chin while I repeated my muffled words. He snapped his fingers, saying, "'So far, too tired?'" I nodded, and he fist-pumped the air. "Yes! I am great at charades!"

I rolled my eyes. This wasn't even charades.

"Well, okay, but don't say anything to Nicolas, okay? I don't think he'll be very happy with me." I had no idea what he was talking about, but suddenly he came over and scooped me up, throwing me over his shoulder and proceeding to trudge up the steps while holding my legs so I wouldn't kick him in the face, not that I was planning on it. This guy wasn't nearly as bad as I thought.

When we finally came to the fifteenth floor, Mr. Right was on the landing, waiting.

"What the heck, Walter? She has legs. She can walk," he reprimanded his partner as he set me on the floor within arm's length so I couldn't dart away.

Mr. Lowes looked sheepish. "Well, sorry, Nic, but I felt kinda bad…"

"You felt bad?" I knew right away that Mr. Lowes had said the wrong thing, and he knew too. The larger man drew himself up and cowered against the wall behind him as Mr. Right got in his face, muttering things that were too fast for me to understand.

"I-I'm sorry. No. It won't happen again. I promise. Swear to my mother, I do," were the only things I could make out from Mr. Lowes's responses.

"Fine. Take the elevator to the thirtieth floor and find room C, okay?" Mr. Right thrust my hotel key in front of Mr. Lowes's face. "Get yourself into the room and start raiding everything, okay? We'll be up in a jiffy, I promise." He glared at me and I gulped.

Mr. Lowes speeded away to the elevators and Mr. Right grabbed me roughly by the arm. He wasn't nearly as nice as Mr. Lowes was.

"Let's get going kid."

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Mr. Right ended up viciously dragging me along the last few floors because I just couldn't do it anymore. My back was probably all bruised along with my legs and ankles.

However, I managed to limp with him to room C, and he knocked on the door cautiously. Oh, if only my friends were here to rescue me! Mr. Lowes peeped open the door and let us in.

"Sorry, Nic, but I didn't get very far. There was a bald guy in here before me, and I almost ran into him," Mr. Lowes apologized. A bald guy? Sikowitz was here? My heart started beating fast. "But luckily he went out and left. Does he sound familiar to you, kid?"

But of course I still couldn't talk with the tape in the way. Mr. Lowes shrugged and stepped aside.

I don't know what he meant by 'I didn't get very far,' but the room was already badly trashed. Cat's and my luggage were ripped open and the contents spilled out on the beds, clothes hanging off onto the floor and our souvenirs we had bought the previous days. In the bathroom, the counters were swiped off and everything was knocked over.

"Didja find any cash?" Mr. Right asked greedily as they tied me one of the fence bars surrounding the pool so I could sit there and watch them destroy our room.

"Not yet," Mr. Lowes replied, rifling through Cat's luggage. "Dang, how old are you, Jade? Why you got all these stuffed animals in here?"

I actually almost laughed. Of course Cat would want to bring her friends along. But then I also noticed that he was calling me 'Jade,' which I was not very thrilled about.

They spent the next twenty stuffing their pockets full of our nice jewelry and other irreplaceable items, but mostly the huge wad of cash that was in Cat's trunk. Apparently, there was a secret compartment that had (according to Mr. Right) almost three hundred dollars and they were very satisfied after that.

I must've dozed off or something because suddenly Mr. Lowes was standing in front of me.

"You awake, girl?" He prodded my face.

I snapped out of it, staring at him. "Are you finished yet?"

"Yeah. We finally got what we were looking for." He held up a huge wad of twenty-dollar bills wrapped with two thick rubber bands. "We're just gonna decide what to do with you now," he replied. I gulped.

"You aren't going to kill, are you?" I asked quietly.

"No, because that would be too suspicious," Mr. Right said. "But you've seen too much already. What do you think we should do, Mr. Lowes?"

Mr. Lowes looked thoughtful as he pocketed the cash. Suddenly, a creepy smile crossed his face. "Let's get back to the van."

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This time both men accompanied me down the long flight of stairs and threw me rudely in the back of their van. I couldn't breathe with the panic rising inside. What exactly where they going to do to me?

Mr. Lowes sat down in the front seat and revved the engine. I didn't see Mr. Right up there, but suddenly the back opened up, and the man himself hopped in, a roll of duct tape in his hands.

"Where are we going, Walter?" Mr. Right asked curiously as he ripped off a large piece.

"Oh, you'll like it, Nic. I'm sure you will."

Mr. Right taped the piece around my eyes like a crude blindfold. Then he smacked my head again, and I fell into unconsciousness again, the last thing I heard being the two men's evil laughs.

Sorry if some of the characters were a little OOC.

And hmm, I wonder where those guys are going to take Tori, don't you? }:) Mwahahahaha.

Until next time, review!