True Friends: Kidnapped by Lulu Nighthaven & Breeana Willow Vala (electronic book reader TXT) 📖

them anyway.
Joey locked the doors while Mikey and Raven ran around the house shutting and locking the windows. When this was done they all gathered in the den and sat down on the couch.
Mikey and Joey turned the TV onto cartoons and Raven opened her letter and began to read.


Dear Raven,
I’m Yasmin’s mother. I have some very distressing news. Yasmin has been kidnapped. I have the police looking for her, but they haven’t found out anything yet. As the investigation continues I will continue to keep you posted, and I will write you as soon as my daughter is returned home.
If Yasmin somehow gets in touch with you please let me know. Please don’t worry too much; I am doing enough of that for both of us.

Sincerely,
Ms. Brooke


Raven gasped and dropped the letter. Joey turned toward her in confusion. Raven continued to stare at the letter, seeing the words again. She couldn’t believe it, Yasmin, kidnapped? It had to be the man she had been writing to her about. Hadn’t Yasmin taken her advice? Should she have told Yasmin to let her parents know? Raven had assumed Yasmin had already told her parents.
“Rave? You ok? You don’t look so good, maybe you should lay down.” Joey was saying. But Raven was a million miles away, burning with rage and confusion.
“Raven?” It was Mikey this time, he was in front of her, pulling on her hands. “Your all white, and you look like your sick. Come on, you gotta lay down.”
As Joey and Mikey tried to get her attention she focused, but not on them, or the note, or even her anger. But on the face peering through the window. A man with long, oily looking hair, and ice blue eyes. She stared at him for a moment before he disappeared.
That face was the last she saw before she was unconscious on the hard wood floor with Joey and Mikey standing over her, Joey yanking out his cell phone and Mikey crying.
“Mom, something’s wrong with Raven…I don’t know what, she just passed out. She was just reading her letter…”


CHAPTER 12


Scotland, September 14th


Yasmin opened her eyes.
"Ow", she muttered rubbing her head. There was a huge bump there.
She tried to lie back down, but she couldn't find her pillow. She stood up to look for it, but she banged her head on something.
"Ow!" Yasmin cried out again.
She ducked down so she wouldn't hit her head again, and looked up.
"Metal bars?" she mused. "Why are there metal bars in my bedroom?"
Then she looked around. The bars weren’t just above her, they were all around her.
Then it dawned on her. She was in a cage.
She suddenly remembered what had happened. The guy who had been following her had kidnapped her. The last thing that she could remember was being dragged out of her flat and being thumped on the head. She must have been knocked out.
She spotted a label on the floor of the cage. It read: 'Doggy Dens – Large.'
"I'm in a dog cage", she muttered angrily, before screaming, "I'M IN A FREAKING DOG CAGE!!!"
"Oi!" someone shouted. "Shut up you!"
Yasmin turned her head. There was another room linked onto this one where the voice had come from. It was a male's voice and it sounded tired.
"W-who's there?" Yasmin called timidly, her voice trembling.
The voice laughed.
"Who d'you think? I'm the guy who kidnapped you, idiot!"
Yasmin moaned and curled up in a ball. She was scared. She hated feeling vulnerable, but how else could she feel? She was in a cage, goodness knows how far away from home, with a man she didn't even know who kidnaps kids.
She curled her hands into fists and sat up. She wasn't going to be scared.
"Why'd you kidnap me then?" she shouted into the other room.
Yasmin heard footsteps coming toward her. She shrank back down again. So much for the 'being-brave' plan.
As her kidnapper came into view, Yasmin shuffled forward to get a better look.
He was a tall man, in his 30s maybe. He was wearing jeans that had holes in the knees and a brown leather jacket which was covered in dirt. The American flag was on the pocket on his jacket, and Yasmin realised for the first time that the man had an American accent. When he smiled, Yasmin saw that he was missing one of his front teeth, which made him look even more menacing.
"Why did you kidnap me?" she asked again, her voice much less confident than before.
"Why?" the man said. "That's none of your business."
Yasmin looked down. She had been expecting that answer.
"Where are we?" she asked timidly.
The man turned around and put his hands in him jeans pockets.
"Warehouse on the other side of the city."
He looked over his shoulder.
"Don’t worry though; we won't be here for long. Hope you don't get car sick."
He shot her another menacing grin and headed back into the room he had come from.
"What's your name?" Yasmin called, but he had shut the door.
"Wonder what he meant by, 'Hope you don't get car sick'?", Yasmin wondered. "Where is he taking me?"
She heard her kidnapper talking in his room. It sounded like he was talking to someone else, but she couldn't hear another voice. She came to the conclusion that he was talking to someone in the phone, and strained to hear what he was saying. She could only catch snippets of the conversation.
"…Got her… tomorrow… airport… 5 o'clock flight… Alabama… On it Gunther… Bye."
Yasmin slouched back down. From those twelve words that she had heard, she understood so much. She was somehow getting flown over to Alabama tomorrow at 5. She had no idea who Gunther was. Maybe it was the guy who her kidnapped worked for.
Yasmin had never been religious, but she found herself squeezing her eyes shut and saying a silent prayer. At first she wasn't sure who she was praying to; then she realised it was to anyone. Anyone who would listen. Silently, she cried out for help – for someone to come and rescue her. Her mum, Tracy, Raven, anybody. She just needed to get out of here.
After several hours of quiet sobbing, she fell asleep, her dreams full of her kidnapper's face, and the prospect that she might never see the people she loved again.


CHAPTER 13

1 day later


“Raven, the answer is no and that’s final!” Becky said, frowning down at her foster daughter. “Let the authorities handle this, the best thing you can do is to stay here.”
“No! Look, the last time I talked to Yasmin she mentioned a man who had been following her. I don’t think that’s merely a coincidence! Mom, her dad is a cop! It has to have something to do with one of his cases! Mom, my dad was a cop. I have to help her, ok?”
“No, not ok! You don’t have a choice here, Raven. You either do what I say and stay out of this, or…I’ll have to send you back to social services.” Becky said, blinking away the tears that filled her eyes at such a thought.
Raven stood, stunned, for a moment. Then, setting her face in a blank mask to hide her pain, she grabbed her jacket and walked past Becky, clenching her teeth against the pain.
She threw on her coat and burst through the front door just as Joey, his date, and a few of his friends were coming up the walk.
“Hey, Rave! Come here, I want to introduce you to a few people.” Joey said, smiling and waving her over. Ignoring him, she walked past them all, glaring at his date. “Rave! Hey, is something wrong with Raven?” She heard him call to his mom.
“Raven Dementia Black, get your butt back in this house! Raven!” Becky yelled. When Raven ignored her she looked pointedly at Joey. Shucking off his coat, Joey took off after her in a run.
When he caught up with her, he fell into step beside her, letting her walk off a good bit of steam before he began.
“So…what happened back there?” He asked, looking straight ahead.
“She wants me to just let the authorities deal with Yas’s kidnapping! Can you believe that? Really?” She ranted, losing more and more steam every moment.
“Well, actually, I can.” Joey said flinching and jumping to his defense when she turned to glare at him. “She only wants you to be safe, trust me. She’s only worried you’ll get hurt.”
Raven shook her head and didn’t bother to answer. Rain was drizzling lightly from overhead now, but neither of them really minded. They continued to walk silently.
Then they heard Becky scream along with a few of the other kids from Joey’s group. Turning on their heels, they raced back and top speed, the rain coming down harder and faster now. When they reached the house they were greeted by a hysterical Becky and some out of it pre-teens.
Joey’s date came up to them, she was shaking and looked confused but relayed the information on what had happened.
“Oh, Joey, it’s awful! That creepy man…your little brother…! Joey, he kidnapped your brother!”
By the time the girls words registered in Raven’s head she was already racing down the street after a black car that was speeding away. Joey was right