I wanted to smack my sister. Like I hadn’t been trying to find Dr. Stewart, the Vampire responsible for the missing Guardians. “I can’t! Holland has some shield around him. I’ll be able to break through it eventually, but nothing I’m trying is working!”
Cadence pulled me into her arms, and I realized I was shaking. “Okay, okay. Take some deep breaths. I’m sure, wherever they are, they’re all fine. Vampires can’t kill Guardians, remember? They’re strong. They’ll be okay.”
She was talking like she still believed they’d just been kidnapped or something. I didn’t know how to make her see that this was something worse than an abduction, nor could I feel any trace of Hamish in the air, past that vague image of him rushing out of the festival in Rog’s mind, one he didn’t even realize was associated with Stewart since he’d never seen him before. I just knew the stocky man with the peppered hair and beard had to be him.
I didn’t even realize I was crying until I heard Hannah’s voice behind me and had to wipe at my eyes to bring her into focus as I turned around to look at her. In that calm, clinical voice she always uses, she said, “We’ve searched everywhere, Cadence. It’s like they just... disappeared.”
“That’s impossible,” my sister insisted, but I wonder if she really thought that was true. I think at that point, we were all starting to suspect this was more than an abduction.
Hannah continued, attempting to be the voice of reason. “We have everyone Cassidy identified in custody, and we’ve taken down the names and addresses of every other Vampire. I think we need to go sit down somewhere and lay out everything that we have. We can leave the locals here, let them continue to comb the area.”
I thought Cadence was about to come unglued at the suggestion she leave. “Hannah, we have four missing Guardians! There’s no way in the world I’m leaving here until we figure out where they are!”
Before she even spoke, I could tell Hannah didn’t want to say what came out of her mouth next. Her lips were trembling a bit. “Six. We have six missing Guardians.”
I swiveled from watching Cadence’s reaction to look Hannah squarely in the eyes. Six? Who had I missed? Who had I not checked in on?
It hit me full in the gut before Hannah spoke their names. How could I have been so stupid? I was so busy looking for Brandon and Elliott it hadn’t even occurred to me that I had other friends I hadn’t even looked for....
“Dax and Alex are missing, too.”
I had to cover my face with both hands. How was I going to tell Tara that her boyfriend was gone? And Alex! Someone who had defeated the red coats had just gone missing from a Vampire party. It was all so impossible. I couldn’t even think straight, let alone breathe.
Cadence’s arms were around me, and I knew that she was probably having a difficult time handling the news, too, even though she wasn’t necessarily friends with either one of the other two missing Guardians. She’d overlooked them—she hadn’t thought about them or asked where they were or if they were okay.
Others were starting to come over now, like they were looking for orders. Cadence conceded. “Fine, we’ll leave a few locals here to go over things. Everyone else can go back to the B and B or to wherever Job suggests.” Job was the leader of the Independents in the area. “But I’m gonna stay here a while longer. I just need to think.... Hannah if you’ll arrange transport for the Vampires we’re holding.”
“Sure,” she said. “But if you’re staying here, so am I.”
“Me, too,” I chimed in through my tears.
“Uh, no,” Cadence replied in that tone she uses when she’s my boss and not my sister. “You’ll go back to the B and B because I need you not to be here, Cass. I don’t know how dangerous it is.”
“Cadence, if they wanted us they’d have gotten us already.”
“Don’t argue with me!”
I wanted to say something else, but I wasn’t sure what kind of an argument I could make. That Hunter from earlier, the one who’d questioned us before we left the B and B, was standing nearby. Cadence waved her over. “May, can you make sure my sister and Ashley get back to their rooms, please?” Ashley was standing a few feet away with her phone out, like she was trying to text Jamie. Like that would work somehow.
“Sure.” May beckoned me, and I thought about picking her up and tossing her over near the woods.
“Just go, Cass. Please. I don’t... we don’t have time for this. I bet you’ll think of something useful you can do back at the B and B.”
As much as I wanted to argue with her, I didn’t. I went over to Ashley and grabbed her arm, pulling her behind May as my sister and Hannah figured out everything else. Ashley came along, numb and unquestioningly, and we followed May out across the parking lot. Turns out she parked far away because she’d been part of the perimeter. She told us they’d dropped it because they hadn’t seen any Vampires leave in a while. I searched her mind for images of Hamish Stewart and saw none, which meant he’d left before we set up our checkpoints.
Her Jeep was old and beat up, but I didn’t care. I jumped in back and Ashley climbed in the front, still staring at her phone and muttering, “Come on, come on.” I wanted to tell her to put it away, but who was I to take away her final life line?
It was still dark when we got back. It seemed like we’d been gone for hours, but when I checked the time it was only a little past 3:00. Crazy so much could happen in just over an hour.
May’s Jeep idled in the drive while she waited to make sure we got inside, and then I heard her pull away as we were walking up the stairs. “What do you think happened?” Ashley asked me outside of her room.
“I don’t know for sure,” I admitted. “But it’s not good, Ash.”
“But they can’t kill Jamie,” she reminded me. “And he can heal himself.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that. It seemed silly to tell her he was sucked into a portal when I didn’t know for sure that’s what had happened, so I didn’t. Maybe she was right and he was just carried away somehow. But I didn’t think so.
So I said nothing of my suspicions, only, “Try to get some rest if you can. I think we’re going to be very busy the next few days.”
“Why isn’t Cadence here?” she asked me, pushing open her door.
“Because she wants to make sure she didn’t overlook anything.”
“We could help.”
“No, we can’t. No one can.”