“A storytelling event at Willowmere Park. It’s supposed to be next weekend, but I haven’t heard a peep about this year’s storyteller. Given everything that’s been going on, it’s probably cancelled.” I pull the roll apart and watch the steam escape as my mind returns to the mystery at hand.
Was Lainey really with Rafe?
If so, why is she back while he’s stuck in a mirror?
Jude scoots forward. “It’s breaking.”
My attention jerks to Twig’s phone which plays footage of Lainey leaving the hospital.
Twig turns up the volume until we hear the authoritative voice of Karen Foster, lead anchorwoman of WMTM News 12.
“… missing since last week following a high school party at the town cemetery. Today, one of those girls has been found safe. Foggy Hollow’s Chief of Police, Douglas Perry, tells us she left voluntarily.”
The footage switches to Chief Perry standing behind a podium at the police station. “After an extensive interview with Lainey, we have learned that she was unaware her absence had caused any panic, and equally unaware that another student, Ivy Winslow, has gone missing. Ivy’s case remains active, and at this time we have no evidence linking the two incidents.”
The footage returns to Karen Foster in studio as she taps a stack of papers onto the desk. “One girl found safe. Another still missing. WMTM News 12 will continue to follow this developing story.”
I look up. “She’s lying.”
Twig shrugs uneasily. “So did we.”
He’s right, of course.
We lied to the police, too.
Because they never would have believed the truth.
Lainey must have felt the same way.
I pick up my phone and scroll through my list of contacts.
“What are you doing?” Twig asks.
“Calling her,” I say.
Twig pulls at his earlobe, like maybe that’s not such a good idea.
His worry is for naught.
My call goes straight to voicemail.
The waiter sets our pizza—a large, steaming pie loaded with meat—on a stand in the middle of the table. He’s distracted by the football game again. This time, WVU’s safety has intercepted a Hail Mary. He forgets to ask if we need anything, like a drizzle of hot honey or a refill of root beer.
But I’m not very bothered by his negligence.
An overwhelming sense of bewilderment has stolen my appetite.
I can’t stop picturing Mrs. Winslow, a shrunken version of the mother she used to be. I bite my thumbnail, trying to make sense of it all. The strange creature, the glowing seed, that jarring vision, and the brief appearance of Rafe in a mirror. Is the creature somehow connected to Rafe and Lainey, or is it just a distracting, unrelated conundrum? I haven’t a clue how my mother fits into the picture, or how Lainey could have possiblysurvived. We only know that she did. Somehow, some way, Lainey Sikes is alive.
Which means Ivy could be alive, too.
My insides hum with urgent curiosity.
If she’s alive, we have to find her.
5
TRAPPED TEENS
