Page 162 of Echoes of the Banshee

“I—I don’t know how to explain this without sounding like a stalker,” he says. “But I usually watch Thea walk home from the library at night. Just to make sure she gets there safe. Nothing weird. We’re just friends. She’s just… got a way of finding trouble.”

My jaw clenches before I can stop it. The idea of him watching her night after night makes my skin crawl. I don’t care what he says about being just friends. I swallow it down. Now’s not the time. I need him to get to the point, not knock his teeth in.

“I was off last night,” he says, shifting his weight. “But I came in about an hour ago and was scrolling through overnight footage. I noticed something off.” He hands me his phone. It’s grainy security cam footage from a building a ways off from Thea’s dorm. I see her and Benson walking together. She keeps glancing over her shoulder.

Two figures are crouched in the shadows ahead, waiting.

“Move,” I mutter. “Thea, just move.”

She starts to turn. Headlights flash. And in that moment of distraction, the figures strike. In seconds, Thea and Benson are overpowered, hands bound, dragged toward a waiting van. They’re shoved inside, and the vehicle speeds off.

I stare at the screen, paralyzed, every part of me cold and burning at once.

“Any idea who they were?” I ask, my voice flatlined.

He shakes his head.

“No. That’s why I came to find you. I know you’re friends with her. I tracked the van as far as I could, but it left campus pretty fast.”

“Shit!” The word bursts out, harsh and loud. He flinches.

“You’re a witch, right?” he asks. “Can you track her?” A spark of purpose scorches through my fear.

“Not well,” I reply, already calling Mavrik. “But I know someone who can.”

He picks up immediately, skipping a greeting.

“Thea didn’t show up to training.”

“The security cameras caught her and Benson being attacked and forced into a van,” I say. “That guard she knows showed me.”

“Ollin?” Mavrik asks.

I glance at him, and he nods.

“Yeah. Meet me at the library. I need your help to track them.”

“That was too coordinated to be random. Do they have any enemies?” Ollin falls into officer mode, pulling out a notepad as we walk.

“I mean, her sister is a piece of work. But I don’t think she’d kidnap her,” I tell him. “And she has an ex who keeps following her around.” I give him their names.

“I’ll need someone to report that she’s missing so I can officially start searching,” he says. I pull out my phone and text Dylan, who replies immediately.

“My friend Dylan is on his way,” I tell Ollin. We exchange numbers.

“I’ll go see if I can get anything on the plates,” he says, and I take off across campus, fast but quiet, not wanting to draw attention.

I feel the floor fall out beneath me when I see the door.

“Thea’s illusion is gone,” I say. “Normally there’s an illusion hiding the door. It was there this morning.”

Mavrik walks past me into the room. He sits in a chair and closes his eyes. “I’m going to send the shadows out. They know Thea and will at least be able to tell us if she’s alive.”

An icy wave crashes through me.

I hadn’t realized that was even up for debate. I stand in shock for a moment.

“Thea isn’t anywhere on campus,” Mavrik declares without opening his eyes.