AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sorry, no. And not a sign of Idris, either. He vanished in all the commotion—which was probably his plan all along. You think the kid’s okay?”
“He’s not okay. He’s in shock and he’s alone,” I said. Why didn’t he wait for me? I wondered. I would have been willing to vanish with him.
Sam came along when I went back to meet Rod. “Anything?” Rod asked me.
“Not a sign.”
“I called James and Gloria to give them a heads up, but they’d already got the word. They haven’t heard from him. James offered to come to the city, but I told them to stay put for now. I’m still not getting an answer on his cell or his home phone.”
“Can you track his cell phone?” I asked. “He did something magical to that phone, so maybe you guys can find it.”
“Let me check.” Rod made another phone call, then came back to me. “Got it. Let’s go.”
“I’m comin’ with,” Sam said, flying alongside us as we ran from the tents.
It was still daylight, and this was the longest day of the year. At least we wouldn’t have to search in the dark for a few more hours. “The phone’s in the park, so he may have found a private place to think,” Rod said. He pointed the way so Sam could fly ahead, and then we reached a secluded spot in the Ramble, where a cell phone lay abandoned on the ground.
“There goes that idea,” I said, kneeling to pick up the phone. I checked the missed calls list, and it was full. Everyone was calling him. No wonder he’d ditched the phone. I turned it off and put it in my pocket.
Rod swore and kicked a rock. “Now what?”
“You’ve known him longer than I have. Where’s he likely to go if he needs to think? Does he have any favorite places or places where he feels safe?”
Rod ran his hands through his hair the way Owen usually did when he was thinking. “You mean other than home? That’s where he usually feels safest. Let’s see, I know that sometimes when he needs to clear his head, he goes up to the park around the Cloisters. And there’s the stadium. I don’t think there’s a game tonight, though.”
“I’ll go up there,” Sam offered. “I can stop by the cathedral along the way and get a few gargoyles to help.” He took off, soaring uptown.
“Anything else?” I asked Rod.
“There’s the bookstore. Someone could hide in the Strand for hours—and he’s been known to do so.”
“Then let’s go.”
We ran to the nearest subway station to head downtown. I was so distracted by worry that we were halfway to our stop when I noticed that there were Spellworks ads in our car—new ones proclaiming the trustworthiness of the company since it didn’t keep secrets. I elbowed Rod and pointed it out. “They had to have planned that,” I said. “I wonder if Idris knew all along.”
“I wonder how he knew. I grew up with Owen, and I didn’t know anything.”
When we reached the bookstore, I wished we’d kept Sam with us. It would take someone with wings to do a quick search of this place. If you wanted to hide from someone, this was better than a maze. “Do we split up or stick together?” I asked Rod.
“Splitting up might be more efficient, but it’s probably best if we stick together since you’re the one who’ll be able to spot him even if he’s used an invisibility spell, and I can stop him from getting away.”
We worked our way gradually through the store, level by level, starting with the sections where we were most likely to find Owen and then spreading out. For perhaps the first time in my life, I spent at least an hour in a bookstore without being tempted by even one book. My feet were killing me and I was dizzy from hunger when we finally concluded that he wasn’t there.
“There’s a diner near here that he likes,” I said, unsure whether I suggested that because I was starving or because I thought Owen might go there.
He wasn’t at the diner, and the waitress, who remembered me from having been there with Owen, said she hadn’t seen him. We got burgers to go and ate while we scouted the neighborhood.
“He’s such a homebody that I can’t think of too many places where he might go,” Rod said. He took out his cell phone and made a call, then shook his head. “Still no answer at his place. Do you think he might have gone to your place?”
“It’s a thought. Gemma, Marcia, and Nita wouldn’t know or care what all the fuss is about, and he’d know I’d eventually go back there.”
We exchanged a glance, then both of us took off running as fast as we could go, weaving through the crowds on the sidewalk. I was out of breath by the time we reached my building, and it took me two tries to unlock the front door, my hands were shaking so badly. Rod ran ahead of me up the stairs, taking them two at a time, then he knocked on the door while I was still halfway up the last flight of stairs.
Marcia opened the door. “Hey, I wasn’t expecting you!” she said, giving him a quick kiss. “I thought this was a crazy day for you.”
“Crazy doesn’t begin to describe it,” he said. “You haven’t seen Owen, have you?”
By this time, I’d reached the top of the stairs, and Marcia gave me a funny look. “Why, what’s wrong?” she asked.
