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I knew something wasn’t right.
The call connects, and I'm talking before Rick can say hello. I don’t care if it’s rude or annoys him. This is important.
“You told me you dropped Jade off at the school to go to the library?” I don’t even try to mask the acquisition in my tone as I try to push the panic back and get to the bottom of this.
“Yes, I did, Zander.” He huffs into the phone as if I’m being ridiculous, god I hope I am.
I hear Trent’s breath hitch from where he still stands just in front of me now that he understands.
“Then why is Trent in the garage with me right now telling me she never showed up!?” My voice goes up an octave as the panic takes hold of me.
“Calm down for a second, Zander. Let's not jump to any conclusions here.” Rick says in his usual calming voice that he uses with me when I’m about to lose it. The only problem is that there's only one way to calm me, and I’m almost positive he can't tell me where she is.
“Is Trent there with you?” He asks, but I can’t find the words to answer him. Thankfully I don’t have to.
“Yeah, I’m here, Rick.” Trent tells him, grabbing the phone out of my hand.
I don’t even try to fight him to keep it. I don’t have anything to say.
“When was the last time you talked to her? What did she say?”
“Um, earlier, she messaged me and said you guys were headed to the library from the market.” He says as he fishes out his phone. “That was just after noon.” He tells him, reading off the time stamp, and this time it’s Rick’s turn to curse.
“Fuck.” He all but growls into the phone. I hear him moving around the house and the unmistakable sound of keys jingling, but he doesn’t say anything else.
Other sounds come through the phone, but I can't place what they are as my mind repeats the same thing over and over.
We failed her.
I work my hands into my hair and tug in hopes of centering myself. We might have failed her, but we can still save her. We can’t let her go back to that shit.
“Rick, tell me you have a plan.” I can hear the desperation in my voice, but I don’t care. The only thing that matters right now is how we fix this.
“I’m working on it, Zander!” He shouts back to me. I look up and meet Trent's gaze as we both hear the unmistakable sound of panic in his voice. It’s so unlike him that I’m sure my face looks just as shocked as he does right now.
“Where the fuck is Spencer?” Rick yells, our attention back to the phone and out of our momentary shock.
I think about it for a second before I realize I haven’t seen him all day. I tell Rick as much, and he confirms that he hasn’t either.
That sinking feeling is back, but I’m worried I know exactly what it’s trying to tell me this time.
“Rick?” The question rings in my voice, and I know he understands even if I don’t say it.
“Don’t!” He says, but he didn’t need to. Even though I’m almost positive I know exactly what is happening here, I can’t seem to say it out loud.
“I’m going to call Kratos. Meet me at Hooper's as soon as you fucking can.” He says before the line goes dead.
So much about all of this is fucked, but I don’t have time to linger on it.
All that matters now is getting to Hopper’s so we can find Jade. Without saying a word, Trent and I take off. We barely stop to throw the garage door closed before we both run to my car moving like the devil’s on our heels.
Trent knows just as well as I do that the laws don’t apply to us like everyone else, and while he’s bitched about it in the past, I can see on his face that he's more than happy to break all of those laws right now.
Some part of me knows I should probably leave Trent behind. But he would never go for that, and I didn’t have time to argue with him. I tell myself that's the only reason, but I know it’s a lie. I saw the panic on his face when he realized Jade was missing. Shit, I felt it for myself, and I couldn’t stomach leaving him hanging. Friends or not, we have a lot of history. It’s been bad lately, but once upon a time, we were best friends, and I let that sway me for better or worse at this moment.
As long as we get Jade back, the rest doesn’t matter.
I just hope we haven’t failed her in more than one way today.
