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I glance at Seth. “What happened?”
Seth pinches the bridge of his nose. “We were caught. I don’t know how or what gave us away, but since we didn’t have anyone from The Organization to help us escape…” He closes his eyes briefly. “One of us had to stay back to detonate a bomb and—I’m sorry, Pipe.”
“It wasn’t your fault.” Uncle Mason places a hand on his shoulder.
“I shouldn’t have let him stay. That should’ve been me, not him.” The frustration and anger in Seth’s voice squeeze my heart.
He’s in pain, and though I’d love to hug him and tell him everything will be okay, I can’t. My body is frozen in place. My heart knew something wasn’t right. I just didn’t know what it was until now.
I swallow hard. I have to learn more about what happened.
“You’re telling me he stayed behind?” I confirm, my lower lip quivering uncontrollably. I pinch my wrist, trying to control my emotions. I can’t fall apart.
Archer needs me to stay in control. We have to find a way to help him. Well, not exactly me. There’s not much I can do, but Seth and Uncle Mason have the resources.
“Why are you here and not there, looking for him?” My voice loses its strength.
“That’s what we’ve been doing for the last week,” Uncle Mason says. “I left people in the area. We’ll continue the search, but for now, we’ll declare him as missing.”
Missing,I repeat the words inside my head.
Missing.
Reporting him as missing is just the first step to declaring him dead, isn’t it?
Dead.
My heart stops as those four letters echo inside my head. D. E. A. D.
But he can’t be… no, he can’t.
But what if he’s gone?
Did I lose him?
Did I lose my entire world?
Tears fall as I absorb the information.
Did I lose Archer forever?
What am I supposed to do now?
My dreams. I recall all of them. He’s still alive. And someone has to advocate for him before they stop searching.
I look up at my uncle. “Go back and look for him again. Archer is alive,” I say with the last bit of strength I have left in me.
Uncle Mason stares at me.
“You have to search for him,” I insist. “He’s lonely, scared, and wanting to come home—to me.”
I press my lips together, trying to control the tears, but it’s impossible. “Just bring him back to me, okay?”
“We’re trying, Pipe.” Seth walks toward me, taking me into his arms. “We’ll find him.”
“Seth,” Uncle Mason’s warning tone makes me look up at him. “We can’t promise what we might not be able to deliver.”
“He’s alive, I swear,” I mumble. “You can’t comprehend how I know it, but I do. Our hearts beat as one, and they have since the first day I met him. It’s even stronger now. I would know… I would feel it down to my soul if he wasn’t around anymore.”
