AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No!” She raced in that direction.
Damon’s footsteps sounded behind her.
Ari stopped when she got close.
It wasn’t Rita. Just a trash can and a bunch of crumpled paper towels.
“What happened here?” Damon asked.
“I don’t know, but that scream had to be Rita. It sounded just like her.”
“Where is she?”
“That’s what I want to know.” She looked around. “I’m going to find her. You go the way we came, and I’ll go this way.”
“You think I’m leaving you alone with everything that’s been happening?”
“I love you, but I don’t need rescuing. We have to find Rita. She’s pregnant, and someone wants her dead.”
Damon didn’t argue. He hurried the direction Ariana had told him to go.
She raced the other way. “Rita?”
Her phone’s light wasn’t nearly bright enough. What she needed was for the power to come back on. It was supposed to take ten minutes. It felt like it had been hours, though realistically it was probably no more than fifteen or twenty minutes.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t seen Rita leave the ballroom, so there was no telling how long she’d been gone. Two minutes? Ten? And if the person who’d drawn that horrible picture had followed her…
Ariana shook her head. She couldn’t think like that. Sure, things were going sideways and fast, but that didn’t mean Rita was necessarily in trouble.
It also didn’t mean that she wasn’t.
She struggled to breathe normally as she made her way down the hall. “Rita?”
Nobody answered.
Ari picked up her pace and continued shining the light all over. There were many halls branching off the main one, and her friend could’ve gone down any of them.
“Rita!”
Crash!
Ariana gasped. She spun around, as the disturbance had come from behind her, and shone her light on every surface she could, peering through the darkness into every crack or crevice.
She darted in the direction of the noise.
Crashed into someone.
Ariana yelled. The other person yelled.
The voice was familiar.
“Rita?” Ariana said.
“Ari?” Rita gasped for air.
“What’s going on?” Ari shone her light behind her friend.
“Someone… someone’s after me!” Rita grabbed Ariana’s arm then pulled her toward the ballroom. “Come on!”
