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My knees buckling, I dropped into a chair. I needed my phone. Bree didn’t have a landline, and only the gods knew where her phone was. I tried to sort out what to do, but I couldn’t think clearly. My head was still foggy from the bludgeoning I’d taken. It was at that moment, that I remembered Bran had been in the backyard. Was he still there? If so, why hadn’t he noticed the dogs out?
But then, I sensed something—the smallest glimmer of a ‘hello?’
“Who’s that? Who’s trying to contact me?” It was easier to ask the question aloud, given how my thoughts were drifting.
Elphyra, are you all right?The voice was familiar, and I caught a glimpse of Fancypants. Of course—we were bonded! I still didn’t know what that all entailed, but obviously, it included a rudimentary mind-link.
“Thank gods! Fancypants, I’m at Bree’s. I need help. Tell Grams to call Daisy and the medics! Hurry!”
Will do. Be safe.
I tried to stand, to head toward the kitchen, when Bran appeared through the kitchen door. He was bleeding from a gash on his forehead, but he was on his feet.
“Elphyra, are you okay?”
I started to shake my head but it hurt too much. “No, I think I have a concussion. I can’t find Bree or Faron.”
He pulled out his phone. “I’ll call the sheriff.”
“You still have your phone? Thank the gods.” I dropped back on the sofa. I desperately wanted to go look for Bree and Faron, but I was too shaky. Getting into the house had taken everything I had left.
Bran called Daisy, only to find that Grams had called her minutes before. Daisy said she’d called an ambulance and they’d be here soon.
“She’s on her way,” Bran added. “Daisy, that is. It took her quite the argument but she convinced your great-grandmother to stay home. My mother’s going up to stay with her.”
I was slipping in and out of consciousness. Bran tried to wake me up, but I was having more and more trouble keeping focused. By the time the medics arrived, I was mostly out of it, though I was able to answer some basic questions. Another crew was taking care of Bran.
Daisy entered the living room and I managed to give her a semi-lucid story.
“So, you didn’t see what happened to Faron?”
“Whoever it was, probably hit me first. Have you been out to check the mausoleum yet?”
“I sent Arnie and a couple of the men out—” she stopped as the door open and Arnie rushed in.
“We found Faron. The medics are with him now.” He glanced at me, his face grim. He handed me a phone. “Is this yours?”
I took it, sitting forward as I tried to focus. “Is he okay? Is Faron okay?”
Arnie glanced over at Bran, and the look between them chilled me to the bone. Bran shrugged off the medics and moved over next to me. He wrapped his arm around me as I waited, my heart racing.
“We don’t know. He’s alive, but he’s unresponsive. He was hit over the head, as well, but it looks like the blow was worse than yours. He’s on his way to the hospital now.” Arnie ducked his head. “I’m sorry.”
I froze. Everything felt like it was swirling. My fiancé had been dragged away from me in a violent attack. Now, Faron was headed to the hospital, unconscious. Was it me? Had I jinxed him by sleeping with him? I burst into tears, both confused from the concussion and terrified for Faron.
“Faron’s in the hospital, Bree’s missing. What the hell are we going to do?” I turned to Daisy. “Do you know anything about Bree?”
“Actually, we have a break. We already have a match on the fingerprints we found in the mortuary, and in the house—they were on a knife we found on the kitchen floor, and on the door.” Daisy consulted her notes. “Does the name Evan Taylor ring a bell?”
I frowned, trying to concentrate. Somewhere, in the back of my mind, the name rang an alarm, but I couldn’t place it. I shook my head. “It sounds familiar but I can’t remember where I heard it.”
“How about Fort Worden Middle School? Does that help?”
That was a blast from the past. I leaned my head back, trying to keep awake.
Evan Taylor. Evan Taylor…back from my middle school days.
As I tried to think, a face rippled into view, a face from high school.
