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My eyes searched the crowd for her luminous skin, her mesmerizing smile, her raven hair…
But she was gone.
I was still shaken when I was ushered into the anteroom to await my turn to meet our new Changeling overlords. I was the first to receive the invitation and the room was empty when I arrived. If I’d been more aware, I might have felt a little unnerved they left me there alone.
Instead, I went over the moments immediately after I saw my wife in the crowd. I moved between the guests, politely smiling at those that offered a hand to shake, and ignored those that turned their backs on me.
I could care less.
The only thing that mattered was finding my wife.
Could she still be alive? It was possible, wasn’t it? People faked their deaths all the time. I ignored that buzzing voice in the back of my head asking, “Why? Why? Why?”
It didn’t matter why! I didn’t care why!
She could have had a mysterious and, to me, completely unknown past. A relative that kidnapped her and faked her death to claim a ransom.
“Why? Why? Why?”
I didn’t know!
Yes, I had seen her cold dead body on the examiner’s table. Yes, I had felt for her pulse in case someone had made a mistake. But that didn’t mean anything.
Maybe it wasn’t really her body. Maybe it was only a shell.
“Why? Why? Why?”
With modern technology, it was easy enough to fake someone’s death. Much of her face had been burnt away. They could have used someone else to pretend it was her. A handmaiden or a member of security. She was worth a lot of money as a hostage.
Then why hadn’t I received the randsom note? I heard the irritating voice of logic at the back of my head whining. She was worth nothing if they never asked for money.
But kidnappings went wrong all the time. You only had to open a newspaper to read about one.
I rounded the room. Outside, I was calm and serene. Inside, I was frantic.
I performed a complete turn about the room and came to a stop.
She wasn’t there.
No… There had to be some mistake.
Then it occurred to me. As I was moving around the room, she would be moving too. We could be moving in perfect synchronicity.
I cut across the middle of the room, checked the two corners I was now ignoring and surmised she must be ahead of me, in the fourth corner.
I approached it, keeping a close eye on either side of my peripheries to ensure I didn’t miss her again.
I reached the corner.
She wasn’t there.
I’d felt so certain, so sure it had been her. Was I mistaken? If I was, where was the woman who only looked like her?
Or had I imagined the whole thing?
I replayed the moment through my mind. It did nothing but confirm my certainty it was her.
I was sure of it.
