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Edmond makes a considering noise beneath his breath. “I’m inclined to agree with you. Why would the demons need plans to the mansion? It seems they’re after Casey and her daughter, not out to take over Nightfall. Surely, they realize they don’t have the resources to pull off something of that magnitude. And it’s not as if the eastern seaboard is a demon-friendly climate.”
“Not at all,” I say, speeding my pace, plagued by an odd…prickling feeling in my gut. I’m so overwhelmed by the news that I’m going to be a father and worried about how Annie will take my apology that it takes a moment to settle on what it is that’s troubling me. When I do, I grind to a stop in front of the Wonderfully home and reach for Edmond’s arm. “Before we go inside, there’s something you should know. I haven’t told—”
“Amy! Amy where are you?” The hysterical voice comes from the front porch. A beat later, Casey Wonderfully, dressed in nothing but her plaid shirt and a pair of jeans, is in the front yard in her socked feet, just like her older sister. “Amy!” she shouts, dragging a hand through her hair as she sucks in a breath that emerges as a sob.
A beat later, Edmond is beside her, zooming faster than I’ve ever seen him move. “What’s happened?”
“My daughter,” Casey says, tears streaming down her cheeks. “She was down in the basement setting up the plastic bowling pins with Sophie and now she’s gone.”
Sophie…
The sound of her name is like a knife twisting in my gut. I’m about to tell Casey about the spider’s charm and the way it glowed in Sophie’s presence when the woman herself emerges from the house, looking every bit as distraught as her sister.
“I’m so sorry. I only turned my back for a moment,” she says, so upset her voice hitches between the words. “I’m so sorry Casey. I’m so sorry.”
“Now isn’t the time for apologies, we have to find her,” I snarl, pulling the ball of silk from my pocket as I close the distance between us.
But to my surprise, the silk doesn’t glow. It remains calm and quiet in my hand as I stop in front of Annie’s twin, this woman who, before tonight, I would have sworn was a good person—or at least not the kind who would plot against her family or harm her own niece.
Could the charm have been glowing for another reason? Was there another threat nearby that I simply didn’t see? Maybe that invisible being who stole away with the plans to the Blackmore estate or something hiding in the shadows beside the house, waiting for the women inside to turn their backs long enough for it to snatch Amy away?
I don’t know, but without further evidence, I have no reason to suspect Sophie had anything to do with Amy’s disappearance. She’s clearly devastated. The pain in her eyes as she lifts them to mine is as real as the snow beginning to fall all around us, landing on my face with sharp, pinpricks of cold.
“Where’s Darcy?” I ask, guessing my brother was probably the first person out the door to search for the girl. As her primary food source for several days before she learned to drink from a cup, he’s grown to love her as much as Blaire does.
“He and B-Blaire are searching downtown,” Sophie stammers. “They just left out the back door. Annie left right after. I think she’s going to the covered bridge. She didn’t say she was, but that’s where I’d go, and I think my twin sense is still w-working.” She breaks down in another round of chest-heaving sobs. “Goddess, I’ll never forgive myself if we don’t find her. I shouldn’t have trusted that the wards would protect her. I never should have taken my eyes off her, not even for a second.”
“The covered bridge,” Casey says, appearing beside us, shivering so hard her teeth clack together, though she doesn’t seem to notice it. “Let’s go there. That feels right. I think they need tunnels to travel back and forth between their world and ours. The entrance to the cave where Manny took Amy last time was a tunnel. And there was another tunnel on our way out after the cave collapsed, a big water drain…” She starts toward the gate, motioning for us to follow. “Come on. We don’t have much time. Manny’s out of shape and the slowest walker on earth, but he has a head start.”
“We don’t know it was your ex,” Edmond cautions as he strips off his coat. “And we don’t know that he’s working alone. He likely has backup, which means we should as well.”
“Then come with me,” Casey begs as Edmond takes her hand. “Please, I have to find her. I can’t lose her. I just can’t.”
“You won’t lose her,” Edmond assures her. “But you won’t be able to find her if you’re suffering from hypothermia and your toes have frozen off. Put my coat on and get your shoes. I’ll call the estate and tell them we need more back-up near the demon marks spotted in town, ASAP.” He glances up. “And then Baron can take us to the bridge in just a few seconds. Right, Baron?”
“I can only take two of you,” I say, glancing at Sophie. “I’m afraid you’ll have to follow on foot.”
“Of course,” Sophie says. “Just go. I’ll catch up as fast as I can.”
Casey sucks in a breath and nods, struggling into Edmond’s coat as she races into the house to get her shoes. Edmond follows her, presumably to use the home phone to call up to the estate, leaving Sophie and I alone in the driving snow.
She meets my gaze again, looking ashamed of herself.
But is she ashamed because she had a hand in Amy’s disappearance? Or because she’s blaming herself for dropping her guard?
I don’t know. And there’s no time to find out. I need to get to that bridge before Annie does. If she or the baby is hurt because I left her to defend her family alone, I don’t know what I’ll do.
Turning my back on Sophie, I squint into the snow, looking for a sign of Annie on the street leading into town, but there’s no sign of her.
The town is almost unnaturally quiet, like the eye of a storm.
Or the held breath before a scream.
Chapter 17
Annie
I’ve never considered myself a brave person.
