by L. A. Banks
“I like you, too.” Sarah looked up, elated and confused. What had created the “but”? Maybe her stupid fears. Maybe Patty Gray?
“The tall guy, Val… the same guy who was in your vision just now. Should I know something about him? I don’t want to run into a fist on my way to class tomorrow, even though it’d be worth it.” Wil smiled.
Sarah quickly pulled away and wiped her cheeks, careful not to smudge her make-up. “Oh, Val?” A shy smile bloomed on her face. “We grew up together. He’s like a brother to me. I already told you it’s not like that.” She took a deep breath, conflict tightening her stomach. Why was she suddenly so ambivalent about Val? Was it possible to like two guys romantically at the same time? Feeling unsure, but not wanting to give Wil a reason to stop this wonderful thing that was beginning between them, she pressed her point. “I believed what you told me about Patty.”
Wil nodded, his smile gentle. “Yeah… and I’m acting like a jerk, aren’t I?”
He was actually jealous? Sarah looked down. Staring at him now was too intense. Her belly was all tingly, and it was suddenly hard to breathe.
“You’re not a jerk,” she said quietly. “Far from it.”
She felt so many things at that moment as he lifted her chin with his forefinger, forcing her to stare into those hypnotic sea green eyes of his… . The first thing she could identify was hope—hope that what was happening between them wasn’t just a case of proximity and hormones. Then total exhilaration that he was interested in her… and something else that warmed her inner thighs and completely terrified her.
But he never gave her a chance to pull all those scattered feelings together. He simply lowered his mouth to hers and gently brushed her lips with his. It was amazing. Warmth went racing from her stomach to each limb. She felt lightheaded and shaky all at the same time. He did it again, this time with a little more force, and she kissed him back, allowing herself to taste the tip of his tongue. He smelled so good, like fresh soap and something she’d never noticed before. Warm, warm hands covered her shoulders, but she didn’t know what to do with her own as his tongue probed her mouth, finding all the delicate, sensitive spots within.
So she kept her hands clasped in her lap, even as found herself leaning into the kiss, the sensation of it making her full to the point where she thought she might burst. She pressed her knees together tightly, wrongly thinking that might help. Her skin was on fire, every inch of her tingling, expectant, longing to feel the warmth that seemed to emanate from his hands.
She broke the kiss with a short gasp. “Uhmmm… I don’t think we should be missing when they end the luau.”
He nodded, breathing hard, and she glanced away from the bulge in his pants. “Yeah, that wouldn’t be good.”
It actually hurt to stop kissing him. She had to get out of there, but his eyes drew her back to stare at him… eyes now haunted in a way that made her both want to kiss him hard and flee.
“Just a little longer,” he murmured and then pulled her to him slowly, opening her mind as he opened her mouth with a deep, soul-dredging kiss.
Her mind went in one direction, her body in the other. Her legs were entwined with his before she caught his hand at the edge of her shirt. He stared at her with both a plea and an apology in his eyes. She didn’t have to say it—he knew without reading her mind. Things were happening too fast for her, this was all too new… and the mind-shadowing had opened them both up too intensely.
Laughter and voices coming down the hall created an instant solution. Sarah was on her feet in seconds, and quickly adjusted her clothes. Wil stood a little slower, then turned and faced the wall for a moment, seeming like he was about to die from embarrassment.
“Tami,” Sarah said, coming out of the alcove. “I was looking all over for you!”
Tami giggled and glanced at Stefan, who gave Sarah a sly half-smile.
“I have been on the adventure of a lifetime,” Tami said. She quickly kissed Stefan’s cheek, then ran up to Sarah and slung arm over her shoulder. “We’d better get back before they think we really went missing.” She glanced back at Stefan. “See you later.”
“Oh, most assuredly,” he said with a wolfish grin.
Sarah gave Wil a little wave as she passed the alcove. “Thanks.”
He just nodded
“Dude!” Stefan yelled out, laughing, making Sarah walk faster and cringe.
“Don’t say a word, Tami,” Sarah whispered. “Not one.”
“‘Kay,” Tami said, skipping along.
Sarah didn’t turn around. She was just glad when she heard Wil hurry off in the opposite direction.
Walking in a daze, she tried to listen to Tami’s happy chattering, but most of what her friend said was bouncing off her brain . Wil’s kiss and the mind-lock she’d shared with him had been awesome…. She finally understood a little bit of what Ayana had been talking about, and maybe a little more about what had made Tami lose her mind. She had certainly lost hers—she had left the party and gone through a portal with Wil Archer and kissed him again!
Some things she wasn’t about to tell to a soul, especially not Tami—not right now, when her friend would be liable to blab the news to Allie and Hyacinth. No, this got tucked in her heart vault until things progressed a little more and it wasn’t so intensely new. She’d tell her friends… soon. Just not this second, Sarah told herself, and forced her attention to the conversation.
To give their reappearance some casual flair, when they got back to the luau. she and Tami swung by the beverage bar to stall for time, grabbed a couple of drinks and headed toward Jessica’s table. It was agreed: what happened in the hallway stayed in the hallway.
The story they’d concocted was rock solid. Tami left with Stefan, Sarah got unnecessarily worried and went to find her, found her hanging with Stefan, and then the two of them decided to come back together. That was the story. Stefan was doing what he always did—roaming the halls somewhere without an authorized pass—and Tami didn’t want to get in trouble, which was why she left him and hooked back up with Sarah. Nothing happened, everything was cool. Period. Sarah saw that Wil had already slipped back in and was chatting with some of the other Shadows.
The crowd was thinning out. The Hawaiian-dressed cafeteria staff was beginning to clean up food, and the chaperones were slowly standing and beginning to break up the event.
“Where were you guys?” Allie said, rushing up to them, out of breath.
“Yeah, Geeze, guys…” Hyacinth said, shaking her head as she came up behind Allie. “We were—”
“Fine,” Tami muttered, and shook her head. She looked at Sarah. “Now do you see why they make me crazy?”
Tami had a point, but Sarah couldn’t get on board with it right now. Dread was roiling in the pit of her stomach, and she didn’t know why.
Chapter 20
Before Allie and Hyacinth could launch into a full blown interrogation, everyone’s PIU started vibrating. Sarah grabbed hers and gasped.
“Oh, my God,” Allie said in a horrified rush, and before Sarah could say a word, the door to their room flew open and Headmistress Stone came rushing in. “Girls, I need you to come with me right now.”
“Nana, what happened? What’s going on?” Sarah said, running forward. She was so upset that all formality in the reference was gone. This wasn’t ‘Headmistress Stone’ right now—this was her grandmother.
“Two more students have gone missing.”
Sarah had never seen her grandmother like this before, so distressed. She felt a small knot of dread settle in her stomach.
Her Nana took a deep breath. “One of the missing students is Ayana.”
They rushed down the hallway to her grandmother’s office, barely able to keep stride with her.
“Your parents are all here,” Nana Marlene told them.
“Where is everyone else?” Sarah asked, now running. “Where’s Al and—”
“We already spoke to them before I came to your room,” he
r grandmother replied. “The other members of the Guardian compound and the warrior-level faculty are searching the town and the forest for any sign of Ayana and Alexis.”
Alexis Woodrow, an Upper Sphere, was the other missing student? Ayana wasn’t with Brent? Now that really made no sense.
“The forest?” Sarah said, alarmed. They thought that Ayana might be in the blackened forest? Her heart began to pound even harder.
“Hurry,” Nana Marlene said.
They arrived in her grandmother’s offices, and saw her mother and Aunt Juanita there, along with a teary-eyed Aunt Inez. Aunt Jasmine and Aunt Heather looked like they’d been crying, too, and her Aunt Tara was wound so tightly that she couldn’t retract her fangs. The girls ran to their mothers and barreled into their arms. Their mothers hugged them hard, and that was when Aunt Inez really began to cry.
Sarah’s mother released her and went to her Aunt Inez.
“We’ll find her, ‘Nez…. I promise you, I won’t let anything happen to your baby girl.” Sarah’s mother’s wings enfolded her Aunt as Inez’s painful wails escalated.
“Dear God, Damali, after all we’ve been through with these kids, after all the death, hell and destruction we’ve kept them from—now this? My baby’s gone!”
“We’re gonna find her… me, you, Carlos, and Mike—three strong seers, two Neterus, and the best Audio on the planet…. Marlene will help, too, so don’t panic…just stay with me and stay clear in your head. Inez, you understand me?” Sarah’s mother said, with tears streaming down her own cheeks.
Sarah wrapped her arms around herself as her grandmother came over and hugged her. The door burst open, and Mom Delores, Inez’s mother and Ayana’s blood grandmother, and her grandfather, Mr. Monty, aka Pop Pop, came in huffing and out of breath.
“My gran’ baby… they got her,” Mom Delores said, wringing her hands. “No, Lordy, no, jus’ take me this time, not that young girl!”
“We’re looking all over for both Ayana and Alexis,” Mr. Monty said, his Caribbean accent thickened by his deep emotion. “School staff and warrior instructors are with that child’s parents that have been energy whirled in.”
When Mr. Monty tried to hold Mom Delores, she jerked away and hurried over to her daughter. The door opened again, and Hyacinth’s and Allie’s grandparents rushed in, everyone talking at once.
Bewildered, the girls gathered together in a tight little huddle and wept quietly as the adults tried to comfort the wailing woman in the middle of the room. The loss of one child from the compound was a loss to everyone, and a pain so deep and visceral gripped Sarah that she literally couldn’t breathe. General pandemonium reigned until the steady demeanor of Nana Marlene, the family matriarch, drew everyone’s attention.
“We have to summon calm,” Nana Marlene said, and the room gradually went quiet in the wake of her words. “That’s the only way we’re going to find Ayana and all the others who are missing—and we will find our students, even if we have to go to Hell and back. We’ve done that before with much less at stake, and I have no problem going back down there again for any of these kids.”
Angry nods of agreement went around the room. Nana Marlene looked at Sarah’s mother, who stepped forward to explain where they stood so far.
“We’ve got people checking both kids’ rooms and searching the school grounds,” her mother said, then went on to explain what the armed and motivated searchers were doing.
At a natural pause in the narration, Nana Marlene turned to Aunt Juanita and asked, “Would you go to the teachers’ lounge, and get Inez and Delores some tea?” She gently touched the distraught women on the shoulder, guiding them to sit down as Aunt Juanita hurried out.
“Girls,” Nana Marlene said, “we need to know if you saw or heard anything. We’re also asking any student or faculty member to come and talk to us if they saw or heard anything. The hard part of all this is that every student who has gone missing left their PIU in the dorm, so we can’t even track them that way.” Nana Marlene let out a long breath in frustration. “When was the last time you saw Ayana?”
“We couldn’t get her before the party,” Sarah said, glancing around the room with tear-filled eyes. “We kept texting her, but she never answered.” Her bottom lip trembled with grief as she realized why Ayana had never responded, and every mean thing she’d ever thought crashed in on her with one big sob. “We thought she was ignoring us… had stood us up for her boyfriend! I just figured that was why she wasn’t at the luau.” Sarah covered her face with her hands. “But she was missing, not avoiding us.”
Nana Marlene frowned. “Do you know who this boy is?”
All eyes were on Sarah, and it was so quiet that the only thing she could hear was Aunt Inez’s labored breathing.
“His name is Brent Wilson,” Sarah said, glancing around the room. “And for the record, he’s a world class jerk. We didn’t see him at the party last night, either. So we just figured they were off together somewhere.”
Her mother and Nana Marlene exchanged a glance as Aunt Juanita returned to the room with herbal tea, which both Aunt Inez and Mom Delores refused.
“Anything else?” Nana Marlene stared at Sarah.
Sarah glanced at Tami and then bit her lip. It was Wil’s secret, just like it was Tami’s, but this was so much more important than that… yet the thought of telling where they’d been… here… in front of everyone in the family…tied Sarah’s stomach in knots.
“Well?” Sarah’s mother said, walking over and grabbing her by both arms. “This is serious, Sarah! And I know you know the answer. It’s written all over your face. Tell me.”
“I—I went through a portal to town with a boy from school… when I was supposed to be at the luau,” Tami said, quietly. “Maybe that’s where they went, too. I don’t know for sure… but Sarah didn’t want to tell on me.”
“But I—”
“What!” Tami’s mother shrieked, cutting off Sarah’s attempt at a confession, then crossed the room so quickly that she was practically a blur. She got in Tami’s face, glowering at her, breathing hard, full fangs presented, and impatiently waited on a full explanation.
“It’s not her fault,” Sarah said, coming to her friend’s defense and trying to confess herself. “I—”
“Some Uppers opened a portal—like Baba Shabazz said during opening ceremonies,” Tami said, meeting her mother’s furious gaze and then turning to Nana Marlene. “Stefan… he didn’t open it and doesn’t know how, but he did take me to town on a joy ride. Sarah was in the hall with Wil looking for me when I got back, because she was worried…”
“But…” Sarah stammered. “I also—”
“Where’s this new portal?” Uncle Richard said, interrupting Sarah and checking the clip on his nine millimeter.
“In the back of Mr. Everett’s classroom.” Tami began twisting the hem of her shirt as her eyes filled with new tears. “But we came back, and…and everything was fine. He said someone would shut it down before anyone found it, so I forgot about it once we got back. Maybe Ayana and Alexis went down that portal with Brent, or maybe looking for Brent, and something happened to them. Oh God, I’m so sorry…. I didn’t think anyone would get hurt.” Tami’s words trailed off and then became wracking sobs, as her mother grabbed her and clutched her to her chest.
“I didn’t think anything would happen, either,” Sarah said, tearing up, and then squeezed Tami’s hand.
“Get Titan Troy, Jose and Mike on detail with you, Richard,” Nana Marlene said as he headed for the door. “Professor Raziel is out in the forest flying reconnaissance with Valkyrie, and Shabazz is working at ground level. I’ll mind-lock with Shabazz and give him a remote update. Shut that portal down hard, gentlemen.”
“This Brent,” Nana Marlene said, turning back to the girls and staring at Sarah. “Is he definitely Ayana’s boyfriend?”
Sarah nodded, feeling uncomfortable. “And. . .I overheard them arguing a day before the luau. He wanted her to go down
the Shady Path and into town with him to get wasted, and she didn’t want to go. But maybe she decided to go find him?”
Her grandmother closed her eyes as Aunt Inez stood and paced toward the window. “Give me strength,” Nana Marlene said, and then looked at Aunt Juanita and Aunt Tara. “Please alert security—I want Brent Wilson’s butt in a chair in front of me, pronto.”
“Done,” Aunt Tara said, glaring at her daughter. “You and I will talk later.”
Aunt Juanita nodded, and both warriors slipped out of the room.
“We will find them. We will!” Nana Marlene said, grabbing Delores and Inez by the hand.
“Nana,” Sarah said, “how did this happen?” New tears filled her eyes. “And why does this keep happening? Where is she?” She couldn’t help it. She burst into tears.
Damali rushed forward and hugged Sarah again. “We don’t know, baby, but we’re going to find them. I promise you that.”
“But why Yaya?” Sarah sputtered through her tears.
“I keep asking the same question,” Aunt Inez said, twisting a tissue in her fingers until she’d shredded it. “Why my baby?”
“None of it makes sense,” Sarah’s mother said, stroking Sarah’s hair as she spoke. “She doesn’t fit the pattern we thought we’d figured out,” she added, looking at Aunt Inez. “All the other children who were abducted were orphans, kids who would be missed by their friends but who didn’t have an entire compound or an extended family to get up in arms about them.” She squeezed Sarah to her closer. “And the missing adults… The Rogue Guardians, by definition, travel alone… and the staff members from Nod, like the Fae, were refugees—and many of them were already alone in the world even before they came here. The witches who were taken were soloists, not part of a working coven.”
“Then they really screwed up when they took my chile,” Inez said bitterly, and then wiped her face with the backs of her hands. “‘Cause they oughta know I’ma hunt ‘em down till I draw my last breath.”