Beeps sound through the speakers from laptops set up on the Pages’ kitchen table. Five FBI agents stare at the screens, their fingers dancing on the keys as they desperately help me search for Maddy. The Shadowwalker compelled them to search for her nonstop. It’s been four hours since she disappeared.
I don’t know who took Maddy, but I will find her. I have to believe I will see her again.
After the bar, my team took Maddy’s friends home and I came here. I stood in her bedroom for I don’t know how long, just wanting to feel connected to her. That’s where the Shadowwalker found me. He took one look at me and knew she was gone.
From that moment, he took over—having already had a plan in place for a situation like this. He began by compelling Maddy’s family to not think about her or notice she’s missing. They’ve come through the kitchen several times, but in their minds, we’re all working on an FBI case.
Next he got his team looking at weather all over the world. It’s a two-pronged approach. First they’re looking for any unusual weather fluctuation that could be a signal from Maddy. Unexpected rain, thunderstorms, tornados—they’re even monitoring for sudden explosions and fires. Second, they’re also checking on places where it’s currently and consistently rainy. Whoever took her may be smart enough to hide her someplace where the weather would shield her emotions.
It’s a long shot, but it’s our best chance of finding her. Yet I feel so helpless sitting here, placing all my hopes on nothing more than weather reports.
We lock eyes for a moment across the kitchen. If it weren’t for the Shadowwalker, I’d feel isolated in my despair. I don’t need to tell him what’s at stake if we don’t find her—he knows. He’s protected her her whole life. He kept her safe for almost seventeen years.
I didn’t even last a week.
“It’s raining in Dublin, Ireland,” Travis, the tech-savvy FBI agent, says.
The Shadowwalker and I race over to Travis. “What was the forecast?” I ask.
“High of forty degrees with a fifty percent chance of rain,” Travis replies.
I close my eyes and reach out to Alexander. Have you finished with Vancouver?
Yes, he says. She’s not here.
Check Dublin next.
I sever the connection, rest my hands on the table, and let out a long exhale. Alexander, Sissy, and Tamitha have checked 103 locations since the Shadowwalker suggested this plan. To search for her, my team is doing what I did last week: listening for any signs of movement inside a building without a soul attached to it. They’re scouring every inch of the cities I name. Each one has come up empty.
Why isn’t she panicking? Is she unconscious, as she was for a while when Justin took her? Or is she possessed again—perhaps by the female demon? Is someone even more powerful affecting her?
I pound the table, rattling the computers. I never should have let her out of my sight. No matter how long it takes, I will not stop until she’s safe in my arms again.
As for whoever took her, that being will get the privilege of assisting me in testing all of John’s new weapons. By the time I’m finished, her attacker will know exactly how I feel about what it did tonight. I will force out an apology. Then, and only then, will I destroy its soul.