When Victoria awoke many hours later, the sky was still dark and she flew out of bed at first, having no memory of where she was in the blackness of the room. The alarm clock's red numbers said it was seven in the morning, and everything came back to her in a sudden rush. She had to take several deep breaths to stop the rush of hysteria from settling in. She'd slept more than twenty-four hours. Victoria rubbed the sleep from her eyes and walked to the landing.
"Aunt Holly? Anyone home?" There was no answer. She poked her head into Holly's empty room and noticed that the bed had not been slept in. Was Holly away? She peered down the stairs. The entire house was shrouded in darkness, and Victoria felt the first stirrings of unease at the abnormal quiet.
"Illustro," she said, walking downstairs as all the lights turned on with her low command. She froze in horror at the state of the kitchen.
It was like a whirlwind had crashed through it. There was broken china strewn everywhere. The table was flipped onto its top and several chairs lay in a haphazard heap to one side of the room. Newspapers and magazines that had been in a neat pile on the kitchen counter littered the floor.
Victoria felt panic build in her body, and she opened her mind to search for Holly, at first in the house, then in the immediate surroundings, then in the town. She was nowhere to be found. Victoria pulled out her cell-phone and dialed Holly's number, and heard the answering ring coming from the kitchen drawer. Holly never left her phone at home!
Fretfully, she chewed her lips until she felt a sharp sting and the salty taste of blood filled her mouth. Where was Leto? If something had happened, he would have contacted her. The strange sense of foreboding grew and she repeated the same mental search for Leto. This time she sensed something faint in the back garden. She raced out there without thinking.
Leto!
He lay at the edge of the icy stream, his mangled body frozen and near death. She skidded to a stop across the remnants of snow and cradled his ice-covered body gently, noticing the funny tilt of his neck as if he had been strangled. She sensed that he was still alive. Barely. Blood flecked his silver coat. Victoria took him inside and wrapped him in a warm blanket. She said an incantation over his body and tried to infuse him with some of her own energy but he remained unresponsive.
Victoria's panic escalated. In mounting alarm, she decided that she would call Holly's friends to see if Holly had gone on a vacation that they would know about. It was then that Victoria saw the flashing light on the answering machine. The sense of foreboding grew as she pressed the button, skipping older messages. Her heart sank as she found the one she had somehow known was there.
Charla's recorded voice was tinny and cheerful, and the message was clear.
"I have that homework assignment you need. The quiz won't be too painful if you study carefully. Call me and I'll give you the details. Also don't try to ditch class because it'll count against your final. They say it's going to be brutal."
Victoria's blood pressed against her skin in scalding hot fury. Despite Charla's cryptic message, Victoria knew explicitly what she meant. How could she not? There was no reason for Charla to call Holly's house about homework assignments because they weren't in any of the same classes. Victoria replayed the message, her hands clenching and unclenching futilely, "It's going to be brutal ..." She checked the date of the message. It was two days ago.
With shaking hands, praying she wasn't too late, she picked up her cell phone and dialed Charla's number. She answered on the first ring.
"Hi Tori, I was wondering when you were going to call. I was getting a little worried about holding this homework for so long," said Charla, laughing hysterically as if she'd made the funniest joke.
"Where is my aunt? If you've hurt her—"
"You'll what?" Charla's voice was businesslike now, all trace of humor gone. "Put a hex on me?" She laughed. Victoria sank to the floor ... Angie. Charla heard the dead silence on the end of the phone and laughed again. "Oh yeah, Angie spilled the beans about your little secret. So you try anything and your homework gets dusted, okay?"
Victoria's blood surged like a tidal wave inside of her. "What do you want me to do?" she asked.
"Oh Tori, don't be so dramatic. We're in Manhattan and the party's just beginning so get here already, okay?"
"Where?"
"Grand Central Station, lower level. We'll find you."
The phone clicked off and Victoria hurled the answering machine off the table. Charla had tortured Leto in cold blood and to her he was just a cat. She didn't even know if Holly was okay. Victoria wanted to call Christian so badly that her body ached with it, but she steeled herself. Getting Christian involved was the last thing she needed to do. Holly was her priority.