chapter 25
“Something’s wrong!” Lucy rushed into the kitchen, Hugh following close behind. “I feel it!”
Griffin quickly searched the minds of everyone in the house. All were present and healthy. Except he couldn’t hear Selene, but that was nothing unusual. She was a black hole as far as he was concerned.
“You’re positive?” he asked Lucy.
“Absolutely.”
Using his telepathy, Griffin roused the still-sleeping household and summoned them to him, while simultaneously contacting Charlotte and Dexter and the rest of the family. People started to gather in the kitchen within minutes, all in various forms of dress.
“What’s going on?” Ellie asked, alarmed. Charlotte had interrupted their morning run in order to teleport her and Alex home immediately.
“Something is happening or has already happened. Something bad. I can feel it.” Lucy spoke up from her seat at the dining room table. She was shredding a napkin into tiny pieces in her anxiety. Hugh stood behind her, resting a hand on her shoulder as sign of support.
“It practically woke her from a dead sleep,” Hugh confirmed.
“Where’s Selene?” Adelaide asked, glancing around the room to make sure she hadn’t missed her somehow.
Ellie glanced at Griffin. “I can’t hear her, but that’s pretty typical.”
Charlotte teleported out of the room, only to reappear a few moments later. “She’s not anywhere in the house,” she said with a worried frown.
Suddenly, a form appeared in their midst. It started almost like a mirage… a wavy, misty figure. Gradually it took on the appearance of a man but was somehow transparent. Then it became apparent that the image was that of Oren, one of the High Council members of the Vyusher. Griffin recognized him from their disastrous experience yesterday. Oren had been the only Council member to try to speak on Selene’s behalf. And now that he thought about it, this was the same apparition with whom Selene was talking in her apartment that night a few months ago.
“I will not waste time on formalities,” Oren’s shimmering form spoke. “Our tracker, who has been watching over Selene since she left to attend college, can’t see her any more. Please tell me she is there with you.”
Griffin felt his chest constrict. Only Ellie’s hand on his arm kept him from tearing upstairs.
“Oren, do you have any idea where she might’ve gone?” Alex asked.
“None,” Oren let out a deep sigh. “But she’s never cut off contact completely like this before.”
“She’s never been disowned by her people before, either,” Griffin countered, slamming a hand on the counter. “She was distraught.”
Lucy shook her head. “She had no intention of leaving us.”
“She was sad, but I don’t think she was going to leave. Especially without saying anything. That’s not like her,” Lila added.
“You’re getting better at healing emotions, Lily,” Ramsey said. “But you’re still working on recognizing them. And she was blocking your healing. Are you sure she wasn’t just blocking you in general?”
Lila’s pressed her lips in a tight line. “I could see her emotions.”
“Okay. If she didn’t leave, then she was taken,” Ellie concluded. She glanced around the room at the worried faces.
“…Now the question is, what are we going to do about it?”
*****
Selene woke slowly, the drug-induced haze lifting a little at a time. At first she couldn’t remember where she was or even what day it was. Pictures started popping into her mind like watching a still-motion movie. Slowly at first and then faster.
With a gasp she shot straight up and immediately lay back down, putting a weary hand to her aching head, the room spinning woozily around her. She waited for the sickening feeling to pass and then, very slowly, eased herself to a sitting position, doing her best to ignore the rolling in her stomach.
Eventually she opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She was in a small room with only one door, no windows, and no furniture beyond the sink and toilet in the corner and the simple bed she was lying on. She couldn’t see any surveillance cameras, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t being watched. Panic flooded through her, though she refused to let it rule her. Her years with Gideon had provided her with many tools for coping with situations like this.
Focusing on taking deep, calming breaths, Selene mentally ran through what she knew for sure.
She’d been kidnapped by Maddox…but how?
Another memory kicked in, and Selene groaned. Maddox had a teleporter. That meant she could be anywhere in the world right now.
Okay, Selene. Think! What options do I have? I have my wolf morph...
She quickly discarded that option. Her captors could also turn into wolves and ones who were much larger and stronger than she was. So attacking them was out.
Maybe she could use her wolf’s sense to try to figure out the answers she needed. Or the link to the pack.
Selene reached for her wolf and attempted to shift.
Oh my God… I can’t morph!
She tried again, but she still remained in human form. Her hands curled into the sheets on the bed on either side of her. Closing her eyes, she forced her emotions back under her control. Panic never served any good purpose.
Okay. Her wolf morph was apparently not working. What about her other powers? Those would be more difficult to determine. Still, it was worth a try.
Keeping her eyes closed, she reached out with her mind and searched for a glowing light indicating a power was being used nearby. She saw nothing but pitch black. But that didn’t necessarily mean anything. The Vyusher who took her just might not be close by at the moment.
Selene abandoned that idea, although she devoted a small part of her concentration to keeping watch in case a light flared up. Next she thought about trying her dream control. This was the most difficult of her powers to access when she wasn’t completely calm. It was also one of two abilities she possessed that Gideon hadn’t known about. Maddox already knew about that ability of hers. But if he had someone like her, someone who was flipping the off-switch on her powers, they didn’t know yet. She didn’t want to reveal to them her secret ability. Keeping it off the radar might just save her life.
Okay. My powers are out of the equation for now. What else? What else?
Selene opened her eyes and looked around again. There was literally nothing in the room that was in any way useful for an escape. The bed she sat on, which was very basic metal frame with a single mattress, sheet and blanket. Not even a pillow. The toilet and sink weren’t any help either. Selene unconsciously drummed her fingers. What else?
Oren! Her friend and second-father had the ability to astral-project. He’d been contacting her daily in this way since she’d left for college. She just needed to be patient and he would find her.
She’d have to wait on that one. But just in case…
“Griffin!” she mentally called out. If he was close enough, maybe he’d pick up her cries with his telepathy. She also continued to reach out for powers. If she could find one, she could control it. Maybe she’d get lucky.
Because if she couldn’t, Selene didn’t want to think of the alternatives.
*****
“Your tracker can’t feel her anywhere?” Hugh addressed the misty image of Selene’s kinsman.
Oren spread his hands before him. “She’s searching, but no… she can’t find her anywhere. Of course, the entire planet is a lot to search,” he added wryly.
“I think we all know who took her,” Ellie murmured, tapping her fingernail on her teeth. “It was Maddox. Oren, is Sheila able to track him?”
Oren’s figure shifted around and appeared to be addressing someone out of sight. Turning back to the room, he shook his head. “She says she hasn’t been able to find Maddox or the other Vyusher who left with him since they quit the pack.”
“Is someone with them able to block her powers?” Ramsey asked, popping the knuckles in his hands distractedly.
“Not that we are aware of, but that particular group made up Gideon’s key lieutenants and advisors. What they kept secret from the rest of us is still unknown.”
“Hang on…” Ellie shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Wouldn’t Selene be able to turn their powers off?”
“Possibly,” Oren mused.
Griffin clenched his hands at his sides. “Possibly? What exactly does that mean?”
“A couple of scenarios might be in play here. Maybe she’s knocked unconscious, or she turned off their powers but is trapped somewhere, or they’re blocking her powers.”
“Jeez.” Griffin leaned his elbows on the table and covered his eyes with his hands. “Please tell me someone has an idea on how to deal with this.” He looked around the room desperately. “We have to find her…. We have to!”