The Torn Weft ~ COMPLET

The Missing Persons

The phantom van had been driving towards Red Rock, Pennsylvania, since daybreak. The Cerberus and their partner looked at the car screen where Murmur was giving them a summary of the situation. Some teenagers who had been missing for a year had turned up yesterday. They had gone on a trail in State Game Land. The hikes were famous and the park was popular. However, a group of four teenagers had disappeared without a trace. This caused quite a stir. Searches were launched, joint operations with the population and the police, but no leads were found. Then, last night, they returned home like flowers, in good health, without understanding the situation. There was no clear explanation, but for these kids, only three days had passed. Murmur had contacted the families, telling him that he was sending them professionals to deal with the disorder.

All six were dressed in dark suits. When the video went silent, they remained pensive. Agony crossed her arms.

— Tearing of the Weft and human disappearance into the in-between world. Time does not flow in the same way.

Tragedy continued.

— It reminds me of a goblin disappearance.

The woman shook her head.

— No, there was no replacement. The four children disappeared one year to the day, if it would have been a replacement, one of them would have returned.

Gwen sighed and pulled up her glasses.

— It can't be something human ? for example a drug or...

Misery shook her head.

— No. Now you have to know if they met someone during their stay in the In—Between World, what they saw, if they ate something... everything can have consequences.

Tragedy resumed.

— The children must be questioned without their parents and each one separately, deeply and gently. Then we have to find the crack and close it. As we are staying a few days, we will do this quietly.

Agony raised an eyebrow.

— Who made the reservation?

Misery pointed to the television.

— Murmur. He has booked a cottage at The Old Tioga Inn near Red Rock. We will have all the discretion we need to move around and dogs are accepted, which means that we can also move around without any problem in our other guise.

Agony typed on her smartphone

— Very nice. I like all this wood and there's even a fireplace. Shall we do groups?

Tragedy shook her head.

— No, sometimes the presence of women can help a child to talk more than with men who can be frightening.

Gwen spoke softly.

— Or animals too...

Misery made a move to touch him but stopped. He hid a sigh. Tragedy pressed the remote control to project the information on his tablet onto the TV.

— Here are the profiles. There are three boys and one girl. August and Annabelle are twins. No abuse detected, no malnutrition or other disorders... Except that of sleep with nightmares. It will be necessary to determine if these are nightmares related to the in—between world or not.

Hearing this Gwen rubbed his forehead. Nightmares... when Griffin had come into his life, he'd had plenty of them. Gwen looked at the juvenile faces.

— No other problems, really?

Tragedy shook his head.

— It's still too early to tell. They only came back yesterday. Are you thinking about anything in particular?