Ell Sadem

FIFTEEN: OTHERWORLDLY

—Evan—

Where did he go? I turn in circles hopelessly, but the citadel man who went after them is gone, nowhere to be seen.

A few adults send me concerned glances as they pass me on the sidewalk, but none stop their morning routine to confront me.

I drag my hand through my hair as I pant for air; I can't go through this again. I can't fail.

A car screeches around the corner from where I came from and flies down the street, sirens blazing. Somewhere further away more sirens join.

Crap. My stomach hits the floor and I bolt for Ella's house with a fresh shot of adrenaline to keep me upright.

—|—

I knew what I would find before I got here, but I had hoped I was wrong.

The small army of cops swarm the Mercy residence in an urgent frenzy, and the detective exits the house next to who I assume is Mr. Mercy by his frantic body language.

“It's a real shame, isn't it?“

I jump a little at the voice and twist to see an older man next to me, leaning heavily on his cane. “What?“

“That Mercy girl got took, saw 'em take her myself.“ He shakes his head with a huff, “Called the cops an' they wouldn't come till her daddy caught wind of it an' put a fire under their tails.“

I'm already too late. “Which way did they go?“

“Over that way,” he points down the road where I've never gone. “But I wouldn't go—.“

I book it before he finishes; it can't have been that long, I might still get there in time. I have to get to her. Each step I take sends a jolt up my leg and a stab through my chest that refuses to go unnoticed even as I try to shove them to the back of my mind. I should slow down, everything hurts after all, and I've already done so much more than I'm bound to do. But something won't let me and I keep going. Past the manicured lawns and hedged gardens, out the gated community, and into the next.

It hasn't taken long for the yards to be overgrown and patchy, the hedges chain link fences, and the neighborhood watch signs rusted to the point of near illegibility. Houses become sparser and more rundown. I  catch a glimpse of a hand poking out from the weeds from the corner of my eye, but I don't stop, I don't have that kind of time.

A howl cuts through the air, loud and unlike any dog I've ever heard; it beckons for me. Harry.

I never noticed that he disappeared, he's always come and goes as he pleases.

Another howl, this one closer.

I change course rounding the corner of a low cement wall; You better be on their tails, bud. The branches of a scraggly, dead tree come into view and a broken down chain link fence surrounds what may have been a playground some fifteen years ago. The swingset's rusty chains squeal as a small breeze pushes them, a few of the seats missing. The paint on the slide is chipped and it leans to one side where the legs sink into the dirt. Weeds cover every available spot they can, sticking up between the cracks of the cement and up against the mortar brick warehouse wall layered thick with spray paint and graffiti, some of the weeds blooming with tiny white flowers.

“Harry?” my voice echoes in the empty lot, carrying over to the rows of rundown little houses tightly clustered on the other side of the street, bars over the windows, and makeshift gates made of rotting pallets separating their tiny, weed-filled yards.

A howl-like bark answers me to my left, seemingly behind the pile of rubbish heaped up by the docking port’s metal curtain.

My heart pumps in my ears as I slow, gaze sweeping the area; Why would they take her here? The realm door is days away—unless this is just a holding ground. They might want to keep her here till it's calmed down enough to sneak her to the realm door down in Vergina. I carefully pick my way through the litter covering the ground, starting only briefly when a rat the size of a small dog skitters out of nowhere and through my path.