The Devil Spawn

Chapter 6

Ciara's mom, Esther

I sit on the couch, about to hologram my sister, Cora to update her on the search for Ciara when I hear the doorbell go off. My favorite song, Moonlit, starts playing. I sigh and go over to the door. Moonlit stops playing the second I open the door.

In the doorway stands two huge DE officers. "I wasn't expecting any visitors." I say. "We are here to examine the case of your missing daughter, Keira." The taller man says. "Her name is Ciara." I correct them. "Thank you for coming. Come on in" I say, and lead them to the couch.

I quickly turn off my hologram as the taller man starts speaking. "If your hover shoes' data is correct, then you must be Esther. I am Callum, and this is Jestin" Callum gestures at the shorter man. "Has your daughter had any encounters with dragons, and if so, how old was she and how did she react?" "Well, there was this one time when she was 4. She had wandered off into our backyard while I was making dinner. She came back three and a half hours later, with her little body covered in small scratches from the thorn bushes and leaves in her hair, but she was smiling. Her eyes were a bit red though, as if she had been crying. I rushed over to her and asked where she was. She said she chased a bunny and got lost. I asked her how she found her way back, and she said she met a dragon and it helped her find a way back."

"How did you reply to that?" Callum asks. "Well I immediately told her that she had imagined the dragon because dragons are devil spawn, and they wouldn't help her, they would eat her! So she started crying and insisted that the dragon was real and it talked to her and led her home. I told her to forget about it." "Did she forget?" The taller DE officer interrogates. "I thought so. I mean, she did talk about it for a couple days after, but she soon stopped talking about it and I never brought it up again. I had even forgotten about it until all this started." "Okay. Thank you for answering our questions." Callum turns and straps on his hover shoes. Jestin does the same. "We will send people to look for your daughter as soon as we can. In the meantime, stay put and try to think about any reason she could have run away." "Alright. Please try to hurry, I miss her tremendously. I've never been away from her for more than three days." I pleaded with the officers. " We will do our very best. I understand what it feels like to have a child run away. My own son left a couple years ago, but don't worry, we found him within a week. If there's hope for my son, there's hope for your daughter to." Jestin had finally spoken! His voice is very deep for his size. He lays a hand on my shoulder to comfort me. "WE will let you know as soon as we find a lead." They float out the door and onto the street.

I walk back to the couch and say to the air, "Turn the Hologram on." My hologram pops up. "What would you like to do?" it asks. "Call Cora." I answer. My sister's head and shoulders appear. "Hey Esther, how's the search going? Any news?" "Not yet. Two DE officers just came by to question me about Ciara's previous experience with dragons. They said they will start the actual search now." I answer. "Well at least they're finally starting to look for her." "Yeah, I guess." "How are you holding up?" "To be honest, not very well." "Do you want me to come over? It's no problem if you want me to. You know I'm always here for you." "I know. Don't worry about me Cora. I'll be fine. I have to go now. Bye." I turn the hologram off before I break down in tears. I'm not fine. Cora calls me back a couple of times but I don't pick up.