Taken Away

A Very Stressful Phone Call

A/N:
Date 7-16-17

Hey everyone! So this is the last chapter of Taken Away. But don't worry, there will be a sequel!

I will put up information about it in another chapter for this book, then I'll also talk about the sequel in my random book to make sure everyone knows about it :)

Word Count: 3645

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Chapter 45: A Very Stressful Phone Call

"Alicia, I heard a noise in here and I wanted to know if you're okay..." Zane was saying as he opened the door. "Hey, are you okay?" Zane suddenly asked me. I guessed my face showed how upset I was. I didn't know what to think of Jake's disappearance. When I didn't immediately answer Zane, he asked a different question. "Who was that?" "My mom." I replied sadly. "What's wrong? Did she upset you?" I nodded because what he said was partially true. "I just got in a fight with her. It's fine, actually it happens all the time."

"Okay..." Zane said while exhaling loudly, like a sigh. He knew I was lying. "But what's wrong with Jake?" I flinched and glanced away quickly, like something had caught my interest over on the other side of the room. I had really hoped Zane hadn't heard my mom say Jake's name. He knew something was definitely wrong. Zane flashed towards me, covering the distance between us in less than a second. He stopped a few feet away from me. "Tell me what happened." Zane said in a no nonsense but nonthreatening way.

I had to tell Zane because I told myself we shouldn't keep secrets from one another. I knew Zane was worried something bad happened that seriously hurt me, so I needed to reassure him. I decided to downplay how upset I was and make the whole situation seem less serious. "I texted Jake, but my mom answered. She said he's been missing for a few hours." I shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal. But it kind of was, since Jake never disappears. He's the responsible one in the family. "And are you close to Jake?"

"You never said if you were earlier when we were talking about our families." Zane stood naturally, but his eyes looked wary, like he expected me to rush home to find Jake right then. I was worried, but not that worried. I knew I couldn't just leave. "No, we weren't close. But I do care that he's missing. He never leaves the house without telling anyone." Zane ran a hand through his soft sandy blond hair. "Well, I'm sure he'll be back home soon." Zane wasn't exactly the most reassuring sometimes.

"Did you want a hug?" Zane suddenly looked me in the eyes and asked, which meant I had to take back my last thought. "Like you have to ask?" I replied with a quick smile. Zane wrapped his arms around me, pulling me to his warm chest. Since we were the same temperature he didn't feel cold. I tried not to think about the fact that if I wasn't a vampire he'd be very cold. I realized I hadn't been having negative thoughts about vampires as often as I used to. Maybe, just maybe, I was getting used to my newest status.

When Zane pulled back to look at me, his eyes lit up as if in realization. "I disturbed you when I came in, didn't I?" Zane gently stepped back away from me. "I should leave and let you talk to your family." Zane was looking at the ground. Without his confident stance he didn't seem like himself. Was he thinking of his own family? He never did explain why he hadn't visited them since we escaped. After all, Zane had told me he'd been trapped with Storm for almost two years. His parents should want to see him. There must be a reason he wasn't long gone already. Not for the first time, I wished I could read Zane's mind.

Zane turned to go, but stopped and faced me again. "Alicia?" He asked me, sounding uncertain. He really wasn't acting like himself. "Yes?" I answered cautiously. Was Zane nervous? "You're not going to run off, are you? Because that's really dangerous and not wise at all." Oh, Zane just didn't want me to leave. I smiled at Zane and said, "I have no plans to run off to find my brother. He'll probably be home soon with a logical explanation for why he was gone so long." Zane nodded once in understanding.