Mythical Link ▸ Link Neal {Book One}

113

He ran out into the hall, followed by Lily and Lincoln. They ran to the end of the hall and veered to the right, taking a left up a set of stairs. They found themselves on the second floor and ducked into another room. Locke and Lincoln closed the door and pressed their backs against it, breathing heavily.

"We're going to die in here aren't we," Locke said breathlessly, and Lincoln was nodding his head emphatically.

"Despite what Lily says, we are."

Lily was pacing back and forth, her arms wrapped tight around her as she stared at the ground. She wanted nothing more than to have her dad with her right now. Link would know what to do. Link would be able to save them, and unfortunately they did something stupid and they broke away from the only person that could protect them. She started breathing heavily, feeling the pain rip through her chest again that she felt before. He must have been close.

She dropped to her knees, her eyes wide. Tears welled in them as she clutched at her chest, and she doubled over. Locke ran over to her while Lincoln stood guard by the door, and he knelt to the ground beside her.

"Lily, are you okay?"

Lily shook her head, tears trailing down her cheeks. "I want my dad," she cried. The glow from the sword in Locke's hand illuminated her tear stained face and he tucked a strand of hair behind her ear with a gentle hand.

"He's always with you. Even if he's many miles away from you, Lil. He's always right here," he pointed to her chest and she raised her head to look into Locke's eyes. If what Ponytail said was true about her being like her father, maybe there was something she could do. If her father's scream scared him away the first time when he attacked them at their house, maybe she had the same power too. It was worth a try. She rose to her feet, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

Locke nodded his head. "That's right. You got this, Lil."

Lily turned to face Lincoln. "Open the door," she said.

Lincoln's eyes widened. "Are you freaking crazy?! I'm not opening this door!"

Lily took a step toward her brother, the pressure building up in her chest already. "Open the door," she said again, her tone taking on a dangerous glint.

Lincoln stepped to the side with his hands up in defense and she stepped toward the door and pulled it open, stepping out into the hall. She moved to stand in the middle of the hall and waited. The pain in her chest grew in intensity as she heard the clawed paws scraping against the floor. When he had appeared at the end of the hall and started barreling toward her, Locke took a step forward to swoop her out of the way but he stopped abruptly. Lily opened her mouth and screamed, sending waves of her own volatile screech to the abounding beast. Locke covered his ears and dropped to his knees, and Lincoln gaped at her. The scream seemed to form an invisible forcefield around them because the moment it came within close proximity, it smacked into her waves and flew backward several feet.

Lily's scream had worked.

Link sat up abruptly in his bed, all of the air forced out of his lungs in a gasp. Christy immediately snapped her eyes open and reached to the side to turn the bedside lamp on, placing a hand on Link's chest.

"Link! Link, hey baby. What's wrong?"

Link's hands were trembling, and he felt his chest tightening. "It's the kids! They're in trouble!" He tossed the blankets off of him, threw his glasses on his face and darted toward Rhett's room.

Light flooded Rhett's room as Link flipped the switch, and he looked at Rhett's bed to find that it was empty. Panic rippled through Link's chest as he sprinted through the room, looking in the bathroom to find that was empty as well. His heart seized, and he automatically assumed that one of his dreams had come true. The one where Rhett and Jessie were nowhere to be found. He swallowed and slowly turned on his heel, jumping in alarm at what he saw in the doorway.

Rhett was leaning against the doorframe with his eyes wide. He looked into Link's eyes and Link knew without Rhett having even to tell him. He didn't know where Jessie was.

"I'm very dazed and confused. What on earth is going on?"

Rhett took a few deep breaths before answering Link's question.

"I woke up and rolled over and couldn't find Jessie. Normally that's no big deal. Maybe she's in the bathroom, or she's with one of the kids because they'd had a nightmare. Obviously not in the bathroom," he gestured tiredly with his hands, and Link glanced toward the empty darkened bathroom before meeting Rhett's eyes again. "I just checked the kids bedrooms. Lincoln, Lily, and Locke are gone."

Link's eyes widened and his heart seized. He found himself clutching his chest as he struggled to breathe. "You don't think they were kidnapped, do you? All four of them? What about Lando and Shepard? Are they still here?"

Rhett nodded his head, and Link instantly narrowed his eyes. It was strange that the three older kids were gone including Jessie, but the two younger ones were left behind. If Ponytail had kidnapped them, maybe he saw something in the older ones that would be useful to him. Link balled his hands up into fists and bared his teeth.

"That son of a b-," he trailed off, hearing a whining sound carrying from down the hall to his ears. Rhett and Link darted out of the room together into Shepard's room, and they found him curled up in a ball on the bed clutching a stuffed animal to his chest. Rhett ran to his side and placed a hand on his back, and Link knelt beside the bed.

"What's the matter, buddy?" Rhett asked, rubbing his back in circular motions. Shepard sat up in his bed, his innocent eyes glistening.

"They told me not to tell but I have to," he blurted out, covering his mouth with his hands. Rhett glanced at Link curiously, and Link began to think that maybe Shepard had witnessed the kidnapping.

"Who told you not to tell?" Link questioned.

"Tell us what?" Rhett added, and Shepard lowered his hands. Link's heart was thundering in his chest as he anticipated the answer.

"Lincoln, Locke and Lily. They went to the school to make weapons to fight the bad werewolves," he said, and Rhett recoiled in his spot.

"They what," Link mouthed, his face adopting a horrified expression as he understood now why he woke up feeling like something had happened to the kids. Rhett and Link both looked at each other as Link moved to his feet.

"Link, go make sure Christy is up to watch the boys. You're going to go to the school to grab our little troublemakers while I drive around the block to search for Jessie."

Link nodded his head and did as he was told, waking Christy up to let her know what was going on. She was worried and insisted on everyone going, but Link somehow convinced her that it was going to be too dangerous. Four of their family members were already in possible danger, and it didn't make sense to draw the rest of them into it.

Reluctantly she decided to stay home and gave Link a kiss on the cheek.

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