Royal's Way

Chapter 6

"What do you have for number six?" Miriam asked me over the phone. I scoffed. "A. Probably wrong. I just guessed on which one sounded logical." She chuckled a bit. "Right."

I could tell Miriam was just doing this to take my mind off things. I appreciated it, but I just really didn't want to talk to anyone at that moment.

My phone chimed, announcing a second caller.

I sighed. "Hold on," I said, opening the next call, and putting the phone to my ear.

"Levi?"
I scowled. "Eddy?" "Is Ian there?"

For some reason, my heart had already sunk. "No. I thought he was with you?" "We were heading to Maurice's. I went home to pick up my wallet, and he went ahead, but then on my way there, he called, like, all freaked out. Like he was running from something. I thought it was a prank. You know how he is."

I went silent. In the back of my mind, I knew what had happened. I just didn't want to admit it.

"Hello?"
I blinked. "U-Uh... I'll call you back."

I hung up, feeling bad, but not bad enough to call back.

Desperately digging through my mind for Quinn's number, I dialed her, and put the phone to my ear.

"Hello?" "Quinn?" "Levi?" "I need your radio again."
A pause.
"W...Why? What happened?" "I'll explain when you get here."

With that, I hung up, before calling Miriam, explaining to her that I had to go, then hung up again, and exited my bedroom with my phone still in my hand.

==

After explaining to my mother where I was going, I nervously waited outside.

There was one last contact on my phone that I had considered calling: Miriam.
I knew she was going to come to my call in a heartbeat. She worried about others way more than she worried about herself. I didn't want to take advantage of that.

I finally sighed, muttering, "Screw it," as I tapped Miriam's contact.

A few rings went by.
"Hello?" "Miriam, it's Levi," I cried, sounding much more pathetic than intended, "Can you meet me outside my house?" "Uh... what's wrong? You sound upset." "It's Ian," I replied, "I-I think he was abducted."

A silence. "What?" "I called Quinn," I continued, "She's driving over with the radio. I need as much help as I can get right now."

Another silence, before Miriam finally replied, "I'll be there in five minutes," and hung up.

I sighed of relief.

Miriam had come at her estimated time. She tried her best to calm me down, watching the sun set below the horizon with her hand on my shoulder.

Around ten minutes afterward, Quinn arrived. She couldn't even stop the truck before I was catching up, opening the door and climbing in.

Miriam slowly entered in the back seat as Quinn asked, "What's going on?" "It's Ian," I replied, already switching through channels, "He's in trouble." A pause. "Like, Rachel trouble?" "Yeah." I could see her glare at Miriam for a moment, before turning back to look at me as I frantically pressed the skip button over and over again.

I had to skip back to the one with no signal, accidentally speeding past it in my search. I leaned back in my seat, staring at the radio with intensity and panic in my gut.

Nothing for a while. I was growing more and more frustrated.

"...othing?"

My eyes widened. I leaned close to the radio.