*(Is this all we see?)*

~*Chapter 54*~

Midnight left the territory he had been trapped in. It was fresh, or, fresh enough; but he wanted to leave. To go somewhere not smelling of blood or assasian. Even the place Zara brought him smelled somewhat like assassin.

When he reached the other side of the border, his nose felt relief at the new smell. His entire body felt better than it had. 'Where am I?'

Midnight looked all around. Trees. Dirt. Cleaner dirt? Rocks. It was clean. It was better.  He started forward. He could see the snow blending into an open space foward. 'Crunch.'

'Is someone coming?'

'Crunch'

He quickly hurried and held a tree in front of him. "No, we haven't seen him." A female voice stated in anger. "We haven't seen him in a week." She scoffed. "Do you think he's even still alive?"

"I don't know Nova." 'Nova. Of course' He rolled his eyes but continued to listen quietly. "We can't know if none of our healers can sense him, nor his own sister. They have a blood connection." The other guardian seemed to be uneasy about what Nova was saying. Her tone was low. Trying not to argue. Midnight bit his tongue. "Something is blocking him."

"You're crazy if you think that. It's impossible. Blocking in his case is impossible. Especially from his own sister."

"Not necessarily."

"Lola." Nova snapped. "You're being delusional. He's not here and he's probably not anywhere near here. Let's check with Cedar and the others."

And then came the sound of their sparkling, making the air silent, empty. They were gone. Midnight curled around the tree, looking to where they had been. The clearing he saw earlier now had footprints and traces of being touched. The two must have been trying to sense him. Or find something for Dawn to use to sense him.

His first contact with the clearing was a shock. The cold. The snow against his finger tips as it fell from the sky. He kneeled down next to the spot they had touched.

Nothing was taken. The snow was moved. He brushed his fingers through the cold, soft pile.

It had been too long since he had felt anything that wasn't eerie. Something that wasn't blood or rusted metal.

He got up, looking around, and without knowing why, dark sparkles surrounded him.

~~~~
His sparkle, which he still wasn't sure how to control properly, or land properly, landed him on the side of a house. It was clean, pristine, and covered in snow. It had a slight warm draft coming from the window above him. 'Where am I?' Midnight glanced up. He knew where he was. Where he had been born, where he had grown up for most of his life. 'It's Leah's place...'

Yellow. A bright, very yellow light shown from the window. It was day, he knew that, but the yellow light was bright. He tried to peer into it. An on TV, maybe five different heads shaking and seeming to be talking. He couldn't tell, they were moving, is all he knew.

Looking around the other side of the wall, he saw more people.

'Dawn!'

Dawn was stood with Lilly and another guardian. 'Where is my mom? Is she okay? Does she care that I am gone?' He kept looking. The edging feeling of wanting to go say he's alive, that he's okay ached in his heart, it was burning his throat to even speak. He couldn't. Zara said it clearly. She'd kill them. Kill him even.

It was better to be alive and hope to see his family again someday than be dead and never see them again.

But if he was dead---

No. 'Stop. Stop. Don't think like that.'

Midnight stretched his neck to hear what they were saying. Dawn stook anxiously at Lilly's side, nodding to everything she said. The other guardian shrugged at the next thing Lilly said, Dawn nodded and looked at the guardian. "No. We've checked the borders." He heard the guardian say. "And it seems there's nothing."

"There has to be something." Lilly barked in anger. "Disappearing out of thin air isn't possible. Most of all in his case."

"You never know." He saw Dawn shake her head somberly. "When it comes to his case. Maybe. You don't know him like I do."

"And you don't know him like Nick does." Lilly bit her lip. "Speaking of Nick where the hell is he?"

Dawn rolled her eyes. "Crying his eyes out I'm sure."

"His best friend is dead, we haven't found his body or any reason to think otherwise. What do you expect?"

'Dead?' His heart dropped. He backed up to the wall, his back felt cold when he slapped back. 'They think I'm dead..'

'How?'

Tears dropped down his cheeks. They thought he was dead. They never even..They never even cared. His brain was whorling with wonders. 'How can they think I'm dead? They should be able to sense me..' He whiped his eyes from the burn that consumed them. Midnight looked back around. They were still there. 'Maybe it's not as bad as I thought.'

A black car pulled up to where they were standing. His car.

Nick didn't even bother to hesitate as he pulled up. He climbed out of the car fast to be at their sides. "Anything?" The first word he spoke was scratchy, low, sounding like it was hard for him to say. Dawn sighed. "No. The police have been very quiet about the investigation." 'Police?' He thought. 'Why would they be involved?'

"Damnit." Nick pulled at his hair. "This is ridiculous."

"I know." Lilly agreed.

Dawn touched his arm. Midnight's blood almost felt like fire. 'This isn't fair!' He gritted his teeth. 'I wish I could be there with you.' "We'll figure this out." Dawn said.

Nick nodded quickly, walking past her towards the door. "Can I go inside..? I want to talk to Fawn real quick." Dawn moved to let him. Midnight felt even more anger. He wanted to go with them. He wanted this all to be over. His foot stepped closer to where he could be seen. He could see more of them talking. Lilly held her face with her pinched fingers. "I can see he is very stressed about this." The guardian said.

"Yes." Lilly replied. "He is. He really likes Midnight."

"In what way..?"

"Who knows Inca. He's an interesting kid."

Dawn chuckled. "Interesting? Try neurotic." Midnight smiled. Her joke almost made him laugh. "He's obsessed with my brother." He stepped again, this time...

'Crunch.'

'Shit.'

Dawn immedietly turned. Her eyes squinted. She hit Lilly's arm quickly. "Mom.."

Midnight was about to run up to them, his other foot yanking to be with the one that was on the other side of the wall.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" His arm was yanked back, pushed up against the wall, he looked up. Zara.

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