Echo Falls

by McDougall, Jaime

  Damn, damn, damn.

  He reached in his pocket and tossed his phone to Will, asking him to call Phoebe. Again, no answer. Will looked down at the phone for a while and then at Aidan.

  “We’ll find both of them.”

  They parked outside Phoebe’s apartment building right behind a familiar black car. Lo and behold, just as they got out of the truck, Mia stepped out of her car and spun around to greet them.

  “Aidan! Will! Imagine meeting up with you here.”

  She walked over to them to accept their reluctant kisses on her cheek and smiled. Aidan and Will glanced at each other, Mia’s usual confidence and smile somewhat forced today. Will gave Aidan a barely perceptible nod.

  “Why haven’t you been answering your phone?” Aidan asked, locking the truck and taking a step toward the building’s front doors.

  “I forgot my phone in my car.” She rushed over to stand in front of them and then dug around in her purse until she found her phone. She plucked it out and showed them this ‘one missed call’ screen. “See? I was just on my way up to see Phoebe when I realized I’d forgotten my phone, so I came back down.”

  “What are you doing here in the first place?” he asked, trying to move around her. She kept stepping in front of him.

  She looked down demurely and then smiled up at him, batting her eyelashes. “I’m making a peace offering.” She began running her fingertips up and down one of his arms. “I know it’s important to you for us to get along, so I thought I would take the first step towards friendship. What are you two doing here?”

  “You would know if you answered the phone,” Will said quietly, checking his watch.

  “What’s the problem?”

  “My daughter is missing, that’s the problem, and you know where she is!” Will snapped. Aidan gripped Will’s shoulder and stopped just short of pulling him back.

  Her eyes widened as she placed an overly delicate hand to her chest. “How would I know?”

  “We’ll explain later,” Aidan said, pushing her aside as gently as his annoyance would allow. They would deal with her later.

  They took a few strides towards the door and she stepped in front of them again, gaining glares from both the men. She looked shaky, but she stood her ground. Before she could say anything more, Aidan glared at her.

  “Phoebe could be in trouble. I care about Phoebe. If you get in my way one more time, you can consider yourself no longer a part of this pack.”

  They all knew full and well that he could do nothing of the sort directly, but they also knew that he had enough friends and she enough enemies to make the vote for her departure a swift one. She lowered her eyes and stepped aside, her lips pursed into a thin, nearly white line.

  She turned back to go to her car, but Will caught her arm and pulled her forward. “No. You’re coming with.”

  Aidan took the stairs two at a time, leaving Will behind to struggle with Mia who couldn’t navigate the stairs as fast as they could in her high heels. Aidan slowed when he reached Phoebe’s floor, catching a familiar scent. The same familiar scent that had played on his mind before.

  One knock sent the door swinging open and his stomach clenched. He’d been sure to leave one of the locks locked, and Phoebe would have never gone somewhere without doing the same.

  Not willingly.

  When Will and Mia walked in, they found Aidan standing next to Phoebe’s bed, staring down at a piece of paper. She walked over to the sink and looked out the window while Will walked over to stand next to Aidan.

  “What is it?”

  “The note I left for Phoebe before I left this morning.”

  Mia looked at him sharply. He ignored her, stuffing the note into his pocket, and looked around for anything that could show where Phoebe had gone to. At the very least, they could use some solid evidence she had been taken against her will. She could have simply walked to the shops, but he doubted it with every bone in his body.

  Frowning, he got out his phone and dialed her number again. He heard her standard ring tone almost instantly coming from the kitchen. Everyone looked around, and he found the phone in the corner between the fridge and the trash can.

  “That answers that question,” Will said, looking at Mia who had gone even paler.

  Aidan nodded, the tight feeling in his stomach growing as he wandered back into the bedroom. Come on Phoebe. I know you left a clue. Where is it?

  Mia stood leaning against the counter with her arms crossed around her chest, watching them search. She looked toward the door frequently, but Will made it clear she was to stay right where she stood. Looking around, she caught sight of the laptop and wondered if Phoebe was clever enough to have set up an internet connection. She could at least check her email while she waited.

  She walked over to the laptop and caught sight of an envelope tucked underneath. Cocking her head to one side, she pulled it out. ‘Aidan’ had been written on the front. Though she didn’t know Phoebe’s handwriting, Mia was willing to bet that the small but neat letters belonged to her. Frowning, she decided that Aidan didn’t need to see whatever drivel Phoebe had been inspired to write. After all, love notes would just make him mourn longer.

  From behind her, Will snatched the envelope out of her hand before she could put in in her purse. She bared her teeth at him, and he did the same. Seeing Aidan’s name on the envelope, he scowled at her and brought it over to Aidan.

  Aidan looked at the two for a moment and then said, “Keep looking around.”

  “She left you a letter,” she said, gesturing to the envelope. “Maybe she just left. Ran away.”

  “Just do it.”

  She sighed and shrugged, moving toward the bedroom while Will examined the door locks for any signs of forced entry. Once they started moving, Aidan looked at where Mia had been standing. The laptop had been placed in the corner on the counter, but there was no stool in front of it for her to sit on. There were plenty of better work spaces around the apartment. The corner not only had little space but also cupboards overhead. Why would Phoebe have put it there?

  He moved his finger over the touchpad and then turned his attention to the envelope, ripping open one end and tipping the letter out. As he read, he glanced over at the laptop screen and saw it come to life. But instead of a standard desktop, he saw a window showing… him. He waved his hand in front of it and his hand appeared on the screen.

  Confused, he read the letter. His heart sank further with each new paragraph.

  With a few clicks, he watched the recorded video of Phoebe, Mia and the man he knew had to be the Hunter standing in Phoebe’s kitchen. The Hunter held Charlotte. At one point, all three looked at Phoebe’s phone and Phoebe tried to get to it. Instead of going for the phone as well, Mia went behind Phoebe. When she came back into view a second later, she swung the kettle and hit Phoebe on the back of her head. The phone flew out of Phoebe’s hand and Phoebe crumpled out of sight.

  The Hunter then walked over to Mia and gave her Charlotte. Mia held Charlotte with an expression of disgust as she watched the Hunter tie Phoebe up and then haul her over his shoulder. They spoke for a while – the video hadn’t picked up any audio – until the Hunter yelled at her and she followed him out the door.

  “Can we go now?” Mia asked, checking her watch. “I have places I need to be today.”

  He pressed the pause on the video, all the evidence there for viewing. The envelope crinkled as he slowly clenched his fist.

  “What did he give you, Mia?”

  She looked at him. “What?”

  He turned around slowly, keeping a tight hold on his anger as he looked at her. But one glimpse of his face told her she had done wrong and she froze. Will picked up on it too and moved closer. She glanced at Will and then looked back to Aidan. She knew he’d caught her out, but she wasn’t stupid enough to confess to anything.

  “I asked what he gave you.” He took a step toward her. “What could he possibly offered you that would make you willing t
o betray your pack?”

  She had expected him to rant and yell, but the cold steel of his voice was infinitely worse. She’d seen Aidan annoyed, frustrated and cranky, but this mood took on a level so far beyond anything she had known of him that she stayed completely still and didn’t say a word.

  “Speak.”

  Will wouldn’t have supported her even if she’d begged, so she kept her eyes locked on Aidan when she spoke. “Aidan, I know you’re worried about Phoebe, but I don’t know what -”

  “Don’t play dumb with me, woman!”

  Suddenly, she made a dash for the door. Will easily caught her and brought her to the floor. Aidan made a quick search of the kitchen drawers and found some duct tape. The tape would have to do, as neither of them had hand cuffs on hand.

  She squirmed and squealed, but that only earned her a piece of tape across her mouth.

  “He has Charlotte and Phoebe,” Aidan said. “Phoebe set up her laptop camera to record. She got the whole thing.”

  Will looked both relieved and worried, knowing for sure his daughter was in the hands of a Hunter being cold comfort. He held onto the fact that Phoebe and Charlotte were together. He knew Phoebe would fight with everything she had for Charlotte.

  They got Mia to her feet and Aidan stalked ahead down the hall as he made another round of phone calls to the pack.

  “I will make you tell me everything you know,” Will whispered in her ear as they left. “By any means necessary.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Phoebe willed herself to open her eyes and saw trees whizzing by in front of her.

  “Where?” she murmured before blacking out again.

  A wailing sound woke her the second time and maternal instinct helped her push beyond the fog of pain in her head so she could open her eyes. Someone had certainly done a good job with something she realized when she reached around to the back of her head and found a tender lump. She looked to her side and saw Liam driving.

  Her heart slammed around in her chest as if trying to escape and she began to scream. He reached over and slapped her.

  “Quiet!” A cruel smile appeared on his face. “You will disturb the baby.”

  Confused, she shook her head until the wailing sound began again. She looked to the back seats.

  Charlotte sat buckled in and looking uncomfortable with her tear-streaked red face. Tears came to Phoebe’s eyes and she reached back to pat Charlotte’s leg and take her hand. Charlotte continued to cry until Phoebe got her to actually look at her. The familiar face calmed her slightly, but seeing tears on that familiar face didn’t help much. Phoebe managed a smile, though the tightening of muscles involved managed to make her head ache all the more.

  “She needs a car seat,” she said, looking at Liam. “It’s not safe for her to be in the seat like that.”

  He glanced across at her with his eyebrow arched just long enough to make his feelings clear.

  Fair enough, she thought. Why worry about a potential car crash when you had a murderer in the front seat driving? She continued to hold Charlotte’s hand and looked out the back window. They were heading toward the mountains, though she couldn’t be completely sure they were on the same road Aidan had driven. Then again, she didn’t imagine there would be that many roads from Echo Falls heading into the mountains.

  For a while she played with the idea of leaving ‘bread crumbs’ of some sort for Aidan, but what? She could try to break the window, but she couldn’t know for sure if the glass would garner any notice on the side of the road or if she could even break it with one try. She could be sure that the move would earn her another bout of unconsciousness, and she didn’t want to leave Charlotte alone again.

  She sighed. There was no way to know if anyone knew she’d been taken at all, let alone which direction they were traveling.

  Then again… She looked back at Charlotte. Nobody may be missing Phoebe, but they would certainly be missing Charlotte. And if they were looking for Charlotte, they would be looking for her at the same time. That gave her some hope, but she didn’t know how much to hope. Ideally, someone would have found her laptop and the program had been recording. Realistically, she could have forgotten any crucial point which would mean no recording. No evidence. She could only really depend on her letter, which Aidan would find.

  Eventually.

  Liam pulled off onto one of the many semi-hidden dirt roads and Phoebe released Charlotte’s hand to try to provide her some stability lest she slide out of the seat belt. As they bumped and jostled along, Phoebe felt her hope slipping away with each tree they passed. The further they got away from the main road, the more unlikely it would be that anyone would find them.

  No, she thought. I can’t think like that. Think defensively.

  Yet with one glance at Liam’s grim expression, it was hard to think of anything at all besides the fear.

  They pulled into a small clearing barely big enough to fit the car. Small branches scratched at the doors when they opened them and Liam cursed at the twigs and burrs that stuck to his clothing.

  “Take her,” he said, gesturing toward Charlotte before putting on a backpack he’d stored in the trunk.

  She eased Charlotte out of the back seat and hummed as she looked around. He had certainly chosen the spot well with the old trees reaching out to provide visual protection from above and thick bushes in most directions to stop most idle wanderers. The path the car had taken was fairly obvious, but there were plenty of other trails to keep searchers occupied for a long time.

  Unfortunately, the path he’d driven provided the only good running chance she had of getting away. But it also gave him a clear shot if she tried it. She could take her chances amongst the thicker trees, but she had Charlotte to consider. Even a werewolf in human form would be slowed down when carrying a toddler.

  She caught him looking at her and she stared at him.

  He held up his crossbow. “Run and I will shoot you. With her in your arms.”

  With that, he started forward and she reluctantly followed.

  Only a broken off branch here and a footprint there betrayed that Liam had walked this path before. Within only few minutes, they could no longer see the car and she began to feel the panic rise in her chest. Every step they took towards his destination made a layer of denial fall from her mind.

  She walked a little faster to catch up with Liam. The sound of her scrambling footsteps reached him and he slowed down more for curiosity’s sake than any sort of consideration for her.

  “What do you want with Charlotte?” she asked and looked down at Charlotte, whose cheeks still shone with tears. Phoebe wiped them away while Charlotte hiccupped.

  He stopped walking and looked at her. “I have hunted you for weeks and you want to know what I am going to do with the child?”

  She glared at him and he smirked.

  “She will be an orphan soon. I am simply taking a direct hand in her adoption. She will be raised by us to become one of us.”

  “A Hunter? But you can’t do that!” Phoebe immediately regretted the tone and volume of her words as Charlotte began crying again.

  He regarded her coldly. “Why? Because her parents are vermin?” He practically spit the last word out as if saying it left a foul taste in his mouth. “Because it would be sick for her to kill the very filth she was born from? That is not sick, Phoebe, that is noble. That is rising above circumstance to become something beyond the single, festering existence we are granted. She is lucky to be granted such an opportunity.”

  She wanted to say something, anything, but his expression left no room for anything other than silent obedience.

  “Shut her up,” he snapped and turned back toward the path.

  “It’s okay,” Phoebe said, looking down at Charlotte. She wished she wasn’t trying to reassure them both. “It’s okay.”

  She hummed softly to Charlotte as they walked and looked up at the sky. Sunset would be coming soon, but not soon enough. She had a feeling
that they would be secreted away before the pack got any chance to transform and track them down. Hopefully the mountains and surrounding woods would be the logical direction for them to go in first to save some time. They’d had all day to search the city.

  She unzipped her sweater and wrapped it around Charlotte as well before zipping it back up. The sweater was more of a stretched out comfort item than something that would provide any warmth, but she figured the more tucked in and secure Charlotte felt, the better – for her sake and for Liam’s mood.

  The sweater ended up doing double time as a sling when the path became less dirt and more steep rock. She slipped more than a few times, banging up her arms and even ripping the sweater at the elbow in an effort to protect Charlotte. Now more sullen than upset, Charlotte remained quiet. Phoebe could only hope to be as comforting as possible so neither of them would have too many nightmares after this ended. Because it would end and Phoebe fully intended for them both to survive.

  Looking down at Charlotte, she imagined for a moment those big blue eyes becoming hard and cold as she learned to be a Hunter. The thought made her ill. Especially if she turned out to be as pure a werewolf as her parents. She would be killed before experiencing her first kiss.

  “I won’t let him do that to you,” she whispered and placed a kiss on the top of Charlotte’s head.

  She almost ran into Liam when he paused to push away some brush, fully revealing the entrance to a cave. He reached for a lantern that had been hanging off his pack and turned it on. Instead of taking the lead again, he forced her to walk ahead of him.

  A good foot shorter than her height, she had to stoop low for a couple dozen steps before the cave roof finally allowed her to stand straight again. With him behind her and the lantern shaking as he walked, she took small steps for fear that the next shadow thrown by the lantern would contain something fatal.

  Though she knew it couldn’t have been, the walk through the network of cave felt longer than the drive had been. The combination of slow steps, occasional pushes from Liam and last minute one word directions from him had her mind screaming with pain in just minutes.