by Holly Hook
* * * * *
If I was sick before, I really am now.
The restaurant’s full of quiet conversation now. Bodies shift. The kids in the corner give up and fall asleep. We wait. The minute hand crawls past midnight. Inches towards one in the morning. The volunteers must have gotten out to Madeline's property by now. Any minute, they'll bring her back.
All I can think of is Uncle Cassius.
I don't know what they're going to do to him.
If he is working for Madeline now...
One-thirty. What’s taking them so long? Ten miles isn’t that far away. What if things turned violent?
I don't know if I can face Uncle Cassius again.
I lean against the booth. Tommy's already asleep from exhaustion. Dorian pats me on the back. I nod in gratitude, close my eyes--
--and jar awake to the sound of the door chimes going off.
I blink away the pain of the light and sit up.
It's the search party crowding in through the door. Empty-handed.
Betsy weaves through the tables and faces them head-on. “Anything?”
The leader speaks. “Madeline and her family left their home. Their cars are all gone and the house is empty. We even broke in. There's clothes everywhere like they packed in a hurry. We searched the old barn the kids mentioned, too. We found the altar, but no one was there.”
“No storm clouds? No creepy breeze when you guys walked in?” I ask, shocked that I opened my mouth.
The man faces me. “Nothing. It seems like you're right that this Deathwind has left it.”
Mutters pop up through the room. My pulse races to catch up with them.
Madeline's gone.
Uncle Cassius is gone.
They've left that force lingering over town, waiting to strike, and we have no way to stop it.
Betsy returns to our booth and nods to us. “You kids should go and get some sleep,” she orders. “We have a lot of deliberating to do as to how we’re going to protect Evansburg from this.”
“But—“ Dorian starts.
Betsy shakes her head. Her skin takes on a gray, sick shade. “Let the adults make this decision. You three go back to Dorian's house and get to bed. You'll learn what the plan is in the morning.” She looks at the growing chaos behind her. “If we have one by then.”
Chapter Fifteen
