Page 96 of Marked By Shadows

“Already tried calling. He didn’t answer,” I said with my face in my knees. I trembled, the phone sweaty against my ear as the evening was warm and humid, unusual for so late in the year. My heart pounded in my chest and I traced the cracks in the ground with my gaze, trying to find anything other than the panic to guide me.

My phone buzzed, notice of a text. I pulled it from my ear to click over to the texts, maybe it was Alex. It wasn’t. Instead the unknown number again. I flipped it open and frowned at a long slew of texts from a number and area code I didn’t recognize.

You shouldn’t have hurt her.

Your cruelty knows no bounds.

We were supposed to all be together again.

Why are your feelings more important than ours?

You don’t get to make demands of us.

We didn’t ask for much.

Why is he more important than us?

You swore we were friends.

Was this Freya? Maybe some hidden phone she had? A twisted personality or something? Us? We? Who was we?

You can’t have it all.

We all give up things we love to succeed.

Sacrifices are necessary sometimes.

My heart skipped a beat. Had whoever this was, hurt Alex?

I texted back:Did you take him?

There was no immediate answer. I heard Sky calling for me and flipped the phone to speaker. “Micah?” She sounded panicked now.

“Someone texted me,” I said. My mind raced with a million possibilities. Maybe it hadn’t been the shadow that had taken him this time. Maybe, like he’d mentioned before, it was some sort of human monster. “Maybe someone took Alex? I don’t know the number. They wrote ‘Sacrifices are necessary sometimes.’” I trembled at the idea that this was all my fault. What if this killer took Alex and hurt him because I wasn’t doing what they wanted? I’d dragged him here, into this mess with a group I didn’t really know anymore. Had I ever? What kind of insanity was that?

Lukas was back on the line. “Read me the number so I can trace it,” he demanded.

I did, feeling more like a robot than a person. A thick breeze began to chill my skin. I could almost feel something watching me. The heavy weight of doom lingering in the distance. Familiar and yet different. What was it Alex said to me before. Not my demon, his. Was this his demon? Out there watching me? Was that why it felt different and rewarded me with silence instead of terrifying noises?

Those nights when I sat outside my flat waiting for him, searching for him, sometimes I’d felt this way. Like an animal in a snare waiting for the predator to come and end it all. Except it never happened. I’d cried myself to sleep at night wondering how he’d survived a year on the streets and mental wards to be stolen from me in a short few days.

A text came back from the unknown number:Yes.

Fuck!

I texted back:Take me instead. It’s me you’re angry with. Me who did you wrong. I will pay the price. Where are you?

The eerie night silence lingered for far too long. No reply. I waited and waited, heart pounding. I needed him back.

“Micah?” Lukas called.

I watched for a text. “I’m here.”

“I’ve got a trace going on all of you. I called the detective there, Manning. He didn’t answer, but I left a message. I need you to stay somewhere he can find you.”

The text bubble popped up on my phone. They were writing a reply. Instead of a text, a link appeared in the window indicating it was a map. I sucked in air as I clicked it and it pulled up my direction app. Too far to walk, I’d have to drive. I headed toward the car.

“Micah?” Lukas demanded.