Page 138 of When the Woods Go Silent

Then the anger starts to bubble back, higher and hotter this time, because I suddenly realize what must have happened. Torrence took her. He didn’t come back just to check on the party, or get one last hand job before heading to his supernatural home.

He came for her.

He came for Ruby.

He fucking stole her from me, just like he’d promised to so many times before. I don’t know how, but I’m going to kill him.

A wail of regret slips between my lips, but I force myself to move. Running now, I’m barely watching the ground as I stumble over roots and dodge branches. The wail edges into a guttural scream of rage, and I hurl his name into the night as I fling my clumsy body through the trees.

“Torrence! Where the fuck are you, you motherfucker? Motherfuckingkidnapper!”

Nothing answers me. Nobody is here. My best friend is gone.

Bursting back into our narrow yard, I catch my breath as I work to undo the locks. But as soon as I’m inside, I sink to the floor. I have no idea what to do. I can’t contact Kier. The police would cart me off to some mental institution if I tried to tell them any of this.

Where can I go? How will I find her?

She could be anywhere - intwoworlds.

The very thought takes the remainder of my breath, and I flop over flat on my back. Panic floods my body, and for way too long, all I can do is try to remember how to breathe.

Upside down on the floor, my gaze homes in on the windows above me as I try to force myself to think. Branches move in a light breeze, casting changing shadows over my body, and it comes to me.

The woods.

They spoke to me before. Maybe they can help me now.

I scramble to my feet and back outside, wrapping my hands around the nearest branches. The leaves rustle and whisper to me now.

“Please,” I call, craning my neck up into the layers of black and green. “Where is Ruby?”

Gone.

The answer echoes immediately in my mind, and I collapse backward into a sturdy trunk, my grasping fingers stripping the branch of its soft new leaves.

“Gone,” I repeat to myself, trying to force the word to make sense. My mind refuses it. “Where? With someone?”

Gone. Following our roots, down. Down. The ice pushed her down.

Fuck. Ice means gobbelins, which means I was right about Torrence. Torrence dragged her underground? But why? What secrets is he keeping under these woods? My mind is spinning. We should have asked so many more questions. Why did I ever think that I could deal with a magical world, full of unknown powers and vicious creatures that could do anything to me? To Ruby.

I’ve been such a stupid, stupid human through all of this.

My hand slips into my pocket and grips Ruby’s phone.

I left her alone. I ignored her text in anger, and I left her alone in the woods to be taken.

My chest squeezes so tightly that I hunch over my knees, gasping for breath again. I abandoned Ruby when she needed me most. I’m a horrible friend. I have to do something.

I have to save her.

I would do anything to get her back, but where do I even start?

“Kier. Can you help me find Kier?” I ask the tree I’m leaning against. “The fae. The one who controls vines and... and the flowers. Can you contact him?” I’m sure it’s a long shot, but what other options do I have? The branches rustle above me, and I wait, gritting my teeth against rolling nausea and a paralyzing flood of guilt.

Searching, the trees finally answer. It’s not much, but maybe I can search, too.

I push myself up and unlock Ruby’s phone again. Her location history shows where she’s been. There - that must be Torrence’s house. We still have his car. I can drive to the restaurant and the house, just to make sure. Maybe they’re still nearby. It feels like assuring a kid facing a tsunami that things will be fine, but it’s all I have.

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