Page 18 of Hunting Pretty

Where are you? Why aren’t you answering your phone?

I hung up and threw my phone in my large tote, my stomach churning as I shoved open the door to theDark Diariesnewspaper office, the familiar scent of old books, ink, and freshly brewed coffee doing nothing to calm my nerves.

Maybe Aisling had heard from her?

If not, I would head to her house after classes today. Even though—I repressed a shudder—her father creeped me the fuck out. Not that I’d ever admit that to Liath.

Amid the gray circular stone walls covered in black-and-white newspaper clippings, scratched-out notes, and yellowing maps of Dublin, the wild curly mess of red hair of my best friend and fellowDark Diariescollaborator stood out like a flame.

“Hey, bish,” I called out as I dropped my bag at my rustic wood desk, its polish worn away in matching elbow patterns.

Lisa spun in her creaky office chair to face me as I shrugged off my coat and set it over the back of my threadbare chair.

“Lis, have you heard from—?”

The look on Lisa’s face stopped me in my tracks.

Even under the thin light from the bare bulbs hanging above and the mismatched floor lamps, her skin was so paleand ghostly that even her freckles seemed to have disappeared.

Her eyes and cheeks were hollowed, her palms flat on the desk scattered with papers, her slender arms trembling as if they were the only things holding her up.

I rushed over to her, brushing back a strand off her clammy forehead. “Christ, what’s wrong?”

It was only after I’d lowered her into the corner armchair bristling with tufts of frayed thread and shoved a chipped mug of tea in her shaking hands that she was able to speak.

She took a sip of tea and stared into the rising steam. “I just got off the phone with Mrs. Byrne.”

Liath’s mother.

Ice trickled down my spine.

Something was wrong. Very wrong.

The whites showed all around Lisa’s moss-colored pupils as she stared up at me. “Liath’s missing.”

“W-what?” I sank down into the chair next to her, the rusted legs giving out a loud creak as Liath’s terrified voice echoed in my mind.

“I’m being stalked. And he’s coming for me!”

Lisa continued, her voice warbling. “She never came home two nights ago. She’s just… gone. Ran away.”

My stomach curdled and I felt like I was going to throw up.

Liath hadn’t run away. She’d been taken by her stalker.

Fuck. I should havedonesomething other than just call her repeatedly over the last two days. I should have told someone.

Maybe I could have stopped it.

The memory of my own intruder flashed in my mind, hazy as if it were a dream. His piercing eyes boring into mine were dangerous and intense… but was he evil?

Could they be the same person? Could the intruder watching me also have been stalking Liath?

Lisa clutched my hand, her fingers still warm from her tea mug, now sitting forgotten on a stack of books by her chair. “I can’t believe she’s run away.”

“No, I don’t believe it.” I shook my head so hard that strands of my long dark hair fell into my eyes. “Liathdid notrun away.”

“I know it’s hard to believe, Ava, but the police have been to her house and—”

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