Page 40 of Artemis

Artemis was waiting for him in the dining space when he got back from the sleeping room, pacing frantically. “They’ve got him. Whoever has been trying to kidnap him, they got him!” she cried. “How did they manage to grab him out of a party filled with adults?”

Finley was grim. “We need to tell the others. Start a search. Maybe he climbed the gate and is wandering the neighborhood.”

“He is a good climber,” Artemis acknowledged. “But he’d also know not to leave without telling me. Andwhywould he leave? His friends are here! I’m here! There’s food here!”

“Maybe he wanted to follow me. I don’t know. Come on.” Finley opened the back door and followed her outside.

“Did you two make up?” Jaden asked slyly.

“Alexander is missing,” Artemis said quietly, almost as if she didn’t want to believe he might have been kidnapped. “I—” She broke off with a gasping sob that wrenched Finley’s heart.

Chloe stepped forward, taking charge of the situation. “We need to arrange a search. Augustine, Jaden, Finley, you three are aerial support. Fly over the neighborhood in a spiral, starting close by and spreading out. Check in here every fifteen minutes. Be thorough. Go.”

Finley leapt into the air and transformed while Chloe started giving more jobs to the others; Maddie and Hestia were to look after the kids, the other parents were to search the grounds and daycare extensively. Artemis looked small and pale. All Finley wanted to do was reassure her that Alexander was all right, that he would be found and returned safely.

But he couldn’t. He could feel it in his bones. Alexander had been kidnapped, and they had no leads.

The only good thing about this searchis that it’s still morning and there’s good light. If he is walking around, we’ll be able to see him.

When fifteen minutes were up, he made a mental note of where he was and returned to the daycare, followed closely by his brothers.

Maddie greeted them in the backyard, a grim expression on her face. “He’s nowhere in the daycare, grounds or building,” she said once they’d shifted back into human form. “Chloe gave everyone a section of the neighborhood to search on foot, but I agree with Artemis; this is probably a kidnapping.”

Finley’s jaw clenched tightly. “No sign from the air.” His brothers echoed him. “Shall we go back out?”

“Yes, Chloe said another fifteen minute scan and then come back again.”

“Okay.” Finley turned away to jump into the air when the snack table caught his eye. “What—” He walked closer to the cake and felt his heart drop. Any chance that Alexander had wandered away on his own was gone with the sight of the knife stabbed into the cake. Pinned to the cake by the blade was a note, the letters cut from a magazine like an 80’s movie ransom note.

Want to see your son again?

Stay close to the phone.

We’ll call with details.

“What kind of sickfuckswould do this?” Finley whispered, drawing the attention of the others.

Maddie let out a quiet scream and Jaden was instantly at her side, supporting her.

Augustine was pale with fury. He moved around the snack table to the various paraphernalia that Demi and Hera had brought with them, searching through boxes for what he was looking for. Finally he growled, “Go get baby powder from the change station, and a paintbrush from the art area. Clean and dry it thoroughly.”

Finley rushed to do as he was asked. There was a chance that there were fingerprints on the knife handle. Once he’d followed Augustine’s instructions, he returned to the backyard, trailed by the ever-curious Damien.

The cake had been covered by a box.

“I got a little eager,” Augustine said sheepishly. “I was going to dust for fingerprints myself, but after thinking about it while you were inside, I realized that if I messed up, I would ruin any prints that were found. Besides, this is Demi’s knife that she brought for cutting the cake, so there will be more prints than just hers.”

“So we covered it up to protect it and figured we could get everything ready and then Chloe could try dusting for prints,” Jaden supplied.

“When will Chloe be back?” Finley asked.

“A few minutes,” Maddie replied.

Finley spent those few minutes debating with himself on whether he should go inside and help look after the kids but be near Artemis, or stay outside. He paced back and forth between the door and the inflatable climbing gym, one eye on Damien as he played on the balloon-like structure.

He heard people returning before he saw them, low anxious voices filtering in on the breeze as they walked up the space beside the building to the gate.

Chloe was first. Something in the brothers’ faces must have given away that there was bad news because she turned to Damien and said cheerfully, “Why don’t you go inside and show your parents your art projects?”

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