“Magnus. What is it?”
“Brody,” Magnus’s voice rang clearly through the phone. “Whatever you’re doing, you need to get back here now.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Creed—” Magnus’s voice broke and the phone suddenly went quiet.
Brody and I both checked the reception to make sure the call was still connected.
“Magnus,” Brody shouted into the phone. “Talk to me. What about Creed?”
Magnus’s voice wavered, but he managed to spit out the words.
“I just got a call. Creed’s gone missing.”
CHAPTER 5
Brody
I hadno idea how I got home. One moment, I was staring at my phone in shock, listening to Magnus tell me that Creed had disappeared, and the next thing I knew, I was pulling my truck up the road back to my property. Everything in between was a blur.
Ellis sat in the passenger seat next to me, so I must have safely gotten him out of the woods and made the drive from Rynkirk to Emberwood, but for the life of me I couldn’t have explained how I did it.
My body was completely on autopilot while my mind was a chaotic jumble of screaming and white noise.
Missing.
Not injured.
Not even dead.
Creed wasmissing.
Through all our years of service, the three of us had been through hell and back together. Faced every sort of danger, and supported each other through every sort of injury, but none of us had ever just disappeared. That was one security we always had. Even in the most hopeless situation, we at least knew where the others were.
Was there a word for “more than hopeless”?
A lack of hope meant there was space for hope in the first place. It was like the difference between a tree that had been cut down, and one that never grew. I couldn’t feel hopeless about the situation because there was no chance for hope to grow in my heart in the first place.
No, I had plenty of feelings, all trying to get my attention at once, and none of them were empty.
The sound of the truck’s door rang in my ears as I slammed it shut behind me. I vaguely registered the movement in my peripheral vision as Ellis slipped out from the cab of the truck.
“Magnus! What the hell is going on?” I bellowed.
I didn’t need to shout. Magnus had come out of his house before I’d even touched my brakes, but it felt good to yell, nonetheless.
“I already told you on the phone,” Magnus said as he approached, Trent trailing behind him and making his way over to Ellis. “Creed is missing.”
In my blind drive back to Emberwood, I’d somehow managed to make pretty good time. The sun had only just set, and the soft edges of twilight hadn’t yet given way to the true shadows of night. The lights glowing inside Magnus’s house, and the bright porch light on my own home offered a comfortable invitation,promising warmth and safety. It would be so easy to just step inside my house, shut the door, and pretend nothing outside those walls existed.
I’d built those walls myself. I knew how strong they were.
A weaker man might have given in to the urge, but my feet stayed rooted to the ground outside as I demanded more answers from Magnus.
“I know you said Creed went missing, but how? What happened?”
Magnus ran his hands through his hair, pulling some of his long blond locks free from his braid. It couldn’t even be called a braid at this point, as most of his hair fell in disarray around his face. He must have been pulling at it ever since getting the news about Creed. His frustration was obvious in the lines on his face.