Page 99 of Shifting Spirits

Sara isn’t here, and that feels wrong.

She’s been hanging around for so long that I can’t ignore the feeling.

I try calling on her again, putting some real pleading into my commands, in the hope that she’ll suddenly appear and tell me she only didn’t come before because she was mad at me.

I’m ready to apologize and hear whatever she wants to say.

If she appears, I won’t need to leave town. I won’t need to confront my father.

It’s wishful thinking and I know it.

She hasn’t shown her face in days. She’s not coming back.

I think about what Rachel’s out doing, asking a friend’s mate for help in the form of his necromancer sister. It’s pretty fucking desperate, but I’m ready to try anything. I need to know what happened to Sara. I’m glad my mate is talking to Dante today. He’s far more likely to agree to help her since she’s Amanda’s closest friend at the academy.

Rachel knows Dante’s not the easiest person to deal with, but she’s determined.

She’ll find a way to get what we need.

I close my eyes and crack my knuckles.

One last try. It can’t hurt.

I call on Sara, my sister. I do it three times to give it the best chance to work. I beg her to speak to me, each time, in any way she can.

When I open my eyes, the yard looks as dull and dreary as it did before I closed them.

It’s a bit after two P.M., and the sky is full of dark clouds. Rain hasn’t cracked through, yet, but it looks like it’s going to. Thick, gray clouds are clogging up the atmosphere, making everything feel cold and damp. It’s breezy out, and the wind is definitely going to pick up.

There’s a storm on the horizon.

I don’t think we’ll be leaving it behind to go to Midnight Valley.

It’s going to follow us there. It’s been that kind of week.

Heading into the house, I resign myself to waiting for Rachel to get home.

I lock the back door and open the kitchen blinds.

“No luck?” Carter asks, from his seat at the table.

He’s leafing through the yearbooks again, and he’s getting cookie crumbs on the pages.

I shake my head. “She’s not out there.”

Adrian appears in the kitchen doorway. “I’m giving Rachel five minutes, and then I’m going out to find her.”

He’s been pacing in the hallway for a while, waiting for our mate to get back from Amanda’s place. I saw how hard he resisted to insist on accompanying her. He knows it’s fucked up to not want her to go anywhere alone, but he doesn’t have to like it when she goes out on her own.

The tension in the house right now is thick.

We need everything to get back to normal.

He’ll relax once we confess everything to the Witches Council about the night we saved Rachel from her psychopath ex. That’ll make everyone feel better.

This afternoon’s little excursion is a distraction from that plan, but Rachel insisted we do that part first. She said it made more sense, but I know it’s because if anything goes wrong, she’s made sure I get to find out what happened to my sister first.

“Why don’t you two sit down?” Carter says. “You’re making me paranoid standing around like that.”

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