Page 133 of Madness Behind the Mask
But then where is she?
The question claws at meas I watch her firstborn as he stands at the front of thetwo rows ofpews, waiting for his bride towalk down the aisle. My face is pressed so hard into mypair ofbinoculars that I’msureI’lllook like a raccoon when I lower them.
I scan the pews a dozen more times, tracking each row, looking at every person,but none of them are Caden or Sau.
“Where the fuck is she?” I murmur as the binoculars roam around the guests again.They’re having an outdoor wedding, safe behind the wards of their street. Guards are patrolling the blocks surrounding it so there can’t be a repeat of what happened at Sau’s wedding. They’re fully on guard and itchy,like they fear something will happen, which makes me even more worried.
If they’re this nervous, then Caden and Sau should be with their firstborn to protect him.
“Do you want me to see if I can get you an invitation?” Vlad asksdrylyas he appears beside me.
“Sau isn’t there,” I say, not in the mood to joke around.
He grabs the binoculars off me. I start to growl at him, but I trap the noise in my throat so I don’t sound like a jealous school boy with a crush.
“Neither is Caden,” Vlad says, his words tight.
“Which means there’s something wrong with Sau.”
“A good thing for us.”
This time I do growl. I can’t stop it, and his gaze snaps to me. Grabbing the binoculars from his hand, I scan the pews one more time.
Then again.
He yanks them off my face. “They’re not just going to appear because you’re looking,” he says. “And why isn’t her death a good thing for us? Especially if it keeps Caden out too?”
I glare at him, my jaw ticking. I know what he’s really asking, and I don’t like it.Why isn’t this a good thing for you?As if I’m gettingattachedto her, as if she’s no longer just a toy.
Not answering him, I phase to the gym. This is the last place I saw her; it’s not been used or entered since. I walk around the place, searching for any sign of her.
I find nothing.
I walk it again.
Still nothing.
My teeth grinding, I narrow my eyesas they fall onto my shadow, cast by the lights in the ceiling. I stare at it, a thought tickling my brain before it suddenly forms in its entirety.
What if she fell into the Plane of Monsters, dragged down with everything else?
My pulse stutters, then slams hard and fast. She won’t ever be able to come back. Shadows can only open it fromthis side.
Growling, cursing her for being so fucking stupid, I phase. The Plane of Monsters flashes in front of me, so dark, I can’t see anything other than black. A split second later, it’s gone, and I am once again in the bright lights of the gym.
I phase again, trying to keep myself in the Plane for longer, but I’m kicked out in a second, back in the gym and alone.
Maybe a longer distance will give me more time.
It doesn’t work like that. I know it doesn’t, but that doesn’t stop me from trying.
I phase to the other side of town.
The blackness comes.
It’s gone.
I phase again, this time to Georgia.
