Tick, Tock
My whole world dropped out from under me.
"Sylvia?" Aegis's growling voice just barely snapped me back to reality. "Talk to me, what's going on?"
I put Ivy on speaker, a sort of numb terror flooding my veins. "When did you lose them, Ivy?"
"Less than an hour ago. Dylan and Collin got into a huge fight about how Collin's a werewolf and Dylan isn't. A lot was said; Collin ran to his room, and Dylan ran out back, which I thought was the end of it." Ivy swore. "There's so much more than that. It's been a tense couple of days. Annie was here, too; I think it's what set them off."
"Annie came over?" I dug my nails into my knee with my free hand. "Does Brittani know?"
"She knows. She and Lawrence are out right now, searching for the kids."
"Who, exactly, is missing, Ivy?"
"Dylan, Annie... and Lucy."
The world tilted on its axis. No.
"How did Lucy get pulled into this?" Aegis asked sharply, and I pushed the phone in his direction, trying to control my breathing.
"Lucy was upset that the boys were fighting. She followed both Annie and Dylan outside. When I went to check on them, all three were gone, and a board in the back fence had been moved."
I swore. "What's being done? We're an hour out, Ivy."
"I'm about to get out there and start looking, myself. Jade's staying here with Collin; he's incredibly upset. He blames himself."
"Dammit." I put my face in my one free hand, shaking. "Oh, God... why now? We're almost there!"
"Ivy," Aegis said, and there was a deep gravity to his tone that suddenly scared me. "Listen to me. This is very, very important."
"What is it?"
"Have you heard anything about a rogue werewolf?"
My blood ran cold. I'd always thought that was just a stupid expression, but my body went frigid. All the blood rushed out of my head, and I saw spots.
"...I have," Ivy said gravely. "I was waiting for a confirmation from the State Police, but... look, an APB's been put out, and the last known sighting of the guy was further South. I don't even think he's in Oregon, yet."
"We need to get home," I whispered.
"We'll be there soon, Ivy," Aegis said. "I'm bringing the cavalry. Hang tight, and keep searching."
"Don't worry, Sylvia," Ivy said softly. "I promise I won't let anything happen to them."
I couldn't speak. I hung up the phone, put my head in my hands, and worked very hard not to hyperventilate, because frankly, we didn't have time for that.
"Sylvia," Aegis said, hands tightening on the wheel. "I need you here, with me. We can't pull over; we need to keep going."
"I'll be fine," I said, voice muffled. "I'm working on it."
"Can you give Maclean a call? They need to know what's going on."
"Yes." Shakily, I reached for my phone and dialed the number on the card we'd only just recently been given.
This was going to be the longest hour drive of my life.
----
Time ticked by agonizingly slow. What had felt like a good pace before now felt like we were at a snail's pace. We weren't going fast enough, even if Aegis was really pushing his luck, fifteen over the speed limit. The FBI flanked us, now, and there was a palpable tension stretching over the whole caravan like a net.
About fifteen minutes from Werewolf Hollow, Aegis spoke, tone grave. "You're not going to like this, but I need you to remain at home while we all search."
"What?" I said, looking at him in horror. "No! I have to be out there!"
"There is a crazed werewolf on the loose," he reminded me, voice low. "I need to know you're not out there, too.
"My children are all alone! They have no idea what could be stalking them!"
"Precisely. And that's all besides the point, anyway; if the kids come home, your presence will draw them in better than if it were just Jade or Ivy. You're Dylan's and Lucy's mother; they're not going to be tempted to turn themselves in if they see FBI agents loitering around."
I swore. Aegis had a point, as much as I hated it; having a familiar face on the homefront might mean that the kids return that much faster.
"The idea of sitting on my thumbs while you all go out and risk your lives is the worst kind of torture you could put me through," I sobbed. "What if it attacks you?"
Aegis scoffed so violently, it almost made me jump. "Nothing is going to take me out," he said, and his stone-cold confidence was reassuring. "I'll have Paul with me, and likely Lawrence, too."
"And Brittani?"
"You won't like it, but I want her with you, too. If Annie sees her mother, she may call it in for their little group that much faster."
I groaned. I wouldn't even get to spend the time waiting with someone who liked me. How wonderful.
Werewolf Hollow was buzzing like a beehive when we drove up. As we pulled through the streets, people were lined up on sidewalks, and we saw werewolves in full form moving about in small packs.
"Members of the other packs are searching, too," Aegis said quietly.
"Where are we going to take this small army?" I asked anxiously, looking behind us. Traffic was stalled now in this tiny town with the enormous, intimidating trailer being pulled behind several armed vehicles. "I want to get home, in case they come looking."
"I'll drop you off," Aegis said sagely. "I need to join up with Paul and Lawrence, get a feel for where we're at, start directing. If other packs are involved, then things are serious."
I tried to remain calm, cool, and collected, but... I was terrified. None of these were good signs.
True to his word, Aegis pulled up just outside of my house, not bothering to park. He was already dialing Paul's number as I hopped out, turning to look back at him uneasily.
"We'll find them, Sylvia," he said, staring at me intently. He was massive in that car, most likely incredibly uncomfortable... but he was in full form. He was an Alpha. He would find my children before anything happened to them.
A shudder of terror rolled through me, but I forced it down, nodding, and stepped back to allow all of the Government vehicles to move past.
----
When I opened the door, it was to find Collin pacing back and forth in the living room, anxiety rolling off of him in thick waves. Jade was seated on the couch, but she was no less tense.
"Mom!" Collin's head snapped up the second I stepped inside, and he rushed me, nearly knocking me over. "Mom, I'm sorry!"
"Honey, shhh," I said, grabbing him tightly. It brought a small, tiny measure of comfort, but also simultaneously deepened that sense of dread. I need ALL of them, I thought desperately. "This is not your fault."
"It is." Collin's voice shook, trembled, and then cracked. "I'm sorry. I just wanted to know why Dylan was acting so weird. He told me to shut up, and Annie was here, and she told him that it was fine that he wasn't a werewolf, but then that just seemed to set him off."
"Collin, this isn't your fault."
"But I yelled at him," Collin wailed, stepping back and putting his face in his awkwardly clawed hands. "I yelled at him. I told him that he had no idea how much this sucked, how much I was struggling, and if I could, I'd just give it to him so he could be the weird one and not me."
"Honey..."
"And then he was so mad. He said he wished he didn't have a brother, because then none of this would be happening..." Collin squeezed his eyes shut. "He said this was all my fault, and if I wasn't a werewolf, we'd be back home with our friends and everything would be fine. But then Lucy said that if that were true, we wouldn't have Jade, or Ivy, or Aegis, and that because of me, we did have those things..."
I didn't know what to say. This was... a complicated argument.
"And Dylan was so upset. He said that even Lucy preferred me over him, now, and that he'd just go live somewhere else so we could all just focus on the werewolf in the family."
"Oh, Collin, honey," I said, my heart tightening. "He didn't mean that. He's struggling."
"I know," Collin wailed. "I told him to go, though. I didn't think he would! He went outside into the back, and Annie followed him because she felt guilty, and then Lucy followed because her feelings were hurt and she wanted to understand why he was mad."
"Do you know where they would have gone?"
"I have no idea," Collin wailed again. "I wish I knew! Everyone's been asking me, but we've only been here two weeks, we don't even have secrets yet!"
"I'm so sorry, Sylvia," Jade said, approaching. Her voice was small, and deep streaks of mascara ran down her cheeks. "I'm so... so sorry. We really fucked this up."
"No one could have planned this," I said, trying not to lose my mind. "We... we just have to trust Aegis. He'll... we have the FBI here, too."
"Is that good enough?"
I looked up, realizing for the first time that someone else was here. In the farthest corner of the kitchen stood Brittani, and she looked... bad. Her clothes were rumpled, her expression a mixture of anger and misery.
"Brittani," I said. "I'm sorry."
"This is somehow your fault!" She snapped, hugging herself. "You always bring some kind of disaster with you. Your stupid kids put my daughter in danger!"
"Your kid isn't the only one missing," Jade snapped, and her tone was so sharp that neither Brittani nor I said anything. She turned back to me, softening into bleak depression. "Are they out looking?"
"Aegis is pulling the whole FBI caravan out probably to the woods so they don't take up too much space."
"I need to be out there, too," Jade said firmly. "They keep losing their trail at a nearby river. We can't tell if they followed it down to hide their tracks, or if they separated at any point. It's slowed the search way down."
"Even werewolves have their weaknesses," Brittani said darkly.
"Okay," I told Jade, squeezing her shoulder and ignoring Brittani. "Go. Please- bring my babies back."
Agony rippled across Jade's features, but she steadied herself, squeezed my hand, and then dipped out the front door.
"What's Aegis got us doing?" Brittani demanded, coming around the counter.
I took a deep breath. "You're not going to like it."
"Let me guess: Waiting."
"Yep."
She dropped into a single sitting recliner, put her face in her hands, and burst into tears.