Standing, he started to go to his room, but Benji grabbed his arm. “Where are you going?”
“I forgot to grab something for school,” Cecil lied smoothly.
“Ah, okay. Well, it’s about time to leave, so you better hurry. Don’t want to be late.”
He nodded and went to his room. The rolled-up worn leather was sitting on his dresser, waiting for him. Cecil grabbed it and nothing else, hiding it away in his backpack.
Benji was waiting for him at the door. He faked a smile that he knew never reached his eyes. The ride to school was uneventful, and as always, Benji was chattering away.
“Have a good day,” Benji said when they arrived.
Getting out, Cecil turned to look at the man, and this time, he smiled for real. “Goodbye, Benji, and thank you for always being kind.”
Benji wrinkled his brow. Apparently, his smile was off, but the man said nothing and left.
He watched the car disappear before walking away from the school.
Benji fidgeted. He felt an urgent need to do something, but what?
There was a sense of foreboding. Cecil’s smile flashed in his mind. It had felt wrong. His smile, the way he’d said ‘goodbye’…all of it.
The phone rang and he grabbed it. “Hello, you have reached the Draven Zaytari group, how may I help you?”
“This is Sharron, secretary from Bloodhart Secondary High. I’m calling to inquire about Cecil Baxter. Is he sick?”
Benji’s hand clenched around the phone. “H-he never showed up?”
“I’m afraid not. Please note that students are only permitted seven unexcused absences.”
“Okay…I-I have to go. Thanks for calling.” Benji hung up without letting her reply.
His heart began to beat out of control. Where could Cecil be?!
Maybe he had come home? That’s it, Cecil probably had felt sick, and was in his room. But how had he made it past him without being noticed?
Jumping up, Benji sprinted to Cecil’s room and threw the door open. His shoulders slumped when he saw it was empty.
Was Cecil in the bathroom? “Cecil?” he called out, walking in.
There was no answer—dammit. Turning to leave, he tripped over his own feet, knocking into the dresser. His clumsiness sent a wooden box tumbling to the ground. The lid flew open and small flat squares spilled out everywhere.
“Shit.” Benji crouched to pick them up, but froze when he realized what they were. Staring in horror, his gaze went from one square to the next.
There were hundreds of them, but he knew in his heart which were new. The old ones had browned as they aged, but where the old had splotches of white, the new were soaked through. There were more than two dozen blood-red squares—not a speck of white in sight.
“By the Gods, Cecil…what have you done?” Benji cried.
Taking a deep breath, Sin walked down the stairs of his private plane and across the tarmac, to the driverless car that was waiting for him. His phone rang as he reached for the door handle.
On a sigh, he answered, “Yes?”
Sin hoped it wasn’t urgent because he had no intention of letting anything keep him from Cecil.
“Cecil is missing,” Roth said, his voice sounding panicked.
“What?!” Sin shouted, barely managing to not crush his phone.
“He disappeared this mornin’. Benji dropped him off at school, but he never showed up. Sin, we found somethin’ in his room that…it is not good, Sin. I fear what will happen if we do nae find him in time.”
