"Yes, it is," Annabeth answered sharply. "The bad news is, the data uses codes, and while I can read the letters and numbers, a lot of it doesn't make sense yet, so I still don't know where the sites are located."
"Is that all?"
When Annabeth hesitated, Tristan's heart rate spiked.
"No," she finally said. "When did your sister go missing?"
His eyes snapped to Cade's, and he swallowed hard. "Eleven days ago, on the ninth."
"Does she have red hair? Like you?"
He answered warily, "Yes. What did you find, Annabeth?"
"There are references to gems, and I've determined it's code for the girls' hair colors: onyx means brunette, ruby means red-haired, and citrine means blonde. I found out they acquired a ruby on the ninth."
His heart squeezed. "So it confirms they have my sister," he said, searching Cade's face and confirming he agreed.
"Yes, I'm sorry, Tristan."
They were all silent for a moment, and then Annabeth added, "There's more," in an ominous tone that had Tristan's stomach twisting.
She took a deep breath. "I learned they're auctioning off a rough ruby to the highest bidder."
His brain whirred. "A ruby? So a girl with red hair? You think it's my sister?"
"Unfortunately, yes."
He felt like he might vomit. They were auctioning her? Like merchandise? Like what, slaves? Livestock? What the actual fuck?
"What does 'rough' mean?" Cade's steady voice interrupted Tristan's spiral.
Annabeth did not answer right away, and Tristan clenched his hands as he braced for bad news. "What does it mean, Annabeth?" he pressed, hating how his voice quivered. His head was spinning, and the buzzing in his ears rang louder with each passing second.
"Well, rough gemstones haven't been cut by a jeweler."
He let that sink in, and it took his brain several seconds to snap the pieces together. "Do they mean, like, she's a virgin?"
"I believe so, yes," Annabeth confirmed.
"Oh, god. Oh my god," he murmured, dropping his head into his hands and fighting back the bile rising in his throat.
"Tristan, listen. This is good. It means they haven't … violated her yet."
He let Annabeth's words penetrate his haze. Yes, it was good, but for how long?
"When? When is the auction?" he demanded, suddenly on high alert.
"They're taking bids virtually until the end of the day Saturday."
"But that's only two days from now! We need to find her before then!"
As his panic spiked, he looked to Cade for reassurance, but the other man's expression was grim.
"We can, can't we?" he pleaded.
"I hope so," Cade answered, but his eyes betrayed his doubt, and Tristan's desperation swirled out of control.
"Who is bidding? Could they take her far away, or even out of the country?"
