Mallory pulled off her glove and fished the phone out. The screen showed a single new text message from an unknown number. Her steps slowed.
She never got messages from numbers she didn’t recognize except for the one regarding her sister. Curiosity kicked into gear to open the message. Her finger shook as she reached for the screen, and the moment she did, the cold night seemed to drop another ten degrees.
We know you’re in Onyxheim.
Mallory stopped dead on the trail. Her heart thudded once, hard. Another message appeared before she could even process the first.
We have your sister.
For a second she forgot how to breathe.The first mention of a ghost.
Meg.
The name echoed through her like a shockwave. All the months of no calls, no postcards, and no answers came crashing down around her, along with all the memories of a person who was always there for her and then just… gone.
The fragile hope that Mallory had always held on to was about to come to fruition right here in Onyxheim.
Or was it a cruel joke? Her fingers trembled as she typed back.
Who is this?
The reply came almost instantly.
That doesn’t matter. What matters is that she’s with us. If you want to see her again, you’ll do exactly what we say.
Mallory pressed a hand to her mouth.
“No,” she whispered. “No, this isn’t possible.”
Another text buzzed through.
Come alone. Tell no one including the king.
Her breath caught. They knew about Jakob, which meant this wasn’t random. Somehow, this entire situation was connected to him.
A small map pin followed. It lit up on her screen with a location deep in the wilderness beyond the resort. It looked like the old service road that she and the others had hiked on that first trip when she met Jakob.
Meet here. One hour.
Her knees felt suddenly weak. Meg was alive. After all this time, there might finally be some answers.
But alive didn’t necessarily mean safe.
Think,she ordered herself.Don’t panic. Think.
If this was real, if someone truly had Meg, then calling the police would be the logical thing to do. If this was all a hoax, she would ruin whatever credibility she had and might need in the future.
Plus, the message had been very clear. All she could figure is that someone had been at the cafe and seen her with Jakob.
Mallory looked back down the hallway Jakob had taken.
He had resources. Guards. An entire security team. He could fix this. He could help. All she had to do was wait for him to come back. Or just go find him.
But what if waiting cost her the one chance she’d had in two years to find her sister?
What if these people disappeared again the moment she hesitated?
Her mind spun in frantic circles. She’d come to Onyxheim chasing a ghost, following a thin thread of hope everyone else told her to give up on, and now she had an actual chance to find that ghost. She’d promised herself she would never stop looking for Meg.
