I turn back toward The Hollow. “Pull everything else. Reflections, traffic cams, anything we can get.”
“Already on it.”
I end the call.
By the time I get inside, Finn is there, and he already knows.
The energy in him has changed. Less scattered now. Sharper. Focused in a way that usually means everything is about to break.
“She’s not at Granger’s.”
Aurora’s gone.
I go cold.
I move to the door and lock it, the bolt sliding into place with a sound that cuts through the room. Arlo doesn’t ask questions. He moves immediately, securing the secondary lock, shifting the space from open to controlled without a word.
Zane turns the laptop toward me.
Aurora fills the screen.
She’s walking down the alley, hands in her jacket, head slightly tilted, thinking about a softer world than the one she’s standing in.
It looks normal until she disappears past the edge of the frame.
Zane lets the footage run.
Nothing follows.
No shadow. No movement.
The absence says everything.
“She didn’t make it past the blind spot,” I say.
Zane nods.
Finn drags a hand through his hair, pacing harder now. “So what, he just steps out and takes her?”
“He planned it,” I answer.
I walk over to the back door once more and head towards the dreaded tiny blind spot. The one we could never quite cover.
Something catches the light.
Small. Metal. Out of place.
I move toward it without thinking, crouching down, the rest of the world narrowing to a single point.
A chain.
Thin. Broken.
I pick it up carefully.
And the air leaves my lungs.
Aurora’s necklace. Evie’s.
