Page 73 of Guardian

She took the dagger and put it in the pocket of her jacket.

The drive to the shopping mall took too long, even with Hamish breaking every traffic law. Unfortunately there were no lost portals close to the shopping mall that they could have used instead. And Winter hadn’t seen anything that gave her an indication of the time when the attack was supposed to occur. For all Logan knew, they could already be too late. His heart clenched. He prayed that they would reach Aiden and his family in time.

When Hamish pulled the car into the large parking lot and drove up to the side entrance, Logan said, “We’ll go in invisibly. We don’t want the demons to latch onto us, or scare any bystanders. Make sure Winter can see you though.”

Hamish and Manus nodded.

“It’s up to Winter now to help us find the shop as quickly as possible.”

Hamish switched off the engine, and everybody jumped out.

At the door, his friends cloaked themselves, while Logan cloaked both Winter and himself. Then they marched into the indoor mall. As Logan had already seen on the map and during the drive, the place was about four city blocks long and one block wide, with additional wings toward the middle of the structure. Pop music droned from speakers in the walls and ceiling.

Winter immediately rushed to the information board and perused it quickly. She ran her finger over the list of stores under the heading apparel.

“Too many,” she murmured. “And the kids’ stores are all over the place. Shit!” She looked over her shoulder at him, looking stressed.

“Breathe, Winter. Concentrate and think back to the vision. Did you see any colors? Any columns, maybe the escalators? Or one of the stalls that line the middle of the walkway?”

He watched her close her eyes. Her chest rose and fell. “Something yellow, just outside the store window. It’s moving. An elephant.” She opened her eyes. “It doesn’t make sense.”

But Logan was already addressing Hamish and Manus. “Keep your eyes open for anything yellow. Possibly a kids’ ride that looks like an elephant.” Then he took Winter’s hand, and together they rushed down one side of the mall, while Manus and Hamish ran along the other side, parallel to them.

At each kids’ clothing store, they stopped briefly and looked inside, before continuing on. With every yard they covered, Logan’s heart pounded more frantically.

They reached one of the wings, and Logan looked down the length of it. There was only one stall in the middle of the wide walkway, as well as a board with rotating electronic advertising, but no kids’ ride shaped like an elephant.

“Nothing down there,” Logan said to Winter and motioned for them to continue.

“Wait!”

Winter’s voice jolted him and made him look over his shoulder.

~ ~ ~

Winter had already started following Logan, when something yellow caught her eye. She whipped her head in the direction: the advertising board. It had just turned to a yellow background, advertising a travel site. She stopped and pointed to it. “Yellow!”

“But there’s no kids ride down there.”

He was right, but something made her wait as she continued to stare at the board. Finally it changed screens again, and there it was: an ad featuring an elephant moving across the African plains.

“This is the elephant. It’s there. It’s down there,” she said excitedly, her pulse pounding wildly.

In a few moments, she’d have another encounter with the demons, and she was scared. But the lives of two children were on the line, and she couldn’t just stand by without acting. She rushed down the side wing toward the advertising board.

“Winter! Damn it!” Logan ran after her, catching up with her. He grabbed her arm, then put a finger to the communications device in his ear. “Hamish, Manus, down the east wing, toward the end. Opposite an advertising board.”

She couldn’t hear their response, but assumed they were coming, and continued walking. A few more steps and she and Logan could see the shop opposite the sign. It was indeed a children’s clothing store. Colorful decorations hung in the large store window and obstructed the view into the shop, forcing them to approach the door to look inside.

Winter slammed her hand over her mouth to smother her gasp. There, near the cash register lay a blond woman in a pool of her own blood. She lay on her front, obscuring a clear view of her face.

Please, don’t let it be Leila!

Winter’s eyes traveled past the dead woman toward the back of the shop, and she saw them: demons. Three of them from what she could tell. Aiden was fighting them off as well as he could, but he was injured. The kids were nowhere to be seen.

Logan stormed past her into the store and jumped one of the demons, ripping him off Aiden and slicing his throat. A second demon turned and aimed his dagger at him.

Winter rushed into the store, desperately looking for the twins so she could get them out. She peered past the cash register, bending over the low counter to see if they were hiding behind it, but the space was empty. Then a movement caught her eye and she whipped her head toward the door. Hamish and Manus stormed in.