Vanished (Private 12)

“We’ll see,” I said hesitantly.

“Okay. Who else?” he asked.

“Well, some of the Billings Alumnae threatened us recently,” I said, poking at a few Cheerios with my spoon. “They blame us for Billings House being torn down.”

“Which ones?” Josh asked.

“Paige Ryan, Susan Llewellyn, and Demetria Rosewell,” I replied.

Another whistle from Josh. “Can’t get more connected than that. The Rosewells own half the defense contracts in the country. She could probably order up her own team of Navy SEALs if she wanted. Could you imagine if a team of SEALs grabbed Noelle? She could be in Kuwait by now.”

I dropped my spoon. It clanged loudly against the edge of my bowl. “Really not making me feel better here, Josh,” I said.

“Sorry. Sorry.” He placed what was left of his doughnut down on his plate and raised his hands in surrender. “Anyone else?”

Just then there was a loud, familiar guffaw from the direction of the food line. I turned to look and saw Gage Coolidge yucking it up with Sawyer and Graham Hathaway—two guys who had been my friends until Graham had pummeled Josh for a past offense against his sister, Jen, who passed away last summer. And until I had broken Sawyer’s heart by getting back together with Josh. All three of them froze in their tracks and stopped laughing when they saw me and Josh. Then Gage slapped Graham’s chest with the back of his hand and led him off in the opposite direction. Sawyer stood there for a moment, looking at me in this sort of forlorn way, before ducking his blond head and trudging after them.

“I guess he kind of hates me right now,” I said, facing forward again.

“Sawyer?” Josh asked. “You think he’s the evil mastermind behind this?”

I gave him a small, sad, smile. “Not really. But I’ve been fooled before.”

Josh and I looked at each other for a long moment, thinking of all the people we’d lost … and of all the people we’d trusted who’d turned out to be completely bat-crap crazy.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I guess Gage has chosen the Hathaway brothers over me,” Josh said.

“Wow. A major loss,” I joked flatly.

“It’s definitely a blow,” Josh replied, a teasing glint in his eye.

We both smiled wanly at our halfhearted attempt at lightness. Then I took a sip of my juice and looked away, feeling guilty for even trying when Noelle was out there somewhere suffering.

“I’d say this Billings Alumnae thing is your best bet,” Josh said, wiping his fingers on a napkin. “Those women have money, power, connections, and a crap load of time on their hands. Plus, if they still care about a dorm enough to threaten you, then clearly they’ve got some serious issues.”

“You’re right,” I said. “One of them just might be crazy enough to do something like this.” A slight thrill of excitement edged out some of the dread from my heart. Now we were getting somewhere. If I could go on the offensive, take some control over the situation, maybe I could end this thing before it even really got started. “I’ll see what I can find out.”

“Just be careful, Reed,” Josh said. “These people clearly aren’t messing around. I don’t think I could take it if you disappeared on me.”

“Understood,” I said, reaching for his hand and lacing my fingers through his. “But don’t worry. I promise I’ve put my damsel in distress days behind me.”

This was probably a very bad idea. An extremely very bad idea. But as I trudged through the woods alone that night, my hood drawn over my head, my face bent toward the ground against the swirling snow, I was certain it was also the right thing to do. Paige Ryan knew something. Why else would she have agreed to meet me so easily? Why else would she have even picked up the phone when I’d called? The girl hated my guts for “stealing” Upton Giles away from her and her friends down on St. Barths over Christmas break. She hated me for the fact that her mother had been locked up for trying—repeatedly—to murder me.

Yeah. The girl had a skewed sense of right and wrong.

But the point is, there was no reason for her to take a call from me. Which could only mean one thing: Paige knew where Noelle was. And tonight, I was going to get her to tell me. I’d already had to lie to Headmaster Hathaway today when he’d cornered me after classes, asking why Noelle had missed the entire day. Call me crazy, but I had a feeling he didn’t actually believe me when I’d told him she’d taken a mental health day and gone to Bliss Spa in the city. I had to find Noelle fast, because if he kept asking, I wasn’t going to be able to keep up the “tell no one” rule for very long. And if I cracked, the kidnappers were clear on what would happen. The words “SHE DIES” were pretty much permanently emblazoned across my mind’s eye.

As I stepped into the freezing cold Billings Chapel, I felt a surge of strength. This was my home turf, and they’d come in here and sullied it. Snatched away my best friend right out from under my nose. Just by telling Paige to meet me here I was reclaiming the upper ground. Showing them I would not be intimidated. That I wasn’t afraid.

A loud creak sounded in the darkness to my right and I screeched, nearly jumping out of my skin.

Okay, so maybe I was a little bit afraid.

The wind howled overhead and I took a breath.

“There’s a storm, you idiot,” I whispered to myself. “Things in this old building are going to creak and moan. Just calm down.”

I pulled out a book of matches from my coat pocket and walked to the first wall sconce near the back right pew. My ankles shook, but I stayed the course and lit the candle, then quickly walked along the wall, headed toward the pulpit at the front, lighting half a dozen more along the way.