Vanished (Private 12)

I looked across the small chapel. The freshly waxed dark wood pews shone and the plank floors were free of grime. The soft glow of the candlelight lent a distinct warmth to the cozy room. I stood there for a moment, closed my eyes, and took a deep breath, waiting for a sense of calm to descend over me. Waiting to feel that comforting, looked-after feeling I always had here. As if the original Billings Girls were looking down on me, encouraging me. As if they were on my side.

But I felt nothing—nothing but a chill that shot through me by a stiff wind from a broken window.

I opened my eyes and sat down hard on the raised platform around the pulpit. Alone. I was totally and completely alone. And so was Noelle. She was out there somewhere, terrified, waiting for someone to come save her. I knew exactly what that felt like. That incredible sense of desperation. When I had been left to die on a deserted island in St. Barths I had started to hallucinate. Started to think I would be better off dead.

Started to think no one out in the real world even cared I was gone. That depth of despair was not something I would wish upon my worst enemy, let alone my best friend.

I hugged my knees to my chest and rested my chin between them.

I’m going to find you, Noelle. Just stay strong.

Then the wind whistled through the eaves again. Up in the rafters, a pair of crows I hadn’t noticed before flapped their wings noisily, as if mocking me.

“Oh, why don’t you just fly south for the winter already?” I shouted up at them.

They were wrong. Paige was going to tell me what she knew. I was going to make sure of that. This would all be over by morning.

The arched chapel door creaked open and Paige stepped inside, cursing under her breath. She shoved the door closed with some effort, blocking out the wind. I jumped to my feet, adrenaline pumping as she dusted snow off the sleeves of her black cashmere coat. Finally, she drew the gray knit cap from her auburn hair as she turned around.

“God! Could this place be more impossible to get to?” she snapped. Her stiletto-heeled boots—not exactly the best gear for hiking snow-covered hills at night—click-clacked against the floor, the sound echoing through the chapel as she walked to the center of the aisle. “I could have died out there.”

There were just way too many good comebacks to that one. About Noelle potentially dying out there right now. About the number of times I’d almost died at her mother’s hand. About how I’d like to wring her throat for all the crap she’d pulled on the island, not to mention her current crime. But I just swallowed all the words cramming my throat. I said nothing, hoping my silence and serious glare would intimidate her.

“So?” she said, turning her gloved palms out. “Let’s have it.”

I blinked. “Have what?”

“Your capitulation,” Paige said. “That is why you called me, right?”

“My capitulation? What the hell are you talking about?” I demanded, stepping toward her. “I called you about Noelle.”

“Noelle? Why? Is she here?” Paige looked around and then laughed. “Oh, this’ll be good. I’d love to get an apology from Her Majesty. Noelle!” she sang. “Come out, come out wherever you are!”

I was so confused I actually stood there for a moment with my jaw hanging open. So much for the position of authority. I looked like the town idiot, the dumbfounded subject of the punch line.

“If this is your idea of a joke—”

“Reed, you’re the one who called me, remember?” Paige replied, whipping her cell phone out of her Prada bag and checking for messages. “Now, clearly you’ve decided to give up your little Billings project, whatever that was, but clearly I wouldn’t be here unless you wanted something in return. So what is it? What are your petty little demands?”

“My petty little …” I gritted my teeth together, clenched my fists, and prayed for patience. “Paige, this isn’t a joke. Where the hell is Noelle?”

“She’s not here?” Paige said blankly, jerking her head to look behind her. Her auburn curls twitched around her face.

A cold sense of realization washed through me. I was utterly and completely wrong. Paige had no idea where Noelle was. Had no idea she was even missing. There was no way she was a good enough actress to fake this level of cluelessness. She thought that I’d merely summoned her here to tell her I was giving up the BLS—that the lame-ass threats she and her fellow alums had made against me and my sisters had worked. This whole undertaking was pointless.

“I have to go,” I said, brushing by her.

“Wait. You have got to be kidding me,” Paige said. “That’s it? You have nothing else to say to me?”

I turned on my heel to look at her, my face aflame with anger, frustration, and despair. “Yeah. The next time you’re visiting the prison down in Virginia, tell your mom I said ‘Hi.’”

Then I turned and stormed out into the cold, not even bothering to cover up this time. The Billings Alums didn’t have Noelle. Or if they did, they hadn’t told Paige about it. So who the hell had done this? And where were they keeping Noelle?

I emerged from the tree line, the stone buildings and winking lights of the Easton campus spread out below me at the bottom of the snow-covered hill, as if all were right in the world. Then I heard a jingle. My breath caught and I paused. Nothing. It was just the wind playing tricks on me. But then I heard it again. It was my phone. I was so riled up that I didn’t even recognize the sound of my own phone. Biting down on my tongue, I fumbled in my pocket for my cell, nearly dropping it in the snowdrift. Snowflakes clung to my eyelashes and the wind bit at my nose as I narrowed my blurred eyes and tried to read.

THE GAME BEGINS NOW. IF YOU EVER WANT TO SEE NOELLE ALIVE AGAIN, YOU WILL HAVE TO COMPLETE FOUR ASSIGNMENTS. DO EXACTLY AS WE SAY AND TELL NO ONE. ASSIGNMENT NUMBER ONE: HAVE GRANDMOTHER LANGE SIGN A LETTER EXCUSING NOELLE FROM SCHOOL FOR THE NEXT TWO WEEKS. NO FAXING, TEXTING, OR E-MAILS ALLOWED. GRANDMOTHER LANGE MUST BE APPROACHED IN PERSON. THE LETTER MUST BE AN ORIGINAL, WITH AN ORIGINAL SIGNATURE. NO FORGERIES ACCEPTED. WE’LL BE WATCHING YOU.

My lungs completely emptied out, ice-cold dread seeping through my body. I glanced over my shoulder at the snow-laden trees. Could Paige have sent this text? She’d had her phone out when I’d walked away from her. Maybe she was screwing with me. If someone was watching me right now, it had to be her. She was the only one out here.