The problem was this. Well, the problems were these:

Problem one, IPCA had managed to keep one of their containment facilities running in spite of the attempts by Seelie faeries and elementals to free whatever was there. And despite my time crunch to get them out of here and keep Reth alive, Cresseda et al. weren't going to let any gates be opened until every paranormal that had been forced through had a chance to say whether or not they wanted to leave. Most had already made the decision; turns out they'd been gathering paranormals since Cresseda first met me. I really, really tried not to be annoyed by this fact. It was still my choice.

Problem two was how to convince the Unseelie faeries that they needed to get on the take-every-paranormal-but-no-humans-back bandwagon. No one had any idea how committed they were to the idea of taking humans with them to keep using their dreams, but faeries were generally loyal to their courts.

Problem three, and this was connected to two, was how to get the people the Unseelies had kidnapped back, most especially the women pregnant with more Empty Ones. The common thought was that the faeries were feeling desperate with their threads to eternity growing thinner every day, and if we took away their only option for getting home in the near future, they'd agree to our human-free terms even if it wasn't what they had in mind.

And finally, problem four was that even if everything worked out in the best possible way, I still didn't know if I could open a gate, and, if I could, whether or not I'd still have a boyfriend on this planet afterward.

Well, number four wasn't on the Official Problems List. I wished I could talk to someone about it, but I didn't want to bring it up with Lend, and I couldn't very well call Carlee and whine about it.

Almost on cue, my cell rang in my pocket. I walked a few steps away from Lend, Arianna, Raquel, and David, who were going back and forth with ideas and strategies regarding the final IPCA holdout. Lend, unsurprisingly, shot down every suggestion of Raquel's with barely concealed derision.

"Carlee?" I answered, seeing her name on my caller ID. "I'm so sorry I haven't had a chance to call!"

"Evie?" It wasn't Carlee's voice. I frowned. "It's Carlee's mom. Have you seen her?"

"No, not since before Christmas. Why? What's wrong?"

She sounded frantic. "She's been missing since yesterday. We can't find her anywhere-she left her cell and all her things. I found a text to you where she mentioned a new boy. Do you know anything about him? We're so scared. This isn't like her. "

"Oh my gosh," I said, shocked. "She wouldn't run away!"

"I know. " Her voice cracked.

I shook my head, confused and worried, my brain spinning through all the possibilities. Carlee was totally happy. She got along with her mom better than any other teenager I knew. She was doing well in school and got accepted to the community college's dance program. It made no sense. "I remember the text, but we never got to talk. I have no idea who the guy was. "

Carlee's mom started saying something, when I looked up and saw Arianna. What had happened to her-how she'd been changed by her then boyfriend-flashed through my mind and I couldn't breathe through the panic. But no. Not here. The vampires here were the most self-regulating, careful, anti-harming-or-turning-humans-into-vampires in existence. Carlee couldn't be a vampire.

Just when I was about to sigh with relief I saw Reth speaking with a misshapen lump of moving rocks. Beautiful Reth. Enchanting Reth. Reth who was a faerie, who any girl would fall in love with. And a faerie would count as an older guy, like Carlee described her new love interest.

"Oh no," I whispered, dread filling my stomach. I knew where Carlee was.

"Please, if you hear anything or think of anything at all, will you let us know immediately?"

"I-Of course. I'm so sorry. " I hung up, numb. Carlee. My precious, beautiful, funny, completely and utterly normal friend. I could be wrong, I desperately wanted to be wrong, but deep inside I knew I wasn't. I stumbled back to the group and Lend put his arm around me, then saw my face.

"What's wrong?" he asked. "What happened?"

"Carlee's missing. I think the faeries took her. "

"Are you sure?" Raquel asked.

"Pretty sure. She's not exactly the teen runaway type. It's all my fault. "

Lend squeezed my shoulder. "How is it your fault?"

"I put this place on their radar. They never would have paid any attention to this town if it weren't for me. They never would have known about Carlee, or taken her. She doesn't deserve to be caught up in the middle of this. "

"Who does?" Arianna asked quietly. "It's not your fault. We've all lost our innocence in one way or another because of the paranormal parts of our world. "

She was wrong. I could have stopped this a long time ago. And I was tired of having to rescue the people I loved from danger that I put in their lives. I squared my shoulders and looked at David. "You and Raquel should lead the attack against the IPCA facility. Where is it? Iceland? Siberia?"

"Illinois," Raquel answered. "Normal, Illinois, a couple of hours outside Chicago. "

I snorted. "Finally, IPCA gets a sense of humor. Arianna, can you help them with computer stuff?"

She nodded.

Tags: Kiersten White Paranormalcy Paranormal
Source: readsnovelonline.net