Page 71 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
24
Nora sippedat the cup of tea in her hands. She barely tasted it, even as the steam thawed her still-chilled cheeks. Her eyes stared unseeingly at the phone sitting in the center of the table in front of her, now with a cracked screen from being dropped on the frozen pavement.
It played the messages from Odelle for the third time in a row as the worried faces of Drew and the Eteria members looked on. Drew sat next to Thad, and Nora was grateful that he was still there, concern on his normally calm face. Everybody snuck glances out of the corners of their eyes at Nora, as if they thought she might implode at any moment. Nora thought they probably weren’t that far off base.
The first message from Odelle started again, the panic and confusion in her voice apparent even on the low quality microphone.
“Nora, I need your help. I was at work reporting on the blizzard when a huge sheet of ice fell from a building, and now I’m trapped in an alley. I can’t climb out. The ice is too slick and I’m wearing my work legs.”
A staticky shuffling noise came across the receiver before Odelle’s voice returned.
“Nora, there’s something happening. I don’t know—”
There was a sharp crack as if the phone had been dropped on the ground, followed by the beginning of a shriek before the message cut out.
The cheerful automated voice that recited the options to delete the message or save it was jarring after the horror in Odelle’s scream. Antony reached out and hit the option to play the next message, cutting the recording off.
It wasn’t the first time Nora had heard the message, but it still made her heart freeze in her chest.
“You’re a tricky one to scare, Nora Zvezda.”
Nora would recognize the disturbingly articulated voice of the agent anywhere, but hearing it on a voicemail left by Odelle’s phone was something she had not imagined even in her nightmares.
“I think I figured out the right tactic this time, though. Why don’t you come find your sister while she’s still in one piece? Don’t even think about bringing along those friends of yours if you don’t want to make things worse for her. I look forward to having another chat with you.”
Antony reached out again to stop the phone from playing the message a fourth time.
“You’re sure it’s him—the agent?” Ezra asked, his fists tight under his folded arms.
Nora nodded. She had barely spoken since hearing the voicemails for the first time, but her mind whirled a mile a minute. This was all her fault. She hadn’t come clean to Odelle about what was happening soon enough, and now she was paying the price. Odelle wouldn’t even know what the Shadow was, leaving her completely vulnerable to its manipulation. Nora’s stomach felt like a lump of coal.
“Do you have any idea where he might have taken her?” Thad probed gently.
“None,” Nora said. “I don’t know how he expects me to come find them. Maybe he’s just taunting me. Giving me false hope that she’s still alive.”
Adam reached out and put a hand on Nora’s shoulder, making her jump. “I’m sure she’s all right. Remember the Shadow’s game is fear and manipulation. He wouldn’t give up a piece like Odelle that quickly if he’s trying to get to you. We’ve seen this before.”
Drew ran a hand through his hair with a scowl. “If you’ve seen it before, why does the Shadow keep doing it?”
“Just because we know what it’s doing, doesn’t make it less effective,” Antony said. “We know it’s a trap, but that doesn’t make us care about the bait any less.”
Nora nodded, although the thought of Odelle being alive in the clutches of the agent wasn’t particularly reassuring either.
“Then what are we waiting for? I have to go find her.”
“We have to go find her,” Antony amended, giving Nora a pointed look that she didn’t quite understand.
“You heard what he said,” Nora argued “I have to come alone or—”
“He’s the bad guy. Of course that’s what he said,” Adam reasoned, doing his best to sound reassuring but not totally hiding his concern. “He’s messing with you, trying to separate you from your support system.”
Nora knew this was the part of the story when the hero would run off, reckless and alone, to save the damsel in distress, and Nora would bang her head against the wall in frustration at them for being so incredibly dense. Still, her sister’s panicked voice played on repeat in her head. Maybe it was Nora’s turn to be incredibly dense.
“You’re right.” Nora leaned into Adam’s hand on her shoulder. “Thanks for wanting to help. We need a plan, though.”
Adam looked relieved and turned to the rest of the group to start throwing out ideas on how to find Odelle. Nora wasn’t paying attention, though. Her mind was too busy with her own plan, which she had to come up with before Adam finished outlining his. She caught Antony still staring at her with unnerving perception, but she quickly looked away.
As Thad chimed in with some information about combing the city in a grid pattern, Nora leaned over to murmur in Adam’s ear. “If we’re going to go on a manhunt, I’m going to need to rest for a bit. This has all been…a lot to process. Do you mind if I go lay down while you guys comb out the details?”
