Ignis (Book 2, Pure Series) (18 page)

           
Branden's voice had risen hoarsely, and Mrs. Swinburne shot us a disapproving glance.

           
Branden lowered his voice again.
 
"I have half a mind to skip class and go looking for her."

           
"Branden, I don't know where Charisse is," I whispered.
 
"And I agree that it's strange about her mother, but I don't think we should panic yet.
 
I'm sure Charisse would call you if anything were wrong."

           
"If she was able to call me, you mean," Branden interjected fiercely.

           
"Maybe Charisse had a doctor's appointment this morning, and her mom just didn't want to tell you about it."

           
"Charisse always tells me about those things," Branden replied.
 
"Sometimes in agonizing detail."

           
"Just give it some time," I said.
 
"You know I care about Charisse, too, and I think things are a little tough for her now that her mom has started dating again.
 
Maybe she just needed to be alone—maybe she even went to talk to the school counselor."

           
Branden looked at me sharply.
 
"Why did you bring up her mom's dating?
 
Do you think that Joshua guy has something to do with this?"

           
"No, I—"

           
Branden interrupted.
 
"And you said he was at her house yesterday?"

           
"Yes, but—"

           
His hands were resting on the straps of his backpack, and they tightened involuntarily.
 
"That's it.
 
It's that guy.
 
This is all his fault.
 
Charisse is gone because of him."

           
"You think she ran off?" I asked, looking around.
 
The room was filling up with students, and I was glad that their talking was masking our conversation.
 
Branden was growing more and more agitated, and I was glad that no one seemed to have noticed.
 
"I thought about that, too, but I can't believe that she would ever leave you."

           
Branden was grim.
 
"She didn't leave me.
 
Not voluntarily.
 
Joshua's behind this."

           
"What are you saying, Branden?"

           
"I'm saying that Joshua's going to be sorry."

           
Branden started to move away, and I held out a hand to stop him.

           
"Branden, wait.
 
Don't do anything that's going to get you in trouble.
 
Don't leave school.
 
Just give it till the end of the day.
 
Charisse may still show up."

           
Branden gave me a mirthless smile.
 
"I'm not going anywhere yet.
 
I have to plan out what to do first.
 
After all, I have to find out where Joshua lives."

           
Branden turned away and went to his seat.
 
The classroom was full now, and I sat down at my desk as the bell rang.
 
I turned in my seat to steal a glance at Branden.
 
He had his head down, and his hair fell over his face, shielding his eyes.
 
He was working busily on his phone.
 
Branden was typically not someone who thought things through before he did them—the fact that he was planning now made me nervous.

           
My uneasiness continued to grow throughout the day, and it wasn't made any better by the fact that I still had not seen William by lunchtime.

           
But I told myself not to worry—that William would probably be waiting for me as soon as lunch was over.
 
I'd seen him yesterday after lunch, so there was no reason for me to be anxious.

           
In the cafeteria, I found Simon sitting at a table by himself—and Branden was nowhere to be seen.
 
I had a sinking feeling as we both started on our lunch.

           
Simon was unusually quiet.

           
"So, I'm guessing Charisse hasn't shown up, and Branden still doesn't know where she is," I said.

           
Simon nodded.

           
"Where's Branden?" I asked.

           
Simon gave me a small smile—without looking at me—and kept eating.

           
"Simon, I know you heard my question," I said.
 
"Where is he?"

           
Simon remained silent.

           
"Branden can get in a lot of trouble by skipping school," I said.

           
Simon shrugged.
 
"You could get into a lot of trouble by hanging out with a drifter, but that doesn't seem to be stopping you."

           
My first instinct was to defend William, but I checked it—I knew it wouldn't do any good.
 
Pleading William's case to Simon hadn't produced any effect on him so far—he seemed to be determined to believe terrible things.

           
"Is Branden going to call you and let you know what he finds out?" I asked.

           
"Maybe," Simon replied.

           
"Simon, Charisse and Branden are my friends too, and I want them to be okay.
 
It's not like I'm going to tell on them."

           
Simon gave me a rueful smile and actually looked at me for the first time since I had sat down.

           
"Yeah, I know," he said.
 
"I really don't know if Branden is going to call.
 
We didn't talk about that.
 
Maybe he will.
 
Maybe he won't.
 
I guess it depends on what happens.
 
Maybe he'll call the police instead."

           
I figured that that was as close as I was going to get to an admission that Branden had skipped the rest of the school day to look for Charisse.
 
The truth was that I was starting to get worried myself.
 
It wasn't like Charisse not to keep in touch with both Branden and me, even when she was sick.
 
And though I had texted her several times, I had received nothing from her in return.

           
Branden's insistence that something was wrong worried me too.
 
He wasn't easily upset, and he certainly wasn't overly emotional.
 
I thought back to the story Simon had told me earlier in the day about the second girl who had been attacked in the Old Grove.
 
Charisse had been angry yesterday—had she driven around, too angry to go home, and decided to stop somewhere and go for a walk?
 
Could Charisse have gone to the Old Grove herself or to some other place that Anton and Innokenti were haunting?
 
I pushed the thought away—it was too horrible to contemplate.
 
But I decided I would go over to Charisse's house after school.
 
I had to be sure she was all right.

           
When lunch was over, and Simon and I parted ways in the hall, I drew apart from the crowd to wait for William.
 
I watched the faces that passed me anxiously, and the minutes ticked by.
 
Eventually the warning bell rang.

           
William did not appear.

           
The rest of the day seemed to fly by, and there was no sign of William.
 
Before I knew it, the final bell rang, and I was headed out of the school along with everyone else.
 
I lingered in the schoolyard, hoping that William would appear at the last minute.
 
But as I watched, the crowd of students slowly thinned out, till there was only me and a handful of others.
 
A strange sense of abandonment welled up within me.

           
William had not come.

           
The weather was very cold, so I figured I had better start walking.
 
Charisse's house was in the opposite direction from mine, but it was only about a fifteen minute walk from the school.
 
I started off slowly, looking back over my shoulder every few moments to see if William had suddenly shown up in the schoolyard.
 
He did not appear.

           
I forced myself to walk more quickly—I was anxious to see Charisse to make sure that she was okay.
 
I told myself that it really wasn't so terrible that William hadn't shown up—he'd probably had something important to do.
 
There were, after all, two vampires in town.

           
But, at the same time, William always did what he said he would do—and he'd never failed to meet me before.
 
I tried again to convince myself that his absence didn't mean anything, but my uneasiness kept growing.

           
I had a feeling something wasn't right.

           
I pushed myself to move faster, and eventually I broke into a run.
 
By the time I reached Charisse's house, I was actually pretty warm, and the exertion had made me feel a little less anxious.
 
I saw with relief that Charisse's car was parked in the street just in front of the house.
 
So Charisse was home.
 
Maybe she'd been sick and just hadn't felt well enough to answer the phone.

           
I walked up to the house and pulled the screen door open.
 
I was just raising my hand to knock on the wooden door behind it when I realized that the door was already open.
 
I pushed on it gingerly, and it swung open a few more inches.

           
"Charisse?" I said.
 
"Mrs. Graebel?"

           
There was no answer, and I nudged the door open a little more and peered inside.
 
The small foyer was empty.
 
I could see into the living room and dining room—both were dark and unoccupied.
 
The house had a profoundly still feeling, as if no one were home.
 
I glanced back at Charisse's car.
 
Surely she was home if her car was.
 
Of course, I couldn't see into the garage, so maybe Charisse had been driven somewhere by her mother.
 
I figured I should lock the door properly and then pull it shut.

           
I stepped inside and turned the lock on the doorknob.

           
"Katie," came a soft whisper.

           
I looked up.
 
The sound seemed to have come from a darkened hall off the foyer.

           
I'd just decided that I'd imagined the sound when the whisper came again.

           
"Katie."

           
This time I was sure—the sound had definitely come from the darkened hall.

           
"Charisse?" I said.

           
"Katie, help me," said the whisper.

           
I hurried forward and switched on the light in the hall.
 
The hall was empty, and several dark doorways opened off of it on either side.

           
"Katie," said the whisper again.

           
I walked down the hallway, glancing into each one of the doorways.
 
"Charisse, where are you?"

           
I reached the end of the hallway, and I was faced with a set of stairs and another dark doorway.
 
I knew the stairs led up to the bedrooms.
 
The dark doorway led down to the basement.

           
"Katie, down here."
 
The voice was a little louder.

           
I was struck by a horrible thought.
 
What if Charisse had fallen down the basement stairs and hurt herself?
 
What if she'd been lying there all day while we were all at school wondering about her?

           
The basement door was standing open, and I reached for the light switch on the wall.
 
The light overhead blazed to life, illuminating bare white walls and a set of wooden stairs.

           
"Charisse, are you down there?" I asked.
 
"Are you okay?"

           
"Katie, help me," said a soft voice.