Hold Tight (The Embrace Series) (7 page)

“Will I see you tomorrow?” Isaac asked. He had his arms wrapped around my waist, and mine were looped around his neck.

“I have to watch Chase during the day, but I’m free after that.”

“Good. We’ll see a movie or something.”

We kissed good night—a short, sweet kiss that managed to send my heart racing.

Chapter 7

Missing

A warm front blew in overnight, and with it came temperatures in the upper fifties and blue skies with fluffy cumulus clouds. Kaylee and I decided it was too nice a Sunday to be cooped up in the house. We threw on our jackets and took Chase to the park.

“Last night was fun,” Kaylee said. She held Chase’s waist as he swung one bar at a time across the monkey bars. He landed with a loud thud on the bright red platform. Kaylee quickly jumped up next to him.

I dangled by both hands a few feet away. “It was. Why does that surprise me?”

“She’s going to fall!” Chase yelled with a mix of terror and glee in his voice. “And the lava will eat her up!”

Hot Lava was Chase’s favorite game. The rules were simple: The playground equipment was the safe zone. As long as we didn’t touch the wood chips, we lived. Allow even a toe to touch the ground, and we became volcano food. The only exception was if we were helping Chase across the monkey bars. He’d spend an entire day playing it if we’d let him.

I kicked my legs back and forth, creating momentum. Chase and Kaylee stepped to either side of the platform. On the next forward swing, I let go. Even though my feet landed firmly on the platform, I made a big show of waving my hands in a circle as if I was about to fall backward. Chase gasped and grabbed my jacket. Kaylee played along by putting her hand behind my back. A moment later, I knelt between them.

I looked up at Chase. “That was close!”

“You just need practice.” He scurried up the metal ladder and crawled through a sunshine-yellow tube bridge.

“We were surprised because we thought it’d be a bunch of guys getting drunk, not twenty or so of our friends,” Kaylee said in response to my earlier comment. She held her hand out toward the bridge. “After you.”

We sat crossed-legged in a square blue box; Chase’s little hands gripped a black steering wheel as he pretended to steer us through the imaginary red sea. We’d just maneuvered around make-believe debris when my new ringtone blared from inside my jacket pocket. I checked caller ID before answering.

“Hey, Sarah. What’s up?”

“Are you at home?” she asked.

“Just down the street. Kaylee and I took Chase to the park.” I put her on speaker.

“Hi, Sarah,” Kaylee and Chase sang into the phone. Chase turned the wheel. The three of us leaned to the side as if our boat had taken a hard right.

“Have either of you talked to Natalie?”

“No,” I said. I wasn’t even sure Natalie still had my cell number.

“Why?” Kaylee asked.

“Her mom called.” Sarah’s voice cracked. Kaylee’s confused gaze met mine. “She didn’t come home last night.”

“Maybe she went to Lauren’s,” I said. Natalie and Lauren were best friends and had driven together.

“That’s what I said to Natalie’s mom, but she called Lauren first. Lauren said Natalie dropped her off just before midnight.”

I quickly took Sarah off speaker. “They live, what, three blocks from each other.”

“Exactly. There’s no sign of her car either. Lauren’s putting together a search party. I’m meeting Mark at her house in thirty minutes.”

Sarah didn’t have to say another word. Kaylee and I were joining her.

Kaylee called her parents to let them know what was up as we jogged back to my house. I carried Chase piggyback so we’d get there quicker. Relief filled me when I saw Dad’s red pickup truck sitting in the driveway.

“Dad,” I called as we stumbled into the house. “Dad! I need to leave Chase with you.”

Dad poked his head out of the kitchen. “I’m only home for a minute.”

“Go wash your hands,” I said to Chase, buying a minute or two to talk to Dad. Kaylee and I hurried into the kitchen. We found him leaning against the counter waiting for a pot of coffee to finish brewing. His large tool bag sat in the middle of the table. He didn’t wait for me to speak.

“Today’s not a good day for Chase to come with me, Madison. I’m knocking down walls, moving electricity—”

“Natalie Parker’s missing,” I interjected.

Dad shifted. “She’s the short one, right?”

“Yeah.” I told him what we knew, then added, “A group of us are getting together to look for her. We’ll take Chase with us.” My brain went into overdrive trying to come up with a way to explain the search party to a six-year-old without freaking him out and giving him nightmares.

Dad rubbed the back of his head. “I don’t want you dragging your brother all over town. Tell him to grab his hardhat and tool belt. He can hang out with me today.”

“Thanks, Dad!” I gave him a peck on the cheek and rushed to get my brother’s things together.

We called the guys to see if they could join us, but Josh couldn’t leave work and Isaac was in Amesbury with his father. We agreed to meet up later.

Gray clouds pushed in from the north, blocking the sun and causing the temperature to drop several degrees. It gave the afternoon an ominous air, as if the heavens knew a sixteen-year-old girl was missing and we didn’t hold much hope of finding her alive. I pushed my grim thoughts out of my head and forced myself to think positive. We would find Natalie healthy and safe.

Dozens of people showed up to help canvass the neighborhood. I recognized most of them from school. Kaylee and I were put in a group with Sarah and Mark. Sarah gave her cell phone number to Lauren’s mom, who acted as base. Teams were asked to check in on the hour, and she’d text the group leaders if there was any news. We were also given a picture of Natalie standing in front of her dark orange Dodge Neon. Plus, Lauren sent everyone a picture of Natalie that she’d taken at the party. In it, Natalie’s purple knit hat sat lopsided on her head and she had her arms slung over Lauren’s and Ben’s shoulders. She was beaming at the camera.

Our group was sent west, which was opposite the direction Natalie would have driven if she’d gone straight home after dropping Lauren off.

“If Natalie was last seen in front of Lauren’s house, why are they sending us this way?” Kaylee asked.

“She might have decided to stop for gas or had a craving for a slushie,” Mark replied.

“There’s a gas station about two miles from here,” I said optimistically, even though my first thought was that there was no way she would have driven out of her way to fill up her tank past curfew.

Sarah’s and Kaylee’s heads bobbed up and down in agreement, but their tight jaws gave away that they were thinking similar dismal thoughts.

“That would be so like Natalie,” Sarah said in a non-convincing tone. “Filling up the car at night so she wouldn’t have to do it before work.”

“Was she supposed to work today?” Kaylee asked. “Maybe she went in early and her parents missed her.”

Mark’s eyes widened. “The store might be doing inventory. They always make everyone come in early for inventory.”

“Her dad already checked,” Sarah said.

A minivan pulled into the driveway in front of us, and a woman carrying a bag of groceries got out. Sarah jogged up to the driver and showed her the picture of Natalie. The woman said something I couldn’t hear and shook her head. Sarah rejoined us.

“She hasn’t seen her.” Sarah sighed.

“We’ll find her,” Mark replied.

Groups were sent down each side street in the neighborhood.

“Maybe we should get the car so we can cover more ground,” I suggested.

Sarah folded her arms over her chest. “They already have people in cars checking out Natalie’s favorite hangouts. Besides, if her car broke down, she might have decided to walk home instead of waking her parents. She might have fallen and hurt herself.”

But if Natalie’s car broke down, the cops would have found it
.

I wished my brain would stop being so negative.

We fanned out, walking in a wide line, looking for anything odd. I wasn’t sure what we’d find if we did stumble upon something. Maybe one of Natalie’s bright purple gloves or her patchwork purse. Signs of a struggle. Every now and then, I caught a glimpse through the backyards of one of the other search parties. They were doing the same thing: walking several feet apart and scanning the bushes, under pool decks, in small alcoves, anywhere a scared girl could seek shelter. We called everyone we could think of during the forty-five minute walk from Lauren’s house to the gas station. There hadn’t been any news, bad or good.

We went inside the convenience store to warm up. Kaylee and I headed for the fresh-brewed coffee, stopping everyone we passed to ask if they’d seen Natalie. Mark and Sarah showed Natalie’s picture to the sales clerks behind the counter.

With cups in hand, Kaylee and I split up so that she could talk to the kids near the slushie machine and I could ask the guy near the sports drinks.

“Excuse me, we’re looking for a friend of ours, and I was wondering if you’ve seen her.” I held my phone out waiting for the guy to look up, surprised when he turned out to be Caden.

“Hey.” He glanced at my phone. “Natalie’s missing?”

“Yeah.” I swallowed the lump in my throat. During the entire walk to the store, Sarah, Kaylee, Mark, and I had tried to be positive. Natalie could have stopped at another friend’s house and ended up spending the night. We surmised that she’d meant to call home but had forgotten. Or maybe she’d run away—although even I knew that was farfetched. Natalie wasn’t the type of person who would intentionally worry her parents sick. And I managed to keep it together until I looked into Caden’s dark eyes. I had secretly hoped Natalie had run into him after the party and he was the one who had made her lose track of time.

“Who’d she leave the party with?” Caden asked.

“Lauren. Her best friend,” I added, realizing Caden probably didn’t know who Lauren was.

“Did she talk to anyone at the party? A guy maybe?”

I twitched a shoulder. “I don’t know. I wasn’t with her the whole night.”

He shook his head, his gaze dropping to the floor. “Shit.”

“We’ll find her, though.” I forced my shoulders back to show confidence.

He let out a sigh and mumbled what almost sounded like
Don’t count on it.

“What?” I asked. Damn hat must have muffled his words.

“I said I hope you’re right.”

Me too
. “Thanks. I’ve got to join my friends.” I turned to walk away but paused. “Hey, you’re not by any chance Natalie’s secret admirer, are you?”

Natalie would kill me if she ever found out I asked Caden that, but this was a matter of life and death. She’d just have to get over it.

“No, sorry. I’m not the romantic type.” His nose crinkled. “I don’t woo girls with flowers and chocolates.”

“Woo?” I repeated with a chuckle. I couldn’t help it. It was such an odd word choice for someone our age.

He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his dark green pea coat. “She didn’t have any idea who he might be?”

“If she did, she didn’t tell us. Don’t tell Natalie I told you this, but she was hoping it was you.”

His eyebrows shot upward, disappearing under russet-brown hair. “I just met her that day.”

I shrugged, easily able to see how Natalie might have suspected him. Caden could have seen Natalie when he’d been waiting outside the school for his friend, decided to send her the gifts, and then found a way to bump into her. Natalie would have had no way of knowing he wasn’t “the romantic type,” as he’d put it.

At the entrance to the store, Mark and Kaylee stood huddled around Sarah, who was looking intently at her cell phone.

“I’ve got to go,” I said to Caden. “You’ll call Ben if you see her?”

“Of course.”

By the time I reached my friends, Mark was holding Sarah in his arms; her whole body trembled. I looked into Kaylee’s tear-filled eyes and waited for an explanation.

She wiped her cheeks. “Lauren texted. They found Natalie’s car.”

Tears blurred my vision. I had to force the next words out of my mouth. “And Natalie?”

“She wasn’t in it.”

We hugged each other.

“That has to be good, right?” I said.

Kaylee sniffed. “Yeah.”

The walk back to Lauren’s house was solemn. We barely talked. The time with my inner thoughts had me wondering if magic could help. Maybe canvassing the neighborhood wasn’t the answer.

“We need to talk to the guys,” I whispered to Kaylee. “Maybe there’s something the four of us can do.”

My fingers flew over the small keys on my phone as I typed Isaac a message:
What kind of spell do we need to find a missing person?

I hit send.

A minute later, I received his reply:
We scry. Meet? My house in 30.