Author's note: Warning there is some graphic stuff in this chapter, just so you are warned!

"Masako?" Mai whispered into the girls' bedroom. "Masako are you there?" She was hoping against hope that Masako was somehow hidden in the room. But there was no response. Mai pulled the covers aside and got out of bed, she tiptoed over to Masako's bed. It was definitely empty. She wondered if Masako was in the toilet, and thought she would check before waking the others.

Mai crept out of the room, shutting the door softly behind her and wandered down to the toilet. But it was empty too, as was the base.

"Where else could she be?" Mai couldn't think of anywhere else to check. She returned to the bedroom and woke Madoka.

"What is it Mai?" She said groggily.

"I think Masako is missing, she not in her bed or the base or the toilet." Mai whispered. Not wanting to wake Ayako as well.

"Are you sure?" Madoka asked. Her eyes were now alert.

"Yes."

Madoka got up and checked the room.

"You stay here, I will double check."

Mai watched her leave and then decided to dress quickly. Madoka returned as Mai was pulling on her shoes.

"I can't see her." Madoka grabbed her own clothes. "Go and wake the men, Mai. Ayako, wake up!" Mai heard Ayako groan behind her as she left. Mai put aside her anxiety about going into the men's bedroom and stormed inside.

"Get up! All of you!" She said loudly. Monk jumped a foot in the air and grabbed his sheets around him. Lin fell sideways off his bed, and John just blinked blearily and looked around. "Masako is missing. We need to find her." Their faces of shock immediately turned to worry. Mai left them to dress and headed to the base. She started making cups of tea and coffee for everyone. Within five minutes, everyone was in the base and drinking.

"Right. Satou has already left; he was called into work early." Madoka said, holding a note their client had left for them. "I want to sweep the house and surrounding area."

"I think it would be best if the men took the forest." Lin said, looking concerned.

"I agree; men are less likely to be taken; it seems to be after women and girls." Madoka said. "You three head out then, take the walkie-talkies, I want contact at all times. We'll search the house, starting at the top."

So the search began. Madoka, Ayako and Mai never strayed far from each other, always within earshot.

"Masako!" Mai called. They had searched the loft, top floor and were working their way around the ground floor when the walkie-talkie cracked into life.

"Madoka? There is nothing out here; we've searched for about a kilometre around the house. Do you want us to head out further?" Lin's voice said.

Madoka paused for thought.

"Do you think she may be further afield?" She asked.

"I don't know, but we can see a reasonable distance though these trees and I can't see anywhere she'd hide. I think asking Mai to astral project might be the most sensible use of our time." Lin said.

"Okay, head back."

"I hadn't thought about astral projecting." Mai said, annoyed with herself. "I found her before, on the Urado case, why not now?"

"I think the ground floor is empty. Is there a basement?" Ayako walked back in from the main kitchen.

"Not that I know of." Madoka said. "Let's go and start some food while we wait for the boys."

Back in the base, Ayako started cooking and Mai slumped in a chair. She wanted to lie on the sofa, but she couldn't stop thinking about what Madoka and Lin had done there.

Mai tried to relax her body, as she'd been practicing in the office, and let her mind fill with Masako. She focused on Masako's short hair and the way she hid her mouth with her sleeve. But she couldn't seem to let her own body go. She suspected Madoka's unrelenting pacing beside her was not helping matters.

The men returned as the food was ready, and they all sat and ate in silence.

"I never should have taken this case." Madoka said finally. "There was barely any link to supernatural phenomena."

"You wanted to help a man who's lost his family. Don't beat yourself up." Lin said.

"Yeah, don't be so hard on yourself just because you aren't an arse like Naru." Monk said.

John was staring out of the window; his face was a mask of worry. Mai watched him rubbing his hands together in anxiety for Masako.

"I think we should look for a basement." Ayako said. "Perhaps there is a tunnel leading away from the house or something…"

They had no better plan. So while the majority of the group went looking for a basement. John remained behind with Mai, who lay on the floor.

"It'll be okay John." Mai said, closing her eyes. "We'll find her."

Mai focused once again on Masako. She could feel herself leaving her own body. Opening her eyes, she found she was no longer in the base, but a dark dank corridor.

It was lit only by candle light.

"Masako?" She whispered. She felt like she was being watched, like bugs were going to creep out of the earthen walls and swarm all over her. Mai couldn't help but think about the Urado case. What was it with secluded houses and creepy tunnels and missing people? Mai crept forwards, thinking she could hear a moaning sound. "Masako?" The light was getting brighter. The moaning sounding more like grunting.

At the end of the corridor, Mai looked into the next room. A candle was stood on a table on one side. And on the other was a horrific sight. Mai stifled a scream. A woman, legs spread, was tied to a post with her feet tied to two other posts with rope. Her clothes were ripped apart to expose her intimate parts and the blood stained stab wounds. Dark hair covered her face, but Mai didn't need to see her face to know the woman was dead. Dead, and not Masako.

There was another door on the opposite wall. Mai crept towards it, the grunting getting louder. Placing her hand on the door knob, Mai took a deep breath, then opened the door.

The room looked much like the one she was in. She had a brief glance of a man preoccupied with another tied up female before she heard a shriek.

"Mai! Run!" Masako was tied up, unhurt, in another corner of the room and screaming at her. The man turned around, saw Mai and picked up his knife. But Mai was already running, running back through the first room and into the corridor. She couldn't look behind her, but Mai could hear the thundering footsteps following her. The corridor went on and on, then slopped upwards. The light from the candle had long ago diminished to a point that Mai could barely see. She was reaching out in front of her and panting for breath.

SMACK.

Mai felt her whole body slam into what she presumed was a door, from the wooden feel on her fingers and face. She fell back momentarily and then started hammering on the door. There was no side passage and this was her only way out.

"Help!" She screamed at the door. "Help! Please!" The footsteps were getting closer.

"You little bitch!" The man growled. He grabbed at her back, but Mai pushed him away, still screaming for help. Then she felt a pain across her cheek and sat up.

She was back in the base. Safe.

"Mai what happened?!" John was staring at her in concern. He grabbed some tissue and pressed it to Mai's left cheek.

Mai ignored the blood pouring from the cut on her face.

"Satou has Masako!" She said, scrambling to her feat. "Where are the others?"

Together they ran down the stairs, Mai didn't answer any of John's questions, she would only have to repeat herself when they found the others.

"… Did you hear that?" Monk was saying, as Mai burst into the kitchen, John hot on her heels.

"Satou has Masako!" Mai said. "They are in an underground tunnel. But he knows I saw him, he chased me! There has to be an entrance nearby."

"What?" Madoka looked shocked.

"Satou did it! I saw his wife and daughters bodies! They are both dead! He has them tied up and was raping them…" Mai trailed off at the horror of what she had seen. "But Masako was okay! She was just tied up! She was going to be next!"

The others just stared at her.

"Was that you screaming before?" Monk asked. "Screaming and banging?"

"Yes! He was chasing me!" Mai realised what Monk's words meant. "So it's near here." She looked around the kitchen. "Behind the appliances!" She said and started pulling the fridge away from the wall.

All around the room, the others were pulling things away from the wall; the washing machine, dishwasher and finally-

"Here!" Lin said, he'd pulled the dryer back in one fluid movement. There was a small door, no more than 2ft high. He opened it and flashed the torch down what appeared to be a tunnel.

"Careful!" Madoka said as Lin climbed through. He dropped down so that they could only see his top half.

"I can't see the end of this tunnel, the elevation decreases for a while." Lin said.

"We should call the police." Ayako said.

"We can't until we've definitely found the bodies." Madoka said. "They won't believe us if we tell them a psychic told us where to find them."

"Hold up." Monk climbed in with Lin.

"Wait for me too!" Mai said.

"No!" Monk looked at her from in the tunnel.

"You can't stop me." She poked him further into the tunnel and climbed in, accepting a torch from John.

"Stay on the walkie-talkies." Madoka ordered. Mai nodded, and then pushed past Lin and Monk. They followed her down the tunnel at almost a run.

Finally they came to the first room. Monk gagged at the sight and Lin looked away.

"She was through here!" Mai said, ignoring the corpse, she was too worried about Masako.

"Mai wait!" But Mai rushed forwards opened the door and looked for Masako. She wasn't there. Then she felt a blinding pain on the back of her head and everything went black.

Author's Note: Sorry it's short! I might get another chapter up tonight, so please review!