I sat on Nevaeh's bed, holding one of her plush toys as I continued to wonder how she could have possibly gone missing. There was no way she could've escaped from campus. Guardians would have seen her, and there was always someone guarding the front gates. Multiple people had been searching the academy for hours, but she was nowhere to be seen.
I had a strange feeling inside, like something was terribly wrong. Obviously, something was wrong here, but it was more than that. Maybe Nevaeh was alone. Maybe she got stuck somewhere. Maybe she wandered off and left the wards. Maybe someone took her away.
I sighed and decided to leave her room. I wasn't going to be of much help just by sitting there. Right when I walked out, I nearly ran into a little dhampir boy. He was probably a few years older than Nevaeh, but still young nonetheless. He had been staring into her room and had a worried look on his face. I assumed he was one of her friends.
"Did you find her?" he asked me. I paused, a little stunned by his question.
"Um, no, I didn't," I answered. "Do you happen to know where she went?"
The black-haired boy shook his head. "No, but I saw her with someone earlier."
My mind was on high alert again, and I kneeled down, holding the boy's arms. "Who? Who did you see her with?"
"Um...a guardian. I think. A man."
"Okay. Can you tell me what he looked like?" I asked, trying my best to stay calm so that I didn't scare him off.
"Um...dark hair. Tall. He was wearing a black uniform," he said. Definitely had to be a guardian on campus then.
"And he was with her? Alone?" I prompted. The boy nodded.
"Mhm. He was holding her hand."
"Do you know where he took her?"
"No," he said. "He looked really angry though."
This was something I could work with. If a guardian took her somewhere, I just needed to find out who it was. There were cameras everywhere in the academy. I just needed to get footage from the computers in the basement.
"Do you know around what time you saw her?" I asked. I wasn't sure why I was asking such a specific question to a boy who was probably only seven years old. Fortunately, he had an answer.
"Um...a while before my class time."
Nevaeh's class didn't start until 10 PM. This boy was older, and if I could remember correctly, his class probably started around 8:00. In fact, most of the classes in the academy didn't start until that time—unless you were a university student. Whoever took Nevaeh made sure it was a quiet hour where nobody would leave their rooms yet.
"Okay. Thank you for everything you've told me. It's really helping. What's your name?"
"Nick," he said.
"I'm Rose. Thanks for helping me, Nick." I stood up, but before I left, Nick spoke again.
"Will you find her?" he asked. My chest tightened. He sounded so innocent and even a little worried. "She's my best friend."
"I'll do the very best I can," I promised. I felt bad for the young child, but I couldn't waste anymore time. I left, heading back to the guardian's conference room. As I rounded a corner, I bumped into someone, nearly punching them in the face.
Luckily, Eddie's fast reflexes saved him. "Woah, easy," he said. "I was wondering where you went."
"I was looking for Nevaeh," I told him, continuing my fast walks.
"Yeah, so is everyone else. We were hoping you'd find her."
"I've checked this entire campus. Eddie, I think someone kidnapped her."
"What? What makes you think that?" he asked.
"I talked to one of her friends. He said he saw a guardian take her somewhere before classes started."
"A guardian? Rose, that's ridiculous."
"I know it sounds that way, but it's possible. Not all guardians are good," I pointed out. I made it to the conference room and burst through the door without warning. There were more people in the room now, but it wasn't anyone I didn't know.
"Who was guarding the elementary dorms this morning? Second floor, before classes started."
Dimitri exchanged a look with Alberta who seemed a little confused by my abrupt question, but she still answered me anyways.
"Second floor...guardian Sanders," she confirmed. "He hasn't gotten back to me, but he probably switched to another part of the campus."
Sanders...I knew that name. He had been one of the guards to take me out the night I was taken. Was he the one who took Nevaeh? If so, why did he? What was the point? I couldn't seem to figure it out at first, but the more I thought about it, the more things started to fall into place. Had Sanders been in on my kidnapping this whole time? And what about guardian Miller? He had been there too that night, but none of them were taken away.
"I think he might have kidnapped Nevaeh," I announced.
Alberta rolled her eyes. "Rose, what are you on?"
"I'm not crazy! Someone saw him taking her somewhere before classes started."
For the first time since my argument with my mother, she stepped forward and joined in on the conversation. "Did they actually say it was him?"
"Well...no. It was a young boy. He probably doesn't even know the guardian's name."
"Then you have no proof. And why on earth are you trusting a child?"
"Damn it! Why isn't anyone listening to me? He saw him walking alone with her and now she's gone! I'm willing to drag you all down to check the security footage!" I yelled. I was desperate, and the longer we continued to argue about this, the more time we wasted in saving her life. They had all been doing their own investigation, but the fact that no one was listening to me was infuriating.
Well, almost everyone. Dimitri seemed to consider. "I'll take you down."
I raised my eyebrows as a spark of hope ignited inside me. "Really?"
"Yes. But we have to go quickly. We can't waste any time."
Dimitri and I rushed down to the basement where we found a rounded desk covered in computers. Behind the desk was a middle-aged guardian who looked bored out of his mind. As soon as he saw Dimitri, he swallowed and regained his composure.
"I need to see some footage from the elementary campus," Dimitri said, his voice firm and demanding.
"Sure. Time and place?" the other guardian asked.
"Before classes started—when guardian Sanders was monitoring the dorms. Second floor."
"Right. Just one second." He clicked on a few things, keeping his eyes on the screen. I tapped my foot impatiently until the footage finally popped up. Dimitri and I leaned in, paying close attention to the screen as the video played. The camera faced the empty hallway where Nevaeh's room was.
"Excuse me," Dimitri said as he leaned forward and grabbed the mouse. He fast forwarded the video until a dark figure popped into the frame. Sure enough, it was guardian Sanders, and he was opening Nevaeh's door. He was only in there for a few seconds before he came out, practically dragging Nevaeh out in a rush. She was only wearing a pair of pink pajamas, and her blond hair was slightly messy. He must have woken her up from her sleep. As he locked her door, she stood there, rubbing her sleepy eyes.
"I'm tired," she whined. "I want to go back to sleep."
"Quiet," Sanders said harshly. Her murmur was inaudible as he grabbed her by the arm, dragging her out of the hallway and towards the stairwell.
"He must have taken her out of the building after this," Dimitri noted. The stress and worry were clear in his voice now. "Show us the stairwell."
The guardian sitting behind the computers sighed in annoyance but did as Dimitri asked. The image switched, and I could see Sanders again, still holding Nevaeh by the arm.
"Where are we going?" she asked, trying to pull her arm free. Sanders, now losing his patience, leaned down and gripped Nevaeh's arms a little too tightly for someone as young and fragile as her.
"I don't want to hurt you, little girl, but I will if I have to. Now, shut up and stop asking questions."
Nevaeh's eyes started to brim with tears. "I want...I want Rose. I want my mommy."
I shut my eyes as my heart started to ache at her words. She sounded so scared. She wanted me, and I wasn't there to protect her.
"If you ever want to see her again, then do as I say and be quiet." He got up and yanked her again, making her trip as he walked down the stairs. Dimitri and I checked some more footage and found that not only had Sanders taken a child, but also one of the academy's sedans. He had shoved Nevaeh into the back seat, whispering threats to her that had caused angry heat to rise in my cheeks. I hated the way he was treating her. Not even Damian had been like this to her.
When approaching the front gates, he only rolled down his own window and told the guardian on duty that he was sent to go out and grab some supplies for the elementary campus. Now, I was kind of wishing the windows weren't tinted so much. Nevaeh wasn't anywhere near visible behind the pitch-black windows.
When there was no more footage left to see, I turned on the guard who was sitting down. "Did you not think it was reasonable to report any of this?!"
"W-what?" he asked.
"You've been watching these all day! How could you let this happen and not report it to the guardians on campus?" I was raising my voice a little more than I needed to, but Dimitri didn't stop me. He was just as frustrated and angry as I was at the whole situation.
The guard was slightly intimidated by my anger, but he hid everything with a nervous scoff and what resembled a cocky attitude. "Who do you think you are, yelling at your superiors? You're just a girl who got—"
He had no time to finish as Dimitri suddenly grabbed him by the collar, easily pulling him out of his chair. The guard's expression changed in an instant. Nobody dared to mess with Dimitri when he was like this. "Did you have something to do with this?" he demanded.
"N-no, sir. I swear I didn't! I—I fell asleep this morning," the coward gasped out. Dimitri spared me a look, and we both rolled our eyes at each other.
"Because of you, that little girl's life is in danger," Dimitri growled. "And don't you ever talk down to her like that again. Rose is a grown woman; show some respect. Is that clear?"
The guard nodded rapidly. "Y-yes, sir!"
Dimitri practically threw him back into his chair. He turned back to me. "Let's go," he said stiffly. He placed a hand on my back, ushering me out of the room.
"You can kiss your guardian status goodbye!" I shouted as we stepped into the elevator. When we were alone again, my eyes caught onto Dimitri's clenched fists. Although I was angry too, I still made an effort to calm him down. I placed my hand on his, trying to loosen his fingers. He relaxed almost as soon as we made contact.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
"I don't know," he said quietly. "I just hate it when people treat you like that. And Nevaeh...damn it, if that guardian had actually been watching the security cameras, this wouldn't have happened."
"Please tell me there's a tracker on that car."
"Every one of our vehicles have trackers, but I highly doubt Sanders will have used that one for long. He probably already found or stole another car a while ago."
The space inside the elevator suddenly felt a little too tight as my anxiety started to rise. "We have to find her, Dimitri. She's so young and vulnerable. I promised to keep her safe. I can't let her get hurt."
"I know," he said. "I don't want her to get hurt either. We'll figure something out, okay? We'll find her. I promise you we will."
I nodded, trying to hold onto what little hope I had. I couldn't get her words out of my head: I want Rose. I want my mommy. It both warmed and hurt my heart. I wanted so badly to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay, but I couldn't. I had no idea where she was. While I wasn't her mother, she has started to see me as a mother figure since bringing her to the academy. I often checked up on her to make sure she was okay, but now, I had no idea if she was.
"Come on," Dimitri said, grabbing my hand. I blinked, trying to focus as he led me out of the elevator and back into the guardian's conference room.
"What did you find?" Alberta asked.
"It's true. Sanders took her," Dimitri informed her. Alberta's face dropped. She was probably hoping for him to give her different news, but all her had to offer her was the painful truth.
Alberta made her decision, placing her hand on the table as she spoke authoritatively. "I'll contact the royal court to let them know. Also, I want everyone on the council in here immediately. I'm calling up a rescue team."
Dimitri and Alberta had called everyone from the guardian council. Even with all the guardians on campus, the council was very small and only had the best people on it. I didn't actually know all of them, but I did recognize Stan and Yuri. None of them had wanted me to be a part of their little mission, but I didn't move no matter how hard they tried to kick me out. I was set on getting Nevaeh back, and I was willing to do whatever it took.
Eddie had stayed as well. Although the guardians had been doubtful to put him on this mission too, he was technically eligible to be a guardian now—both of us were—and we needed every good pair of hands we could get. He was just as good as me and Dimitri.
We gathered around the table to begin our discussion. I stood by Dimitri, trying to keep my inner stress under control. I was so worried, but Dimitri's presence naturally made me feel a little bit better. He had his guardian mask on, shielding all the worry he had in his own mind.
Alberta was the first person to speak. "We need to track down the vehicle that guardian Sanders was using. It might not get us that far, but it's a start. Those vehicles have dashcams too, so if he hasn't removed it, we should be able to check the footage."
"And then what?" I asked. Several pairs of eyes turned towards me. "We don't even know where to look. Sebastian's whereabouts were in Washington State, but he had people from other places too. Guardian Sanders is working for him, and I wouldn't be surprised if Miller is too."
"I think he is," Abe shared. "He started working at the royal court not too long ago. He was with the guardian crew that was transporting the prisoners. He was the only guardian who left the scene without reporting the incident."
"Sanders and Miller were both with Rose the night she was taken," Dimitri realized. "They were in on this the whole time. Since Rose's kidnapping...and now they've taken a damn child. She's practically a baby, for god's sake. This whole time, it was right in front of us, and we were too blind to see it."
It was obvious Dimitri was stressed out, but the realization seemed to dawn on everyone else in the room as well. Even Alberta was at a loss for words. It was something I didn't see on her very often.
"There are other people who can help us if we can get them to cooperate," I mentioned, breaking the silence to get everyone back on track. "There's Damian, for one. He'll most likely help if I can just talk to him."
"And how are you going to do that?" Alberta asked. "He's in critical condition."
Easy. I could heal him with my blood. Simple as that. While he probably didn't deserve to be healed so quickly, I was going to need him in order to find Nevaeh. On top of that, a much deeper part of me didn't actually want him to suffer that much. I knew everyone would be opposed to my idea though, so I kept my mouth shut and played it off.
"That won't stop me. I'll make him talk whether he likes it or not."
Alberta crossed her arms. "Are you asking us to go to the royal court?"
"Yes, actually, I am. The more people we have on our side, the better."
Dimitri turned his head, giving me a look that told me my plan was ridiculous. "Rose, you do realize you're asking us to work with one of your kidnappers, right?"
"Technically, he didn't kidnap me."
"But he was affiliated. He's not someone any of us should trust."
"Well then," I started, "if none of you are willing to help, I'll just go find her myself." I started to leave, but Dimitri grabbed my shirt from behind me, yanking me back. I saw Abe laughing at the side and scowled at him.
"Alright, fine," Dimitri said, clearly exasperated. "We'll go, okay? The final confirmation is on you, Alberta."
I looked at her, showing off the attitude that said I would take matters into my own hands if she didn't agree with me. I didn't like to act like this with someone I had a lot of respect for, but I was at the point where I would go out on my own if I had to. Alberta was still considering, and I crossed my arms, raising my eyebrows.
After what felt like the longest staring competition, she finally made her decision. "Mr. Mazur, please schedule an immediate flight to the royal court."
Sooo what did you think? Is it strange to get Damian to help them? I was thinking of changing it but I'm not sure yet since he might actually be useful here. Please leave a review if you can, it's very much appreciated!
