"Zeke!" Mick yelled as she searched the house for her husband. She woke up that morning expecting him to be there, but when she opened her eyes and he was absent, something inside of her churned.
She walked down the stairs calling his name softly, hoping he would be in the kitchen, outside even. But when he was nowhere to be found, she called Ben in fear.
She kept looking around even when she hung up the phone, hoping that maybe he was just in the basement and couldn't hear her calls. "Zeke!"
But that was when she realized his phone was still on the table, the keys to his car dangling at the edge of the counter top.
He really was gone.
"I came as fast as I could." Ben said frantically as he almost threw the door off of it's hinges. He came running into the kitchen to Mick's side. Bile rising in her throat as she tried not to hurl.
"Zeke is gone Ben, he's gone."
Ben placed his hand on her shoulder, attempting to comfort her. But she just shied away, trying to shake off the intensity of her emotions. "Ok. ok, where did you see him last?"
She scanned the room, basically walking in circles as she tried to remember what went on the previous night. 'Uh- here last night." She gestured to the living room with one arm, the other gripping her head. "He-he told me to go upstairs and get some rest. I'm assuming he talked with Eagan."
Ben's face turned, and so did his stomach. "Eagan? Why Eagan?"
Mick looked down, not wanting to answer. She knew he wasn't gonna like what she had to say. "They had a shared calling. They have to find The Black Crow together."
Ben wanted to scream. Why didn't she say anything? He thought. "And you didn't call me right away?" He jutted out like a bullet.
"It just happened last night! I needed time to process." Lately Mick felt like she was quick to jump on the defensive. She didn't know if it was a combination of everything going on, and some sort of trauma response, or if she was just pissy. Either way, she had a valid reason to be mad.
"Ok. I'm sorry." Ben's face fell solemnly as he apologized. She had been through a lot, instead of being quick to jump on her, he should just relax. She didn't need his anger either. "Do you think Eagan is with Zeke?" He asked.
"It's possible."
Be sighed at Mick's response, wanting to punch a wall.
"Really Ben? You think I feel any better about this?" He looked down, feeling her anger. No. He knew she didn't feel any better. She felt worse. And he hated that he couldn't fix it.
"I'm sorry." He whispered. "But we all know how I feel about Eagan. How do we know he's not The Black Crow?"
Mick reached over across the kitchen island, grabbing the note that was left at Zeke's feet. She handed it to Ben, confidence in her voice."Because of this."
But as she handed him the note, a vision of a piece of paper he's seen before… of someone's handwriting, flashed across his mind.
He's seen this before. Well, not exactly. But he's seen the handwriting. "I know this handwriting."
Mick leaned in closer to him. "What?" She asked. 'How?"
"I think the question you're looking for… is how this is even possible."
"How what is even possible Ben?"
But he didn't answer, he stared at the note, quickly grabbing his phone to compare with a picture he had taken.
"How what?!"
"Hello!" Zeke screamed out. His voice was breaking, the weight of each scream tiring out his vocal chords more and more. He didn't know if anyone was coming anytime soon, let alone if they could even hear him. But he still cried out. Maybe it was to God, maybe it was to Mick, or Ben, or Cal. He didn't know. But what he did know was that it wasn't really helping.
"Hello Ezekiel." A voice crept through his surroundings like a haunting shadow, breaking through the silence like the squawk of a bird in the early hours of morning.
"Who are you?" Zeke asked. "How do you know who I am?"
The voice laughed, a chill running through Zeke's body. "I know all about you Ezekiel." It spoke. "Did you enjoy the lovely letters I left you and your wife?"
Zeke felt his shoulders tense. "Not particularly." He replied through gritted teeth.
"Oh Ezekiel. We both know you're not the angry type. Until it comes to Michaela, right?"
Hearing the voice say Michaela's name made his skin crawl. He didn't want her name anywhere near it's wretched mouth.
"How do you know that?" Zeke asked, attempting to loosen himself, relax.
"Oh I know everything about you Ezekiel. You're Ezekiel James Landon. You were New York born and raised!" Each little piece of information the voice spoke, it made Zeke even more afraid. But the voice went on. "You had a little sister named Chloe, but she died. Didn't she?"
Zeke attempted to stay cool. How did it know all of this? And more importantly, why was it being used it against him? And what kind of leverage did this person think they had? "Don't talk about my-"
But was cut off by the haunting voice. "You're married to Michaela Stone-Landon too. A lovely girl."
"Zeke had it. "Don't you dare talk about my wi-" But once again was interrupted.
"You know. I've been following her for a while. Love her work." Zeke watched as the shower shifted places, growing smaller as the conversation went on. "She's the woman who I'm after, you know."
Zeke's face fell in anger, then burst back up when he realized exactly who this person was. "The Black Crow." Zeke spoke through gritted teeth. He shook in the chair as hard as he could.
"Good, so you know who I am." The voice teased, his shadow now nowhere to be seen. Zeke whipped his head around in every direction, attempting to find him again. But he couldn't. "Let me go!" He screamed.
"You see," The Black Crow spoke. "Michaela keeps escaping my traps. Like a cockroach, that just. Won't. Die." His stance changed, Zeke could tell just by the sound of this voice. His shadow was ominously lurking now. It was like Zeke could feel his hot breath puff against his neck. He shivered, the hairs on all of his body shooting out as he was filled with goose bumps.
He shook the chair again, trying to talk his way out of this at the same time as he fought. "Michaela is a survivor. She's lived through more tragedy than you'll ever-" But the voice interrupted him. God, he was never gonna be able to let out anything more than a few words. And that enraged him more.
"I know." The voice said cockily. "Oooh. Killing your best friend because you drove drunk?" That's gotta sting."
Zeke felt himself only getting angrier.
"Then 828, and the death of her mom?"
Zeke gritted his teeth. "That broke her." he said with such a sharp exhale that he felt his abdomen contract. He felt every ounce of anger bubbling, steaming over. He breathed in, feeling the crack in his lungs as the emotion hit him. It felt like a punch to the throat.
"and losing her fiance to her best friend?! What a doozy."
Zeke wanted to scream, but he knew he had to keep his cool. He had to... If he wanted to survive. "Well she has me now."
The voice seemed even closer now as it uttered the words. "Not for long." They hung ovr his head, dripping like hot wax down his spine.
"What do you mean not for long?!" Zeke pleaded.
"Oh Ezekiel." The voice taunted. It's like it knew him, like it knew Michaela. Really knew them.
"Since I can't get Michaela as easily as I had hoped, I might as well kill you first."
Zeke shook himself again, letting out that scream he had suppressed before. He lost all sense. He was done keeping his cool. He was done being calm. For Michaela, he vowed to go feral.
But the voice laughed. And it kept laughing in such a way that Zeke's stomach turned.
Why was The Black Crow taunting him? Why did he wanna get back at Michaela so badly?
"I'll give you twenty-four hours Ezekiel. Twenty-four hours, and then you'll be gone. And then I'll finally have Michaela all to myself."
"Are you sure they were kidnapped?" Jared asked as Michaela held her face in her hands. She and Ben called Jared and Drea not long after Ben arrived. This isn't the first time someone they love has been taken, but god, they hoped it was the last. They didn't love Eagan, but they didn't want him dead either.
Even though The Black Crow only wanted Michaela and didn't seem to want the force involved, it was always good to have people backing you up.
Jared, Drea, and The Captain always did one hell of a job.
Hopefully the commotion at the house wouldn't make The Black Crow back off Jared thought. They were counting on him showing up again.
"He had to be kidnapped!" Michaela yelled, knowing full well that was a stupid question for Jared to ask. Even he knew people were out to get them all the time, and The Black Crow was just hoping to get this done… and fast.
But what would he gain taking Zeke?
A rise? Leverage?
Ben suddenly came into the room in a rush, ripping his glasses off of his face. He spent the last half hour staring at the note, analyzing and studying each letter like a hieroglyph. He was relentless in his search, something Mick hated to love about him.
"I think I know who did it."
The whole room turned to him, staring on as he made his engulfing them. "I know that handwriting, or at least I think I do." They stayed silent, attempting to understand what he was getting at. "I just don't know how it's possible."
Mick then felt a breeze. Something odd brushed up against her leg. It was rough, the edge leaving a mark on her ankle as she looked down. She knew what it was without a moment of thought.
She picked it up, unfolding the page. "Tomorrow at 5. Come to 194 Logan Avenue. We'll be waiting. And Michaela… come alone." -The Black Crow
"How do these notes keep showing up?! It's like The Black Crow is teleporting or something!" Ben yelled.
Jared exhaled, taking the note from him and showing it to Drea. As she stood up from her place on the couch, she made her way to Mick.
Mick was silent, looking down at her hands stiffly. She was breathing heavily, Drea noticed. That was something she only ever did when she was experiencing a calling, and she's never done it besides then.
But Mick was absolutely terrified. All of the things she could lose clouding her mind, and her judgement. It made her want to be reckless. Completely and utterly reckless. But her brain swirled, as it also made her want to hide and be cautious. All of these feelings inside of her threatened to make her burst.
"You're not going alone." Drea's voice spoke through the chaos.
But Mick kept her gaze at her hands for a moment, hesitating before her reply. "I have to."
Ben stepped into the conversation, trying to talk some sense into his sister. "No. If this person is who I think, you can't go alone."
"Why can't you just tell me who it is?!" Mick was growing irritable. "Then I'll know what to do."
"I- I can't."
Ben knew something. And it was killing Mick that he wouldn't say what it was.
"Fine." She said. "but I won't wait. I'm going in now."
Drea grabbed her arm in fear. "If anything happens to you-"
"It won't." Mick whispered. Their eyes interlocked now, Drea's getting wide as she stared at Mick longer, trying to get her point across. "Mick."
But instead, Mick looked back at her intently. A mixture of confidence and sadness stirring up inside of her as she attempted to confirm something to Drea.
Their friendship was like this a lot of the time.
If they couldn't say something, they'd just give each other a look. They communicated nonverbally with just facial expressions, and it annoyed the hell out of Zeke sometimes. But then again, he and Mick did it too. And besides Ben and Zeke, Drea was always one of the first to know something.
"Not now." Mick uettered.
"You can't go now! Mick, are you insane?!" Jared yelled. "The meetup time is tomorrow at 5!"
Mick's face was dead.
Intent and forward.
No expression filled her eyes anymore, the life that once filled her body was fading away. "Exactly. He won't be expecting me."
Michaela grabbed her jacket, Ben and Drea following behind, Jared yelling out her name. "Michaela!"
But she, Ben, and Drea were gone before Jared even made it to the door. He called her name once more as the door slammed shut.
He stood there, alone, defeated. And most of all, scared. "Come on Mick." He sighed. "Don't do anything stupid."
"We're 5 minutes away."
Mick stared at the road, her eyes fixated and her face set on revenge. She gripped onto the wheel of Ben's car, making an indent in the leather with how hard she was squeezing.
"I told you, I didn't want you guys to come." She spoke through gritted teeth.
Sometimes people say they don't want someone coming, and don't mean it. But Mick meant it this time. She wanted to do this alone.
"Well you don't know us at all if you think we're gonna leave you behind." Ben spoke.
Drea nodded at his comment, not having to add anything. He said it perfectly. You know, Ben always had the right words to say, even if they hurt like hell.
But just then, Mick's phone rang.
She picked up confidently, expecting it to be Jared or Bowers. "Hey. Look, I'll deal with the paperwork later." But the voice that came through was not the voice she was anticipating it to be.
"I told you to come alone Michaela." The Black Crow spoke. A modulator was on to cover his real voice so he couldn't be detected.
Mick's mouth hung open, giving a moment of pause before replying. "I am alone."
She heard The Black Crow pace on the other line, a sigh erupting from his lungs. "Don't lie to me!" He yelled. "I know Benjamin and Drea are with you."
Mick's jaw dropped once more. How could he know that?
"How would you? How do you- ?``she stammered.
"How would I know they're with you?" The Black Crow scoffed as if they asked him what color the sky was. "I have eyes everywhere. Now turn your car around and bring Benjamin and Drea back home, and come back tomorrow."
But Mick kept driving straight, ignoring him. There was no way she was listening to him now, she was beyond reason. "No."
"Fine then." The Black Crow hung up. And for a moment, Mick was relieved. She kept driving, her breath becoming steady.
"Well that was easy." Drea uttered.
But she spoke too soon.
The car turned around, and started speeding in the other direction."What the hell?!" Mick yelled in her attempt to swerve back around. She let go of the wheel, lifting her foot off the gas… but nothing happened.
She wasn't in control anymore.
"Get out of the car!" She yelled, frantically unbuckling herself.
They threw themselves onto the ground, rolling across the concrete as the car crashed into a fire hydrant.
Ben grabbed his wrist in pain as he cried out, the impact of his fall to the pavement completely crushing it. There was no way it wasn't broken.
She stood up, clutching her phone. With each breath she practically forgot the pain she was feeling. All she could see now was red. There was no way in hell she was giving up.
She was going after The Black Crow one way or another.
"I guess we'll just have to walk."
Omgggggg, Mick is such a badass haha!
Anyways, you'll be finding out who The Black Crow is soon! These next few chapters are gonna be long and spicyyy. From Ben's knowledge of the handwriting, who do you think it is? And why won't Ben tell anyone?
As always, leave your comments here or via Twitter! I'm supperr active on there, so I will get to your tweet asap.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and you better buckle up for next ones!
Love you all!
-The Color Gray
