It was true, when I beat up that kid on Halloween I wasn't thinking of the future – and no, the irony is not lost on me. But working extra shifts on the slope were not how I wanted to spend my weekend. My mind kept on wandering to Sky; how was she? I had heard she was on the beginner slope, working with Tina. It killed me to be so close to her, yet not be able to go down, say hi – wrap her in my arms. I was just loading a down car when a familiar voice rang out from behind me.

"How much?" Sky was asking the man at the coffee stall, holding a take-away cup in her hand and a tiny purse in the other. The man replied something too low for me to hear, and Sky thanked him. I jogged up and snagged her around the waist, spinning her in the air and making her squeak in surprise. I had been so focused on how far away Sky was, I hadn't realised how close she had gotten.

"How's it going?"

"I'm crap at skiing." She smiled back, unable to keep her sour mood when we were together – and, likewise, I had found that my moodiness had left with the down car.

"Yeah, I thought you might be." I agreed, and she gasped in shock and swatted me on the shoulder with a smile; I spun her around again, which caused another giggle "I've only a minute until the next car arrives, just enough to steal a bite of whatever you've got in there."

"This your girl, Zed?" the stallholder asked, and I looked over at him.

"Yeah, Josè."

"Why is it all the best ones are taken?" he asked jokingly "Ah well." He passed over a bag and winked at Sky playfully. I pulled her back into the controls hut of the cable car, where we could be alone. I could hear her thoughts, but she was shielding them from formulating into words.

"How do you know where the car is?" I stole a doughnut while she wasn't looking and took a bite "Hey!" I held the bag out of reach, pointing to the monitor with my other hand.

"That shows me I've four minutes." I explained; not that she was listening anymore, she was too focused on the doughnut bag. Sky jumped and grabbed the doughnut from my hand, licking the jam.

"Sweet tooth?"

"You've noticed?"

"The hot chocolate with everything was a bit of a clue." I admitted with a wink. Sky took a bite then handed it back.

"You can finish it." I grabbed it and finished it off, stealing her coffee as well.

"Urgh! Milk." Serves you right for stealing her coffee, an internal voice said smugly "I should've guessed. I need something to take the taste away. I know!" I bent and pecked at her lips. Her body shifted, and she clung to me tightly. I hummed with pleasure and deepened the kiss. Some whoops and wolf whistles interrupted us – that'll be the next car arriving.

"Here, Zed, stop making out and let us out!" a girl with black hair yelled with a grin.

"Down, boy!" a senior barked happily.

"OK,OK," I called back, dropping Sky back on her feet with a pleased smile. Sky hung around until the next down car came.

"Thanks for coming up." I said to her, closing the door behind her "You've still got a bit of sugar on your lip." I leaned in before she could move and brushed it away with my lips, then straightened her jacket briskly.

"Hmm, I think I'll have to visit you again." She hummed "It appears that the cable car is going to be more my thing than skiing."

"Take care." It was a poor goodbye, but the best I could think of at the time; I was starting to hate goodbyes.

"I'll try." She smiled slightly as the car started to move away "You take care too."

I went through the rest of the week checking in on Sky with my mind, but not my mouth. She was doing fine, and when she slowly slid down the small slope without slipping over for the first time I actually gave a little whoop of success. The people around me have me a weird look.

"Mornin'." I said with an uncomfortable cough and got back to what I was doing, but was smiling to myself for the rest of the day. In retrospect, I should have known it couldn't last, but right then nothing had seemed better; if only we could actually talk! I was cleaning the sink at home (after much useless argument with Mom, in which only the threat of cleaning the toilet got me to do the sink with minimal grumbling) when the call came through; a sharp jab of panic and pain that made me stumble backwards. The brush dropped from my numb hands - I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick.

"ZED!" Sky's frantic scream was punched straight into my brain and I had a flash of black, of stuffy air, of strange voices.

"Sky? What's wrong?" I demanded back, but just as soon as she made the link she snapped it off. The emotion she sent me was so strong, so concentrated, so close yet unnatural to me, and the absence of her mind from mine so repellent that I bent over the sink, retching. Then, for one, frantic second, I couldn't move, couldn't think. Someone had Sky – my Sky. It had happened, and I hadn't been there to save her; instead, I was scrubbing the sink because of a false alarm! Then everything zoomed back into super-speed and I was tearing through the house, yelling every name I could think of.

"Zed!" it was Dad, grabbing me by the shoulders to still me, but even his steady gaze couldn't hold me still for long "What's wrong?" the symmetry of what I had just said to Sky before the connection broke was a pain in my chest.

"Dad, they have her, they have Sky!" I was still shouting "She needs help!"

"Did you have a vision?" he asked, then stepped away and ran his hands through his hair – a gesture very unlike him "Never mind. What matters is we need to get her back."

"Zed, what's going on?" Xav had flown down the stairs, Yves hot on his tail, looking at me with a frantic worry.

The phone rang, and all eyes stared at it. Dad grabbed it on the first ring and he didn't even have a chance to reel off the usual greeting before a hysterical voice screamed from the other end. I could practically hear the tears in the woman's voice.

"Calm down, Sally, calm down, we're dealing with it; have you phoned the police? Good, don't – it might just be a hoax. We'll call back when we hear something." Then the phone was slammed back down "That was Mrs Bright – she called Sky when she was late to meet her. A man answered her phone – said something about an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, two Benedicts for the two of theirs or something. She was hard to understand." By this time the whole household was around the two of us in a circle; Xav and Yves were looking very white, but their eyes shone with the same determination. For them, this was doubly personal; not only was Sky their baby brother's girlfriend, but also a good friend of theirs. Next to Dad, Mom was looking grim, her lips tight, and thunderously angry.

"We'll try to contact her, get some info." Dad said, and suddenly we were all standing there, eyes closed, fishing out Sky's burning light in our minds. Everything seemed to be happening suddenly right then. We all found her at once and started hammering, calling her name, asking questions.

"Help me! Please!" a cry came through before a shield wrapped around her, hiding her from us totally. That was a deliberate move, designed to frustrate us; I wish I could say it didn't work. I opened my eyes and kicked the table leg, running my hands through my hair with a growl. They had my girl, and it was my fault.

"They have a savant," Xav said needlessly "the Shielder." Yves and Mum were still trying to break through the shield, but I knew it was hopeless.

"She's trying to resist!" Yves suddenly shouted with a smile "Go on, Sky!" I couldn't share his pride; we all knew it was hopeless, and their savant would feel her and stop her. I shuddered. Don't think about it. I could already hear Dad calling to Victor on the phone, telling him what we knew and what we could deduct. I was just trying not to cry – Sky needed me, I couldn't waste time on moping around.

"I need to find her." I said, standing and grabbing my motorbike keys.

"Zed, no, man." Xav grabbed my arm to stop me, then slowly retracted it when he saw my expression "It's too dangerous; there could be more just waiting until we separate. Dad's getting Trace, Uriel and Victor down here, and then we'll work on finding out where she's headed."

"I can't do nothing." I said snapped, my voice shaking with anger; not at my brother, but at the assholes who dared take her. My Sky. My soulfinder.

"You won't be." Xav said "We will find her, Zed, and she'll be fine. Sky's a sturdy gal; I know she's no savant, but she can take care of herself for a while."

Even as he said it, I knew we both heard the doubt and fear in his voice. I kept my mouth shut.