Blue Ridge: Vol. 2 - The Search by Sophia Gray

~ Volume Two: The Search~
    Dain looked at Foster with narrowed feral eyes. The night air became heavy and hot. It fell on them in a silent, stifling blanket. No one spoke, and Foster tried to shrug off the calming emotion his mother and brother were still forcing on him. He didn’t want it. For once he wanted the pure anger. He wanted the food of hate to sustain him. Nadia was missing. Dain had something to do with it.
     
    “ I know you did it. ” Foster said through clenched teeth.
     
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Dain yelled. He pushed past his father and tried to start the fight again by grabbing for Foster’s shirt. Derrick’s hand grabbed a handful of his hair and yanked him backwards.
     
    “ENOUGH!” Derrick’s black eyes looked deep into Foster’s. He grunted and pushed Dain towards the steps. “Inside! Both of you!”
     
    Foster looked at his mother. “She’s missing. I can’t stand this.”
     
    Julia tried to smooth his sweaty hair from his forehead but Foster jerked his away. She gave a worried glance to Warren, who simply shook his head. The momentary stifling heat began to lift. Crickets resumed their calling and a few fireflies came back into the yard. Julia looked up the steps at Foster and saw the Nephilim in him for the first time ever. She shuddered to think that this tragedy might turn him towards this path. She went up the steps slowly and Warren followed. When they entered the great living room, Dain was seated on the floor and Derrick was leaning with one elbow against the mantle. She scanned the room for Foster and found him standing perfectly still right beside her. Warren led her to the rocking chair by the fireplace and took his usual seat beside her on the hearth.
     
    “Foster, I will hear what happened.”
     
    Foster told his father the entire story from start to finish in a monotone voice that took far more control than any of them knew.
     
    “Had you any reason to fear for her safety before tonight?”
     
    Foster gave him an annoyed glance. “Really, Father?”
     
    Derrick turned a shade darker. “Don’t toy with me, boy. I may not have wanted you breaking rules to see this human, but I certainly wanted no harm to come to her.”
     
    Foster slid his eyes towards Dain. “I think he wanted harm to come to her.”
     
    Dain stretched his legs in front of himself and leaned back on his hands in a lazy pose. “If I wanted to harm her, she would already be dead.” He said with a grin.”
     
    “And you will be dead if anything has happened to her.”
     
    Derrick let out a string of curses in the Old language.
     
    “I knew we were being watched!” Foster yelled. “I was trying to watch her as much as I could! I was too tired tonight and now she is somewhere that I’m not!”
     
    Foster didn’t bother to respond to his father yelling for him to come back. He didn’t acknowledge his mother’s gentle voice. He took the stairs three at a time and slammed the door to his room. He spun around several times looking for something, anything, that he thought could give him a clue as to what to do. He ran both hands through his hair and suddenly froze. Of Course . He closed his eyes momentarily and took a few short steps to the large windows on the far wall. He laid his palms on the cool glass and stared into the forest beyond. Small lights, too large to be fireflies, flitted here and there, just inside the tree line. A soft amber glow was throbbing from somewhere in the middle of the woods. Door of the Realm . It was the full moon. The Door of the Realm was open tonight. Foster leaned his forehead on the glass and let out a shaky sigh. They have taken her into the Realm.
     
    *****
                 

Foster packed a small bag with an extra change of clothes and a few toiletry items. He felt foolish as he pulled the drawstrings together and slung the bag over his shoulder. The Realm was not a place you packed for. It was nothing like this side