Blood and Chains

Vanishing Act

It wasn’t even twenty-four hours before my mom called. As I sat there on my bed, I saw my phone ring. I looked at the caller ID, it was my mom. “Hello?” I made no attempt to hide my annoyance.

“Zelda,” she sounded mad. “I need to see you right now. I’ll have someone come pick you up.”

Click.

“Well goodbye to you to.” I snapped as I shoved my phone in my pocket.

I entered the grand mansion and made my way down the familiar hallway to where my mother typically stayed. The moment I saw her face, I knew there was something amiss. Dark circles had formed under her eyes and her lips were raw, most likely from biting them in worry. A habit I had noticed as a child and unfortunately inherited. She let out a sigh, running her hand over her forehead in frustration.

“Zelda, my daughter.”

I froze and wanted to run. She never called me her daughter without a reason.

“Your brother…”

“Is he dead?” I yelled, taking a step closer to her.

“Jesper is missing.” She said in a grim voice. Her eyes were cold, and black as she looked at me. I’ve only seen that look on her face a few times.

“How is he missing? Are you looking for him?”

“Of course I am. But I only have so many resources to send out and I can’t keep looking for him forever.”

“Why not have one of the special trackers find him?” I asked.

“Zelda!” she snapped. “I have been looking for him since he went missing.”

“It has been less than twenty-four hours mom, he must be just gone somewhere to cool down.”

“He has places he goes. He has a scent he leaves behind.”

“So follow it?” I was now getting confused.

She laced her fingers together and rested her chin on them. “There is no scent. I knew he was gone when I saw no trace of him, and everything is just as it was.”

“So you think someone stole him?”

“I have no idea what to think.”

“We know it’s not the Districts, he wouldn’t be valuable being so old.”

“True.” She said simply. “They usually steal them at the young age of five. Past twenty, he wouldn’t even be useful as a VI.”

I gave her a reassuring nod. “So who do you think it is?”

“If I had to guess, an Ancient One.”

I gasped. “Why though?”

“They need someone to experiment on, they want to use me as an example and using my heir is the best way, there are a lot of ways they could have wanted him.”

“Why do you think it’s them?”

“Who else could erase scent?”

I thought of how I read in one of the many books in the house of how to erase your scent, but I doubted anyone else read that book. I never really learned it either but the knowledge is there.

“Who else?” My mother repeated with a shiver. “It's a long-standing rivalry. They've been trying to take power from us for centuries.”

“But why now?” I asked. “Jesper's disappearance seems random.”

“It might be,” she conceded. “But we can't take any chances. We need to find him before it's too late.”

I nodded, my mind racing. “What is it that you need from me?” It couldn't be a coincidence that she called me so soon after he disappeared. She probably thought—

“Find him Zelda.” she said curtly.

“Excuse me?”

“I need you to find him for me.”

“Find him yourself.” I snapped back. “You are just sacrificing me so you don’t lose any of your precious knights or soldiers.” I grabbed the door to run out.

“I will annul your engagement.”