11
I CALLED MY sister’s cell phone, but she wasn’t answering. It was after eleven and I figured she might have fallen asleep, but I didn’t want to take any chances so I called Paige, too. When she didn’t respond, my stomach contracted like a tight fist.
Sara squeezed my shoulder; she knew I was on the verge of losing it. “They might all be asleep by now.”
“I hope so,” I replied in a strained voice.
“Or it might be possible that they don’t have their cell phones nearby. Does Paige’s mom have a landline?”
I wasn’t sure. I ran downstairs to find the phonebook, and as I began flipping through the pages, the power went out in the house.
Crap!
“Cassie!” called Sara from upstairs. “Do you have a flashlight?”
I used the lights from my cell phone to find my way back up into the kitchen wher
