I closed the news so I wouldn’t get distracted and pulled up the program that contained our inventory, sales, financials, and shipments. “Do you want me to email over my spreadsheet of our imports from last month? It might be easier than going through each one.”
“Yeah, that works. Send it over. Oh, and since I’ve got you on the phone, I’ve been meaning to ask you about Q4’s revenue projections. Do you have a minute to go through those?”
“Sure, just give me a sec.” I craned my neck to see through the still cracked door. I caught a flash of black material—Star Tattoo Guy’s jacket—then the sound of Tessa’s tinkling laugh.
She’s fine.
Leaning back on my chair, I nudged the door closed so our financials wouldn’t be heard in the shop. When I shifted my attention back to the phone, Carlos’s text appeared.
Hey, I’m back in Chicago. Can I buy you a drink tonight?
I stared at it in shock for a moment, then shook my head. I’ll get to that later.
“I’m back,” I said to Greyson. “And yep, fire away about Q4.”
∞ ∞ ∞
By the time I got off the phone, at least twenty minutes had passed. I hadn’t heard the bell ring again, so at least Tessa wasn’t swimming in customers.
After closing my laptop, I ventured back to the shop, but all was quiet.
“Tess?” My boots stomped softly on the floor as I peered down each aisle and around every rack, but Tessa wasn’t up front and neither was Star Tattoo Guy.
Weird. I hadn’t heard the front door jingle, which would have alerted me to him leaving. Even in the office I could hear its faint bell with the door closed.
“Tessa?” I called again. As a rule, we never left the front of the shop unattended for more than a minute, and since the clock hadn’t struck five yet—when Nicole’s shift started—it was still just Tess and me running the store.
I moved at a clipped pace to the back storeroom, ’cause if Tessa wasn’t up front or in the office, the back storeroom was the only place left for her to be.
“Tessa?” I pushed through the heavy door to the back. Boxes greeted me, all of them neatly stacked and stowed in alphabetical order on the shelves. Silence greeted me.
Irritation prickled my skin. Not again. I checked the small employee bathroom first. Empty. Tessa, I’m gonna skin you alive if you disappeared on me again.
Picking up my pace, I searched down each aisle but didn’t see my sister’s flowing skirt, blond hair, or hear her tinkling laugh. And Star Tattoo Guy was long gone.
Annoyance sank its teeth into me, tearing off a huge bite. The last thing I needed was my sister leaving for another impulsive trip to wherever the hell she went to this time. Our busiest hours were about to start since it was almost five.
Grumbling, I was about to head back up front when a breeze caressed my cheeks. It carried the hint of street dust. I jogged to the very back, and sure enough, the large back door, only used for deliveries, was wide open.
Of course. I sighed in relief. The shipment must be here. And to think I’d automatically assumed the worst of Tess.
Guilt niggled me again as I called, “I can take it from here!”
My sister hated doing deliveries. The boxes were dirty and heavy, and it required careful inventory to ensure everything had arrived and was catalogued and stored correctly.
But when I reached the back door, neither the hum of the delivery truck nor the bang of truck doors came. Neither did my sister’s cheerful voice.
Frowning, I peered into the alleyway. It was empty, but a flash of brown in my peripheral vision caught my attention.
Tessa’s sandal lay on the ground. It was the one she’d been wearing with her floral-print skirt.
I hurried over to it, the sense of unease returning and pulsing through me. Of its own accord, magic coursed through my veins, humming through my body as I opened myself up to the world around me while channeling the psychic portion of my power. Thankfully, it reacted normally this time, swirling and growing, unlike what had happened with Star Tattoo Guy earlier.
Reaching out with my mental power, I settled it on Tessa’s shoe.
A black cloud of fear hit me first. Then the remnant of a struggle. Tessa’s scream came next, the sharp, piercing sound cutting through my magic’s fog.
My breath caught as psychic energy poured through me, soaking into my cells and infusing my being with the horrific images pummeling my mind. I fell to the ground and groped for Tessa’s sandal.
The second my skin made contact with the leather, a flash of imagery so intense and clear entered my mind that I stopped breathing: Tessa on the ground struggling to break free, meaty arms enclosed around her, her muffled scream as she tried to call for help, then a flash of a constellation tattoo with arrows around it as the man dragged her down the alley.
I dropped her shoe. “Oh my gods!” I exclaimed as my eyes peeled open.
Panic fired through my veins, and my heart turned into a thumping beast. Because the one thing I knew in the very depths of my soul?
My sister had just been abducted, and I’d done nothing to help her.
Chapter 2
I frantically felt inside me for the witch-twin bond that Tessa and I shared. It hummed slightly just below my navel. It’s still there. Which meant my sister was still alive, but since our bond was so weak, that meant she was far away. I couldn’t pinpoint her location. He must have taken her somewhere. Probably through a portal.
I whipped out my phone and dialed the Supernatural Forces—our kinds’ military and police enforcement—but an automated response came. The robotic voice sounded eerily cheerful as it relayed how nobody could answer the phone at this time.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” I yelled as the alley’s cold, dry air continued to swirl around me.
“I’m sorry. All recipients are busy at this time,” the robot replied. “If you would like to leave a message, a local Supernatural Forces member will return your call by the end of the business day.”
I ended the call, fury slicing through me as fear raced closely behind it.
Bolting back into the storeroom, my heart was thudding so hard I could barely breathe as I raced to the front of the store just as Nicole came through the door.
“Heya, Tala!” she called in a chipper voice. “Thanks to your help, I aced my potions exam today, and—” She stopped in her tracks, her head cocking to one side. “What’s wrong?”
I grabbed my purse from the office. “I’m sorry. I have to go. Something terrible has happened to Tessa, and I’m not getting through to anyone at the SF.”
“What’s happened this time?” Nicole asked dryly, then clamped a hand over her mouth, her cheeks brightening. “I mean, I hope she’s okay.”