Uncontrollable

Chapter Thirty

My heart pounded as I followed Bruno out of the library. What could have happened?

Despite Vanessa's constant questions, Bruno wouldn't tell us anything about what he was taking us to see.

After exiting the dusty library, we turned to the left, toward my quarters. We continued down the thin hallway silently. My brain buzzed with theories on what could have happened. Was it to do with Grey? Or maybe it involved my mother! It was obviously something important or he wouldn't have come to get us.

Eventually, we stopped at my quarters and turned toward the door.

"It's in my room?" I asked, shock lacing my voice. Vanessa's eyes were wide.

"Not in your room; on your door." Bruno pointed to a note that was hung on my door. The message was scrawled in handwriting that was nearly illegible.

I yanked it off the door and held it up to the light as I read it.

"Dear Ryder, I'd just like to begin to explain what is going to happen. This will not stop unless you give in to my demands. The man inside of your room was innocent. He was leading a regular life in New York City when I snatched him. Now, he is a dead man laying in the room of a stupid teenager. What about his family, you ask? They're searching for him desperately. Their meals have decreased in size as the mother struggles to support her four children. I know you know something about this. Here's how you need to stop this: transport yourself back to the road where we first spotted your mother. I'll meet you there, and from then on, I can explain what is going to happen."

The note didn't say who wrote it, but it didn't need to; it was clearly Grey. With a shaking hand, I imagined the door flying open. After it opened, I stepped into my quarters cautiously. I was immediately assaulted by the terrible odor of death. It snaked it's way up my nose, refusing to leave me alone. I covered my mouth and nose, trying not to gag.

In a corner of the room was a corpse, looking as if it had been tossed there haphazardly. I looked away, a tear burning it's way to the brims of my eyes. Grey did this because of me. It was my fault this man was laying here and his family was at home suffering and struggling.

"Ryder, don't beat yourself up about this," Vanessa, said as I walked out of the room. She placed a comforting hand on my arm.

"But this is my fault," I argued. A fiery hot anger at myself was burning inside of my body as I contemplated when I would go to meet Grey. This couldn't happen to anyone else; not because of me.

The image of the dead body played over and over again in my head, denying any attempt I made at trying to get it to go away.

"We can find Grey," Bruno said, a triumphant look flitting across his face.

"What?" Vanessa and I asked in unison. I was grateful to a change in subject; I couldn't bare to speak about the dead man anymore. The guilt was too much.

"This note will help us find Grey," Bruno announced again, looking quickly between both Vanessa and me. I raised my eyebrows, signaling I was still confused.

"Wizards, they leave behind a trail," Bruno explained. "It's not an obvious one, but it's there. It's almost like the idea of a digital footprint. Wherever a wizard goes, whatever they do, they leave a trace behind them. There are some people, although it's a rare type of magic, who are specialized in detecting these trails and following them. Lucky for us, I know one of them."

A warm feeling of victory spread through my whole body, a smile of my own appearing on my face.

"So what you're saying is that we can find Grey, and we can punish him for what he's done?" I asked. There was an anger in my tone that suggested I wouldn't stop at anything to find him, and that tone reflected my emotions perfectly.