Up in the Stars

Alert

This chapter was difficult to write in so many ways.

I hope Enid's reaction comes across authentically.

Things are only getting darker from here on out.

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She wakes up to a cold bed and a ringing phone.

It's a weekend.

They always sleep in with her on the weekend.

Where were they?

Confusion and the clinging tendrils of sleep slow her thoughts and movements.

The call goes to voicemail.

Sitting up, she glances around her empty room.

Snow is falling gently outside the window, a small pile building on the ledge.

There is a muted quality to the world around her, everything dimmed and soft.

Sliding to the edge of the large bed, she grabs her phone from the side table.

There are nearly twenty text messages from Emilia.

Enid!!!!!

Did you see the news??

Oh my god

OH MY GOD

We need to meet up.

This is so much worse than we thought

Text me once you're awake!!!!

Enid's eyebrows furrow as she reads over the messages.

Dread sinks, heavy and thick in her stomach.

What was going on?

Did it have to do with the fact that her immortals had disappeared?

Suddenly, her phone buzzed again.

Emilia had sent her a link to an article from the local newspaper.

Missing college student's body found.

She inhales quickly, her pulse picking up.

There's a photo of Patrick underneath the headline, standing next to his dad with a wide grin.

Her hands tremble as she dials Emilia's phone number.

"Enid! Thank god. Have you seen?" Her voice is loud, abrasive.

Enid pulls the phone away from her ear.

"Y-yeah. I just read it. This is awful." Enid's voice is low, shaky.

"They're calling it a homicide." Emilia lowers her volume.

"Really?" Her mind is whirring, trying to make sense of it.

He's dead.

Patrick Thomas is dead.

Murdered.

It doesn't feel real.

There is a snarled knot of emotions burning in her chest as they end the phone call.

Horror. Worry. Relief. Fear.

They are a mass she cannot pull apart.

Emotions that she cannot examine individually, only as the chaotic storm that is building inside her.

She slips out of bed, pulling on a nightgown as she trails downstairs to the kitchen.

As she reaches the second floor, she hears voices coming from the direction of Theodore's office.