Ezra
After a shower and change of clothes, I stood to one side of the backyard with Avery and Dad, leaving Benji plenty of room to build his portal. He'd begun the sequence, the circles twisting in the air, throwing off a red hue to tint the dark landscape.
"We'll keep you updated," Hunter said, as he and John came up to us. They'd taken the time to change as well, though I could see how anxious Hunter was to get moving.
With a flash, Benji's portal connected. On the other side of the threshold I could see a brilliant display of orchids and Cameron, looking at us wide-eyed, though the shock quickly turned into a smile as he caught sight of Hunter and John.
"Be safe, I'll let you know what we find at Lyssa's." I waved them off, silently praying to the higher powers that everything would go well.
Avery's hand wrapped around my waist, squeezing me in a little half hug. She'd insisted on joining us once she'd learned what we were doing. I'd been to Lyssa's house once, up in Northern Washington. It'd been over the summer, after we'd moved the Mansers. I had gone with Dad and tried to talk Lyssa into moving too, but she'd refused, saying Nathan had never been up to her place before.
My portal opened in Lyssa's backyard amongst the tall strand of trees that wrapped around the back half of her acreage. Her home was deep in the forested mountains of Washington state. Her family had been here since the beginning and was the only family that hadn't moved at any point during the war.
It was still some light in the west, but not much, and the growing twilight cast deep shadows across the lawn. The house was newer than I'd expected and Lyssa had told me that they'd rebuilt the house to help update and blend in with the locals. Not that there were many locals out here. The nearest town was three hours away.
Avery whistled. "This is nice."
Dad walked across the lawn and we followed. I glanced about the yard, trying to pick out anything that stood out as wrong, but not one thing seemed out of place. Lyssa's beaten, grey pickup truck, that looked about a century old, sat under a carport to the left of the house. Beyond that, an old barn stood watch.
"Shouldn't there be lights on in the house if someone's home?" Avery asked.
"At this time of night? I'd think so. Lyssa tends to be a bit of a night owl, even if there are early farm chores to do." Dad stepped over a stone border and carefully navigated through the mulched flower bed to get close to one of the house's dark windows.
I took another look around the yard, not wanting anything to sneak up on us. Unease was making me twitchy and nervous, a sense of loss here that I just couldn't place.
"I can't see anything." Dad stepped back from the window and looked around, examining the exterior of the house. "But nothing looks wrong from out here. Hang on, I'm going to go around to the front."
Avery and I followed. True night had fallen and it was getting harder to see where to step. A flood light triggered as we came around the front of the house, and I winced at the bright light.
Dad went right for the front door, knocking loudly on it. "Lyssa!"
There was no answer, no noise except for the normal sounds of bugs and night birds. He pounded harder on the door. "It's William! Open the door, Lyssa."
When there still wasn't an answer, he stepped off the little brick stoop and walked through the waist high bushes to get to the large window on the right. He felt around the edge of the dark navy shutter until he came up with a key.
"Handy," I said, as Dad climbed back up.
"Same place for the last twenty years," he said absently. He pushed the key into the lock. The door opened without any resistance, swinging wide. "Lyssa?"
Avery shook her head as we walked in. "It feels empty here."
I had to agree with her. The house had that stillness to it, and for the life of me, I couldn't hear anything. I shut the door behind us, on edge and anxious. It felt like I'd eaten a rock.
Dad flipped a light switch, and the lights came on without an issue. "Power still works."
Avery started going through and flipping on lights, until the whole first floor was lit. I trailed along behind her, but I couldn't find a single thing that seemed out of place. The formal dining room had a couple file boxes stacked against one wall. Papers spread across the table top looked like bills and invoices, some tax papers.
I glanced at the papers quickly, not wanting to be nosy, but they didn't seem to be a clue. Lyssa's farm wasn't doing great, but it wasn't failing or behind on bills yet, either.
The kitchen was clean. There was food in the fridge, and except for a bit of mold on the bread on the counter, nothing was expired or out of place again.
"Anything?" Dad asked, coming in from the living room.
"No," Avery said. "If she was going to leave, would she leave a note or something?"
"What about upstairs?" I asked.
He didn't answer, but headed straight for the stairs. I climbed after him, hoping that we would find something, anything. The not knowing was the worst.
Nothing seemed out of place in the hallway. I glanced at Dad. He nodded at me and we split up.
Dad turned left, Avery and I went right. The door just to the right of the painting opened to a bathroom, but there were two more doors on our side of the hallway.
"This is so weird, Ez. It's too quiet. Where'd she go?"
I shrugged and pushed the first door open to find a guest bedroom. It was mostly bare except for the bed with a nice bedspread and matching curtains. No pictures or dresser. Just a mirror on the wall and a small corner table.
Avery and I backed out of the guest room and moved on to the next room. Avery pushed the door open this time. But on the other side we found a small office. It was neat and organized like the rest of the house. The top of the desk showed little disorganization, some papers piled on the corner of the desk, a notebook open to a few handwritten notes, the computer was showing a screensaver of ribbons.
Avery walked over to the desk and flipped through some of the notebook, shaking her head. "There's nothing here. Just symbols and notes in a code I don't recognize."
"Take the notebook. Maybe Dad can figure out some of it."
She nodded. As we stepped back into the hall, Dad called for us. We walked down to where he stood in a room that had to be Lyssa's.
It was ransacked. Clothes everywhere, stuff knocked off the dresser. The comforter from the bed was dragged across the floor.
But there wasn't a body.
No blood.
"What do you think happened here?" Dad asked.
I was sure he already had an idea, but he'd been helping me and Avery learn the ropes with being Heads of the Families. Nowadays, that meant being part detective sometimes too.
"She put up a fight," Avery said, walking further into the room. She paused by the bed, looking down at the tossed sheets. "I think she was asleep when she was taken."
"Taken?" I asked, but I got the feeling she was right. With all the signs of struggle here in her room. "The doors were all locked downstairs, nothing looked broken. How did they get in and get her out?"
Avery looked up at us. "Wait, what's on the wall behind the door?"
Dad and I turned at the same time and behind the door, was a bloody handprint that was all too familiar.
I cursed. I was all too familiar with it.
"That about covers it," Dad said, wiping a hand down his face.
Avery came up behind me. "Well, at least we know who took her."
"No, but why would Nathan take Lyssa?" I stepped forward, moving the door a little to get a better look at the hand print that was exactly the same as the one Nathan left on the wall of his basement after our fight. After he'd killed Poe.
"Maybe the same reason why he took Thea. And Liam."
Dad's eyes grew serious. "Thea is a Manser, Liam a Stanwood, Lyssa an Amerson. It's like he's trying to have one of each of the families under his control."
"And I already know he's looking for a Reinhardt." Running a hand through my hair, I was having trouble understanding. Why would Nathan need any of us, let alone one from each of the Families?
"What do we do now?" Avery asked, turning to look at the rumpled remains of Lyssa's room.
"We meet back with the others," I said, stalling. "And see what they've found out. Then we'll figure out what to do next."
I glanced at my father, and he nodded.
"Let's make sure everything is locked up tight here, then we can go."
Avery followed Dad out of the room, but I stood there a moment, focusing on Nathan's hand print. It was only a matter of time before we came face to face again, and this time, I wasn't going to let him get the better of me.