I tried to go back to relaxing and having fun on the beach, but I couldn't shake off the feeling I got when I pictured those two girls. Where had I seen them before? Where had I heard their names?
And then everything clicked.
"Oh my gosh!" I instantly ran back to our stuff. Kiera and Trinity looked confused but followed.
"What's up, Baleigh?" Kiera asked.
I didn't answer. I plopped onto my towel and ruffled through my bag. I found my phone at the bottom and pulled it out, quickly typing in the girls' names. I wasn't sure what I was going to find, but I had a feeling that it might be huge.
In seconds, pictures of the girls popped up. My eyes widened. "Guys! Adelyn and Taylor are on missing persons list! They've been kidnapped!"
"What?" Trinity ran over and grabbed my phone from my hand.
"No way!" She handed my phone back. "I bet those guys were the kidnappers!"
"What's going on?" Sydney said. She took off her sunglasses. "Is everything ok?"
"We just met two girls who happen to be kidnapped! And we let them get away!"
Sydney dropped her book and glasses and slowly sat up. "What? Oh my gosh!"
"We have to go find them!" Trinity exclaimed. "They could still be on this beach!"
"I'll pack up our stuff!" Kiera said. "You and Trinity go look."
I nodded. "Let's go. They might already be at the parking lot by now!"
Trinity and I raced up the hill towards the sidewalk. We looked around for the girls but didn't find them anywhere.
"You go left, I'll go right," Trinity said. "Meet back up here."
I nodded. We both took off in our directions.
My heart was pounding as I ran down the sidewalk and onto a sand dune. I can't believe I let them get away! I could have helped them get back home! I turned right towards a parking lot and looked out at the cars. I didn't see anything that would strike me as kidnappers.
I turned back around and continued along the sand. I ran until I couldn't run no more. My legs felt like jelly as I collapsed on a small sand dune. My breathing was fast. I tried to slow it down.
How I could I let this happen? Why did I let it happen? I thought of the mother. The girl who was probably sitting by their doors, waiting to see them come out in their princess gowns. Waiting to see them get off the bus after a long day at school. All of that, gone. Taken away. And I was part of it.
My breathing eventually slowed down. I relaxed a little, still sitting on the sand. A thought came to my mind. Why did Adelyn seem so set on leaving? And what was she hiding? Something seemed up about that girl. Did she know something?
I sat up, my legs burning from all that running. I brushed off the sand and began to jog my way back to where me and Trinity first split. I saw her standing there, spinning in circles as if she was looking for me.
"Oh my wolfsbane!" She shouted. I was instantly embraced in a giant hug. "Where the heck have you been!"
"Sorry. I got lost," I lied.
Trinity nodded. "I didn't find them. I assume you didn't either."
I shook my head. "I feel so bad. I can't believe we let them get away."
"Hey, we didn't know. It's okay."
"No, it's not. I did. I saw their faces on a missing persons ad on TV and I didn't even realize who they were!" I placed my face in my hands.
"Hey," Trinity places a hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. We'll find them. I promise."
I pulled my hands away and nodded. "We should go back. Kiera and Sydney are probably waiting for us back at the car."
Trinity nodded. We both walked in silence towards the car. I tried to not think about the girls, but I did.
Sydney and Kiera we're finishing up packing when we arrived. Kiera could already tell the look on our faces that we didn't find them.
"Oh! I'm so sorry!" She hugged us both. "Maybe we can call their parents and tell them where we found them!"
"What will that do, Kiera?" I asked in frustration. "We don't even know where they went! What's the point of calling if we can't even find them ourselves?"
Kiera placed a hand on my shoulder. "Hey! Baleigh, calm down! It's okay. It wasn't your fault we lost sight of them, but we can help the family out by telling them they've been spotted. Do you think you can do that?"
I took a deep breath and nodded. "I'll call them when we get in the car." Kiera smiled and put an arm around my shoulders, guiding me through the parking lot.
We quickly placed our stuff in the car and then climbed in and buckled up. I dig my phone out and opened it to the news reports about the missing girls. It was posted a couple years ago, which made me feel even worse. This family had been missing Adelyn and Taylor for years?
I held back a tear that wanted to escape from my eye. I couldn't imagine looking for a loved one like that for a month, let alone over four years!
I shook my thoughts away and scrolled quickly through the article, skimming the words for a phone number to call. Ah-ha! I read over the number several times until it was in my brain before dialing it.
It rang on the other end for several moments before I heard a man answer. I put the phone on speaker and the entire car became quiet.
"Hello?"
I took a deep breath, "Hello, this is Baleigh O'Conners from the Red Moon Pack. My friends and I were just at a beach in Los Angeles, and we believe we spotted the missing girls: Adelyn and Taylor." I held my breath when I finished, anxious of his response.
We all jumped when we heard the sound of a chair quickly screeching back from his end. "Wait really?" He asked, but his voice sounded different than before, almost like it was choked. "Are you sure it was them? Not look-a-likes?"
"James! What's going on?" I heard someone whisper. "Did someone find Taylor?"
I smiled as I realized these must be Taylor's parents. "I'm sure! We spoke to them on the beach and they introduced themselves as Adelyn and Taylor. We didn't realize they were the missing persons until too late, but I can give you the address to the beach we were at. That can't have gone far."
"Do you have paper? I need paper!" James said to someone.
"I don't have paper, but here, use this." There was a little bit of shuffling and then James voice became clearer. Although, I could tell he was crying.
"Okay, I'm writing it down now."
"Okay." I replied and proceeded to tell him the address of the beach, with Sydney's help since I'm not from here.
". . .Got it." James said when I finished. "Thank you so much, you have no idea what this means to us!"
I smiled, tearing up at the feeling I got when he said that. "You're welcome, I'm glad we could help you guys out and I hope you can get to your daughters soon!"
He chuckled slightly, but I don't think it's what I said. He was probably just overly giddy because they finally had answers. "Us too. Thanks again!" And then he hung up.
I sighed and slumped back in the seat. "I feel better now. They have a general idea and we helped them get answers they've been searching for for years!"
Sydney smiled and reached back to pat my leg. "You did good, Baleigh, don't overthink it."
I smiled and then it faded as another thought crossed my mind. "Guys, whoever kidnapped those girls isn't going to just give them up when James gets there. There's going to be a fight."
"You think we should help, don't you?" Trinity asked.
I nodded. "I also want to make sure the girls get safely to their parents and I feel like just calling isn't enough."
Kiera nodded in agreement. "Baleigh's right, we cant just go on with normal life after that. I think we should go back to that beach tomorrow and see if we can find James and his mate. We should meet them in person and tell them that we're here to help."
Sydney looked thoughtful. "It's a good idea, but just the three of you isn't enough," she patted her belly, "I'm too big to help out in that way."
I visibly cringed as the next idea came to my head. "Do you — do you think we should call Nate and Collin?"
Kiera sighed, but got out her phone anyway. Trinity reached across the seat and grabbed my hand, giving it a squeeze. So much for a girls trip to LA.
A special thanks to my awesome friend Cavalier_Spaniel for helping me write this!