Chapter 146 2-18 - TERRIFYING NEWS
\-SIANNA'S POV-
"Where's valen and Devin?" I inquired, sitting at the window gazing into the courtyard as the school bus pulled up and let off the children. It was rather strange when Theo, Thaines, Raina, and my twins arrived at the pack house without the two older ones as their mode of transportation. Earlier in the afternoon, we sent each of them a text message to come directly here after school.
Usually, I was home by 3 p.m. to make dinner and cater to my kids. Vance, Duke, Blayne, Raj, Marlena, and some warriors left before dawn for Holmeva Ferney to reign terror on the werelions. Therefore, I hung out at the pack house with the ladies and we intended to have dinner together.
Since we shared the same anxiety in praying that our men would return home safely. Venus and Vaheed slumped down on the couch next to me. "Hey, Mom." They greeted in unison.
The kids joined us in the living room. As mothers, we smiled joyfully at seeing our children home. Theo and Thaines kissed Cleo in sync on either cheek before sitting. Raina hugged Hailey and brushed her blonde hair behind her right ear to whisper something. Then she ran upstairs to freshen up. Venus and Vaheed got up to run behind Raina but I snatched them by the nape of their necks and pulled them down to sit back on the couch. "Where is your brother?" I looked from one to the other, knowing that Devin was bound to be with Valen.
Keisha's black, trimmed brows raised in anticipation of her son's whereabouts. "Why didn't they take you home?"
"We don't know." Vaheed shrugged as his harlequin green eyes followed Raina. He was annoyed that I stopped him from going after her. He had a
major crush on her.
"Valen's car is at school but we were waiting too long," Venus explicated. Did you call them?" Hailey stirred her mango juice with the straw in her glass while her blue eyes trained on my daughter.
"They didn't respond through the mind-link and we couldn't let the school bus leave us, so we took it," Theo replied while rubbing his left eye. Cleo removed his hand, tilted his chin up and blew into his irritated orb.
"Can we go upstairs now?" Venus asked, pleading with her pretty harlequin green eyes.
"Was Devin's car there too?" Keisha stood from her chair, looking at Venus.
"Yeah," Vaheed answered for her. Keisha and I exchanged a perturbed expression. I shoved off the frantic energy in order to stay level-headed. At this point, it didn't matter where they were and for what reason. The objective was to contact them and demand that they get to the pack house. Now was not the time for them
to be unfilial. Not when I was already worried about Vance being away at war. Anger began to eat my insides.
"Go upstairs until dinner is ready." I took my phone out to call Valen. All the kids left the room.
"Take your showers and do all your homework before you play any games!" Hailey shouted after them. Keisha also tried to call Devin while pacing the room. Normally, the boys would obediently come home once we told them to, so it was a bit unsettling when we both got voicemail. I took long slow deep breaths.
"Maybe they went out with girls," Cleo offered as consolation. She placed her journal on the side table. "Or they could be hanging at the training center." We both eyed her because that wasn't plausible. She hunched her shoulders with her hands up. "I'm just saying......"
Keisha replied as she held the phone to her ears, redialing. "Devin is only allowed to date on weekends since he needs to get his physics grades up. This isn't like him."
"Valen, where are you? Come home now." I commanded through the mind
\-link. "Where is that boy?" Keisha frustratedly disconnected the call, losing control.
"They probably just made a small detour," Hailey remarked in a docile tone and sipped on her juice. I pinched the bridge of my nose, feeling similar emotions to what Keisha felt. My chest was discomfited with a haunted terror. Until we found them, the daunting reality was that they were missing.
A text message lit up my phone. It was from Principal Jackson to inform me that Valen skipped his last two classes. I suspected that when Keisha's phone vibrated and she hurriedly picked it up from the center table, she had gotten the same memo. Instant fury gave me a headache. Valen's actions were deliberate.
A silent communication passed between us when Keisha narrowed her lake-green eyes at me. I nodded to
indicate that I got the school's notice too. She broke our eye contact with an angry growl. Waves of acid welled up from my stomach. I reached out to both Valen and Devin again, trying to get a status report and finding nothing. They were out of range. What could have driven them to go out of radius?
He chose his latest misdemeanor when he knew his father would be gone for
days. How could he act so reckless- so damn impudent? Goddess, please help me not to strangle my own son when he gets home. Furthermore, imagine how outraged Vance would be to learn of his misconduct. It was impossible to conceal this from him. "Hey Wade," I mentally summoned
the Senior Elite in charge of security until our men came back.
"Luna," he greeted in an upbeat voice. "What can I do for you?" "I need you to locate Valen and Devin.
When you find them, please send them to the pack house immediately." I ordered, straining very hard to sound normal.
They had to be out of the territory to not hear our mind-link. Over the years, they'd been very responsible but I needed them in proximity to rest my
fears. We had too many enemies out there and they were just kids. "Wade is on the case of finding them.
They should be home soon." I told Keisha and exhaled, trying to relax.
Cleo and Hailey nodded their heads in agreement. Keisha rubbed her temples and leaned back in the chair with her eyes closed. Hailey placed a tender hand on her shoulder. Within half an hour, dinner was ready.
Our other children joined us in the formal dining room and we ate without Valen and Devin. The atmosphere was quiet and unsettling. Having no appetite, I played with most of my food. Everyone was on edge and dying to see the two boys walk through the doors. After that, we retreated to the living room once more and the kids
went to the recreation room at the back. It was getting closer to five o'clock. My ears fixated on the resounding clock as
it ticked, which was a constant reminder to me that time was passing swiftly and there was no good news. This fed my disturbing thoughts about what might have gone wrong. "This is ridiculous." Keisha groused with a grim look on her copper-brown "If Wade hasn't found them by now, they must be out of Central City."
face. "Damn, that creates more grounds for the warriors to search." Cleo empathized with brows tipped up.
"What could have gotten the boys so caught up?" Hailey realized that, based on what she had implied before, the boys' absence was more than just a little detour.
"Whatever it is, Devin will be grounded forever." Keisha retorted with stress lines seated on her forehead.
"Our...." I trailed off when Wade's troubled voice came into my head. "Luna, we discovered through surveillance that they went to the pier just before noon and took a boat to sea. I gasped in horror and Wade continued his report. "I'm sending Elias, Rohan, Pasco, and Sheldon after
them." Hurry and bring my baby home." I lowered my head into my palm. Panic twisted in my gut. "Shit!" "Sianna, what did you find out?" Keisha hastily probed, dreading the worst as she came to stand in front of me.
"They went to the pier and headed to the sea." I quaked, palming my cheeks.
A hard, quick pulse rose in my throat. Going on a boat journey was potentially dangerous given our recent encounters with merfolk enemies. Additionally, they had to be a great distance from land for our warriors to be hunting them down.
"Oh no!" Cleo blurted with hands on her blonde head and her sea-green eyes burgeoning.
Staring mindlessly, paralyzed, Keisha's hands went over her mouth in
shock. Then she shook her head in denial as her feet became like wobbly stilts, dropping her butt on the chair. " No. Our boys are smarter than that."
"Yes, they are." Cleo endorsed, injecting optimism. She restlessly tapped her fingers against her folded arms.
Anger, terror, and disappointment engulfed me. What's gotten into them? They wouldn't be able to reach Oscianever Loch in the Pacific Ocean where the battle was, but if merfolks were staking out in our oceans, they were good as sitting ducks.
I banked on Valen using his bald eagle and lion guardians against the merfolks if the situation arose. Even
so, they were two male teenagers who could fall subject to the mermaids' siren and be hypnotized to be their pawns or to their own demise.
My stomach contracted into a tight ball. This was not good. With shaky hands, I got on my phone and reached out to Miriam. I was sure
that she could send a message to Marlena who would communicate with Vance about our missing children.
"Lady Sianna, my child." The old woman's dreary response seemingly implied she already knew why I was
calling her. "You're son has met his mermaid."
The phone slipped out of my hand. My reality shimmered as the walls converged and I merely held on from the shock and horror that slammed
into me. Hailey dashed to my side, holding me up to keep me from falling off of the couch. My chest grew so tight it became hard to breathe and the room around me went pitch black.