Chapter 127 Chapter 127

Chapter 127 Chapter 127


Zyran's POV

The warning bell tore through the Order before sunrise.
I was already awake.

Something felt wrong.

I stepped into the corridor and nearly collided with Mark.

"What's happened?" I asked.

He looked confused.

"I was coming to find you."

"Why?"

"Hayley."

My stomach dropped.

"What about her?"

"She isn't in her room."

I didn't wait for anything else.
I ran.

Damon came from the opposite corridor at the same time.

"Zyran!"

"She's gone."

His expression changed immediately.

"Where?"

We reached her room together.

The bed was untouched like she hadn't slept at all last night.

Her cloak was missing and so was her bow.

Damon walked to the window.

"She left."

I looked around the room.

"Voluntarily?"

"Looks that way."

A second later, Ariel appeared in the doorway.

"What's happening?"

Nobody answered immediately.

Her eyes moved around the room.

"Where's Hayley?"

"Missing," Damon said.

Ariel went pale.

"When?"

"We don't know."

"She was here last night."

Zyran turned towards the corridor.

"Mark."

He appeared immediately.

"Get everyone up."

"They're already gathering."

"Then divide them."

I walked into the centre of the hall as the warlocks began arriving.

"Nobody leaves the Order without permission."

The younger members looked at each other.

I pointed towards the northern grounds.

"Search the forest first. Check every path, stream and clearing."

Mark stepped forward.

"I'll take the eastern side."

"Good. Take six people."

Damon added, "Two groups should search the road leading toward Moonstone Chapel."

A few of the younger warlocks nodded.

"Nobody goes alone," I said. "If you find anything belonging to Hayley, don't touch it. Call for one of us."

The groups began moving.

Leo appeared at the bottom of the stairs.

"Where's Mom?"

Kai stood beside him.

"We're looking for her." Damon said.

Leo's face tightened.

"She went somewhere?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"We don't know yet, but she might be in trouble."

Leo looked toward Kai.

Kai was unusually quiet.

That worried me more than Leo's questions.

"She wouldn't just disappear," Kai said.

"No," I replied.

He looked at me.

"Someone took her?"

"We don't know."

"But she left with her bow."

Damon glanced at him.

"How do you know?"

"Her bow isn't there."

Kai pointed toward the doorway.

"Neither are her arrows."

I exchanged a look with Damon.

He was right.

This wasn't a random disappearance.

Ariel suddenly spoke.

"The letter."

We all turned.

"What letter?" Damon asked.

Ariel looked at me.

"Hayley received a letter yesterday."

My heart sank.

"What did it say?"

"I don't know."

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't know what it was about."

Ariel hurried toward Hayley's room.

We followed.

She began searching through the bedside table.

"She acted really suspicious."

"Where did she put it?"

"I don't know."

Damon opened the wardrobe.

Nothing.

I checked the desk.

Empty.

Leo started looking around.

Kai walked slowly toward the bed.

He crouched.

"What's that?"

He reached underneath the mattress.

A piece of folded paper slid out.

"I found it."

Everyone rushed towards him.

Kai handed it to Ariel.

She unfolded it.

Her eyes moved across the words.

Her face changed.

Damon took the letter from her.

I read over his shoulder.

If you want to find out more about Dylan and Celine, meet me at the old Moonstone Chapel, beyond the eastern forest, at midnight.

My jaw tightened.

Below it was another sentence.

It'll be best for you to come alone. Don't tell anyone.

Damon crushed the paper in his fist.

"She went alone."

Ariel looked devastated.

"I didn't know."

Kai looked at the letter.

"Who sent it?" He asked.

"That's what we're going to find out," I said.

Leo grabbed my sleeve.

"Are we going to find Mom?"

I looked down at him.

"Yes."

"I'm coming too.”

I hesitated.

Then nodded.

"We'll bring her home."

Damon stood.

"Moonstone Chapel."

I nodded.

"If she followed the instructions, that's where she'll be."

"But why would she trust an unknown person?" Ariel asked.

"Because they mentioned Dylan obviously," Damon replied.

Kai's expression hardened.

"They knew she'd come."

Nobody answered.

The thought had already occurred to all of us.

Someone had deliberately used Dylan's name to lure Hayley away.

I looked at Damon.

"We're going."

He nodded.

Ariel stepped forward.

"I'm coming."

"No."

Her expression sharpened.

"She's my daughter."

"And we need someone here coordinating the search."

Ariel looked ready to argue.

Kai spoke first.

"Grandma, we'll bring her back."

Ariel looked at him.

Then at Leo.

She swallowed.

"Bring her home."

We all grabbed our weapons.

Kai and Leo followed.

I frowned.

"You two stay close to us."

Leo nodded immediately.

Kai was already checking his arrows.

We left the Order together.

The eastern forest was still dark and nobody spoke much as we followed the path.

Every few minutes, Damon stopped to examine the ground.

There was nothing.

No footprints.

No broken branches.

No sign of a struggle.

Then Kai suddenly stopped.

"Wait."

We all turned.

He pointed ahead.

Something was hanging from a low branch.

Damon approached first.

It was a strip of dark fabric.

He pulled it free.

I recognised it immediately.

"Hayley's cloak."

Leo stepped closer.

"She was here."

Damon examined the fabric.

"There are no signs of a fight."

Kai looked deeper into the forest.

"Then why did she leave it?"

A cold feeling settled in my chest.

I looked toward the trees.

Moonstone Chapel was still several kilometres away.

"We keep moving."

We hadn't gone another hundred metres when Damon stopped.

He lifted his head.

"What?"

I listened but heard nothing.

Then I heard it.

A faint sound.

Metal scraping against stone.

Coming from somewhere beneath the forest floor.

Damon looked at me.

"Did you hear that?"

I nodded.

We moved toward the sound.

The trees thinned and there was an old stone structure half buried beneath the roots.

A small iron door sat in the ground.

Kai stepped closer.

"What's that?"

Damon reached for the handle.

Before he could touch it, the door slowly opened from the inside.

We all froze.

Something moved in the darkness below.

Then a familiar voice whispered from the tunnel.

"You're here too early."

Leo tightened his grip on his sword.

And Damon stepped forward.