Total pages in book: 155
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147891 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 592(@250wpm)___ 493(@300wpm)
“Are you serious?” asks Willow, face serious.
“Yes. He claims she legit vanished out of thin air.”
“Well, she couldn’t have just vanished. People on Earth don’t have those abilities, do they?” I ask.
“No, they don’t,” Willow says. “At least, not that I’m aware of.” She turns to Faye. “Who is this guy? Where does he live?”
“Here.” Faye whips out her own cellphone thing and carries it to Willow, swiping a finger on the screen a few times before showing it to her. “His name is Phil Patterson and, funny enough, he only lives a few hours away in Virginia. He made a career of gaming on Twitch and was about to get married, but his whole life changed after his fiancée disappeared. He has so many videos talking about it. Here, watch this one.”
Willow takes the cellphone from Faye, and I get up to stand behind her and watch it too. On the screen is a video of a brown-skinned man looking right back at us. I’m not sure what kind of sorcery this is, but I’m certain it correlates to all those videos and photos Willow showed me of random people on her phone last night. I still can’t wrap my mind around any of that internet stuff, but whatever.
“It’s been a whole month and Marney is still missing,” Phil Patterson says through a sigh. “I’m sorry, y’all, but this’ll probably be my last video for a while. I gotta find out what happened to my fiancée, and with any new findings, I’ll keep you posted on my website blog. Everybody blaming me when I had nothing to do with it. I loved her with everything in me, and I know what I saw. Police are try’na call me crazy, think I’m losing my mind, or that I done developed some kind of post traumatic stuff. She disappeared though, and that’s fact. She walked right into something and didn’t come back, and I’m gonna find out what it was. Peace, fam. I’ll be back when I have some answers.”
“Was this really his last video?” Willow asks, handing the phone back to Faye.
“Unfortunately. It’s the last one he ever uploaded, but he did write a blog post about something else he discovered shortly after it,” Faye informs her. “His post talks about how he reached out to a woman who knew about universal pulls and portals. He kept calling her a witch, but she didn’t like to be referred to as that. Apparently, this woman said she could bring his fiancée back to him—that she knew many things about the multiverse and portals and could even connect with other people from them. But in order for her to do that for him, he had to pay a shit ton of money.” Faye pauses, tucking the phone into the back pocket of her pants. “Unfortunately, that’s the last blog post he ever wrote. And now…well, here’s where my research takes a nosedive.”
Willow sighs, as if knowing what Faye will tell her is bad.
“What happened?” I ask, and Faye’s bright eyes shift to mine.
“He’s in a psychiatric facility in Virginia.”
“Of course, he is,” Willow mutters, throwing her head back in defeat. “The guy we need to ask questions about portals and other universes is locked in a psych ward. Great.”
“I looked up the place,” Faye says. “It’s Virginia Coast Psychiatric Detention. They do allow visitors every day, from two to five p.m. I know it sounds crazy, Willow, but if we can get to him, ask him who the woman was that was going to help him with the other universes, maybe there’s a way this woman can help you through this Tether. Or at least find a way for Caz to return safely and for the threats to be erased.”
“That’s damn near impossible,” I interject. “I’m positive an unknown woman from Earth won’t be able to assist us with our Tether. Not with ease. The Tether—Cold Tethers especially—are sacred. They’re impossible to manipulate unless one holds the power of the Tether too.”
“That may be true, but at this point, it’s the only lead.” Faye shifts on her feet, looking between us.
“So, we start with this Phil person,” Willow murmurs.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. “So let me get this straight. We’re putting our faith and the fate of our Tether into the hands of a man in a loony bin and an unknown woman who is most likely a con artist?”
Willow and Faye look between each other. “Well, when you put it that way…” Faye huffs a laugh and starts to bite her thumbnail.
“I know it sounds crazy, Caz, but we have to try something.” Willow steps toward me, her eyes sparkling with hope. “If we don’t at least check in about it, how will we know?”
I shake my head, and though I want to look away, I’m having a hard time doing so. Those damn eyes. “Perhaps there’s a way to reach the other Regals. Surely, they’re much stronger than Decius. And last I heard, they’re in hiding as well, blending in, just like Decius was.”