watch over Cole," I whispered.
She nodded and was out the door. With surprising speed, my grandmother
raced down the road towards the men. It wasn’t long before she caught up to them.
That child could sleep through an explosion, I thought.
Meg was buried under the covers, clearly in a deep sleep. I climbed onto the
bed to wake her. In a quick movement, I ripped back the blankets, ready to pounce on her. Instead of my sleeping sister, I found pillows.
Tearing the comforter off the bed completely, I expected to find her awake and hiding. However, the bed was empty, and frustration filled me. We didn't have time for games.
“Meg, don't hide, right now. Gram and Cole need us." I forced myself to speak calmly and not to sound angry.
When my sister didn’t respond, I called out a second time and stopped to
listen for her giggles. Again, there was only silence. I checked under all the blankets strewn on the floor and even crawled under the bed. Meg was nowhere
to be found.
Feeling panicked, I rushed into Gram's walk-in closet. I pulled out
everything Meg could be concealed behind or under. Helplessly, I searched every
possible hiding space. There was still no sign of her.
“This isn't funny, Meg. Please, don't do this now,” I pleaded.
Giving up on the closet, I decided to inspect the rest of the room. I lifted the
lid on the trunk at the end of the bed, but it only held blankets and photo albums.
With a final desperate thought, I decided to look in the bathroom, but Meg wasn’t in there either.
There really was no place for her to hide. Still, I continued my search. I knew
my efforts were futile, yet I opened the cabinets anyway. Their emptiness filled
me with disappointment.
Composing myself, I tried to remember all of Meg's favorite hiding places. I
stared out of the bathroom, scanning the bedroom with my eyes. The search
stopped when my gaze landed on my stuffed animals. The sheep and the wolf were propped up on the nightstand. There was something white in the arms of the wolf.
I raced to inspect it and found a white scroll with a silver ribbon tied around
it. I removed the string and unrolled it. My heart sunk as I saw the embossed snake design on the paper. A sick feeling filled me as I read the dark words.
My Darling Marina,
You can stop your frantic search for Meg. I bet you felt quite a
fright not finding your little sister sleeping soundly in the bed. Of
course, you shouldn't worry. My sweet child is finally where she
belongs – with me. She is now in the loving arms of her mother.
How silly of your grandmother to forget that I know all of her
little tricks. A blood alarm may work on that fool, Elliott, but
anyone with half a brain would be able to counter it. She
underestimates me – I'm much stronger than the weak little girl she
tried to raise me to be.
Now, back to the important matter at hand. I was so devastated
by how you treated me at our long-awaited reunion. As hurt as I
was, I couldn't blame you entirely. I understand that living with that
