“Yes. Is he helping the Horror?”
I shake my head. “No way. Unless…” The words fall away. He is missing right now, and he’s shown that he has trouble separating the father he longed for from the Horror. “I don’t think so.”
“Very well. I wanted to let you know that we’ve dispatched a team of Chasers to this area to help with the escaped Horrors while you focus on yours. We need to stop yours before we find ourselves with a mess we can’t clean up.”
“Understood.”
“I’ll leave you to it.”
Then he’s gone, leaving me reeling from the news. My instincts tell me that Keagan wouldn’t knowingly go along with the Horror, but if he’s being manipulated, it’s hard to say.
I have to figure out where he’s gone, but I don’t have a clue where to start. Then an idea comes to me. The medium.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and open it to an internet browser. While there are a plethora of mediums and psychics in Salem, there can’t be too many named Talon. If her skills are legit, she should be able to point me in the right direction.
I do a quick search and get exactly one hit with a store address right in the heart of Salem. There’s no phone number listed, which is odd, but I’m already heading down the stairs and out the door to drive to Essex street.
Twenty minutes later, I find a spot to park and exit the car, walking down the cobbled streets looking for the shop. It’s getting late, so I have no idea if she’ll still be there, but I’m not prepared at all for the scene I walk into.
Several cops are in front of the entrance to the store, which has been cordoned off with police tape. I hurry over to the one wearing a suit.
“Excuse me. Did something happen here?”
He eyes me up and down. “Who are you?”
“A customer. I had an appointment with Talon,” I lie. “Is she okay?”
“She is not okay. There was a break-in and she was attacked by the intruder. She’s in the hospital.”
“Attacked,” I whisper, looking into the shop. “Did you find who did it?”
“No, and there were no witnesses. No other businesses were affected. It seems like it might’ve been personal. Do you know Talon personally?”
I shake my head. “No.”
The officer nods. “I don’t think she’ll be taking customers for a while.”
I turn to walk away but he calls after me. “Hey, what’s your name?”
“Edward Wilkins. Feel free to research me. I don’t know Talon and I certainly didn’t harm her.”
I continue walking away. If they bother checking into me, they’ll find my perfectly benign persona and squeaky clean record.
Back in my car, I try a search for Mercy, but there are several listings for people with that name. Having no other way to contact her, I choose the closest location and go there. The first place is an abandoned apartment building I’m sure no one could be living in, so I continue to the next.
A feeling of dread spreads through me as I turn down the quiet residential street, guided by my navigation system, and when I get to the intended address, I’m met by a similar sight to the one I just left on Essex street.
Police cars with flashing lights line the driveway and street, the front door is open, and the yard is in the process of being roped off. I’m pretty sure this is the right Mercy. Instead of interacting with law enforcement again, I roll down my window and address some people standing in the road.
“Do you know what happened here?”
A woman turns to me, nodding with her arms wrapped around herself. “Mercy was attacked. Sweet girl. Keeps to herself. They aren’t sure she’s gonna make it.”
“Fuck,” I mutter. “Did they take her away yet?”
The woman nods. “About ten minutes ago. They won’t tell us much, but they’ve been searching the neighborhood looking for a suspect.”
“Thank you.”
