The house had already been searched by our agents, and nothing of significance had come to light. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to do another thorough search, but it was the only thing I could think of to stop the anxiety and keep me from falling apart. We needed our wits about us if we had a chance to go after Thayen. My son was missing, and an emotionally distraught mother would not be able to save him.
Keeping busy in this treehouse had seemed like a good idea, and none in my crew had spoken against it. We assigned ourselves different parts of the redwood residence to search. Draven and Serena had built it on three sprawling levels, with each floor designed as a self-sufficient apartment—the top belonged to Isabelle, the middle to her parents, and the bottom was reserved for potential guests from Eritopia. I suspected Draven and Serena had also contemplated having a second child, but given the current madness, it was the last thing on their minds.
“Derek is making them tea,” Kailani said as we searched through Isabelle’s living room. Rose and Ben had the bottom level, while my husband was keeping our great-granddaughter and her soulmate company. Both were devastated by Isabelle’s absence, though they did retain a certain calmness. Despair would serve no one, anyway.
“Yeah, I can hear the kettle, too,” I replied, trying not to smile. The things I loved most about Derek were these small details of his behavior. For all his strength and masculine poise, he was a sensitive and caring creature. He drank blood, yet he didn’t mind brewing a cup of fragranced tea for those who might find it refreshing and perhaps even comforting. That was Derek. He cared about others more than he did about himself. A selfless beacon of light confined to living in the shadows.
Isabelle’s floor of the house was spacious and airy, with large square windows and flowers growing in tin pots at every sill—red and pink blossoms overflowing and spreading their perfume throughout each room. There were pictures of Isabelle with her parents, cousins, and friends framed in delicate bamboo and hung on the walls, leaving little room for much else. To Isabelle, these moments were important. Her family and those she’d bonded with were important. I remembered she wasn’t the most social of creatures, but those she’d grown close to meant everything to her.
“It’s like a little corner of her mind,” Kailani said, almost reading my thoughts as we moved our search to the bedroom. We weren’t sure what we were looking for, just looking for anything the others might have missed before us. “Every inch of this place says ‘Isabelle.’”
The bed was a classic four-poster with a sculpted headboard and a pale blue organza canopy. The silks were a creamy green, and she had stocked up on decorative pillows with intricate white floral embroidery. The desk and bookshelves matched the hazelnut wood used for the bed, and soft rugs of green and warm yellow covered the hardwood floor.
Photos covered the walls here, too, along with a massive corkboard on which she’d pinned keychains from all the Earthly places she’d been to over the past five years. There was a miniature Eiffel Tower from Paris, a Spitfire bombardier from London, and countless other trinkets that put her all over Earth’s map. Isabelle loved our realm the most, I realized, and it warmed me up on the inside. She was destined to rule over Eritopia someday, but until then she had chosen to spend her time here. Draven and Serena didn’t show any signs of slowing down with their honorable leadership of Calliope, anyway, and there were places I looked forward to visiting with Isabelle, places I loved and I’d told her about. I’d promised I would take her to the Grand Canyon. It was a promise I intended to keep.
Here I am, thinking about her like she’s just around the corner, about to walk through the door. My heart ached. I took a deep breath and got down on my knees to look under the bed, while Kailani worked through each shelf loaded with books and old notebooks.
“I have to admit, Draven and Serena are doing great at keeping their wits about them in this situation,” the witch said, keeping her voice down. “I don’t know what I would do if my child went missing like this.”
“Let’s just hope you never have to experience that for yourself,” I replied. “Speaking of, you and Hunter have been married for… what, ten years now?”
“Mhm.”
I ran my hand over the floor and found a couple of shoeboxes. In each, Isabelle had stashed more photos and mementos from her journeys, along with several other precious objects from Calliope and Purgaris. I recognized the miniature fragrance bottles that had been given away as favors at Draven and Serena’s wedding. The girl had likely snatched them from her mother to keep for herself, and I could see why. Her parents’ love had brought her into this world, and Isabelle had wanted a physical memory of that.
“Are you talking about children yet? Or are they still far away on the horizon?” I asked, setting the boxes aside. I ran my palm over the floor under the bed, feeling something uneven.
“To be honest, Hunter and I aren’t interested in having children right now,” Kailani said. “We want them, obviously, but given our long lifespan, we decided to make the most of what we’ve got before our lives change forever. I’ve seen it with Draven and Serena, and I’ve seen it with Field and Aida and the others in their generation, too. Kids take a wonderful toll… my husband and I just aren’t ready for it, yet.”
I chuckled softly. “That’s okay. If there’s one thing I always told my kids,
